my glory i. e. In Christ who is the brightness of his Fathers glory and in sending of whom the glory of his truth wisdom power justice and goodness shone forth as the Sun at noon Ver. 19. And I will set a sign among them This sign may very well be that visible pouring out of the gifts of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost under the symbol of wind and fire Scultet Act. 2. together with the signes and wonders whereby the Apostles doctrine was confirmed Others make this signe to be the Profession of the Christian faith Some also the Doctrine of the Gospel and especially the Sacraments And I will send those that escape of them i. e. The Apostles and their fellow-helpers such as were Barnabas Silas Lucas c. To Tarshish Pul To all parts of the Word East West North and South That draw the bow The Mosches or Moscovites say the Septuagint the Turkes saith one of the Rabbines See the Notes on Rev. 9.15 16 17. Ver. 20. And they shall bring all your brethren Now become all your brethren in Christ Sanctior est copula cordis quam corporis Religion is the strongest eye Vpon horses and in charets and in litters i. e. With much swiftnesse and sweetnesse though sick weakly and unfit for travel yet rather in litters than not at all The Apostles became all things to all men that they might gain them to Christ Ver. 21. And I will also take of them for Priests and for Levites For Evangelical Pastors and Teachers who have a distinct function and employment in the Church of the New Testament as the Priests and Levites had in that of the Old to teach instruct and edifie Gods people Ver. 22. For as the new heaven So shall there be a true Church and a Ministry for the good of my people to the worlds end It shall not be taken away as is the Jewish Polity and Hierarchy Ver. 23. And it shall come to passe that from one new-Moon to another God shall be served with all diligence and delight In the Kingdom of Christ here but especially in heaven it shall be holy-day all the week as we say a constant solemnity a perpetual Sabbath Act. Mon. King Edgar ordained that the Lords day should be kept here in England from Saturday nine of the clock till Munday morning The Ebionites kept the Saturday with the Jews and the Sunday with the Christians But here it is foretold and we see it fulfilled that all flesh i. e. all the faithful whether Jews or Gentiles shall not only keep every day holy-day 1 Cor. 5.8 by resting from sin and rejoycing in God but shall also both in season and out of season have their Church-meetings for holy services worshipping God from day to day and from month to month as the phrase is Esth 3.7 in spirit and in truth and having the continual feast of a good conscience Ver. 24. And they shall go forth and look upon the carkasses Rhetoricians tell us that in the introduction to a discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 milder affections suit best to insinuate but in the conclusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passionate passages such as may leave a sting behind them and stick by the hearers This Art the Prophet here useth for being now to period his Prophecy he giveth all sorts to know what they shall trust to The godly shall go forth i. e. salvi evadent liberi abibunt they shall have safety here and salvation hereafter They shall also look upon the carkasses c. they shall be eye-witnesses of Gods exemplary judgements executed on the wicked that would not have Christ to reign over them Rev. 19.21 who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord and from the presence of his power 2 Thes 1.9 This the righteous shall see and fear and laugh at them Psal 52.6 giving God the glory of his justice and goodness Some think they shall have at last day a real sight of hell and the damned there Rev. 14.10 and this may very well be Oh that wicked men would in their dayly meditations take a turn or two in hell and so be forewarned to fly from the wrath to come Is it nothing to have the worm of conscience ever grubbing upon their entrails and the fire of Gods vengeance feeding upon their souls and flesh throughout all eternity Oh that eternity of extremity Think of it seasonably and seriously that ye never suffer it The Jewish Masters have in some copies wholly left out this last verse as in other copies they repeat both here and in the end of Ecclesiastes Lamentations and Malachy the last verse save one which is more sweet and fuller of comfort and that for this reason that the Reader may not be sent away sad Amama in Antibarb and so fall into desperation But of that there is no such danger sith most people are over slight in their thoughts of hell-torments regarding them no more than they do a fire painted on the wall or a serpent wrought in Arras And besides Non sinit in Gehennam incidere Gehennae meminisse saith Chysostom to remember hell is a good means to preserve us from it This verse hath sufficient authority from our Saviours citing of it Mar. 9.44 See the Note there Plato also if that be any thing in his description of hell which he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fiery lake saith the same as here In Phaed. pag. 400. Inde dictus est Moses Atticus that their worm dyeth not neither is their fire quenched He might possibly have read Isaiah as he had done Moses T is thought Laertius telleth us that he travelled into Egypt where he conversed with some Hebrews and learned much of them And they shall be an abhorring to all flesh i. e. All good men abominate them now as so many living Ghosts walking carkases Eph. 2.2 Prov. 29. ult and shall much more at the last day when they shall arise again to everlasting shame and contempt Dan. 12. Scribendo haec studui bene de pietate mereri Sed quicquid potui Gratia Christs tua est A Commentary or Exposition upon The BOOK of the Prophet IEREMIAH CHAP. I. Ver. 1. THe words of Jeremiah Piscator rendereth it Acta Jeremiae The Acts of Jeremy Verba sive Res. as we say The Acts of the Apostles which Book also saith One might have been called in some sense The Passions of the Apostles who were for the testimony of Jesus in deaths often And the same we may safely say of Jeremy Serm. 4. contra A â—â—nos who although he were not omnis criminis per totam vitam expers which yet great Athanaesius affirmeth of him that is free from all fault for he had his out-bursts and himself relateth them yet he was Judaeorum integerrimus as of Phocion it is said that he was Atheniensum integerrimus a man of singular sanctimony and
travel with mischief and bring forth a lye that is somewhat contrary to that they intend but Fata viam invenient Stat sua cuique dies See Judg. 5.28 29 30. 1 King 20.10 Accidit in puncto quod non speratur in anno Vers 2. Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth Unless it be in defence of thine innocency as David Psal 7. or when the concealing of thy goodnesse may turn to the hinderance of the truth or to the hurt of the Church or impairing of Gods glory as Paul 2 Cor. 11. and 12. Let a man doe worthily in Ephrata and he shall be famous in Bethlehem he need not bee his own Trumpeter as Jehu the proud Pharisee and other arrogant vain-glorious Bragadochioes See my common place of Arrogance God will take order that those that honour him be honoured of all and that fame shall attend vertue as the shadow doth the body Say that wicked men will not speak well but ill of us 3 Joh. 12. yet we have a testimony in their Consciences as David had in Sauls Daniel in Dariuso ' c. Demetrius hath a good report of all good men and of the truth it self and that is enough for him sith not he that commendeth himself or hath the worlds applause is approved but he whom the Lord and his people commendeth 2 Cor. 10.18 Haec ego primus vidi was a vain-glorious brag that Zabarel had better held in And haec ego feci proves men to bee no better than Faeces saith Luther wittily these brags are but dregs Laus proprio sordescit in ore Quod magnificum resciente aâ—io fuisset ipso qui gesserat reconsente vanescit Plin Ep. 8. l. 1 That which had been much to a mans commendation if out of another mans mouth sounds very slenderly out of his own saith Pliny Let her works not her words praise her in the gates Prov. 31.31 as they did Ruth All the City of my people knows that thou art a vertuous woman Ruth 3.11 She was so and she had the credit of it So had the Virgin Mary and yet she was troubled when truly praised of the Angel They shall be praised of Angels in Heaven who have eschewed the praises of men on earth and blush when but justly commended speaking modestly and meanly of their own good parts and practices Saint Luke saith Levi made a great feast Luke 5.27 28. But when himself speaks of it Matth. 9.10 he saith only that Christ came home and eat bread in Levies house to teach us the truth of this Proverb that another mans mouth should praise us and not our own Like as in the Olympick games those that overcame did not put the Garlands on their own heads but stayed till others did it for them so here Vers 3. But a fools wrath is heavier than them both Himself cannot rule nor repress it but that hee dyes of the sullens sometimes as that fool Nabal did Much less can others endure it without trouble and regret especially when so peevish and past grace as to be angry with those that approve not applaud not his folly How angry was Nebuchadnezzar how much hotter was his heart than his Oven against those three Worthies for refusing to fall down before his golden Mawmer How unsufferable was Herods anger in the Massacre at Bethlehem and the primitive Persecutors for the two first ages after Christ that I come no lower See my Common-place of Anger Vers 4. Wrath is cruel and anger is outragious Or over-flowing all the banks or carrying all before it as an impetuous Land-floud and therefore most intolerable as vers 3. but behold a worse matter Envie is an evil that none can stand before for it knows neither end nor measure as appears in the Devil and his Patriarch Cain in Saul the Pharisees those spiteful Jews Acts 13.45 And to this day they doe antiquum obtinere bear the old grudge to us Christians cursing us in their daily Orisons calling us Bastard-gentiles professing that if their Messias were come rather than wee should have any part in him or benefit by him they would Crucifie him an hundred times over They have a saying amongst them Optimus qui inter gentes est dâ—gnus cui caput conteratur tanquam Serpenti The best of us Gentiles is worthy of the Serpents punishment viz. to have his head bruised c. so great is their envie still against Christians who pitty them and pray for them and truly it is no more than need sith by the question here propounded we may easily guesse how potent this quick-sighted and sharp-fanged malignity envie is indeed the venome of all vices is found in it neither will it bee drawn to embrace that good which it envies to another as too good for him Act. 13.44 45. Vers 5. Open rebuke is better than secret love For after the nature of Pils Rebuke though it be not toothsome yet it is wholsome and a sure sign of a faithful friend if rightly managed See my Common-place of Admonition Secret love that either seeth nothing amisse in a friend or dare not say so is little worth in comparison Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart Levit. 19.17 but as an Argument of thy love thou shalt reprove him plainly but wisely and not suffer sin upon him much lesse further it and be his broker or pander in it as Hirah the Adullamite was to his friend Judah and Jonadab to his Cousin Amnon 2 Sam. 13.5 Vers 6. Faithful are the wounds of a friend And are therefore to be prayed for but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful or to bee detested and therefore prayed against so some read the words and make the opposition See this done by David Psal 141.5 Knocks from a righteous man he would take for kindnesses but the precious oyles of the wicked answerable to their kisses here he would cry out of as the breaking of his head for so Mercer Ainsworth and others read that text and the Septuagint accordeth saying let not the oyl of the sinner supple my head by oyl meaning flattering words as Psal 55.22 Reproofs and Corrections though sharp and unpleasant yet if look'd upon as issuing from that love that lies hid in the heart they are faithful that is fair and pleasant as the Chaldee interprets it But the kisses of an enemy are deceitfull i. e. his glosing and closing with us for a further mischief such as were the kisses of Joab Judas Absolom and Ahitophel are not to be fancied but deprecated and detested See the note on chap. 26.23 Theophrastus hath in his character drawn out these kissing cut-throats Cap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who can be affable to their enemies and disguise their hatred in commendation while they privily lay their snares men Italienated that can salute with mortal embracements and clasp you in those arms which they mean to embrue in your dearest blood Camd. Elis Anno. 1591.
