is holy both in body and spirit 1 Cor. 7.34 and this with delight out of fear of God and love of vertue God did much for that libidinous Gentleman who sporting with a Curtezan in a house of sin happened to ask her name which she said was Mary Mountaignes Essayes whereat he was stricken with such a remorse and reverence that he instantly not only cast off the Harlot but amended his future life But the Sinner shall be taken by her See the Note on Prov. 22.14 The Poets fable that when Prometheus had discovered Truth to men that had long lain hid from them Jupiter or the Devil to crosse that design sent Pandora that is Pleasure that should so besot them as that they should neither mind nor make out after Truth and Honesty Vers 27. Behold this I have found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have found it I have found it said the Philosopher Vicimus Vicimus we have prevailed we have prevailed said Luther when hee had been praying in his Closet for the good successe of the consultation about Religion in Germany So the Preacher here Aperit sibi diligentia januam veritatis Amb. having by diligence set open the door of truth cries Venite videte Come and see my discoveries in the making whereof I have been very exact counting one by one Ne mole obruerer lest I should bee oppressed with many things at once Vers 28. Which yet my soul seeketh but I finde not There is a place in Wiltshire called Stonage for divers great stones lying and standing there together of which stones it is said Camden that though a man number them one by one never so carefully yet that he cannot finde the true number of them but that every time he numbers them he findes a different number from that he found before This may well shew as one well applies it the erring of mans labour in seeking the account of wisdome and knowledge For though his diligence be never so great in making the reckoning he will alwayes be out and not able to find it out One man among a thousand Hand facile invenies multis è milibus unum There is a very great scarcity of good people These are as Gideons three hundred when the wicked as the Midianites lye like Grashoppers for multitude upon the earth Judg. 7. and as those Syrians 1 King 20.27 they fill the country they darken the air as the swarms did the Land of Aegypt and there is plenty of such dust-heaps in every corner But a Woman among all those have I not found i. e. Among all my Wives and Concubines which made him ready to sing Foemina nulla bona est But that there are and ever have been many gracious Women see besides the Scriptures the Writings of many Learned men De illustribus foeminis It is easie to observe saith one that the New-Testament affords more store of good Wives than the Old And I can say as Hierom does Novi ego multas ad omne opus bonum promptas I know many Tabithaes full of good works But in respect of the discoverie of hearts and natures whether in good or evil it is harder to find out throughly the perfect disposition of a Woman than of Men. And that I take to be the meaning of this text Vers 29. That God hath made man upright viz. In his own Image i. e. knowledge in his understanding part rightnesse in his will and holinesse in his affections his heart was a lump of love c. when he came first out of Gods Mint he shone most glorious clad with the royal robe of righteousnesse created with the imperial crown Psal 8.5 But the Devil soon stript him of it he cheated and cousened him of the Crown as we use to doe children with the apple or whatsoever fruit it was that he tendred to Eve Porrexit pomum surripuit paradisum Bernard Lib. 1. legis allegor Hee also set his limbs in the place of Gods Image so that now Is qui factus est homo differt ab eo quem Deus fecit as Philo saith Man is now of another make than God made him Totus homo est inversus decalogus whole evil is in man and whole man in evil Neither can hee cast the blame upon God but must fault himself and fly to the second Adam for repair But they have sought out many inventions New tricks and devises like those poetical fictions and fabulous relations whereof there is neither proof nor profit The Vulgar Latine hath it Et ipse se infinitis miscuit quaestionibus And hee hath intangled himself with numberless questions and fruitless speculations See 1 Tim. 1.4 and cap. 6.4 doting about questions or question-sick Bernard reads it thus Ipse autem se implicuit doloribus multis but hee hath involved himself in many troubles the fruit of his inventions shifts and sherking tricks See Jer. 6.19 CHAP. VIII Vers 1. Who is as the Wise man Velut inter stellas Luna minores QUa dic Hee is a matchless man a peerless Paragon out-shining others as much as the Moon doth the lesser Stars Plato could say that no Gold or Precious stone doth glister so gloriously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the prudent spirit of a good man Gen. 41.38 Thou art a Prince of God amongst us said the Hittites to Abraham Can wee finde such a man as this Joseph in whom the Spirit of God is said Pharaoh to his Counsellors Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him on the earth c Job 1.8 My servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all my house and shall bee of my Cabinet-Counsel Numb 12.7 To him God said Tu verò hic sta mecum But do thou stand here by mee Exod. 34.5 Sapiens Dei comes est saith Philo. Look how Kings have their Favourites whom they call Comites their Cousins and Companions so hath God Nay the righteous are Princes in all Lands Psal 45.16 Kings in righteousness compare Mat. 13.17 with Luk. 10.24 the excellent Ones of the Earth Psal 16.3 the Worthies of the world Hom. 55. in Matth. Heb. 11.5 fitter to bee set as Stars in Heaven and to bee continually before the Throne of God Chrysostome calls some holy men of his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Earthly Angels and speaking of Babylas the Martyr hee saith of him Magnus at que admirabilis vir hee was an excellent and an admirable man Orat. contra Gentiles c. And Tertullian writing to some of the Martyrs sayes Non tantus sum ut vos alloquar I am not good enough to speak unto you Oh that my life and a thousand such wretches more might go for yours Oh why doth God suffer mee and other such Caterpillars to live saith John Careless Martyr in a letter to that Angel of God Mr. Bradford as Dr. Taylor called him that can do nothing but consume the alms of the
time of afflâ—ction is ordinarily short a day or a night a piece of a night as here a moment Isa 54.8 a small moment ver 7. Or if longer yet 1. there are some breathing-whiles betwixt 2. There 's much good got by it 3. T is nothing to Eternity Before morning he is not He and his forces are all gone The wicked saith Oecolampadius here at the even-tide of their death have an hard tug of it and in the morning of the Resurrection they are not or could wish they were not This is the portion of them that spoyl us Epiphonema ad populum Dei He closeth up his discourse with a word of comfort to all Gods people for whose sake also it is that all this is said against Assyria Syria and other forraign States enemies to the Church CHAP. XVIII Ver. 1. WO to the Land To Ethiopia described here 1. By the shady Mountains wherewith it is surrounded Strabo 2. By the Rivers wherewith it is watered Which is beyond the Rivers of Ethiopia Or which is along by the Rivers even Ethiopia which also may be said to be beyond the Rivers i. e. beyond the seven streams of Nilus in respect of Jerusalem Ver. 2. That sendeth Embassadors by the sea Heralds to defie the Assyrian and to bid him battle to their own ruin Junceae fiscella picatae Vide Plin. lib. 6. cap. 22. Even in the vessels of bul-rushes Or in paper barks-well pitched These were much in use among the Ethiopians and Egyptians both for expedition and also for safety against Rocks shallows and falls of Rivers Go ye swift messengers Tirhaka's words to his Heralds See 2 King 19.9 To a Nation scattered and peeled i. e. To the Assyrians whose great Forces are at this time scattered up and down in several Countreys and therefore with more ease and safety to be set upon Thus the Ethiopian pleaseth himself in the conceit of an easie Conquest but was quickly confuted the Jews who trusted unto him were disappointed and Sennacherib more enraged against Jerusalem To a people terrible The mauls of mankind but I shall chastise them Thus he triumpheth before the victory having already devoured Assyria in his hopes A Nation meted out and trodden down Or rather meting out and treading down or shortly to be meted out to corculcation or destruction Whose Land the Rivers have spoiled Or the floods inundations of enemies shall spoil Or whose Land the Rivers 1. the Ethiopians who live by the Rivers ver 1. do despise For this Chapter is not more short then dark and diversly rendred and sensed Ver. 3. All the Inhabitants of the world see ye Or ye shall see when he lifteth up a banner on the Mountains and when he bloweth a Trumpet ye shall hear i. e. ye shall shortly see the Assyrians returning from the Conquest of the Ethiopian with glory and great joy But what will the Lord do the while Ver. 4. I will take my rest I will consider He will sit and bethink himself as it were how he may best bestow his poor people The Assyrian shall go on with his great design for a while and none shall interrupt him but the Church mean-while shall not be unprovided for Like a clear heat upon herbs Or after-rain which makes herbs and plants suddenly to sprout and shoot up a main God will not only look upon his people but refresh them in troubles Ver. 5. For afore the Harvest Or Vintage When the bud is perfect c. When the Assyrian fleshed with his former Victory maketh full account that all is his own God shall make his hopes to hop headless He shall slaughter his Forces as ver 6. branches and sprigs great and small Ver. 6. They shall be left together They that is the Assyrians slain by the Angel as Psalm 79.2 Chap. 37.37 The fowls shall summer upon them Both birds and beasts of prey shall have enough to feed upon the whole year about Ver. 7 In that time When the Assyrians are thus slain Shall the present be brought sc By the Jews who shall consecrate a considerable part of the spoils of the Assyrians according to Numb 31.28 47 50 54. Thankfulness for publike deliverances is still due to the most High Bring presents unto him that ought to be feared Psalm 76.11 CHAP. XIX Ver. 1. THe burden of Egypt See chap. 13.1 Behold the Lord rideth Heb. riding sc as a Judge or General of an Army Vpon a swift cloud i. e. Speedily suddenly and irresistibly Clouds are rarely seen in Egypt where it raineth not but Ezek. 30.18 we read of a Cloud that should cover Egypt By swift cloud here some understand the Virgin Mary others our Saviours body or humane nature And they further tell us that assoon as the child Jesus was brought into Egypt down fell all the Idols there Hist Scholast as Dagon did before the Ark. This they ground upon the following words And the Idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence Whereby I conceive is only meant that rheir gods should not be able to help them and should therefore lose their Authority be discredited and decryed And the heart of Egypt shall melt As it did first when Sennacherib and then when Nebuchadnezzar came against it Ver. 2. And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians Commiscebo Egyptios inter sc I will embroil them in a civil War This fell out saith Junius Herod lib. 2. Diod. Sic. l. 1. under King Psammeticus after the death of Sethon about the end of Hezekiahs Raign or the beginning of Manasseh's whilest Isaiah was yet alive And Kingdom against Kingdom Or Rectory against Rectory for as here in the Heptarchy so there the Land was divided into many Provinces or Jurisdictions even 66. saith Ortelius Ver. 3. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail Fail and falter their wits shall not serve them but be drained and emptied as the Hebrew word here signifieth By spirit here understand their Wisdom Learning and Sharpness for the which they were famous among and frequented by other Nations Moses was skilled in their Learning Acts 7.23 Pythagoras Plato Solon Anaxagoras and other Philosophers gat much by them Mercurius Trismegist saith of Egypt that it was the Image of Heaven Aug. de C. D. lib. 8. cap. 14. and the Temple of the whole world By spirit here some understand their familiar spirits See Levit. 19.31 And they shall seek to the Idols Whereof they had great store so that they were derided by other Idolaters but their chief Deity was Latona saith Herodotus And to the charmers Who have their name in Hebrew from their low or slow speaking Ver. 4. And the Egyptians will I give over Heb. shut up sc as fishes in a pond Into the hand of a cruel Lord Heb. Lords Herodot viz. those twelve Tyrants that raigned after Sethon and were put down by Psammetichus one of their own number who afterwards raigned alone and with rigour And a
