with his meat the Centurion with his money to build those Synagogues that wicked Antiochus had thrown down and these in the Text with their most precious things to reedifie that Temple that Nebuchadnezzar had burnt Besides all that was willingly offered A free-will offering then there was as verse 4. brought in by Gods willing people Psal 110.3 that wait for Gods Law as Esay 42.8 and hold with that Ancient that it is nimis angusta innocentia ad legem bonum esse to do no more service to God then needs must to get so much grace onely as will keep life and soul together that is soul and hell asunder this they judge to be a low and unworthy straine of some good people David voweth free-will-offerings often Psal 5.6 1 Chr. 29 8 9. and could beteeme God a great deale more love and service then he is able to performe to him Those good souls Zach. 8.21 call upon themselves and one another 1 Sam. 1.4.21 Luke 2.41 42 to be continually going before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts I saith each for himself will go also Hannah went up with her husband every year to the Feast so did the Virgin Mary to the Passeover with her Sonne Jesus yet none were expressely commanded so to do but males and those also nothing under twenty years of age as fit to be numbered Exod. 30.14 So those amongst us that hear week-day-Sermons as Mary did Luke 10.42 and many other good people in our Saviours dayes Luke 19.47 48. and 21.37 38. Hereby we shall shew our love and do a service highly accepted in heaven Verse 7. Also Cyrus the King brought forth the vessels For example to others jussit gessit he did himself what he commanded to be done and so became a living Law a walking Statute So Justinian would not put the vessels of the Temple taken by Titus and recovered from Gensericus into the publike treasury but restored them Which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth With profane and sacrilegious hands some of these sacred vessels and utensils of the Temple he had cut in pieces 2 Kings 24.13 and others he carried away 2 Chron. 36.7 whole and entire This he did out of covetousnesse that auri sacra fames and in scorne of all religion rather then hatred of the Jewish superstition or to avenge the quarrel of Gods Covenant like as for the same reason his successour Cambyses destroyed the Egyptian Idols Virg. Isa 10. And had put them There was a sweet providence in that to the end that being there reserved they might in due time be restored as here they are to the house of God at Jerusalem And although that was a most unfit place to keep them in for what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols and Belshazzar most profanely abused them 2 Cor. 6.16 Dan. 5.2 in that drunken feast of his hence he is called the festival King Ezek. 21.5 6. yet being sanctified againe and dedicated to the true and first owner the God of Israel they might lawfull be made use of Not only things indifferent abused may yet be used in the service of God as those six water-pots were by our Saviour John 2. though they had beene superstitiously abused for private purification but also Idolatrous things and places As Gideon took the Bullock appointed for Baal and the Grove and offered the Bullock with that wood in sacrifice to the Lord Judg. 6.26 The like the Bethshemites did by the Philistines Cart and Kine The Mount of Olives was shamefully abused to idolatry by Solomon and others so that it was called The Mount of corruption 2 Kings 23.13 and yet was it our Saviours usual Oratory or place of Prayer In the house of his Gods Bel and Nebo Esay 46.1 These were Babylons chief gods The Original of Bel is said to be this Ninus having made an Image of his father Belus all that came to see it were pardoned for all their offences whence in time that Image came to be worshipped and then afterwards a multitude more Insomuch as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hef that in Hesiods time the number of Heathenish gods was grown to thirty thousand And in China at this day some tell us that there are no fewer then an hundred thousand Idols O curas hominum O quantum est in rebus inane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Gods these Mawmets are called here not because they were so for there is one God onely said Pythagoras and other Heathens but because Nebuchadnezzar falsely held them so Like as elsewhere the gods of Damascus are said to have smitten Ahaz who therefore sacrificed to them 2 Chron. 20.23 not as if those Idols were any thing in the world or could do any thing at all to him Jer. 10.5 1 Cor. 8.4 but onely that he conceited so and that the devil who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Synesius truly saith abused his credulity Ver. 8. Even those did Cyrus King of Persia so stiled because though he was Monarch of many Countries yet Persia was his hereditary Kingdom and Persepolis the place of his residence which great City was afterwards burnt by Alexander the Great at the motion and by the request of a base harlot By the hand of Mithridath the treasurer Heb. Gizbar Inde Gaspar saith one Mithridates King of Pontus was famous in after-ages or rather infamous for his craft in saving himself Val. Max. and his cruelty to the Roman Merchants trading thorow his territories killing fourscore thousand of them with one letter And numbred them unto Shezbazzar Joy in tribulation this is the signification of the word A fit name for a Prince Neminen à se dimisit tristem Sucton who should be Decliciae orbis as Titus the Emperour of whom it is said that he never sent away any suitor sad or discontented and remembring on a day that he had not done any poor man good he cried out to his friends Hodie non regnavimus Amici diem perdidi accounting that day lost wherein he had not shewed some man courtesie Such a gracious Prince was Job chap. 29.12 I delivered the poore that cried saith He Grand Sign Seâ—ag 148. and the fatherlesse and him that had none to help him The great Turk stileth himself The worlds refuge professing that all that lament unto him shall have redresse and succour James the fifth of Scotland was called The poor mans King for his readinesse to right and relieve the afflicted Zerubbabel however he came by this name Shesbazzar for that he was the man I take for granted Ezra 5.16 with chap. 3.8 Zech. 4.9 though Junius think otherwise he deserved it doubtlesse and of him it might well be said Vopisous as the Historian doth of Probus the Emperour Si probi nomen non haberet habere cognomen posset Speed 723. pity he had beene called any thing but Probus so honest a Prince he was think
requited My father said he is not dishonoured by attending on me for I am both a Kings and a Queens son and so is not he In the beginning of his reigne As loth to lose time Esau began in the very womb to persecute Jacob and as taking their fittest season for granting of suits Wrote they an accusation Heb. a Satanical suggestion a diabolical accusation hatcht in hell and dictated by the Devil He it is that acteth and agitateth the Saints adversaries and accusers sitting upon their tongues and pens and setting an edge on them Verse 7. And in the dayes of Artaxerxes This seems to be Cambyses his Persian name as Ahashuerosh was his Chaldee name It is as much as Bellator egregius an excellent warriour So Scipi was called Fulmen belli the light-bolt of warre Bajazet the great Turk Turk Hist Gilderun or lightning Albert Marquesse of Brandenburg was called Achilles Teutonicus Bucholc Our black Prince was so named not of his colour but of his courage and of his dreaded acts in battel for he assailed no Nation which he over-came not Speed he besieged no City which he took not Cambyses had great successe in his wars and added Egypt and other Countries to the Persian Monarchy Wrote Bishlam Mithredath These were the King of Persia's Toparches or Deputies beyond the river Euphrates Written in the Syrian tongue Called also the Chaldee Babylonish and Assyrian commonly spoken by the Jewes who in the seventy years captivity lost the purity of their owne language like as the Latines also did when the Gothes Vandals and other barbarous Nations over-ran them and mingled with them And interpreted in the Syrian tongue i. e. with Syrian characters Et Scriptura lingua erat Syriaca ut sine interprete in aula regis intelligeretur saith Shindler It was so written that it might be understood at Court without an interpreter Verse 8. Rehum the Chancellour Or President of the Councel It is of the Chaldee termination the whole history also following to chap. 6.19 is Chaldee transcribed as some think out of the rolls and registers of the Chaldees and here inserted Verse 9. The Dinaites and the Apharsathkites the Tarpalites This was not unity but conspiracy of a rabble of rebels against God and his people So Psal 83.5 6 c. They have consulted together with one consent they are confederate against thee The Tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagarenes c. A whole legion of Devils could agree to enter into one poore man to vex him and to act as one in that possession Verse 10. The great and noble Asnapper Some great Commander under the Assyrian Monarch There is they say a greatnesse Belluine and a greatnesse Genuine-Asnapper notwithstanding his big-swoln titles might be rather great then good and more notable then noble Juvenal Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus On this side the river That ancient river the river Euphrates which the more I see the more I admire saith one Verse 11. Thy servants Not thy subjects onely but thine Officers Verse 12. The rebellious and bad City After so many years doth Jerusalem rue one perfidious act of Zedekiah and having once beene treacherous it still hears The rebellious and bad City as if it had beene a very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a professed Sanctuary of roguery as the Jesuites say of Geneva and as Florus saith of the Temple at Jerusalem that it was impiae gentis arcanum And have set up the walls thereof This was no lesse false then scandalous But malice careth not how true the accusation is but how mischievous And joyned the foundations Chald. sewed together Or rather these false-informers had sewed a lie together with great Art that it might seeme a truth Psal 119.69 The proud have forged a lie against me assuunt mendacium mendacio they have taught their tongues to speak lies Jer. 9.5 and are Artists at it Verse 13. Be it knowne now unto the King q. d. This is no light businesse but of greatest importance and therefore fit to be noted and noticed Then will they not pay tole tribute c. This is an old device of the Devil and his Impes to represent Gods people to the world as Antimagistratical and disturbers of the publike peace Thus they dealt by the Primitive Christians who were the Emperours best subjects and yielded them greatest respect and profit Thus Francis King of France pretended and professed to the Princes of Germany whose friendship he desired that he pursued the Lutherans with fire and sword for no other cause but for that they were Levellers and enemies to civil government This drew from Calvin who was then but twenty five years of age that golden book of his Institutions of Christian Religion to free the Reformed Churches of that slurre and slander The like was suggested by the Arminians in the Low-countries and by the Episcopal party here It was in Tacitus his time unum crimen eorum qui crimine vacabant the onely fault of such as were indeed without fault And so thou shalt endamage the revenue Diminish the annual Entrado's of the crowne which are well called the Kings strength here because if these faile little good can be done either at home or abroad Henry King of Navarre afterwards King of France was wont to say that he was an husband without a wife a souldier without money and a King without a Kingdome What would the King of Spaines greatnesse soon come to were it not for his yearly incomes his mines of America Verse 14. Now because we have maintenance from the Kings Palace Chaldee Are salted with the salt of the Palace Salarium de regis palatio percipimus have our salary from the Court as Junius rendereth it The great use of salt makes it here put for all kinde of commodity like as bread is called panis as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The all and whole of our sustenance Deut. 8.3 And it was not meet for us to see the Kings dishonour Chald. Nakednesse privities which uncovered cause contempt as it befell Noah in his drunkennesse and the King of Spaine when by Queene Elizabeth proclaimed Bankrupt Therefore have we sent and certified the King As knowing that Beneficium-postulat officium Bounty commands duty Ingratitude is a monster in nature a solecisme in good manners c. Lycurgus would make no Law against it because he held that none could be so unreasonable as to be guilty of it Yet Alphonsus complained of his ungrateful Courtiers and so did Frederick the third Emperour of Germany Queen Elizabeth also said that in trust she had oft found treason That traytor Parry had vowed her death Speed although he had beene condemned for burglary and saved by her pardon Verse 15. In the book of the Records Chald. Of the Remembrances that is the Chronicles usual in all Kingdomes And that this City is a rebellious City See the Note
might take mollissima fandi Tempora my fittest opportunity to bestead my people CHAP. II. Verse 1. And it came to passe in the moneth Nisan TIme and place is to be registred of special mercies received This shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord Psal 102.18 In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Sirnamed Longhand as our Edward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Omnium hominum pulcherrimus Aemil. Prob. the first was called Long-shanks and another Longespes or Long-sword This Long-hand is renowned for the fairest among men in that age and no wonder if he were as is generally thought the sonne of that fairest Esther That wine was before him There was a feast as verse 6. Not by chance but by Gods providence who of small occasions worketh greatest matters many times as he put small thoughts into the heart of Ahashuerosh for great purposes Esth 6.1 And I took up the wine c. As Esther was come to the Kingdome so Nehemiah to this office for such a time as this Esther 4.14 Though he were a prisoner a stranger one of another Religion yet is he the Kings Cup-bearer and taster an office of great trust and credit This was a strange work of God to cause heathen Princes thus to favour the Religion that they knew not and to defend that people which their subjects hated Now I had not beene before-time sad in his presence Princes are usually set upon the merry pin and all devises are used by Jesters and otherwise to make them merry no mourner might be seen in Ahashuerosh his Court Esth 4.4 But good Nehemiah had been for certaine moneths space afflicting his soul and macerating his body as in the former Chapter Hence his present sadnesse which the King being a wise man and a loving master soon observed Verse 2. Wherefore the King said unto me Why is thy countenance sad Some would have chid him and bid him be packing for they liked not his looks there might be treason hatching in his heart he was a man of an ill aspect But love thinketh no evil Seeing thou art not sick Sicknesse will cause sadnesse in the best Those Stoicks that said a wise man must be merry though sick when sicknesse came were convinced se magnificentiùs locutos esse quà m veriùs Tull. that they spake rather bravely then truly And therefore Cicero to a merry life requireth three things 1. To enjoy health 2. To possesse honour 3. Not to suffer necessity Faith in Christ is more to the purpose then any or all of these This is nothing else but sorrow of heart The heart commonly sitteth in the countenance and there sheweth how it stands affected Momus needeth not carp at mans make and wish a window in his breast that his thoughts might be seene for a merry heart maketh a chearful countenance but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken Prov. 15.13 The Hebrews say that a mans inside is turned out and discovered in oculis in loculis in poculis in his eyes purse and cup. Then I was very sore afraid Grieved before now afraid Thus aliud ex alio malum fluctus fluctum trudit One sorrow followeth another and a Christians faith and patience is continually exercised But in the multitude of Nehemiahs perplexed thoughts within him Gods comforts refreshed his soul Psal 94.19 he casts his suit or his burthen upon the Lord Psal 55.22 and doubteth not but he will effect his desire Verse 3. And I said unto the King After he had pull'd up his best heart and recovered his spirits he declareth unto the King the cause of his sadnesse How ready should our tongues be to lay open our cares to the God of all comfort when we see Nehemiah so quick in the expressions of his sorrow to an uncertain ear Let the King live for ever i. e. Very long Let him not suspect by my sadnesse that I have any evil intent or treasonable designe against him for I heartily wish his welfare It was not Court-holy-water as they call it wherewith he here besprinkleth his Prince it was not counterfeit courtesie such as was that of Squier the Traytor Anno 1597. sent by Walpoole the Jesuite Speed to poyson the pummel of Queen Elizabeths saddle when she was to ride abroad which also he did but without effect saying chearfully at the same time God save the Queen Saluta libentèr is by many practised from the teeth outward but by Nehemiah heartily Why should not my countenance be sad In time of common calamities there is just cause of a general sadnesse should we then make mirth Ezek. 21.10 The Romanes severely punished one that shewed himself out of a window with a garland on his head in the time of the Punick warre when it went ill with the Common-wealth Justinus the good Emperour of Constantinople Func Chron. took the downfal of the City of Antioch by an Earth-quake so much to heart that it caused him a grievous fit of sicknesse Anno Dom. 527. When Pope Clement and his Cardinals were imprisoned by the Duke of Burbons men in Saint Angelo Cesar in Spain forbad all enterludes to be plaid c. In France the Duke of Burbon was condemned of treason his name and memorial were accursed his armes pull'd down his lands and goods confiscated In England King Henry was extremely displeased Cardinal Wolsey wept tenderly Speed 1027. and emptied the Land of twelvescore thousand pounds to relieve and ransome the distressed Pope When the City the place of my fathers sepulchers A good argument to an Heathen who set great store by as now the Papists keep great stir about their burial-places as if one place were holier then another for that purpose a meer devise to pick poor mens purses And the gates thereof are consumed with fire The Jews at this day when they build an house they are say the Rabbines to leave one part of it unfinished lying rude in remembrance that Jerusalem and the Temple are at present desolate At least they use to leave about a yard square of the house unplaistered on which they write in great letters that of the Psalmist If I forget Jerusalem then let my right hand forget her cunning Psal 137. Hist of Rites of Jews by Leo Moden or else these words Zecher Lechorban The memory of the Desolation Verse 4. Then the King said unto me Some think that Nehemiah looked thus sad before the King on purpose to make way to this his request For what doest thou make request Not for any other honour or great office about the Court or in the Countrey nor for any private friend or the like but the good of the Church Thus Nebridius in Hierome though a Courtier and Nephew to the Empresse Tom. 1. Ep. 6. yet never made suit but for the relief of the poor afflicted Thus Terence that Noble General under Valens the Emperour being bidden to
men See chap. 5.15 Gods holy fear is the ground of all goodnesse and fidelity Hence Jethro in his well-qualified Ruler places the fear of God in the middest of the other graces as the heart in the body for conveying life to all the parts or as a dram of Musk perfuming the whole box of ointment Exod. 18.21 Most sure it is that nothing maketh a man so good a Patriot as the true fear of God On the other side Pietate sublatâ fides tollitur take away Piety and Fidelity is gone as is to be seen in the unrighteous Judge Luk. 18. ver 2. and as Constantius Chlorus father of Constantine the Great did well experience in his Counsellours and Courtiers whence that famous Maxime of his recorded by Eusebius He cannot be faithful to me that is unfaithful to God Religion being the foundation of all true fidelity and loyalty to King and Countrey 1 Pet 2. Hence that close connexion Fear God Honour the King And hence that saying of Bernard If all the World should conspire to make me complot against my Prince yet I would fear God and honour the King Above many This is a singular praise and by every man to be sought after 't was Cicero's posy and practise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the best at every good thing to excel and exceed others to be eminent and exemplary taller then the rest by the head and shoulders full of all goodnesse filled with all knowledge Rom. 15.14 able and active in every good word and work That 's a low and unworthy strain in some to labour after no more grace then will keep life soul together that is soul and hell asunder God would have his people to be discontentedly contented with the measures they have received and to be still adding 2 Pet. 1.5 and advancing Philip. 3.14 aspiring to perfection till they come unto the measure of the stature of the fulnes of Christ Eph. 4.13 Verse 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 30.28 Till the Sun be hot The Sun hath one of his names in Hebrew a calefaciendo from heating there is nothing hid from the heat thereof Psal 19.6 The name here given to the Sun signifieth a minister or servant because it is the common servant of the World whereby God ministreth light heat and precious fruits to all people Deut. 4.19 and 33.14 It whirleth about the World with incredible swiftnesse and is up in a morning before most people Therefore till the Sun be risen the Gates must be kept shut to keep out the Enemy who watcheth his opportunity And while they stand by to see it done as it ought to be lest by the treachery or carelesnesse of Under-officers it should either be undone or ill-done Etiam Tractate Junius Let them feel with their hands so some render it whether the Gates are made fast or not And appoint watches Heb. Set thou watches He speaketh to the two Hanani's and bids each of them whose turn it was see to the well-doing of it Hoc tu facias Cyropaed Xenophon saith of Cyrus that when he gave any thing in command he never said Let some one do this but do thou this Verse 4. Now the City was large Heb. Broad in spannes or spaces And great Yet nothing so great as Niniveh was of old or Babylon then or Alcair and Quinsay at this day Of the former Bunting saith that it is threescore miles in compasse Of the Later Paulus Venetus who himself dwelt therein about the year 1260 writeth that it is an hundred miles about being of all the Cities in the World the greatest Jerusalem was a great City and spacious though it fell far short of these And the people were few therein But how exceedingly they multiplyed afterwards appeareth by those many thousands of persons there destroyed and carried away by the Romanes at the last desolation as testifieth Josephus an eye-witnesse quem lege luge For present they were so few that they were not able without help to defend the walles in so large a circuit And the houses were not builded All could not be done in a day But some seiled houses there were Hag. 1. ver 4. and Nehemiah was all his time busie in building the old wast places and raising up the foundations of many generations so that he was worthily called The Repairer of the breach the Restorer of paths to dwell in Esay 58.12 Eusebius saith Nehemiah was twelve years in building the Walls he should have said the City Hierome likewise saith that he came to Jerusalem in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes and made an end of building the Wall and City in the two and thirtieth year so that during the whole twelve years of his Government he was in action Verse 5. And my God put into my heart Seeing how thinly the City was inhabited and casting in his mind what evil might come of it he bethinks himself by a motion from Heaven how to set things to rights that the City might be better peopled and so preserved This to do God put into his heart by his holy Spirit the sweet motions whereof are the sound of his goings the footsteps of his anointed Psal 89.51 We are not sufficient of our selves saith that great Apostle to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 Nemo Vir magnus sine aliquo afflatu Divino unquam fuit saith Cicero No man ever grew to be greatly good without a Divine instinct To gather together the Nobles and the Rulers c. That out of them a tenth man might be taken to furnish out the City chap. 11.1 after that they had been first prepared by the hearing of the Law chap. 8.2 That they might be reckoned by their genealogies And so Jerusalem be inhabited again Zach. 12 6. in her own place even in Jerusalem Verse 6. These are the children c. See Ezra 2. ver 1 2 3 c. with the Notes Some small differences there are in Names and Numbers between this Catalogue and that not by the negligence of the Scribes who wrote out this Register as Pellican would have it but by other meanes as is above-noted CHAP. VIII Verse 1. As one man See Ezra 3.1 and remember that Omne simile non est idem this is a distinct History from that Into the street Or open place the meeting-place of the water-gate See chap. 3. ver 26. Right over against this Gate was the Court of the people saith Lyra See Ezra 10. ver 9. And they spake unto Ezra the Scribe The people may Col. 4.17 1 Cor. 3.22 if need be say to Archippus Look to thy ministery c. Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas All is theirs the gifts and abilities of all good Ministers and they may call for them To bring the Book of the Law of Moses Wherein he was noe lesse able then apt to impart 1 Tim. 3.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He knew