dies Ovid. We should have been as Sodom Those five Cities of the Plain are thrown forth for an Example Jude 7. Lot was no sooner taken out of Sodom but Sodom was taken out of the World and turned into a sea of salt Deut. 24.23 So Meroz Judg. 5.23 some City likely near the place where that battel was fought hath the very Name and memorial of it utterly extinct Ver. 10. Hear the Word of the Lord ye Princes of Sodom Having mentioned Sodom and Gomorrah vers 9. he maketh further use thereof probrosa hac appellatione auditores suos conveniens sharping up his Hearers in this sort whom he knew he should not wrong at all by so calling them see Ezek. 16.46 48. Non tam ovum ovo simile Like they were both Princes and people to those of Sodom and Gomorrah 1. In their ingratitude toward God 2. in their cruelty toward men Our Prophet therefore is very bold as Saint Paul also testifieth of him Rom. 10.20 fearing no colours although for his boldness he lost his life if at least that be true which Hierom out of the Rabbins telleth us Hier. â—â— Is 1. viz. that this Prophet Isay was sawn asunder 1. Because he said he had seen the Lord chap. 6.1 Secondly Because he called the great Ones of Judah Princes of Sodom c. giving them a Title agreeable to their wicked practises The like liberty of speech used Athanasius toward Constantius Agapetus toward Justinian Johannes Sarisburiensis toward the Pope c. Ver. 11. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices All which without faith and devotion are no better then meer hypocrisie and illusion It is saith Oecolampadius as if one should present his Prince with many Carts laden with dirt or as if good meat well-cooked should be brought to Table by a nasty sloven who hath been tumbling in a jakes They are your sacrifices and not mine and though many and costly yet I abhor such sacrificing Sodomites as you are neither shall you be a button the better for your pompous he catombe and holocausts Your devotions are placed more in the massy materiality then inward purity and therefore rejected Go ye and learn what that is I will have mercy so Faith Repentance new Obedience and not sacrifice Mat. 9.14 You stick in the bark rest in the work done your piety is potius in labris quam in fibris nata a meer outside shels Nut-kernels shews and Pageants not heart-workings c. Vna Dei est purum gratissima victima pectus I am full of the burnt offerings I am even cloyed and lothed with the sight of them And of the fat of fed beasts Though ye bring the very best of the best yet you do worse then lose your labour cast away your cost for therein ye commit sin Prov. 15.8 Displeasing service is double dishonour Deus homines istis ut vocant meritis praefidentes aversatur I delight not in the blood of Bullocks c. He that killeth an Ox unless withall he kill his corruptions is as if he slew a man He that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a dogs neck c. chap. 66.3 Those miscreants in Micah who offered largely for a License to live as they list are rejected with scorn Mic. 6 7. Ver. 12. When ye come to appear before me Heb. to be seen else all had been lost Hypocrisie is very ostentous it would be noted and noticed whereas true Devotion desireth not to be seen of any save Him who seeth in secret Who hath required this at your hand This is Gods Voyce to all superstitious Will-worshippers and carnal-Gospellers Friend how camest thou in hither Who sent for thee to my service Who hath forewarned this generation of Vipers to flye from the wrath to come What hast thou to do to take up my Name c. Psalm 50.16 to tread my Courts to pollute my Presence This is the gate of the Lord into which the Righteous only should enter Psalm 118.20 The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind Prov. 21.27 To tread my Courts Or trample on as chap. 62.3 to foul it Calcaâ—is atria teritis pavimentum A Lap. Sands his Relat of West Relig. Sect. 8. and wear it out with their feet as in some places Marble-crosses graven in Pavements of Popish Churches with indulgences annexed for every time they are kissed are even worn by the kisses of the devouter Sexe especially Diodaete noteth here that a phrase is pickt out on purpose to shew that these false appearances were rather acts of prophane contempt then of right Religion The Greeks gave such honour to their Temples that they durst not tread on the Threshold thereof but leap over it The Priests at their solemn services cryed aloud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gressus removete prophani The Jews at this day before they come to the Synagogue wash themselves and scrape their shoos with an Iron fastened in a wall at the entrance The Habassines a mongrel kind of Christians in Africk do neither walk nor talk nor sit nor spit nor laugh in the Church nor admit dogs into the Church-yards Sed quorsum haec omnia to what end is all this without an honest care to lift up pure hands and holy hearts in Gods presence See Jer. 7.3 4 9 10 11. Ver. 13. Bring no more vain oblations Vain because unacceptable ineffectual unsubstantial Epitheton argumentosum saith Piscator Lip-labour is lost-labour For God is not mocked with shadows of service his sharp nose easily discerneth and is offended with the stinking breath of the Hypocrites rotten Lungs though his words be never so scented and perfumed with shews of holiness Hence it is added Incense is an abomination unto me sc because it stinketh of the hand that offereth it Incense of it self was a sweet and precious Perfume compounded of the best Odours and Spices In the incense of faithful prayer also how many sweet spices are burnt together by the fire of Faith as Humility Hope Love c. all which come up for a memorial before God through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ Heb. 9.24 But it is otherwise with the wicked whose carnal heart is like some fen or bog and every prayer thence proceeding is as an evil vapour reaking and rising from that dunghill Never did those five Cities of the Plain send up such poisonous smels to Heaven which God being not able to abide sent down upon them a counter-poyson of fire and brimstone I cannot away with Heb. I cannot by an angry Aposiopesis I cannot that is I cannot behold bear with or forbear to punish as Oecolampadius maketh the supply to be It is iniquity Or an affliction a grievance as Joh. 5.6 Yea it is a Vexation as some render the next word viz. your solemn meeting Ver. 14. Your New Moons These were commanded to be kept to mind them of Gods gubernation of
bruised or broken sc in their estates And that ye break every yoke Cancel every unjust writing say the Septuagint They took twelve in the hundred in Nehemia's time this was a yoke intolerable Specul Europi I pray you let us leave off this usury saith he chap. 5.10 At this day the Jews are in all places permitted to strain up their usury to eighteen in the hundred upon the Christians but then they are used as the Friars to suck from the meanest and to be sucked by the greatest Ver. 7. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry Thine own bread it must be and that especially whereof thou hast on the fast-day abbridged thy self for what the rich spare on such a day the poor should spend Hereby 1. Mens prayers shall speed the better Acts 10.4 2. They shall make God their debtor Prov. 19.17.3 That is best and most pleasing alms to God that is given in Church assemblies for 1. It is an Ordinance of God and a Sabbath-duty 1 Cor. 16.1 2. 2. Christ there sitteth and seeth the gift and mind of every alms-giver Luke 21.1 2. setting it down in his book of remembrance Mal. 3.16 And that thou bring the poor that are cast out Scilicet tanquam rebelles as those poor Albigenses were in France and their posterity lately in Piedmont Scultet Annal the Protestant Lorainers proscribed for religion by their Duke and entertained by the State of Strasborough at the earnest suit of the Ministers there till they could be conveniently provided for elsewhere there being some thousands of them which till then were forced to feed upon hips haws leaves of trees and grasse of the field That thou cover him Duties of the second Table only are here enjoyned because they are excellent evidences of true piety and pure religion Jam. 1. ult And that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh Thy poor brother who is of the same nature with thee and is as capable of grace and glory as thy self Learn to see Christ in thy poor Pâ—titioner and thou wilt the sooner yield Matth. 25. Consider also what is said of him that shutteth up his bowels of compassion from his necessitous brother 1 Joh. 3.17 Ver. 8. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning He saith not shall appear but shall break forth ut velocitatem copiam dantis exprimeret saith Chrysostom that he might expresse the swiftnesse and bountifulnesse of God the giver of it And thy health shall spring forth speedily The Sun of righteousness shall arise unto thee with healing under his wings Mal. 4.2 See the Note And thy righteousnesse shall go before thee Thou shalt have the comfort and credit of thy bounty and charity which is oft called righteousnesse as Psal 112.9 Dan. 4.24 Acts 10.35 And the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward i. e. The glorious Jehovah shall see to thy safety See Psal 27.10 with the Note See also Isa 52.12 Ver. 9. Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer Thou shalt have the royalty of his ear easy accesse to and all best successe at the throne of grace no such cause to complain as thou didst ver 3. that thy prayers were lost If thou take away from the midst of thee E meditullio tui from thy very heart Jun. by an inward reformation si animo opere sermone aversaberis inhumanitatem if thou heartily hate cruelty and act accordingly The yoke As ver 6. The putting forth of the finger The finger of that wicked fist ver 4. or that finger wherewith thou threatenest thy servants or pointest at others in scorn or disdain as the proud Pharisee seemeth to have done at the poor Publican when he said I am not as that fellow Luke 18.11 And speaking vanity Or violence as the Chaldee here talk concerning the wringing and wronging of others All this must be done or else no hope that God will hear prayers look to it See Psal 66.18 with Notes Ver. 10. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry Not thy sheaf only relieving the necessitous out of deep commiseration Ex animo liberaliter bilariterque and couldest part with thy very life also for them if duely called thereunto Compassion excelleth alms and outward works of mercy for when one giveth an alms he giveth something without himself but by compassion we relieve another by somewhat within and from our selves And satisfy Not save him alive only by a scant allowance prisoners pittance Then shall thy light arise in obscurity Thou shalt abound with blessings of all sorts See my common place of Alms. And thy darknesse be as the noon-day In agone horrore mortis erit tibi consolatio spes salutâ— ac lucis God will make thy bed in all thy sickness and comfort thee at the hour of death Ver. 11. And the Lord shall guide thee Or lead thee as thou leadest the harbourless outcast into thine house ver 7 And satisfy thy soul in drough As thou didst satisfy the poor hungry mans soul ver 10. See Psal 33.19 and Prov. 28.27 with the Notes And make fat thy bones i. e. Chear up thy heart for a sorrowful spirit drieth up the bones Prov. 17.22 The Vulgar Translation hath it he will deliver or set free thy bones sc from bands and fetters as thou hadst loosed or set free thy poor brethren from their bands and yokes ver 6. And thou shalt be like a watered garden Filled with the fruits of righteousness and with spiritual consolations unspeakable and glorious joyes And like a spring of water whose waters fail not Similitudines Allegoriae magnam habent gratiam Who would not now turn spiritual purchaser Ver. 12. And they that shall be of thee Thy posterity that have taken their being and beginning from thee Shall build the old waste places Heb. the wastes of antiquity i. e. The ruinous places of Jerusalem The Apostles also as master-builders and others as builders together with them have an happy hand in rearing the fair fabrick of the new man that hidden man of the heart See Ephes 2.20 21 22. And thou shalt be called the Repairer of the breach The Father of thy Country the repairer of peace the restorer of lost liberty c. Such honour had Nehemiah of old Hunniades alate who having overthrown Mesites the Turks General at his return into the Camp a wonderful number of the poor Captives came and falling at his feet and kissing them gave God thanks for their deliverance by him some called him the Father some the Defender of his Country the Souldiers their invincible General the Captives their Deliverer the women their Protectour the young men and children their most loving Father He again with tears standing in his eyes courteously embraced them rejoycing at the publick good and himself giving most hearty thanks to God commanded the like to be done in all the Churches of that Province Turk â—â—st 269. c.
