raising of his Son Christ Eph. 1.19 to raise us from the death of sin and of carnall Esa 51.16 to make us a people created againe Psal 102.18 Doth he not plant the heavens and lay the foundation of the earth that he may say to Zion thou art my people Empty man would be wise saith Zophar Job 11.12 though man be born like a wild asse colt Mans heart is a meer emptiness a very Tohu vabohu as void of matter to maâ—e him a new creature of as the hollow of a tree is of heart of oake God therefore creates in his people cleane hearts Psal 50.10 and as in the first creation so in the new creature the first day as it were God works light of knowledge the second day the firmament of faith the third day seas and trees that is repentant tears and worthy fruits the fourth day Lightf Miscel the Sun joyning light and heat together heat of zeale with light of knowledge the fifth day fishes to play and foules to flye so to live and rejoyce in a sea of troubles and flye heaven-ward by prayer and contemplation The sixt day God makes beasts and man yea of a wild asse-colt a man in Christ with whom old things are past all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess 4. And to whom besides that they are all taught of God the very beasts Esa 1.2 and birds Jer. 8.7 doe read a Divinity Lecture Aske now the beasts and they shall teach thee and the foules of the ayre they shall tell thee Anton. Eremita ap Aug. lib. 1. de doctr Christ Niceph. l. 8. c. 40 Clem. Alex. Job 12.8 The whole world is nothing else saith One but God expressed so that we cannot plead ignorance for all are or may be book learned in the creature This is the Shepherds Callender the Plowmans Alphabet we may run and read in this great book which hath three leaves Heaven Earth Sea A bruitish man knows not neither doth a foole understand this Psal 9 29. They stand gazing and gaping on the outside of things onely but asknot Who is their Father their Creator Like little children which when they finde a Picture in their booke they gaze and make sport with it but never consider it Either their mindes are like a clocke that is over wound above the ordinary pitch and so stands still their thoughts are amazed for a time they are like a blocke thinking nothing at all Esa 40.28 or else they think Atheistically that all comes by nature but hast thou not known saith the Prophet hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator c. or at best as the common passenger looks onely at the hand of the Diall to see what of the clock it is but takes no notice of the clock-work within the wheels and poises and various turnings and windings in the work so it is here with the man that is no more then a meer naturall 1 Cor. 2.15 But he that is spirituall discerneth all things he entreth into the clock-house as it were and views every motion beginning at the great wheel and ending in the least and last that is moved He studies the glory of God revealed in this great book of Nature and prayseth his power wisdome goodness c. And for that in these things He cannot order his speech because of darkness Job 37.38 39. he begs of God a larger heart and better language and cryes out continually with David Blessed be the Lord God the God of Israel who onely doth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious name for ever and eâ—er and let the whole earth be filled with his glory Amen and Amen Plal. 72.18 19. Verse 26. And God said Let us make man Man is the master-peece of Gods handy-work Sun Moon and Stars are but the workâ— of his fingers Psal 8.3 but man the work of his hands Psal 1â— 9.14 He is cura divini ingenii made by counsell at first Let us make c. and his body which is but the souls sheath Dan. 7.15 Animae vagina is still curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth that is in the womb Psal 139.15 with Eph. 4.9 as curious workmen when they have some choice peece in hand they perfect it in private and then bring it forth to light for men to gaze at Thine bands have mude me or took speciall pains about me and fashioned me saith Job Thou hast formed me by the book saith David Psal 139.16 Job 10.8 yea emâ—roidered me with nerves veyns and variety of limbs miracles enough saith One betwixt head and foot to fill a Volume Man saith a Heathen is the bold attempt of daring nature the faire workmanship of a wise Artificer saith another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trismegist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xâ—noph Miraculorum omnium maximum Stoici Gal. lib. 3. de usu partium Lib. 11. 1â— The greatest of all miracles saith a third And surely should a man be born into the world but once in a hundred years all the world would run to see the wonder Sed miracula assiduitate vilescunt Galen that prophane man was forced upon the description of man and the parts of his body only to sing a hymn to the Creator whom yet he knew not I make here saith he a true hymn in the honour of our Maker whose service I beleeve verily consisteth not in the sacrificing of Hecatombs or in burning great heaps of Frankinsence before him but in acknowledging the greatness of his wisdome power and goodness and in making the same known to others c. And in another place Now is he saith Gallen which looking but only upon the skin of a thing wondreth not of the cunning at the Creator Yet notwithstanding he dissembleth not that he had tryed by all means to find some reason of the composing of living creatures and that he would rather have fathered the doing thereof upon Nature then upon the very Authour of Nature Lib. 15. And in the end concludeth thus I confesse that I know not what the soule is though I have sought very narrowly for it Favorinus the Philosopher Nibil in terra magnum prater bominâ—m nibil in homine praeter mentem Fav ap Gel. was wont to say The greatest thing in this world is Man and the greatest thing in man is his soule It is an abridgement of the invisible world as the Body is of the visible Hence man is called by the Hebrewes Gnolam haktaton and by the Greeks Microcosmus A little world And it was a witty essay of him who stiled woman the second Edition of the Epitome of the whole world The soule is set in the body of them both as a little god in this little world as Jehovah is a great God in the great world Whence Proclus the Philosopher could say that the