intimated ver 1. Verse 15. And that they should publish and proclaim Heb. Make a voice to passe viz. for better preparation and greater solemnity God will not take up with a carelesse and slubberd service he is a great King and stands greatly upon his seniority Mal. 1.14 Go forth unto the mâ—unt Which is covered with all sorts of trees and nothing like the countrey Axylus which is so called because no trees grow in it no not so much as thorns or any kind of fuell Liv. Lib. 38. Thorough this countrey marched Manlius the Roman General when he went against the Gallograeci And fetch olive-branches and vine-branches c. Fit for shelter and shadow against the weather That is very strange that yet is reported by Authors of good note concerning certain trees in Brasile Abbots Geog. pag. 271. of that bigness that whole families live in an arme of one of them every tree being as populous as many of our Villages And branches of thick trees Tyed together with willowes of the brook Levit 23.40 Vers 16. So the people went forth and brought them They had kept the feast of trumpets on the first day of this moneth And although no mention be here made of the Feast of Expiation a day of Humiliation to be kept for ever upon the tenth day yet it is to be presumed that they kept it having so good a guide as Ezra Now also as not weary of well-doing they doe most solemnely celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles making themselves booths of boughes in every street thoroughout the whole City Verse 17. Made boothes and sate under the boothes See Verse 14 15 16. They that turn this history into mystery make an allusion of it 1. To Christ as dwelling in our flesh 2. To Christians as travelling toward heaven and having here no setled habitation Heb. 11.13 For since the dayes of Jeshua Moses is not mentioned because during his dayes till Joshua brought them into the promised land they kept not this feast likely Had not the children of Israel done so Kept this feast they had but not so kept it viz. with that devotion solemnity and great gladnesse being in so poor a case and yet so unanimous in the work as one man But one would wonder that all along during the reign of David and Solomon who gave the pattern of and built the Temple and all those succeeding Reformers there should somthing be omitted about the feast of Tabernacles kept as 't is thought by Solomon 2 Chron. 7.8 till their return from Babylon yet so it was Verse 18. And also day by day Not onely on the first and last day that great day of the feast John 7.37 but every day this good man was at it being Insatiabilis Dei cultor as Chrysostome saith of Saint Paul an insatiable worshipper of God and accounting quòd nimis angusta pietas est ad legem bonum esse to do nothing for God more then needs must was too little And they kept the feast seven dayes The people were as willing to hear and do other holy duties as Ezra was to preach So were Chrysostomes hearers who were wont to say that they could better be without the Sun-light then Chrysostomes daily Sermons So likewise were Calvins hearers at Geneva where he preached every day in the week for most part and had a constant audience that even over-admired some of them at least his most excellent paines and parts as Zanchy shewes and complaines in the Epistle Dedicatory set before his Miscellanies taxing them of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 man-worship And on the eighth day was a solemne assembly Heb. A restraint viz. from servile works or a Retention viz. a holding of the Congregation together for holy uses Tremellius rendereth it diem interdicti The vulgar Latine of Lyra thus They made a gathering sc for necessaries about the Temple This eight day thus kept might prefigure the Christian Sabbath that first day of the week CHAP. IX Verse 1. Now in the twentieth and fourth day A Day after the feast of Tabernacles they keep a solemne fast Vsque adeo nihil est ex omni parte beatum There is in this present life an interchange of all things a succession of feasting and fasting Of the best whilest here it may be said as Pliny doth of Metellus Infelix dici non debet felix non potest unhappy you cannot call him happy you may not Lib. 7. cap. 47. One compareth him to the Arke which was ever transportative till settled in Solomons Temple Another to quick-silver which hath in it self a principle of motion but not of rest The children of Israel were assembled with fasting As Epaminondas walked heavily the day after his triumph Deadnesse of spirit is apt to follow our liveliest joyes but that must be lookt too and security prevented which is wont to seize upon men after holy duties like as wormes and waspes eate the sweetest fruits These fasters had wept at the hearing of the Law and were stilled by the Levites chap. 8.11 because it was unseasonable Now the feast being over and their hearts yet full of grief for their great sin in taking strange wives not yet put away though they had vowed to do it Ezra 10.3 c. they first put away those wives on the twenty third day and then humble themselves by fasting and prayer on this twenty fourth day being wrought thereunto by the reading of the Law as is implyed in the next verse And with sackcloth As acknowledging themselves unworthy of the coursest clothing and that but for shame they would have stript themselves naked And earth upon them As those that had forfeited all and deserved to be as far under ground as now they were above Verse 2. And the seed of Israel Called Israelites not Abrahamites from their wrastling with God by prayer and teares and prevailing Called also Jewes from Judah which signifieth the Confessour Here it is said of them that They stood and confessed their sinnes All their sinnes either actually committed or habitually comprised in their body of sinne This whoso doth in due manner shall have mercy Prov. 28.13 Yea he shall have heaven Israel had power with God as a Prince Judah the Confessour got the Kingdome from Reuben Confession is the way to the Kingdome walk in it Onely it must be joyned with confusion of sinne as here They separated themselves from all strangers they abandoned their peccatum in aleiciis their darling sinne they kept themselves from their iniquity Martial Psal 18.23 Hoc non fit verbis Marce ut ameris ama And the sinnes of their fathers i. e. Of their Progenitours which are owned if not bewailed disclaimed Verse 3. And they stood up in their place The people stood for reverence-sake to the Word read see chap. 8.5 Or the Ministers stood up in their Pulpits where they represent God himself as his Embassadours and should therefore lay down all self-respects and aimes at
of the sea for it was part of the Continent because mediâ inseperabilis undâ separated from other Countreyes and encircled with Gods powerful Protection It was say some Herod l. 3. by Mordecai's meanes exempted from this great taxation Herodotus saith that a Countrey near unto Arabia was exempted He meaneth Judea saith Junius though he name it not It may be so And it may be saith an Interpreter that this is here inserted as being intended only of the reimposing of the tribute whereof there was granted a release at Esthers marriage chap. 2.18 yet it may be also added to shew how God punished the Nations for their late greedy gaping after the lives and estates of Gods people Verse 2. And all the Acts of his Power and his might Lyra and Rikelius observe that Ahashuerus had all this power and might given him by God as a recompence of his courtesie to the Jewes and justice done upon their enemies No man serveth God for nought He is a liberal Pay-master Mal. 1.10 See the Note there And the declaration of the greatnesse of Mordecai Heb. the Exposition Many make large Commentaries upon their own greatnesse which a right Exposition would shew to be rather belluine then genuine Great men are not alwayes wise saith Elihu Job 32.9 But Mordecai was a great wise man every way accomplish't one of Gods Rabbines as Daniel calls them fit to serve any Prince in the world There is a spirit in man a rational soule in an ordinary man but the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding Job 32.8 Whereunto the King advanced him Heb. wherewith the King greatned him wherein he shewed himself a wise and Politick Prince as did likewise Pharaoh in advancing Joseph Darius Daniel Constantius Chlorus Christian Officers our Henry the eighth the Lord Cromwell whom he made his Vicar-General Jovianus the Emperour was wont to wish that he might govern wise men and that wise men might govern him Justin Martyr praiseth this sentence of divine Plato Common-wealths will then be happy when either Philosophers reigne or Kings study Philosophy Justin Apol Jethro's Justitiary must be a wise man fearing God c. Exod. 18. and that famous maxime of Constantius Chlorus recorded by Eusebius is very memorable He cannot be faithful to me that is unfaithful to God Religion being the foundation of all true fidelity and loyalty to King and Countrey Are they not written in the book of the Chronicles These Chronicles of Media and Persia if they were now to be had as they are not would far better acquaint us with the history of those times then the fragments of them collected by Herodotus Diodorus Arrianus Jeâ—stin and Curtius But better books then these Chronicles are now wanting to the world as the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Iudah the Book of the warres of the Lord the book of Jasher Origens Octapla the losse which work saith a learned man deplorare possumus compensare non possumus bewaile we may but make up we cannot Chrysostome upon Matthew when promotions were offered Thomas Aquinas his usual answer was Chrysostomi Commentarium in Matthaeum wallem I had rather have Chrysostomes Commentary upon Matthew and many other precious pieces which learned men would gladly buy at as deare a rate as Plato did those three bookes that cost him thirty thousand Florens That we have the holy Scriptures so perfect and entire preserved safe from the injuries of time and rage of tyrants who sought to burne them up and abolish them is a sweet and singular Providence and must be so acknowledged Verse 3. For Mordecai the Jew was next unto King Ahashuerus Proximus à primo the Kings second as 2 Chron. 28.11 having the next chief seat to him as Josephus expoundeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and set over all the Princes of that Monarchy so that he might well cry out with that noble General Iphicrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from what mean beginnings to how great an estate and dignity am I raised How long he held it is not recorded all the dayes of his life it is likely for the good and comfort of the Church though not without the envy of many of the Courtiers which he overcame more by patience then pertinacy And great among the Jewes A kinde of King in Jeshurun as Moses as great among them as if he had been their proper King There is mention made of one Mordecai Ezra 2.2 who was of the first that went up with Zorobabel Aben-Ezra saith that this Mordecai was he and that when he saw that the building of the City and Temple went not on as was to be wished he returned again out of Judea to Shushan and lived about the Kings Court being not known to be a Jew till Haman was in his greatnesse soon after which himself became much greater then Haman And accepted of the multitude of his brethren He was their Corculum as Scipio their darling Orbis deliciae Melancth Chron. as Titus Mundi Mirabilia as otho the third Emperour of Germany was called Of Mordecai it might be sung as Cardanus did of our Edward the sixth Deliciae saecli gloria gentis erat Seeking the wealth of his people Farre more then his own private profit glory and dignity labouring their good both of soule and body by all meanes possible that they might have Gaius's prosperity and be as happy as heart could wish And speaking peace He was gentle and courteous to all not like Polyphemus who was Nec visu facilis nec dictu affabilis ulli Now affability and courtesie in high degree easily draweth mens mindes as faire flowers in the Spring do Passengers eyes Queen Elizabeth for instance of whom before Moreover he spoke good of them and for them to the King and promoted their prosperity to the utmost To all his seed i. e. to all his Countreymen as if they had been his own children And here that sweet Promise of God made to the good figges was fulfiled Jeremy had perswaded Jehoiakim and many others with him to yield themselves up into the hands of the King of Assyria assuring them that so doing they should fare farre better then those that stood out They did so and Mordecai among the rest as some will have it and now see how well they speed see the faithfulnesse of God in fulfilling his Promises the reward of the righteous the triumph of trust Again to all his seed That is posteris suis so some sense it he spoke peace to all his seed â—olocutâ—s est â—speritatem â—du Judaeoâ—â— posterita Merlin that is prosperity to all the Jewes posterity providing for their future happinesse also and taking course that after his death too the welfare of the Church might be continued This was dying Davids care 1 Chronicles 28.1 2 c. and Pauls Acts 20.29 and Peters 2 epist 1.15 and Ambroses of whom Theodosius speaking said Dilexi virum I could not but love the
wise men teach us as themselves have learned of their religious Ancestors But both continued experience and consent of men teach us that wicked men have terrors within and troubles without Therefore this is to be taken for a truth Therefore also by consequence that is false which thou hast spoken concerning the prosperity of wicked men chap. 12.6 Neither canst thou avoid the charge of wickednesse who dost suffer the punishments of the wicked Now what is all this more then Eliphaz had said in a former discourse so that Job might have cried out Apage coccysmum only there he groundeth his Argument upon a night-vision here upon the testimony and consent of certain wise men commended by their power and justice Some think he meaneth Noah and his pious posterity That which I have seen I will declare Wil t thou not believe in eye-witnesse What can be more sure then sight 1 John 1.1 Surely if we were well read in the Story of our own lives and had laid up our experiences we might have a divinity of our own The 119 Psalm is made up of experiments and David oft telleth us what he had seen and observed Verse 18. Which wise men have told from their fathers Who have carefully and faithfully transmitued it as a doctrinal truth to us their posterity from hand to hand For in Jobs time 't is likely that the Scriptures were not yet written Which or Which things wise men who did in their generations Deum rectè cognoscere câ—lâ—râ— rightly know and worship God which is the highest wisdome saith Lactantiâ—â— Have told Have spoken it so plainly and plentifully as if they had shewed us the things acted before our eyes From their Fathers Who were careful to instil good instructions and heavenly truths into the minds of their children their familiars and families as did Abraham Gen. 18. and others according to Gods own appointment Deut. 6. And have not hid it But communicated it for the good of many Light in diffusive of it self Knowledg is perfected while it is communicated The more you teach and impart to others Bodin theat Nat. p. 9. eo ditior ac doctior fias saith One the richer and skilfuller you become It is not powring out but want of pouring out that dryeth up the streames of grace as of that Oyle 2 King 4.6 See Prov. 11.24 25. Psal 78.2 3 4. Verse 19. Merlin Bold To whom alone the earth was given Noah and his pious posterity as was above noted whom Methodins and other Ancients call Misudi chiliarchas the Lords of the whole word given them by the Possâ—ssor of heaven and earth as Melchisedech first calleth God Gen. 23. Gen. 14. and from him Abraham another Prince of God as those Heathens acknowledged him and heir of the whole world Rom. 4. As for Melchisedec commonly taken to be Sem he was King in Salem and no stranger that is no enemy molested him no not those great spoilers Kedarlaomer and his Complices these never medled with Melchiseaec and his subjects probably out of respect to his wisdome and holinesse for which he was famous no not when marching against the Kings of Sodom and Gomorrah they wasted and smot all the neighbour Countries So true of his subjects and territories was that which followeth here And no stranger passed among them viz. in an hostile way in a warlike manner Nah. 1.15 Some read No strangs thing passed among them As not the devouring sword so neither the pestilence that walketh in darknesse nor the destruction that wasteth at noon day Psal 91.6 Such as was the raigne of Ferdinando the third King of Spain for five and thirty yeares space In quibus nee fames nec pestes fuit in regno saith Lâ—piz Gloss in Prolog par 1. wherein there fell out neither Famine not Pestilence Verse 20. The wicked man travelleth with pain all his dayes He tormenteth himself or thrusteth himself through so some read it 1 Tim. 6.10 He takes no more rest then one upon a Rack he hath his hands on his loynes as a woman in travel Jer. 30.6 he smiteth upon his thigh sicut mulierculae in puerperio facere solent saith Luther in his Marginal Note on Jea 31.19 And if he would do so for his sin as he doth for his misery pia esset illa tristitia si dici potest beata miseria as Austin hath it Aug Epist 545. his grief would be godly and his misery a blessing God would pity him as he did his moan-making Ephraim and earnestly remember him still ver 20. But alas the wicked wight the hypocrite in heart as he heaps up wrath so he cryeth not when God bindeth him Job 36.16 Or if he do cry 't is perii and not peccavi I am undone and not I have done amisse Hence God many times turneth loose upon him those three Vultures Care Fear and Grief to feed upon his heart It is seldome seen that God alloweth unto the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment In the very pursuit of these outward vanities is much anguish many grievances fears jealousies disgraces interruptions diâ—contentments In the unsanctified enjoyment of them something the wicked shall have to complain of that shal give an unsavoury verdure to their sweetest morsels and make their very felicity miserable witnesse Ahab Human c. But then followeth the sting of conscience that maketh a Cain a Pashur a Richard the third to be a terrour to himself And with this pain some wicked men travel all their dayes here but hereafrer it shall infallibly and inexpressibly torment the souls of them all through all eternity And this with the following illustrations is that Oracle or divine sentence which Eliphaz received from those famous men above mentioned and which he not obscurely applyeth and wresteth against Job whom herehence he would prove a wicked man by his own concessions chap. 3.25 26. and 7.13 14. compared with Devit 26 36. Deuâ— 28.65 for that which Eliphaz had heard from his Ancestors was but the same Law for substance that was afterwards written by Moses And the number of years is hidden to the Oppressour Heb. to the terrible Tyrans who as he hath not a more cruel Executioner then his own conscience so not a more sensible displeasure then to know that he is mortal and yet to be ignorant when his Tyranny must end The number of the years of his Tyranny is uncertain saith the Vulgar translation And from this uncertainty which he knoweth not how to remedy though he run to light a candle at the devil sometimes viz. by consulting with Soothsayers and Sorcerers to know of them how long he shall live and who shall succeed him as Tiberius and other Tyrants did followeth suspicion and fear saith Aquinas upon this Text. Verse 21. A dreadful sound is in his ears Heb. A sound of fear and terrors Not one but many at once so that he is a Magor-missabib factus à corde suo
c. and be wise by others woes enjoy their follies and gather with the Bee sweet honey out of those bitter weeds Poena ad pancos metus ad omnes Verse 27. Because they have turned back from him To pursue after lying vanities broken cisterns which whosoever do as they fall into two foul sins at once such as heaven and earth have cause to be astonished at and afraid of Jeremiah 2.12 13. so they are miserable by their own Election Jonah 2. vers 8. And would not consider any of his wayes Wisely consider them as David did Psal 119.168 All Gods lawes were in his sight and all his wayes in Gods sight This was the general cause of their destruction The special followeth Verse 28. So that they cause the cry of the poor c. These they compel by their oppressions to wash the earth with their tears and to importune heaven with their complaints Senault as One phraseth it The wicked do as it were bring up to God the cryes of the poor oppressed and so pull upon themselves inevitable destruction for he is the poor mans Patron and heareth the cry of the afflicted The grand Signior would have the world take notice that such as lament unto him shall be sure to have redress and succour from him Grand Sign Serag 147. Wherefore also he calleth himself Awlâ—m Penawâ—â— The worlds Refuge A title far more fit for the God of heaven than for any earthly Monarch 〈◊〉 Manl. loc 〈◊〉 were he far more gracious than the great Turk from whose courtesie freely offered him Luther blessed himself with a Deus me tutatur à tali benefice Domino God defend me from such a gracious Lord. Verse 29. When he giveth quietnesse who then can make trouble Ipse tranquillabit quis inquietabit This is like that of the Apostle saith Brentius Rom. 8. If God be for us who can be against us Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect c It is he alone who giveth peace both of countrey and of conscience Peace peace Isai 26.3 Pacem omnimodam external internal eternal and then who can disturb or unsettle Surely as Isaac once said to Esau concerning Jacob He is blessed and he shall be blessed so may it be said of such as have made their peace with God Peace shall be upon them and Mercy contra gentes whosoever saith nay to it yea though it be the Devil himself that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he is oft called the Troublesome one who ever since he was cast out of heaven keeps ado on earth and seeks to disquiet all such as by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality Rom. 2.7 And when he hideth his face who then can behold him Him Whom God who dare look upon him or toward him for help when he is throughly displeased and looketh irefully Or the party frowned on by God who will smile upon him or shew him any favour and furtherance Here Aben-Ezra giveth a good Note Aversio vultus Dei c. The turning away of Gods pleased countenance is the cause of all Wars and other disasters The Physiologer in Epiphanius telleth of the Bird Charadius that being brought into the room where a man lyeth sick if he look with a steddy and fixed eye upon the sick man he recovereth but if he turn away from him and look another way the disease is to death Apply this to God and it fitteth Whether it be done against a Nation or against a man only All 's a case as they say to God he stands not upon multitudes as men use to do in case of Mutinies or the like to punish the tenth man or so in terrorem for a terrour to the rest This is not Gods way of punishing but as a thousand years are to him but as a day and one day as a thousand years so when he proceeds to execution of Justice whether it be done against a Nation c. All Nations to him are but as a drop of a bucket or dust of a balance Isai 40. And hence he buried a world full of people in one universal grave of waters And the wicked be they never so many shall be turned into hell With whole nations tht forget God Psal 9.17 God seemeth to say Fiat justitia ruat orbis Verse 30. That the hypocrite reign not That he reign no longer Almighty God taketh order by putting these mighties from their seats and exalting them of low degree Luk. 1.52 And why 1. Lest the hypocrite or the impure and impious man reign Such as was Jehu Herod Julian our Richard 3. Pope Sixtus Quintus of whom One saith Spec. Europ that he was the most crouching humble Cardinal that ever was lodg'd in an oven and the most stout proud Pope that ever wore Crown What pride equal to his making Kings kisse his Pantofâ—es What humility pretended greater than his shrieving himself daily on his knees to an ordinary Priest He calleth himself the servant of Gods servants and yet stamps in his Coyn That Nation and Countrey that will not serve thee shall be rooted out he also suffereth his Parasites to stile him Our Lord God the Pope Is not this a notorious hypocrite and when such a one reigneth and taketh upon him to be Lord of all both in spirituals and temporals may not we conclude that God hideth his face as in the former verse from his people May we not cry out as Basil once did Epist 17. Num Ecclesias suas dereliquit Dominus hath the Lord utterly forsaken his Churches It is doubtless a very great judgement upon a people when an hypocrite or a prophane person is set over them who pretends the publick good to his own designes and self-interests and by his crafty inventions undoes his subjects robbing them of their lawful liberties and enslaving them Some read the words thus Vulg. Speâ— Ab. Ezra He causeth that the hypocrite reigneth for the sins of the people It is threatened as an heavy curse Levit. 26.17 If you still trespasse against me I will set Princes over you that shall hate you mischievous odious Princes odious to God malignant to the people Such as was Phocas that bloody Tyrant who when he had slain his Master Mauricius and reigned in his stead there was an honest poor man saith Cedrenus who was earnest with God to know a reason why such a thing was suffered to whom it was answered That a worse man could not be found and that the sins of Christians required it We read of Attilus King of Swethland that he made a Dog King of the Danes in revenge of a great many injuries received by them Sr. Rich. Berkley's Sum. Pon. p. 387. Gunno likewise King of the Danes made a Dog King of Norway and appointed Counsellours to do all things under his Title and Name That which these men did spitefully God somtimes doth righteously setting up tyrants for a