so in an apish imitation did the heathens before their Idols Judg. 9.27 Ezek. 18.6 7. 1 Cor. 8.10 and of them these superstitious Jews had learned to do the like in the dayes of Ahaz and Manasseh who degenerated into his Grand-Father Ahaz as if there had been no intervention of an Hezekiah For that troop So the Prophet speaketh as pointing to their Idols whereof they had great store Gad here used and Menni rendered Number here likewise some interpret Fortune and Fate others Jupiter and Mercury The Septuagint for to that Number hath to the Devil Oecolampadius thinks the Prophet alludeth to the Pythagorean numbers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and especially to the number of four which they superstitiously observed Others say the Jews symbolized with the Heathens in drinking to their Idols by number to such an Idol they would drink so many cups and that was called a Drink-offering to that Number Hence Antiphanes in Athenaeus saith Lib. 10. Adusque tria pocula venerandos esse deos Ver. 12. Therefore I will number you to the sword Est elegans Paronomasia I will give you up to the sword by number and tale to the end that none of you may escape God usually retaliateth and proportioneth number to number so choice to choice chap. 66.3 4. jealousy to jealousy provocation to provocation Deut. 32.21 device to device Mic. 2.1 3. frowardness to frowadrness Psal 18.26 And ye shall all bow down to the slaughter As you used to bow down to your Idols Because when I called ye did not answer See on Prov. 1.24 But did evil before mine eyes Did evil things as you could Jer. 3.5 with both hands earnestly Mic. 7.3 Ver. 13. Behold my servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry Lepidas antitheses ponit You have spent your meat and drink upon Idols therefore ye shall fast another while yea you shall feed upon the fierce wrath of God in hell and drink deep of that cup of his that hath eternity to the bottom But ye shall be ashamed Your hopes and hearts failing you together ye shall pine away in your iniquities Ezek. 24.23 Ver. 14. Behold my servants shall sing In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare or a cord to strangle his joys with but the righteous doth sing and rejoyce Prov. 29.6 See the Note there And shall howl When ye come to Hell especially where is wailing and yelling and gnashing of teeth Ver. 15. And ye shall leave your name for a curse So that when mine Elect shal denounce my curse against any one they shall say God make thee such another as was such a cursed caytiff See Jer. 24.9 29.22 34.9 See Zach. 8.13 with the Note Judaeus sim si fallo say the Turks at this day As hard-hearted and unhappy as a Jew say we And call his servants by another name Jews inwardly Israelites indeed Christians a chosen Generation a royal Priest-hood an holy Nation a peculiar People 1 Pet. 2.9 The wicked when they dye go out in a snuff leave a stench behind them as they say the Devil doth when he goeth out of a room but when the Saints depart they leave a sweet smell behind them as those lamps do that are fed with aromatical oyle Yea it is more then probable that in the next world we shall look upon Bradford and such with thoughts of extraordinary love and sweetness through all eternity as Bonner and such with execration and everlasting detestation Ver. 16. That he who blesseth himself in the earth c. Or that blesseth either himself or any other Shall bless himself in the God of truth Heb. shall bless in the God of Amen that is say some in Christ who is Amen the faithful and true witness Rev. 3.14 in whom all the Promises are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 and who was wont often to say Amen Amen Others render it thus Benedicat sibi per Deum firmi shall bless himself by the God of the firm or faithful people founded and rooted in God so as that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against them Shall swear by the God of truth Or by the God of the firm and faithful people as before Because the former troubles are forgotten Rememberd no otherwise then as waters that are past See Zach. 10.6 with the Note Ver. 17. For behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth I am making of a new world that is Gospel-times called a new Creation 2 Cor. 5.17 and the world to come Heb. 2.5 Heaven aforehand Matth. 3.2 The consummation hereof we are to expect at the last day 2 Pet. 3.13 Rev. 21.1 5. when the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind because the Lord who made Heaven and Earth shall bless his people out of Zion Psal 134.3 Ver. 18. But be glad and rejoyce for ever what can ye be less then everlastingly merry when you consider your Gospel-priviledges which are such as may well swallow up all discontents and make you more then Conquerours and that is Triumphers For behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing Creo talem Jerusalem ut sit ei nomen Tripudium populus ejus vocetur Gaudium Oecol Hence it appeareth that these things are not to be taken according to the letter but of Jerusalem which is above that mother of us all Ver. 19. And I will rejoyce in Jerusalem Well may Jerusalem then rejoyce in in God who as in all her afflictions he is afflicted so he taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his people And the voice of weeping See chap. 35.11 51.12 Rev. 21.4 Ver. 20. There shall be no more thence an infant of dayes This verse as some others had been easie had not Commentatours made it so knotty There shall be no more thence that is from Jerusalem ver 19. an infant of dayes or a childe for dayes viz. that shall so dye by an untimely death for longevity is the blessing here promised Nor an old man that hath not filled his daies That hath not lived his utmost satur dierum as Abraham For the child shall dye an hundred years old i. e. He that is now a childe shall live till he be so many year old Note this against those that otherwise understand the words and have therehence fished out many frivolous crotchets too long here to be related Hinc proverb Puer centum annorum But the sinner being an hundred year old shall be accursed And the more accursed because so long-lived and yet dyeth in his sin going down to the grave with his bones full of the sins of his youth See Eccles 8.12 13. with the Notes Ver. 21. And they shall build houses and inhabit them The contrary whereunto is threatned against the wicked Deut. 28.30 c. Gods people are freed from the curse of the Law from the hurt if not from the smart of afflictions Ver. 22. They shall not build and another inhabit They shall not provide
two immutable things wherein it was impossible for God to lye his people might have strong consolation Heb. 6.18 Ver. 6. Into a land that I had espied for them Humanitus dictum Finding it out as it were by diligent search Num. 10.33 Look how a father findeth out for his son an habitation fit for him a help meet for him other things necessary for his comfortable subsistence so dealt God by his Israel He brought them to a land which himself had carefully sought out his eyes were alwayes upon it from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year Deut. 11.12 Flowing with milk and honey i. e. Abounding with choice and cheap commodities Which is the glory of all lands Or flower decorem disiderium It was so then it is not so now since the Jews were dispriviledged and disjected But as in the earthly paradise after man fallen cecidit rosa mansit spina the rose fell off the briar whereon it grew remained so here See on Dan. 8.9 11.16 Ver. 7. Then said I unto them Viz. Whilest yet in Egypt This we find not in Exodus 't is enough that we find it here See Joh. 5 9. with the Note Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes The idols to which your eyes are lifted up chap. 18.6 and which are or should be to you as Alexander called the Persian maides dolores oculorum eye-griefes Ver. 8. But they rebelled against me I might say what I would but they would do what their list Good they were ever if I may call it so at resisting the Holy Ghost obstinate idolaters from the very first so that God had even as much ado to forbear killing them as ever he had Moses in the same country for neglecting to circumcise his childe Exod. 4.24 Neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt This we read not of in Exodus neither t is enough that we have it here The ingratitude of these Israelites was the greater because God had done much for them and was dayly admonishing them of better things Then said I I will pour out my fury It was not therefore for nothing that Israel suffered so much in Egypt Many now marvel at their own miseries but think not of their sins the cause Ver. 9. But I wrought for my names sake Lest the Heathens should say to my dishonour me non voluisse aut valuisse eos educere that I either would not or could not bring them out of the house of bondage Ergo quod nomen suum in nobis servandis asserat sperandum est It is also well to be hoped that God will deal favourably with the reformed Churches though ill deserving for the dâ—shonour that else would redound to himself Fiat Fiat Ver. 10. Wherefore I caused them With a strong hand and an outstretcht arm I caused it against all the force of Egypt Exod. 13.18 God hath also mightily brought England out of Egypt spiritual and dealt with it not according to his ordinary rule but according to his prerogative And brought them into the wildernesse Where I was not any wildernesse unto them or land of darknesse Jer 2.31 but a God All-sufficient raining bread from heaven upon them and setting the flint abroach rather then they should pine and perish Ver. 11. And I gave them my statutes Which were far beyond the laws of the twelve Tables in Rome whereof yet Tully affirmeth that they were far beyond all the libraries of Philosophers And shewed them my judgements Statutes and Judgements are usually put in Scripture for one and the same though the Lawyers make a difference of them Prospers conceit was that this people were called Judaei because they received jus Dei Which if a man do But that he can never do exactly Evangelically he may and that sufficeth to life eternal Ver. 12. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths A sweet mercy without which the best would even grow wild What a wretch then was that Egyptian in Phagius who said that those Jews and after them the Christians had a loathsome disease upon them and were therefore fain to rest the seventh day To be a sign between me and them A distinctive sign of my distinguishing grace to Israel above others who jeared them for sabbatizing as those that lost a seventh part of their precious time To be also both a sign of a godly person Anciently when the question was propounded Servasti Dominicum hast thou kept the Lords day The answer was returned I am a Christian and can do no lesse and a means of conveying more holinesse into his heart Ver. 13. But the house of Israel rebelled They did little else they made it their trade for forty years long Psal 95. And my Sabbaths they greatly polluted They vehemently violated either they rested only thereon or else they shamelesly troubled and disquieted that sanctified day of Gods rest B. King on Jon. The world saith one is now grown perfectly profane and can play on the Lords day without book Then I said I would pour out my fury Gods sayings are of two sorts some are the sayings of his eternal counsel and these are immutable Others of his threatening only and these oft are conditional God therefore threateneth that he may not punish saith an ancient Ver. 14. But I wrought for my Names sake Oh how oft are we beholden to this Motive and do escape fair by this Means See on ver 9. Ver. 15. Yet also I lifted up mine hand Here we have an Epitome of Exodus and Numbers Flowing with milk and honey See on ver 6. If it be not so fertile and desireable now Joseph it is for the Jews inexpiable guilt in crucifying the Lord of glory The like befell Sodom once as the garden of God now a dead sea where nothing can live Ver. 16. For their heart went after their idols Heb. their dungy-deities those dirty delights carried them sheer away from God and goodnesse Any beloved sin will do so Ver. 17. Neverthelesse mine eye spared them It was by a Non-obstante of Gods mercy and by a prop of his extraordinary patience that they subsisted Ver. 18. Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers With this text Frederike the fourth Prince Palatine answered another Prince who pressed him to be of his late Noble Fathers Religion Laban swore by the god of Nahor or Abram and of their idolatrous Fathers but Jacob sware by the Fear of his Father Isaac his immediate Father more right in Religion Gen. 31.53 Joshua would not follow the footsteps of his forefathers chap. 24. but a better precedent Christ saith ego sum Veritas non Vetustas and contradicteth that which was said of old by those Kadmonim who had corrupted the letter of the law by their false glosses Mat. 5.21 Antiquity must have no more authority then it can maintaine Ver. 19. Walk in my statutes This is a surer and safer way Lâ—x Lux Prov. 6.23
fat pastures Those that are well watered and most fruitful God must have the very best of the best and that on pain of an heavy curse Mal. 1.14 Ver. 16. For the Prince i. e. Upon a levy made by the Prince for that purpose Of these oblations prefiguring Evangelical sacrifices the use followeth chap. 46.4 it being first premised what the Prince should do over and above these offerings of wheat barley oyl and lambes Ver. 17. He shall prepare the sin-offering Or he shall offer so some render it and apply it to Christ so ver 22. This Prince then is withal a Priest of the tribe of Judah Oecol See Psal 110 4. Heb. 7.11 12 c. to the end Heb. 8.1 2 3 4 5 6. Non mirum quod hic haereant Judaei here the Jews are puzzled Ver. 18. Thou shalt take Thou O Prince shalt A young bullock One and no more ut unitas singularis sacrificii Christi intimaretur Ver. 19. And put it upon the postes This and other ceremonies were not enjoyned by the Law of Moses The Jews cannot tell what to say to it they will not see that old things are past and all things become new Ver. 20. And so thou shalt This also is a new injunction see ver 19. and very comfortable to those that sin of passion or precipitancy See 1 Joh. 2.1 2. Ver. 21. In the fourteenth day Upon that very day not only observed then by the Jews was Christ our Passeover sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5.7 Ver. 22. Shall the Prince prepare See ver 17. Ver. 23. A burnt-offering In token of self-denial Ver. 24. A meat-offering Made of meale in token of mortification and submission to God in all things Ver. 25. In the feast of the seven dayes i. e. Of Tabernacles wont to be of eight dayes Lev. 23.34 35. Quam sunt nova omnia Of Pentecost here is no mention at all CHAP. XLVI Ver. 1. THus saith the Lord God In this chapter are set forth rationes ritus the laws and rites that were to be observed by Prince and people in offering their sacrifices It is the manner of performance that maketh or marreth any duty there may be malum opus in bona materia ill work in a good matter The gate of the inner court Of the Priests court That looketh toward the East That pointeth to Christ the day-spring from on high the Sun of righteousness who shineth sweetly upon such as rightly sanctifie the Sabbath and shall much more when they come to rest with him in heaven Shall be shut the six working dayes Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work Neither doth this binder holinesse as the Abby-lubbers pretend but further it 1. By preventing temptation 2. By nourishing experience of Gods bounty and providence 3. By filling the heart with objects of heavenly thoughts 4. By stirring up to prayer and praise for each dayes mercyes But on the Sabbath it shall be opened That the people may see Christ in the glasse of the ceremonies and call upon his name We under the Gospel have a clearer light and free accesse on Lords-dayes especially and other times of holy meetings Ver. 2. And shall stand by the post of the gate Waiting at the posts of the gates of wisdom Prov. 8.34 Constantine the Great stood up constantly at the time of Gods publike worship for honour sake So did our Edward the sixth Then he shall go forth And the people come in ver 3. whose souls are as precious to God as his But the gate shall not be shut untill the evening The gate is open till the evening be ready therefore when the Bridegrom is once gone in the gate is shut and fools excluded Matth 25. Ver. 3. Likewise the people of the land The meanest of his subjects if faithful may have as near accesse to God as himself Ver. 4. Six lambs without blemish This was a larger sacrifice then Moses had appointed Num. 28.9 Christians have more cause then Jews had to sanctify the Sabbath as that for the New-moons ver 6. was lesser See Num. 28.11 Hereby it appeareth that God was about to abrogate the Mosaical worship and the Levitical Priesthood Lex enim posterior derogat priori This the Jew-doctours would fain say something to but cannot tell what The wit of these miscreants reprobat concerning the faith will better serve them to divise a thousand shifts to elude the truth then their obstinacy will suffer them once to yield and acknowledge it Ver. 5. As he shall be able to give Heb. the gift of his hand some render it according as it shall be given unto his hand i. e. As God shall put into his heart to give and here he is not tyed as in the Law to such a proportion but left to his Christian liberty Ver. 6. And in the day of the New-moon Which pointed them to the coming of Christ by whom all things are become new It shall be a young bullock It was wont to be two See on ver 4. And six lambs and a ram To signify saith Rabanus that as it is necessary for us to keep the Sabbath so it is likewise that we rely upon Christ for expiation as of our week-dayes sins so also of those that we fall into even on that holy-day Ver. 7. An Ephah for a bullock This was to shadow out saith Polanus the Communion of the Saints with Christ and that Christ offereth and presenteth his Church with himself and in himself to God the Father According as his hand shall attain unto i. e. As he is able and willing for God straineth upon none Ver. 8. He shall go in by the way of the porch This was the Princes Priviledge that as likewise the Priests he might go in and go out at the same East-gate It is fit that the Word and Sword should hold together and that Magistrates and Ministers shoul be singular in holinesse Ver. 9. Shall go out the way of the South-gate For more easy passage sake The Jewes at this day depart out of the Synagogue with their faces still toward the Ark like Crabs going backward in such a multitude of people But withal to teach us many things as 1. Not to turn our backs upon the holy Ordinances 2. To make straight paths for our feet Heb. 12.13 not looking back with Lot's wife Luke 17.32 not longing for the Onions of Egypt as those rebels in the wildernesse but advancing forward with St. Paul Philip. 