body should have been in health 3 Joâ— 2. as his soule prospered The tree of knowledge of good and evill So called not because it selfe either knew or could cause man to know but from the event God Forewarning our first parents that they should know by wofull experience unlesse they abstained what was the worth of good by the want of it and what the presence of evill by the sence of it In like sort the waters of Meribah and Kibroth Hattaavah or the graves of lust received their names from that which fell out in those places Verse 10. And a river went out Pliny writeth Plin. l. 2. c. 106. that in the Province of Babylon there is burning and smothering a certaine lake or bog about the bignesse of an acre And who knowes whether that be not a peece of Paradise now drowned and destroyed V. 11. Where there is gold Which though never so much admired studiously acquired is but the guts garbage of the earth Gold is that which the basest element yeelds the most savage Indians get servile Apprentices work Midianitish Camels carry miserable muck-worms adore unthrifty Ruffians spend It is to be wondred thatt reading upon the Minerals we canot contemn them They lye furthest from heaven and the best of them in Havilah furthest of all from the Church Adam had them in the first paradise In the second we shall not need them Money is the Monarch of this world and answers all things but in the matters of God money bears no mastery will fetch in no commodity Iob 28.15 Wisemen esteemed it as the stones of the street 2 Chron. 1.15 children of wisdome might not possesse it in their girdles Matth. 10.9 Medes cared not for it Esa 13.17 and divels were set to keep rich and pleasant Palaces verse 22. So subject these mettals are to ensnare and defile us that God made a law to have them purified ere he would have them used Num. 31.22 23. and appointed the snuffers and snuffe-dishes of the Sanctuary to be made of pure gold Exod. 25.28 to teach us to make no account of that that he put to so base offices and is frequently given to so bad men The Spaniard found in the mines of America more gold then earth D. Heyl. Geogr. p 774. Hasten we to that Country where God shall be our gold and we shall have plenty of silver Iob 22.25 Verse 15. To dresse it and to keepe it This he did as without necessity so without paines without wearinesse It was rather his recreation then his occupation He laboured now by an Ordinance it was after his fall laid upon him as a punishment Gen. 3.19 to eat his bread in the sweat of his nose God never made any as he made Leviathan to sport himselfe only or to do as it is said of the people of Tombutum in Affrick that they spend their whole time in piping and dancing â—ph 4.28 but to work either with his hands or his head in the sweat of his brow or of his braine the thing that is good and with how much the more cheerfulnesse any one goeth about his businesse by so much the nearer he commeth to his Paradise Verse 16. Commanded the man saying God hath given man dominion over all the sublunary creatures and lest he should forget that he had a Lord whom to serve and obey he gave him this command to keep Of every tree of the Garden thou maist freely eat The lesse need he had to have been so licorish after forbidden fruit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic adhibet quod miserecordiae est But stoln waters are sweet Nitimur in vetitum c. Verse 17. But of the tree c. An exploratory prohibition God knew well where we are weakest and worst able to withstand viz. about moderating the pleasures of our touch and taste because these befall us not as men Arist Ethic. l. 1. c. 3. but as living creatures Here therefore he layes a law upon Adam for the triall of his love which left to his owne free-will he soon transgressed Thou shalt surely dye Certissimè citissiméque morieris saith Zuinglius thou shalt surely and shortly or suddenly dye And without doubt every man should dye the same day he is born the wages of death should be paid him presently But Christ begs their lives for a season For which cause he is said to be the Saviour of all men not of eternall preservation but of temporall reservation 1 Tim. 4.10 In which respect also God is said so to have loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. It was a mercy to all mankind Iob. 3.16 that the Messiah was promised and provided sealed and sent into the world that some might be saved and the rest sustained in life for their sakes Symmachus renders it Thou shalt be mortall Verse 18. And the Lord God said Had said to wit on the sixth day when he made Man and there was not a meet help found for him Then God said It is not good c. and so created the woman by deliberate councell as before he had done the man Only there it was in the plural Let us make here I will make to shew the unity of the Essence in the Trinity of persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athenis in nuptiis dici solitum Zenod. Proverb It is not good for man to be alone It is neither for his profit nor his comfort Optimum solatium sodalatium I will make him a helpe meet for him or such another as himselfe of the same form for perfection of nature and for gifts inward and outward one in whom he may see himself and that may be to him as an Alter-ego a second-self Eph. 5.28 Such an one as may be a help to him both so this life 1. By continuall society and cohabitation 2. For procreation and education of children And for the life to come 1. As a remedy against sin 1 Cor. 7.2 Secondly As a companion in Gods service 1 Pet. 3.7 Nazianzen saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. in pat â—pitaph that his mother was not only a meet help to his father in matters of piety but also a doctresse and a governesse and yet he was no baby but an able Minister of the Gospel Budaeus that learned French-man had a great help of his wife in points of learning she would be as busie in his study Non tractat negligentius libros â—eos quà m liberos Daniels Chron. fol. 262. as about her huswifery Placilla the Empresse was a singular help to her husband Theodosius in things both temporall and spirituall And so was our King Edward the thirds Queen a Lady of excellent vertue the same that built Queens Colledge in Oxford She drew evenly saith the Historian with the King her husband in all the courses of honour that appertained to her side and seems a piece so just cut for him as answered him