oft hotter than that of husband and wife so superstition many times out-doeth true religion Slaying the children A barbarous practice taught them by that old man-slayer Careless parents do little less whom therefore Bernard calleth peremptores potius quam parentes rather Parricides than Parents Ver. 6. Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion Pars sors tua a poor portion it is but such as thou art well apaid of viz. thine altars and thine idol-service and settest up in my place how exceeding devout in their way are some misled and muzzled Papists those of the weaker sex especially in the service of their god Mauzzim in the honour of their over-admired reliques which they esteem no less than the people of the Isle Zeiilon in the East-Indies did their consecrated Apes-tooth which being got from them they offered an incredible masse of treasure to recover it Should I receive comfort in these Or should I not ease my selfe of these as Jer. 5.9 Ver. 7. Vpon a lofty and high mountain In all places hast thou poured out thy whoredoms setting thy sin upon the cliffe of the rock as it were a sunning so shameless art thou grown Thy bed i. e. thy Temples and Altars as likewise do the Masse-mongers at this day Ver. 8. Behind the doors also and the posts Where my Law should have been written Deut. 6.9 and 11.20 Hast thou set up thy remembrance Thy mawmets and monuments of Idolatry such as Papists now call Memories and Lay-mens books Thou hast discovered thy self Thy nakedness like a meretrix meretricissima divaricasti tibias as Ezek. 23. Omnibus modis tâ— comparans ut impudentissimum scortum prostituting thy self as a most impudent Harlot prodigiously lascivious Ver. 9. And thou wentest to the King The King of Assyria who stiled himself the great King to whom Ahaz both sent and went 2 King 16.8 10. With ointment Heb. with oyle that is with balsam such as Judea only afforded and was therefore highly esteemed in other countries And didst debase thy self even unto hell By crouching and cringing to those forraign states in a most submisse and servile way as Ahaz had done with his I am thy servant and thy son 2 King 16.7 to the dishonour of God and to the reproach of Israel who was Gods first-born higher than the Kings of the earth Psal 89.27 Ver. 10. Thou art wearied in the greatnesse of thy way Great paines thou hast taken to small purpose and yet thou thinkest and hopest but groundlesly that Thou hast found the life of thy hand A sure way of subsistence thy desired help and safety Ver. 11. And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared q. d. Not me surely as thou oughtest but thy fellow-creatures whom thou shouldest have looked upon as so many mice That thou hast lyed i. e. So basely flattered the Assyrian Have I not held my peace i. e. Born with thee more than any else would ever have done and yet my lenity is even worse than lost upon thee Ver. 12. I will declare thy righteousnesse i. e. Thine unrighteousnesse by an Irony Antiphrasis Ironica or thy righteousness secundum dici non secundum esse thine hypocrisie For they shall not profit thee Nay they shall undo thee Ver. 13. When thou cryest let thy companies Heb. thy gathered ones or troopes deliver thee See Deut. 32 37 38. Judg. 10.13 14. with the Note But the wind shall carry them all away The wind of Gods power shall scatter them quisquiliarum in morem Ver. 14. And he shall say Or and it shall be said This is further added for the comfort of those that trusted in God that they shall have a smooth and clear passage home This is literally meant of their return from Babylon but mystically of the recollection of the Church out of the captivity of the devil and power of sinne Ver. 15. For thus saith the high and lofty one Higher than the highest so high that he is said to abase himself to behold things done in heaven Psal 113.6 to look out of himself upon the Saints and Angels there He is a God saith one whose nature is Majesty whose place is immensity whose time is eternity whose life is sanctity whose power is omnipotency whose work is mercy whose wrath is justice whose throne is sublimitie whose seat is humility That inhabiteth Eternity Gigas saeculorum saith the Syriak The Apostle Paul hath a like stately description of Almighty God 1 Tim. 6.16 who yet is above all Name or Notion and must be thought of as one not to be thought of Herein he is most unlike to men who the higher they are the less they look after the poor afflicted I dwell in the high and holy place In the light which no man can approach unto 1. Tim. 6.16 In the holy place of the material Temple which was without windows there burned lights perpetually to represent the celestial lights but in the most holy place there was no light at all to shew that all outward light is but darkness being compared with that light which God inhabiteth and which is inaccessible With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit In the lowest hearts he dwelleth as well as in the highest heavens A broken heart is Gods lesser heaven here he dwelleth with delight Not that the affliction of a mans spirit is pleasing to God but the separation of sin from the soul when the soder that joyneth a sinful action and the heart together is dissolved this pleaseth the Lord. To revive the spirit of the humble As this very text hath done many a one Ver. 16. For I will not contend for ever It soon repenteth the Lord concerning his servants Et pro magno peccato parum supplicii satis est patri Terent. See Psal 103.9 For the spirit would fail before me Heb. would be overcovered sc tenebris aâ— terroribus it would even sink and faint away When the child swoones in the whipping God le ts fall the rod and falls a kissing it to fetch life into it again Jer. 31.20 As the rule in Physick is still to maintain nature so doth he their spirits by Cordials Ver. 17. For the iniquity of his Covetousnesse Or of his Concupiscence the sin of his nature But covetousnesse is a wickednesse with a witnesse the root of all evil 1 Tim. 6.10 Timon could say that there were two sources of all sin viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 covetousnesse and vain-glory And he went on frowardly in the way of his own heart i. e. Excoâ—atus sequitur animalem suum spiritum he blindling blundered on without fear or wit cross-grained and irreclaimable Ver. 18. I have seen his waies His waies of covetousnesse crossness c. I could be as cross as he for the heart of him Psal 18.26 But I will heal him q. d. I see these froward children will say nothing to heart frowns will not humble them blows will not benefit them if I do not
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plin. l. 6. c. 27. It compassed the Temple of Diaena at Shusan round and as some say the whole City Pliny saith that the waters of this river were highly esteemed so that the Persian Kings drank thereof Ver. 3. There stood before the river a ram With a golden fleece and full of flesh This was the Persian Monarch who is also said to stand because of his slow motion and sluggish disposition and before the river because the Persians ruled over many Nations signified by waters Rev. 17. A ram stalketh stately before the flock as a Captain but they are only sheep which he leadeth let a dog but lay his nose over the hedge and away they run all so did the sheepish cowardly Persians before Alexander Which had two hornes These were the States of Media and Persia But one was higher then the other i. e. The Persians at length became higher then the Medes and overtopped them And the higher came up last Cyrus after Darius uniting both nations into one Monarchy Ver. 4. And I saw the ram pushing Westward c. Hereby are set forth the Persian wars and especially those waged by Cyrus who subdued many nations and grew very great as did also his successours but especially Darius Hystaspes Neither was there any None could resist his rage nor escape his reach Ver. 5. And as I was considering Such as are studious shall see more of Gods mind Rev. 1.12 Behold an hee-goat came from the West i. e. From Greece and Macedon West from Persia This goat more nimble swift and potent then a ram was the Grecian Monarch Alexander who came capering and praunsing over the whole earth that is over the whole Persian Monarchy and more setting fire on all Asia as the Magicians foretold he would do as being born the same day that Diana's Temple at Ephesus was set on fire This Alexander the great was Dux gregis ipse caper of all whose victories we have here a notable abridgment Joseph more like an history then a Prophecy The high-Priest Jaddus is said to have shewed it to Alexander in his march against Darius Codomannus the last King of Persia who thereby much encouraged in his enterprize bestowed upon the Jews many favours and freedoms And touched not the ground Alexander was notably nimble thinking nothing too hard for him to atcheive and slâ—pping no opportunity Apelles pictureâ— Alexander with a thunderbolt signifying his great swiftness in his exploits When he was to encounter with Darius his army at Graxicum Parmenio perswaded him to stay till the next day but he would not neither was successe wanting With wonderful celerity in six years space he overrun so great a part of the habitable world that he might rather seem to fly then to march And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes This notable horn is Alexander founder of the Grecian Monarchy The Macedonians were at that time called Aegeades i. e. goatish the occasion whereof see in Justin lib. 7. Sic Darius dicitur Aiil i. e. Aries Persiae Hebraice Chaldaice Elam Alexander is here fitly called hircus caprarum an hee-goat or the horn of sight between the eyes of that goat A sit emblem of a good Prince whose vertues are conspicuous as an hornis who defendeth his people and offendeth their enemies who like this horn rising up betwixt the eyes is circumspect and well-advised doing all with counsel Prov. 24.6 Alexander had his father Philips counsellors about him who were excellent in wisdom beyond any that came after them in the same Empire Ver. 6. And he came to the ram that had two hornes He came this may betoken the slower preparations of Philip King of Macedony And ran unto him Alexander did by quick and furious marches Nil actum credens dum quid superesset agendum Fertur atrox De Cas Lucanâ— Ver. 7. And I saw him come close unto the ram Who stood for a while in his stoutnesse and brought several huge armyes into the field not less then fifteen hundred thousand but all would not do The fairest states are subject to change in their greatest flourish Ezek. 31.18 In so magna ruunt laetis hunc numinarebus Crescendi posuere modum Lucan And he was moved with choler against him Neither would he be pacified with promise of great gifts and of part of the Kingdom and the marriage of his daughter And smot the ram By overthrowing the Persian armyes in three main battles at Granicum â—t Issum and at Arbela 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strabo not far from which is the mountain Nicatorium so called by Alexander as a constant trophie of that famous victory And there was no power in the ram to stand before him In that last battle at Arbela the whole power of Persia was overturned and Darius Codomannus was slain by Bessus one of his own Captains It is observed that great Kingdoms oft fall and are destroyed under such Kings as are of the same name with the founders thereof Darius here for instance so Philip of Macedon and Philip the Father of Perseus the last King of that Country so Constantine the Great and Constantine Palaologus Augustus and Augustulus c. And stamped upon him i. e. After full conquest he crowed insulted triumphed at the instance of his concubine Thais he caused the most goodly palace in the world at Persopolis to be set on fire Ver. 8. Therefore the hee-goat waxed very great The Greeks became Lords of all their Emperour was re nomine magnus not called great for nought he began to take upon him as a god and would be counted son to Jupiter Hammon He called for divine honours and slew Callisthenes his Tutor because he would not yeild thereto Alexander orbi magnus Alexandro orbis angustus est Seneca Athenaeus This intolerable pride was a sure forerunner of his fall his heart swelled so fast that the case could no longer hold it but cracked The world was a cage or little-ease to him therefore is he soon turned out of it and of heavens darling made the disdain of all And when he was strong the great horn was broken Surfetting and drunkenness cast him into a fever whereof he dyed in the flower of his youth and height of his enjoyments such is the instability of earthly Monarchs worldly glory Magna repente ruunt summacadunt subito Being not unlike those Flores horae very pleasant for the time but dead and withdrawn in a trice The vanities of this life saith one at our most need and when we least think Turk hist 331. quite forsake us leaving even them that most sought after them and most abounded in them shrowded oft-times in the sheet of dishonour and shame Great Alexander lay unburied thirty dayes together his conquests above ground purchased him no title for habitation under ground The like befel Pompey the Great out William the Conquerour and other like And