3.13 14. looking forth-right Prov. 4.25 having our eye upon the mark and making dayly progresse toward perfection 3. That our memories are frail and here we shall meet with many things that will withdraw us from thinking upon God 4 That our life is but short a very passage from one gate to another where to go back i. e. To adde any thing to our lives it is not granted sith our time is limâ—ted Job 14.3 Acts 17.26 and we are all hastening to our long
burial and in that respect weeping and wailing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is one of the dues of the dead whose bodies are sown in corruption and watered usually with tears It is better therefore to sort with such to mingle with mourners to follow the Herse to weep with those that weep to visit the heavy-hearted this being a special means of mortification than to go to the house of feasting where is nothing but joy and jollity slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine yea therefore eating and drinking because to morrow they shall dye Ede Sardanapali vox belluina bibe lude post mortem nulla voluptas What good can bee gotten amongst such swinish Epicures What sound remedy against lifes vanity It is far better therefore to go to the house of mourning where a man may bee moved with compassion with compunction with due and deep consideration of his doleful and dying condition where hee may hear dead Abel by a dumb eloquence preaching and pressing this necessary but much neglected lesson that this is the end of all men and the living should lay it to heart or as the Hebrew hath it lay it upon his heart work it upon his affections inditurus est illud animo suo so Tremelius renders it hee will so minde it Job 30.33 Psal 39.4 5 as to make his best use of it so as to say with Job I know that thou wilt bring mee unto death And with David Behold thou hast made my daies as a span c. And as Moses who when hee saw the peoples carkasses fall so fast in the wilderness Lord teach us said hee so to number our daies Psal 90.12 as to cause our hearts of themselves never a whit willing to come to wisdome Vers 3. Sorrow is better than laughter Here as likewise in the two former verses is a collation and praelation Sorrow or indignation conceived for sin is better than laughter i. e. carnal and prophane mitth This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen speaks in another case a Paradox to the world but such as may sooner and better bee proved than those Paradoxes of the antient Stoicks The world is a perfect stranger to the truth of this sacred position as being all set upon the merry Pin and having so far banished sadness as that they are no less enemies to seriousness than the old Romans were to the name of the Tarquins These Philistins cannot see how out of this Eater can come Meat and out of this Strong Sweet how any man should reasonably perswade them to turn their laughter into mourning and joy into heaviness James 4.9 A pound of grief say they will not pay an ounce of debt a little mirth is worth a great deal of sorrow there is nothing better than for a man to eat and drink and laugh himself fat Spiritus Calvinianus Spiritus Melancholicus a Popish Proverb to bee precise and godly is to bid adue to all mirth and jollity and to spend his daies in heaviness and horrour This is the judgement of the mad world ever beside it self in point of Salvation But what saith our Preacher who had the experience of both and could best tell Sorrow is better for it makes the heart better It betters the better part and is therefore compared to fire that purgeth out the dross of sin to water that washeth out the dreggs of sin yea to eye-water sharp but soveraign By washing in these troubled waters the conscience is cured and Gods Naamans cleansed By feeding upon this bitter-sweet root Gods penitentiaries are fenced against the temptations of Satan the corruption of their own hearts and the allurements of this present evil world These tears drive away the Devil much better than Holy-water as they called it they quench Hell flames and as April showers they bring on a man the May-flowers both of grace 1 Pet. 5.5 and of glory Jer. 4.14 What an ill match therefore make our Mirth-mongers that purchase laughter many times with shame loss misery beggery rottenness of body distress damnation that hunt after it to Hell and light a candle at the Devil for lightsomeness of heart by haunting Ale-houses Brothel-houses conventicles of good fellowship sinful and unseasonable sports and other vain fooleries in the froth whereof is bred and fed that worm that never dies A man is nearest danger when hee is most merry said Mr. Greenham And God cast not man out of Paradise saith another Reverend Man that hee might here build him another but that as that bird of Paradise hee might alwaies bee upon the wing and if at any time taken never leave groaning and grieving till hee bee delivered This will bring him a Paradise of sweetest peace and make much for the lengthening of his tranquillity and consolation Dan. 4.27 Oh how sweet a thing is it at the feet of Jesus to stand weeping to water them with tears to dry them with sighs and to kiss them with our mouths Onely those that have made their eyes a fountain to wash Christs feet in may look to have Christs heart a fountain to bathe their souls in Vers 4. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning Hee gladly makes use of all good means of minding his mortality and holds it an high point of heavenly wisdome so to do Hence hee frequents funerals mingles with mourners Monimenta quasi mentem momentia hears etiam muta clamare cadavera makes every tomb a teacher every Monument a Monitor laies him down in his bed as in his grave looks upon his sheets as his winding-sheet Ut somnus mortis sic lectus imago sepulchri If hee hears but the clock strike sees the glass run out it is as a Death-head to preach Momento mori to him hee remembers the daies of darkness as Solomon bids Eccles 11.8 acts death aforehand takes up many sad and serious thoughts of it and makes it his continual practice so to do as Job and David did The wiser Jews digged their graves long before as that old Prophet 1 King 13.30 Joseph of Arimathea had his in his garden to season his delights John Patriarch of Alexandria sirnamed Eleemosynarius for his bounty to the poor having his tomb in building gave his people charge it should bee left unfinished and that every day one should put him in minde to perfect it that hee might remember his mortality The Christians in some part of the Primitive Church took the Sacrament every day because they looked to dye every day Austin would not for the gain of a million of worlds bee an Atheist for half an hour Quid hic facio Aug. Descript of the Isle of Man abbridg Arist because hee had no certainty of his life for so short a time His Mother Monica was heard oft to say How is it that I am here still The women of the Isle of Man saith Speed whensoever they go out of their doors gird
mouth If the Canaanites beat us what shall become of thy great name Interpone quaeso tuas preces apud Deum pro me Scultet Annal. or a Christum cujus est causa haec ut mihi adsit quam si obtinuerit mihi obtenta erit sin vero causa exciderit nec ego eam obtinere potero atque ita ipse solus ignominiam reportabit Prethee pray for mee saith Luther to a friend of his that feared how it would fare with him when hee was to appear at Ausborough before the Cardinal pray for mee to Jesus Christ whose the cause is that hee would stand by mee for if hee carry the day I shall do well enough As if I miscarry hee alone will undergo the blame and shame of it By the flock of thy companions Why should I have fellowship with thy pretended fellows 1 Thes 5.23 and so incur the suspition of dishonesty Christians must abstain from all appearance of evil shun and bee shy of the very shews and shadows of sin Quicquid fuerit male coloratum as Bernard hath it whatsoever looks but ill-favouredly 2 Cor 8.20 21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 providing for things honest not onely in the sight of the Lord but in the sight of men and avoiding this that no man should blame us avoiding it as ship-men shun a rock or shelf with utmost care and circumspection Joseph would not breathe in the same air with his Mistress nor John the Evangelist with the Heretick Cerinthus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb but sprang out of the bath assoon as hee came into it St. Paul would not give place by subjection to those false brethren no not for an hour lest the truth thereby should suffer detriment Gal. 2.5 Constantine would not read the Arians Papers but tear them before their eyes And Placilla the Empress besought her Husband Theodosius senior Sezom li. 7. c. 7. not once to confer with Eunomius lest being perverted by his speeches hee might fall into heresie Memorable is the story of the children of Samosata that would not touch their ball but burnt it because it had touched the toe of an heretical Bishop as they were tossing it and playing with it Vers 8. If thou know not O thou fairest among women So Christ is pleased to style her who erst held and called her self black and Sun-burnt vers 5. Nothing more commends us to Christ than humility and lowly-mindedness 1 Pet. 3.5 The daughter of Zion for this is likened to a comely and delicate woman her enemies to Shepheards with their flocks Jer. 6.2 3. False Prophets also have their flocks seducers drag Disciples after them Act. 20.30 Faciunt favos vespae faciunt Ecclesias Marcionitae saith Tertullian Wasps also have their hony-combs Apes imitate mens actions These Conventiclers the Church must studiously decline and not viam per avia quaerere seek truth by wandring thorow the Thicket of Errours as Junius saith one in his time did who confest hee had spent two and twenty years in trying Religions pretending that Scripture Prove all things The Spouse is here directed by the Arch-shepheard to repair to the foddering-places to frequent the publick Assemblies to tread in that Sheep-track the foot-steps of the flock the Shepheards tents There Christ hath promised to feed his Lambs that have golden fleeces Exod. 33.12 7. Acts 10.1 2. precious souls to call them by name as hee did Moses Cornelius c. to teach them great and hidden things such as they knew not Jer. 33.3 to give them spiritual senses ability to examine what is doctrinally propounded to them Joh. 10. to try before they trust for all Christs Sheep are rational they know his voice from the voice of a stranger to bee fully perswaded of the truth that they take up and profess Col. 2.2 Luk. 1.1 to feel the sweetness and goodness the life and power of it within themselves Col. 1.9 Job 32.8 to hate false doctrines and those that would perswade them thereunto Psal 119.104 buzzing doubts into their heads Rom. 16.17 John 10.5 So that though man or Angel should object against the truth they have received they would not yeeld to him 1 Cor. 11.15 Gal. 1.8 9. They know that Satan can and doth transform himself into an Angel of light and can act his part by a good man also as hee did by Peter once and again Matth. 16.23 Gal. 2.13 and as hee did in our remembrance by Mr. Archer a holy man who yet held and broached hellish opinions Swenchfeldio non defuit cor bonum sed caput regulatum saith Bucholcerus Swenchfeldius had a good heart but a wilde head and so became a means of much mischief to many silly shallow-headed people whom hee shamefully seduced This to prevent Christ hath given gifts to men Pastours and Teachers after his own heart Guides to speak unto them the word of God Heb. 12.7 to set in order for them acceptable words words of truth that may bee as goads and as nails fastened by those Masters of the Assemblies which are given from one Shepheard Eccles 12.10 11. in fine to take heed to themselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made them Over-seers to feed the Church of God which hee hath purchased with his own blood Act. 20.28 that they might go in and out and finde pastures such as will breed life and life in more abundance John 10 9 10. Go thy way forth by the foot-steps of the flock Add indeavour to thy desire up and bee doing for affection without action is like Rachel that antient Shepheardesse beautiful but barren Get thee forth therefore by the foot-steps of the flock tread in the same track that good old Abraham Isaac Jacob David Paul c. did who followed the Lamb whithersoever hee went Keep to that good old way the way that is called Holy and yee shall finde rest to your souls Walk in the foot-steps of faithful Abraham Jer. 6.16 and yee shall one day rest in the bosome of Abraham Walk in the same spirit in the same foot-steps with Paul and Titus 1 Pet. 1.9 2 Cor. 12.18 so shall you shortly and surely receive the end of your faith the salvation of your souls And feed thy Kids The Church also is a Shepheardesse as were Laban's and Jethro's daughters and hath a little little flock of young Goats that is of green Christians who are to bee fed with the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 Beside the Shepheards tents Turn to the Under-shepheards the godly Ministers and so return to the great Shepheard and Bishop of your souls 1 Pet. 2.25 Hold you close to these and hold fast the form of wholesome words 2 Tim. 1.13 and linger not after unsound and unsavoury doctrines so rife abroad those murthering morsels that fat men indeed but it is to the day of slaughter Silly sheep do eat no grass
