so much only as the Eccho resounds But we must be getting and growing in this grace even in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ He is the brightnesse of his fathers glory and the expresse image of his person The beam of the Sun is not so like the body of the Sun the character on the wax is not so like the seal that imprints it nay milk is not so like milke as Christ is like his father He is up and down the self-same that his Father is they differ in nothing Christus est alius à patre non aliud but that the one is the father and not the son the other is the son and not the father Hence that of our Saviour to Philip when he said Lord shew us the father and it sufficeth us Jesus saith unto him Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me Philip He that hath seen me Ioh. 14.8 9 hath seen the Father and how sayest thou then shew us the Father The very same All-powerfull God who in fellowship of his sacred person hath a soul and body glorified the same spirituall nature is the nature of the Father As if the same soul and body that is in you were communicated with the person of your child Well might our Saviour therefore say If ye had known me ye should have known my father also John 14.7 Oh learne and labour therefore to profit more and more in the mystery of Christ to know him better in his natures in his offices in his workes both of Abasement and Advancement of Humiliation and Exaltation but especially to know him as St. Paul did for the other you may easily know out of every Catechisme to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death Phil. 3.10 This is the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus ver 8. this is life eternall Ioh. 17.3 We know no more of God and his will then we practise and have experience of Christ is said to know no sin because he did none and Eli's sons knew not the Lord though priests because they feared him not they deteined the truth they knew in unrighteousnesse as those Philosophers did Rom. 1.18 SECT IX Let them thankfully acknowledge his free grace in their adoption and why A Second duty we owe to God as his children is thankfull acknowledgement of that never-enough adored depth of his singular love in our Adoption The absolute and independant freedome of his grace herein was such that without any the least colour of cause or shew of reason in us without any defect on his part or desert on ours He drew us out of the most vile and servile condition that could be into the glorious liberty of the sons of God David was to be gathered to his fathers Psal 132.11 Esay 9.6 1 Tim. 1.17 Psal 2. and it was therefore a singular favour to him that he should have children to sit upon his throne after him But God is the King immortall as St. Paul stiles him the everlasting Father as Esay and therefore needs no son to succeed him But if he did he had a son of his own as like him as is possible whom also he hath set as King upon his holy hill of Sion Amongst men those that have children of their own if they adopt another mans childe it is commonly because their own are unfit for succession either from some bodily weaknesse as not likely to leave issue or for basenesse of spirit and badnesse of behaviour as uncapable and unfit for government Now none of all this can without horrible blasphemy be said of the Lord Christ But admit the case had so stood with God that it had been requisite he should have adopted any for his sons and heirs the good Angels might have drawn away his affection from us by their holinesse or the evill angels his compassion for their wretchednesse or he could for a need of very stones have raised up children to himself to be heirs of his kingdome in Christ It was his will only and nothing else that moved his will to set his love upon us as we may see both in the type Deut. 7.7 and in the truth Eâ—h 1.5 Surely as there was no defect or need in him so there was as little merit or desert in us For whereas in the civill adoption as when Pharaohs daughter adopted Moses Mordecai adopted Esther Jacob the two sons of Joseph there is something in the Adopted that moveth the Adoptant cither some outward inducement as kindred beauty favour c. or some inward as the gifts of the minde understanding ingenuity hopefulnes c. there was nothing at all in us to move God to such a mercy For outward respects there was neither kindled to mâ—â—te him for our father was an Amorite Ezek. 16.3 4 5 6. Christ calls his spouse first his Love and thâ—n his fair one Câ—â—t 2.10 Homo est inversâ—s decalogus Eph. 2.1 2. our mother a Hittite we were the sons of the perverse rebellious woman as Saul reproached Ionathan nor yet beauty to intice him for we were in our blood in our blood in our blood when he spread the skirt of his garment over us and said unto us Live Blood is so many severall times there named to note our extreme filthinesse so little amiable were we when he set his love upon us And for any inward motive grace which is the only thing that God looks after Psal 14.2 is not at all to be found in the naturall man Nay he stands acrosse and is quite contrary to it as being acted and agitated by the devill and held captive as a slave by him at his pleasure Loe this was our estate thus the Lord found us when he came to adopt us And indeed Adoption to speak properly as it is a borrowed terme from the civil law imports as much For it is the raking of one foâ— a son who is for present in some servitude to another And so Lawyers distinguish it from Arrogation which is say they the chusing of one for a son that is free his own man not under the command of another But such alass was not our case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 3.23 for both Jews and Gentiles were shut up under sin fist shut up close prisoners in the devills dungeon whose works we did as slaves and could not but do them whose image we bear as sons and could not but resemble him being as like the devill as if we had been spâ—tout of his mouth and had perished together with him in our own filth and blood like that forlorne infant Ezek. 16. had not he of his mere grace and goodnesse when it was thetime of loves said unto us Live yea when we were weltring in our blood he said Live Oh let the deep and due consideration of this matchlesse mercy and free favour ravish and
