Titus remembring one day that hee had done no good to any one cryed out Amici diem perdidi And again Hodie non regnavimus Wee have lost a day c. This was that Titus that never sent any suitor away with a sad heart and was therefore counted and called Humani generis deliciae the darling of mankind the peoples sweet-heart The Senate loaded him with more praises when hee was dead than ever they did living and present Vers 7. Truly the light is sweet The light of life of a lightsome life especially Any life is sweet which made the Gibeonites make such an hard shift to live though it were but to bee hewers of wood and drawers of water I pray thee let mee live live upon any terms said Benhadad in his submissive message to that merciful Non-such 1 King 20.32 If I have found favour in thy sight O King and if it please the King let my life bee given mee at my petition Sic de Aspasia Milesia Cyri concubina Aelian lib. 12. cap. 1. var. hist said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that paragon of her time Q. Esther cap. 7.3 Ebedmelech is promised his life for a prey Jer. 39.18 And so is Baruc as a sufficient reward of that good service hee had done in reading the Roll for the which hee expected some great preferment Jer. 45.5 compared with chap. 36.1 2. The Prophet chides him and tells him hee might bee glad of his life in those dear years of time when the arrows of death had so oft come whisking by him and hee had so oft stradled over the grave as it were and yet was not fallen into it To maintain our radical humour that feeds the lamp of life is as great a miracle saith One as the oyl in the widows cruise that failed her not To deliver us from so many deaths and dangers as wee are daily and hourly subject unto is a mercy that calls for continual praises to the Preserver of mankind But more when men do not onely live but live prosperously as Nabal did 1 Sam. 25.6 Thus said David to his messengers shall yee say to him that liveth viz. in prosperity Which such a man as Nabal reckons the onely life The Irish use to ask what such a man meant to dye And some good Interpreters are of opinion that the Preacher in this verse brings in the carnal carl objecting or replying for himself against the former perswasions to acts of charity Ah! saith hee but for all that to live at the full to have a goodly inheritance in a fertile soil in a wholesome air near to the River not far from the Town to bee free from all troubles and cares that poverty bringeth to live in a constant sun-shine of prosperity abundance honour and delight to have all that heart can wish or need require what an heavenly life is this what a lovely and desirable condition c. Psal 34.12 What man is hee that desireth life and loveth many daies that hee may see good saith David I do saith one and I saith another and I a third c. as St. Austin frames the answer It is that which all worldlings covet and hold it no policy to part with what they have to the poor for uncertainties in another world In answer to whom and for a cooler to their inordinate love of life the Preacher subjoyns Vers 8. But if a man live many years and rejoyce c. q.d. Say hee live pancratice basilice and sit many years in the worlds warm sun-shine yet he must not build upon a perpetuity as good Job did but was deceived when hee said I shall dye in my nest Job 29.18 Psal 30 and holy David when hee concluded I shall never bee moved For as sure as the night follows the day a change will come a storm will rise and such a storm as to wicked worldlings will never be blown over Look for it therefore and bee wise in time Remember the daies of darkness that is of adversity but especially of death and the grave The hottest season hath lightning and thunder The Sea is never so smooth but it may bee troubled the Mountain not so firm but it may bee shaken with an earthquake Light will bee one day turned into darkness pleasure into pain delights into wearisomeness and the dark daies of old age and death far exceed in number the lightsome daies of life which are but a warm gleam a momentary glance Let this bee seriously pondred and it will much rebate the edge of our desires after earthly vanities Dearly beloved saith St. Peter I beseech you as Pilgrims and strangers abstain from fleshly lust c. q. d. 1 Pet. 2.12 The sad and sober apprehension of this that you are here but sojourners for a season and must away to your long home will lay your lusts a bleeding and a dying at your feet It is an observation of a Commentator upon this Text that when Samuel had anointed Saul to bee King to confirm unto him the truth of the joy and