it of his Victory over Goliah whom he ran upon and cut off his head after that he had hurled at him with as good a force Perinde ac si fundae sustunicis non lapillum sed Deum ipsuminâ—uisset ac implicuisset saith one as if he had got not a stone but God himself into the bought of his sling And by my God have I leapt over a wall That is I have stormed a walled Town or Fort with very little ado being no less valiant and venturous than Alexander the Great was among the Indians but upon farre better grounds because in the strength of God 2 Sam. 3. as at the Fort of Zion Vers 30. As for God his way is perfect All his Dispensations toward his Children his actions and directions his providences and promises are most trusty and true having neither vice vanity insincerity nor deceit in them The Word of the Lord is tried This is a famous sentence and was much in the mouthes of Gods people See Prov. 30.5 with the Note there Vers 31. For who is God save the Lord Fictitios Deos vanas spes prosternit saith Vatablus Here he striketh down to the ground all false gods and all vain hopes Contemno minutulos istos Deosmodo Jovem mihi propitium habeam said an Heathen David might much better say I care not for those petty Deities so I may have Jehovah to favour me Vers 32. It is God that girdeth mee with strength It is a Metaphor saith Vataeblus either from a Souldiers belt which buckleth his armour close to him and maketh him more steddy or else from the reines themselves in which the Scripture sometimes placeth strength and vigour God did all for David and hath here the glory of all his valour and victories And maketh my way perfect i.e. Compleateth and prospereth all my designs and enterprises For want hereof many attempt much but effect little or nothing Antiochus King of Syria was called Magnus for undertaking much and performing little Guicciardâ—n saith of Charles the eighth in his expedition to Naples that he came into the field like thunder and lightning but went out like a snuffe more than a man at first and lesse than a woman at last Vers 33. Hee maketh my feet like Hindes feet Heb. Hee matcheth my feet like Hindes feet that is not only swift if I have occasion by flight to provide for my self or to pursue mine enemies flying before mee but also steddy if I come into any dangerous places Asahel was swift of foot as a wild Roe 2 Sam. 2.18 Josephus faith of him that hee contended with horses in running Saul and Jonathan are said to be swifter than Eagles 2 Sam. 1.23 Achilles was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Homer The Hind when pursued by the woolf runs most swiftly witnesse the Poet Quem tu cervus uti vallis in altera Visum parte lupum graminis immemor Horat. lib. 1. Od. 1â— lib. 1. Od. 23. sublimi fugies mollis anhelitu Vit as hinnuleo me similis Chloe c. And gain But they that wait upon the Lord have a promise that they shall not only nin as Hindes but mount up as Eagles they shall run and not bee weary and they shall walk and not faint Isa 40.31 Hee setteth mee upon my high places Where having by flight or fight escaped Securus post quam Evaâ—â— a illis R. David I am secured yea hee hath advanced me and brought me to this high honour Vers 34. Hee teacheth mine hands to warre David ascribeth all his military skill and successe to God so did not other great Warriors Alexander Scipio Fabius c. but sacrificed to their own nets and were ready to say as Sesostris King of Aegypt did when hee had conquered any Country hee was wont to set up pillars with these words ingraven upon them This Country I got by mine own strength and vallour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herodot 1. â— So that a bow of steel c Which is more flexible and stronger than a bow of Iron whence is that Job 20.24 Vers 35. Thou hast also given mee c. i.e. Thou hast preserved and setled me See the Note on Psal 5.12 And thy gentlenesse bath made mee great Or Thy meeknesse hath multiplied mee i.e. Thou hast so farr stooped to my meannesse as to advance mee to this heighth of honour Or by thy humbling mee thou hast magnified mee according to 1 Pet. 5.6 Prov. 15.33 Vers 36. Thou hast enlarged my steps under mee Or Thou hast widened my passage and made roomth for mee when the wicked mans strong passages are streightened Job 18.7 his pase impeded And my feet did not slip Heb. Mine anckles or my heeles Sep. my footsteps Vers 37. I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them c. Of David we may say as one did of Julius Caesar you may perceive him to have been an excellent souldier by his very language for hee wrote with the same spirit hee fought 1.10 ad filiuâ— In eo tanta vis id acumen ea concitatio saith Quintilian concerning Caesars Commentaries ut illum eodem animo dixisse appareat quo bellavit Vers 38. I have wounded them that they were not able to rise Much lesse to resist And herein hee was a type of Christ all whose foes shall bee his footstool Psal 110.1 Vers 39. Thou bast girded mee with strength c. See vers 32. It is God that weakeneth or strengtheneth either party Ezek. 30.24 and rendreth their weapons vain or prosperous Isa 54. ult Jer. 50.9 Thou hast subdued under me c. David ascribeth all to God and useth wonderfull variety of expressions in setting forth his benefits Vers 40. Thou hast given mee the necks of mine enemies sc to chop them off at my pleasure or to cut the throats Vers 41. They cryed Through grief and impatiency clamore incondito as beasts when in durance fill the air with loud out-cryes Even unto the Lord As nature prompteth men in an extremity to look up for help but because it is but the prayer of the flesh for ease and not of the Spirit for grace and a good use of calamities and not but in extreme despaire of help elsewhere therefore God hears them not In Samuel it is They looked but there was none to save them q. d. If they could have made any other shift God should never have heard of them Therefore Sero inquit Nero. Vers 42. Then did I beat them as small as the dust When God once withdraws his protection and help from a people it is an easie matter to tread them down and beat them in pieces Lay hold upon him therefore as the Church did and hang on Say as Jer. 14.21 Do not abhorre us for thy names sake for as Bodin said well of obtaining so for retaining religion and civil rights Non disputationibus sed rogationibus agendum prayer is most prevalent If once our shaddow depart c. woe
the Pen-man It seemeth to be of the same time and occasion with Psal 76. Vers 1. Great is the Lord Greater Job 33.12 Greatest of all Psal 95.3 Greatnesse it self Psal 345.3 A degree he is above the superlative And greatly to be praised No mean praises can be meet for so great a Majesty It must be modus sine modo Bern. In the City of our God i. e. Lib. 3. de usu part In the Church for others will not cannot do it to divine acceptation Galen amazed at the wonderfull frame of mans body sang an hymn to the Maker thereof but yet he lived and dyed a Pagan Vers 2. Pulcher surculo Beautifull for situation A beautifull Nymph so R. Solomon Or beautifull for the branch that droppeth balsam saith Moller that is for the Ark there seated Or for the tract and climat as Josh 12.23 situat on the Northside of Jerusalem as Isa 14.13 in a cold drie and clear air as Job 37.22 Sanantur illi qui illic infirms conveniuâ—t saith Kimchi they which come thither weak are made well The joy of the whole earth Not only of the whole Land because thither three times a year the Tribes went up the Tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the name of the Lord Psal 122.4 nor only of the East whereof Jerusalem was held and call'd the Queen Vrbium totius Orient is clarissima saith Pliny see Lam. 1.1 but also of the whole earth Sumen totius orbis as one calleth it and Rabshakeh himself in that more ingenuous than Strato confesseth Judaa to be a Land of Corn and Wine of bread and Vineyards Isa 36.17 Hence it is called the excellency of Jacob Psal 47.4 the goodness of the Lord for Wheat and for Wine and for Oyl and for the young of the flock and of the Herd for all which men should come and sing in the height of Zion Jer. 31.12 but especially for spirituall blessings that their souls might be as watered gardens and they not sorrow any more at all ib. but come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads Isa 35.10 for the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men therehence appearing Tit. 2.11 Isa 2.3 4. If Plutarch could say of Rome in Numa's time that the Neighbour Villages sucking in the air of that City breathed Righteousnesss how much better might the same be said of this City of the great King where God himself was resiant and his sincere service was established Psal 132.13 Vers 3. God is known in her Palaces for a refuge As the City was an ornament to the whole Country so was God to the City as being a common refuge to both and as having his holy Temple there not a professed Sanctuary for impiety as Flâ—â—us â—pitefully stiled it but farre better deserving than Nama's new Temple in Rome did to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sacrary of Faith and Peace where the true God was truly worshiped and found to be a very present help in trouble the beâ—t bulwark Vers 4. For 〈◊〉 the Kings were assembled The Princes of the Philistines 2 Sam. 5. Or Sennacheribs Princes which were all Kings Isa 10.8 Oecolampadins upon Isa 13.19 saith that there were twenty and two Kingdomes in Assâ—ria these all came with combined forces to lay Jernsaiem desolate but could not effect it They passed by together They could do this City dear to God and secured by him the Athenians boasted that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beloved of God the Hierâ—sâ—lymitans were surely so no more harm than as if they had been so many wayfaring men that had passed by it with their staves in their hands Vers 5. They saw it and so they marvelled None of them could say as Casar Veni vidi vici but the contrary they no sooner saw this Heaven-guarded City but their hearts mis-gave them and they were ready to say as that Duke of Saxeny did who intending to make war upon the Bishop of Magdeburg and understanding that he made no great preparation for defence of himself and his territories but sought help from Heaven by fasting and prayer Insaniat alius said he God blesse mee from such a madnesse as to meddle with a man who confideth in God and committeth himself wholly to his protection They were troubled and hasted away Heb. they fled with an basty or head-long flight being smitten with a suddain terrour such as was that of the Egyptians when their Charret wheels were taken off of the Poilistines when for haste they left their Gods behind them 2 Sam. 5. of the Syrians 2 King 7. when they left all and ran for their lives of the Assyrians when the Angel had slain an hundred eighty five thousand in their camp c. Vers 6. Fear took hold upon them there By So in the former verse and There in this the shamefull flight of these enemies is lively deciphered and as it were pointed at with the finger So Psal 14.5 There were they in great fear for God is in the Generation of the Righteous And pain as of a Woman in Travel Their grief was no less than their fear and it came upon them Certâ— cito subito suddainly sorely irresistably inevitably Vers 7. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish i. e. Of the Ocean or of the Mediterranean Sea Isa 2.16 23.1 6 10 14. The meaning is like as thou O God with thine East-wind that Euroclydon especially which Pliny calleth Navigantium Pestem the Mariners mischief art wont to dash and drown the tallest ships at thy pleasure so thou both canst and wilt deal by thy Churches enemies To whom therefore this Text should be as those knuckles of a mans hand were to Belshazzer to write them their destiny or as Daniel was to him to read it unto them Vers 8. As we have heard viz. by the relation of our Fore-Fathers Psal 44.1 or rather by the promises contained in the Holy Scriptures which now we see verified and exemplified in our signall deliverances Hierusalems constane protection then is here affevered and assured per comparationem promissionis experientie simul similitèr eam contestantium See the like Job 42.5 with the Note In the City of our God The Church is the City of the living God Heb. 12.22 a City that breedeth men yea Conquerours as Herodotus saith of Ecbatana the Metropolis of the Medes and as Pindarus of another place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Herod Clioâ— Nemeis Od. â— God will establish it for ever There shall be a Church till the Worlds end maugre all her enemies Vers 9 We have thought upon thy loving kindnesse Heb. We have silently mused or minded as being amazed or rather amated thereat not able to speak for a while we were so transported when we met in thy Temple for the purpose to praise thee as for thy loving kindnesse towards us so for thy power and Justice exercised on
contentions that were in the Church might be quenched though it were with his bloud so when he dyed he was more sollicitous of the Churches welfare than of his own Vers 2. He shall judge thy people with righteousness sc If thou please to remember thy promise to me and to answer this my prayer of faith founded thereupon And thy poor Or thine afflicted The people the poor afflicted especially are the Lords and therefore not to bee tyrannized over and trampled on by their Governours Vers 3. The mountain shall bring peace i. e. They shall not be so pestered and infested by Theeves and Robbers who usually 〈◊〉 and hide themeselves in hills and hollow places By righteousness By right administration of Justice as it was here in King Alfreds days who ordained that his 〈◊〉 should be divided into Tâ—â—s or Tythings every of which severally should give Bond for the good abearing of each other and he who was of that 〈◊〉 behaviour that he could 〈◊〉 be admitted to these Tythings was forth wich conveyed to the House of Correction The ancientest of these men were called by a specialty the Tything men Vers 4. He shall judge the 〈◊〉 of the people Indeed all indifferently without respect of persons but a poor mans Tale shall be heard and his Cause judged as well as a rich mans Under Christs Government it shall be so howsoever I know thy poverty but thou art rich saith he Rev. 3.9 Amongst men both in sures of Love and of Law Money maketh Mistery Not so here And shall break in peeces the oppressour The Syceyâ—â—nt saith the Creek the Slanderer saith the Latine the Devil say some Over these He shall turn the wheel Vers 5. They shall fear this Who hast blessed them with so good a King such as maketh it his main care to set up God where-ever he hath to do As long as the Sun and Moon 〈…〉 The Lacedonians publickly professed Quoad sol codem it itenire maebit quo 〈◊〉 meet 〈…〉 sociat cum Xerxe 〈◊〉 whiles the Sun shall hold on his course we will never make a League with Xerxes Vers 6. He shall come down like rain upon the 〈◊〉 grass That is he shall bee very dear to us and much delighted in See Job 29.23 with the Note As showers that water the earth This is chiefly fulfilled in Christ who by raining down righteousness maketh his Church to grow and flourish Vers 7. In his days shall the righteous flourish As watered Gardens Jar. 31.12 or as the Willows by the water courses Isa 44.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And abundance of peace The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and affurance for ever Isa 32.17 Christs subjects have peace 〈◊〉 Isa 25.3 a multiplied peace a multiplied pardon Isa 55.7 where sin aboundeth grace superaboundeth neither can they commit more than God will remit unto them Vers 8. He shall have dominion also from Sea to Sea Salomon shall from the Mediterranean in the West to the Persian Sea or Indian Ocean in the East And from the river unto the ends of the earth i.e. From Euphrates and the Northern Countries to Aegypt and the utmost pares of all Africa This was a Type of Christs universal dominion thoroughout the whole World Zech. 9.9 Psal 110.1 Vers 9. They that dwell in the Wildereness Wild Barbarous rude people such as were the ancient Britains our Progenitours till Christ the Sun of righteousness shone upon them till they were brought to the obedience of faith Bond in Horsâ— Tunâ— enim sensinâ— evannit ferit as indias ezulavit immanit as corruit crudelites c. for then it was otherwise And his enemies shad lick the dust A Ceremony much in use among the Easterlings Prostrani adorant hiâ—rationemâ— saith Herodotus of the Persians Lib. 1. they worship their betters by falling to the ground before them and how Tridetes King of Parthians worshipped Nero. is to be read in Die Cassius Christs foes shall all bee made his footstool Vers 10. The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles i.e. All the Kings of the earth which being encompassed with the Ocean is therefore by the old Geographers called a great Island Judes though part of the Conâ—iâ—â—â—at is called an Isle Isa 20.6 because separated from other Countries with whom God would have his people to have as little to do as might be that they might not be corrupted with forein fashion This was a 〈…〉 in Salomon See 1 King 4.21 24 chap. 10.25 perfectly it is and shall be in Christ De 〈…〉 of the Christ a certain saith Kimchi all the Kingdom of the earth shall one day but his Kingdoms he shall be the 〈…〉 and be alone Ver. 11. 〈◊〉 King 〈…〉 Vers 12. For 〈…〉 If the people complained of See on vers 9. If the people complained of Salomon 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 yoke 〈◊〉 as by thy Father it was but of a sinful 〈…〉 saith 〈…〉 people 〈◊〉 know when they are well but quarrelling at and complaining of the present Government you even 〈◊〉 Christs 〈◊〉 yoke and light burden as if importable Vers 13. He shall spare the poor an 〈◊〉 Hereby David sheweth his Son and all his Successours Quaâ—â— debent 〈…〉 what manner of man a King ought to be Regiment without Righteousness turneth into tyranny it is but Robbery with authority O. Scipio Nastra for his good Government was â—â—â—med Optimus by the Senate and had an house gived him at the Pâ—â—lick charge in 〈◊〉 saira that the poor might repair to him Vers 14. He shall redeem their soul from decent and violence Those two noted Engines of all mischief to the poor viz. privy deceit Ufury the Septuagint and Vulgar render it and open violence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fraud and force craft and cruelty And precious shall their bloud be in his sight He shall be very tender of their lives that they bee not causelesly cast away either in times of Peace or War Precious also in the sight of the Lord Christ is the death of his 〈◊〉 his Martyrs Psal 116 15. Vers 15. And he shall live The King shall according to the poor mans prayer when releeved or the poor shall and the King shall give him gold brought from Sheon or 〈◊〉 the happy Whereupon Prayer shall be 〈◊〉 c. By the poor for him or though 〈◊〉 applying it to Christ and for the increase of his Kingdom and for his coming Vers 16. There shall be an handful of Corn â—amp c. 〈◊〉 The batrâ—â— mountain shall yeeld Corn abundantly and also by handfuls as 〈◊〉 in those seven years of plenty Gen. 41.47 The fruit thereof shall 〈◊〉 The Corn shall 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 like the Trees in Lebanon shaken by the Wind. And they of the city shall flourish Men also increase and multiply Jerem. 31.27 to a very great number as piles of Grass Christs subjects shall Vers 17. 〈…〉 for ever i. e. His Kingdom for it shall not bee nomen
only it is added Vers 4 To him who alone doth great wonders Wondrous things the Creature may do but not wonders mira sed non miracula God alone is the great Thâ—umaâ—â—rgus that is wonder-worker Vers 5 To him that by wisdome c. Singulari ingenio summa industria yet without tool or toil See Heb. 11.10 with the Note Vers 6 To him that stretched out the earth c. A perpetuall mercy in all earthly Creatures as is elsewhere set forth Gen. 1.9 Psal 24.2 Vers 7 To him that made great lights Without which wee should have no more comfort of the air wee breath on than the Egyptians had in that three-dayes darkness Now the Sun and Moon are called great Luminaries not great stars or bodies for the Sun is less than some stars and the Moon is least of all first for the excellency of light which these two do more abundantly impart to the earth and secondly for the effects they work the Sun by his access making all green and flourishing and the contrary by his recess the Moon by his various aspect causing humors and marrows to increase or decrease c. Vers 8 The Sun to 〈…〉 the day Heb. For the rulings by day 〈◊〉 by his light 〈…〉 bodies 〈…〉 ruledomes and therefore in no wise to have been worshipped Vers 9 The Moon and stars to rule by night For by day they all veil to the Sun from whom also they borrow much of their light The Moon hath her name in Hebrew from moisture as refreshing the earth with her cool influences and thrusting forth precious things therein Deut. 33.14 Vers 10 To him that smote Egypt See Psal 135.8 Vers 11 And brought out Israel viz. By that last plague for the former would not do God will have the better of his enemies for the good of his people for it is not fit that hee should lay down the bucklers first Vers 12 And with a stretcht-out arm A metaphor from souldiers exercising their arms with utmost might and sleight Vers 13 To him which divided the red Sea Into twelve severall parts say the Jews for the twelve Tribes to pass thorow Vers 14 And made Israel to pass c. It is many times hail with the Saints when ill with the wicked Abraham from the hill seeth Sodom on fire Vers 15 But overthrew Pharaoh Praecipitavit pitcht him in headlong having before paved a way for him Subito tollitur qui diu toleratur Vers 16 To him which led his people As an horse that they should not stumble Isa 63.13 as a Shepheard his sheep providing for them so as never was any Prince so served in his greatest pomp Vers 17 To him which smote great Kings Great as those times accounted them when every small City almost had her King Canaan had thirty and more of them Great also in regard of their stature and strength for they were of the Giants race Deut. 3. Amos 2. Vers 18 And slew famous Kings Magnificos sumptâ—osos fastuosos arrogantes Vers 19 20. â—ee Psal 135.11 Sihons Country was afterwards called Decapolis and the Metropolis of it Scythopolis Joseph de bel l. 3. c. 2. Vers 21 22. And gave See Psal 135.12 Josh 12.7 hee paid them well for their pains after that hee had made use of their sword and service against those sinners against their own souls Vers 23. Who remembred us in our low estate Still God helpeth those who are forsaken of their hopes vindictae gladium miserationis oleo emollit as Nicephorus saith Vers 24 And hath redeemed us Or Broken us off pulled us away as by violence for they would never else have loosed us This is priori major misericordia a greater mercy than the former saith Kimchi to redeem is more than to preserve Vers 25 Who giveth food to all flesh Food agreeable to their severall appetites and temperaments suitable and seasonable Vers 26 O give thanks unto the God of Heaven His mercy in providing Heaven for his people is more than all the rest PSAL. CXXXVII VErs 1 By the rivers of Babylon Tigrâ—s Euphrates for the land of Shinar where Babel was founded and afterwards Babylon built was as most Geographers think a part of the Garden of Eden fruitfull beyond credulity but to the poor captives all this was no comfort when they remembred the desolations of their Country and the loss of their former liberty The bird of Paradise they say once taken and encaged groaneth uncessantly till shee dye There wee sat down yea wee wepâ— Hee sitteth alone and keepeth silence because hee hath born it upon him saith Jeremy of the Mourner Lam. 3.28 who is much in meditation so were these bewailing bitterly their sin and misery with their bowels sounding as an harp Isa 16.1 where if one string bee touched all the rest sound When wee remembred Zion The former solemnities the present desolations Vers 2 Wee hanged out harps Harps wee had and knew how to handle them the Jews were famous Artists noted for their skill specially in Poetry Musick and Mathematicks but wee had little mind to it as now the case stood with us Hoâ—â—â— lib. 3. Od. 26. our Country lying desolate our selves could not bee but disconsolate Barbiton his paries habeâ—it Vers 3 For there they required of us a song scil In disdain and derision of our Religion q.d. Will yee sing no more holy songs in honour of your God hath hee utterly cast away all care of your wel-fare and you the like of his service Have you never a black Sanctis to sing us or cannot you sing care away c where are your wonted ditties â—eza the words of a song Ehodum bellos nobis illos vestrâ— Sionis modules cantillate And they that wasted us Cumulatores nostri vel Concumulatores nostri vel homines ejulatuum nostrorum they that made us howl singing as Isa 52.5 Or In suspensionibus nostris â—socr after that wee had hanged up our harps as vers 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sing us one of the songs of Zion Wherewith yee were wont to praise God So Baltasar abused the bowls of the Sanctuary So the bloody-Persecutors at Orleance as they murthered the Protestants required them to sing Judge and revenge my cause O Lord and have mercy on us Lord c. Vers 4 Shall wee sing the Lords song c No for that were to prophane holy things and as Nazianzen speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And besides they had as much mind to bee merry then and thus as Sampson had to play before the Philistines Musick in mourning is not more unseasonable than unsavoury When our Edward the third had the King of Scots and the French King both prisoners together here in England hee held royall justs and feasted them sumptuously After supper perceiving the French King to bee sad and pensive hee desired him to bee merry as others were To whom the French King answered as here How shall wee