of one learned Gentleman who ran out of his wits after many years study upon it The Doctours are much divided about the beginning and ending of these seventy weeks I chuse rather thus to compute then to dispute From the outgoing of the word ver 25. seemeth to me to fix the beginning of these weeks on Cyrus his decree concerning the holy City and the Temple to be reedified The end and period of them must be at the death of Christ though some will have it at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans It is well observed by the learned that the Jews after their seventy years captivity have seven seventies of years granted for the enjoying of their own country Gods mercies bear the same proportion to his punishments which seven a complete number have to an unit besides the mercy of mercies the grace of the Messiah Vpon thy people Of whose welfare thou art so sollicitous and inquisitive To finish the transgression Transgressionem illam that great tranâ—gression of our first Parents in Paradise that whereby sin entred into the world and death by sin Rom. 5.12 Now Christ by his death took away the power and destroyed the dominion of all sin Rom. 6.11 12. And to make an end of sins Heb. To seal up sins that they come not into Gods sight against us ever to be charged upon us A Metaphor say some from the Jews manner of writing in Rolles which being wrapped up and sealed on the backside all the writing was covered And to make reconciliation for iniquity viz. By the expiatory and propitiatory sacrifice of himself for his Elect whereby the divine Justice is fully satisfied And to bring in everlasting righteousnesse Those righteousnesses of the Saints Rev. 19 8. both Imputed and Imparted Righteousnesse called here everlasting as that which shall make the Saints accepted of God for ever never can be lost as Adams was And to seal up the vision and prophecy i. e. To fulfill all the Prophetical predictions concerning the life and death of the Lord Christ And to anoint the most holy This was done when Christ was baptized say some but others better when he ascended into heaven consecrating it to the service of God therein to be performed by the Elect throughout all eternity like as Moses once consecrated the most holy place to the ceremonial service there to be performed by the High-Priest Ver. 25. Know therefore and understand See on ver 24. Here the Angel brancheth the whole seventy sevens into three heads or into three distinct periods of time Shall be seven weeks Which make forty nine years these the Angel purposely speaketh of a part because they chiefly concerned the reparation of the City made under the Persian Monarchy Within this first seven weeks or forty nine years the street of Jerusalem was rebuilt and the wall with trench though the times proved troublous and full of straits And threescore and two weeks Which make four hundred thirty four years the events of which are mentioned ver 26. as those of the seven years following ver 27. out of which it might easily be supplyed and is therefore here omitted by the Angel Ver. 26. And after threescore and two weeks See on ver 25. within these threescore and two weeks befel the Jews many memorable things as may be seen chap. 8 11. Shall Messiah be cut off Excindetur not abscindetur cut off that is by wicked hands crucified and slain Act. 2.23 not only cast out of the synagogue and excommunicated as that malicious Rabbine read and sensed this text Others of the Jew Doctours by the evidence of these words have been compelled to confesse that Messiah is already come and that he was that Jesus whom their forefathers crucified See for this R. Samuels Epistle to R. Isâ—ak set down at large by Dionys Carthus in his Commentary on this text See also R. Osea his lamentation for this inexpiable guilt of the Jewish Nation recorded by Galatinus lib. 4. c. 18. Polanus reporteth that he living sometime in Moravia where he used the help of some Rabbines for the understanding of the Hebrew tongue heard them say that for this ninth chapters sake they acknowledged not Daniel to be authentical and therefore read it not amongst the people lest hereby they should be turned to Christ finding out how they had been by them deceived But not for himself i. e. Not for any fault of his nor yet for any good to himself but to mankind whence some render these words There being nothing therein for him Et non sibi vel nihil ei others when he shall have nothing i. e. nothing more to do at Jerusalem but shall utterly relinquish it and call his people out of it to Pella c. And the people of the Prince that shall come i. e. Titus his souldiers whose rage he himself could not repress Joseph but they would needs burn down the Temple which he would fain have preserved as one of the worlds wonders Messiah the Prince had a hand in it doubtless whence also those Roman forces are called his armyes Mat. 22.7 Shall destroy the City That slaughterhouse of the Saints And the Sanctuary That den of thieves And the end thereof shall be with a flood i. e. Their extirpation shall be suddain universal irresistible as was Noah's flood How this was fulfilled see Josephus Hegesippus Eusebius c. And unto the end of the war c. The Romans shall have somewhat to do but after tedious wars they shall effect it Ver. 27. And he Messiah shall confirm the Covenant See ver 24. with many Heb. with his Rabbines that is with his Elect. Confer Esa 53.11 Job 32.9 Jer. 41.2 For one week i. e. In the last seven years of the seventy And in the midst of the week i. e. In three years and a half he shall by his passion disannul the Jewish sacrifices and services And for the overspreading or wing or abominations i. e. For the abominable outrages committed by the seditious Jews those zelots as they called themselves who filled the Temple with dead bodyes Others from Mat. 24.15.16 with Luk. 20.20 21. think the Romans to be meant who set up their Eagles their ensignes in the Temple together with the images first of Caligula and then of Titus their Emperours Perpetuâ consummatiss consumptione urgentur Even untill the consummation Until the end and to the utmost The Jews have oft attempted but could never yet recover their country nor are like to do Shall be poured As if the windows of heaven were opened as once they were at the flood See ver 26. CHAP. X. Ver. 1. IN the third year of Cyrus King of Persia This whole chapter is but a Preface to the ensuing Prophecy or visional prediction recorded in the two following chapters It beginneth at the third year of Cyrus his Empire and reacheth till the time of the Jews rising from the dust of their
31.1 See therefore that evil thoughts though they rush into the heart yet they rest not in it Vers 26. For shee hath cast down many That have let in death at those windows of wickedness those loop-holes of lust that have dyed of the wound in the eye Aliorum perditio tua sit cautio Seest thou another man shipwrackt look well to thy tacklings Yea many strong men have been slain by her The valour of man hath oft been slaved by the wyses of a woman Witness many of your greatest Martialists who conquered Countries and were vanquished of vices being captivarum suarum captivi The Persian Kings commanded the whole world and were commanded by their concubines So was Alexander Sampson Hercules whom some make to bee the same with Sampson Lenam non potuit potuit superare leaenam Quem fera non potuit vincere vicit hera Vers 27. Her house is the way to hell The shortest cut to utter destruction This if well beleeved would make the young man stop or step back as if hee had trod upon a serpent Sed vivunt homines tanquam mors nulla sequatur Aut velut infernus fabula vana foret Going down to the Chambers of death Both temporal and eternal Lo those Hoasts that welcome men into their Inne with smiling countenance will cut their throats in their beds The Syrens are said to live in green meadows Natal Comes and to have by them ever an heap of dead mens bones CHAP. VIII Vers 1. Doth not Wisdome cry ANd shall a Harlot bee sooner heard than shee Shall men prefer dross before gold acorns before wheat a swine-sty before a Sanctuary dirty delights and sensual pleasures before peace that passeth all understanding Xenophon joy unspeakable and full of glory Heathen stories tell how Hercules when hee was young was courted by Vertue on the one hand and Pleasure on the other But Pleasure lost her sweet words upon him hee hearkned to Vertue rather Shall not wee to Wisdome Put forth her voyce In her Ministers who are Cryers by office and must bee earnest Isa 58.1 See an instance in holy Bradford I beseech you saith Hee I pray you I desire you I crave at your hands with all my very heart I ask of you with hand pen tongue and minde in Christ through Christ for Christ Act. Mon. 1490. for his Name Blood Mercy Power and Truths sake my most intirely beloved that you admit no doubting of Gods final mercies toward you c. Here was a lusty Cryer indeed And such another was Mr. Perkins of whom it is said that in expounding the Commandements when hee was Catechist of Christs Colledge hee applied them so home to his hearers Mr. Fullers Holy-state p 90. that hee made their very hearts fall down and their hairs stand upright Vers 2. Shee standeth in the top of high places That is saith an Interpreter in the lofty Oracles of the Patriarchs and Prophets Vers 3. At the entry of the City Heb. At the mouth for as words go out of the mouth Rod. Bain so do men out of the City onely men go and come at their pleasure Sed volat emissum semel irrevocabile verbum A word once uttered cannot bee recalled At the coming in at the doors Every where Christ offereth himself hence ariseth this phrase My salvation is gone forth but to little purpose through mens singular perversness Indeed if the Lord would set up a Pulpit at the Ale-house door they would hear oftner But sith hee doth not they will run to hell as fast as they can And if God cannot catch them they care not they will not return Vers 4. Unto you O men I call O viri praestantes so some render it O yee eminent men whether for greatness of birth wealth or learning The Pharisees and Philosophers for their learning are called the Princes of this world 1 Cor. 2.8 Sed sapientes sapienter in infernum descendunt saith one potentes potenter tâ—rquebuntur saith another But the world by wisdome knows not God 1 Cor. 1.21 and not many wise men not many mighty not many noble are called vers 26. And yet they shall not want for calling if that would do it for unto you O mighty men I call Sed surdo plerunque fabulam but all to little purpose for most part They that lay their heads upon down-pillows cannot so easily hear noyses Courts and great places prove ill air for Zeal Divitibus ideo pietas deest quia nihil deest Rich mens wealth proves an hindrance to their happiness And my voyce is to the Sons of men i. e. To the meaner sort of people See Psal 49.2 These usually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like little fishes bite more than bigger The poor are Gospellized saith our Saviour Smyrna was the poorest but best of the seven Churches Certain it is that many of the meaner sort hold that they are not bound to look after Scripture-matters but that it is for rich men and Scholars onely to do so Wee have nothing say they to live by but these hands How can day-labourers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 22. ad Pop. Antioch and poor Craftsmen intend such things The baser sort of people in Swethland do alwayes break the Sabbath saying that it is only for Gentlemen to keep that day See Jer. 5.4 Joh. 7.49 But Paul a poor Tent-maker could say Our conversation is in heaven and Gods people are afflicted and poor yet they trust in the Name of the Lord Zeph. 3.12 Who ever richer than Adam in Paradise Poorer than Job on the dunghill yet in Paradise Satan foiled Adam on the dunghil Job foiled Satan Think not that poverty can excuse from duty Poor men also must listen to wisdomes voyce or it will bee worse with them there is yet but a beginning of their sorrows Vers 5. O yee simple If yee bee not set in sin resolved of your way as good as yee mean to bee If yet there bee any place left for perswasion See the Note on Chap. 1.4 And yee fools Yee that have already made your conclusion and are wiser in your own conceit than seven men that can render a reason Ver. 6. I will speak of excellent things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruling-cases Master-sentences Axiomes of state principles for Princes I have written for them the great things of my Law Hos 8.12 Solomon calls the Scriptures Lords of Collections as some sense that Text Eccles 12.11 Shall hee right things Right for each mans particular purposes and occasions Athanâ—s The Scriptures are so peâ—â—â—â—l that every man may think they speak de se in re sua of him and his 〈◊〉 In all the Commandements of God there is so much rectitude and good reason could wee but see it that if God did not command them yet it were our best way to practise them For my mouth shall speak truth Heb. Shall meditate truth i. e. I will
to go over it but is fallen into the brook Hee thought hee had taken hold of God but it is but with him as with a childe that catcheth at the shadow on the wall which hee thinks hee holds fast but hee onely thinks so Vers 8. And the wicked cometh in his stead Thus it befel Haman and Daniels enemies and those inhumane Edomites Lam. 4.21 And Herod with his Hacksters Act. 12. It is a righteous thing with God 2 Thes 1.6 7. though to men it seem an incredible paradox and a news by far more admirable than acceptable that there should bee such a transmutation of conditions on both sides to contraries But thus it falls out frequently John Martin of Briqueras a mile from Angrogne in France vaunted every where Act Mon. fol. 871. that hee would slit the Ministers nose of Angrogne But behold himself was shortly after assaulted by a Woolf which bit off his nose so that hee died mad thereof Vers 9. An Hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth That is the flatterer slanderer evil counsellour but especially the Heretick as the Valentinians Tertul. qui artificium habuerunt quo prius persuaderent quà m docerent by their Pithanology by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple Rom. 16.19 they bring men into the Lions mouth as that old seducer did by telling them of an Angel that spoke to them and so make prize of them Col. 2.8 and drag Disciples after them Act. 20.30 But through knowledge shall the just bee delivered Hee is too wise to bee flattered and too knowing to bee plucked away with the errour of the wicked Zanch. Misc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dion 1 Pet. 3.17 18. Zanchius was set upon by Socinus but the Heretick lost his labour Wherefore adde to your virtue knowledge 2 Pet. 1.5 and have your senses exercised to discern good and evil Heb. 5. ult Vers 10. When it goeth well with the righteous When they are set in place of Authority all the Country fare the better for it All cannot chuse but do well so long as thou rulest well said the Senate to Severus the Emperour And Ita nati estis said hee in Tacitus ut bona malaque vestra ad rempublicam pertineant Publick persons are either a great mercy or a great misery to the whole Country And when the wicked perish there is shouting For by their fall the people rise and their ruine is the repair of the City Cum mors crudelem rapuisset saeva Neronem Credibile est multos Romam agitasse jocos Vers 11. By the blessing of the upright the City is exalted This is given in as a reason of that publick joy in the welfare of the just Because they are of publick spirits and will by their good deeds good doctrines good counsels and good prayers Lucan promote the publick good to their utmost Catonis mores erant Toti genitum se credere mundo Saints are clouds Heb. 12.1 that water the earth as a common blessing But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked Whether hee bee a seeds-man of sedition or a seducer of the people a Sheba or a Shebna a carnal Gospeller or a godless Politician whose drift is to formalize and enervate the power of truth till at length they leave us a heartless and sapless Religion one of these sinners may destroy much good Eccles 9.18 Vers 12. Hee that is void of wisdome despiseth his neighbour Not remembring that hee is his neighbour cut out of the same cloth the shears onely going between and as capable of Heaven as himself though never so poor mean deformed or otherwise despicable None but a fool will do so none but hee that hath a base and beggarly heart of his own as the words signifie But a man of understanding holdeth his peace That is refraineth his tongue from such opprobrious language speaketh the best hee can of another thinks with himself Aut sumus aut fuimus aut possumus esse quod hic est Or if himself bee slighted or reviled objecta probra digno supplicio punit festivo scilicet contemptu oblivione vel si tanti est misericordia elevat Hee knows it is to no purpose to wash off dirt with dirt and is therefore as a dumb man c. Vers 13. A tale-bearer revealeth secrets Heb. A Pedler See the Note on Levit. 