their cruelty the valour of the patients the savagenesse of the persecutours strove together till both exceeding nature and belief bred wonder and astonishment in beholders and readers These were those lion-like men of the tribe of Judah that took the kingdom by violence Judah which signifieth the Confessour had the kingdom as Levi had the Priest-hood both forfeited by Reuben who was weak as water Gen. 49. and I will save the house of Joseph that is Ephraim but for the ten tribes whom God here promiseth to save not to bring back saith the Geneva-Note on Ver. 9. But others there are that gather from these words and these that follow that God will not onely preserve them but reduce and resettle them in their own countrey yea and multiply them so abundantly as that their countrey shall not be able to hold them Verse 10. Whence cometh Ashurs and Egypts subjection to Christ that is all the tract of the East and of the South verse 1. and their perpetual establishment in the faith Verse 12 And I will bring them again to place them I will place them in their houses as Hos 11.11 The Sept. render it I will cause them to dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compos The Caldee I will gather together their captivity Some special mercy is assured them by this special word of a mixt conjugation for I have mercy upon I them Here 's a double cause alledged of these so great and gracious promises and both excluding works First Gods mere mercy Secondly his Election of grace for I am the Lord their God This latter is the cause of the former for God chose his people for his love and then loveth them for his choice The effects of which love are here set down 1. That he heareth their prayers I will hear them 2. That he reaccepteth and restoreth them in Christ as if they had never offenced against him They shall be as though I had not cast them off That was a cutting speech and far worse then their captivity Jer. 16.13 When God not onely threateneth to cast them out of their countrey into a strange land but that there he would slew them no favour Here he promiseth to pitty them and then they must needs think deliverance was at next door by and they shall be as though I had not cast them off And this the sooner and the rather because they called them out-casts saying This is Zion whom no man seeketh after Jer. 30.17 The Jewish Nation saith Tully shew how God regards them that have been so oft overcome viz. by Nehuchad-nezzar Pompey c. God therefore promiseth to provide for his own great name by being fully reconciled to his poor people whom the world looked upon abjects for I am the Lord their God And if I should not see to their safey Psal 119. it would much reflect upon me This David well knew and therefore prayes thu I am thine Lord save me and will hear them Or I will speak with them speak to their hearts It is no more saith One then if a man were in a fair dining-room with much good company and there is some speciall friend whom he loveth dearly that calleth him aside to speak in private of businesse that neerly concerneth him and though he go into a worse room yet he is well enough pleased So if God in losse of friends houses countrey comforts whatsoever will speak with us will answer us the losse will be easily made up Philip Lantgrave of Hesse being a long time prisoner under Charles 5. was demanded what upheld him all that time He answered that he had felt the favour of God and the Divine consolations of the Martyrs There be Divine comforts that are felt onely under the crosse I will bring her into the wildernesse and there speak to her heart Hos 2.13 Israel was never so royally provided for with Manna Quails and other cates as when they were in the wildernesse The crosse is anointed with comfort which makes it not onely light but sweet not onely not troublesome and importable but desirable and delightful saith Bernard Thy presence O Lord made the very gridiron sweet to Laurence saith another How easily can God make up our losse and breaches Verse 7. And they of Ephraim shall be as a mighty man The same again and in the same words for more assurance because the return of the ten Tribes might seem a thing more incredible Erant enim quasi putridum cadaver saith Calvin here they were as rotten carkasses and they had obiter onely heard of these promises as if some grain of feed should be dropt by the high-way-side for they were now as aliens from the Common-wealty of Israel and their hert shall rejoyce as throught wine Which naturally exhilarateth Psal 104.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is called by Plato one of the Mitigaters of humane misery See Prov. 31.6 with the Note Some nations use to drink wine freely before they enter the battel to make them undaunted Some think here may be an allusion to such a custom I should rather understand it of that generous wine of the spirit Eph. 5.18 yea their children shall see it Therefore they were not to antedate the promises but to wait the accomplishment which should certainly be if not them yet to theirs after them even a full restauration in due season Verse 8. I will hisse for them and gather them As a shepheard hisseth or whistleth for his flock See Judg. 5.16 where it should not be translated the bleatings of the flocks but the hissings or whistlings of the shepheards to their flocks when they would get them together God who hath all creatures at his beck and check can easily bring back his hanished gather together his dispersed with a turn of a hand Zech. 13.7 with a blast of his mouth as here as if any offer to oppose him herein he can blow them to destruction Iob. 4.9 He can frown them to death Psal 80.16 He can crush them between his fingers as men do a moth Psal 39.11 and crumble them to crattle Psal 146.4 Like sheep they are laid in the grave death shall feed on them and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling Psal 49.14 For I have redeemed them I have in part and that 's a pledge of the whole my hands also shall finish it as Chap 4.9 God doth not his work to the halves neither must we but if he shall be All in All unto us we must be altogether His Cant. 2.16 His is a covenant of mercy ours of obedience which must be therefore full and finall as Christ hath obtained for us an entire and everlasting redemption Heb. 9.12 and they shall increase as they have increased By verue of that promise to Abraham Gen. 13.16 I will multiply thy seed as the dust of the earth and Gen 15.5 as the stars of