withall to teach him how to bee careful in governing his joy hee gave him this sign When thou art departed from mee to day 1 Sam. 10.2 thou shalt finde two men at Rachels sepulchre For hee that findeth in his mind a remembrance of his grave and sepulchre will not easily bee found exorbitant in his delights and joyes For this it was belike that Joseph of Arimathea had his sepulchre ready hewn out in his garden The Aegyptians carried about the Table a deaths-head at their feasts and the Emperours of Constantinople Isidor on their Coronation-day had a Mason appointed to present unto them certain Marble-stones using these ensuing words Elige ab his saxis ex quo Invictissime Caesar Ipse tibi â—umulum me fabricare velis Chuse Mighty Sir under which of these stones Your pleasure is ere long to lay your bones Vers 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth i. e. Do if thou darest like as God said to Balaam Rise up and go to Balak Numb 22.20 that is go if thou thinkest it good go sith thou wilt needsly go but thou goest upon thy death Let no man imagine that it ever came into the Preachers heart here oleum camino addere to add fuel to the fire of youthful lusts to excite young people unruly enough of themselves to take their full swinge in sinful pleasures Thus to do might better befit a Protagoras of whom Plato reports Plato in Menen that hee many times boasted that whereas hee had lived threescore years forty of those threescore hee had spent in corrupting those young men that had been his pupils or that old Dotrel in Terence that said Non est mihi crede flagitium adolescentem helluari potare scortari fores effringere I hold it no fault for young men to swagger drink drab revel c. Solomon in this Text either by a Mimesis brings in the wilde
they can the pictures of their young age that in old age they may see their youth before their eyes This is but a vanity yet may good use bee made thereof So contrarily the Preacher here draws out to the life the picture of old age that young men may see and consider it together with death that follows it and after death judgement And the strong men shall bow themselves Nutabunt the leggs and thighs shall stagger and faulter cripple and crinkle under them as not able to bear the bodies burden The thigh in Latine is called femur a ferendo because it beareth and holdeth up the creature and hath the longest and strongest bone in the whole body The legg hath a shin-bone and a shank-bone aptly fitted for the better moving The foot is the base the ground and pedestal which sustaineth the whole building These are Solomons strong men but as strong as they are yet in old age they buckle under their burden and are ready to overthrow themselves and the whole body Genua â—abant Virg. Hence old men are glad to betake them to their third legg a staff or crutch Membra levant baculis tardique senilibus annis Hence Hesiod calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them learn to lean upon the Lord as the Spouse did upon her Beloved Cant. 8.5 and hee will stir up some good Job to bee eyes to them when blinde and feet to them when lame chap. 29.15 Let them also pray with David Cast mee not off in the time of old age forsake mee not when my strength faileth Psal 71.9 And the grinders cease because they are few The teeth through age fall out or rot out or are drawn out or hang loose in the gumms and so cannot grind and masticate the meat that is to bee transmitted into the stomach for the preservation of the whole Now the teeth are the hardest of the bones Lactant. de opif. Dei if that they bee bones whereof Aristotle makes question They are as hard as stones in the edges of them especially and are here fitly compared to Mill-stones from their chewing office The seat of the teeth are the jaws where they have their several sockets into which they are mortised But in old men they stand wet-shod in slimy humor or are hollow and stumpy falling out one after another as the coggs of a Mill so that Frangendus misero gingiva panis inermi Juvenal And those that look out at the windows The eyes are dim as they were in old Isaac and Jacob. An heavy affliction surely but especially to those that have had eyes full of adultery evil eyes windows of wickedness for the conscience of this puts a sting into the affliction is a thorn to their blinde eyes 2 Pet. 2. and becomes a greater torment than ever Regulus the Roman was put to Plut. Oculus ab occalendo Turk hist when his eye-lids were cut off and hee set full opposite to the Sun shining in his strength Or than that Grecian Prince that had his eyes put out with hot burning