terrified 596 causelesse feares page 729 Feasting holy page a. 189 188 Few saved page a. 93.94 Firmament page 324 First-fruits page a. 93 Formality rejected page 719 Forefathers sin not with them page 841 Fowles are foolish page 310 Fountaines their perennity page 834 Flattery court-parasites a. 108. flatterers meed b. 121. a flatterer boxt page 285 Fret not against God page 307 Friends few fast friends b. 24. many false b. 65 694. quarrel with faults not with friends page b. 65 G. God his dear respect to his a. 8. his great goodnesse a. 86. he disposeth of Kingdomes a. 87. how he is moved b. 18. he useth the wicked as his rods and why b. 20. his prisoners b. 34. he filleth all places b. 86 87. cannot be overpowered b. 87. it incomprehensible b. 104 325 913. his wisdom unsearchable b. 105. his strength and wisdom b. 114. he pulleth down and setteth up Kings 116. infatuateth the wise ib. his care of his afflicted b. 152. his greatnesse is not believed 289 he pardoneth abundantly 295. he gets not by us 308. his gentlenesse 326.327 343. his power and will to help his 357. his patience 584. he seeth all 243. his knowledge 597. his Justice ib. rich mercy 643. his Attributes 802. his truth our greatest comfort 872. his care of his 894. his Omniscience 912. there is no standing before his Justice 919. he loveth to retaliate a. 167 168. he fulfilleth his Promises a. 194. he is most profited by our services page b. 195 Godlinesse profitable to all page 361 362 Good for evil page 583 Good in bad places page b. 2 Goodnesse communicative page 230 Grace prevents our obedience page a. 86 Grave our long home page b. 15 Great mens good examples 885. they have great temptations a. 158. their thoughts perish 924. some great ones â—â—â—ged a. 168. raised from small beginnings a. 169 hear with their imperfections a. 172. they should be good page a. 193 H. Halleluiah the great which page b. 837 Heart wrought by God page a. 147 Hate of Haman and Judas page a. 189 Heires may fail page a. 151 Historians false page a. 172 Honour a great Nothing page a. 157 Happinesse true wherein page 562 Hagarens who page 797 Hawk described page 342 Hear and judge page b. 112 Heaven its height b. 104. its happinesse 611. contemplate it page 587 Healthing condemned page a. 106 Heathen Sages page 280 Hell its darknesse b. 31. where it is page b. 104 Hereticks stiffe b. 67. they would make God a Partner b 103 they are confident page 306 Henry 8. a Nullifidian page 241 Honorius his doting on a bird page 352 Holinesse honour of it b. 108. holinesse and righteousness page 276 Hope groundlesse b. 66. deceiveth b. 88. hope of hypocrites b. 109. hope easeth crosses page b. 153 Hospitality page 274 Horse how useful page 340 341 Houses falling slew many b 13. build not over-stately page 232 Humility of Saints page 344 Humble exalted page 925 Humiliation b. 54. submit to God page b. 51 Husbands honour their wives page 112 Husbandry honoured page b 3. Hypocrisie mercenary b. 7. all the wicked are hypocrites b. 79 hypocrites described b. 125. they heap up wrath 314 serve themselves 359. persevere not in prayer and why 230. delight not in God page 229 I. Jehovah how written page 798 Jerusalem whence and where a. 3. its praise 710 center of the world page 777 Jesuites their craft page b. 142 Idolomany page b. 866 Jewes generally hated a. 118. their harsh censure of Moses and Job b. 26. they are infatuated b. 55. their errour 85. their rage 273. banish't out of the world 258. they are great Artists b. 909. their daily benedictions 921. their countrey how so fruitful page 926 Image-worship b 44.868 hate it page 608 Infants no Innocents b 220. foule page b. 34 Injuries dissemble them page 685 686 Job an excellent man b. 1 7 8. his History no fable or parable b. 2. by whom written ib. his patience b. 12. not stupid 13. his tongue spared and why 21. his wife a vexation to him 22. yet might be a good woman ib. his friends godly men 25. how they handled the matter ib. his book in Hexameters 28. tired out by a dull Doctour 31. how long he was afflicted 69. he was a great Philosopher 96. his out bursts 99.127 he denied not the divine Providence 112. he doubted not of the Resurrection 71. he knew Christ a Mediatour 115. his squinzey 74. his age 364 his satiety of life ib. he was a pattern of the rule 208. the worth of his history 326. the middle of it page 200 Joy spiritual is our strength a. 79. temporary joy b. 82.177 178. unsound a. 152. mixt ib. spiritual joy 663.664 difference of that of Saints and sinners page a. 179 Justifie God page a. 90 Justified persons happinesse 660. such are also sanctified page 660 Iron and brasse whence page 235 K. Keckermans Swan-like Song page 874 Kings reviled 300 that sin punish't page ib. Knowledge is sweet 891. notional knowledge unproprofitable b 60. experimental knowledge page 358 L. Labour overcometh all difficulties page 238 Laughter lawful page 251 Law delivered in Sinai 84. good ib. its foure teeth 337. Jewes great respect to it page 720 Liberality page b. 6.168 169 Liberty sweet page a. 90 Life full of changes a. 81. miserable b. 31 yet a mercy 31. soon lost b. 46. miserable b 50. our time is set b. 69. life is but a turne 900.901 life sweet b. 19. short and wretched b. 130 precious a. 176. some that were very long-lived 714 715 Light-behaviour to be shunned page 251 Light of what use page 329 Lightening whence and why page 320 Lying shun it b 102. Artists at it page b. 120 Lithgow's inquisition-tortures page 633 Look upward page b. 894 Lottery page a. 130 Love God entirely 615. and the Saints by a specialty page 608 Lusts tough a. 101. costly a. 132 140. shun fleshly lusts page 262 Luther resolute not infallible page b. 157 M. Magistrates must fear God a. 74. look to their under-officers a. 135. leave open accesse to themselves a. 142.143 they have great temptations a. 150 they are gods and how 795. their duty 248.249 See great men Majecty of true piety page a. 182 Man wonder of his formation b. 914. a vile creature 220.221 miracle of mans make b. 95.96 he is a Microcosme page 588 Man-worship page a. 81 Manna what and whence page 786 Masse whence so called page 725 Massacre French whence page a. 129 Marry with discretion page a. 92 Maximinus slain sleeping b. 163. and his son page 165 Meek men are docible 642. contra page 739 Merits disclaimed a. 101. Merit-mongers misery b 88. abhor that doctrine page 830 Meroz cursed page 851 Meteors to be marked 318. to be marvelled at ib. and 323 Mistakes among friends page b. 103 Ministers blessed for their holy boldnesse a. 30. few good a. 40.41 have oft bad children 41. their
NOw Heb. And for the former History recorded in the Chronicles is continued by Ezra that ready Scribe and perfect in the Law Chap. 7.6 Yet not so prompt or perfect can I deeme him as that he should by memory restore the Bible that was burnt together with the Temple Irenae Tertuil Clem. Alexi Hieron Aug. Euseb Alsted Chron pag. 267. Acts Mon. by the Babylonians And yet that was the opinion of many Ancients grounded upon some passages in that Apocryphal Esdras We reade also of one Johannes Gatius Ciphaleditanus who out of the vaine confidence of his learning and memory was wont to give out that if the Holy Scripture should be lost out of the world he would not doubt by Gods grace to restore it whole again Of Cranmer indeed a far better man and a profounder Divine it is storied that he had got most of the New Testament by heart And of Beza that being above eighty years of age he could say perfectly without book and Greek Chapter in Saint Pauls Epistles M. Leigh Aâ— not on John 5.39 In the first year Heb. In the one year The Hebrews oft use One for First So do also the Apostles in Greek Matth. 28.1 John 20.1 19.1 Cor. 16.2 Rev. 6.1 One being the first number neither was it without a mystery that Pythagoras bade his Scholars ever to have respect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Moses also his saying Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord Deut. 6.4 Of Cyrus Heb. Coresh so named by God above an hundred years before he was born See the like Josiah 1 Kiâ— 13.3 Isay 40.28 and so honoured by the Persians as the founder of their Monarchy that they liked the better of all that were Hawk-nosed like unto him The Persian word signifieth a Lord or great Prince as Hen. Stephanus noteth and thence the Greeks have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord and We our word Sir as some will have it Plutarch in Artaxerxes saith that the Persians call the Sunne Cyrus And it may very well be so Peacham for the Hebrews also call the Sunne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cheres from its glistering brightnesse King of Persia So he had beene above twenty years before this and done many great exploits but this was the first year of his Empire of his Cosmocratie of the Monarchy translated from the Babylonians to the Persians The greatest Kingdomes have their times and their turnes their rise and their ruine when they shall live by fame onely Persia having oft changed her Masters since Cyrus remaineth a flourishing Kingdome to this day but wholly Mahometan Turk Hist â—ol 5. Which abominable superstition the Turks received from them when in the year 1030. they won that Countrey under their Sultan Tangrolipix Where it is hard to say saith mine Author whether nation lost more the Persians by the losse of so great a Kingdome Blounts Voy. into the Leu. pag. 81. or the Turks by embracing so great a vanity To this day they acknowledge the Persians better Mahometans then themselves which maketh the Turks farre better souldiers upon the Christian then upon the Persian That the Word of the Lord For it was He that spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets Luke 1.70 and his word cannot be broken Psal 31.5 John 10.35 for he is the God of Amen asthe Prophet David somewhere calleth him and all his promises are the issue of a most faithful and right Will void of all insincerity and falshood Prov. 8.8 By the mouth of Jeremy That admirable Preacher as Keckerman calleth him that most eminent Prophet as another with whose writings De Rhet. Eccles about this very restauration Daniel consulted and therehence collected that the time was come Dan. 9.2 which put him upon that heavenly prayer for he knew that Gods promises must be put in suit and and it was to him that the Angel afterwards said I came for thy word Dan. 10.14 God will come according to his promise but he will have his peoples prayers lead him This liberty here granted to the Jewes after so long captivity was the fruit of many prayers founded upon the promise Jer. 25.12 and 29.10 Might be fulfilled As indeed it was exactly by the death of Belshazzar slaine by Cyrus who succeeded him Dan. 5.30 In that night was Belshazzar slaine because then exactly the seventy years were ended So for the same reason it is noted Exod. 12.40 41. that at midnight the first-borne of Egypt were slaine because just then the four hundred or four hundred and thirty years foretold were expired So punctual is God in keeping his word It is not here as with men A day breaketh no square c. for he never faileth at his time The Lord stirred up the spirit It was the mighty and immediate work of God in whose hand are the hearts of all both Kings and Captives Lords and Losels to bring this wise and great Prince in the very first entrance into his Monarchy before things were fully settled to dismisse so great and so united a people in respect of their custome and religion and so given to insurrection as was generally held into their owne Countrey with such a faire and full Patent This was the Lords owne work and it was justly marvellous in the eyes of his people who could hardly believe their owne eyes but were for a while like them that dreame Then was their mouth filled with laughter and their tongue with singing c. Psal 126.1 2. Then was the great power and goodnesse of God in stirring up Cyrus to do this acknowledged Then also was the Kings clemency and courtesie no lesse cried up and magnified then was that of Flaminius the Roman General at Athens where for delivering them from servitude he was little lesse then deified Or that of our Queene Elizabeth who for her merciful returning home certaine Italians that were taken prisoners in the eighty eight Invasion was termed Saint Elizabeth by some at Venice Whereof one told the Lord Carleton afterwards Viscount Dorchester being there Embassadour that although he were a Papist yet he would never pray to any other Saint but that Saint Elizabeth That he made Proclamation Heb. He caused a voice to passe sc by his Messengers and Ministers The Posts went out being hastened by the Kings commandment Esth 3.15 even those Angarii The Lord Christ also proclaiming liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Esay 61.1 causeth his Word to run and to be glorified to spread like a Sun-beame as Eusebius saith the Gospel did at first to be carried as on Eagles wings or on Angels wings as it was thorough all Christendome when Luther first sent forth his book De Captivitate Babylonicâ of the Babylonish Captivity And put it also in writing That it might be posted up and every where published Vox audita perit littera scripta manet
Historians had their work done to their hands He wrote with the same spirit he fought saith Quintilian Eodem aâ—imo dixit quo bellavit lib. 10. And it came to passe This Book then is a continuation of the former Nehemiah being a third instrument of procuring this peoples good after Zerubbabel and Ezra and deservedly counted and called a Third Founder of that Common-wealth after Joshuah David In the moneth Chisleu In the deep of Winter then it was that Hanani and his brethren undertook their journey into Persia for the good of the Church In the twentieth year Sc. of Artaxerxes Longimanus thirteen yeares after Ezra and his company first came to Jerusalem Ezra 7.8 with Nehem. 2.1 I was in Shushan the palace Id est In the palace of the City Susan this Susan signifieth a Lily and was so called likely for the beauty and delectable site Now it is called Vahdac of the poverty of the place Here was Nehemiah waiting upon his office and promoting the good of his people Nomine tu quiu sis natur â Gratius ac te Gratius hoc Christi gratia praestet Amen Strabo and others say that the Inhabitants of Susia were quiet and perceable and were therefore the better beloved by the Kings of Persia Cyrus being the first that made his chief abode there in Winter especially and that this City was long and in Compasse 15 miles about Verse 2. That Hanani A gracious man according to his Name and zealous for his Countrey which indeed is a mans self and therefore when our Saviour used that proverb Physician heal thy self the sense is heal thy Countrey Luk. 4.23 Out of my brethren Not by race perhaps but surely by grace and place a Jew and that inwardly and therefore entrusted after this by Nehemiah with a great charge Neh 7. ver 2. Came he and certain men of Judah Upon some great suit likely for their Countrey because they took so long and troublesome a journey in the Winter not without that Roman resolution of Pompey in like case Necesse est ut eam non ut vivam Whatever their businesse was these men had better successe then afterwards Philo the Jew and his Colleagues had in their Embassy to Cajus the Emperour who cast them out with contempt and would not hear their apology against Appion of Alexandria their deadly Enemy And I asked them concerning the Jewes The Church was his care neither could he enjoy ought so long as it went ill with Zion He was even sick of the affliction of Joseph and glad he had got any of whom to enquire he asked them not out of an itch after newes but of an earnest desire to know how it fared with Gods poor people that he might cum singulis pectus suum copulare as Cyprian speaketh rejoyce with them that rejoyced and weep with those that wept Rom. 12.15 a sure signe of a sound member Which were left of the captivity One of whom he well knew to be more worth then a rabble of Rebels a World of wicked persons As the Jews use to say of those seventy souls that went down with Jacob into Egypt that they were better worth then all the seventy Nations of the World besides Verse 3. Are in great affliction and reproach The Church is heir of the Crosse saith Luther and it was ever the portion of Gods people to be reproached Ecclesia est hae res crucis as David was by Doeg with devouring words Psal 52. Their breath as fire shall devour you Esay 33.10 The Wall of Jerusalem also is broken down So that theeves and murtherers came in in the Night saith Comestor here and slue many of them And the gates thereof are burnt with fire They were burnt by the Chaldeans and never yet repaired And to keep a continual great watch was too great a charge and trouble Verse 4. And it came to passe when I heard It was not without a special providence that these good men thus met and by mutual conference kindle one another and that thereby God provided a remedy Things fall not out by hap-hazard but by Gods most wise dispose and appointment That I sate down and wept He was even pressed down with the greatnesse of his grief Expletur lachrymis egeriturque dolor Ovid. whereto he gave vent by his eyes Zeph. 3.17 18. God promises much mercy to such to whom the reproach of the solemn assemblies was a burden Nehemiah cannot stand under it but sits down and weeps And mourned certaine dayes Viz. For three moneths space for so long he was preparing himself to petition the King chap. 2. And fasted and prayed This was a sure course and never miscarried as hath been noted Ezra 9. Before the God of heaven With face turned toward his holy Temple 1 Kings 8.44 48. with heart lifted up to the highest heavens those hills whence should come his help Verse 5. I beseech thee O Lord Annah Jehovah An insinuating preface whereby he seeketh first to get in with God speaking him faire as doth likewise David in a real and heavenly complement Psal 116.16 Obsecro Jehova I beseech O Lord I am thy servant I am thy servant the sonne of thy handmaid break thou my bands So the Church Esay 64.9 Behold see we beseech thee we are all thy people The great and terrible God A great King above all gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 15.11 saith a Greek Father glorious in holinesse fearful in prayses doing wonders saith Moses in one place as in another The Lord our God is God of gods and Lord of lords a great God a mighty and a terrible Verè verendus venerandus Deut. 10.17 Thus Nehemiah begins his prayer and counts it a great mercy that he may creep in at a corner and present himself before this most Majestick Monarch of the world with greatest self-abasement That keepeth covenant and mercy That he may at once both tremble before him and trust upon Him he describeth God by his Goodnes as well as by Greatnes and so helpeth his own faith by contemplating Gods faithfulnesse and loving-kindnesse God hath hitherto kept Covenant with heaven and earth with nights and days Jer. 33.20 25. that one shall succeed the other and shall he break with his people No verily Be sure to keep faith in heart or you will pray but poorly And for this learn in the preface to your prayers to propound God to your selves in such notions and under such tearms and titles as may most conduce thereunto pleading the Covenant That love him and observe his Commandments That love to be his servants Esay 56.6 that wait for his Law Isa 42.4 that think upon his Commandments to do them Psal 103.18 Verse 6. Let thine eares now be attentive and thine eyes open Should not God see as well as hear saith a Divine his children should want many things We apprehend not all our wants and so cannot pray for relief
This was Priest-like and probably hereupon followed that miracle of an Angels descending at their several solemn feasts into the pool of Bethesda which was neer to this Gate and where they washed their sacrifices and healing all diseases John 5.4 Even unto the Tower of Meah Or the Centenary Tower so called for its hundred pinacles haply or because an hundred cubites high Verse 2. And next unto him builded the men of Jericho And are thereby here eternallized for their forwardnesse Claros inter habent nomina clara viros Though they dwelt farthest off yet they were of the first that came to work Jericho was the first City that Joshuah overthrew for their wickednesse and cursed him that should rebuild it Now it is the first that cometh to help forward this City of God So great is the change when God turneth peoples hearts Our Fathers were as barbarous and brutish as the very Scythians their Religion was a mere irreligion and worse till Christ came amongst us Ennead 7 l. 5. and gave us the preheminence For besides that England was the first of all the Provinces that publikely received the Gospel as saith Sabellicus our Constantine hath been reckoned the first Christian Emperour our Lucius the first Christened King and our Henry the eighth the first that brake the neck of the Popes usurped authority As we were the first that submitted to that man of sin so were we of the first that cast him off again although we are penitùs toto divisi orbe Britanni Lucan yet we have been hitherto famous all the World over for our faith and forwardnesse in Gods service though of late we have run retrograde to the reproach of our Nation Diogenes in a great assembly going backward on purpose and seeing every one laughing him to scorn asked them aloud if they were not ashamed so to do sith he went backwards but once when they did so continually Oh let it not be said of us as once of Jerusalem that we are slidden back by a perpetual back-sliding that we hold fast deceit and refuse to return Jer. 8.5 This is to be worse then wicked Jericho c. Builded Zaccur whose memory therefore is blessed when the name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 10.7 Verse 3. But the fish-gate That stood toward the Sea and let in fishermen as the men of Tyre chap. 13.16 19. Did the sonnes of Hassenaah build Whethe◠this Hassenaah were a man or a City it appeareth not Verse 4. Meshullam the sonne of Berechiah This Meshullam was one of those men of understanding made use of by Ezra chap. 8.16 Verse 5. The Tekoites repaired The common sort of them for the Nobles refused The lesser fishes bite best the poor are gospellized Mat. 11.5 destined to the diadem Jam. 2.5 But their Nobles put not their necks So haughty they were and high-minded they thought it a businesse below their greatnesse Somewhat of that profane Earle of Westmerlands mind who said that he had no need to pray to God for he had tenants enow to pray for him 1 Cor. 1. Not many mighty not many Noble saith the Apostle Well if any The Lion and Eagle were not for Sacrifice as the Lamb and Dove were Yet the old Nobility of Israel were forward with their staves of honour and are therefore famous Numb 21.18 To the work of their Lord Though they knew him to be Lord of Lords who are all his vassals and underlings and by special relation Their Lord so avouched by these his holy-day-servants yet so stiffe-necked were they that they would not stoop to his service but cryed out as the Popish Clergy do Domine nos sumus exempti we may not work we will not contribute Verse 6. Moreover the old gate Famous only for its antiquity like as many old books are monumenta adorandae rubiginis of more antiquity then authority and as that Image at Ephesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that was said but falsely to have fallen down from Jupiter so the covetous Priests perswaded the credulous people Acts 19.35 The Rabbines say that this was a gate ever since the time that David took Zion from the Jebusites Quis hoc credat nisi sit pro teste Vetustas Verse 7. Vnto the throne of the Governour i. e. Of the King of Persia's Vice-roy who had there his Throne or Tribunal But to what an height of pride were the Bishops grown that sate in Thrones and from on high despised their fellow-servants this was their ruine God putteth down the mighty from their Throne and exalteth them of low degree Luke 1.52 Verse 8. Of the goldsmiths the sonne of one of the Apothecaries These were ever thriving trades They both had wealth and hearts to part with it upon so good a work Difficile est animos opibus non traders c. Martial Vnto the broad wall Which haply for the thicknesse of it was left undemolished by the Caldeans Verse 9. Ruler of the half-part of Jerusalem Which being part in Judah and part in Benjamin had two General Rulers see verse 12. Verse 10. Even over against his house Thither he was assigned probably because there he would build the stronger for his own security Verse 11. The sonne of Pahath-Moab This man might be a Moabite by stock or descent and an Israelite by Religion like as Jether was by nature an Ismaelite 1 Chron. 7.17 but by his faith an Israelite 2 Sam. 17.25 And the tower of the fornaces That had fornaces or ovens under it like as the library at Bonony hath a victualling-house and a wine-cellar In commendation of which situation Cardinal Bobba conceited that he had very wittily indeed wickedly applied that text Prov. 9.1 2. Wisdome hath builded her house she hath also mingled her wine she hath also furnished her table Verse 12. Shallum the sonne of Aalloesh Some read it the sonne of an Inchanter or Conjurer and tell us that Conjuring was a common thing among the Jews as Acts 13. Elymas and elsewhere the sonnes of Sceva c. But Shallum if ever any such forsook that Science as did afterwards also Cyprian to become a Christian He and his daughters Either finishing what their father now dead had begun or parting with their portions toward the repair of the wall and haply laying their own hands to the Lords work Verse 13. The valley-gate See chap. 2.13 And the inhabitants of Zanoah Together with Hanun their Governour Not Priests and Levites only but the great men in every Countrey yea and the Countrey-people too must work at Gods building Every one must be active in his own sphere not live to himself but help to bear the burthens of Church and Common-wealth toti natum se credere mundo as Cato did Lucan Verse 14. But the dung-gate repaired Malchiah the sonne of Rechab That is of the noble family of the Rechabites A Ruler he was and yet disdaineth not to repair the dung-gate All Gods work is
Ezek. 17.4 Wells digged A great commodity in that hot Countrey Vine-yards and Olive-yards A singular help to house-keeping So they did eate and were filled They had enough of every thing and did eate whiles eating was good as they say Queen Elizabeth did seldome eate but of one dish rose ever with an appetite and lived about seventy years King Edward the sixth was wont to call her His sweet sister Temperance And delighted themselves in thy great goodnesse They lived in Gods good land but not by Gods good Lawes the refreshing they found by his best creatures was none other but such as his who warmeth himself and saith Aha I am warme I have seene the fire Isa 44.16 Verse 26. Neverthelesse they were disobedient and rebelled See how full in the mouth these holy Levites were in aggravating their own and their forefathers sinnes which swelled as so many toads in their eyes neither could they ever sufficiently disgrace them This is the property and practise of the true penitentiary They cast thy Law behinde their backs That is they vilipended and undervalued it God drew them by the cords of a man so the cords of kindnesse are called Hos 11.4 because befitting the nature of a man and likeliest to prevaile with rational people but they like men or rather like beasts transgressed the Covenant and as if God had even hired them to be wicked so did they abuse all his benefits to his greatest dishonour being therefore the worse because in reason they ought to have been better And slew thy Prophets which testified against them to turne to thee This was the worst they did to them and that for which they received mercedem mundi the wages of the mad world ever beside it self in point of salvation and falling foul upon such as seek its good This is that sinne that brings ruine without remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 Prov. 29.1 for precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Psal 116. And they wrought great provocations Or Blasphemies see verse 18. Verse 27. Therefore thou deliveredst them Flagitium flagellum sicut acus filum Sinne and punishment are tied together with chains of adamant Who vexed them Heb. Put them to straits so that they had not what shift to make or how to help themselves And in the time of their trouble Vexatio dedit intellectum The time of affliction is the time of supplication When out of the depths Gods people cry unto him they may have any thing Zach. 13.9 speedy audience unmiscarrying returnes of their prayers Thou gavest them Saviours i. e. Deliverers such as the Judges were Judg. 3.9 and such as Flaminius the Roman was to the poor Argives who therefore called him Saviour Saviour and that with such a courage Plut. in Flam ut corvi fortuito supervâ—lantes in stadium deciderent that the birds fell to the earth amazed with that outcry the aire was so dissipated with their acclamations Verse 28. But after they had rest they did evil again As standing pooles breed vermine as sedentary lives are subject to diseases If men be not poured out from vessel to vessel they will soone settle upon their â—ees Because they have no changes therefore they feare not God Psal 55.19 saith David of the wicked and Psal 30. David himself was afflicted delivered and then grew wanton Then troubled again verse 7. cryes againe verse 8.9 God turnes his mourning to joy again whereof if he surfeited not it was well bestowed on him But rarae fumant felicibus arae We are commonly best when worst and Pliny told his friend Plin. Epist that the best way to live well was to be as good in health as we promise to be when we are sick Therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies Who can do us no hurt but by Divine permission though they bandy together and bend all their forces to harme the Church yet are they bounded by God and can do nothing till he leave his people in their hands Had the dominion over them Ruled them with rigour And many times didst thou deliver them Even totiès quotiès for as the eye is not wearied with seeing nor the eare with hearing so neither is God with shewing mercy But as the Sunne shineth after it hath shone and as the spring runneth after it hath run so doth the Lord proceed to do good to his in their necessity and that according to his mercies which never fail Lam. 3.22 Verse 29. And testifiedst against them Toldest them of their sinnes foretoldest them of their dangers didst all that could be done to do them good but nothing would do Yet they dealt proudly See verse 16. And hearkened not Intus existens prohibuit alienum Hear and give eare be not proud Jer. 13.15 But sinned against thy judgements i. e. Thy Statutes though made with so much reason and respect to our good that if God did not command them yet were it every way our best way to practise them Esay 48.17 I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit which leadeth thee by the way which thou shouldest go As who should say It is for thy profit that I command thee this or that and not for mine own Which if a man do But that as now he cannot do and therefore not be saved by the Law Rom. 10.5 Our Saviour indeed said to that young justiciary This do and thou shalt live Luke 10.28 But that was all one saith Luther as if Christ had said unto him Vade morere Go upon thy death for do this of thy self and live thereby thou art never able And withdrew the shoulder When called to take up Christs yoke or to beare his crosse See the Note on Zach. 7.11 And hardened their necks To sinewes of iron they added browes of brasse Verse 30. Yet many years didst thou forbear them Heb. Protract over them or draw out thy loving kindnesse toward them to the utmost And testifiedst against them As verse 29. They wanted not for warnings or wooings with Woe unto thee O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made cleane when shall it once be Yet would they not hear But as Sea-monsters or Catadupes or men borne in a mill or as one that is running a race give him never so good counsel he cannot stay to hear it Therefore gavest thou them As uncounselable incorrigible Verse 31. Neverthelesse for thy great mercies sake Mans perversnesse cannot interrupt the course of Gods goodnesse In the middest of judgement he remembreth mercy which beareth the same proportion to his judgement which seven a compleat number hath to an Vnity Thou diddest not utterly consume them God will repent for his people when he seeth their power is gone Deut. 32.36 and be jealous with a great jealousie when the enemy goes beyond his commission Zach. 1.14 15. For thou art a gracious and merciful God And this is most seene when misery weighs down and nothing but mercy