Christo Calvin in loc He looks upon such as serve him in sincerity as upon sons and daughters 2. That he will surely shew like mercies and mildnesse to his children in their faults and failings in their wants and weaknesses as the kindest father would do to his dearest son that serveth him For the former point The promise of pardon is here fitly made sub patris parabola saith Gualther under the similitude of a father Figuier in loc And the sense is thus much saith another Interpreter although I seem for a time to the blinde moles of the world to be negligent of those that are diligent about me of my best and busiest servants yet I think upon them still as my dearest children and when I may be thought most carelesse and cruel towards them then am I a most propitious and sin-pardoning father fully reconciled unto them in Christ for there comes in the kinred according to that of our Saviour in his message by Mary to his distressed disciples after his resurrection I ascend unto your father Iohn 20.17 and my father mine and yours and therefore yours because mine For as many as received him saith St. Iohn to them he gave priviledge to become the sons of God Ioh. 1.12 And again when the fulnesse of time was come saith another Apostle God sent forth his son his natural onely begotten son made of a woman and so by personal union of the two natures in one Christ his son by a new relation Gal. 4.4 according to that This day have I begotten thee and all to the end that we may receive the adoption of sons That we which by nature were children of wrath and by practise children of the devil might by divine acceptation and grace be made the children of God who had predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will Ephe. 1.4 5. to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved One. SECT I. Reasons hereof drawn from the causes IN which heavenly Text Reas 1 we have the first and chief ground of this doctrine drawn from the causes of our spiritual sonship 1. The fundamental and original cause Gods decree of election by grace we have an act for it in Gods eternal counsel According as he hath chosen us in Christ before the soundation of the world c. For which cause also the predestinate are called the Church of the first-born who are written in heaven Heb. 12.23 And whom he did foreknow saith Saint Paul them he did predestinate also to be conformed to the image of his son like him in glory as well as in sufferings like in being sons as he is a son that he might be even according to his humanity the first-born among many brethren Rom. 8.29 2. The meritorious and procuring or working cause of our adoption is here set forth to be the Lord Christ in whom he as a father hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things Ephe. 1.3 but all in Christ and all in this order A christian by the Gospel is made a beleever Now faith afteran unspeakable manner engrafteth him into the body of Christ the natural son and hence we become the adopted sons of God it being the property of faith to adopt as well as to justifie ratione objecti by means of the object Christ up whom faith layeth hold For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3.26 Children I say not by creation as Adam is called the son of God Luk. 3. because he was produced in the similitude of God but by marriage and mystical union with Christ the fecond Adam the heir of all who hath 1. Laid down the price of that great priviledge Heb. 9.15 even his own most precious blood redeeming us thereby that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons Gal. 45. 2. He hath sealed it up to us by his spirit that earnest of our inheritance Eph. 1.13 called therefore the spirit of adoption and the spirit of Gods son as springing out of his death Rom. 8.15 Joh. 16.14 Gal 4.6 and procured by his intercession For because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba father 3. Here is the motive and impulsive cause and that is the good pleasure of his will Joh. 1.12 1 John 3.1 2 Tim. 1. vlt. his absolute independent grace and mercy was the sole inductive He giveth us this dignity saith St Iohn in his Gospel And what more free then gift he sheweth us this love saith he in his epistle because it was the time of love that we should be called the sons of God So that our Adoption is not a priviledge purchased by contract of justice Rom. 8.23 Prov. 16.4 but an inheritance cast upon us of free grace and goodnesse The Lord shew mercy to Onesiphorus in that day when our adoption shal be crowned with its ful accomplishment Lastly here we have the final cause of our adoption â—heprâ—â—ise of the glory of his grace This is the end God propounds to himself in this as in all other his works as having none higher then himself to whom to have respect for he is the most highest God hath made all things for himself yea the wicked also for the day of evil viz. for the glory of his Justice and power as he told Pharaoh Rom. 9.17 but especially of his grace sith all that his justice doth in the Reprobation of some tendeth to this ultimate end of all that the riches of his grace may be the more displayed in the election of others SECT II. Reasons from the effects of his father-hood A Second reason followeth from the effects and those are no lesse demonstrative of the point then the causes Reas 2 These are 1. Gods fatherly affections 2. His expressions both which speake him a father to all his For his affection first to his people Albeit they be but his Adopted children yet he loves them more then any naturall father doth his own bowels Jam. 1. ult Hence he is called the father by an eminency as if there were no father to him none like him none besides him as indeed there is not originally and properly Called he is the father of all mercies Eph. 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paternitas paerentela Math. 23.9 the fountaine of all that mercy that is found in any father all is but a spark of his flame a drop of his ocean Yea he is stiled the father of all the fatherhoods in heaven and earth Whence also our Saviour Call no man saith He your father on earth for one is your father even God To enter comparison in some few particulars First a father loves freely not so much for that his child is witty or wealthy Patriam amat quisque nonquia