repentance Whether God created these skins anew or took them off the backs of sheep and goats killed for sacrifice to mind man of his mortality and mortification it much matters not Our first parents who even after the fall were the goodliest creatures that ever lived went no better cloathed no more did those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy Heb. 11.37 And surely The dogs that kept Vulcanâ— temple would tear those that came in tattered cloâ—thes Hospinian howsoever our condition and calling afford us better array and the vulgar like a Bohemian cur fawn upon every good suit purpuram magis quam Deum colunt yet we must take heed that pride creep not into our cloaths those ensignes of our sin and shame sith our fineness is our filthiness our neatness our nastiness It is a sure sign of a base minde though in high place to think he can make himself great with any thing that is lesse then himself and win more credit by his garments then his graces St. Peter teacheth women who many of them are too much addicted to over much fineness to garnish themselves not with gay cloathes but with a meek and quiet spirit as Sarah did and not as those mincing dames 1 Vestium curiositas deformitatis mentium morum indicium est Bernard Pet. 3.3 4. whose pride the Prophet inveighs against as punctually as if he had viewed the Ladies wardrobes in Jerusalem Esa 3. Rich apparell are but fine covers of the foulest shame The worst is Natures garment the best but follies garnish How blessed a Nation were we if every silken suit did cover a sanctified soul or if we would look upon out cloathes as our first parents did as love-tokens from God Nam cum charissinia semper Munera sunt Author quae pretiosa facit How could they but see it to be a singular favour that God with own hands should cloath them though he had cast them out of Paradise for their nurture a visible Sacrament of his invisible love and grace concerning their soules in covering their sins and so interresting them into true blessedness Psal 32 1 2. Verse 22. The man is bâ—come as one of us A holy irrisionof mans vain affectation of the Deity Quod Deus loquitur cum risu tu lâ—gas cum fleâ—u Aug. de Gen. ad â—â—eram 1.11 c. 3â— Howbeit St. Aug. is of opinion that God speaks thus not by way of insulting over Adam but deterring others from such proud attempts Discite justitiam moniti c. And take also of the tree of life And so think to elude the sentence of death pronounced upon him by God which yet he could not have done had he eaten up tree and all He should but have added to his sin and judgement by abuse of this Sacrament which would have sealed up life unto him had he held his integrity Multi etiam hodie propter arborem scientiae amittunt arborem vitae Aug. In terris manducant quod apudinferos digerunt Verse 23. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth He gently dismissed him as the word signifies placed him over against Paradise in the sight thereof as Stella observeth out of the Septuagint that Stella in Luc. 7 by often beholding the sorrow of his sin might be increased Iisdem quibuâ— videmus â—culis flemus Lam. 3. 2 Cor. 2.7.11 that his eye might affect his heart Yet lest he should be swallowed up of over much sorrow and so Satan get an advantage of him for God is not ignorant of his devices Christ the promised seed was by his voluntary banishment to bring back all beleevers to their heavenly home to bear them by his Angels into Abrahams bosome and to give them to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Rev. 2.7 Our whole life here is nothing else but a banishment That we like it no worse is because we never knew better They that were born in hell saith the Proverb think there 's no other heaven The poor posterity of a banished Prince take their mean condition well-aworth Moses counts Egypt where yet he was but a sojourner his home and in reference to it calls his son born in Midian Gershom that is a stranger there Oh how should we breath after our heavenly home Aâ—â— Paradisi Gesner groaning within our selves like those birds of Paradise Naturalists speak of stretching forth the neck as the Apostles word importeth waiting for the adoption even the redemption of our bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. Rom. 8.23 glorifying God mean-while with our spirits and bodies devouring all difficulties donec à spe ad speciem transeamus till Christ who is gone to prepare a place for us returne and say This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Verse 24. So he drove out the man The Hebrews say God led Adam gently by the hand till he came to the porch of Paradise and then thrust him out violently who hungback and plaid loth to depart That he went out unwillingly as I wonder not so that he should strive with God about his going out I believe not This garden planted meerly for his pleasure and all the benefits created for his use and service in six dayes he lost in six houres say some in nine say others the same day he was made say All almost What cause then have all his sinfull posterity to distrust themselves And how little cause