19.16 and on 1 Tim. 5.13 Si sapis arcano vina reconde cado God forbids us to chaffer with these petty-chapmen Prov. 20.19 Concealeth the matter Tacitus to him is the best Historian primus in Historia Hee is a rare friend that can both give counsel and keep counsel One being hit in the teeth with his stinking breath wittily excused it that it was by reason of the many secrets committed to him and concealed by him so long till they were even rotten in his bosome Vers 14. Where no counsel is the people fall As where no Pilot is the ship miscarrieth The Vulgar renders it Ubi non est gubernator corruit populus Tyranny is better than Anarchy And yet Woe also to thee O Land whose King is a childe that is wilful and uncounsellable as Rehoboam who was a childe at forty years old when as his Father was a man at twelve Age is no just measure of wisdome and royalty without wisdome is but eminent dishonour Solomon the wise chose him an excellent Council of state whom Rehoboam refused to hear being as much more wilful than his Father as lesse wise all head Turk Hist Keckerm Politic Ulysses interrogat quaie regnum esset Cyclopicum responde◠Silenus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no heart losing those ten tribes with a churlish breath and returning to Jerusalem lighter by a Crown than hee went forth Hee and his green-headed Council was like Acribiades and his Army where all would be Leaders none Learners Or it may bee it was now in Israel as once it was in Persia and as now it is in Turkey when the Great Turk stands at the dangerous door where if any Counsellor delivered any thing contrary to the Kings mind flagris caedebatur hee was chastised with Rods Or as in Regno Cyclopico ubi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where no man cared for better counsel but each one did what was good in his own eyes Such cannot long subsist But in the multitude of Counsellors So they bee good Counsellours better than Balaam was better than Achitophel better than those of Aurelius Tertul. Apol. by whom the good Emperour was even bought and sold One special thing the Primitive Christians prayed for the Emperour was that God would send him Senatum fidelem a faithful Council There were in Josiah's dayes horrible abominations And why The Princes were as roaring Lions the Judges Wolves c. Zeph. 3.3 Queen Elizabeth was happy in her Council by whom shee was most-what ruled and grew amiable to her friends and formidable to her enemies both at home and
hee had said before chap. 7.19 Prov. 21.22 See the Notes there but now upon this new occasion Nunquam satis dicitur quod nunquam satis discitur Sen. Nevertheless the poor mans wisdome is despised Hierome reads it thus Et sapientia pauporis quae despecta est verba ejus quae non sunt audita that is And the wisdome of the poor man which is despised and his words which are not heard According to which reading the sense is wisdome is better than strength yea even the despised wisdome of the poor man c. The Septuagint and Vulgar Latine read it Quomodo ergo sapientia pauperis contempta est verba ejus non audita How therefore is the wisdome of the wise man despised and his words not heard As making a wonder and a strange thing of it Too often it befalls Gods poor Ministers either to bee rejected with scorn or if heard yet not regarded much less rewarded unless it bee as Micaiah was by Ahab and Jeremiah by his Country-men of Anathoth Jesus Christ by the proud Pharisees John 7.14 15 27. St. Paul by the ungrateful Corinthians 2 Cor. 4.7 His bodily presence said they is weak his Sermons without Philosophy and Rhetorick Vers 17. The words of wise men are heard in quiet The submiss words of a poor man speaking with good understanding are rather heard than the big and boisterous words of proud fools Fuit Nestorius homo indoctus superbus audax magnae loquentia saith Zanchy Zanch Miscel Nestorius the Heretick was an ignorant proud bold big-spoken man and prevailed very much thereby with some silly-simples How much better Chrysostome of whom it is said that hee was graviter suavis suaviter gravis gravely sweet and sweetly grave and hee was much admired for it Gentle showers and dews that distill leasurely comfort the earth when dashing storms drown the seed The words of wise men are by one well compared to the River Indus Indus fluvius serere Orientem dicitur rigare Minut. Felix in Octav. which is said both to sow the East and to water it for so it may bee said of the words of the wise that they are both semina flumina both seeds and rivers seeds because they sow goodness in their hearers rivers because they water that which is sown to make it to grow in them But the cry of fools is like a violent torrent which washeth away that which it soweth and doth not suffer it to continue in the ground More than the cry of him that ruleth among fools Tremellius reads it cum stolidis suis with his fools i e. cum suo stulto senatu with his foolish Counsellors who do commonly comply with him to obtrude with great authority his unreasonable and tyrannical edicts and mandates Vers 18. Wisdome is better than weapons of war As David found it in his encounter with Goliah Gideon in his stratagem against the Midianites and our renowned Drake in dissipating that invincible Armado which being three years in preparing with incredible cost was by his wisdome within a month overthrown and confounded with the losse of one English Ship onely and not an hundred persons Romani sedendo vincunt This was the glory of the Romans that they conquered the world by wisdome not by weapons Vnus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem Plutarch Not Achilles but Vlysses is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sacker of Cities Cyneas took more Towns by his policy than Pyrrhus by his prowesse But one sinner destroyeth much good Hee may bee as an Achan in the Army as a Jonas in the Ship a trouble-town a common mischief a traitor to the State especially if hee bee an eminent man as Jeroboam that ring-leader of rebellion and Manasseh who made Judah also to sin 2 King 21.11 and so brought such evil upon them that whosoever heard of it both his ears tingled vers 12. Great mens sins do more hurt 1 By Imitation for Regis ad exemplum c. 2 By Imputation for plectuntur Achivi the poor people pay for such mens faults as they did for Davids 2 Sam. 24. I shall close up this Chapter with that memorable passage of a Reverend Writer yet alive If Englands fears were greater thy Reformation may save it Jer. 5.1 If our hopes were greater thy sin and security might undo it Eccles 9.18 One sinner destroies much good I onely add how much more a rabble of rebels conspiring to provoke God Sure I am wee have great cause to wish for our Country as Ferus did for the Romish Synagogue I would wee had some Moses said hee to take away the evils Non enim unum tantum vitulum sed multos habemus for wee have not onely one golden Calf but many amongst us CHAP. X. Vers 1. Dead Flies cause the ointment c. THe Preacher had said that One sinner destroies much good chap. 8.18 here hee affirms the same of one sin bee it but a small sin a peccadillo no bigger than a few dead flies fallen into a pot of sweet odours it is of that stinking nature that it stains a good mans esteem and fly-blows his reputation A great many flies may fall into a tarr-box and no hurt done A small spot is soon seen in a Swan not so in a Swine Fine Lawn is sooner and deeper stained than course Canvase A City upon an hill cannot bee hid the least eclipse or aberration in the heavenly bodies is quickly noted and noticed If Jacob a plain man deal deceitfully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. the banks of blasphemy will bee broken down in a prophane Esau thereby If his unruly sons falsifie with the Shechemites hee shall have cause to complain Yee have made mee to stink among the inhabitants of the Land Gen. 34.30 If Moses marry an Ethiopian woman it shall be laid in his dish by his dearest friends Numb 12.1 If Sampson go down to Timnah the Philistims will soon have it by the end told it will bee in Gath published in the streets of Askelon If David do otherwise than well at home 2 Sam. 12. the name of God will soon stink abroad If Josiah go up unadvisedly against Pharoah Neeho and fall by his own folly this shall bee his derision in the Land of Egypt Hos 7.16 The enemies of God will soon compose Comedies out of the Churches tragedies and make themselves merry in her misery Shee is said to bee fair as the Moon which though it bee a beautiful creature Cant. 6.10 and full of light yet is shee not without her black spots and blemishes Galileus used perspective-glasses to descry mountains in her These the Church Malignant is ever eying and aggravating passing by or depraving the better practices of Gods people As Vultures they hunt after carkasses as Swine Vultures ad male olentia feruntur Basil they musk in the muck-hill As Beetles they would live and dye in horse-dung It
Vine unto him Jer. 2.21 the plantation and supplantation whereof is here 1. parabolically propounded Secondly more plainly expounded Some read it To his Vineyard Others for his Vineyard See Matth 21.33.34 Mar. 1.1 12. Luke 20.9 16. My Beloved See how oft he harps upon this sweet string and cannot come off What a man loveth he will be talking off as the Huntsman of his hounds the Drunkard of his cups the worldling of his wealth c. Ten times in nine verses together doth St. Paul mention the name of Jesus 1 Cor. 1. c. shewing thereby that it was to him mel in ore melos in aure jubilum in corde the sweetest Musick Hath a Vineyard So the Church is here ver 7. and elswhere frequently and fitly stiled Confert autem vineae saith Oecolampadius To a Vineyard is the Church compared for sundry reasons Nulla pâ—ssessio majorem operam requierit Cato Itali dicunt Vinea est tinea Soli antemeridiano meridiano atque postmeridiano expostus Pisc as the great care men take about it the great delight they take in it the sweet fruits they expect from it the great worth of its fruit the little worth of its stemm Ezek. 15.3 if it prove fruitless the lowly and feeble condition thereof the continual need it hath to be dressed supported sheltered pruned Joh. 15.