he sinned not Dei scriptis injuriam faciunt saith Luther they wrong the scriptures The best have their infirmities as the snow-like swan hath black legs and as no pomegranate is without some rotten graines David saw such volumes of corruptions and so many Errata's in all that he did that he cries out Who can understand his errours Cleanse thou me from secret faultes Joseph Antiq. lib. 9. cap. 11. Psal 19.12 to flee unto Tarshish Tarsus in Cilicia St. Paules countrey Act. 21.39 and 23.3 rather then the city Tunis in Afrike as Vatablus will have it or the East-Indies as others Tarshish sometimes signifieth the maine Ocean as Psal 48.8 whence some take it here for the sea but that may be by a metonymie of the adjunct because Tarsus stood upon the Ocean-shore and was a fit haven whence to hoise up saile into sundry countries from the presence of the Lord Ab ante Domini from the speciall and spirituall presence of God wherein he had hitherto stood and ministred For from Gods generall presence whereby he filleth all places and is not farr from any one of us Act. 17.27 not so farr surely as the bark is from the tree the skin from the flesh or the flesh from the bones Jonas knew he could not flee Blind Nature saw and could say quascunque accesseris oras Sub Jove semper eris God is a circle said Empedocles whose center is every where whose circumference is no where Why the Prophet fled many causes are assigned by Interpreters as Amor patriae timor humanus c. his feare of the Ninevites his love to his Israelites his conceit that it would be to little purpose to preach to heathens sith he had prevailed so little at home c. The very cause was that which we find chap. 4.2 I fled to Tarshish for I knew that thou art a gratious God c. and I feared lest I should thereupon be counted a false Prophet So much there is of Self found in the best who when once they are got out of Gods way they may run they know not whither and return they know not when and went down to Ioppa Heb. Iapho a sea-town in the tribe of Dan. Iosh 19.46 distant about 50. miles from Geth-Hepher Jonas his town 2 King 14.25 which was in the tribe of Zabulon toward the lake of Tiberias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sinners are no small paines-takers There is the same Hebrew and Greek word for wickednesse and toilesomenesse Would sinners be at the same paines for heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they are at for hell they could not lightly miss of it and he found a ship going to Tarshish They that have a mind to commit sin shall easily meet with an occasion the Tempter who feeleth their pulses and knoweth which way they beat will soon fit them a penniworth He hath a wedge of gold to set before Achan a Cozbi before Zimri Indeed it is the just mans happinesse that no evill shall happen to him Prov. 12.21 that is as Mercer interpreteth it non parabitur ei dabitur occasio iniquitatis Non causabiâ—ur aptabitur God shall cut off from him the occasions of sin remove stumbling-blocks out of his way either not lead him into temptation or not leave him in it so he paid the fare thereof Forsan ut citiùs navie solveret Mercer perhaps to make the marriners hasten the more Jonas might better have obeyed God and gone to Nineveh on free-cost But wit is best when 't is bought they say How many be there who perish at their own charge as Phocion the Athenian payd for the poyson that dispatched him to go with them to Tarshish from the presence c. i. e. out of Gods blessing into the worlds warme Sun All wilfull sinners are runnagates from the Lord factique sunt à corde suo fugitivi saith Teritullian faine they would also run if they knew how or whither from their own consciences But if they belong to God Conscience shall be awakened to do its office and they shall one day say with her I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home againe empty why then call ye me Naomi call me Marah for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me Ruth 1.20 21. Verse 4. But the Lord sent out Heb. cast forth sc out of his treasuries Psal 135.7 where-hence he sendeth at his pleasure mighty great winds which he the only Aeolus holdeth in his fist hideth in his repositories checketh them as he seeth good weighs them in his hand Iob 28.25 sends them out as his Posts makes them pace orderly appoints them their motion whether as messengers of mercy Num. 11.13 Gen. 8.1 Exod. 14.21 or as executioners of justice Exod. 10.13 Iob 1.29 hurting mens houses cattle corn persons yea hurrying and hurling the wicked into hell Iob 27.21 a great wind into the sea whither they that go down in ships see Gods great wonders in the deep For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof c. Psa 107.23 24 25. c. Did it not so in a marvelous manner here in 88. and againe in that other 88. some few yeares since Had not Jehosaphat his ships broken at Ezion-geber 1 King 22.48 Val. Max. Christian pâ— 132. and Charles the fifth at Algeire by two terrible tempests which destroyed almost all that goodly Fleet The very marriners acknowledged this wind to be an effect of Gods justice and therefore thought fit to implore his mercy for there was a mighty tempest in the sea which is troublesome of it self and never still though sometimes it seems so but by blustering and big winds is made out of measure troublesome such as was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 8.23 Inhorrait marâ— Virg. and that Eurâ—clydon Act. 27.14 which Pliny calleth Navigantium Pestem the marriners misery so that the ship was like to be broken Heb. thought to be broken Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was in danger to be broken the marriners made no other reckoning they looked upon all as lost God reserveth his holy hand for a dead lift usually and loveth to help those that are forsaken of their hopes Verse 5. Then the marriners were afraid and cryed every man to his God Forced by the present necessity first these stout fellowes were surprized with feare neither could they looke pale death in the face with blood in their cheeks Death is the king of terrours Iob 18.14 Natures slaughter-man Gods curse and hels purveyour Next they cryed every man to his God This was a lesson of Dame Natures teaching sc that there is a God and that this God is to be called upon and especially in distresse Those fooles of the people that said there was no God could not when hardly bestead but look up to heaven and cry out for help 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All people will walk every one in the name of