and the earth shall cast out the dead i. e. Qua facilitate herbulas reficit Deus eadem mortuos animare potest God can as easily raise the dead as refresh the herbs of the earth with a reviving dew when they were even scorched to death with the heat of the Sun See we not a yearly resurrection of grass grain flowers fruits every Spring-tide And surely if Nature can produce out of a small seed a great Tree or a Butter-fly out of a worm or the beautiful featherd Peacock out of a mishapen egg cannot the Almighty raise our bodies out of dust who first out of dust made them or can the condition of any people or person be so desperate that he is not able to help them out The assurance of Gods power which shall shew it self in the raising of the dead is a most excellent argument to confirm us in the certainty of Gods Promises seem they never so incredible to flesh and blood Atque haec de Cantico Ver. 20. Come my people Thus God lovingly bespeaketh his as leading them by the hand to an hiding place of his providing So he shut up Noah in the Ark secured Lot in Zoar hid Jeremy and Baruch when sought for to the slaughter bade Daniel to go away and rest before those great troubles foretold chap. 12.13 Austin and Paraeus died a little before Hippo and Heidelberg were taken So did Luther before the bloody wars of Germany For Mr. Brightman a Pursuivant was sent Life of K. James by Wilson a day or two after he was buried The burying place is not unfitly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a resting room to the Saints the grave a bed Isa 57.2 the bier that carrieth men to it Matteh i. e. a pallet 2 Sam. 3.31 Lyra and others by Chambers here understand the graves Confer Rev. 6.11 Joh. 16.33 those chambers of rest and beds of down to the bodies of the Saints until the last day There are that by chambers will have meant the closets of Gods Providence and Protection such as Pella was to the Primitive Christians Hitherto the Saints are exhorted to retire till the storm be over the enemy gone the destroying Angel passed over as Exod. 12.12 possessing their souls in patience As it were for a little moment Heb. A little af a moment Nubecula est Sozom lib. 15. cap. 5. cito transibit as Athanasius said when persecuted by Julian This storm will soon blow over this indignation doth not transire but pertransire pass but pass a pace Ver. 21. For behold This is as a cryer to prepare attention The Lord cometh out of his place Here God compareth himself to a Prince upon his Throne who goeth from his place of State into Countries to quiet mutinies and rebellions among his people The earth also shall disclose her blood Murther shall out oppression whether by force or fraud shall be certainly and severely punished See Job 16.8 See an instance hereof in Leviathan chap. 27.1 whether you understand it of the Devil that old man-slayer as Many Ancients do or else the Kings of the Nations and especially of the Turks as some Rabbins CHAP. XXVII Ver. 1. IN that day The day of Gods great Assize and of execution to be done on the enemy and the Avenger chap. 26.21 Now we know how well people are pleased when Princes do Justice upon great Offendors The Lord with his sore and great and strong Sword Heb. With his Sword that hard or heavy one and that great one and that strong one that is with his Word saith Oecolampadius who by Leviathan here understandeth the Devil who is elsewhere also called the Serpent and the great dragon Rev. 12.9 20.2 But they do better in my Judgement who by Leviathan here understand some great Tyrant acted by the Devil against the Church such as was Pharaoh see Ezek. 29.3 Sennacherib see chap. 8.7 or Nebuchadnezzar see Jer. 51.13 and at this day the Grand Signior who hath swallowed up countries as the Leviathan or the Whale doth fishes For in the greatness of his Empire is swallowed up both the Name and Empire of the Sarasines the most glorious Empire of the Greeks the Empire of Trapezonum the renowned Kingdoms of Macedonia Peloponnesus Epirus Bulgaria Servia Bosna Armenia Cyprus Syria Egypt Judea Tunis Argeirs Media Mesopotomia with a great part of Hungary as also of the Persian Kingdom His Territories do somewhat resemble a long and winding Serpent as some learned men have observed and for the slights might which he useth against Christians still who knows them not out of the Turkish story God therefore will shortly take him to do sharpening haply the Swords of men as he hath lately and marvellously done of the Venetians as instrumental to ruine this vast Empire which laboureth with nothing more then the weightiness of it self Jun. And he shall slay the Dragon that is in the sea i. In fluctuante hujus saeculi aestuario Of the strange length of Dragons see Aelian l. 2. c. 21. and Plin. l. 8. c. 11. In the last year of the raign of Theodosius senior there was a Dragon seen in Epirus of that vast bigness that when he was dead eight yokes of Oxen could hardly draw him By Dragon some understand the same with Leviathan vâ—z the Whale or Whirlpool The Dragon is never satisfied with blood though never so full gorged no more are Persecutors Ver. 2. In that day sing ye to her Or of her a new song for a new deliverance Haply this shall be done by the Christian Churches upon the conversion of the Jews after the Turks downfall like as at the building of the second Temple the people sang and shouted Grace Grace unto it Zech. 4 7. A Vineyard of red Wine i. e. Of rich and generous Wine Vini meri non labruscarum ut cap. 5. See Prov. 23.31 Gen. 49.22 By this red wine Oecolampadius understandeth Christs blood wherewith the Church is purged and beautified Sanguis Christi venustavit genas meas said a certain good woman a Martyr Ver. 3. I the Lord do keep it And then it cannot but be well kept The matter is well amended with Gods Vineyard since chap. 5.5 The Lord is with you whiles ye are with him 2 Chron. 15.2 The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him Ezra 8.12 Do good O Lord unto those that be good c. As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways c. Psal 125.4 5. I will water it every moment God will be to his Vineyard both a Wall and a Well a Sun and a Shield as Psal 84.11 all that heart can wish or need require Of all possessions saith Cato none requireth more care and pains then that of Vineyards Corn comes up and grows alone Mar. 3. but vines must be daily dressed fenced supported In Philip. watered Plantas tenellas
their confidence was the fruit of prayer At the lifting up of thy self If God do but arise only his enemies shall be scattered and all that hate him shall flee before him Psal 68.1 See the Note there Ver. 4. And your spoiles shall be gathered The spoile of the Assyrians Camp now become yours as 1 Sam. 30.20 Like the gathering of Catterpillars Quae ad hominum concursum omnes repente disperguntur which are soon rid when men set themselves to destroy them Ver. 5. The Lord is exalted He hath made him a name gained abundance of honour For he dwelleth on high Whence he can poure down plagues at his pleasure on his proud enemies and fill Zion with Judgement and Righteousness Ver. 6. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times Thy times O Hezekiah but especially O Christ Or the stability of thy times and strong safeguard shall thy wisdom and knowledge be By his knowledge that is by faith in him shall my righteous servant Jesus Christ justifie many Chap. 53.11 but these are also sanctified by him the fear of the Lord is their treasure they hold faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack 1 Tim. 1.19 See the Note there The fear of the Lord is his Treasure The spirit of this holy fear rested upon Christ Paradin in symbol chap. 11.2 and good Hezekiah was eminent for it not for civil prudence only this was flos regis the fairest flower in all his garland this is solidissima regiae politiae basis as one saith the best policy and the way to wealth Ver. 7. Behold their valiant ones or their Heralds Messengers Heb. Hen Erelam Behold their Erel or their Ariel chap. 29.1 2. that is their Altar shall they i. e. the Assyrians cry without sc in mockery twitting the Jews with their Sacrifices as no way profitable to them Mr. Clarkes Eng. Martyrol So the profane Papists when they murthered the poore Protestants at Orleans sang in scorn Judge and revenge my cause O Lord Others Have mercy on us Lord. And when in the late persecution in Bohemia divers godly Nobles and Citizens were carried to prison in Prague the Papists insultingly cried after them Why do ye not now sing The Lord raigneth The Embassadours of peace thar went for peace having for their Symbol Pacem te poscimus omnes but could not effect it Weep bitterly so that they might be heard before they entered the City Vide quam vivide see here how lively things are set forth and what a lamentable report these Embassadours make of the state of the country and the present danger of losing all Ver. 8. The high-ways lye waste and by-waies are more frequented through fear of the enemy He hath broken the Covenant Irritum factum est pactum He took the money sent him but comes on nevertheless though he had sworn the contrary 2 King 18.14 17. It is said of the Turks at this day that they keep their leagues which serve indeed but as snares to intangle other Princes in no longer then standeth with their own profit Turk Hist 755. Their Maxime is There is no faith to be kept with dogs whereby they mean Christians as the Papists also say There is no faith to be kept with Hereticks whereby they mean Protestants But why kept not Vladislaus King of Hungary his Faith better with Amurath the great Turk or our Henry the third with his Barons by Papal dispensation Vah scelus vae perjuris He hath despised the Cities and will not take them for his Subjects he scorneth the motion He regardeth no man He vilipendeth and slighteth all Jewels generally Metaphora Prosâ—popoetica Ver. 9. The earth mourneth and langisheth Or the land luget languet thus they go on in their doleful relation Miserrima sunt omnia atque miseranda What sad work hath Antichrist made of late years in the Christian world what desolations in all parts Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down Sharon is like a wilderness East West North P. al. 80 13. and South of the Land are laid wast by the enemy and the avenger that boare out of the wood that bear out of the Forest Ver. 10. Now will I rise saith the Lord now Now now now Emphasin habet ingeminatio vocis Nunc This now thrice repeated importeth both the opportunity of time and Gods readiness to relieve Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses When things are at worst they 'le mend we say Now will I lift up my self who have hitherto been held an underling and inferiour to the enemy Ver. 11. Ye shall conceive chaff ye shall bring forth stubble Gravidi estis stramine parietis stipulam So did Pharaoh Antiochus Julian c. so doth Antichrist and his Champions notwithstanding his bloody alarmes to them such as was that sounded out in the year 1582. Vtere jure tuo Caesar sectamque Lutheri Ense rota ponto funibus igne neca And that other to the King of France not many years since exhorting him to kill up all the Protestants per Galliam stabulantes the very words of the Popes Bull that had any stable-room in France Your breath as fire shall devoure you shall blow up the fire that shall consume your chaff and stubble Your iniquity shall be your ruine Ezek. 18.38 Turdus sibi malum cacat Hic est gladius quem ipse fecisti this is a sword of thine own makeing said the Souldier to Marius when he ran him thorough with it Ver. 12. And the people shall be as the burning of lime As hard chalk-stones which when burnt to make lime crumble to crattle As thorns cut up Sear-thornes that crackle under a pot and are soon extinct The Hebrews tell us that the Assyrian Souldiers were burnt by the Angel with a secret fire that is with the pestilence as Berosus cited by Josephus witnesseth and our Prophet hinteth as much in many passages Lib. 10. cap. 1. Ver. 13. Hear ye that are afar of Longinqui propinqui Gods great works are to be noted and noticed by all The Egyptians heard of what God had done to the Assyrian Army and memorized it by a monument as Herodotus relateth Ver. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid At the invasion of the Assyrian Herod l. 2. Justin those that formerly fleared and jeared Gods Prophets and their menaces now fear and are crest faln ready to run into an anger-hole as we say It is as natural for guilt to breed fear and disquiet as for putrid matter to breed vermine Sinners especially those in Zion where they might be better and are therefore the worse a great deal have galled consciences and want faith to fortify theâ—r hearts against the fear of death or danger and hence those pitiful perplexities and convulsions of soul in the evil day what wonder if when they see all on fire they ring their Bells backwards if instead of mourning for their sins and