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amputat putat In a very fruitful hill Heb. in an horn the son of oyl that is an horny-hill bowing like a half-Moon and so exposed to the Sun beams all the day long Some say that Judea lyeth in the form of a horn like as the Low-Countries do in the form of a Lion unde Leo Belgicus The son of oyl or fatness that is exceeding sat Judas is called Sumen totius orbis a Land flowing with Milk and Honey Ezek. 20.6 a very Cornucopia of all comforts Basil telleth us that it was a Tradition of great Antiquity that Adam when he was thrust out of Paradise ut dolorem leniret for a mitigation of his grief chose Judea that most fruitful Countrey for a place to dwell in whence it is that Sodom and her sisters which were a part of that Countrey are said to be pleasant as the garden of God Gen 13.10 Pro Sepivit alii vertunt Fodâ—t pastinavit plantavit Ver. 2. And he fenced it Maceria munivit He hedged it in or walled it about protecting his people from the rage of enemies wherewith that Countrey was begirt God was a wall of fire to them Zech. 2.5 and a wall of water to them as Exod. 14.22 whence their land though part of the Continent is called an Island Isa 26.6 not only because separated from other Countries but because secured and made media insuperabilis unda And gathered out the stones thereof He not only cast out the Cananites but flatly forbad Idolatry and all other wickednesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every scandal or rock of offence that might hinder their growth or turn them out of the way Heb. 12.13 And planted it with the choicest Vine Heb. Sorek the Vines of which place Judg. 16.4 may seem to be the best and choicest like as now in Germany are the Vines of Herbipolis See Jer. 2.21 The Saints of God are noble Plants and of choice spirits they are the chiefest Personages and of highest account in Heaven And built a Tower in the midst of it for both Beauty Defence and Conveniency This may be meant of Jerusalem or the Temple therein that Tower of the flock and the strong Hold of the Daughter of Gods people Mic. 4.8 Religion set up in the power and purity of it is the beauty and bulwark of any place And also made a Wine-press therein for the pressing of the Grapes and saving of the Vine but alass that labour might have been saved for any grapes he gat or wine he made Fallitur augurio spes bona saepe suo Little good is done many times by the most pressing and piercing Exhortations and Arguments used by Gods faithful Prophets And he looked that it should bring forth grapes i. e. good grapes as little thinking ut opera perdatur spes eludatur to have lost all his care and cost as he did For who planteth a Vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof or who feedeth a Flock and eateth not of the milk of the Flock 1 Cor. 9.7 And it brought forth wild-grapes stinking stuffe as the word signifieth that which was naught and noysom grapes of Sodom and clusters of Gomorrah Deut. 32.32 33. He looked for the fruit of the spirit but behold the works of the flesh Gal. 5. No whit answerable to his continual care culture and custody they made him as One saith a contumacious and contumelious retribution Thus the wicked answer Heavens kindness with an ungrateful wickedness Ver. 3. And now O ye Inhabitants of Jerusalem Here we have Gods Plea before his Sentence and therein his Appeal to them and his Inditement against them First he appealeth to the Jews themselves maketh them Judges in their own cause So Nathan dealt by David and Jesus by the wicked Jews of his time Mat. 21.40 Judicate quaso only judge a righteous Judgement John 7.24 and then I dare report me to the conscience of any one amongst you and will therehence fetch witness Between me and my Vineyard With which I am now at variance Sin is that hell-bag make-bate trouble-town that sets odds betwixt God and his greatest favourites Ver. 4. What could have been done to my Vineyard See the like angry expostulations Jer. 2.5 Mic. 6.3 when God hath done all that can be done to do wretched men good they oft do their utmost to defeit him and undo themselves Quid debu facere Domino meo quod fecerim said Austin of himself by way of penitent confession quis ego qualis ego quid non mali ego The Cypress-tree the more it is watered the less fruitful so it is with many people But God can no way be charged with their barrenness At Paris ut vivat regnetque beatus Horat. Cogi posse negat Ver. 5. And now go to I will tell you c. God loveth to fore-signifie to warn ere he woundeth and to foretell a judgement ere he inflicteth it This he doth that he may be prevented Amos 4.12 Prolata est sententia ut non fiat Well might the Lord say Fury is not in me Isa 27.3 I will take away the hedge thereof Hedge and Wall shall be taken away at once from an ungrateful people and all laid open to the wrath of God and rage of enemies it shall be opentide indeed See Psalm 80.12 13. And what may be reasonably pleaded against God at such a time when he may say to men as Reuben did to his brethren Did not I warn you saying Sin not It shall be eaten up it shall be trodden down All shall run to ruine as it did at Jerusalem by the
he drew all men unto him John 12.32 He rode upon his white-horse the Apostles conquering the world and to conquer Rev. 6.2 And hence that sincere Joy in the hearts of his servants far exceeding that of Harvest which is not without great toil or that of Souldiers dividing the spoil which is not atchieved without confused noise and garments rolled in blood ver 2.3 5. By the way of the sea The sea of Tiberias John 21.1 or lake of Genesareth Luke 5.1 Beyond Jordan Or beside Jordan In Galilee of the Gentiles See the Note on Matth. 4.15 Ver. 2. The people that walked in darkness Liberationis lucem promittit See the Note on Matth. 4.16 Ver. 3. Thou hast multiplyed the Nation Or Never since thou multiplyedst this people didst thou give them such joy i e. such matter of joy as now Thou intendest to do Or thus Thou wilt multiply this Nation thou wilt encrease their joy especially by sending thy Son who is called the Gift John 4.10 the Benefit 1 Tim. 6.2 such as wherein all discontents are soon swallowed up Everlasting Joy shall be upon the Heads of the Lords Ransomed ones they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flye away Isa 35.10 They joy before thee Pleasure there must be in the wayes of God because therein men let out their souls into God the Fountain of all good Christs Chariot is paved with Love Cant. 3.9 10. According to the joy in Harvest and a great deal more Psalm 4.7 They do over-abound exceedingly with joy 2 Cor. 7.4 Joyes they have unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 And as men rejoyce when they divide the spoil Wherein the pleasure is usually more then the profit Psal 119.162 and yet the profit oft very great too as 2 Chron. 20.25 and as at the sack of Constantinople at the wealth whereof the Turks themselves wondered and derided their folly that possessing so much they would bestow so little in the defence of themselves and their Countrey Turk Hist fol. 345. Ver. 4. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burthen i. e. Thou hast disenthralled and delivered thy people from the burthenous yokes of their enemies both corporal and spiritual that taking thine easie yoke thy light burthen upon them they might serve thee without fear in holiness and righteousness before thee all the days of their lives Luke 1.74 The Jew-Doctors expound all this of Senacheribs Tyranny and their deliverance therefrom But the Prophet intendeth a further matter ver 6.7 And the staffe of his shoulder Wherewith he was beaten and bastinado'd See chap. 14.5 The Rod of his oppressour Metaphora ab agasonibus a Metaphor from Horse-drivers who lay on without mercy Whipping among the Turks hath been usually inflicted even upon the greatest Bashaws of the Court upon the least displeasure of the Tyrant Ib. 361. especially if they be not natural Turks born The poor Captives met with hard measure this way at Babylon but Satans slaves with much harder Christ fitly noteth here that the Rod wherewith the Devil whippeth sinners is their own lusts and passions yea herewith they punish themselves by his instigation as the Lion beateth himself with his own tail As in the day of Midian beaten by Gideon Judg. 7.22 So the day of Gibea Hos 9.9 The day of Jerusalem Psalm 137.7 The battel of Agin court The Sicilian vespers c. Gideon by the sound of Trumpet and shining of Lamps out of earthen broken vessels overcame those Midianites so by the Trumpet of his Word and light of the Gospel carried through the world by weak Instruments hath Christ confounded his Adversaries 1 John 2.14 as One fitly maketh the comparison See it largely prosecuted in sixteen particulars in Cornelius à Lapide upon the Text. Ver. 5. For every battle of the Warriour c. Great is the wo of war when Death heweth its way through a wood of men in a minute of time from the mouth of a murdering piece when fire and sword waste at pleasure The birth of Christ comforteth against all the miseries of War whereunto therefore it is opposed both here and Mic. 5.1 2. See the Note there Now then as the Israelites frighted and flighted the Midianites with saying Hic Gideon Here 's Gideon so may we our spiritual enemies by crying Hic Jesus Hoc in signo vincemus Here 's Jesus we are more then Conquerers through him that loved us But this shall be with burning i. e. with the fire of the holy Ghost saith Oecolampadius burning up our corruptions as chap. 4.4 and moulding us into a new man Diodate senseth it thus The world shall be filled with blood and wars and at last shall be consumed with fire at the day of Judgement Ver. 6. For unto us a child is born That Child foretold of chap. 7.14 Christ shall be born in the fulness of time as sure as if he were born already This was good tidings of great joy to all people Luke 2.10 The Hebrew Besher for good tidings cometh of Bashar for Flesh because say some Criticks there shauld be a taking of Flesh God manifested in the flesh which should be the best tidings Angels first brought it and were glad of such an Errand Still they pry into this Mysterie prono capite propenso collo 1 Pet. 1.12 and can never sufficiently wonder to see that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great God a little child regens sidera sugens ubera that He who Ruleth the stars should be sucking at the breast that the Eternal Word should not be able to speak a word that He that should come in the Clouds should appear in clouts Luke 2.12 in vilibus veteribus indumentis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Induit sordes nostras He condescended to our rags saith Ladolphus in old tattered rags in such clouts as we cover wounds and beggars sores with all say others Well might Synesius call Christ viscerum ingentium partum the birth of huge Bowels For the time of his birth Christ living just thirty two years and an half saith One and dying at Easter it must needs follow that he was born about the middle of the moneth Tisri which answereth to part of our September at the Feast of Tabernacles c. to which Feast the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 1.14 probably alludeth Vnto us a son is given That only begotten Son of God John 3.16 begotten of the substance of his Father before all beginnings after an unspeakable manner The Scripture speaketh of it usually by way of circumlocution Col. 1.15 Rev. 19.12 or giveth us only some glimpse by way of similitude as Heb. 1.3 This Eternal Son of God the second Person in Trinity assumed our Nature Heb. 2.17 He overtook it as the Greek word signifieth as the Shepherd doth his sheep that 's run astray A Shepherd with a sheep upon his shoulder engraved upon the Communion-Cup in the Primitive
Called the Jews language chap. 35.11 13. the Hebrew tongue wherein were written the lively Oracles of God This Language therefore the Elect Egyptians shall learn and labour for that pure lip Zeph. 3.9 to speak as the Oracles of God 1 Pet 4.11 Wholsom words 2 Tim. 1.13 Right words Job 6.25 Words of wisdom Prov. 1.6 Of truth and soberness Act. 26.25 to be Examples to others not only in faith and conversation but also in words and communication 1 Tim. 4.12 And swear to the Lord of hosts Devote themselves to his fear and service Nempe susceptione baptismi Piscat taking a corporal oath for that purpose as in baptisme and other holy covenants whereupon haply they might be inabled to speak with tongues the holy tongue especially as most necessary for Christians Here then we have a description of a true Christian not such as the Jesuites in their Catechisme give us viz. A Christian is he who believeth whatsoever the Church of Rome commandeth to be believed swearing fealty to Her One shall be called the City of destruction i. e. Nevertheless there shall be a few cities that shall despise Christian Religion and shall therefore be destroyed for neglecting so great salvation It shall be easier for Sodom one day then for such Others render the text Heliopolis or the city of the Sun shall be accounted one sc of those 5 converted cities and become consecrated to the Sun of righteousness Joseph Ant. lâ—b 13. cap. 6. Ver. 19. In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord A spiritual altar for spiritual sacrifices as ver 20. Heb. 13.10 Onias the Jewish Priest who hereupon went and built an altar at Heliopolis in Egypt and sacrificed to God there was as much mistaken as the Anabaptists of Germany were in their Munster which they termed new Jerusalem and acted accordingly sending forth Apostles casting out orthodox Ministers c. And a pillar in the border thereof that is saith One the Gospels and writings of the Apostles that pillar and ground of truth Or a publike confession of the Christian faith Rom. 10 9. An allusion to Josh 22.10 25. See Zech. 14.9 20 21. Ver. 20. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness The doctrine of Christs death is a clear testimony of Gods great love and kindness to mankind Rom. 5. and 8. For they shall cry unto the Lord for their oppressours As the Israelites sometimes had done under the Egyptian servitude Exod. 3.9 And he shall send them a Saviour not Moses but Messias that great Saviour Servatorem magnatem vel magistrum for God hath laid his peoples help on One that is mighty Psal 89.19 See Tit. 2 13. Ver. 21. And the Lord shall be known to Egypt They shall both know the Lord Christ and be known of him as Gal. 4.9 See Rom. 10.20 And shall do sacrifice and oblation Perform reasonable service Rom 12.1 such as whereof they can render a reason Not a Samaritan service Joh. 4.22 or Athenian Act. 17.23 Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship c. God will have no such blind sacrifices Mal. 1.8 Yea they shall vow a vow c. That in baptisme especially Facit opus aâ—tenum ut faciat proprium Isa 28. Ver. 22. And the Lord shall smite Egypt That he may bring it into the bond of the covenant Ezek. 20.37 Heb. 12.9 Hos 6.1 He shall smite and heal it Heb. smiting and healing Vna eademque manus c. Vna gerit bellum monstrat manus altera pacew as it was said of Charles 5. And shall heal them Pardon their sins heal their natures and make up all breaches in their outward estates Ver. 23. In that day there shall be an highway c. All hostility shall cease and a blessed unanimity be settled amongst Christs subjects of several nations Hereunto way was made by the Roman Empire reducing both these great countries into Provinces And the Egyptiant shall serve Serve the Lord with one shoulder as Zeph. 3.9 Ver. 24. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt The posterity of Sem Ham and Japhâ—t shall concur in the communion of Saints the pale and partition-wall being taken away Even a blessing in the middest of the earth The Saints are so Absque stationibus non staret mundus If it were not for them the world would soon shatter and fall in pieces Jun. Ver. 25. Whom the Lord of hostes shall bless Or For the Lord of hostes shall bless and then he shall be blessed as Isaac said of Jacob Gen. 27.33 Blessed be Egypt my people A new title to Egypt and no less honorable Vide quantum profecerit Aegyptus flagellis saith Oecolampad here i e. See how Egypt hath got by her sufferings See ver 22. She who was not a people but a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven is now owned and taken into covenant And Assyria the work of my hands For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2.10 And Israel mine Inheritance This is upon the matter one and the same with the former every regenerate person whether Jew or Gentile is all these three in conjunction O the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the heaped up happiness of all such Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Zion be joyful in their King Psalm 149.2 For the Lord her God in the midst of her is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over her with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over her with singing Zeph. 3.17 CHAP. XX. Ver. 1. IN the year that Tartan A certain Commander under Sennacherib 2 King 18.17 who came against Ashdod among other Cities of Judah about the twelfth year of King Hezekiah Came to Ashdod Called also Azotus Act. 8.40 and much praised by Herodotus in Euterpe When Sargon That is Sennacherib most likely who had seven Names saith Hierom eighth say some Rabbins Commodus the Roman Emperour took unto himself as many names as there are months in the year 1 â—on which also he changed ever and anon but constantly kept that of Exuperans because he would have been thought to excel all men The like might be true of Sargon Herod l. 2. And fought against Ashdod and took it Psammetichus King of Egypt had before taken it after a very long siege now it is taken again from the Aegyptian by the Assyrian to teach them and others not to trust to Forts and fenced Cities Ver. 2. At the same time spake the Lord Against Egypt and Ethiopia whom he had comforted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Per Isaiam tanquam organum disâ—ensatorem suoâ—um myster Oecolamp Vestimentum â—i losum ver 18. 19 and yet now again threateneth shewing by an ocular demonstration what miseries should befall them This was done in Jury but the report thereof might easily come to these confederate Countreys and the Jews howsoever were given hereby to
and the earth shall cast out the dead i. e. Qua facilitate herbulas reficit Deus eadem mortuos animare potest God can as easily raise the dead as refresh the herbs of the earth with a reviving dew when they were even scorched to death with the heat of the Sun See we not a yearly resurrection of grass grain flowers fruits every Spring-tide And surely if Nature can produce out of a small seed a great Tree or a Butter-fly out of a worm or the beautiful featherd Peacock out of a mishapen egg cannot the Almighty raise our bodies out of dust who first out of dust made them or can the condition of any people or person be so desperate that he is not able to help them out The assurance of Gods power which shall shew it self in the raising of the dead is a most excellent argument to confirm us in the certainty of Gods Promises seem they never so incredible to flesh and blood Atque haec de Cantico Ver. 20. Come my people Thus God lovingly bespeaketh his as leading them by the hand to an hiding place of his providing So he shut up Noah in the Ark secured Lot in Zoar hid Jeremy and Baruch when sought for to the slaughter bade Daniel to go away and rest before those great troubles foretold chap. 12.13 Austin and Paraeus died a little before Hippo and Heidelberg were taken So did Luther before the bloody wars of Germany For Mr. Brightman a Pursuivant was sent Life of K. James by Wilson a day or two after he was buried The burying place is not unfitly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a resting room to the Saints the grave a bed Isa 57.2 the bier that carrieth men to it Matteh i. e. a pallet 2 Sam. 3.31 Lyra and others by Chambers here understand the graves Confer Rev. 6.11 Joh. 16.33 those chambers of rest and beds of down to the bodies of the Saints until the last day There are that by chambers will have meant the closets of Gods Providence and Protection such as Pella was to the Primitive Christians Hitherto the Saints are exhorted to retire till the storm be over the enemy gone the destroying Angel passed over as Exod. 12.12 possessing their souls in patience As it were for a little moment Heb. A little af a moment Nubecula est Sozom lib. 15. cap. 5. cito transibit as Athanasius said when persecuted by Julian This storm will soon blow over this indignation doth not transire but pertransire pass but pass a pace Ver. 21. For behold This is as a cryer to prepare attention The Lord cometh out of his place Here God compareth himself to a Prince upon his Throne who goeth from his place of State into Countries to quiet mutinies and rebellions among his people The earth also shall disclose her blood Murther shall out oppression whether by force or fraud shall be certainly and severely punished See Job 16.8 See an instance hereof in Leviathan chap. 27.1 whether you understand it of the Devil that old man-slayer as Many Ancients do or else the Kings of the Nations and especially of the Turks as some Rabbins CHAP. XXVII Ver. 1. IN that day The day of Gods great Assize and of execution to be done on the enemy and the Avenger chap. 26.21 Now we know how well people are pleased when Princes do Justice upon great Offendors The Lord with his sore and great and strong Sword Heb. With his Sword that hard or heavy one and that great one and that strong one that is with his Word saith Oecolampadius who by Leviathan here understandeth the Devil who is elsewhere also called the Serpent and the great dragon Rev. 12.9 20.2 But they do better in my Judgement who by Leviathan here understand some great Tyrant acted by the Devil against the Church such as was Pharaoh see Ezek. 29.3 Sennacherib see chap. 8.7 or Nebuchadnezzar see Jer. 51.13 and at this day the Grand Signior who hath swallowed up countries as the Leviathan or the Whale doth fishes For in the greatness of his Empire is swallowed up both the Name and Empire of the Sarasines the most glorious Empire of the Greeks the Empire of Trapezonum the renowned Kingdoms of Macedonia Peloponnesus Epirus Bulgaria Servia Bosna Armenia Cyprus Syria Egypt Judea Tunis Argeirs Media Mesopotomia with a great part of Hungary as also of the Persian Kingdom His Territories do somewhat resemble a long and winding Serpent as some learned men have observed and for the slights might which he useth against Christians still who knows them not out of the Turkish story God therefore will shortly take him to do sharpening haply the Swords of men as he hath lately and marvellously done of the Venetians as instrumental to ruine this vast Empire which laboureth with nothing more then the weightiness of it self Jun. And he shall slay the Dragon that is in the sea i. In fluctuante hujus saeculi aestuario Of the strange length of Dragons see Aelian l. 2. c. 21. and Plin. l. 8. c. 11. In the last year of the raign of Theodosius senior there was a Dragon seen in Epirus of that vast bigness that when he was dead eight yokes of Oxen could hardly draw him By Dragon some understand the same with Leviathan vâ—z the Whale or Whirlpool The Dragon is never satisfied with blood though never so full gorged no more are Persecutors Ver. 2. In that day sing ye to her Or of her a new song for a new deliverance Haply this shall be done by the Christian Churches upon the conversion of the Jews after the Turks downfall like as at the building of the second Temple the people sang and shouted Grace Grace unto it Zech. 4 7. A Vineyard of red Wine i. e. Of rich and generous Wine Vini meri non labruscarum ut cap. 5. See Prov. 23.31 Gen. 49.22 By this red wine Oecolampadius understandeth Christs blood wherewith the Church is purged and beautified Sanguis Christi venustavit genas meas said a certain good woman a Martyr Ver. 3. I the Lord do keep it And then it cannot but be well kept The matter is well amended with Gods Vineyard since chap. 5.5 The Lord is with you whiles ye are with him 2 Chron. 15.2 The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him Ezra 8.12 Do good O Lord unto those that be good c. As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways c. Psal 125.4 5. I will water it every moment God will be to his Vineyard both a Wall and a Well a Sun and a Shield as Psal 84.11 all that heart can wish or need require Of all possessions saith Cato none requireth more care and pains then that of Vineyards Corn comes up and grows alone Mar. 3. but vines must be daily dressed fenced supported In Philip. watered Plantas tenellas
expression note that man is the cause of evil to himself and is so blinded by his own default that he cannot so much as once think seriously of his souls health His deluded heart that hath so oft deceived him may well say to him as the heart of Apollodorus the Tyrant seemed to say to him who dreamed one night that he was fleaed by the Scythians and boyled in a Caldron and that his heart spake to him out of the kettle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is I that have drawn thee to all this Is there not a lye in my right hand i. e. An idol that is nothing in the world and nothing it can do for me How then are Images fit to be Lay men books being unprofitable lyes and teachers of lyes Jer. 10.8 and 16.19 Hab. 2.18 Ver. 21. Remember these O Jacob and Israel i. e. Remember these abominable Idolaters and enjoy their madness learn wisdome by their folly Thou shalt not be forgotten of me Or forget me not as some render it Scultetus addeth that whereas many sacred sentences are written upon our walls this ought to be written upon our hearts O Israel forget me not Ver. 22. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sinnes God blotteth out or wipeth away the thick cloud as well as the cloud enormities as infirmities like as the Sun dispelleth foggs and mists with his bright beams Think of this sweet similitude together with that other Mic. 7.19 Thou wilt cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea and then despair if thou canst The sea by its vastness can drown mountaines as well as mole-hills and the Sun by his force can scatter the greatest mist as well as the least vapour So here Ver. 23. Sing O ye heavens for the Lord hath done it It is usual both with the Prophets and the Apostles when they mention the great work of mans Redemption typified by that famous deliverance from Babylon to break forth into praise and thanksgiving to God the sole Authour thereof See Psal 68 89 93 95 96 97 98 99 100. Isa 12.25 26. Rom. 7.24 25. 1 Cor. 15.56 57. 1 Tim. 1.17 Rev. 5.11 12. Here is hinted that so very great is the benefit of our Redemption that it might well affect Heaven and Earth and all things high and low Ver 24. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer All this God had said oft before see chap. 42.5 but for the further confirmation of some who were unsettled by the contrary predictions of some vain diviners and wizzards he saith it over again Ver. 25. That frustrateh the tokens of the lyars Their false Prognostiks of the long lastingness of the Babylonian Empire and therefore no likelihood of the Jews enlargement And maketh diviners mad Diviners the Latines call Southsayers and such fellows by a term that is altogether too good for them quum sint potius diabolici saith Piscator sith they are rather Devils incarnate than Divines By a like form of speech Alsted said of his Germans In Encyclop that if the Sabbath day should be named according to their observing of it Daemoniacus potius quam Dominicus diceretur That turneth wise men backward The worlds Wizzards who approved of that which the Diviners affirmed judging according to outward appearance c. Ver. 26. That confirmeth the word of his servant i. e. Of my self and other Prophets saying the same with me That saith to Jerusalem Who then shall gainsay it is not Gods Word his Will and his Will his Work Ver. 27. That saith to the deep Be dry i. e. That will put it into the heart of Cyrus to dry up Euphrates and so to take Babylon which according to some is here called the Deep or Abysse because situated in a plain well watred with sundry rivers had wealth at will and many Princes who ran into her as rivers do into the sea And I will dry up thy rivers This Basil expounds of the end of the world Hexaem l. 3. Ver. 28. That saith of Cyrus One hundred and seventy years at least before he was born Thou art my Shepherd i. e. Princeps meus beneficus Coresh in the Persian tongue signifieth food saith Scaliger and then there might be some allusion here to his name in calling him a Shepherd or Feeder CHAP. XLV Ver. 1. TO his anointed i. e. To his appointed and enabled one to subdue many Nations Xenophon in his first book de Cyropaed gives us a lift of them Cyrus subdued saith he the Syrians Assyrians Arabians Cappadocians Phrygians the Lydians Carians Phenicians Babylonians the Bactrians Indians Cilicians Lib. 1. Sacians Paphlagonians Maryandines and many other Nations He also had dominion over the Asiatikes Greekes Cyprians Egyptians c. He vanquished saith Herodotus what Country soever he invaded And what wonder when God himself as here held or strengthened his right hand and loosed the loyns of Kings that were his adversaries that is disarmed and disabled them for it is he alone who strengtheneth and weakeneth the arm of either party De nat deor lib. 2. Ezek. 30.24 Et nemo vir magnus sine afflatu divino unquam fuit saith Cicero God transferreth Kingdomes and setteth up Kings Dan. 2.21 To open unto him the two-leaved gates Or doores whether doores of houses or gates of Cities all shall fly open before him as Act. 12.10 Ver. 2. And make the crooked places even Or the hilly places level I will break in peices the gates of brasse This God would do that his Temple might be built confer chap. 44.28 but in the New Testament Christ throweth the gates of hell off their hinges like another Sampson that he may build his Church Mat. 10.18 And it is this Aedificabo Ecclesiam meam that hath made all the stir in the world Ver. 3. And I will give thee the treasures of darknesse All that Craesus that rich King had amassed and other Princes but especially Babylon Jer. 50.37 and 51 1â— See Strabo lib. 15. Plin. 33. c. 3. Dan 5.3 Pliny saith that Cyrus brought out of Asiâ— Justin lib. 1. which he had subdued as much treasure as amounteth in our money to three hundred millions And yet this same Cyrus was within few years after made as poor as Irus for being in Scythia and there making shew of his great riches at a feast he was on the sudden slain and spoiled of all by Tomyris Queen of that Counâ—rey Ver. 4. For Jacob my servants sake That the enemies of my people being subdued they may have some breathâ—ng-while and liberty to live quietly in their own Country For which purpose also it was the will of God that this Prophecy of Isaiah should be made known to Cyrus for the good of the Jews that he might favour them and so it was as appeareth by Ezra 1.2 and by Josephus Antiq. lib. 11. cap. 1. H. Stephan I have even called thee by thy Name Thy name of honour