Edgar ordained that Sunday should be solemnized from Saturday nine of the clock Acts Mon. till Munday morning here in this Land that God might surely have his due The Jewes of Tiberias began the Sabbath sooner then others Those at Tsepphore continued it longer adding de profano ad sacrum Buâ—torf Hence R. Jose wished that his portion might be with those of Tiberias and ended it with those of Tsepphore And some of my servants set I at the gates To keep them carefully and to prevent profanations How the Athenians amerced those that came not to the Assemblies on holy-dayes hurdling up all the streets except them that led to the Ecclesia taking away all their saleable wares c. See Rous his Archaeolog Attic. pag. 103. Verse 20. So the Merchants lodged without Jerusalem They would not easily be said or take an answer so desirous they were of some takings from the Jewes There is nothing in the world that is more pertinacious and that cleaveth closer to a man then a strong lust say it be covetousnesse wantonnesse passionatenesse or any the like intreat it to be gone as Naomi did Ruth threaten it as Abner did Asael or as Nehemiah did these Merchants you prevail nothing till God comes and strikes a parting-blow c. Verse 21. Why lodge ye about the wall His care was also lest God should be dishonoured in the Suburbs A little fire warmes but a little way off when a great one casteth about its heat farre and near He feared also lest those within the walls seeing them might be tempted to wish themselves with them as when Sylla the Roman lay before the walls of Athens the Citizens minds were with him though their bodies were kept from him I will lay hands on you I will lay you fast enough be packing therefore The best way to be rid of sinne is to threaten it punish it by the practice of mortification to handle it roughly We are not debters to the flesh Rom. 8.12 We owe it nothing but stripes nothing but the blue eye Saint Paul gave it 1 Cor. 9.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 22. And I commanded the Levites He might do it as their Governour How then can Popish Priests exempt themselves from the power of the civil Magistrate and say as those shavelings did to our Henry the second when they lashed him on the bare till the blood followed Domine noli minari nos enim de tali curia sumus quae consuevit imperare regibus Imperatoribus that is Sir spare your threats for we are of that high Court of Rome which is wont to Lord it over Kings and Emperours Might he not have well replyed Ye take too much upon you ye sonnes of Levi or rather ye limbs of Antichrist Come and keep the gates The Temple-gates with Procul hinc procul este profani In Greece the Priest at their solemne sacrifices was wont to aske 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who 's there and the people were to answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here are many and those also good men To sanctifie the Sabbath day By severing the precious from the vile and seeing that all things were rightly carried by themselves and the rest Remember me c. See verse 14. And spare me Meritum meum est misericordia Domini Horreo quicquid de meo est ut sim meus Thomas Aquinas lying on his death-bed Bern. and being about to receive the Lords Supper besought the Lord with tears that he would spare him according to his abundant goodnesse and snatching up the Bible he hugg'd it and said Volâ—ter I beleeve all the contents of this blessed Book The like is reported of William Wickam Founder of New-College Oxon and of Charles the fifth Emperour and some other wiser Papists Verse 23. In those dayes saw I Jewes Outwardly at least as the Apostle distinguisheth Rom. 2.28 and that also was then a prerogative Rom. 3.1 and shall appear to be so againe when their long-looked for conversion-day is come Romans 11. That had married wives of Ashdod Outlandish-wives and of another Religion and with these they cohabited as the Hebrew word here importeth Verse 24. And their children spake halfe in the speech of Ashdod They had a mixture of their mothers both speech and spirit the birth followed the belly the Conclusion followed the weaker Proposition And could not speak in the Jewes language Though it were that of their fathers Mothers are most about children and have the greater advantage to perfume them or poyson them But what mad fellowes were those old Britaines or Welsh-men who driven out of their owne Countrey by the Saxons came into little Britaine in France where when they had married wives they are said to have cut out their tongues Heyl. Geog. left they should corrupt the language of their children Hence the Brittish or Welsh language remaineth still in that Countrey Verse 25. And cursed them i. e. I denounced Gods heavy curse and vengeance upon them according to that themselves had wished and entered into chap. 10.30 in case they repented not This is nothing then in favour of our cursing men who are cursed men c. And smote certaine of them So far was his heart enraged with an holy hatred of their sinne that he could not forbear them So when Charles the fifth had heard that Farnesius General of the Popes forces had ravished certaine Ladies he brake out into this speech and was never in all his life observed to be more angry at any thing Si adesset impurus ille Farnesius manu meâ confoderem O if I had here that filthy fellow I would slay him with mine own hand And mads them swear by God So they had done before chap. 10.29 30. But now alasse they were all gone aside they were altogether become filthy they stank above ground Psal 143. He takes therefore another oath of them c. Verse 26. Did not Solomon King of Israel c. Did not he deviate and prevaricate in his old age shamefully turning from the Lord who had appeared unto him twice Did not his strange wives draw him to strange practises insomuch as some have doubted of his salvation and Bellarmine reckoneth him but wrongfully amongst reprobates Yet among many Nations was there no King like him For honour pleasure wisdome and wealth c. the abundance he had of these drew out his spirits and dissolved him See Mark 10.23 25. 1 Tim. 6.9 Isa 39.1 2. Who was beloved of his God His corculum his darling his Jedidiah 2 Sam. 12.25 but he did not reciprocate his heart was dis-joynted and hung loose from the Lord whom he grievously provoked by his sensuality and apostasie And God made him King over all Israel Not by right of inheritance for he was a younger brother but by special designation Yet he defiled that Throne whereunto God had so graciously advanced him this was a great aggravation of his sinne 2
draw from it there being nothing so well carried but that it may be liable to some mens exceptions Verse 17. For this deed of the Queen shall come abroad The least aberration in a star is soon observed so the miscarriages of great ones are quickly both noted and noticed Publike persons are by Plutarch compared to looking-glasses according to which others dresse themselves to pictures in a glasse-window wherein every blemish is soon seen to common Wells which if they be poysoned many are destroyed The common people commonly are like a flock of Cranes as the first flies all follow So that they shall despise their husbands Which indeed ought not to be no not in their hearts Let the wife see that she reverence her husband Eph. 5. ult God hath a barren womb for mocking Michal when Sarah is crowned and chronicled for this that she obeyed her husband calling him Lord. It is here taken for confessed that Vasthi despised her husband and that others would thereby take heart to do the like is therehence inferred But doth that necessarily follow and must the Queen therefore be presently deposed yea put to death as the Jew-Doctours tell us she was King Asa deposed his grandmother Maacha but that was for Idolatry Our Henry the eighth beheaded his wife Anne Bullen but that was for supposed and but supposed adultery Queen Elizabeth narrowly escaped with her life because she was accused but falsely of conspiracy against the Queen her sister But what had Vasthi done Condemned she is without reprival and the Countrey must come in but was never called to give in evidence against her that haply never saw her nor heard of her offence Is this fair-dealing Verse 18. Likewise shall the Ladies of media and Persia say Say what We will not do as our Lords command us Like enough all this for their tongues were their own and their wills no lesse That free-will about which there is so much ado made when men once lost the women caught it up and hence they are so wedded to their own will saith one merrily Quicquid volunt valdè volunt what they will do they will do contra gentes saith another And for talking and telling their minds The Rabbines have a proverb that ten Kabs measures of speech descended into the world and the women took away nine of them These Ladies of Media and Persia were feasting with the Queen when the King sent for her ubi quid factum est garritur potitatur saltitatur Feverdent in verse 9. saith an Interpreter at which time they were chatting and bibbing and dancing and when their mirth was marred they would not spare to speak their minds and ease their stomachs what ever came of it We read in our own Chronicles of the Lady de Breuse that by her railing and intemperate tongue she had so exasperated King John whom she reviled as a tyrant and a murtherer that he would not be pacified by her strange present four hundred kine Speed 572. and one bull all milk-white except only the eares which were red sent unto the Queen Then shall there arise too much contempt and wrath Contempt on the wives part and wrath on the husbands wives shall slight their husbands and they again shall fall foul upon their wives so that conjugium shall become conjurgium and the house they dwell together in shall be no better then a fencing-school wherein the two sexes seem to have met together for nothing but to play their prizes and to try masteries This made Sylla say I had been happy if I had never been married Verse 19. If it please the King Courtier-like lest he should seem to prescribe to the King or to prejudice the rest of the royal Counsellours he thus modestly prefaceth to his ensuing harsh and hard sentence He knew well enough it would please the King at present in the minde he now was in and to prevent any alteration he moves to have it made sure by an irrevocable Law that he might not hereafter be censured for this his immoderate and unmerciful censure but be sure to save one howsoever Let it be written saith he among the Lawes of the Persians Which the King himself could not repeal Dan. 6.8 15. but once passed and registred they remained binding for ever I have read of a people among whom the Lawes they had lasted in force but for three dayes at utmost Legem dicimus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato This was a fault in the other extreme Lawes are to be made with due deliberation and then to be established and not altered without very great reason as sometimes there is sith Tempora mutentur nos mutemur in illis That Vasthi come no more before King Ahashuerus But be absolutely deposed and divorced Here was no proportion betwixt the offence and the sentence This judgement was like the Laws of Draco of which Aristotle saith that they were not worth remembrance but only for their great severity as being written not with black but with blood And let the King give her royal estate unto another The more to vex her Surely such an exauthoration of so great a personage with so great disgrace and ignominy could not but be very grievous yea worse then death High seats as they are never but uneasie so the fall from them must needs be dangerous and dismal How well might holy Esther sing with the Virgin Mary God putteth down the mighty from their thrones and exalteth them of Low degree Luke 1.52 Verse 20. And when the Kings Decree that he shall make shall be published But why should any such thing be published at all unlesse the King be ambitious of his own utter dishonour Is there none wiser then other but that the King must beray his own nest tell all the Empire that he was drunk or little better and did in his drink determine that against his fair Queen that he so soon after repented He should have done in this case as a man doth that having a secret sore clappeth on a plaister and then covereth it with his hand that it may stick the faster work the better Had Ahashuerosh been wise the world had been never the wiser for any thing that Vasthi had done c. But Memucan hath some colour for his bad counsel a goodly vail to cast over it All the wives shall give to their husbands honour They shall not dare to do otherwise unlesse they mean to be likewise divorced But will terrour breed true honour is soothing right submission Quem metuunt oderunt fear makes hatred and people honour none to speak properly but whom they love sincerely Those lordly husbands that domineere over their wives as if they were their slaves and carry themselves like lions in their houses must not look for any great respect there This man promised himself great matters when he thus said The wives shall give iittenu in the masculine gender to signifie the wives voluntary
appeareth And in length of dayes understanding By reason of their much observation and frequent experience together with their ability to draw other things out of those they have observed and from former events to presage future This is to be understood of such old men as are like flowers which have their roots perfect when themselves are withering as with roses keep a sweet savour though they lose their colour as with the Sun shine most amiably at their going down But lest we should attribute too much to such sages Job shewes in the next verse that all their wisedome is but derivative and that all their understanding is but a spark of Gods flame a drop of his Ocean Verse 13. With him is wisedome and strength c Wisedome strength counsel and understanding are all concentred in the Ancient of dayes compleat he is in all excellencies and perfections all which do meet in him and continue alwaies in the highest degree The mighty God fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding Isai 40.28 He is also no lesse good then great and wise good original universal all-sufficient and satisfactory proportionable and fitting for our soul which as it was made by him and for him so it is never at quiet till it resteth in him See chap. 9.4 He hath counsel and understanding Counsel he hath but without consultation Wisedome but without experience Knowledg but without discourse Decree but without deliberation Aug. Loquimur de Deo c. we speak of God saith one not as we ought but as we are able And these things we speak of God saith another Father because we find not what better to speak of him But Job hath a mind to say the utmost that may be said Verse 14. Beheld he breaketh down and it connot be built again As he did the old world Sodom and Gomorrah many Monarchies and Empires the Tower of Babel and other castles and houses which now live by fame only If at all If God have a mind to mine these who shall raise or repair them Julian the Apostate in spite to the Christians Am. Marcel lib. 23. Socrat. 3. Theod. Ruffin set the Jewes awork to reedifie the Temple at Jerusalem but they could never effect it by reason of a terrible earth-quake that slew the workmen and marred the materials The Arian Bishops held a second Council at Nice with purpose to have abolished the memory of the first together with the Nicene Creed Func and to have established Arianism but God disappointed them and sent them packing thence by a huge earth-quake which overturned a great part of that city and destroyed a number of people Constans Nephew to Heraclius the Greek Emperour Theophanes Zonaras Cedrenus Job de Columnae in Mari historiarum Gen. Chronol and three hundred years after him Othe Emperour of Germany indeavoured but in vain to make Rome the seat of their Empires as anciently it had been God would not suffer it so to be saith Genebrard because the Kingdom of the Church foretold by Daniel was to have its seat there If he had said the kingdome of Antichrist foretold by Paul and John the Divine he had hit the nail on the very head He shutteth up a man and there can be no opening He clappeth him up close prisoner as Manasseh Zedekiah Bajazet Boniface the 8. c or fasteneth him to his bed by some chronical disease as he did Abimelech Ahaziab Asa Aeneas Acts 9.33 or otherwise straiteneth him that he knows not how to help himself as he did Pharaoh Saul when the Philistims were upon him of every side those refractaries in Isaiah chap. 9.2 and shall do the whore of Babylon Rev. 18. when her lovers shall bewail her but not be able to bestead her ver 9 10. For when God shutteth up any in this sort they must lie by it till he please to release them and extricate them as he did Joseph Jehoshaphat David Peter Valentinian and many others when they were even forsaken of their hopes Verse 15. Behold he with-holdeth the waters and they dry up He not only when he pleaseth imprisoneth men but waters also that they cannot get out of the clouds those bottles of rain those airy sponges vessels as thin as the liquor that is contained in them it is from the power of God that they dissolve not upon us at once and overwhelm us Bartholinus reports that in the year of grace 1551. a great number of men and cattle were drowned by the sudden breaking of a cloud divers vine-yeards De meteor li. 2. stone walls strong houses were destroyed and ruined At sea sometimes ships are by the same means sunk sea-men call it a spoâ—t Again it is by the anger and judgments of God that the clouds are sometimes so closed up that they yeild no more water then iron or adamant If I shut up heaven saith he that there the no rain 2 Chron. 7.13 and Deut. 28.23 24. God threateneth as a punishment of mens sin that the heavens over their heads shall be brasse and the earth under them shall be iron that the rain of their land shall be made powder and dust from heaven shall it come down upon them c. by exceeding great drought grains of dust shall ascend into the air with the wind and come down as the drops of rain in a shower when it is kindly weather Thus it was in Aâ—obe dayes 1 King 18. See Joel 1.20 with the Note And they dry up The rivers fruits of the earth roots of trees all dry up languish and perish feavers also and other acute diseases abound Also he sendeth them out and they overturn the earth They did so with an accent in the general deluge and in Deucalious flood in Thessaly besides many other great tracts and parts of the earth over-turned by water Pliny and Seneca give us sundry instances of towns and countries laid waste by water What great hurt was lately done about Amsterdam by water and what breaking down of bridges mills and other houses Prin. Nat. hist lib. 2. cap. 90.92 Sen. Nat. quast lib. 6. cap. 23. by excessive rain and floods thereupon besides marring of grounds and rotting of cattle in many places amongst us needeth not here to be related Verse 16. With him is strength and wisedome i. e. Such strength as he exerciseth most wisely mightily and righteously Sic volo sic 〈◊〉 saith the Tyrant Right or wrong thus it shall be Volumus â—uâ—emus saith that man of sin wee will and command c. neither must any one mute or say so much as what dost thou upon pain of damnation When Constantius would have Paulinus Lucifer and other Bishops subscribe against Athanasius and communicate with the Arians he yeilded to no other reason but this Quod ego volo pro canone fit Do as I bid or get you into banishment But God though he hath all power in his hand and may do
of sons and of daughters the wil give them an everlasting name that shal never be cut off Not so the ungodly those men of Gods hand for though full of children they leave the rest of their substance to their babes Psal 17.14 yet it will prove to be but luctnosa foecunditas as Hierom speaketh they shall weep for their lost children and not be comforted because they are not Or if they survive they prove singular cuts and crosses to their wretched Parents who have cause enough to cry out as Moses sometimes did let me dye out of hand and not see my wretchednesse Num. 11.15 They are filled with â—â—medicinable sorrowes in the losse either of their children or of their estates by their wasteful children so that they praise the dead above the living and wish they had never been born Eccles 4.2 3. Nor any remaining in his dwellings When the souldiers slew the Tyrant Maximinius and his son at the siege of Aquilâ—ia they cryed out Ex pessima geneve ne catulum quidem habendum Of so ill a kind let not a whelp be kept alive Verse 20 Ther that come after him shal be astâ—â—ied at his day Future Ages hearing the relation of his dismal destruction shall stand agast as if they beheld the dirty ruines of some once beautiful City Happy they if in good earnest they could make that good use of it which Herodotus the Historian saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod men should make of the overthrow of Troy viz. to take notice thereby that great sinners must look for great punishments from God But Ham and his Posterity were little the better for the Deluge in their dayes not the adjacent Countries for Sodoms downfal As they that went before were afrighted scil His contemporaries and eye-witnesses of his calamity apprehended horror so the Hebrew hath it they took a fright which yet was little to the purpose without faith and repentance and unlesse their hearts fell down when their hairs stood upright Verse 21. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked As sure as death 't is so and this is oft inculcated because hardly believed Bildad hints at Job in all this and therefore speaks of the wicked here in the singular number as who should say Thou art the man But Jobs innocency served him for an Heptabâ—ean Buckler And this is the place that is the state Psal 14.4 Of him that knoweth not God Periphrasis impii saith Drusius this is the character of a gracelesse man have the workers of iniquity no knowledg No none that they were a button the better for CHAP. XIX Verse 1. Then Job answered and said HE replyed as followeth to Bildads bitter and tanting invective His miseries he here setteth forth graphically and tragically grating to Bildad that he was dealt with no otherwise then if he were that wicked man described in the foregoing chapter and yet denying himself to be any such one by his lively hope of a joyful Resurrection such as would make a plentiful amends for all ver 26 27 28. For though Mercer make question of it yet I am out of doubt saith Beza that this is the true meaning of this place And surely the whole Scripture doth not yeild us a more notable or a more clear and manifest testimony to confirm unto us the Resurrection of our bodies then this This confession of his faith saith Lavater is the chief thing in this Chapter and therefore challengeth our best attention Verse 2. How long will ye vex my soul viz. with your furious and reproachful charges criminations Have I not misery enough already but you must lay more load of scorn and contempt upon me and so go on to trouble me by adding to my saddest sorrowes Hoccine est moestum consolari such as pierce to the very soul Call you this comforting an afflicted friend How long will ye break me in pieces with words Words also have their weight and if hard and harsh Leniter volant non leniter violant Like maules they break the heart in pieces like a rack they torment it Psal 42.10 As with a Murdering weapon in my bones mine enemies reproached me You shall find some saith Erasmus that of death be threatned can despise it but to be belyed reproached slandered they cannot brook nor from revenge contain themselves Job was a strong man both in faith and patience yet put hard to it by the hard words given him by Bildad and the rest who did rather hurt his eare by the loudnesse of their voices then helped his heart by the force of their reproofs Gods servants must not strive but be gentle 2 Tim. 2.23 24. shewing all meeknesse to all men Tit. 3.2 Jam. 3.17 Gentle showres comfort the earth when dashing storms drown the seed There is a two fold inconvenience followeth upon bitter and boisterous proceedings with a supposed offendour First the party looketh not so much to his own failing as to their passion Secondly As he is unconvinced so they are not esteemed but though they have the right on their side yet they lose the due regard of their cause and reverence of their persons Verse 3. These ten times have ye reproached me i.e. oftentimes Herein Job endured a great fight of affliction as the Apostle stileth it Heb. 10.32 33. a manifold fight as the word there signifieth Cate was two and thirty times accused publickly and as oft cleared and absolved Basil was counted and called an Heretick even by those who as it appeared afterwards were of the same judgement with him and whom he honoured as brethren Dogs in a chase bark sometimes at their best friends c. You are not ashamed that you make your selves strange to me Or Are you not ashamed that ye harden your selves against me Or That ye â—ter and jest at my misery Significat etiam emere vel componari Or That ye make Merchandise of me and take your peny worths out of me Beze agreeable to our Translation paraphraseth it thus Ye take me up so short as if ye dealt with a stranger and forrainer and not with a friend And so the word is taken Gen. 42.7 Verse 4. And be it indeed that I have erred Of humane frailty for that there is any way of wickednesse in me as you would have it I shall never yeeld But nimis angustares est nuspiam errare Involuntary failings I am not free from who knoweth the errors of his life Psal 19.12 What man is he that liveth and sinneth not It is the sad priviledge of mortality Euphorm saith one Licere aliquando peccare to have license sometimes to sin Mine error remaineth with my self q d. 'T is little that you have done toward the convincing me of any error in all this time and talk which until ye have done I must stil remain of the same mind Or thus You shall neither answer nor suffer for mine errour what need then all this hear and