had that blasphemous Pope to set his mouth against heaven Juâ—ius 3. when being in a great rage at his Steward for a cold Peacock not brought to table according to his appointment and desired by one of his Cardinals not to be so much moved at a matter of so small moment he answered If God were so angry for an apple that he cast our first parents out of Paradise for the same why may not I being his Vicar be angry then for a Peacock sith it is a greater matter then an apple Act. Mon. fol. 1417. Is not this that mouth of the Beast that speaketh great things and blasphemies Rev. 13.5 CHAP. IV. Verse 1. I have gotten a man from the Lord OR that famous Man the Lord as if she had brought forth the Man Christ Jesus These were verba spei non rei for Cain was of that wicked one the Devill 1 Joh. 3.12 as all reprobates are 1 Joh. 3.10 Cain the Authour of the City of the World saith Augustine is born first and called Cain that is a possession because he buildeth a City is given to the cares and pomp of the world and persecutes his brother that was chosen out of the world But Abel the Authour of the City of God Aug. de civit Dâ—i l. 15. c. 1. is born second called Vanity because he saw the worlds vanity and is therefore driven out of the world by an untimely death so early came martyrdome into the world the
stood leaning upon a desk while he slept eating little and speaking not much When he was asked how he did he would answer That he was chastised justly by God in whose hand it was what should at length become of him here But of his eternal salvation by the merits of Christ alone he nothing doubted being chastised of the Lord that he might not be condemned with the world The prints of his feet are to be seen in the pavement where he stood to this day saith the Historian After seven yeers suffering he departed in the true Faith of Christ with good hopes of a better estate in Heaven September the eleventh Anno 1552. A servant of servants shall he be to his brethren In which title the Pope of Rome not without the providence of God will needs be his successor A servant of Gods servants he will by all means be called And yet he stamps upon his coyn That Nation and Countrey that will not serve thee shall be rooted out What pride equal to the Popes making Kings kiss his Pantofles upon which he hath Christs Cross shining with Pearls and precious stones Vt plenis faucibus crucem Christi derideat Sands his Relation of West relig sect 12. What humility greater then his shriving himself daily to an ordinary Priest One while he will be filled Servus servorum Dei another while Dominus regnorum mundi which is one of the Devils titles yea Dominus Deus noster Papa Johan 23. iâ— Extravag taking upon him a power to excommunicate the very Angels also yea lifting up himself above Christ who is called Pontifex Magnus Hebrews 4.14 but the Pope calls himself Pontifex maximus Gregory the Great was the first that stiled himself A servant of servants in opposition forsooth to that proud Prelate of Constantinople who affected to be called Vniversal Bishop But after the death of Mauricius Phâ—cae adularâ— suppariseri c. Ut suam poâ—â—statem per favorem parricidae extenderet Revii hist pontif p. 45. when Phocas the Traytor came to be Emperor this Gregory clawed him shamefully and all to attain that dignity and dominion that he so much condemned in another The Pope of Constantinople could not bear a superior nor the Pope of Rome an equal The one sought to subdue to himself the East the other East and West too and thence grew all the heat betwixt them See the like ambition under the colour of zeal for their Religion in Selymus the Turk and Hismael the Persian Turk histor foliâ— 515. Vers 26. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. Shem seems to have been the chief actor and perswader of that reverent behavior and therefore as he is first named Vers 23. before his elder brother Japhet so here he hath the first and chief blessing It is good to be first in a good matter yea prompt and present to every good work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.1 as Paul hath it And Canaan shall be hâ—s servant This curse was not fulfilled of many hundred yeers after till the sins of the Amorites were grown full and then it was accomplished Gods forbearance is no acquittance He can also turn a curse into a blessing as he did this to Araunah the Jebusite 2 Sam. 5.7 of the worst and most stubborn of the Canaanites For they held the Tower of Jebus from the posterity of Sem after all the rest had yielded Yet he became a godly Proselyte and gave as a King his free-hold to King David to build an Altar on 2 Sam. 24.18 And this deed of his was long after remembred Zach. 9.7 The like may be said of the Gibeonites who are called Nethinims in Ezra and Nehemiah They were made servants to the Shemites drawers of water to the Temple as a kinde of punishment God made this Cross a Mercy Their employment so near the house of God gave them fit occasion to be partakers of the things of God And the Lord we see did wonderfully honor them the nearer they were to the Church the nearer to God It is good getting into his house though to be but a door-keeper with David or a tankard-bearer with these Gibeonites Stand but in Gods way as he passeth and thou shalt be preferred Vers 27. God perswade Japhet Formone else can do it Men may speak perswasively but to perswade is proper to God alone He speaks to the heart Hos 2.14 we to the ear onely He perswadeth and allureth not onely by a moral perswasion but by an irresistible inward drawing Acts 11.17 In the Hebrew there is a sweet Agnomination q. d. God shall perswade the perswasible He shall draw them to faith and obedience Monendo potiùs quà m minando docondo quà m ducendo saith Saint Austin by informing not inforcing He brings in his Elect by a merciful violence He sent forth at first not swordmen but fisher-men and prevailed by them in those places Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loâ—a Christo tamen subditâ— Tertul. where the Romans could never come with all their forces Elisha could do more with a kiss then his man could do with a staff in raising the dead childe Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth Cant. 1.2 And then follows Draw me we will run after thee And he shall dwell in the tents of Sem. The Churches abode here is but in tents She hath no continuing City on earth Heb. 13.14 1 Tim. 3.16 but seeks one to come This whether prophecy or prayer was fulfilled when God manifested in the flesh was preached unto the Gentiles and beleeved on in the world some thousands of yeers after The Gentiles were converted by vertue of this prayer as Paul was by Saint Stevens and as we enjoy the Gospel by Latimers yet once more and the prayers of other Martyrs Vers 28 29. And Noah lived after the flood c. This man if ever any that was born of a woman had a long life Job 14.1 and full of misery He saw the tenth generation after him before his death But oh how oft was he occasioned to get under the Juniper-tree with Elias and desire to dye Before the flood what a deal of wickedness and disorder beheld he in family Church and Common-wealth and all this punished by the deluge to his unspeakable heart-break Soon after he was mockt by his own son and despised by almost all the rest of his posterity whose unheard-of hardiness in building the Tower of Babel he was nolens volens forced to see and suffer and then shortly after the confusion of tongues as their just punishment What should I speak of their so many and so great cruelties insolencies tyrannical usurpations effusions of innocent blood wars stirs strifes superstitions and abominable idolatries under Nimrod Jupiter Belus Semiramis Vix mihi persuadeo virum ex homiâ—e miseriorem natum fuâ—sse quam Noah Funccii Chron. fol. 17. Zoroaster the Magick-Master and other Emims and Zamzummims of the Earth Of
strain vade tibi Get thee gone Gen. 12.1 Gen. 22.2 Here God led Abraham into temptation but delivered him from evill Have you not been tempted saith a Holy man in this or that kinde It is because God in mercy would not lead you into temptation Baines Letters Yea this is in some sort more to be acknowledged then victory when you are tempted For not to be tempted is more immediately from God and less in mans power then to prevail against temptation Sith nothing doth overcome us against our will but without our will God doth lead us into triall for he knoweth we would taste little of these if we might be our own carvers Vers 3. And Abraham rose up early c. To shew his prompt and present obedience He neither consulted with his wife nor with his own reason Exod. 4. She might have haply hung upon him and hindered him as Zipporah did Moses to the hazarding of his life He captivates all the powers of the soul to his Creator goes after him without sciscitation and so shews himself to be renewed in the spirit of his minde that is in his naturall reason for that like an old Beldam is the mother and nurse of all our distempers and outstrayes Cassianus tells us of a young man that had given himself up to a Christian life And his parents Cassianus misliking that way wrote letters to disswade him from it which when he knew he would not once open them but threw them in the fire Let us do so by the suggestions of flesh and blood and the counsell of carnall friends or we shall never rest and feast in Abrahams bosome I know not by what reason said Borthwick the Scotch Martyr they so called them my friends Act Mon. fol. 1157. which so greatly laboured to convert me as they called it neither will I more esteem them then the Madianites which in time past called the children of Israel to do sacrifice to their Idols Vers 4. Then on the third day A great while for him to be plodding ere he came to the place But we must conceive that his brains were better busied then many of ours would have been therewhile We must not weigh the cross for then it will prove heavy we must not chew the pill but swallow it whole else it will prove bitter We must not plod too much but ply the Throne of Grace for a good use and a good issue of all our trialls and tribulations Vers 5. Abide you here with the Asse This the Hebrews use for a proverb against such as are dull and uncapable Zophar saith That man is born as a wild-asses-colt As an Asses foal for rudeness and a wild-asses for unruliness Job 11.11 It imports that he is untamed and untractable till a new heart be put into him Agur had not the understanding of a man till he spake to Ithiel and Vcall for it Prov. 30.1 2. He wants the totum hominis that doth not fear God and keep his Commandements Eccles 12.13 Tu Asinus unum estote Alex. Cook his Abatement of Popish brags Epist will not do it which was the counsell given to a young Novice entring a Monastery And come again to you Nesciens formam rei futurae prophetavit sciens de eventu prophetavit quod ignoravit saith Amb. Vers 6. And laid it upon Isaac his son Who was herein a lively type of Christ bearing the cross whereon he was offered up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Plutarch speaking of the Roman fashion of crucifying malefactors And surely it was by a wonderfull providence of God that the Jews brought our Saviour to Pilate to be put to death sith they hated nothing more then to confirm or countenance the Roman tyranny among them by any means Hence Gamaliel gave counsell to dismiss the Apostles Act. 5.38 And hence the chiefe Priests and Rulers took it so exceeding haynously that Paul was taken out of their hands by the chiefe Captain Act. 23. But God had a hand in it that this and other types and Scriptures might be fulfilled that foretold the very manner of his death on a tree Let the Jews stumble now at the cross and fall backward Let the Gentiles jear us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 borreo dicere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In