〈◊〉 Sept. or else from porters who set their several shoulders to the same burden The Saints may the better doe so because they have the Spirit to lift with them and over anent them as the Apostles word importeth Rom. 8.26 Let them therefore endeavour by all good means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Eph. 4.3 that they may say as holy Miconius did of himselfe and his colleagues at Gotha in Thuringia Cucurrimus certavimus laboravimus pugnavimus vicimiv viximus semper conjunctissimi We ever ran together strove laboured fought vanquished and did altogether in much peace and concord This is Christian-like indeed See Act. 1.14 and 2.1.46 and 4.32 animo animaque inter se miscebansur saith Tertullian they were all of one heart and of one minde The very Heathens acknowledged that no people in the world did hold together and love one another so as Christians did To see their travels saith Master Fox concerning the Saints here in times of persecution their earnest seeking burning zeal readings watchings sweet assemblies love concord godly living faithfull marrying with the faithfull c. Act. Mon. 750. may make us now in these our dayes of free profession but lamentable divisions to blush for shame They served the lord with one shoulder we shoulder one another they kept unity with purity without schisme much lesse heresy glorifying the God and Father of ovr Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and with one mouth Rom. 15.6 with a pure lip as it is here we are quot homines tot sententiae so many men so many mindes How many religions are there now amongst us saith one Old heresies new vampt Our Saviour Christ saith if the Son of man come shall he find faith c Yes sure he may find many faiths so many men so many faiths Pudet opprobria nobis c. It is not peace but party that some men mind saith another 1 Cor. 14.23 their chief studies are studium partium studium novarum rerum part-taking and novelling But what saith the Apostle If ye speak with several tongues will not he that comes in think ye are mad so when the world hears of so many dissonant opinions will they not think wee are runne wild Is it not a shame to us that the Turks should say we may sooner look that the fingers on our hands should be all of one length then that the Christians should be all of one judgement why should any Julian jeare us for our divisions why should any Campian hit us in the teeth with our many sects and schismes Pardon may be got for our other sinnes by faith in Christs blood Ad fratres in Suevia Lutheran discordiam neque si sanguinem fundamus expiabimus saith Oecolampadius to the Lutherans of his time our scandalous discords God will judge Verse 10. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia Heb. of Chush that is of Arabia Chusaea which lay betwixt Judea and Egypt Confer Esay 18.1 7. Some understand it of Ethiopia which is beyond the river Nilus and hath two very great rivers See this in part fulfilled by that Ethiopian Eunuch Act. 8. Euseb lib. 1. cap. 1. Alvarez hist Aethiopic neither may we think that he was alone in that countrey Matthias the Apostle is said to have preached the Gospel to the Ethiopians The large region of Nubia there had from the Apostles time as 't is thought professed the Christian faith till about 200 years since it forsook the same The kingdome of Habassia held by Presbyter John See Breerw Enquiries 156.197.159.174 are yet Christians differing from us in a few ceremonies onely See the Note on Chap. 2.12 My supplyants My praying people that ply the throne of grace and multiply strong suits pouring out a flood of words in humble supplication as the Hebrew signifieth continuing instant in prayer as knowing that their safety here and salvat on hereafter is of me alone Even the daughter of my dispersed Jews and Gentiles elect of both sorts Joh. 11.52 scattered here and there as the salt of the earth upon the face thereof to keep it from putrifying Danaeus thinketh that there is mention made of the daughter of the dispersed affectionately namely both to describe the earnestnesse of the Saints in serving God for women quicquid volunt valdè volunt and that this so goodly and and joyfull a spectacle or sight of women worshipping and servng God and of Virgins especially might stirre up and move affections It is easy to observe that the New Testament affordeth more store of good women then the old who can make masculine prayers mingled with tears And as Musick upon the waters sounds further and more harmoniously then upon the land so doe prayers well watered Shall bring mine offering Heb. my meat-offering or rather my wheat-offering their hodies and souls Rom. 12.1 that best of facrifices for a reasonable service Minchath◠a solemn present such that the Chaldee paraphrast might expresse He translateth it thus They shall bring as presents unto me the banished of my people who were carried captive and shall return by my mercies Some think that here is foretold the return of the Jewes to their own land toward the end of the world to set up the spirituall worship of God there the famous Church that shall be among them full of sanctity and ridde of all wicked ones verse 11 12 13. the joy and gladnesse that shall possesse their soules verse 14. through Gods removing of all cause of fear from them verse 15. the encouragement they shall receive from others verse 16. and which is the cause of all this the apparent arguments of Gods great love and favour vers 17. the quality of those that shall be received to be citizens of this New Jerusalem verse 18. the utter rooting out of all their enemies verse 19 the fame and dignity that this Church of the Iews shall be of among all nations vers 19 ◠Thus they quà m rectè iudicium sit penes Lectorens Verse 11. In that day shalt thou not be ashamed There is an holy shame for sinne such as was that of Ezra chap. 9.6 of the penitent Publican Luk. 18.13 and of those good souls in Ezekiel who blushing and bleeding loathed themselves for their abominations To be ashamed on this sort is no shame Ezek. 16. but a signe of that godly sorrow that worketh repentance never to be repented of and not to know shame to be frontlesse and impudent is the note of a naughty man Verse 5. But that which God promiseth here is that he will cover their sinnes not impute them Psal 32.1.2 and that he will by his grace preserve them from scandalous and reproachfull practises that might render them ignominious and despicable see Psal 19.39 shiring upon them himselfe and giving them honour in the hearts of others as he did Solomon Them that rejoyce in the