basons held near unto them Vers 4. And the doors shall bee shut in the streets The ears shall grow deaf the hearing weak which hearing is caused by two bones within the inside of the ear whereof one stands still and the other moves like the two stones of a Mill. And hee shall rise up at the voice of the Bird Being awakened by every small noise and this proceeds not from the quickness of the hearing but from the badness of sleeping For as Hierome speaketh Frigescente jam sanguine c. Hieron in hunc vers The blood now growing cold and the moisture being dried up by which matters sleep should bee nourished the old man awakeneth with a little sound and at midnight when the Cock croweth hee riseth speedily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur quia nos a lecto exsuscitat being not able often to turn his members in his bed Thus hee Cocks crowing saith another unto old men is the scholars bell that calls them to think of the things that are in Gods Book every morning And all the daughters of musick shall bee brought low Old men as they cannot sing tunably Nam quae cantante voluptas Juvenal but creak or scream whence Homer compares them to Grashoppers propter raucam vocem for their unpleasant voice so they can take no delight in the melodious notes of others as old Barzillai confesseth 2 Sam. 19.35 they discern not the harmony or distinction of sounds neither are affected with musick They must therefore labour to become Temples of the Holy Ghost in whose Temple there never wants musick and sing Psalms with grace in their hearts for Non vox sed votum non musica chordula sed Cor Non clamans sed amans psâ—llit in aure Dei Vers 5. Also when they shall bee afraid of that which is high Hillocks or little stones standing up whereat they may stumble as being unsteddy and unweildy High ascents also they shun as being short-winded neither can they look down without danger of falling their heads being as weak as their hamms Let them therefore pray for a guard of Angels putting that promise into suit Psal 91. Let them also keep within Gods precincts as ever they expect his protection and then though old Eli fell and never rose again yet when they fall they shall arise for the Lord puts under his hand Psal 37.24 Contrition may bee in their way but attrition shall not Let them fear God and they need not fear any other person or thing whatsoever And the Almond-tree shall flourish The hair shall grow hoary those Churchyard-flowers shall put forth Plin. lib. 16. cap. 25. The Almond-tree blossomes in January while it is yet winter and the fruit is ripe in March. Old age shall snow white hairs upon their heads Let them see that they bee found in the way of Righteousness And the Grashopper shall bee a burden Every light matter shall oppress them who are already a burden to themselves being full of Gowt and other swellings of the leggs which the Septuagint and Vulgar point at here when they render it impinguabitur locusta The Locusts shall bee made fat Let them wait upon the Lord as that old Disciple Mnason did and then they shall renew their strength Act. 11. mount up as Eagles run and not bee weary walk and not faint even then when the youth shall faint and bee weary and the young men utterly fall Isa 40.30 31. And desire shall fail The lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life 1 John 2.15 And this Tully reckons among the commodities and benefits of old age quod hominem a libidinis estu velut a tyranno quodem liberet that it frees a man from the fire of lust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It should bee so doubtless an old Letcher
the captivity of Judah for it was but three hundred and ninety exactly in all but because he would set and mark out Judah's singular iniquity by a singular mark for that they had forty years so pregnant instructions and admonitions by so eminent a Prophet and yet were impenitent to their own destruction Vnto the carrying away of Jerusalem He thought belike when he prefixed this title that he should have prophecyed no more when once Jerusalem was carried captive but it proved otherwise for he peophecyed after that in Egypt chap. 44. yet not forty years also after the captivity as the Jews have fabled Nor is it so certain that for that prophecy he was slain by Pharaoh Ophrae whom Herodotus calleth Apryes and saith he was a very proud Prince as some have storied Lib. 2. in fine Ver. 4. Then the word of the Lord came unto me The Lord is said to come to Balaam Abimelech Laban c. but he never concredited his word to any but to his holy Prophets of whom it is said as here The Word of the Lord came to them Ver. 5. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee viz. With a knowledge not Intuitive only but also Approbative Verba notitiae apud Hebraeos secum trahunt affectum I sanctified thee Infusing grace into thy heart as afterwards also into the Baptists Luke 1.15 and setting thee apart in my secret purpose to this sacred office of a Prophet as afterwards also God did Paul to the Apostleship Gal. 1.15 And I ordained thee a Prophet Magna semper fecerunt qui Deo vocante docuerunt saith Luther They have alwaies done great things whom God hath called to teach his people quod est contra eos qui Ecclesiam ruituram putant nisi ipsi doceant saith Oecolampadiusâ— This text maketh against such as think that the Church must needsly suffer unlesse they though uncalled turn Teachers Vnto the Nations i. e. First to the Jews qui fere in Gentiles evaserant who were little better then Gentiles so Papagant are called Pagans Rev. 11.2 Secondly to forreiners of and to whom he prophecyed chap. 44 c. Thirdly to people of all times who may and must be instructed by this Book which is such as was highly see by and cited in the Old Testament by Daniel Ezechiel Nehemiah Ezra Obadiah who taketh most of his Prophecy out of him as in the New by our Saviour Matth. 21. Mar. 11. Matthew the Evangelist chap. 2. Paul 2 Cor. 6.1 10. Heb. 8. 10. John the Divine Rev. 2. 15. Ver. 6. Then said I Ah Lord God Verbum angustiae The old Latin hath it A A A whereby is noted say some a threefold defect sc of age of knowledge and of eloquence but that 's more subtil then solid True worth is ever modest and the more fit any man is for whatsoever vocation the less he thinketh himself forwardnesse argueth insufficiency Behold I cannot speak Heb. I know not to speak i. e. a right and as I ought Tanto negotio tam instructum oratorem me non agnosco Jeremy was an excellent Speaker as well appeareth by these ensuing Homilies of his which shew that he was suaviter gravis graviter suavis as One saith of Basil a grave and sweet Preacher one that could deliver his mind fitly and durst do it freely Hence some of the Jews judged our Saviour to have been Jeremiah propter dicendi agendique gravitatem Parrhesian for his gravity and freedom of speech Neverthelesse Jeremy in his own opinion cannot speak that is was no way fit to speak So Moses is at it with his Who am I Exod. 3. when as none in all Egypt was comparably fit for such an Embassage It was an usual saying of Luther Etsi jam senex in concionando exercitus sum c. Although I am now an old man and an experienced Preacher yet I tremble as oft as I go up into the pulpit For I am a child Epiphanius saith that Jeremy was not now above fourteen or fifteen when he began to Prophecy Samuel also and Daniel began very young So did Timothy Origen Cornelius Mus a famous Preacher say his fellow Jesuites at eleven years of age Arch Bishop Vsher was converted at ten years old His life and death by D. Bern. preached betime and so continued to do for sixty years or near upon Mr. Beza was likewise converted at sixteen years old for the which as for a special mercy he giveth God thanks in his last Will and Testament and lived a Preacher in Geneva to a very great age God loveth not Quaerists but Currists did Luther Ver. 7. Say not I am a child Plead no excuses cast no perils never dispute but dispatch never reason but run depending for direction and success upon God alone in whom are all our fresh springs and from whom is all our sufficiency c. Paul was a most unlikely peice of wood to make what he was afterwards called a Mercury Act. 14.11 yet God made use of him Act. 9.13 14. For thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee Whether Kings or Captives Lords or Losels He preached before Jehoiachim concerning the office of a King and threatened him with the burial of an asse chap. 22. and 36. he dealt plainly with the Princes who beat him and with the Priests who stockt him with all sorts to his great cost he was of an heroical and unexpugnable spirit so are not many in these times Verbi Dei truncatores emasculatores men-pleasing Preachers Act. Mon. Ver. 8. Be not afraid of their faces Look they never so big as did Henery 8. upon Latimer and upon Lambert who yet told him his own as did Stephen Gardiner upon Dr. Taylour Martyr but had as good as he brought The majesty of a man as also his wrath sheweth itself in his countenance and young men especially are apt to be baffled and dasht with fierce looks For I am with thee to deliver thee On one sort or another thy crown be sure no man shall take from thee thy perpetual triumph thou shalt not lose Ver. 9. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth This was a very great favour and a sweet settlement to the hesitating Prophet The like visible sign for confirmation was given to Isaiah chap. 6 to Ezekiel chap. 2. and 3. and to John the Divine Rev. 10. how much are we bound to God for his Word and Sacraments Behold I have put my words in thy mouth And in thy mind also together with good courage for the better uttering of them Fear not therefore though thou be as thou objectest infantissimus infirmissimus but go in this my might and Preach lustily Ver. 10. See I have set thee this day over Nations sc With authority to use the same liberty in reproving their sins that they take in committing them Fear not the highest for I have set thee over them
for his own proper sins and in a way of vengeance was a gross mistake And afflicted Or humbled He was stricken smitten afflicted But then afterwards he was exalted extolled and made very high ch 52.13 We also who suffer with him shall be glorified together and in a proportion 2. Tim. 2.12 Ver. 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions Not for his own for he knew no sin neither was guile found in his mouth neverthelesse he took upon him whatsoever was penal that belonged to sin that we might go free he was content to be in the wine-press that we might be in the wine-cellar He was bruised for our iniquities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Anacreon did upon a worse occasion Cernis ut in toto corpore sculptus amor Oh love that love of his as Bernard speaketh let it bruise our hard hearts into peices grind them to powder and make them fall asunder in our bosoms like drops of water Let us propagate our thankfulness into our lives meditating returns answerable in some proportion to our Saviours sufferings Oh that as Christ was crucifixus so he were cordifixus The chastisement of our peace was upon him They which offered burnt-offerings of old were to lay their hand upon the head of the beast thereby signifying the imputation of our sins unto Christ and that we must lay hand on him by Faith if we look for any comfort by his death and passion And with his stripes we are healed By the black and blew of his body after he was buffetted with dry-blows and by the bloody wailes left on his back after he had been scourged which was a punishment fit for dogs and slaves Nero they threatened to scourge to death as judging him rather a beast then a man But what had this innocent Lamb of God done And why should the Physicians blood thus become the sick mans salve We can hardly believe the power of Sword-salve c. Ver. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray Gone of our own accords as longing to wander Jer. 14.10 to wander as sheep lost sheep then the which no creature is more apt to stray and less able to return The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Ass his masters crib the very Swine accustomed to the trough if he goe abroad yet at night will find the way home again Not so the silly sheep Loe ye were all as sheep going astray saith Peter but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls 1 Epist 2.25 We have turned every one to his own way Quo variae errorum formae inuunntur dum suas quisque opiniones sectatur Each one as he is out of Gods way so hath his own by-way of wickednesse to wander in Wherein yet without a Christ he cannot wander so far as to miss of hell And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all i. e. Of all his Elect the iniquity of us all he hath made to meet on him so the Hebrew hath it or to light on him even the full weight of his wrath and dint of his dipleasure for our many and mighty sins imputed unto him Let the Jew jear at this and say that Every fox must pay his own skin to the fleare Let the Romist reject imputed righteousnesse calling it putative by a scoff there is not any thing that more supporteth a sinking soul then this righteousnesse which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Philip. 