twentieth year of his reign as Jeremy also had set forth by a sign chap. 44.30 Ver. 14. Publish in Noph and in Tahpanes See chap. 44.1 For the sword shall devour round about thee Egypt was no whit amended by the former discomfiture at Carchemish therefore is now wholly subdued by the Babylonian Conquerour about three and twenty years after And the like befell the Greek Empire overturned by the Turks Ver. 15. They stood not because the Lord did drive them He struck a Panick terrour into them and then no wonder that men flee at the noise of a shaken leaf Ver. 16. Yea one fell upon another See ver 12. in a confused flight it is wont so to be And they said The Auxiliary and Stipendiary souldiers said so when once they saw that there was no good to be done for the Egyptians Nebuchadnezzar having so wasted all Steperus est Ver. 17. Pharaoh King of Egypt is but a noyse A meer flash one that vaunteth and vapoureth and that 's all So of Charles the eighth King of France Guicciardin saith that in his expedition to Naples he came into the field like thundering and lightning but went out like a snuffe more then a man at first and lesse then a woman at last He hath passed the time appointed He let slip his best opportunity which in giving battle is sometimes the losse of all Charles King of Sicily and Jerusalem was for this fault called Carolus Cunctator i. e. the Delayer Ver. 18 As I live Formula jurandi Elliptica Deo propria let none presume to swear in that sort Surely as Tabor is among the mountains As Tabor surmounteth and commandeth the little hills round about it and Carmel the adjoyning sea over which it hangeth a promontory so shall Nebuchadnezzar come into Egypt and subdue the whole Country Ver. 19. O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt But not likely long to dwell there Furnish thy self to go into captivity Heb. make thee instruments or implements of captivity Sarcinis reculisque collectis prepare to be packing Ver. 20. Egypt is like a very fair heifer Vitula elegans a trim bullock Juvenca petusca worshipping Apis the Bull and Mnenis the Cow and unaccustomed to the yoke of subjection as Hos 10.11 but I shall bring her to it Destruction cometh Or excision from the North cometh cometh certo cito penitus venit Ezek. 7.6 there come those that shall cut up this fair heifer or fat calf Ver. 21. Also her hired men in the midst of her like fatted bullocks Heb. bullocks of the stall not like to do much good service in respect of their luxury and petulancy Fat Eglon had but sluggish souldiers Campania with her delicacies matred Hannibals forces These mercenaries carried themselves as if hired non ad militiam sed saginam not to fight but to fat themselves Ver. 22. The voyce thereof of Egypt shall go like a serpent Submissa voce loquetur she shall hisse and whisper as being daunted and damped Vox trepida prae metu instar serpentuÌ„ stâ—idula scarce able to mutter or utter ought for fear Esa â—9 4 Ver. 23. They shall cut down her forrest i. e. Her many Cities Herodotus telleth of one thousand and twenty Cities that were in the land of Egypt in the dayes of King Amasis Because they are more then the grashoppers The Babylonian fellers are Lib. 2. Diodor. l. 1. c. 31. and those many hands will make light work Ver. 24. The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded This is in plain termes Subjungit Epiphonema the sum of all that had been said before Ver. 25. The Lord of hosts the God of Israel saith And shall he say and not do Num. 23.19 shall the Word of God be broken Joh. 10.35 Ver. 26. Behold I will punish the multitude of No Called populous No Hâ—die dicitur Alexandria Nah. 3.8 populous as Nineveh so Galilee of the Gentiles some render it nourishing No. And their Kings Here Calvin conjectureth that Pharaoh had made many of his Princes Kings for his greater magnificence but this came down soon after A bulging wall is near unto a downfal And Pharaoh Hophra chap. 44.30 And all them that trust in him As the Jews in Egypt did Ver. 26. And afterward it shall be inhabited Fourty years after Ezek. 29.13 sc in the dayes of Amasis whom Cambyses the Persian conquered after which it remained subject to the Persian Monarchs 150. years saith Eusebius being but a base and tributary Kingdom Ver. 27. But fear not thou O my servant Jacob If Egypt find so much favour as ver 26. what mayst not thou hope for See the same chap. 30.10 Ver. 28. Fear thou not O Jacob c. See chap. 30.11 But correct thee in measure c. God dealeth much otherwise with his own people then he doth with unbeleevers whose prosperity as it is full of thornes so their adversity is but a foretaste of eternal torment whereas all things even afflictions also work together for good to them that love God c. CHAP. XLVII Ver. 1. BEfore that Pharaoh smote Gaza Called also Gazer and Gazera having its name not from the Persian Gaza signifying wealth or treasure but from an Hebrew word signifying strength It was first smitten by Pharaoh at his return from Carchemish likely after he had slain Josiah and afterwards worsted the Babylonian at Euphrates Next by Nebuchadnezzar this and the four other satrapies of the Philistines were overrun then when he came against Egypt After that it was besieged and taken by Alexander the great who laid it waste Yet was it built again and called Constantia after the name of Constantine the great his sister being one of the chief Cities in Syria and having received the faith Euseb de vit Constant l. 4. Ver. 2. Behold waters rise up out of the North The Chaldaean as a mighty torrent shall overflow the whole Country and bury all as it were in one universal grave of waters as once at the deluge So Esa 8.7 This seemeth to have been done somewhat before Egypt was destroyed when Moab Ammon and Syria and therein Palestine drank of the same cup. Ver. 3. The Fathers shall not look back to their children Though never so dear to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greeks call them and the Latines have their Filius of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but shall be sollicitous of their own lives only qui de Deo ne tantillum quidem fuerant solliciti For feeblenesse of hands Through fear and fail of vital spirits so as to forget natural affection also Ver. 4. Because of the day that cometh to spoile all the Philistines God will find a time of vengeance to fall upon the wicked enemies of his people though he bear long with them Patientia Dei quo diuturnior eo minacior The wicked practiseth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth The Lord shall laugh at him for he
difference pell-mell lords and losels together as the Poet also singeth Sub tua purpurei veniunt vestigia reges Deposito luxu turba cum paupere mixti Claudian Omnia mors aequat Ver. 15. I restrained the floods thereof I made them keep home as mourners use to do And I caused Lebanon to mourn for him Heb. To be black i. e. in mourning-habit Athenienses non nisi atrati sapiunt said one Ver. 16. I made the Nations shake at the sound of his fall As the earth seems to shake at the fall of some mighty Cedar Sic subito casu quae valuere ruunt Shall be comforted In so noble a companion and partaker of their misery Confer Esa 14. Ver. 17. They also went down into hell with him It was wont to be said that hell was paved with Kings crests and shavellings bald-pates Henry the eight was told on his death-bed that he was now going to the place of Kings See Esa 30.33 what a coile kept this Esar-haddon in his time Oecolamp as being superstitibus terror praemortuis laetitia complicibus exitium sui ipsius ruina Ver. 18. To whom art thou like He fitly returneth to Pharaoh applying all this discourse to him In the midst of the uncircumcised Chap. 28.10 This is Pharaoh This is like that of the Poet Hic finis Priami fatorum hic exitus illum Virg. Aeneid lib. 2. Sorte tulit CHAP. XXXII Ver. 1. IN the twelfth month About a year and half after the City was taken Ver. 2. Take up a lamentation i. e. A lamentable Prophecy destructive to the Egyptians and it is very likely that they heard of it but heeded it not tanquam monstra marina Dei verba praetereuntes Thou art like a young lion For pride fiercenesse and cruelty And thou art as a whale Or Crocodile thou domineerest over sea and land far and wide thou playest Rex Thou camest forth with thy rivers With the armes of thy Nilus into the Midland-sea insanis bellis inquietans omnia breeding a great bustle in the Countries near adjoyning Ver. 3. I will therefore spread out my net Thou shalt be taken in an evil net when thou little thinkest of it Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him Psal 140.11 Look how Leo cassibus irretitus ait Si praescivissem and as the whale enclosed by fishers is lugg'd to land done to death cleft in peices with axes his flesh being made a prey for birds and beasts his blood far and near drenching the earth so shall it fare with Pharaoh and his forces Ver. 4. Then will I leave thee upon the land As whales are sometimes left by an ebbe whilst they pursue lesser fishes In June 1658. there was one so taken near Greenwich lately a peice of whose flesh was shewed unto me Oecol Ver. 5. With thy height Celsitudine tua with thy glory which thou holdest dearer then thy flesh or life Ver. 6. I will also water with thy blood Instead of thy river Nilus The land wherein thou swimmest Egypt where thou sportest as the whale doth in the mighty waters Natabunt colles valles cruore tuo Even to the mountains A most elegant Hyperbole the like whereto see 2 King 21.16 Ver. 7. And when I shall put thee out Or extinguish thee who art for thy power and glory as one of the worlds great Luminaries I will cover the heaven c. So great a fume or rather so vile a snuffe shall exhale that the heavens shall seem to be muffled c. It shall be once again deep darknesse over all the land of Egypt Hypallage Poetica Another Hyperbole Ver. 8. All the bright lights of heaven See ver 7. All this shall befal the world really and without an Hyperbole at the last day Mat. 24.29 Impiaque aeternam patientur saecula noctem Ver. 9. I will also vex Or grieve See Eccles 7.3 where the same word signifieth anger and sorrow Nebuchadnezzars growing greatnesse shall be a cut and a corrosive to them Ver. 10. When I shall brandish my sword As fetching my blow at them too and ayming where to hit them Every man for his own life Which he knows he hath forfeited and hath now great cause to fear sith his neighbours house is on fire Jam proximus ardet Ucalegon Ver. 11. The sword of the King of Babylon Here is that delivered plainly which was before parabolically Ver. 12. By the swords of the mighty Or of the Heroes or Giants The terrible of the nations Grassatores as Munster hath it inexpugnabiles as the Vulgar such as with whom there is no dealing Ver. 13. All the beasts thereof Egypt a most moist and fat Country was full of cattle Ver. 14. Then will I make their waters deep There shall not be men lef to derive them by ditches and channels into their grounds and pastures for the making of them fruitful And cause their rivers to run like oyle i. e. Smoothly and silently Lene sluit Nilus sed cunctis amnibus extat Claudian Vtilior nullas confessus murmure vires Ver. 15. When I shall make the land desolate See here the sad effects of sin and beware Then shall they know that I am the Lord Plerà que supra habuimus ideò sum brevior saith Lavater on ver 12. Ver. 16. This is the lamentation And this is the epilogue of this former Prophecy the latter followeth being of the self-same argument viz. a funeral dirge and exequy over Egypt Ver. 17. In the fifteenth day of the moneth i. e. Of the twelfth moneth ver 1. and about a fortnight after the former Prophecy God loves to foresignify and to do it often Ver. 18. Wail for the multitude Prophesy their destruction but doe it not without grief and regret Cast them down Do thou foretel it and I will not fail to fullfil it See Jer. 1.10 with the Note Let them know that hell gapeth for them and here I give thee the keyes thereof So God doth to every faithful Minister Matth. 16. not to Peter only nor to his pretended successor the Pope whom therefore Luther bravely slighted in these words of his Contemptus est à me Romanus favor furor I care neither for the Popes favour nor frowns Ver. 19. Whom dost thou passe in beauty What art thou better then other thy comperes and complices in sin Thou must also dance Down to hell Down to hell with the rest Be thou laid with the uncircumcised Strangers to the Covenant whereof Circumcision was a seal sinners the Chaldee here calleth them such as the devil sweeps Serm. of Repent p. 70. they are his birds saith Mr. Bradford Martyr whom when he hath well fed he will broach them and eat them chaw them and champ them world without end in eternal woe and misery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cadaver Ver. 20. They shall fall Carkeises have their names both in Greek and Latine from falling Fit subitò funus