vita peregr Omnis homâ— aut est cum Christo regnaturus aut cum Diabolo cruciandus Aug. Justin l. 18. as Luciâ—n doth for that we deny the multitude of their gods and yet believe in a crucified God Let us desire to know nothing but Christ and him crucified and if ever we desire to be Kings in heaven and every man must be aut Caesar aut nullus a King or a caytiffe Let us seek by the eye of faith to see the Sun of righteousness in the West as Stratoes servant taught him Let us look upon Christ hanging on the cross dying on that Altar and we shall live for ever Vers 7. Where is the Lamb for a burnt offering Isaac was not to be told now what belonged to a sacrifice He had been long since taught by his father what was to be done in the service of God When I was young my father taught me saith Solomon Prov. 4.4 so did his mother also Primas in Philip Greg. Moral l. 27. c. 14. Prov. 31. in her Lemuels lesson Plantas tenellas frequentius adaquare proderit saith Primasius Vers 8. God will provide himself a Lamb A pious and precious Proverb much to be mused on and made use of Qui finxit alas papilioni is curabit omma when we are in an exigent and see not whither to turn us Then say Deus viderit God will with the temptation also give an issue 1 Cor. 10.13 Necesse est adesse divinum ubi humanum cessat auxilium saith Philo. Sciat etiam Celsitudo vestra saith Luther in a letter to the Prince Elector of Saxony Sâ—uâ—tet Ann. I would your Highness should well know that businesses are far otherwise carried and concluded in heaven then at the Diet at Norinberg c. And to Phillip Melancthon he writes thus Si nos ruemus ruet Christus unà ille regnator mundi esto ruat c. Sed scribo haec frustrà quia tu Scuâ—tet Annal secundùm philosophiam vestram has res ratione regere hoc est ut ait ille cum ratione insanire pergis occidis teipsum nec vides prorsus extra manum tuam consilium positam esse causam etiam extra curam tuam velle agi Vers 9. And they came to the place Mount Moriah where the Temple was afterwards built This was a little from Salem 2 Chron. 3.1 as Mount Calvary also was a little from Jerusalem And bound Isaac his son Who strugled not neither resisted though able for his age being twenty five year old as Josephus makes him others thirty three to have overmastered his old father He was
of the Law by being made a curse for them on the Cross God yeelds himself overcome by this reencounter but yet toucheth their thigh takes away their life Howbeit this hindereth not the Sun of life eternal to arise upon them as they pass over Peâ—â—el Vers 32. Therefore the children c. This custom Josephus saith continued till his time A ceremony indifferent in it self and good by institution in remembrance of that famous conquest might become evil by abuse if it turned into superstition CHAP. XXXIII Vers 1. He divided the children CArnal fear oft expectorates a mans wisdom and leaves him shiftless But Jacob after he had prayed and prevailed was not so moped as not to know what to do in that great danger he masters his fears and makes use of two the likeliest means 1. The marshalling of his wives and children in best manner for the saving of the last at least 2. The marching before them himself and doing lowe obeysance So Esther when she had prayed resolved to venture to the King whatever came of it And our Saviour though before fearful yet after he had prayed in the garden goes forth and meets his enemies in the face asking them Whom seek ye Great is the power of prayer to steel the heart against whatsoever amazements Vers 2. He put the handmaids c. Of children and friends some may be better beloved then others And whereas all cannot be saved or succoured the dearest may be chiefly cared for Vers 3. And he passed over before them As a good Captain and Shepherd ready to be sacrificed for the safety of his charge So the Captain of our salvation the Arch-shepherd Christ So should the under-shepherds the captains as Ministers are called Heb. 12.5 fight in the front and bear the brunt of the battel not loving their lives unto the death so they may finish their course with joy de scuto magis quà m de vita solliciti as Epaminondas The diamond in the Priests brest-plate shewed what should be their hardness and hardiness for the peoples welfare Vers 4. And kissed him The word kissed hath a prick over every letter in the Original to note say the Hebrew Doctors that this was a false and hypocritical kiss a Judas-kiss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Philo Amor non semper est in osculo But our Interpreters are agreed that this kiss was a signe Qui probabilâ—us loqâ—untur aiuns co ipsoâ—oâ—ari animi Esauici câ—â—verâ—ionem Am. that his heart was changed from his former hatred and that those extraordinary pricks do denote the wonder of Gods work therein which is further confirmed in that they both wept which could not easily be counterfeit though they were in Ishmael that notable hypocrite Jer. 41.6 and in the Emperour Andronicus who when he had injuriously caused many of the Nobility to be put to death pretended himself sorry for them Turk hist fol. 50. and that with tears plentifully running down his aged cheeks as if he had been the most sorrowful man alive Ibid. fol. 175. So the Egyptian Crocodile having killed some living beast lieth upon the dead body and washeth the head thereof with her warm tears which she afterward devoureth with the dead body We judge more charitably of Esau here And yet we cannot be of their minde that here-hence conclude his true conversion and salvation We must take heed we neither make Censures whip nor Charities cloke too long we may offend in both and incur the curse Isai 5.20 Joh. Manl. loc com 496. as well by calling evil good as good evil Latomus of Lovain wrote that there was no other a faith in Abraham then in Cicero Another wrote a long Defence and Commendation of Cicero and makes him a very good Christian and true penitentiary Ibid. 