Arabian spoylers Fabric in descrip peregr Hierosol those wild-Asses who continue their old trade to this day catching and snatching vivitur ex rapto neither can they be repelled or restrained by reason of their multitudes and their incredible swiftness The wilderness yieldeth food c. Their pillage is their tillage their rapine their revenue whereby they maintain themselves and theirs as the wild-Ass picks out a living in the desart But shall they thus escape by iniquity Have they no other wayes to work no better Mediums Never think it In thine anger cast dawn the people O God Psal 56.7 He will do it for the words are prophetical as well as optative Treasure of wickedness profit nothing Prov. 10.2 Mammon of iniquity is the next odious name to the Devil and to the Devil it will bring a man 1 Tim. 6.9 English Hubertus a covetous Oppressor is said to have made this Will I yield my Goods to the King my Body to the Grave my Soul to the Devil Pope Sylvester 2. is said to have given his Soul to the Devil for seven years enjoyment of the Popedom And for their Children We have a profane and false proverb Happy is that Child whose Father goeth to the Devil O faithful drudge said a graceless Son once of such a Father who died and left him great store of ill-gotten goods Verse 6. They reape every one his corn in the field The poor oppressed are made by them to inn their crops and tread their vintages in the end of the year as the Hebrew importeth Serò colligunt without either meat or wages or so much as a cup of drink as the eleventh verse sets forth which is extreme cruelty and flatly forbidden Deut 24.14 15. and order taken that the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the corn should not be muzzled Deut. 25.4 Quantum igitur judicium saith Brentius how great judgements of God then will light upon those who do that to men of the same flesh of the same faith of the same country with themselves which they ought not to do to the bruit creatures they make use of Quoâ— malum in Germania frequentâ—ssimum est Vâ— igitur Germaniae This saith he is a common sin in Germany woe therefore to Germany Think the same of England and take notice that this is one of those crying sins that entreth into the ears of the Lord of Sabboth Jam. 5.4 and he will hear for he is gracious Exod. 22.27 The words are otherwise sensed by some but this to me seemeth most sutable to the subsequent verses Verse 7. They cause the naked to lodge without clothing viz. By denying and detaining from them that they have earned wherewith they should provide them garments which are so called quasi gardments because they serve to guard mens bodies from the injury of the weather They cause them to lodge naked because they have no clothing so some reade the text they lay them open to the pinching cold of the night And what a misery it is to lye a cold and wet and not to have wherewith to keep us warm and dry in winter season especially who knows not Hîc disce Deo gratus esse saith Lavater Here then learn thankfulness to God thou that hast not only a warm and wholesome lodging-room but also good store of bed-cloaths and those of the better sort too Abuse not these blessings to pride and luxury lest God turn in upon thee spoylers and plunderers who may leave thee little enough leave thee nuaum tanquam ex mari as they did many in these late shredding and stripping times Ezek. 25.4 God threatneth to send the men of the East to dwell as so many Lord-Danes in their Palaces and to eate their milk c. When the Children play with their meat and cast it to the Dogs what can the Father do less than bid Take away Verse 8. They are wet with the showers of the mountains Wet they are but not at all refreshed as this word here only found in the Bible signifieth sometimes among the Rabbins Cold comfort they finde abroad and at home they dare not abide lest rich men should oppress them and draw them before the judgement-seats Jam. 2.6 or drag them to prison for refusing their drudgery Hence they are forced to live in the mountains and desart places in extreme misery And embrace the Rock for want of a shelter Like Conies or wild Beasts glad of any lurking place that may keep them out of the hands of unreasonable and wicked men What hardship have many worthy men in all ages suffered from persecutors and oppressors in Dioâ—lesians dayes especially driven out of house and harbour and glad to take up in any hole there to lie on the cold stone in stead of a warm bed as that good Dutchess of Suffolk with that noble Gentleman her Husband did in the Low-countries whiter they fled from the Marian persecution till In Loc. as Elias once under the Juniper they wish themselves out of the world Iterùm hîc discâ— gratias Deo agere saith Lâ—vater Here again learn to give thanks to God for this great benefit if thou maiest stay at home and not be forced to flie for thy life or for conscience-sake for home is home as we say and very desireable and the Apostle reckons it for a piece of his sufferings that he was 〈◊〉 and had no settled station 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no certain dwelling place 1 Cor. 4.11 Verse 9. They pluck the fatherless from the brest What can be more to be pitied than a fatherless suckling Who less to be molested or violenced than the Mother doing that office to her babe In the Parisian Massacre one of the murtherers took a little one in his arms who smiled upon him and plaid with his beard yet this barbarous wretch was so far from compassion that he wounded it with his dagger Act. Mon. and so cast it all gore blood into the River The story of the Infant of the Isle of Garriser thrown back into the fire out of which it had sprawled is well known Ibid. So is the savage inhumanity of that merciless Minerius the Popes Champion who at Merindolâ— in France cut off the Paps of many which gave suck to their Children Ibid. p. 868. which looking for suck at their Mothers brests being dead before died also for hunger Well therefore might our Saviour say Beware of men Mart. 10.17 It had been better the Indies had been given to the Devils of hell said those poor Natives than to those bloody Spaniards who dashed the Mother in pieces upon their Children as once at Betharbel Hos 10.14 And take a pledge from the poor Misery which should beget pity in them begetteth but audacity and inviteth them to ruine the poor and fill their houses with their spoyles Some render it thus They take the poor for a pledge sc putting them to their ransom and mean while
are the place of Saphires Which are excellent Stones and therefore here joyned with Gold Quod punctis aureis colluceant Plin. Vide Boet. Histlapid lib. 2. c. 42 because they shine with golden sparklings Exod. 24.10 The Sanhedrin saw the God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a Saphire stone c. To shew saith One that God had now changed their condition their Bricks made in their Bondage to Saphire So Isai 54.11 God graciously promiseth unto his afflicted Church that had been tossed with tempests and not comforted to lay her stones with faire colours and her foundation with Saphires to make her windowes of Agates and her gates of Carbuncles and all her border of pleasant stones To render her all glorious within by the curious Enamel and Embroidery of holy graces and to beautifie also and bespangle her with outward plenty and prosperity that she might glitter in the eyes of God and men And it hath dust of Gold Or Oar of gold better then that which our Forbisher in his Voyage to discover the Strait brought back with him from which when there could be drawn neither Gold nor Silver nor any other Metal Camb. Eliz. fol. 189 we have seen it cast forth to mend the high-wayes saith Mr. Cambden Verse 7. There is a path which no fowle knoweth That is say some those places where this Gold lyeth are so barren as they bring forth nothing else but gold Albert. Dionys Aquin. nothing for fowles to feed upon no not discernable by the eye of the Vulture which exâ—celleth in seeing afar off and smelleth out his prey at a very great distance But men make their wayes even here to dig and find out gold being herein more perspicacious and sagacious then the very Vultures The covetous would do well to consider saith a good Authour that for the most part those Countries that are furnished with gold are destitute of better provision both temporal and spiritual that it lyeth furthest from heaven and the best of it in India furthest from the Church that though Adam had it in the first Paradise Gen. 2. yet in the second we shall not need it but God shall be our Gold and we shall have plenty of that which is better then silver Job 22.25 That wise men have esteemed it as the stones of the streets 1 Chron. 1.15 And that the children of wisdome might not possess it in their girdles Matth. 10.19 That wicked men have the most of it as their portion Psalm 17.14 and that the divel danceth in rich and pleasant palaces Isai 13.21 22. c. And which the Vultures eye hath not seen Or the Kites eye or the Pies or the Choughs which yet is said to be sitiens aurâ— desirous of gold and to hide it when she hath gotten it though she can make no use of it Some good Interpreters by this path in the Text understand the Mines themselves those under-ground places as far under ground as the fowles flye above ground and that are by them and the most prey-seeking beasts unkend and untrod yet thither goeth the Metallary by his Skil and industry letting in both light and vital Aire Quem follibus arte mirificâ è sublims deducit ut respirent artifices alantur lucernâ— which with wonderful Art he by bellows bringeth from above into those low holes that the workmen may breath and the lights may be kept burning Verse 8. The Lions Whelps have not trodden it Heb. The children of pride see chap 41.34 that is saith Vatablus belluae truces immanes fierce and cruel creatures which yet passe through Mountaines and Vallies and vast forrests but come not under ground where these Metals are that 's no part of their walk Where the Vulgar had his filii institorum here Sons of the hucksters Mercer cannot imagine and his best patrons are hard put to it to defend him Not the fierce Lion passed by it Heb. The huge Lion There are seven names of Lions observed in Scripture whereof here are two in this verse of like sound the one to the other The Tigurines render it here the Leopard the Vulgar Latine the Lionesse And his Paraphrast hath the whole verse thus Those wild beasts whose savage humour searcheth out the most solitary places could never yet find them and the Lionesses which run every where when they have lost their little ones have never approached them Verse 9. He putteth forth his hand upon the Rock He that is Mortal man the Miner ver 4. not God as Mercer would have it putteth forth his hand scil to dig down these rocks that he may come at that Treasure and make himself Master of that spoil that is hidden in their entrailes Nil tam difficile est quod non sollertia vincit Alexander the Great being asked How he so soon over-ran the Universe Answered I never held any thing impossible to be atchieved When he had heard of any thing dangerous to be done or unlikely he would the rather set upon it and say Jam periculum par animo Alexandri This is an Enterprise fit for an Alexander So of Julius Caesar who had in his time taken a thousand Townes conquered three hundred Nations taken prisoner a million of men and slaine as many sings the poet Lucan Caesar in omnia Praecepâ— Nil actum credens dùm quid superesset agendum Fertur atrox Difficulty doth but whet on Heroick spirits it wakeneth but not any way weakneth the couragious and industrious Hannibal made his way through the Alps by breaking down a huge Rock putrified with fire and vinegar powred thereon Hence Juvenal Juvenal Sat. 10 Liv â—â—c 3. Silyus Opposuit natura Alpemque nivemque Deduxit scopulos montem rupit aceto He overturneth the Mountains by the roots Or He turneth it up at the roots of the mountains scil which he mineth by the obstinacy of his labour Labor improbus omnia vincit Isid Pelus lib. 3 epist 24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Isidore the love of mony is daring and desperate Verse 10. He cutteth out Rivers among the Rocks i.e. By cleaving hardest Rocks he drawes in store of water to wash the inward parts of the earth that he may see what Gold lyeth hid there as also to wash and purge his metals which require much washing This is the work of his hands And then for his eye and as a reward of his labour for the diligent hand maketh rick Prov. 10.4 and in all labour there is profit Prov. 14.23 His eye seeth every precious thing Heb. Every price or All preciousness Whatsoever is rare so Tremellius rendreth it His house is filled with all precious and pleasant riches Prov. 24.4 Dii â—aboribus omnia vendunt said the Heathens God sells all good things to men for their pains taking Verse 1â— He bindeth the floods from overflowing Heb. From weeping that is by an elegant Metaphor from distilling and dropping
forsaken of fortune And as James 5 of Scotland was called The poor mans King so might Job well have been for no sooner could a poor body cry to him for help but he relieved him Cassiodor and rescued him out of the hands of his oppressor Theodorick of old and Gustavus King of Swedes of late are famous for so doing Mr. Clark And the fatherlesse and him that had none c. The fatherlesse and friendless from whom he could not expect any reward He was not of those who follow the administration of Justice as a trade only with an unquenchable and unconscionable desire of gain but held out a constant course of integrity and righted those whom others would have slighted Verse 13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me Such poor creatures as were destined to destruction and seasonably delivered by my meanes gave me their good words and wishes yea they cryed me up for their gracious Deliverer with a Courage as the Grecians did Flaminius the Roman General as the Christian Captives did Hunniades Plut. Turk Hist Val. Max. Christ 41 who had set them at liberty from Turkish slavery as the drowning man pulled out of the water by King Alphonsus cryed Arragon Arragon and as the Italian prisoners in 88 released and sent home by Queen Elizabeth Sainted her and said That although they were Papists yet they would worship no Saint but her And I caused the widowes heart to sing for joy scil By ready righting her upon her Adversary and this out of conscience of duty and not for her importunity as that unjust Judge Luke 18.5 or because she conjured him to it as that widow did Adrian the Emperour to whom when he had answered That he was not at leisure to hear her Cause Dio in Adrian she boldly replyed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then lay down the Empire Whereupon he turned again and did her right and sent her away a joyful woman Verse 14 I put on righteousnesse and it cloathed me It was not ambition popularity or self-interest that put Job upon these and the following good practices and proceedings â—omem horum officiorum aperit Merlin but the care he had of discharging his trust and the pure love he bare to Justice and upright dealing For although he desired more to be loved then honoured as it is said of Trajan the Emperour yet he would not do any thing of popularity or partiality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio. Declinatione detorsione judicii Merlin by writhing or warping but retained the gravity of the Law which is a heart without affection an eye without Lust a mind without passion a Treasurer which keepeth for every man what he hath and distributeth to every man what he ought to have Job did put on righteousnesse and it put on him so the Hebrew hath it By which similitude he declareth that he could as little be drawn from doing Justice as he could go abroad without his cloathes or suffer them to be puld off him My judgment was as a robe and a Diadem Righteousnesse is that whereby the innocent is delivered Judgment is that whereby the guilty person is punished saith Brentius With these was Job arrayed and adorned far better then was Alcist henes the Sybarite with his cloak Athenaus sold by Dionysius to the Carthaginians for an hundred and twenty talents or Hanun with his massie Diadem the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones 2 Sam. 12.30 Some Judges have nothing more to commend them then their Robes which are oft lined with rapine and robbery So were not Jobs He made the like use of them that old Eleazer did of his hoarinesse he would not do any thing that might seem to be evil because he would not spot his white head No more would Job lest he should stain his purple disgrace his Diadem Salvian He knew that dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in luto Ruledom without righteousness is but eminent dishonour Verse 15 I was eyes to the blind Here he saith the same in effect as before vers 12 13. Mercer only he setteth it forth Pulcherrimis allegoriis per synathroismum velut conglobatis by a heap of most elegant allegories He meaneth here I gave advice to the simple and support to the weak and impotent But how many great men are there qui etiam videntes circumveniunt fallunt who put out the eyes of men as Korah falsely accused Moses Numb 16.14 And cut off their legs as that Tyrant in the Story served his Guests that were too long for his bed by disabling or discouraging them to follow their just causes so that they are ready to say with Themistecles that if two wayes were shewed him Plut. whereof the one led to hell and the other to those corrupt courses of Justice he would seriously chuse the former rather then the latter Verse 16. I was a father to the poor Ab lacbionim an elegant agnomination as Mercer here noteth Job was not only a friend to the poor as aforesaid but a father providing for their necessitites Sueâ— and protecting them from injuries So Augustus Caesar delighted to be called Pater Patriae the Father of his Country And our Queen Elizabeth would many times say that she could believe nothing of her people Cambden Eliz. that parents would not believe of their children And the cause which I knew not I sought out Sifting it to the bran and not pronouncing sentence till I had fully understood each circumstance of the controversie Judge not according to the appearance but judge a righteous judgement John 7.24 Thucydides well saith That there are two things most opposite to right proceedings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haste and Anger A Justicer must do nothing rashly but with greatest deliberation and industry to come to a right understanding of matters in capital causes especially lest he repent it too late as that Sir James Pawlet did who out of humour and for revenge laid by the heels Thomas Wolsey Negotiat of Card. Wolsey then a Country Minister afterwards a Cardinal and Lord Chancellour of England for the which he suffered long imprisonment And as that Judge mentioned by Fortescue who having condemned a Gentlewoman to death for the murder of her husband upon the bare accusation of her man which afterwards was found false saepius ipse mihi falsus est He afterwards confessed unto me saith the Authour that he should never during his life be able to clear his conscience of that Fact We know what paines Solomon took in the case of the two harlots that strove before him And we have read of a Judge who to find out a Murther caused those that were accused to open their bosomes and felt the beating of their hearts And when he found one of their hearts to beat extraordinarily Tu inquit fecisti Thou art the Murtherer certainly said he The man
and in the other their sins and that if those weigh down these they are â—aved as if otherwise they are damned But what saith an Ancient Vae hominum vitae etiamsi landabili c. Woe to the best man alive if God should weigh him in a balance of justice sith his sins would be found heavier than the sands of the Sea Job 9.15 10.15 Verse 7. If my step hath turned out of the way sc Of justice and equity in tâ—â—ding and trâ—ffacking to get the Mammon of unrighteousness No the Sun might sooner be turned out of his course as it was once said of Fabricius than Job out of the track of truth and honesty He had said laws upon his feet his eyes and his hands too binding them all to the good behaviour Witnesse the next words And mine heart walked after mine eyes As it doth too often to the coveting other men Goods which St. John casteth the lust of the eyes 1 Epist 2.16 Alexander the Great called the Persian Maids Dolores oculorum the griefs of the eyes The wedge of Gold and Babylonish Garment proved to be so to covetous Achan Josh 7.21 and Nabotâ— Vineyard to that Non-such Ahab 1 King 21.2 He was even sick of it and could not be cured but by a Sâ—llet out of it Hence the law flatly forbiddeth men to go after the sight of their eyes and the lust of their hearts for these are seldom â—undred Numb 15.39 Eccles 11.9 Unruly eyes like Jacobs sheep too firmly fixed on unlawful objects make the affections bring forth spotted 〈◊〉 Job would therefore set a guard upon them Oculus cor sunt proxeneta peccati Hebr. Proverb .. lest they should prove 〈◊〉 of wickedness to the heart as that hang by Hiram the Adâ—ttamâ—te was to Judah Gen. 38.20 There is an easie passage for evill through the eyes into the heart saith 〈◊〉 And if any blot hath cleaved to my hands If I have been fingering that which was not sit for me to meddle with viz. evil-gotten goods whether by bribery usury deceit or the like the very touching whereof will blot and benumb the hands as Pliny writeth of the fish Torpedo and as scholers know that Demosthenes a great Lawyer by poizing Harpalus his goblet was tempted and swayed to favour his Cause to the great danger of his Countrey and his own indeleble infamy Verse 8. Then let me sow and another eate God loves to retaliate and let him do so to me according to that he hath threatned Deut. 28 30 c. and as he executed upon Laban Nabal Saul Haman others The Greeks have a Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some sow that which others reape This Job wisheth may befal if he had been oppressive and injurious as Eliphaz had wrongfully accused him chap. 22.6 Yea let my off-spring be rooted out Or Let that which I have planted be pluckt up by the roots It is commonly seen that oppressours and unconscionable persons procure their own ruth and ruine and he that gathereth the fruits of another mans tree pulleth his own up by the roots 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They who spoyle houses which they builded not Job 20.19 shall when they cease to spoile be made a spoile and when they have made an end of dealing treacherously be treacherously dealt with themselves Isaiah 33.1 Verse 9. If my heart hath been deceived by a woman By a she-sinner as they call such a strange woman as the Scripture whose lips are snares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hinc 〈◊〉 persuadeo whose hands are bands whose words are cords to draw a man in as an Ox to the slaughter Prov 7.21 whose face is as a glass wherein whiles larks gaze they are taken in a day-net Here Job disavoweth and disclaimeth the sin of Adultery purging himself as it were by Oath as before he had done of fornication and of wrong-dealing These sins he reckoneth up either as they came to minde or else in such order as men are many times tempted to them Young people are prone to fornication Job when young had kept himself clear from that iniquity When men have got some yeares over their heads and are entred into the world as they call it they usually grow greedy and gripple they are set upon 't and will be rich however they come by it Job was none such neither verse 5.7 Afterwards when married they are sick of a Pluâ—isie and as the Devil who sets them a work they long to be sowing another mans ground Matth. 13.25 The temptation to fornication is strong but to adultery stronger God doth often punish fornication unrepented of Adulterium quasi ad alterius torum with strong and vexing honings and hankerings after strange flesh But Job either was never troubled in this kinde or else when the temptation came he was sure to be ever out of the way The Devils fire fell upon wet tinder and if he knockt at Jobs door there was no body at home to look out at the window and let him in for he considered the punishment both humane verse 11. and divine verse 12. due to this great wickedness Or if I have laid wait at my neighbours door Either as waiting the opportunity of his absence as Prov. 7.19 or as insinuating my self into her familiarity whiles she was standing in her door Of the Italian Women one giveth this Character That though witty in speech and modest in outward appearance yet they are magpies at the door Goats in the garden Devils in the house Angels in the streets and Syrens in the windows Jobs heart was not deceived by any such neither sought he to defraud his brother in any such matter 1 Thess 4.5 6. See the Note on Job 8.4 Verse 10. Then let my wise grind unto another i.e. Let her be his slave as Lam. 5.13 Exod. 11.5 Matth. 24.41 Or rather let her be his Where and may my sin Vatab. Alicnas Permolere uxores Horat. Sic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. molcre apud Theocrit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est coire which hath served her for example serve her also for excuse Not that Job would Hereby license his wise to commit filthiness as those Lituanians who have their Connubii adjutores coadjutors in wedlock and prize them far above all their acquaintance as Maginus relateth and as some wittals amongst us pandars to their own beds who either for gain or for a quiet life wink at their wives disloyalty and as Wood culvers or silly Hedg-sparrows hatch and bring up that which Cuckow 's lay in their nests but to set forth by this horrible imprecation how extreamly he abhorred the sin of Adultery And let others bow down upon her A clean expression of an unclean act Some Borborologi podicentex ore faciunt being like Ducks that ever have their noses pudling in puddles sic hi spurcitias Veneris eliminant delight in ribaldry and obscene language as did Proculus the Emperour and before him that