money-Merchants hath mystical Babylon also not a few Rev. 18.11 Non desunt Antichristo sui Augures malefici saith Oecolampadius Antichrist hath those abroad that trade with him and for him these shall be cast alive with him into the burning lake Rev. 19.20 and though they wander yet not so wide as to misse of hell CHAP. XLVIII Ver. 1. HEar ye this O house of Jacob Ye stiffenecked of Israel and uncircumcised in heart and eares who do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost Act. 7.51 to you be it spoken for to the Israelites indeed enough hath been said of this subject already Which are called by the name of Israel Sed nomen inane crimen immane Ye are called Jews and make your boast of God Rom. 2.17 having a form of knowledge Picti estis Israelitae est◠hypocritae Rom. 2.20 and of godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 and that 's all the voyce of Jacob but the hands of Esau Let such fear Jacobs fear My Father perhaps will feel me and I shall seem to him as a deceiver and I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing Gen. 27.12 'T is sure enough And are come forth out of the waters of Judah i. e. Out of the bowels Pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 videtur hic legendum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Gen. 15.4 as waters out of a spring Deut. 33.28 Psal 68.26 Judah was the tribe royal hence they so gloried and remained ruling with God and faithful with the Saints when other tribes revolted Which swear by the Name of the Lord And not of Baal And make mention of the God of Israel Who was neer in their mouths but far from their reines Jer. 22.2 Psal 50.16 Religionem simulabant cum in cute essent nequissimi arrant hypocrites But not in truth nor in righteousnesse i. e. Without faith and sound conversion Ver. 2. For they call themselves of the holy City Inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah yea they swore by their City and Temple as appeareth in the Gospel and cryed out ad ravim usque The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord Jer. 7. like as the Romists now do The Church the Church glorying in the false and empty title of Roman Catholicks Sed grande est Christianum esse non dici saith Hierom and it is a great vanity saith the Poet Respicere ad fumos nomina vana Catonum And stay themselves As far as a few good words will go See on Mic. 3.11 The Lord of hosts is his Name So said these hypocrites bearing themselves bold upon so great a God who had all creatures at his command Ver. 3. I have declared the former things This God had said oft before but being now to conclude this comfortable Sermon he repeats here the heads of what had been spoken in the seven foregoing Chapters Ver. 4. Because I knew that thou art obstinate Heb. hard obduraete therefore do I so inculcate these things if by any means I may mollify thee Hypocrites are harder to be wrought upon then other sinners And thy neck is an iron sinew Thou art utterly averse from yea adverse to any good no more bended thereunto than if the body had for every sinew a plate of iron And thy brow brasse Sinews of iron argue a natural impotency and somewhat more but brows of brasse impudency in evil quando pudet non esse impudentes when men are shamelesse in sin setting it upon the cliffe of the Rock Ezek. 24.7 and declaring it as Sodom Isa 3.9 Ver. 5. I have even from the beginning c. See ver 3. It is probable that there were many among the Jews who when they saw themselves to be so punished and the heathen prospered would be ready to think that the God of Israel either could not or would not do for his people as those Devil-gods did for theirs For their help therefore under such a temptation God was pleased to foretell his people what good or evil should betide them and accordingly to accomplish it Ver. 6. Thou hast heard see all this Here God extorteth from them a confession of the aforesaid truth and urgeth them to attest and publish it Ver. 7. They are created now i. e. They are now brought to light by my Revelations and predictions Behold I knew them By my gods or Diviners or by my natural sagacity Ver. 8. Yea thou heardest not yea thou knewest not Yea so oft used here is very emphatical and sheweth how hardly sinners are born down and made to beleeve plain truths where they are prepossessed with conceits to the contrary And wast called a transgressour from the womb Ever since thou madest and worshippedst a golden Calf in the wildernesse See here the Note on Psal 58.3 and art still as good at resisting the Holy Ghost as ever thy Fathers were Act. 7.51 Ver. 9. For my name sake will I defer mine anger Heb. prolong it Here he setteth forth the cause of his patience toward so perverse a people viz. the sole respect to his own glory whereof he is so tender and so loth to be a loser in Propter me faciam And for my praise The praise of my might and mercy That I cut thee not off Which I would do were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy lest thine adversaries should behave themselves strangely and lest they should say Our hand is high and the Lord hath not done all this Deut. 32.27 Ver. 10. Behold I have refined thee but not with silver Much lesse as gold which is wont to be fined most exactly Non agam summo jure tecum Jun. and to the uttermost because these precious mettles will not perish by fire But thou hast more drosse in thee than good oare therefore I have refined thee with favour Psal 118.18 Ne totus disperires lest I should undoe thee for if thy punishment should be commensurate to thine offence thou must needsly perish I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction i. e. In affliction which is as a furnace or crucible See Ezek. 20.37 Ver. 11. For mine own sake even for mine own sake This is oft repeated that it may once be well observed Bene cavet spiritus sanctus ubique in Scripturis ne nostris operibus salutem tribuamus it is Oecolampadius his Note upon the first verse of this Chapter i. e. The holy Ghost doth everywhere in Scripture take course that we ascribe not our safety to our own works See on chap. 43.13 For how should my Name be polluted As it will be by the blasphemous Heathens who else will say that their gods are fortiores faventiores more powerful and more merciful than the God of the Hebrews Thus the Turkes at this day when they have beaten the Christians cry up their Mahomet as mightier than Christ And I will not give my glory to another Presse this in prayer 't is an excellent argument Exod. 32.12 Josh 7.9 Psal 79.9 10. Psal
in religionis professores tanquam in adversarios hatred upon professours of religion looking upon them as their adversaries Ver. 15. And wondred The vulgar hath it Aporiatus est That there was no Intercessour No Interposer as Job 36.32 that would stickle for truth and right as did Nehemiah Athanasius Luther c. Therefore his arm brought salvation and his righteousnesse i. e. Christ the power of God Jun. and the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.24 30. Ver. 17. For he put on righteousnesse as a brest-plate i. e. Christ did and so must every Christian Eph. 6.14 where the Apostle Paul soundeth the Alarm and describeth his weapons as here defensive and offensive alluding likely to this text Ver. 18. Fury to his adversaries Viz. The Devil and his Agents his peoples adversaries Ver. 19. So they shall fear the Name of the Lord Christ shall get him a great Name as a renowned Conquerour When the enemy shall come in like a flood When they shall pour out a deluge of evils upon the Church Rev. 12.15 The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him i. e. Against strong temptations corruptions persecutions the Motto shall be as once Christus nobiscum state Ver. 20. And the Redeemer Shall come to the Israel of God That turn from transgression See Rom. 11.26 with the Note Ver. 21. My spirit which is upon thee and my words The efficacy of the Word is by the Spirit the expression of the Spirit by the Word both are here promised to the Church as her true goods Isa 30.20 21. Joh. 14.16 26. It is with the Word and Spirit as with the veines and arteries in the body as the veines carry the blood so the arteries carry the spirits to quicken the blood CHAP. LX. Ver. 1. A Rise Thou O my Church that now lyest in pulvere vastitatis as a forlorn captive rouze up thy self change both thy countenance and condition tanquam libera ac laeta ad novum nuncium up and look up I have joyful tydings for thee For thy light is come Christ who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 light essential Joh. 12.48 And the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee The glorious Gospel of grace 2 Cor. 3.7 and 4.4 Ver. 2. For behold the darknesse shall cover the earth As once it did Egypt Exod. 10.21 when there was light in the land of Goshen so is there in the Church when all the world besides lyeth buried in a fog of ignorance Semper in sole sita est Rhodos and a bog of wickednesse The separation of the Saints in light is a wonderful separation Exod. 33.16 But the Lord shall arise upon thee The Lord Christ who is the true light Joh. 1.9 the light of the world Joh. 8.12 the Sun of righteousnesse Mal. 4.2 See the Note there Ver. 3. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light The Apostles those shining Luminaries were Christs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holding forth the light of life to all people as Simeon said Luk. 2. And we may well say as our Saviour did Luk. 4.21 This day is this Scripture fulfilled in our ears and made good to our hearts praised be his holy Name throughout all eternity And Kings to the brightnesse of thy rising As did our King Lucius who is reckoned to be the first Christian King Our Constantine the first Christian Emperour our Edward 6. the first reforming Prince Scultet and many others Facit hoc contra Anabaptistas qui exclusos putant Reges ab Ecclesia Ver. 4. Lift up thine eyes As from a watchtower for so Zion signifieth All they gather themselves together c. See chap. 49.18 Thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side Like sucking children they shall suck and be satisfied chap. 66.11 The vulgar version here hath surgent for sugent as it hath unus de similibus for unus è millibus Job 33.23 and evertit for everrit Luk. 15.8 with other such grosse mistakes not a few Ver. 5. Then thou sha't see and flow together Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tam de lumine quam de stumâ—e dicitur thou shalt break forth as a river or thou shalt shine And thy heart shall fear At first at least to see such a confluence of people unto thee And be enlarged With joy upon better consideration Because the abundance of the sea i. e. The multitude of the Islanders and such as dwell by the sea-side which are noted for the worst of men whence the Proverb Maritimi mores Such are we Britones Ver. 6. The multitude of camels shall cover thee i. e. Of such peoples as usually ride upon Camels viz. the Arabians and the adjacent Countries these shall come flocking and flowing to the Church with their precious and pleasant riches The Dromedaries A lesser and lower kind of camels commended for their swiftnesse Jer. 2.23 we call slow people Dromâ—daries by Antiphrasis and for this that they can travel four dayes together without water Bajazet beaten by Tamberlan fled for his life and might have escaped had he not stayed to water his mare by the way which thereupon went the more heavily and was overtaken by the Tartars They shall bring gold and incense This the ancients interpret of those wise men from the East Mat. 2.11 which was indeed a small essay of this Prophecy But why should the Papists call them the three Kings of Cullen And they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord Gratanti animo This is more than all their rich gifts A thankful man is worth his weight in the gold of Ophir Ver. 7. All the flocks of Kedar i. e. The Kedarens and Nebateans with their flocks whereof they had abundance Refrixit proh dolor ardor isle and they now had hearts to honour the Lord with their substance and with the best of their increase See chap. 23.17 18. Ver. 8. What are these that fly as a cloud Which flyeth more swiftly than any bird and covereth the sky far and near Deus bone Confertis agmâ—nibâ— quam multi catervatim accurrunt saith the Church here wonderful what trooping and treading upon the heeles one of another is here And as the doves to their windows To their columbaries Columba Radit iter liquidum celeâ—es neque comm vet auras whereinto they scour and rush gregatim mira pernicitate especially if they have young ones there or else are driven by some hauke or tempest Gods people are free-hearted Psal 110.3 they serve the Lord with cheerfulness Psal 100.2 Amor enim alas addit and well might Plato descant upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom men call Love the Immortal call winged Ver. 9. Surely the Isles shall wait for me They shall come off freely Huic admirationi Messias ipse respondet non quasi angariati ad auditum verbi Sacramentorum usum And this is taken to be Gods answer declaring the cause of that wonderful concourse
his heat in Venery and ill savour saith Plutarch He that offereth an oblation Unless withal he present his body for a sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God as Rom. 12.1 Is as if he offered swines blood Blood was not to be offered at all in an oblation or meat-offering but meal oyle wine Levit. 2. much less swines blood See Levit. 11.7 He that burneth incense In honour of me unless his heart ascend up withal in those pillars of sweet smoke as Manoahs Angel did in the smoke of the sacrifice Is as if he blessed an Idol i. e. Gave thankes to an Idol called here by a name that signifyeth vanity or vexation as if he were a God in doing whereof God holdeth himself less dishonoured then by their hypocritical services performed to himself Ezek. 20.39 Beâ—n Yea they have chosen their own wayes Which must needs be naught Nemo sibi de suo palpet Are ye not carnal and walk as men saith Paul that is as naughty men Horreo quicquid de meo est ut meus sim Ver. 4. I also will chuse their delusions As they have had their will so will I have mine another while I will make them to perish by their mockeries idque ex lege talionis See chap. 65.11.12 They thought to cozen me by an out-side-service but it shall appear that they have cozened themselves when I bring upon them mercedem multiplicis petulantiae corum as Piscator rendereth it the reward of their manyfold petulancies and illusions And will bring their fear upon them Inducam nivem super eos qui timuerunt à pruina They have feared the coming of the Chaldees and come they shall So their posterity feared the Romans Joh. 11. and they felt their fury See Prov. 10.24 with the Note Because when I called c. See chap. 65.12 Ver. 5. Hear the Word of the Lord ye that tremble c. Here 's a word of comfort for you who being lowly and meek-spirited are the apter to be trampled on and abused by the fat bulls of Basan where the hedge is lowest those beasts will leap over and every crow will be pulling off wooll from a sheeps sides Your brethren By race and place but not by Grace That hated you For like cause as Cain hated Abel 1 Joh. 3.12 for trembling at Gods judgements whilst they do yet hang in the threatnings And cast you out Either out of their company as not fit to be conversed with chap. 65.5 or out of their Synagogue by excommunications as fit to be cut off See 1 Thes 2.14 Papists at this day do the like whence that Proverb In nomine Domini incipâ—t omne malum Ye begin in a wrong name said that Martyr when they began the sentence of death against him with In the name of God Amen Let the Lord be glorified With such like goodly words and specious pretences did those odious hypocrites palliate and varnish over their abominations they would persecute godly men and molest them with Church-censures and say Let the Lord be glorified So do Papists and other Sectaries deal by the Orthodox Becket offered but subdolously to submit to his Sovereign salvo honere Dei so far as might stand with Gods glory Speed 508. Anno 1386. The Conspiratours in King Richard the seconds time endorsed all their letters with Glory be to God on high on earth peace good-will towards men The Swenck feldians stiled themselves The Confessours of the glory of Christ and Gentiles the Antitrinitarian when he was called to answer said that he was drawn to maintain his cause through touch of conscience and when he was to dye for his blasphemy he said that he did suffer for the glory of the most high God so easy a matter it is to draw a fair glove upon a foul hand c. Some for Let the Lord be glorified render it Gravis est Dominus The Lord is burdensom or heavy and they parallel it with those sayings in the Gospel This is an hard saying Thou art an austere man We will not have this man to reign over us c. But he shall appear to your joy Parallel to that your sorrow shall be turned into joy How did some of the Martyrs rejoyce when excommunicated degraded c. Diod. Ver. 6. A voice of noise from the City This is a Prophetical description of the last destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans A voice from the Temple Wherin they so