483. because he saith somewhere Reprehendo peccata mea quòd Pompeio confisus ejusque partes secutus fuerim I believe neither of them Vers 5. The children which God hath graciously given Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For children are Gods gifts as David taught Solomon Psal 127. It is well observed that good Jacob before a bad man speaks religiously God of his grace c. and Esau as bad as he was makes no jest of it There is no surer signe of a profane heart then to jeer at good expressions then which nothing now adays is more familiar Carnal spirits cannot hear savoury words but they turn them off with a scorn as Pilate did our Saviour speaking of the truth with that scornful profane question What 's truth Shall these scoffers be counted Christians Could any that heard Elijah mocking the service and servants of Baal believe that Baal was god in his esteem Shall not Esau rise up in judgement against such profane persons And shall not Jacob disclaim all such profligate professors for having any relation to him that dare not speak religiously for fear of some Esau in company that are ashamed to seem what they are with Zedekiah lest they that are fallen to the Chaldeans should mock them Vers 7. After came Joseph neer c. Jussus accedere Joseph saith Junius for he was but a little one of six yeers old therefore he did nothing but as his mother bade him and because he went before her he is first named Vers 8. What meanest thou by all this drove c. He met it but had not yet accepted of it either that he might take occasion at their meeting more mannerly to refuse the Present or that he might shew his brotherly affection frankly and freely not purchased or procured by any gift or Present Piscator Vtrunque liberale civile est oblata munera modestè recusare praesertim si grandia sint eadem ab instante humaniter acceptare Vers 9. I have enough my brother Here 's no mention of God God is not in all the wicked mans thoughts he contents himself with a natural use of the creature as bruit beasts do the godly taketh all as from God and findeth no such sweetness as in tasting how good the Lord is in the creature Tam Dei meminisse opus est quà m respirare saith One But prophane Esaus will neither have God in their heads Psal 10.4 nor hearts Psal 14.1 nor ways Tit. 1.16 nor words Psal 12.4 They stand in a posture of distance nay of defiance to God Vers 10. As though I had seen the face of God I cannot but see God and his goodness in thy so unexpected kindness The Lord hath done great things for me whereof I am glad and think my Present well bestowed Vers 11. I have enough Heb. I have all Esau had much but Iacob had all because he had the God of all Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia saith Augustine Esau's enough in the Original is not the same with Iacob's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are two manner of enoughs Godliness onely hath contentedness 1 Tim. 6.6 Vers 12. Let
Vers 12. It shall be at the salt-Sea That is the Lake of Sodome called also Asphaltites and the dead Sea Josephus saith that an ox having all his legs bound will not sink into the water of this sea it is so thick Vers 17. Eleazar the Priest Pointing to the high Priest of the new Covenant by whom we have entrance into the promised inheritance whither he is gone before to prepare a place for us and hath told us that in his Fathers house are many mansions room enough CHAP. XXXV Vers 2. SVburbs These were for pasture pleasure and other Country-Commodities not for tillage for the Levites were to have no such employment Num. 18.20 24. Vers 6. That he may flee thither All sins then are not equal as the Stoicks held neither are all to be alike punished as by Draco's laws they were in a manner Those laws were said to be written not with black but with blood because they punished every peccadillo almost with death as idleness stealing of pot-herbs c. Aristotle gives them this small commendation that they are not worth remembrance but only for their great severity Vers 7. Shall be fourty and eight cities Thus the Levites were dispersed throughout the land for instruction of the people so ought Ministers of the Gospel who are fiâ—ly called the salt of the earth that being sprinkled up and down may keep the rest as flesh from rotting and putrisying Vers 8. From them that have many ye shall give By the equity of this proportion the richer are bound to give more to the Ministers maintenance then the poorer Let this be noted by those that refuse to give any thing to their Ministers because they have not those things the tithes whereof the law requires for this purpose See Gal 6.6 with the Note there Vers 15. Shall be a refuge Christ is our Asylum to whom running for refuge when pursued by the guilt of an evill conscience we are safe None can take us out of his hands If we be in Christ the Rock temptations and oppositions as waves dash upon us but break themselves Vers 16. So that he dye Though he had no intent to kill yet because he should have look't better to 't he is a murtherer he smote him purposely and presumptuously and the man dyes of it King James was wont to say that if God did leave him to kill a man though besides his intention he should think God did not love him Vers 18. The murderer shall surely be put to death This is jus gentium The Turks justice in this case will rather cut off two innocent men then let one offender escape Cartwr travels The Persians punish theft and man-slaughter so severely that in an age a man shall hardly hear either of the one or the other A severity fit for Italy where they blaspheme oftner then swear Spec. Europ Purchas and murther more then revile or slander like the dogs of Congo which they say bite but bark not And no less fit for France where Les ombres des defunde fieurs de Villemor within ten years 6000 gentlemen have been slain as it appears by the Kings pardons Byron Lord high-Marshal of France and Governour of Burgundy slew