recruit as far as God seeth fit Multadies variâ—squo Labor mutabilis avi Rettulit in melius multos alterna revisens Lusit in solido rursus fortuna locavit Virg. Aen. l. 11 The best way is to hang loose to these things below not trusting in uncertain riches but in the living God 1 Tim. 6.17 who will be our exceeding great reward and give to his Sufferers an hundred fold here and eternal life hereafter Mat. 19.29 Optandâ— nimirùm est jactura quae lucro majore pensatur saith Agricola It is doubtlesse a lovely losse that is made up with so much gaine Well might Saint Paul say Godlinesse is profitable to all things as having the Promise of both lives 1 Tim. 4 6 Well might Saint Peter call it The Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.2 For as God brings light out of darknesse comfort out of sorrow riches out of poverty c. so doth Godlinesse Let a man with Job bear his losses patiently and pray for his enemies that wrong and rob him and he shall be sure to have his own againe and more either in money or moneys worth either in the same or a better thing contented Godlinesse shall be great gaine to him 1 Tim. 6.6 Besides heavens happinesse which shall make a plentiful amends for all The Rabbins would perswade us That God miraculously brought back again to Job the self-same cattle that the Sabaeans and others had taken from him and doubled them Indeed his children say they therefore were not doubled unto him because they perished by their owâ—â—ault and folly as one of his friends also told him But of all this nothing certain can be affirmed and they do better who say That his children being dead in Gods favour perished not but went to heaven they were not lost but laid up so that before God Job had the number of his children doubled for they are ours still whom we have sent to heaven before us and Christ at his coming shall restore them unto us 1 Thessal 4.14 In confidence whereof faithful Abraham calleth his deceased Sarah his dead That I may bury my dead out of my sight Gen. 23.4 and so she is called eight several times in that one Chapter as Paraeus hath observed Verse 11 Then came there unto him all his brethren Then when God had begun to restore him As his adversity had scattered his friends so his prosperity brought them together again This is the worlds usage Dum fueris foelix multos numerabis amicos Tempora si fuerint nubila solus eris Summer-birds there are not a few Samaritans who would own the Jewes whiles they flourished but otherwise disavow them as they did to Antiochus Epiphanes Rich Job had many friends Prov. 14.20 Qui tamen persistebant amicitia sicut lepus juxta tympanum as the Proverb is All this good Job passeth by and forgetting all unkindnesses magnificently treateth them as Isaac in like case had done Abimelech and his train Gen. 26.30 And did eat bread with him in his house It 's likely they came with their cost to make Job a Feast of comfort such as were usual in those dayes Jer. 16.7 Ezek 24.17 But whether they did or not they were welcome to Job who now never upbraids them with their forsaking of him in his distresse which yet was then a great grief to him but friendly re-embraceth them and courteously entertaineth them This is contrary to the practice of many fierce and implacable spirits in these dayes whose wrath like that of the Athenians is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 long-lasting and although themselves are mortal yet their hearts are immortal And they bimoaned him They condoled with him and shook their heads as the word signifieth not by way of deriding him as once they had done chap. 16. but of sorrow for their former deserting him and assurance that they would henceforth better stick to him in what estate soever And comforted him over all the evil c. So they should have done long before A friend is made for the day of adversity but better late then never Nunquam sane serò si seriò See here saith Brentius the change of affaires and the right hand of the Most High and learn the fear of God for as he frowneth or favoureth any man so will the world do Every man also gave him a piece of money Or a Lamb to stock him againe Beza rendreth it Some one of his Cattle and paraphraseth thus Yea every one of them gave him either a sheep or an Ox or a Camel and also an Ear-ring of gold partly as a pledge of their good will and friendship renewed toward him and partly in consideration and recompence of that losse which he had before by the will and fore-appointment of God sustained Honoraria obtulerunt saith Junius they brought him these presents as Pledges of their love and observance for so were great men wont to be saluted with some gift Sen. Epist 17. 1 Sam. 10.27 2 Chron. 17.5 And the same custome was among the Persians and Parthians whose Kings might not be met without some token of congratulation and Symbol of Honour And every one an Ear-ring of gold Inaurem auream an Ear-pendant of gold at the Receipt whereof Job might well say as the Poet did Theog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To thee this is a small matter but to me a great Verse 12. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job According to Bildads Prophecy chap. 8.7 And S. James his useful observation Chap. 5.11 Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy If he afflict any of his it is in very faithfulnesse that he may be true to their souls it is also in great mercy Deut. 8.16 that he may do them good in the latter end and this they themselves also shall both see and say by that time he hath brought both ends together Psal 119.71 Be ye therefore patient stablish your hearts James 5.7 Patient Job had all doubled to him Joseph of a Slave became his Masters Master Valentinian lost his Tribuneship for Christ but was afterwards made Emperor Queen Elizabeth of a prisoner became a great Princesse But if God deny his suffering servants Temporals and give them in Spirituals they have no Cause to complaine One way or other they shall be sure to have it Great is the gain of Godlinesse For he had fourteen thousand sheep c Cattle only are instanced Pecuma à pecâ—de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pecudes posteà opes significant Melancth Dios because therein especially consisted the wealth of that Countrey but other good things also doubtlesse were doubled unto him as his family possessions grounds houses and especially Wisdom to make a good use of all for commonly Stultitiam patiuntur opes and what 's more contemptible then a rich fool a golden beast as Caligula called his father in
Law Syllanus Verse 13. He had also seven sons and three daughters Whose perfections sweetned the sorrow which the losse of the other had caused him Sic uno avulso non deficit alter Aureus Virg. Ten children he had in heaven and ten on earth See the Note above on vers 10. The Lord well knew that wealth would be nothing so comfortable to Job unlesse he had children to leave it to Gen. 15.2 His wife therefore returning to her duty from which she had swerved became fruitful at an age well advanced for we read not of any other that he had Ver. 14. And he called the name of the first Jemimah That is Day-bright from her orient and glistering beauty q.d. fair as they day Cant. 6.10 the Church is said Diurnâ— to look forth as the Morning fair as the Moon And the name of the second Kezia That is Cassia a kind of Spice whereof there are three sorts saith Dioscorides but all very sweet and send forth a most pleasant smell like that of the Rose This second daughter therefore seemes to be so named from the sweetnesse of her breath or perhaps of her whole body proceeding from the goodnesse of her constitution as it is reported of Alexander the Great So sweet smelling Smyrna the best of all the seven Churches of Asia Revel 3. And the name of the third Keren-happuch That is the Horn of beauty better then that which is borrowed and of abundance as whose cheeks Nature had painted with a most pleasing Vermillion far beyond any artificial tincture which she had no need of Vtpote omnes aliarum fucos veneres superans Some intepret it the horn of conversion and think That Job herein would expresse and memorize the strange turn and alteration of his condition as Joseph did Gen. 41.51 52. Vatab. But the Chaldee Paraphrast the Jew-Doctors and most of our Expositors are for the former Interpretation favoured also by the words following Verse 15. And in all the Land there were no women found so 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 though but a 〈◊〉 fragile and one of the gifts of Gods left hand Prov. 3.16 〈◊〉 is it the Flower of vertue as Chrysippus called it one of the greatest excellencies of Nature and singular degree of Gods Image in man as Another Platâ— And although vertue is Proprio contenta theatro yet to others Gratior est pulchro veniens in corpore virtus That Vertue hath a better grace That shineth from a beauteous face Such probably were Jobs Daughters not fair and foolish as those Daughters of Jerusalem Isai 3. but adorned with all variety of Moral vertues as a clear Skye is with Stars as a Princely Diadem with Jewels Hence their good father so affected them that he Gave them inheritâ—â—â—â—s among their brethren Making them coheires with them in his estate which as it was an extraordinary expression of his love to his daughters so it importeth as some think a desire in him to have his daughters live still with him amongst the rest of his family either for that he was loath to part with them Val. Max. Christian pag. 308 the like whereof is reported of Charles the Great who being asked Why he did not bestow his daughters in marriage answered That he could not be at all without their company or else as fearing lest they should be defiled with Idolaters which peradventure out of Jobs family were ordinary in that Countrey Verse 16. Fliny tels of one Xenophilus who lived 10â— years without sickness Lib. 7 cap 5. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years c. And this was not the least part of his happinesse Length of dayes is a piece of Wisdoms wages Prov. 3.16 And what a mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a good old age is hath been before noted See chap. 5.26 For a short braid of adversity Job had an hundred and forty years health and prosperity Like as Joseph for his thirteen years of slavery and imprisonment had fourscore years liberty prosperity and preferment Who would not serve thee O King of Nations And saw his sons Who doubtless were good and towardly though nothing is said of them agreeable to their education and answerable to Jobs former children chap. 1. And his sons sons To his great joyes increase Even four generations Joseph saw but three Gen. 50.23 If God deny this happiness to any of his yet he hath promised them a Name in his house better then of Sons and Nephews Isai 56.5 Verse 17 So Job died being old and full of dayes How long he lived we know not The Rabbins say above two hundred years which was longer then either Abraham or Isaac lived of both whom it is likewise said that they were saturi dierum sated with this earthly life and desirous of life eternal To those old men that would yet live longer we may say Cur non â—t satur vitae conviva recedis Lucret. It is enough Lord said Elias I desire to be dissolved said Paul Go forth my soul go forth to God said Hilarion What make I here said Monica Job is now as willing to dye as ever he was to dine he is satisfied with dayes saith the text not as a meat loathed but as a dish though well liked that he had fed his full of Laus Deo in Aeternum A COMMENTARY OR EXPOSITION Upon the Book of PSALMS THe Book of Psalms So Christ calleth it Luke 20.42 the Hebrew word signifieth Hymns or Praises because the greater part of these Psalms serve to set forth the praise of God This title seemeth to be taken from Psal 145. called Davids Hymn or Psalm of Praise so highly prized by the ancient Hebrews that they pronounce him an Heir of Heaven who shall three times a day devoutly repeat it Athanas Chrysost The Greeks call this Book the Psalter and deservedly give it many high commendations as that it is the Souls Anatomy the Laws Epitomy the Gospels Index the Garden of the Scriptures a sweet Field and Rosary of Promises Precepts Predictions Praises Soliloquies c. the very Heart and Soul of God the Tongue and Pen of David a man after Gods own heart one murmur of whose Michtam or Maschil one touch of whose heavenly Harp is farre above all the buskind Raptures garish Phantasms splendid Vanities Pageants and Landskips of prophaner wits farre better worthy to be written in letters of Gold than Pindars seventh Ode in the Temple at Rhodes though Politian judged otherwise like a Wretch as he was and farre more fit to have been laid up as a rare and precious Jewel in that Persian Casket embroydered with Gold and Pearl than Homers Iliads for which it was reserved by great Alexander But that Cock on the Dunghil never knew the worth of this peerless Pearl as did our good King Alured who himself translated the Psalter into his own Saxon Tongue Turk His and as the Emperour Andronicus who caused this
acclamation yea my bones shall say c. that is whatsoever strength and vigour is in mee it shall be spent in celebrating thy praises Or although I have nothing left mee but skin and bones so poor am I grown yet I will not be wanting to the work Vers 11. False witnesses did rise up So they did afterward against the Lord Christ and sundry of his faithfull servants as St. Paul Athanasius Enstathius Bishop of Antioch Alsted Chronol Act. Mon. falsely accused of Adultery and deposed about the end of Constantine the great 's reign Cranmer charged with Adultery heresy and treason Philpot with paricide Latimer with sedition whereof he was so innocent that he feared not to say in a Sermon before the King as for sedition for ought that I know methinks I should not need Christ if I may so say They laid to my charge things that I knew not Such as whereof I was not only innocent but ignorant also The Hebrew is They asked mee and so would have by cunningly contrived questions made mee mine own accuser Vers 12. They rewarded mee evill for good To render good for evill is divine good for good is humane evill for evill is brutish but evill for good is devilish To the spoyling of my soul i.e. Intentant caedem Kimchi To the depriving mee of that life which I have so often hazarded to save theirs Or this their devilish dealing with mee erat mihi quasi mors amarum was as bitter as death to mee Vers 13. But as for mee when they were sick i.e. Any way afflicted when they ayled any thing My cloathing was sackcloath I put my self in mourners habit Incedebam atratus to testifie my good affection to ward them I humbled my soul with fasting In die designato in a solemn day set apart for the purpose Kimchi De Elia jejunio cap. 8. as the a with a pathach sheweth Jejunium est humilit as mentis miserationis expensa charit at is illecebra allevamentum infirmitatis alimentum salut is saith Ambrose Fasting is the affliction of the soul the cost of compassion c. And my prayer returned into mine own bosome i. e. Though they had no benefit by it yet my self had 2 Sam. 1.22 for no faithfull prayer is ineffectuall like Jonathans bow it never returneth empty I received the fruit of my prayers for them upon my bosome Vers 14. I behaved my self as though he had been c. My Brother a thousand times This was much to do to an enemy but possibly all this might be before they fell out I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth c. The Mother is usually most dearly-beloved and not without cause as having been ante partum onerosa in partâ— dolorosa post partum laboriosa Kimchi Or as a suckling cryeth in the losse of his Nurse Vers 15. Morbus est sic dictus quia incedere nequit nisi cum dolore quasi claudicando Aben-Ezra Dum illum rideâ— pene factus sum ille Epist 9. lib. 2. But in mine adversity Heb. In my halting when through weaknesse I could not but halt before my best friends as we say Yea the abjects gathered themselves together Claudi congregati sunt secundum claudicationem meam claudicabant ut me deriderent So the Syriack senseth it They halted as I did by way of derision but they should have known first that mocking is catching as we say Tully confesseth that whiles he laughed at one Hircus a very ridiculous man he became as bad almost himself Secondly That such cruell mockings are grievous sins and such as God severely punisheth Some render it the Smiters that is the tongue-smiters as Jer. 18.18 Others the smitten that is the abjects the vile persons the basest can mock as did Tobiah the Servant Neh. 2.19 and those Pests Psal 1.1 And I knew it not Or Such as I knew not took no notice of they were so base See the like Job 30.8 They did tear mee sc With their tongues as doggs tosse and tear carrion with their teeth Scindunt illud quod reparare nequeunt non per poenitentiam saith Kimchi They tear that which they cannot make good again no not by repentance viz. my good name Or. they rent sc their garments as if they had been very sorry for mee as Gen. 37.34 Job 2.12 This they did as Austin speaketh simulatione miseriae non compassione misericordiae out of deep dissimulation Vers 16. With Hypocriticall mockers in feasts Cum sannionibus placentae vâ—lcibi with hypocriticall mockers for a cake or dainties there is an elegancy in the origiginall which sheweth it to be proverbiall and cannot be englished R. Solomon telleth us here that they who delighted in flatteries gave their flatterers cakes baked with honey to make them the more to flatter them Solomon telleth of some that will transgresse for a peece or bread Prov. 28.21 So those parasiticall Prophets Mensarii scurâ—â—â— Ezek. 13.19 Or I am made their table-talk as Hos 7.8 scornfully deriding mee at their feasts and in their cups Vers 17. Lord how long wilt thou look on i.e. carry thy self as a Spectator of my miseries and a tolerator of mine enemies those architects of mine afflictions Rescue my soul from their destructions i. e. Their snares and ambushes whereby they seek to destroy me My darling from the Lions See the Note on Psal 22.20 Vers 18. I will give thee thanks in the great Congregation For examples sake to others for Magnates magnetes Acts 18.8 when Crispus the chief Ruler of the Synagogue beleeved many of the Corinthians beleeved also Great men are the Looking-glasses of the Country according to which most men dress themselves many eyes are upon them they had need therefore to be exact for they are sure to be exemplary Vers 19. Neither let them wink with the eye Which is the gesture of a malicious Scoffer Prov. 6.13 10.10 Ne amarulenter Ludificentur me Trem Vers 20. For they speak not peace Which yet God doth to his people Psa 85.9 and that is their comfort I am for peace saith David elsewhere but when I speak of it they are for war Psal 120.7 Against the quiet of the Land i.e. Against my self and such as I am who study to be quiet and to do our own business 1 Thes 4.11 affecting rather quietness from the World than acquaintance with it Vers 21. They opened their mouth As if the very banks of blasphemy had been broken down Our eye bath seen Eye for eyes unless we would say that all the wicked are so conjoyned that they may seem to have but one Eye Heart Head c. and then they say as Hannibal did when he saw a ditch full of mans bloud O formosum spectaculum O gallant fight O rem regiam as Valesus said when he had slain three hundred Protestants Vers 22. This thou hast seen O Lord This answereth to that before vers 21. Our
shall go to the generation of his fathers i.e. To the grave or albeit he come to the age of his Fathers that is live here very long They shall never see light Either have any sound comfort at death or any part in Gods Kingdom Vers 20. Man that is in honour and understandeth not Versus amabeus See ver 12. there is but little difference Stultitians patiuntur opes The more a man hath of worldly wealth and the less of Spiritual and heavenly understanding therewith the more bestial he is and shall be more miserable Caligula called his Father-in-law Marcus Silanus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a golden brute Quid cervo ingentia cornua cum desit animus Vel mihi da clavem vel mihi telle seram PSAL. L. A Psalm of Asaph Who was both a Musick-master 1 Chron. 25.2 and a Psalm-composer 2 Chron. 29.30 The most are of opinion that this Psalm was made by David and committed to Asaph to be sung after that Israel had been afflicted with three years Famine and three days Pestilence and the Angel had appeared to David Jun. and set out the place where the Temple should be built 2 Sam. 21. 24. 1 Chron. 21.18 22.4 Vers 1. R. Nahum ap Nebien The mighty God even the Lord Heb. The God of gods whether they be so deputed as Angels Magistrates or reputed only as Heathen-deities 1 Cor. 8.9 Jehovah or Essentiator is Gods proper Name Some say God is here thrice named to note the Trinity in Vnity Hath spoken sc By the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began Henoch the seventh from Adam spoke much like Jude 14. The Rabbines say that this Psalm is De die judecii futuro of the Day of Judgement Others that it is the Lords judging of his Church drawn according to the model of the great and last Judgement whereunto it serveth as a preparation or a warning-peece And called the earth from the rising c. The habitable part of Gods earth the sons of men Prov. 8.31 with Mal. 1.11 These are all called to attest the equity of Gods proceedings against an hypocriticall Nation Children that were corrupters For God hath thus farre instructed all men that He is to be honoured of all with all manner of observance Rom. 1.20 Let this be pressed upon all sorts said Zalencm the Locrian Law-giver in the preface to his Laws 1. That there is a God 2. That this God is to be duely worshiped Vers 2. Out of Sion the perfection of beauty Heb. The whole Perfection Perfectissim◠pulchritudini◠locus Tre◠or the Universality of beauty because there especially was Gods glory set forth in his holy ordinances and more clearly manifested than in all his handy-work besides See Psal 48.2 God hath shined Like the Sun in his strength sometimes for the comfort of his people as Psal 80.1 sometimes for the terrour of evill-doers as Psal 94.1 and here But evermore God is terrible out of his holy places Psal 68.35 89.7 Vers 3. Our God shall come and shall not keep silence He doth daily come and sit upon the tribunall in his Church by the Ministery of his Servants Mat. 18.17 who must reprove sinners with all authority and shew themselves sons of thunder that they may save some at least with fear snatching them out of the fire Jude 23. as Peter Act. 2.40 and Paul 2 Cor. 5.11 but especially when to work upon the Proconsul Paulus Sergius he set his eyes upon Elymas the sorcerer as if he would have looked thorough him After which lightening followed that terrible thunder crack O thou full of all subtlety and all mischief thou child of the Devill thou enemy of all Righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the streight wayes of the Lord Act. 13.9 10. A fire shall devour before him As he gave his law in fire so in fire shall he require it And it shall bee very tempestuous round about him Not before him only but round about him lest the Wicked should hope to escape by creeping behind him That was a terrible tempest that befell Alexander the great Curtius lib. 8. ex Dioder and his army marching into the Country of Gabaza when by reason of continuall thundering and lightening with hailstones and light-bolts the army was dis-ranked and wandred any way many durst not stirre out of the place c. Tremellius rendreth it wish-wise but in a parenthesis Les our Lord come and let him not be silent The Saints know that they shall bee safe when others shall smoak for it because God is their God Vers 4. Hee shall call to the Heavens from above and to the earth That these dumbCreatures may be as so many speaking evidences against an unworthy people and witnesses of Gods righteous dealings against them See Deut. 32.1 Isa 1.2 Mic. 6.2 The Chaldee thus paraphraseth He will call the high Angels from above and the just of the earth from beneath Vers 5. Gather my Saints together unto mee This seemeth to be spoken to the Angels those active Instruments and executioners of Gods Judgements By Saints here understand professors at large all that live in the bosome of the Church visible and partake of the externall priviledges only such as are in the Vine but bear no fruit Joh. 15.2 have a name to live but are dead Rev. 3. such as whose sanctity consisteth only in covenanting by sacrifice Basil saith that such are called Saints to aggravate their sins as a man that hath an honourable title but hath done wickedly and is therefore the rather to be condemned When one pleaded once with a Judge for his life that he might not be hanged because he was a Gentleman hee told him that therefore he should have the Gallows made higher for him Those that have made a Covenant with mee by Sacrifice But were never brought by mee into the bond of the Covenant for then the rebels would have been purged out from among them as it is Ezek. 20.37 38. Vers 6. And the Heavens shall declare his Righteousnesse Those Catholick Preachers whose voice goeth out aloud to the end of the World Psal 19.4 See vers 4. For God is Judge himself And front him is no appeal every transgression and disobedience from him shall receive a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 even those corruptions that are most inward and lye up in the heart of the Country as it were those pollutions not of flesh only i.e. worldly lusts and grosse evills but of spirit also 2 Cor. 7.1 more spirituall lusts as pride presumption formality self-flattery carnall confidence in externall legall worships the sin principally taxed in this Jewish people here in the next verses Vers 7. Hear O my people and I will speak c. What sweet and winning language is here for a preface Gods proceedings against sinners whom he might confound with his terrours is with meeknesse and much mildnesse Gen. 3.9.11 4.9 Mat.