from a blind understanding and carnall affection The Church in its infancy was inticed with shewes and shadowes but now God requires a reasonable service he calls for spirit and truth Verse 4. Yet now be strong O Zerubbabel c. Here he exhorteth all ranks first to good Affection Be strong or of a good courage Secondly to good Action Work or Be doing for affection without action is like Rachel beautifull but barren Charach unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 valeo Sept. vertunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be strong so as to prevaile and carry on the service all discouragements notwithstanding Those that will serve God in the maintenance of good causes must be couragious and resolute 1 Cor. 16.13 For otherwise they shall never be able to withstand the opposition that will be made either from carnall reason within or the World and Devill without for want of this spirituall mettle this supernaturall strength this spirit of power of love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 4.7 opposed to the spirit of feare that cowardly passion that unmans us and expectorateth and exposeth us to sundry both sins and snares when he that trusteth in the Lord shall be safe Prov. 29.25 Here then that we faulter not budge not betray not the cause of God nor come under his heavie displeasure who equally hateth the timerous and the treacherous let us 1. Be armed with true faith for Fides famem non formidat faith quelleth and killeth distrustfull feare 2. Get the heart fraught with the true feare of God for as one fire so one feare drives out another Mat. 10.28 1 Pet. 3.13 14. 1. Get and keep a clearing chearing conscience for that feareth no colours as we see in St. Paul Athanasius Luther Latimer and other holy Martyrs and Confessours 4. Think on Gods presence as here Be strong and be doing for I am with you Though David walk thorough the vale of the shadow of death that is of death in its most hideous and horrid representations he will not feare For why thou art with me saith He Psal 23.3 4. Dogs and other creatures will fight stoutly in their Masters presence 5. Consider your high and heavenly calling and say Et Turnum fugieutem haec terra videbit Virg. Shall such a man as I fly c Either change thy name or be valiant saith Alexander to a souldier of his that was of his own name but a coward Lastly look up as St. Steven did to the recompence of reward steale a look from glory as Moses Heb. 11.26 help your selves over the difficulty of suffering together with Christ by considering the happinesse of raigning together Thus be of good courage or deale couragiously and God shall be with the good 2 Chro. 19. vlt. as Iehosaphat told his Judges when to go their circuit and work Good affections must end in good actions else they are scarce sound but much to be suspected Num. 23.10 Ruth 1. Good wishes and no more may be found in hels mouth Num. 23. Orphah had good affections but they came to nothing God must be entreated to fix our quick-silver to ballast our lightnesse to work in us both to will and to doe that it may be said of us as of those Corinthians that as there was in them a readinesse to will so there followed the performance also 2 Cor. 8.12 Desire and Zeal are set together 2 Cor. 7.11 desire after the sincere milk and grouth in grace 1 Pet. 2.2 John Baptists hearers so desired after heaven that they offered violence to it Mat. 11. True affections are the breathings of a broken heart Acts 2.37 Rom. 7.23 But the desires of the slothful kill him Prov. 21.25 Virtutem exoptat contabescitque relictâ Good affections are ill bestowed upon the sluggard sith they boyl not up to the full heat and height of resolution for God or Pers at least of execution of his will The sailes of a ship are not ordained that shee should lie alwaies at rode but launch out into the deep God likes not qualmy Christians good by fits as Saul seemed to be when Davids innocency triumphed in his conscience or as Ephraim whose duties were dough-baked and whose goodnesse was as the morning-dew c. Be ye stedfast and unmoveable 1 Cor. 15. 〈◊〉 always abounding in the work of the Lord. Stick not at any part of it difficulty doth but whet on Heroick Spirits as a boule that runs down hill is not slugged but quickened by a rub in the way If this be to be vile I le be yet more vile 1 Sam. 6.22 who art thou O great mountain Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain Zach. 4.7 And hee said unto me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weaknesse 2 Cor. 12.9 For I am with you saith the Lord of hosts By a twofold presence 1. Of help and assistance 2. Of love and acceptance Of the first see chap. 1. verse 13. with the note there The second seems here intended The Jews were poore yet God assureth them they had his love So had the Church of Smyrna Rev. 2.9 I know thy poverty but that 's nothing thou art rich rich in reversion rich in bils and bonds yea rich in possession or All is theirs they hold all in capite they have 1. plenty 2. propriety in things of greatest price for they have God All-sufficient for their portion for their protection I am with you saith he and that 's enough that 's able to counterpoise any defect whatsoever as we see in David often but especially at the sack of Ziklag where when he had lost all and his life also was in suspence the Text saith he comforted or encouraged himselfe in the Lord his God 1 Sam. 30.6 whereas Saul in like case goes first to the witch and then to the swords point A godly man if any occasion of discontent befals him retires himselfe into his counting-house and there tells over his spiritual treasure he runs to his cordials he reviews his white stone his new name better then that of sonnes and of daughters Isay 56.5 Rev. 2.17 he hath meat to eat that the world knoweth not of the stranger meddleth not with his joy Virtus lecythos habet in malis Tua praeseutia Domine Laurentio ipsam craticulam dulcem fecit saith a Father Thy presence O Lord made the very gridiron sweet to the martyr Laurence It made the fiery furnace a gallery of pleasure to the three worthies the lions den an house of defence to Daniel the whales belly a lodging-chamber to Jonas Egypt an harbour a sanctuary to the child Jesus c. He goes with his into the fire and water as a tender father goeth with his child to the Surgeon Neverthelesse saith David I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by my right hand Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory Again I am with you that