3.9 This Manus Christi as nailed to the crosse is the only Physick for a sin-sick soul believe it Ver. 7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted Heb. It the punishment of our sin was exacted and he being our surety was afflicted Or It was exacted and he answered i. e. satisfied Yet he opened not his mouth Though he suffered the just for the unjust with the unjust upon unjust causes under unjust Judges and by unjust punishments Silence and sufferance was the language of this Holy Lamb dumb before the shearer insomuch as that Pilat wondered exceedingly The Eunuch also wondered when he read this Text In vita ejus apud Surlum Acts 8.32 and was converted And the like is related of a certain Earle called Eleazar a cholerick man but much altered for the better by study of Christ and of his patience I beseech you by the meeknesse of Christ saith Paul and Peter who was an eye-witnesse of his patience propoundeth him for a worthy partern 1 Epist 2.23 Vide mihi languidum exhaustum cruentatum trementem gementem Jesum tuum evanescet omnis impatientiae effectus Christ upon the Crosse is as a Doctour in his chair where he readeth unto us all a lecture of Patience He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter Or as a sheep that is led to the slaughter which when we see done we should bethink us of Christ and see Him as it were in an Optick glasse The Saints of old did so in their Sacrifices and this was that hidden wisdom David speaks of Psal 51.8 the Ceremonial Law was their Gospel And as a sheep before her shearer is dumb The word Rachel signifieth an Ew Gen. 31.38 32.14 This Ew hath brought forth many Lambs Act. Mon. fol. 811. such as was Lambert and the rest of the Martyrs who to words of scorn and petulancy returned Isaac's Apology to his brother Ishmael Patience and Silence insomuch as that the Persecutours said that they were possessed with a dumb devil This was a kind of blasphemy Ver. 8. He was taken from prison and from judgement Absque dilatione titra judicium raptus est sc ad crucem so Vatablus rendereth it He was hurried away to the Crosse without delay and against right or reason Or as others he was taken from distresse and torment into glory when he had cryed consummatum est It is finished Inauditâ causâ and Father into thy hands I commit my Spirit The Seventy render it somewhat otherwise as may be seen Act. 8.33 the Apostle Peter explaineth it Act. 2.24 And who shall declare his generation Or who can reckon his age or his race Or who can utter or describe his generation i. e. The wickednesse of the men of those times he lived in or the history of his life and death Some understand it of his eternal generation Prov. 8.24 25. Others of his Incarnation that great Mystery of godlinesse Quantus enim Deus quantillus factus est homo Others of his holy seed his Crosse being fruitful Aug. and his death giving life to an innumerable generation Revl 7.9 For he was cut off out of the land of the living Quasi arbor saevis icta bipennibus as a tree that is hewn down 2 King 6.4 For the transgression of my people Our iniquities were the weapons and our selves the traitours that put to death the Lord of Life Judas and the Jews were but our workmen This should draw
of their solitary and forlorn condition Jam jacet in viduo squallida facta toro And her teares are on her cheeks Haerent perennant seldom or never are they off As hinds by calving so she by weeping cast out her sorrows Job 39.3 Among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her Optimum solatium sodalitium saith one And Affert solatium lugentibus suspiriorum societas saith another Father It was no small aggravation of Jerusalems misery that her confederates proved miserable comforters and her allyes kept aloof off so that she had none to compassionate her This is also none of the smallest torments of the damned Ghosts that they are unpittied of their best friends and nearest relations All her friends have dealt treacherously with her The Edomites and Moabites Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and Johanan the son of Kareah c. Every sinner shall one day take up this Lamentation And why they have forsaken the fountain of living waters and hewed them out broken cisterns that can hold no water Jer. 2.13 Ver. 3. Judah is gone into captivity But with no good will God hath driven them out for their cruel oppressions and hard usage of their poor brethren that served them Thus the Chaldee Paraphrast and not amisse Others thus Judah i. e. the inhabitants of the Kingdom goeth away i. e. willingly leave their country goods and dwelling sc before the desolation of Jerusalem because of affliction Jun. Udal i. e. extremity of trouble and great slavery c. She dwelleth among the heathen Where she can get nothing better then guilt or grief She findeth no rest No more then did the dove in the deluge Gen. 8.9 All her persecutors took her in the straits i. e. At the most advantage to mischief her a term taken from hunters or high-way-men The Chaldees took the City when it had been first distressed with famine and then the Jews that went down to Egypt for succour and shelter after Gedaliahs death they caught there as mice in a trap as this Prophet