God is above them Exod. 18.11 Vnto God that performeth all things for mee And in mee Isa 26.12 doth not his work to the halves but is both author and finisher of my faith and other affairs Heb. 12.2 Phil. 1.6 Psal 138.8 Here are the two props of Davids prayer First Gods sufficiency he is the Most High Secondly his efficiency he perfectly accomplisheth all things for mee Vers 3. He shall send from Heaven and save mee Rather than fail I shall have an Angel to rescue mee for although the Lord usually worketh by means yet he can work by miracles and will do it if there be a just occasion howsoever his mercy and his truth he will be sure to send and that 's enough He will be seen in the Mount he will repent for his servants when he seâ—th their power is gone Deut. 32.36 when there is dignus vindice nodus an extremity fit for divine power to interpose Vers 4. My soul is among Lions And so is a lively picture of the Church in all ages Would any man take the Churches picture saith Luther then let him paint a silly poor maid sitting in a wood or wilderness compassed about with hungry Lions Wolves Boars and Bears c. Talis est Ecclesia in has vita sicut in historia Danielis pingitur And I lie even among them that are set on fire sc With rage and hellish hatred Others expound it actively of those Ardeliones anlici those Court-Incendiaries who enraged Saul and the Nobles against David as a traitour and Pest See 1 Sam. 24 10. Even the sons of men i. e. Carnall men that being in their pure naturalls have no goodnesse at all in them Whose teeth are spears and arrows Such was Doeg that dead dog and others void of the Spirit which is neque mendax neque mordax Vers 5. Be thou exalted O God above the Heavens That is saith the Chaldee above the Angels And let thy glory be above all the Earth That is above the inhabitants of the earth There are saith Kimchi that think thou either wilt not or else canst not save O let thy power appear for the conviction of all such who now lift up themselves and seem at least to touch the Heaven with one finger Vers 6. They have prepared a net for my steps So that I can hardly keep foot out of snare I dare not lift up one foot till I find sure footing for the other and that 's hard to do See Sauls charge to the Zâ—phites 1 Sam. 23.22 My soul is bowed down I am glad to shrink in my self as fearfull people use to do that I may shun those gins and snares that they have set to maim and mischieve mee They have digged a pit c. They have forced mee into this subterranean cave and behold Saul himself is cast into mine hands in this mine hiding-hole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 7. My heart is fixed O God I am both ready and resolute I doubt not of deliverance and am well prepared to praise God It is fit he should have the fruit of his own planting and that of the best too Otherwise it is no better than the refreshing of him that standeth by a good fire and saith Aha I am warm Vers 8. Awake up my glory He rouseth himself out of his natural drousinesse as Sampson once went forth and shook himself I my self will awake early Or I will awaken the morning as the Cock by his early crowing is said to do Non vigil ales ibi cristati cantibus oris Evocat auroram Ovid. Metam lib. 11. Vers 9. I will praise thee O Lord Among the Nations This was done by Christ calling the Gentiles Psal 18.49 Rom. 15.9 Vers 10. For thy mercy is great c. Gods mercy is ordinarily in the Psalms bounded by his truth that none may either presume him more mercifull than he hath declared himself in his word or else despair of finding mercie gratis according to his promise Vers 11. Be thou exalted c. Versus amaebaeus see vers 5. only that 's in way of prayer this of praise PSAL. LVIII VErs 1. Una ligati ut Gen. 37.7 vel ab â—â—N Mutus quia congregatio ante oratorem eftquasi mutus Aben-Ezra Do yee indeed speak righteousness O Congregation Or O Councell you that are gathered together on a knot under a pretence of doing justice and promoting the publick good by giving faithfull advice to the King Colloquitur Abnerâ— reliquis saith Kimchi David here talketh to Abner and the rest who to please Saul pronounced David a rebel and condemned him absent for an enemy to the State And for as much as there is no greater injury than that which passeth under the name of right he sharply debateth the matter with them whom he knew of old to be very corrupt painting them out in their colours and denouncing Gods heavy judgments against them for their unjust dealings with him The word rendred Congregation is not found elsewhere in that sense It signifieth dumbnesse and is by the Spanish translators rendred O audiencia by Antiphrasis ut lucus quia non lucet Do ye judge uprightly O yee sons of men i.e. O ye carnall profane persons that savour not the things of the Spirit q. d. ye are fit persons to make Counsellors of State Sedes prima vita ima agree not Dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in luto saith Salvian You do much mis-become your places Vers 2. Yea in heart you work wickednesse There the Devill worketh it as in a forge ye are alwaies plotting and plowing mischief and that not so much for fear of Saul or to please him as out of the naughtinesse of your own hearts and all this you know in your consciences to be true Kimchi saith that the word Aph or yea importeth that their hearts were made for a better purpose and therefore their sin was the greater Corruptio optimi pâ—ssima You weigh the violence of your hands in the earth i.e. Your bribes saith Kimchi these ye weigh or poise Manus vesâ—rae â—oncinnant iniquitatem Vul. quasi essent recta as if there were no hurt in them so Demosthenes weighed Harpalus his goblet to the great danger of his Country and his own indeleble infamy The Arabick rendreth it Manus vestra in tenebris immerse sunt your hands are drowned in darknesse you seem to do all according to law and Justice pictured with a pair of balances in her hand when indeed you weigh out wrong for right Trutina justior Prov. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythag. Symb. and do things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by partiality 1 Tim 5.21 by tilting the balance o't'one side Vers 3. The wickedare estranged from the womb q.d. These enemies of mine are old sinners hardened and habituated in wickednesse from the very womb it hath also grown up with them and quite turned away their hearts from God and goodnesse whereunto
at the stern and ordereth all human affairs according to the good pleasure of his will He putteth down one and setteth up another As we seen in Saul and David in the four great Monarchies in Bajazâ—t and Tamerlan besides many others Vertue exalteth the meanest when villany tumbleth down the mightiest Agathocles the son of a Potter became King of Sicily Valentinian the son of a Rope-maker became Emperour of Rome Justinus was first a Swineheard then an heardsman Anno. Chr. 518. then a Carpenter a souldier and after all an Emperour If Alexander to shew his greatnesse advanced Abdilominus from a poor Gardiner to be King in Sidon What cannot the Lord do Tamerlan having overcome Bajazet asked him whether ever he had given God thanks for making him so great an Emperour who confessed ingenuously he never thought of it To whom Tamerian replyed 〈…〉 that it was no wonder so ungratefull a man should be made a spectacle of misery For you said he being blind of one eye and I lame of a leg was there any worth in us why God should set us over two great Empires of Turks and Tartars to command many more worthy than our selves Vers 8. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup A cup of affliction whereof all must drink more or lesse The Chaldee calleth it a cup of curse Affliction is in it self a fruit of sin and a peece of the curse Prov. 23.31 32. And the wine is red And so more powerfull and peircing That is an affliction and grievous that God maketh to be so It is full of mixture i. e. Ready prepared as Prov. 9.2 Rev. 14.10 〈◊〉 arcâ—aticuâ— or mingled with spices to make the wine more hot and inebriating And he poureth out of the same The Saints sip of the top only they drink illud solum quod est suavius limpidus the sweeter and clearer part of Gods cup. Excellently Mr. Bradford Martyr in a certain letter of his Drink saith he of Gods cup willingly and at the first when it is fullest peradventure if we linger Act. Mouâ— fol. 1487. we drink at length of the dregs with the wicked if at the beginning we drink not with Gods Children But the dregs thereof The full vialls of divine vengeance All the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them They shall drink them every drop yea though it be eternity to the bottom This shall be worse to them than was that ladle-full of scalding lead poured down the throat of a drâ—nken man by the command of a Turkish Bashaw Vers 9. But I will declare for ever viz. Gods great goodness in mine advancement to the Kingdome and the rest of those wonderful works vers 1. I will sing praises c. This thankfull man was worth his weight in the gold of Ophir Vers 10. All the hornes of the Wicked also will I cut off By promising the due administration of vindictive and remunerative Justice hee seeks to insinuate into the peoples affections who after Ishbosheths death came in to make him King But the horns of the Righteous shall be exalted Dignity shall wait upon desert which shall cause it again to be waited upon by respect Thus it should be in the Courts of all Princes In Cyrus his Court though a man should seek or chuâ—e blindfold he could not misse of a good man saith Xenophon â—yropaed â— 8. PSAL. LXXVI A Psalm or song of Asaph Or for Asaph Either made prophetically by Asaph himself or by some other Psalmist who committed it to Asaphs successours to be plaid and sung The Hebrews say it is made de bello Gogi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Heâ—â—plâ— of the war with Gog and Magog that is the Eastern and Western Antichristâ— The Greeks â—ay 〈…〉 Of 〈◊〉 and his â—ost and 〈◊〉 the maâ—er or the Psalm is such as very well agreeth with that overthrow Conâ—er Psal 46. â—â— 48. Vers 1. In Judah is God known Nobiliâ— est saith 〈…〉 est saith another Interpreter i. e. Better known he is now than eveâ— not by his Word only which is preached in Judah but by his wondrous works this especially of destroying the Assyrians at Lachish in the Tribe of Judah His name is great in Israel Greater now than ever God having made himself a glorious names Isa 63.14 Aegypt rang of this â—laâ—ghter of the Assyrians as Herodotus testifieth so did all other Countries doubtless Vers 2. In Satem also is his Tabernacle i. e. In Jerusalem which was first called Salem Gen. 14.18 Heb. 7.2 Secondly Jebus 1 Chron. 11.4 Josh 15.8 18.28 Thirdly Jerusalem Josh 15.63 2 Sam. 5.6 not quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salomons Temple as Hegefippus would have it and hence likely came the aspiration Hierusalem but from that famous Jehovah Jireh Gen. 22.14 with 2. which Jirâ—h being added to Salem maketh it Jerusalem the vision of peace Here God was pleased to pitch his Tabernacle moveable and mean in respect of Gods greatness 1 King 8.27 Lustrum 〈◊〉 q. d. In Sion desidet ut leo ad praedam pitatus Metapâ— And his dwelling-place in Sion Which therefore he will save and see to as every man doth to the place of his habitation Vers 3. There brake â—e the arrows of the bow There Where Surely in Sion in the holy Assemblies where the Saints were praying there the Arrow Shield Spear c. were broken This made the Queen Mother of Scotland say that she more feared the prayers of John Knox than an Army of thirty thousand fighting Souldiers The King of Sweden as soon as he set foot in Germany fell down to Prayer and what great things did he in a little time Now for the fruit of Prayer cryed those great Gallants at Edge-hil fight and did great exploits The word heâ—â— rendred Arrows signifieth fiery Darts see Eph. 6.16 a burning coal Job 5.7 a light bolt Lâ—â— 2◠〈◊〉 Psal 78.48 the Plague or Carbuncle Deut. 32.24 â—abak 3.5 Strabo saith that Oriâ—es Gyâ—â—eters and Aethiopians shot fiery Arrows so might the Assyrians Confer Psal 120.4 The shield and the sword and the battle Both the Men and the Munition This Herodotus had heard of but mil-relateth the History lib. 2. Vers 4. Thou art more glorious and excellent Or more bright and magnificent Glorious God was before but now more glorious by this late deliverance illuminating his people with his marvellous light Than the mountains of prey Those vast Hosts of Assyrians lying now upon the Mountains round about Jerusalem and plundering the Country at their pleasure Thou Lord art farre more illustrious and admirable than all those Grassatores populâ— ac reges qua 〈◊〉 elati those mountaines of Lions and Leopards Cant. 4.8 the Kingdoms of this World enemies to the Church Vers 5. The stout-hearted are spoiled Heb. have yeelded themselves up for a prey those that escaped the stroke of the Angel fled as fast as they could for
thrust me out and do ye come unto me in your distresse Go cry unto the Gods which ye have chosen Let them deliver you in the time of your Tribulation Judg. 10. Forsookest them not in the Wildernesse And yet he was neare the matter when he would own them no longer but even fathered them upon Moses saying Exod. 32.7 Thy people which thou broughtest out of the Land of Egypt have corrupted themselves The pillar of cloud departed not It is sad with a people when God sends for his Love-tokens his Ordinances when they have sinned away their light and so wiped off all their comfortables Verse 20. Thou gavest also thy good Spirit Viz. to their Governours and teachers Numb 11.16 17 25 26. Yea to every good soul that they might be all taught of God led into all truth and holinesse Joel 2.28 Eph. 5.9 For which end God hath promised to poure his Spirit upon all flesh that is the best thing upon the basest Next to the sending of his Son in the flesh which is called the gift Joh. 4.10 and the benefit 1 Tim. 6.2 what can God do more for his people then to give them his good spirit this is to give them all good things in one Mat. 7.11 with Luke 11.13 And withheldest not thy Manna See verse 15. It is twice mentioned as a singular and signall mercy And it is well observed by a Reverend Writer that this Manna and water from the Rock which was Christ in the Gospel were given this people before the Law the Sacraments of grace before the legall Covenant The Grace of God preventeth our obedience Therefore shall we keep the Law of God because we have a Saviour Verse 21. Yea fourty yeares didst thou sustaine them Sustaine them this is a meer Miôsis sith never was Prince so served in his greatest Pomp as these rebellious Israelites were in the wildernesse They had their Quailes and their Manna and the Rock to follow them c. So that they lacked nothing No more shall they that seek the Lord lack any good thing Psal 34.10 and 84.11 God will not be a wildernesse to them or a land of darknesse Jer. 2.31 A sufficiency they shall be sure of if not a superfluity yea in the midst of straits they shall be in a sufficiency 1 Tim. 6.6 The ungodly are not so Job 20.22 Their cloths waxed not old They wore not in the wearing this was wonderfull these men lived in an age of miracles here was no need of What shall we put on For the cloths they had of their own and that they borrowed of the Egyptians decayed not but as some think grew up with their persons See Deut. 8.4 and 29.5 And their feet swelled not Nor did any other disease annoy them while they were in the wildernesse There was not one feeble person among them this was a sweet mercy Non est vivere sed valere vita si vales bene est Vincentio Pestiom an Italian Gentleman being asked how old he was answered that he was in health And to another that asked how rich he was answered that he was not in debt This was the happiness of these Israelites in the wilderness Verse 22. Moreover thou gavest them Kingdomes and Nations God gave them all for he is the true proprietary he pulleth down one and setteth up another This Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged after he had been turned a grazing and Charles the Fifth Emperour of Germany who in twenty eight battles in America waged by Cortez and Pizarro won eight and twenty Kingdomes Prideaux Introduct And what a world of Nations are swallowed up in the greatnesse of the Turkish Empire America hath the hapinesse to be out of their reach So they possessed the land of Sihon Gods favours must not be mentioned in the lump onely and by whole-sale but particularly enumerated and celebrated Verse 23. Their children also multipliedst thou Judaea was not above two hundred miles long and fifty miles broad not near the halfe of England by much yet what a numerous people were they what huge armies had they And broughtest them into the land Not the nearest way but the best for them that he might humble them and try them and do them good in the latter end If God will bring us to heaven at length as Israel in the wildernesse so must we follow him and the line of his Law though it seeme to leade us in and out backward and forward as if we were treading a maze Concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers And they disposed of it by Will to their posterity as if they had been in present possession Gods promises are good sure-hold the Patriarchs would be buried there though they died in Egypt and keep possession as they could for they knew that all was their own Verse 24. So the children went in After that they had been held a long while under the Egyptian servitude God knows how to commend his favours to us which citò data citò vilescunt lightly come by are lightly set by And thou subduedst before them the Canaanites There is an elegancy in the original Thou bowedst or pressedst down those crookened or depressed ones the Canaanites who had their very name portending their condition from bowing down as born to be servants of servants according to Noahs curse Gen. 9.25 with Rom. 11.16 And gavest them into their hand If any were unsubdued it was through their own sloth for which they are reproved and by which they afterwards smarted It is the observation of a good Divine that as seven Tribes are justly taxed by Joshua for their negligence and sloth in not seeking speedily to possesse the land God had offered them Josh 18.2 so may the most of us be justly rebuked for grievous security about the heavenly Canaan Divers of the better sort have but a title and therefore it justly falleth out that these are buffeted by Christ as those were disgraced by Joshua That they might do with them as they would Save or slay whom they pleased yet not forgetting the Lawes of humanity as the bloody Spaniards have done amongst the miserable Indians causing them to cry out that it had been far better that the Indies had been given to the Devils of hell then to them and that if the Spaniards go to heaven when they die themselves will never come there though they might Verse 25. And they took strong Cities With no great ado like as townes were said to come in to Timotheus the Athenian-Generall his toiles while he slept Plut. in Sylla This he ascribed to his owne prowesse and policy often interlacing this proud speech Herein Fortune had no part and from thenceforth never prospered in any thing he undertook And a fat land Flowing with plenty of dainties though Strabo spitefully slander it for craggy and barren And possessed houses full of all goods Of all pleasant and precious substance for the Canaanites were great Merchants Esay 23.8 Hos 12.7