much gloryed where they had oft heard Christ and his Apostles preaching repentance unto life but now have their ears filled with hideous and horrid outcries of such as were slain even in the very Temple which they defended as long as they were able and till it was fited That which Josephus reporteth of Jesus the son of Ananis a plain Country-fellow is very remarkable viz. that for four years together before the last devastation he went about the City day and night crying as he went in the words of this text almost A voice from the East Lib. 7. Bâ—lli cap. 12. a voice from the West a voice from the four Winds a voice against Jerusalem and the Temple a voice against all the people Woe woe woe to Jerusalem and thus he continued to do till at length roaring out louder then ordinary Woe to Jerusalem and to me also he was slain upon the wall with a stone shot out of an Engin as Josephus reporteth That rendereth recompence to his enemies So they are here called who pretended so much to the glorifying of God ver 5. False friends are true enemies Ver. 7. Before she travelled she brought forth Quum nondum parturiret paperit understand it of Zion or of the Church Christian which receiveth her children that is Converts suddainly on a cluster before she thought to have done Subito ac simul Margaret Countesse of Henneburg and in far greater numbers then she could ever have beleeved That Lady that brought forth as many as a birth as are dayes in the year was nothing to her nor those Hebrew women Exod. 1.10 She was delivered of a man-child For the which there is so great joy Joh. 16.21 and which is usually more able and active than a woman-child so good and bold Christians strong in faith unless he meaneth Christ himself saith Diodaâ— who is formed by faith in every beleevers heart Gal. 4.19 Ver. 8. Who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such things The birth of a man would seem a miracle were it not so ordinary miracula assiduitate vilescunt but the birth of a whole Nation at once how much more Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day Yes if the day be long enough as among the Hyperboreans of whom it is written that they sow shortly after the Sun-rising and reap before the Sun-set because the whole half year is one continual day with them But the words here should be rather read Can a land Heresbach
the wicked are in their generation subtil and slye but so is the Serpent or the Fox the Swine that wandereth can make better shift to get home then the Sheep can to the fold They have received the spirit of this world 1. Cor. 2.12 the Devil also worketh effectually in them as a Smith in his forge Ephes 2.2 Hence they are wise to do evil Elymas was a vere subtle fellow but the Devils child and so the more dangerous Acts 13.10 Magnum ingenium magna tentatio saith Vincentius Lirinenses concerning Origen who had a great wit but proved a great scandal to the Church The Devil covets to be adorned by thee said Austin to one that was wittily wicked Surely as Jet gathereth drosse and refuse things to it self but le ts go gold and precious things so do the Worlds wisards Ver. 23. I beheld the earth and loe it was without form and void Tohu vabohu as Gen. 1.2 sightlesse and shapelesse Sermo est hyperbolicus all was in a confusion what shall it then be at the last day Ver. 24. I beheld the mountains and loe they trembled War is a woe that no words how wide soever can sufficiently utter And all the hills moved lightly As being lightned of their burden saith a Rabbin trees and houses Ver. 25. I beheld and loe there was no man But all killed captived or fled Judaea lay utterly waste for Seventy years Insomuch that after the slaughter of Gedaliah when all men women and children fled into Egypt there was not a Jew left in the Country And all the Birds of the heavens were fled Birds were given men for food Physick and delight as companions of his life therefore it is reckoned both here and chap. 9.10 as a judgement to lose them Ver. 26. At the presence of the Lord c. Who was the chief Agent as Titus the Roman Emperour also acknowledged after he had destroyed Jerusalem Suidas Non se id fecisse dixit sed Deo iram suam declaranti manus suas accommodasse he said it was not He that had done it but that He had only lent his hands to God justly displeased at that Nation Ver. 27. Yet I will not make a full end God kept the room empty all those Seventy years till the return of the natives Ver. 28. Because I have spoken it c. Quod scripsi scripsi said Pilat I will not alter it See the like Ezek. 24.13 14. Ver. 29. Every City shall be forsaken See ver 25. Ver. 30. Though thou rentest thy face with paint Jesabel like 2 King 9.30 See Ezek. 23.40 In vain shalt thou make thy self fair i. e. Seek to ingratiate with the Chaldees by submitting to them and worshiping their Idols Thy lovers will despise thee As an old withered strumpet and now out of date See Ezek. 16.36 23.22 Ver. 31. As of her that bringeth forth her first childe Primiparae such have greatest pains and least patience oft For my soul is wearied because of Murtherers Once her Paramours her Sweet-hearts There is nothing got by comporting with Idolaters The Duke of Medina's sword knew no difference between Papists and Protestants in Eighty eight and that they should have found had the Spaniard then prevailed CHAP. V. Ver. 1. RVn to and fro Spaciamini scrutamini Goe as many of you as ye please the verbs are plural In the streets of Jerusalem Where it was strange there should be such a rarity of righteous ones But the faithful City was now become an harlot Esa 1.21 Like as Rome is at this day Tota est jam Roma lupanar Shee had a Mancinel a Savanorola and some few other Jeremies to tell her her own but she soon took an order with them The Primitive Christians called Heathens Pagans because contrey people living in pagis that is in Hamlets and Villages were heathenish for most part after that Cities were converted and had many good people in them but Jerusalem here afforded not any one hardly In Polyh If ye can find a man i. e. A godly a zealous man For homines permulti virè perpauci saith Herodotus there is a great paucity of good people Diogenes is said to have sought for a good man in Athens with a lantern and candle at Noon-day And once when he had made an O yes in the market-place crying out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hear O ye men and thereupon company came about him to hear what the matter was he rated them away again with this speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I called for men and not for varlets Job was a man every inch of him See the Notes on Job 1.1 So was Moses that man of God Daniel that man of desires John Baptist then whom there arose not a greater among all that were born of woman Paul that little man Calvinus erat vir admirabilis Ipsa à quo rosset virtutem dicere virtus Guevara but who did great exploits Athanasius and Luther who stood out against all the world and prevailed But not many such blessed be God that any such Cicero observeth that scarce in an Age was born a good Poet. And Seneca saith Such as Clodius was we have enow but such as Cato are hard to be found The Host of Nola being bid to summon the good men of the Town to appear before the Roman Censor gat him to the Church-yard and there called at the graves of the dead for he knew not where to call for a good man alive God himself sought for a man that might stand up in the gap but met not with any such one Ezek. 22.30 And I will pardon it Sodoms sins cryed loud to God for vengeance so did now Jerusalems But had there been but a voice or two more of righteous religious persons there their prayers had outcryed them A few birds of Song are shriller then many crocitating birds of prey Ver. 2. And though they say The Lord liveth i. e. Albeit they talk religiously as those pretenders also did Isa 66.5 and make a great flaunt as if some great matter with Simon Magus Acts 8.9 yet they are arrant Hypocrites and therefore odious to me who desire truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 These neither say the truth nor do it 1 Joh. 3.10 Ver. 3. O Lord are not thine eyes upon the truth And can these painted Hypocrites hope ever to please thee how much are they mistaken Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved As being past feeling of a dead and dedolent disposition like naughty boyes which are the worse for a whipping or Solomons drunkard who is beaten but never the better Prov. 23.35 There is no surer sign of a carnal Israelite of a profligate professour then to be senseless or incorrigible under publike judgements Ver. 4 Therefore I said i. e. I thought with my self Surely these sc That swear falsely and refuse to be reformed c Are poor Of the rascality under law base and beggarly who
so do many feed greedily on sins murthering morsels Ver. 15. Loe I have given thee Cows-dung This was some mitigation Something God will yield to his praying people when most bitterly bent against them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contabescerâ— foetidum fieri Ver. 16. Behold I will break the staff of bread Bread shall be very scarce and that which men have shall not nourish or satisfy them they shall have appetitum caninum See Isa 3.1 with the Note and take that good cousel Amos. 5 14 15. lest we know the worth of good by the want of it Ver. 17. And be astonied At their straits and disappointments And consume away for their iniquity Levit. 26.31 They shall pine away in their iniquity this is the last and worst of judgements there threatened after those other dismal ones CHAP. V. Ver. 1. ANd thou son of man See on chap. 2.1 Take thee a sharp knife This was the King of Babylon as Isa 7.20 The Turk is at this day such another Mahomet the first was in his time the death of 800000 men Selymus the second in revenge of the losse received at Lepanto Turk Hist 885. would have put to death all the Christians in his dominions Take the a barbers razor Not a deceitful razor as Psal 52.2 but one that will do the deed sharp and sure Pliny telleth us out of Varro Lib. 7. cap. 59. that the Romans had no barbers till 454 years after the City was built antè intensi fuere And cause it to passe upon thy head and upon thy beard As hairs are an ornament to the head and beard so are people to a City But as when they begin to be a burthen or trouble to either they are cut off and cast away so are people by Gods Judgements when by their sins they are offensive to him dealing as Dionysius did by his god Aesculapius from whom he presumed to pull his golden beard David felt himself shaved in his Embassadours so doth God in his servants whose very hairs are numbred Matth. 10.30 in his Ministers especially who by a specialty are called Gods men 1 Tim. 6.11 2 Tim. 3.17 with whom to meddle is more dangerous then to take a Lion by the beard or a bear by the hair Then take the ballances to weigh This sheweth that Gods Judgements are just to a hairs weight And capillus nous suam habet umbram saith Mimus And divide the hair Dii nos quasi pilas habent saith Plautus imo quasi pilos saith Another Ver. 2. Thou shalt burn with fire a third part i. e. with famine pestilence and other mischiefs during the siege of Jerusalem Pythagoras gave this precept among others Vnguium criniumque praesegmina ne contemnito But God findeth so little worth in wicked people that he regardeth them not but casteth them as excrements to the dunghil yea to hell Psal 9.17 And smite about it with a knife They shall be slain with that sharp knife or sword ver 1. after that the City is taken Thou shalt scatter in the wind Sundry of them shall fly for their lives but in running from death they shall but run to it Amos 9.1 2 3 4. 2.13 14 15 16. Ver. 3. Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number A remnant is still reserved that the Lord God may dwell among men Psal 68.18 See Jer. 44.28 2 King 25.12 Isa 1.9 6.10 Ver. 4. Then take of them again and cast them into the midst of the fire Thus evil shall hunt a wicked man to overthrow him Psal 140.11 See the Note there he shall not escape though he hath escaped his preservation is but a reservation to further mischief except he repent And burn them in the fire Such he meaneth as were combustible matter for there were a sort of precious ones amongst them who being brought by God through the fire were thereby refined as silver is refined and tryed as gold is tryed c. Zach. 13.9 See the Notes there Ver. 5. This is Jerusalem i. e. This head and beard so to be shaved ver 1. by the hair of the head some think the wise men of that City are figured out and by the hair of the beard are the strong men the razor of Gods severity maketh clean work leaveth no stub or stump behind it I have set it in the midst of the nations As the head heart and center of the earth See Psal 74.10 Ezek. 38.12 and God had peculiar ends it it that the Law might go forth out of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem and that all Nations might flow unto it Isa 2.2 3. Talis est Roma Christianis Such now is Rome to Christians saith à Lapide bur lay a straw there say we or as the Glosse saith upon some decrees of Popes Haec non credo I believe it not See Rev. 17.5 Ver. 6. And she hath changed my judgements into wickednesse This was a foul change this was to do evil as she could Jer. 3.5 this was ingratitude of the worst sort such as Socrates called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 manifest in â—ustice Such a wretched change is complained of Jer. 2.11 Rom. 1.23 25. Jude 4. but nowhere in so high an expession as this as One observeth More then the Nations Because the Jews had better Laws but worse dispositions then they Ver. 7. Because ye multiplyed sc Your transgressions and superstitions or because ye have abounded with blessings and made me so ill a requital Some render it Quia tumultuastis ves plus quam vicinae gentes and indeed there were many murthers committed amongst them and many revolts from forrain Princes whom they had sworn to serve Neither have done according to the judgement of the nations But have out-sinned them qui deos suos quamvis viles multos non mutant who change not their gods as you have done Me Jer. 2.10.11 but follow the natural light of reason some of them at least do so Rom. 2.14 which you have debauched See 1 Cor. 5.1 Ezech. 16.46 47 48. Ver. 8. Behold I even I am against thee Whether thou wilt believe it or not Thou holdest it unlikely but shalt find it true and that I am very serious not saying these things in terrorem only Ecce me adversum te venientem so some render it Behold I am upon my march against thee and will punish thee surely severely suddenly And will execute Judgements For the non-execution of my Judgements in the former sense taken as ver 7. In the sight of the nations In whose sight thou hast so sinned and who will rejoyce at thy sufferings Ver. 9. And I will do in thee that which I have not done None shall suffer so much here or sink so deep in hell as a profane Jew a carnal Gospeller who is therefore worse then others because he ought to be better Oh the height and weight of those Judgements that shall be heaped upon such See Lam.