had foretold them chap. 42.43 and 46. but they would not be warned Mâ—tsraim proved to be their Meâ—sarim i. e. Egypt their pound or prison Ver. 4. The wayes of Zion do mourn So they seem to do because unfrequented overgrown with grasse and out of their kindly order Her Priests sigh For want of employment The virgins were afflicted Or discomfited those that are usually set upon the merry pin and were wont to make mirth at those festivities And she is in bitternesse Zion is but for nothing so much Cultus Dei desertus est omnia luctifica Jun. as for the decay of religion and the losse of holy exercises when this befalleth all things else are mere Ichabods to good people See Zeph. 3.18 Ver. 5. Her adversaries are the chief Heb. are for the head This was threatned Deut. 28.13 14 43 44 This when it falleth out is a great grief to the godly Therefore the Prophet Nahum for the comfort of Gods Israel is wholly in setting forth the destruction of their enemies the Assyrians Her enemyes prosper See Jer. 12.1 they prevaile and do what they list so that there seemeth to be neither hope of better nor place of worse For the Lord hath afflicted her Not so much her adversaries and enemies Cavet scriptura ne haec potestas detur adversariis Oecolamp or her oppressours and haters as the words properly signifie that is those that oppresse them in action and hate them in affection Her children are gone into captivity Those that were able to go for the rest were slain chap. 4. Before the enemy Driven before them as cattle Ver. 6. And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed Her glory as Esa 5.14 that is chiefly the Temple and the service of God in it It is now Ichabod with her The beauty and bulwark of a Nation are Gods holy ordinances Her Princes are become like harts i. e. Heartlesse bereft of courage they dare not make head against an enemy Before the pursuer R. Solomon here observeth that the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is written at full so as it is scarce anywhere else to note the fulnesse of the persecution Ver. 7. Jerusalem remembred in the dayes of her afflâ—ction Misery is the best art of Memory Then those priviledges we prized not in prosperity we recount with regret Bona à tergo formosissima Magis carendo quam fruendo the worth of good things is best known by the want of them and as we see things best at a distance so here Afflictions are pillulae lucis that do notably clear the eye-sight The adversaries saw her sc With a spiteful and scornful eye And did mock at her Sabbaths Calling the Jews in contempt Sabbatarians and jearing them as those that lost more then a seventh part of their time that way and telling them in scorn that now they might well awhile to keep a long Sabbath as having little else to doe Juvenal thus describeth a Jew cui septima quaeque fuit lux Satyr 5. Ignava partem vitae non attigit ullam Paulus Phagius telleth likewise of a black-mouthed Egyptian who said that Christians were a colluvies of most loathsom lecherous people that had a foul disease upon them and were therefore fain to rest every seventh day Perpetuo assidue graviter peccavit Ver. 8. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned Heb. hath sinned sin hath sinned sinningly doing wickedly as she could Jer. 3.4 and having many transgressions wrapped up in her sins and their circumstances Levit. 16.21 And this is here acknowledged as the true cause of her calamity Prophane persons lay all the blame in this case upon God as He in the Poet O patria O divûm domus Ilium inclyta bello Maenia Dardanidum ferus omnia Jupiter Argos Virg. Aeneid 2. Transtulit Postquam res Asiae Priamique evertere gentem Immeritam visum superis c. Therefore she is removed Heb. therefore is she unto removing or wandering as Cain was Ad modum Cain fraetricidae Figuier when he went to live in the land of Nod or as a menstruous woman is separated from the society of others Nidah for Niddah All that honoured her When her wayes pleased the Lord. Because they have seen her nakednesse Her infamous wickednesses for which she hath done pennance as it were and is therefore despised Or else it is a term taken from a naked captive woman Yea she sigheth and turneth backward sc To hide her nakednesse from publick view Or going into captivity she looked her last look toward her dear country and fetcht a sigh Ver. 9. Her filthinesse is in her skirts Taxat impudextiam insignem She rather glorieth in her wickednesse Paschasius then is any whit abashed of it a Metaphor from a menstrous woman that is immodest Oh quam vulgare hoc hodiè malum See Isa 3.9 But whence this