saith David Psal 51.4 Lo there lay this pinch of his grief that he had offended so good a God It was the Myrrhe and its scent that Christ had dropped on the bars of the door that waked the drousy Spouse and made her bowels fret Cant. 5. This made her first weep in secret and then seek out after him whom her soul loved She first went to enquire of the Lord as Rebecca did Gen. 25.22 and then she hears from him those sweet words Cant. 2.14 Oh my dove that art in the clefts of the rocks that hast wrought thy self a burrough a receptacle of rest in the Rock of ages in the secret places of the stars whither thou art retired as for security so for secrecy to mourn as a dove and to pray for pardon Shew me thy face which now appeareth most orientally beautiful because most instampt with sorrow for sin Let me hear thy voice which never sounds so melodiously as when thy heart is broken most penitentially for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance comly and their wives apart Sarah had her peculiar tent Ge. 24.65 wherein she dwelt Ge. 18.6 died Ge. 23.2 Rebecca likewise had her retiring-room whither she went to enquire of the Lord Ge. 25.22 Rachel Leah had their several tents apart from Iacobs Ge. 31.33 Miriam and her women do apart by themselves praise God for deliverance Exo. 15.20 Esth 4.16 I and my maidens will fast likewise saith Esther In a time of solemn humiliation let the bride-groom go forth of his chamber and the bride out of her closet Ioel 2.16 See 1 Cor. 7.5 Amongst both Jews Greeks and Romans the women were separated from the men in publike acts and assemblies in times of common calamity especially as may be gathered out of Plutarch Athenaeus Virgil Livy ad templum non aequae Palladis ibant Iliades Stratae passim Matres crinibus Templa verrentes veniam irarum coelestium exposcant saith He The men by themselves and the women by themselves sought to appease the angry Gods Here they are severed to shew that they wept not for company sed sponte proprio affectu as Calvin hath it but of their own accord and out of pure affection they freely lamented not so much for Christs dolorous death as for that themselves had a chief hand in it and were the principal causes of it The best kinde of humiliation is to love and weep as that woman did Luk. 7. who made her eyes a fountain to wash Christs feet in and had his side opened for a fountain to wash her soul in as it is Chap. 13.1 A remnant according to the election of grace Rom. 11.5 all the families that remain Out of every family of this people God will have some converts A thing so incredible that to perswade it the Prophet may here seem to some prophane person to use more words then needeth CHAP. XIII Verse 1. IN that day there shall be a fountain opened Nunc fructum poenitentiae adiungit sath Calvin here This is the fruit of their repentance No sooner mourn they over Christ but they are received to mercy I said I will confesse my transgressions unto the Lord and or ever I can do it thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin that is both the sting and stain of it the guilt and the filth Psal 32.5 the crime and the curse Repent and your sins shall be blotted out saith Peter to those nefarious Kill-Christs Act. 3.9 God will crosse the black lines of your sins with the red lines of his sons blood 1 Ioh. 1.6 A fountain shall be opened not a cistern but a spring a pool better then that of Siloam which is by interpretation Sent Iohn 9.7 and so a type of Christ who loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen To seal up this matchlesse mercy to us Rev. 1.5.6 he sent first by the hand of his forerunner and baptized those that repented for the remission of sins Mat. 3.2 Act. 2.38 And afterwards he set wide open this blessed fountain this laver of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 Saying by his Ministers to every beleever as once to Paul Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord. Act. 22.16 whereunto salvation is promised Rom. 10.13 Ioel 2.22 Baptisme also is said to save us 1 Pet. 3.21 sc sacramentally for it sealeth up salvation to the beleever Mar. 16.16 and is of perpetual and permanent use to him for that purpose his whole life thorowout ut scaturigo semper ebulliens as a fountain bubbling up to eternal life Here then the Sacrament of Baptisme is prophecied of and promised And hence haply the Baptisme of Iohn is said to have been from heaven Mat. 21.25 All the Levitical purifications pointed to this Kings-Bath of Christs meritorious blood this ever-flowing overflowing fountain for the grace of our Lord Jesus hath abounded to flowing over as S. Pauls expression is with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither can it ever be dried up as was the river Cherith the brooks of Tema c. but is an inexhausted fountain a fresh-running spring for all that have but a minde to make toward it Tam recens mihi nunc Christus est ac si hac horâ fudisset sanguinem saith Luther Christ is still as fresh and soveraign to me as if this very hour he had shed his blood He was the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world and shall be so to the end thereof Cruci haeremus sanguinem sugimus intra ipsa Redemptoris nostri vulnera figimus linguam saith Cyprian of the Lords Supper i. e. We cleave to the crosse at this holy ordinance we suck Christ's blood we thrust our tongues into the very wounds of our Redeemer and are hereby purged from all pollutions of flesh and spirit to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem i. e. To all sorts and sexes of penitents be they noble or ignoble strong Christians or weak see Zach. 12.8 none shall be secluded from this fountain thus opened or exposed to all not sealed and shut up as that Cant. 4.12 God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him Act. 10.34 35. and worketh righteousnesse is accepted of him for sin and for uncleannesse i. e For all sorts of sinnes though they be such as in their desert do separate us from communion with God and company of men See Levit. 12. and 15. render us worthy to be excommunicated proscribed and banished out of the world as pists and botches of humane society by a common consent of nations as the obstinate Iews are at this day for their inexpiable guilt in crucifying Christ The vulgar here