they religiously worshp Agnus Dei's reliques of Saints painted doves resembling the Holy Ghost the Asse whereon Christ rod they say Wolph mem lect on Palm-Sunday The tayl of that Asse they shew still at Genua and require low obeysance to be done thereunto Ver. 11. And there stood before them seventy men of the Ancients The whole Sanhedrin or great Council haply Councils may erre and have done often The ill example of these Ancients was very attractive Magnates Magnetes Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan A Cheiftain amongst them and haply President of the Council whom they called Nasi or Prince His father Shaphan was Scribe in Josiah's dayes as some think 2 Kings 22.12 And a thick cloud of incense went up Abundantia nubis Papists to this day cense their images semel singulis thuribulum ducat sacerdos saith the Roman Masse-book The Primitive Christians were pressed by their Persecutours to throw at least a little frankincense into the fire which when Origen and Marcellinus did through infirmity of the flesh they were cast out of the hearts of good people and branded with the name of Thurificati i. e. Incensed persons Ver. 12. What the Ancients of Israel do in the dark Idolatry is a deed of darknesse The Athenians had their Eleusinia the Romans the rights of their Bona Dea and the Egyptians their Ofiridis Pamylia all done in the dark The Popish Temples are many of them dark and some so stuffed with presents and memories that they are thereby made much the darker For they say The Lord seeth us not Atheisme is the source of all sinfulnesse These fools being in the dark thought that God could not see what they did there The Lord hath forsaken the earth Hath cast of all care off us and therefore we must see to our selves look us out some other deities See Jer. 18.15 Lib. 2 cap. 7. What a base speech is that of Pliny Irridendum verò curam agere rerum humanarum illud quicquid est Summum T is no way likely that God taketh care what becometh of mans matters Os durum Ver. 13. Turn thee yet again q. d. Little didst thou think Ezekiel that thy Country-men of Jury were so prodigiously abominable as now thou seest And what more sure then sight Ver. 14. And behold there sat women These were Preists of Isis whose impious and most impudent kind of worship is largely described by Herodotus Diodorus Siculus Plutarch and Eusebius as celebrated with very unseemly ceremonies worse if it might be then those of Priapus But who would ever have looked for such immodest doings among Gods professed people See 1 Cor. 5.1 Weeping for Tammuz i. e. For Osiris King of Egypt and idolatrously adoring his image which his wife Isis had advanced Ver. 15. Hast thou seen this q. d. And canst thou easily believe thine own eyes Neverthelesse these flagitious persons have the face to say In all my doings they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin Hos 13.8 Say not Popish Idolaters still as much Thou shalt see greater abominations Idolatry is stintlesse Ver. 16. Were about five and twenty men These say some were the King and his Councel See chap. 11.1 With their backs toward the Temple And yet in a part of it hoc fuit signum nimiae improbitatis Here to turn their posteriours upon Gods house and Ark which they were commanded to look towards Veluti Dominum in certamen provocantes as a Type of Christ was to bid open defiance to him and to renounce his service cum ingenti contumelia sanctitatis Domini Oh the unspeakable patience of God! And they worshipped the Sun So did the Persians under the name of Mithra the Assyrians of Osiris the Egyptians of Orus son of Isis c. Heathens thought that Christians did so too Tertul. Apol. because anciently they prayed with their faces Eastward Ver. 17. And loe they put the branch to their nose In honour to the Sun whose heat produceth the most redolent wines Or they might be branches of Laurel dedicated to the Sun R. Solomon rendereth it they put a stinck to my nose even ventris crepitum pro suffitu Ecce ipsi subsannates Sept. Vah Vah Vah Ver. 18. Mine eye shall not spare Chap. 5.11 7.4 And though they cry in mine eares c. Because it is the cry of the flesh for ease and not of the Spirit for grace CHAP. IX Ver. 1. HE cryed also God to whom vengeance belongeth calleth aloud and with a courage as we say to the Executioners of his wrath to come and fall on Praefecti urbis Cause them that have charge over the City i. e. The Angels here called the visitations or visiters of Jerusalem the prefects of the City Every man with his destroying weapon Called ver 2. a maule or battle-ax telum dissipatorium Ver. 2. And behold six men came Ad hunc Dei clamorem vel clangorem the Angels came the Chaldees came at the call of this Lord of Hoasts who hath all creatures at his beck and check By the way of the higher gate Called also the New gate Jer. 26.10 built by Jotham 2 Chron. 27.3 Toward the North Where stood the idol of jealousy and whereby Nebuchadnezzar entred Per quod quis peccat per idem punitur ipse One man among them This was a created Angel say some chap. 10.2 Christ the Angel of the Covenant say others with more likelyhood of truth Clothed with linnen As High-Priest of his people and withal an offering for them and that without spot Heb. 7. And a writers inkhorn by his side An ensign of his Prophetical office say some as his linnen cloathing was of his Priestly and of his Kingly that he was Among or in the midst of the six slaughter-men as their Captain and Commander They went in and stood beside the brazen altar Where they might receive further instructions from God So in the Revelation those Angels that were to pour out the vials of divine vengeance are said to come out of the Temple Ver. 3. And the glory of the God of Israel i. e. The Son of God appearing upon the glorious Charret 1.3 3.23 and being the brightnesse of his Fathers glory the expresse image of his person Heb. 1.3 Was gone up from the Cherub i. e. From those four Cherubines upon which the glory of the Lord did then appear to the Prophet chap. 8.4 He was gone from his Ark to shew that the refractary Jews were now discovenanted and from his Mercy-seat to shew that he would shew them no more mercy Many removes God maketh in this and the two following Chapters to shew his lothnesse utterly to remove And still as he goeth out some judgement cometh in Here he removeth from the Cherubims in the Oracle to the threshold and upon that remove see what followeth ver 5 6 7. So for the rest see chap. 10.1 2. chap. 10.19 11.8 9 10. chap. 11.23 and when God
detestable decree of the Council of Trent is well known whereby the Apocryphaâ— is set cheek by joule as they say with the holy Canon the Vulgar Translation with the Original traditions with Scriptures and unwritten verities with those that are written This is intolerable presumption Jews and Turks do the like in their Talmud and Alchoran that I speak not of our Sect-Masters who boldly obtrude their Placits without just proof and require to be beleeved And the wall between me and them Which they have wretchedly set up by their sins to their singular disadvantage Esa 59.2 or they have come under my nose as it were to provoke me Or the nearer they were to Church the further from God Ver. 9. Now let them put away their whoredom So shall all be well betwixt us See Jer. 3.1 Isa 1.18 with the Notes Piscator ictus sapiat Some read it Now they will put away c. and so they did after the captivity but will not be yet drawn to worship the true God aright the Lord perswade their hearts thereto Fiat Fiat And the carcasses See on ver 7. And I will dwell in the midst of them for ever This is the same with that Mat. 28. I am with you to the end of the world Ver. 10. Shew the house Heb. that house sc which I have shewed thee in visions the idea of that Temple which shall shortly be set up its figure and dimensions That they may be ashamed Of having dealt so unworthily with a God so gracious And let them measure the pattern Vt metiantur universe that by a holy Geometry they may in the spirit of their minds take all the dimensions of it and be transformed into the likeness of the heavenly pattern These are those holy and heavenly Mathematikes which none can learn but those that are taught of God Scholae Platonis haec fuit inscriptio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and without which none can be Christs Disciple like as none might be scholar to Plato that had not the grounds of Geometry Ver. 11. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done If they blush and bleed at heart for their iniquities Penitents are to be taught the truth which is according to godliness and all such are exactly to know and to do the whole will of God as had not rather be carnally secured then soundly comforted Ver. 12. Vpon the top of the mountain The Church is as a City on an hill seen far and near Mat. 5.14 and the members of it are still ascending from one degree of grace to another from strength to strength till they see the face of God in Sion Psal 15.1 Heb. 12.22 23. The whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy All the Lords people are so at least in profession inchoation honest endeavour divine acceptation and shall be so one day in all perfection Rev. 21.8 27. 22.14 15. Ver. 13. And these are the measures of the Altar viz. Of burnt offerings which was in the Priests court and not at all spoken of till now The cubit viz. That of the Sanctuary Even the bottom Heb. the bâ—som This shall be the higher place Heb. the back as that which bore all We have also an Altar Heb. 13.10 even Jesus Christ the just one who is both our Ariel Gods Lion Rev. 5.5 and our Harcel Gods Mount of four cubits as being preached unto the Gentiles in all parts believed on in the world received up into glory 1 Tim. 3.16 Ver. 14. And from the bottom upon the ground This so exact measuring of the Altar may import saith Polanus the faithful and perfect preaching of the Gospel by the Apostles and all faithful Ministers of Gods Word after them 2 Cor. 10.13 c. 1 Cor. 4.1 2. Rev. 11.1 Ver. 15. So the Altar Heb. Harcel the hill of God or the only place of sacrifices And from the Altar Ariel the Lion of God so called because the fire of this Altar devoured the sacrifices as a Lion doth the prey See Esa 29.16 Ver. 16. Square in the four squares thereof Christ the Christian Altar is compleat firm and fixed Ver. 17. And his staires shall look toward the East As leading to the Sun of righteousnesse and the light of eternal blessedness arising out of heaven Ver. 18. These are the ordinances of the Altar Christians also have their sacrifices though of another alloy to offer and must look to the ordinances of their Altar Ministers must especially Ver. 19. And thou shalt give to the Priests All this is to be understood spiritually as being figuratively spoken A young bullock Together with a goat and a ram ver 22 23 25. All that are Christs have crucified the flâ—sh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 and are still doing at it Ver. 20. And thou shalt take of the blood Christ as Mediatour was consecrated and qualified for the work Ver. 21. Without the Sanctuary So Christ suffered without the gate Heb. 13.11 12. Ver. 22. And they shall cleanse the Altar To set forth how Christ clenseth and sanctifieth his people Heb. 9.19 24. Job 17.19 Heb. 9.13 14. Ver. 23. Thou shalt offer See on ver 19. Plato salâ—ominat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 diu charis Nihil utilius sale â—c soâ—e Cael Rhodig l. 6. c 1. Ver. 24. And the Priests shall cast salt upon them Christians must have salt within themselves Mar. 9.50 and see to it that all their speeches be seasoned with the salt of mortification and discretion Eph. 4. so shall God make an everlasting covenant with them even a covenant of salt See Levit. 2.13 Ver. 25. Every day a goat Mortification must be a Christians dayly practice Ver. 26. They shall purge Thou and they together We must also sanctifie the Lord God in our hearts 1 Pet. 3.15 Ver. 27. It shall be upon the eighth day The services of mortified men shall be accepted on the eighth day especially the Christian sabbath in the holy Assemblies CHAP. XLIV Ver. 1. THen he brought me back From the Eastgate which was found shut to the Northgate where the Prophet received large instructions ver 4. Christ must be followed though he seem to lead us in and out backward and forward as if we were treading a maze Ver. 2. This gate shall be shut Is and shall be save only to Messiah the Prince Psal 118.20 and to whomsoever he as having the keyes of David shall open it This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter sc by that new and living way which Christ their forerunner Heb. 6.20 hath prepared and paved for them with his own blood Heb. 10.20 See Heb. 7.8 9 11 12 24. And no man shall enter in it No meer man unless it be by Emmanuel See Joh. 3.13 Ver. 3. It is for the Prince For Messiah the Prince so Christ is called Dan. 9. Or for the Chief Priest who as he had a singular priviledge herein above other Priests so
locum Heyl. Geog. that it should not be lawful for housholders to pray with their families and that of the Jesuites at Dola forbidding the common people to say any thing at all of God either in good sort or in bad That whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man What not of their own gods nor yet of Cyrus who was compartner with Darius in the Kingdom But like enough these complotters might think hereby the rather to ingratiate with the old dotard Darius who feared the virtue and valour of his Nephew and colleague Cyrus and would say with tears as Xenophon reporteth that Cyrus was more glorious then he and had more applause of the people Ver. 8. Now O King establish the decree Confirm it that it may receive the force of Law According to the Law of the Medes and Persians that altereth not This was too much to be given to any law made by man so mutable a creature I have read of a people whose laws lasted in force but for three dayes at utmost This was a fault in the other extream The Persians laws were therefore irrepealable because they worshipped Truth for a goddesse to whom Inconstancy and Change must needs be opposite and odious But this was no good reason neither unless the Lawmakers shall be supposed such as cannot erre nor will any thing unjust which can be truely attributed to none but God only Ver. 9. Wherefore King Darius signed the writing As well enough content to be so dignified yea deified So was Alexander the Great Antiochus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod Domitian Dominus Deus noster Papa Vah scelus Ver. 10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed Which he knew not belike till it was proclaimed and published and then it may be he did as much against it as Latimer did herein like case by writing his mind unto King Henry the eighth after the Proclamation for abolishing English books See his letter in the book of Martyrs and marvel at his heroical boldnesse and stoutnesse Act. Mon. 1591. who as yet being no Bishop so freely and fearlesly adventuring his life to discharge his conscience durst so boldly to so mighty a Prince in such a dangerous case against the Kings law and Proclamation set out in such a terrible time take upon him to write and to admonish that which no counsellor durst once speak unto him in defence of Christs Gospel He went into his house He left the Court as no fit aire for piety to breath in and get him home Exeat Aulâ— qui vâ—lit esse pius where he might more freely and comfortably converse with his God Tutissimus est qui rarissime cum hominibus plurimum cum Deo colloquitur saith a good Divine that is he is safest who speaketh seldom with men but oft with God And his windows being open in his chamber This was his wont belike at other times and now he would not break it to the scandal of the weak and the scorn of the wicked who watched him and would have charged him with dissimulation should he have done otherwise Say not therefore What needed he thus to have thrust himself into observation could he not have kept his conscience to himself and used his devotions in more secrecy our Politick-Professours and Neuter-passives indeed could and would have done so But as Basil answered once to him that blamed him for venturing too far for his friend Non aliter aware didici I never learned to love any otherwise so might good Daniel here have done his zeal for God would not suffer him to temporize or play on both hands It shall well appear to his greatest enemies that he is true to his Principles and no flincher from his religion His three companions were alike resolved chap. 3. and Paul Act. 21.13 and Luther when to appear at Wormes and many more that might here be mentioned Toward Jerusalem For the which he was now a petitioner sith the time to favour her yea the set time was come Psal 102.13 There also sometime had stood the Temple not without a promise of audience to prayers made in or toward that holy place 1 King 8.43 which also was a type of Christ c. He kneeled upon his knees Constantino the Great as Eusebius telleth us would have this as his portraiture a man on his knees praying to shew that that was his usual practice and posture Three times a day At morning noon and night thus constantly beside other times also upon emergent occasions All the power and policy of Persia could not keep God and Daniel asunder no not for a few dayes Philip. 3.20 Ephes 2.19 't is a part of our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our City-employment or spiritual-trading with God to pray and if prayer stand still the whole trade of godliness standeth still too Clean Christians therefore typed by those clean beasts in the law Levit. 11.3 must rightly part the hoof rightly divide their time giving a due share thereof to either of their callings as Daniel did sanctifying both by prayer and at hours of best leisure Psal 55.17 And prayed and gave thanks before his God Chald. Confessed either his sins that he might get pardon thereof or else Gods benefits the glory whereof he thankfully returned unto him Prayers and praises are like the double motion of the lungs Let every breath praise the Lord. As he did aforetime An excellent custome doubtlesse and most worthy to be kept up Arist Ethic. lib. 8. cap. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 11. Then these men assembled But for ill purpose as did also our Saviours enemies Luk. 22.6 and Stevens Act. 7. the Popish Councels at Rome they have a meeting weekly de propaganda fide for the propagating of the Romish Religion and abolishing of heresie as they call it And found Daniel praying The Sun shall sooner stand still in heaven then Daniel give over to pray to his Father in heaven Ver. 12. Hast thou not signed a decree But should wickednesse be established by a law Psal 94.20 See on ver 7. So in France there was published an edict whereby the people were forbidden on pain of death D. Arrowsus Tact. Sacr. p. 89. to have in their houâ—â— any French book wherein the least mention was made of Jesus Christ Ver. 13. That Daniel He was principal president and deserved a better attribution then That Daniel But ill will never speaketh well of any Which is of the Captivity This also is terminus diminuens q. d. This royal slave whom thou hast preferred above us all and hast moreover some thoughts to set him over the whole realm ver 3. New men shall be much spighted 'T was therefore no ill counsel Fortunam reverenter habe quieunque repâ—â—te Auson Dives ab exili progrediere loco Regardeth not thee O King Chald. putteth no respect on thee This is common falsely to accuse Gods most faithful servants as