the earth His wrath is like Elijah's cloud which was at first but a smal matter to see to or as thunder which we hear at first a little roaring noise afar off but stay a while it is a dreadful crack or as fire that at first burneth a little upon a few boards but when it prevaileth bursteth out in a most terrible flame Ver. 20. Shall shake at my presence And wriggle into their holes as worms do in time of thunder And the mountains shall be thrown down Hyperbolical threats to set forth the dreadfulnesse of Gods fierce wrath which burns as low as hell it self Ver. 21. And I will call for a sword Against Antiochus by the Maccabees against the Turk and Pope by the Christian Princes Hunniades Scanderbeg Queen Elizabeth the late and present Kings of Sweden the English and French forces in Flanders now before Gravelin after Dunkirk and Bergen taken from the Spaniard Certain it is that ere long the Beast and the false Prophet shall be taken and all the fouls of the heaven filled with the flesh of those Kings and Captains that fight against the Gospel Rev. 19.19 20 21. Ver. 22. An overflowing rain and great hail-stones As once at the general deluge destruction of Sodom discomfiture of the Kings of Canaan in Joshua's dayes chap. 10.11 Some think that these Judgements here threatened shall towards the end of the world be executed upon Antichrist and his adherents according to the letter See Rev 16.21 See the Note there Ver. 23. Thus will I magnify my self This end God proposeth to himself in all his works and well he may sith he hath none higher then himself to whom to have respect And let all this that hath been said comfort us against the rage and good successe if any such yet be of the Antichristian rout sith these are but as he said once of decaying Carthage the last sprunts and bites of dying wild beastes CHAP. XXXIX Ver. 1. PRophecy against Gog Prophecy again against him for my peoples greater comfort The Jews noted ever to have been a light aerial and fanatical nation apt to work themselves into the fools paradise of a sublime dotage they expounding this Prophecy according to the letter conclude that Christ is not yet come because these things here foretold are not yet fulfilled When he doth come they say he shall set up his kingdom at Jerusalem gather all Israel out of all coasts unto himself there send each one to his own Tribe and that most certainly by the operation of his holy Spirit There they shall be no sooner setled and the kingdom not yet fully stablished In frusta vel scintillas redigam te Pintus Sextabo te but Gog and Magog shall bring a huge army against Jerusalem where they shall fall by the sword lye unburied c. Ver. 2. And I will turn thee back Convertam vel Conteram te See ch 38.3 And leave but the sixth part of thee Or strike thee with six plagues or draw thee back with an hook of six teeth as chap. 38.4 And will cause thee to come This is much and oft inculcated that it is God who brings in and drives out the Churches enemies This is a quieting consideration Ver. 3. And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand I will disarm thee Lib. 2. as Herodotus reporteth of Sennacherib and his Assyrians in Egypt that their quivers bow-strings and targets were gnawn to pieces by Mice and Rats in one night so that they were forced to flye for their lives And as our Chroniclers tell us that in the battle between Edward the third of England and Philip of France their fell such a piercing shower of rain as dissolved their strings and made their bowes unseful Dan. 237. Ver. 4. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel Thither thou shalt come indeed as Antiochus did into the Temple Antichrist into the Church of God 2 Thess 2. but there thou shalt take thy end Ver. 5. Thou shalt fall upon the open field Heb. the face of the field which thou shalt dung with thy dead carkasse Ver. 6. And I will send a fire on Magog So God will one day on Rome that Radix omnium malorum Rev. 18. And among them that dwell carelesly in the Isles Who must not think there to mott up themselves against my fire Ver. 7. I will not let them pollute my holy Name As if I were less able to deliver my people or less mindful of my Promises Ver. 8. Behold it is come and it is done It is as good as done So Babylon is fallen i. e. it will fall certainly quickly utterly This is the day O dieculam illam when shall it once be O mora Christe veni Ver. 9. And they that dwell Hyperbolical expressions though the Jews hold otherwise See on ver 1. Shall set on fire and burn the weapons Do not the Churches Champions so at this day ever since they proclaimed and proved the Pope to be that Antichrist burning up his weapons his false doctrines and heresies by the fire of Gods Word and giving their bodyes to be burned for the testimony of Jesus And they shall burn them with fire seven years i. e. Diutissime saepissime This seven years is not yet out The Jesuites say Satan sent Luther and God sent them to withstand him But there is a succession of Luthers to find them work enough still and to burn up their weapons that the Churches may be at rest Ver. 10. So that they shall take no wood This must needs be Hyperbolical as are also sundry other passages in holy Scripture When Luther burnt the Popes decrees and decretals at Wittenberg it was a fair fire doubtless as Solon once said of the fire he caused to be made at Athens of the bills and bonds of the Athenian usurers Ver. 11. I will give unto Gog a place there of graves That 's all the portion or possession he gets in the holy land On the East of the sea The dead sea or the lake of Sodom a fit place for Antichrist to be buried in he shall at last be cast alive into a worse lake Rev. 19.20 And it shall stop the noses of passengers By reason of stench or the mouthes of passengers from speaking evil of Gods people And they shall call it For a lasting monument of Gods great mercy in ridding the country of such Pests Ver. 12. And seven moneths shall the house of Israel be burying of them That is a long while like as the Reformed Churches were in â—ooting out Popery those damnable doctrines ceremonies images reliques bulls and books Here in England the Romish Religion stood a whole month and more after the death of Queen Mary as afore December 27. it was permitted that the Epistles Gospels ten Commandements Lords Prayer Creed and Letany should be used in the Vulgar tongue March 22. when the estates of the Realm were assembled by renewing of a law of
of Syria went to Jerusalem and in thankfulness to the God of the Jews offered his oblations at the Temple there Antiq. l. 12. c. 2 Of his father Philadelphus also he reporteth that he redeemed one hundred and twenty thousand Jews that were slaves in Egypt and sent them home and bestowed many rich gifts upon the Temple at Jerusalem Ver. 10. But his sons Callinicus his sons viz. Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus Magnus quasi duo fulmina belli Shall be stirred up At not enduring that Ptolomy Philepator son of Euergetes should possesse any part of Syria under their noses Lib 5. Shall assemble a multitude of great forces Seventy thousand footmen and fifty thousand horsemen saith Polybius Ceraunius id est fulminem quod audaci veloci ingenio praeditus Justin And one shall certainly come One not both because Ceraunus who seemed to be as swift and as irresistible as Lightning and therehence had his name was slain by Nicanor so that Antiochus Magnus was King alone And shall overflow and passe thorough To wit against the Captains of Ptolomy in Syriae Attalus and Theodatus And he shall be stirred up even to his fortresse To Ptolomies fortress or fortified City Raphia which lyeth in the entrances of Egypt saith Hierom. Ver. 11. And the King of the South Ptolomaeus Philopator so called say some per Antiphrasin because he killed his father he slew also his both sister and wife Eurydice and was otherwise very vicious and yet victorious Even with the King of the North i. e. With Antiochus Magnus who was so called perhaps saith one for undertaking much and performing little Pausan lib. 5. Spoliavisset regno Antiochum si fortunam virtute juvisset Justin And he shall set forth a great multitude Sixty two thousand footmen and six thousand horsemen And the multitude Antiochus his army himself hardly escaping with life through the deserts Ver. 12. His heart shall be lifted up So that he shall flight his enemy and not pursue his victory but give himself up to a luxurious life Vincere scis Annibal victoriauti nescis said that Roman General Ver. 13. For the King of the North Antiochus Magnus Shall return After Philopators death to fight against his yong son and successor Epiphanos Hierom. And shall set forth a multitude greater then the former Gathered out of the upper parts of Babylon He called in the help also of Philip King of Macedon and other Princes His army is said to have consisted of three hundred thousand footmen besides horse and Elephants And shall certainly come Heb. by coming he shall come i. e. surely swiftly suddenly but to small purpose Lib. 2. c. 8. Lib. 5. c. 5. And with much riches Gold silver purple silkes ivory at Florus and Gâ—llius testifie Ver. 14. And in those times there shall many stand up against the King of the South Many of the Jews who supplyed Antiochus in this expedition of his against Egypt Effractores Praevaricatoâ—es both with men and other warlike provision Howbeit sundry Jews called here robbers or refractories fierce furious and desperate fellows adhered to Ptolomy Epiphanes who gave them leave to build a Temple in Egypt which was accordingly also done by Onias not far from Memphis upon pretence of fulfilling that prophecy Isa 19.19 called here establishing the vision But they shall fall As they did afterwards by the Romans who destroyed the Jews there in great multitudes and burnt their mock Temple Ver. 15. So the King of the North shall come i. e. Not the Romans as some would have it but Antiochus Magnus still He had been foiled at Raphia now he greatly prevaileth against the Egyptians If we Princes said our Henry the seventh shall take every occasion that is offered the world shall never be quiet but wearied with continual wars And the armes of the South shall not withstand Scopas the Egyptian General though very skilful and valiant shall be beaten by Antiochus into Sidon besiged there and forced to yeild all the power of Egypt being not able to raise the siege and relieve Scopas The battle is not alwayes to the strong Eccles 9.11 Ver. 16. And he shall stand in the glorious land Heb. the land of ornaments that is Judaea which lying betwixt these two potent Princes was perpetually afflicted as corn is ground asunder lying betwixt two heavy milstones Now Judaea is called the glorious or beautiful land Ezek. 20.6 15. it is called the comeliness of all countries not so much for the fertility thereof Babylon was much more fertile nor for the miracles done therein many great works had been likewise done in Egypt as for the sincere service of God there set up This is the beauty and bulwark of any Nation Forrain writers have termed England The fortunate Island the Terraflorida the Kingdom of God the Paradise of pleasure c Plato commendeth the Attick Country for this that the Inhabitants were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the right Natives that grew out of it at first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thucyd. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato but especially for this that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a place that loved God and was interchangeably beloved of God May that be evermore Englands commendation Which by his hand shall be consumed Gods Church goes to wrack both by South and North. All she comfort is that whether North or South-wind blow on Gods garden they shall blow good to it at length Cant. 4.16 Ver. 17. He shall also set his face Antiochus longed sore to be Lord of Egypt and therefore undertook a third expedition against Epiphanes but that not succeeding to his mind he seweth the Foxes skin to the Lyons hide and seeketh to get that by treachery which by open hostility he could not And upright ones with him Or equal conditions with him he shall palliate his treachery with very fair pretences he shall seem to do righteous things drawing a fair glove over a foul hand Thus shall he do And he shall give him the daughter of women The fair Cleopatra his beautiful daughter like as Saul gave Michal to David to be a snare to him Filiam è mulieribus selectamâ— Munera pulchrae quidem mittis sed mittis in hamo Martial Corrupting her Suborning her to make away her husband Ptolomaeus Epiphanes This was devilish policy Simulata necessitudo duplex simultas but it took not But she shall not stand on his side neither be for him As became a good wife she â—lave to her husband so did the above-mentioned Michal in whom though we find no great store of religion for both she had an image in the house and afterwards mocked David for his devotion yet nature had taught her to prefer an husband to a father Ver. 18. After this he shall turn his face unto the Isles Missing of his design for Egypt and losing also much in Asia Minor which Epiphanes got of him by means