the Hebrew and had joyned their forces in translating the Prophets into the Dutch tongue But oh how few such as these and of that sort of people shall a man meet with now-adayes Copp indeed that Arch-Ranter Venereus ille furcifer Cleri dehonestamentum is said to have newly set forth his Recantation which I have not yet seen and therefore cannot tell what to say to it Onely I wish he deale not as Bernard Rotman that first Anabaptist and Islebius Agricola that first Antinomian did in Germany who both of them having condemned their own errours and recanted them in a publike Auditory printing their revocation Sleidan Horndorf yet afterwards they relapsed into the same errours and stoutly stood to them when Luther was dead and more Liberty was afforded So hard a thing it is to get poison out when once swallowed down and having once said yea to the devill though but in a little to say him nay again when a man pleaseth such a man especially quem puduit non fuisse impudentem Augustin 2 Thes 2.12 who hath gloried in his shame and taken pleasure in his unrighteousnesse qui noluit solita peccare as Seneca saith of some in his time that is none of the ordinary sort of sinners but hath sought to out-sin others as unhappy boyes strive who shall goe furthest in the dirt I will not say but such by the almighty power of God may be reclaimed and made to see that there is no fruit to be had of those errours and enormities whereof they are now ashamed Rom. 6.21 22 sith the end of those things in the desert of them is death But now being made free from sin and become servants to God they will have very great cause to be thankfull to God for the cure sith Jealousy Frensy and Heresy are held hardly curable the leprosy in the head concludes a man utterly uncleane and excludes him the camp Heresy is by the Apostle compared to a precipice vortex or whirle-poole that first turns a man round and then sucks him in And by others to the Syrens bankes covered with dead mens bones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.9 to Goodwins sands that swallow up all ships that come neare them or to the Harlots house whence few or none return alive Pro. 7.26 27. Verse 5. But he shall say I am no Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am no Monk no Clerk I am not book-learned was the ignorant mans plea in Chrysostomes time and so it is still to this day though it serves not his turne But here the like speech is taken up for a better purpose Hoc et enim principium est resipiscentiae saith Calvin here Here begins their repentance viz. in a free acknowledgement of their ignorance and utter unfiâ—nesse for the office they had usurped Si ventribene si lateri Horat. I am no prophet as for self respects that my belly might be filled and my back fitted I sinfully took upon me to be one but I am an husbandman and can better hold the plow then handle a text feed and follow a flock of sheep then feed the flock of God that have golden fleeces precious soules taking the oversight thereof not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind 1 Pet. 5.2 for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth q.d. Shephardy and husbandry I have been ever trained up to and can better therefore skill of then of Preaching which is certainly Ars artium scientia scientiarum the Art of Arts the science of sciences as One said Whereunto Melancthon addeth that it is the misery of miseries And of the same minde was his Colleague Luther when he said An housholders pains is great a Magistrates greater but a Ministers greatest of all and afterward added that if it were lawfull for him to leave his calling he could with more ease and pleasure dig for his living or do any other hard labour then undergo a Pastorall charge The mystery thereof is not an idle-mans occupation an easie trade as some fondly conceit The sweat of the brow is nothing to that of the brain besides dangers on every hand for the works sake and armies of cares that give neither rest nor respit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 11.25 agmen subinde irruens Illyr but are ready to overwhelme a man This made Luther affirme that a Minister labours more in a day many times then a husbandman doth in a moneth Let no man therefore in taking up the ministery dreame of a delicacy Neither let slow-bellies either invade it or hold it as popish asses and some impudent Alastores now-adayes do to pick a living out of it It was an honest complaint of a Popish writer we saith He handle the scripture tantum ut nos pascat vestiat only that it may feed us and cloath us And Cardinall Cajetan not without cause cryes out Com in Mat. 5. that those amongst them that should have been the salt of the earth had lost their savour and were good for little else but looking after the rites and revenues of the Church Now for such as these that serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies that like body-lice live upon other mens sweat or like rats and mice do no more but devoure victuals and run squeaking up and down good is the counsell of the Apostle Let him that stole steale no more but rather let him labour working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth Eph. 4.28 let him earne it before he eate it 2 Thess 3.10 This is hard to perswade those Abby-lubbers that live at ease in cloysters feeding on the fat and drinking of the sweet and those Idoll-shepheards that feed themselves and not the flock O Monachi vestri stomachi Erasmus truely told the Electour of Saxony that Luther Scultet Anna. pag. 52. by medling with the Popes tripple crown and with the Monkes â—â—t paunches had procured himself so great ill will amongst them One of them brake out in a sermon into these angry words If I had Luther here I would teare out his throat with my teeth Act. and Mon. and then make no doubt with the same bloody teeth to eat my maker at the Eucharist How much better were it for such false prophets with quietnesse to work and eat their own bread 2 Thess 3.14 then to drink the blood of other men with their lives as David spake in another case yea with their soules which perish by their insufficiency and gastrimargy Sed venter non habet aures 1 Chr. 11.19 But the belly hath no eares Ease flayeth the foolish Non minus difficulter à deliciis abstrahimur quam canis ab uncto corio Among other scaudals and lets of the Jews conversion this is not the least that they must quit their Goods to the Christians Spec. Europ And the reason is for