a certain Judge for putting to death a malefactor whom he had commanded to be spared Epitome hist Gall. pag. 275. For this he sued for a pardon and had it but not long after he turned traytor to his Prince that had pardoned him and was justly executed Vers 21. He shall surely be put to death And yet the Papists allow wilful murtherers also to take sanctuary who should as Joab was be taken from the altar to the slaughter Their hatred to Protestants is so deadly that they hold us unworthy to live on Gods ground fit for nothing but fire and fagot yea they send us to hell without bail or main-prize as worse then Turks or Jews They tell the people that Geneva is a professed Sanctuary of all roguery that in England the people are grown barbarous and eat young children that they are as black as Devils c. Vers 23. Or with any stone As at the funeral solemnities of Q. Anne a scholar was slain by the fall of a letter of stone thrust down from the battlements of the Earl of Northamptons house by one that was a spectatour Vers 25. Vnto the death of the high Priest Because he was amongst men the chief god on earth and so the offence did most directly strike against him Or rather because the high Priest was a type of Christ and so this release was a shadow of our freedom and redemption by the death of Christ CHAP. XXXVI Vers 1. ANd spake before Moses Who was their common Oracle to enquire of in all doubtful cases Like as at Rome C. Scipio Nasica whom the Senate by way of honor called Optimus had a house in the high-street assigned him at the publike charge quò faciliùs consuli posset that any man might go to him for counsel And surely as the Romane General never miscarried so long as he followed the advice of Polybius his historian so neither did or could this people do amiss if ruled by Moses who was the mouth of God vers 5. Vers 6. To whom they think best See Gen. 24.57 58. with the Note there Vers 7. Shall keep himself to the inheritance This was an excellent law to cut off quarrels strifes and law-suites and to frustrates those qui latrocinia intra moenia exercent as Columella said of the Lawyers of his time Vers 11. For Mahlah Tirzah and Hoglah c. The names of these virgins as one Interpreter elsewhere observeth seem to be not without mystery M. Ainsworth For Zelophehad by interpretation signifieth the shadow of fear or of dread his first daughter Machlah Infirmity the second Noah Wandering the third Hoglah Turning about for joy or Dancing the fourth Milcah a Queen the fifth Tirzah Well pleasing or Acceptable By these names we may observe the degrees of our reviving by grace in Christ for we all are born as of the shadow of fear being brought forth in sin and for fear of death were all our life-time subject to bondage Heb 2.15 This begetteth infirmity or sickness grief of heart for our estate After which Wandering abroad for help and comfort we finde it in Christ by whom our sorrow is turned into joy He communicates to us of his royalty making us Kings and Priests unto God his Father and we shall be presented unto him glorious and without blemish Ephes 5.27 So the Church is beautiful as Tirzâ—h Cant. 6.3 Deo soli Gloria A COMMENTARY or EXPOSITION UPON The Fifth Book of MOSES CALLED DEUTERONOMY CHAP. I. Vers 1. These be the words which Moses spake ANd surely he spake thick if he spake as some cast it up this whole Book in less then ten dayes space Certain it is that he spake here as ever most divinely and like
both natural and civil honesty Neither shall a man put on That is say Stage-Players and those that plead for them a man shall not wear womens apparel ordinarily and daily so as women use to do But the word is Put on and so they do The same word is used of Davids putting on Sauls armour which yet he put off again presently So full saith One hereupon are our hearts of distinctions and shifts odia restringere ampliare favores to restrain hatreds as they call them that is the Commandements that make against them Vers 7. And that thou mayst prolong c. They were commanded to spare the damme because she represented the parents in bringing up of her young ones and if their dayes should be for that prolonged much more for this The Hebrews reckon this commandement for the least of all in Moses law and yet such a promise is annexed thereunto Vers 9. And the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled Heb. be sanctified per antiphrasin as Auri sacra fames and Anthony's fire is ignis sacer So a whore is called in Hebrew Kedesha of Kadash i. e. Holiness Deut. 23.17 by a contrary meaning as most unholy and unchaste Vers 10. Thou shalt not plough These laws were made to set forth how God abhorreth all mixtures in religion and how carefully men should keep their minds from being corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ 2 Cor. 11.3 Vers 12. Wherewith thou coverest thy self Ne in motu â—liquid indecerum appareat Lust and malice are sharp-sighted 2 Sam. 11.2 2 Sam. 6.20 Vers 14. I found her not a maid Silvester Petra-sancta Jesuita calumniatur puellas plerunque corruptas nuptui dari in Reformato Evangelio Jesuita Vapulans pag. 146. Quod de Evangelio Romano ait Rivettus noster potiùs dici posset postquà m puellae dementarunt a vobis seducta sub vestibus cordulis nodosis spurcis vestris manibus fuerunt ligatae Papists falsly affirm that few maids amongst us come clear to marriage cujus contrarium verum est Vers 15. Then shall the father of the damosel Whose house hereby was dishonested and by whom his daughters honour was to be defended especially since childrens miscarriages reflect upon the parents and the daughters sin is the fathers shame Vers 16. And he hateth her Which is a monster in nature Ephes 5.28 29 Vers 17. These are the tokens Which in those countries seldome or never failed Vers 19. He hath brought up an evil name Which is a kind of murther Ezek. 22.9 God shall clear the innocency of his slandered servants Psal 37.6 Isai 54.17 As the eclipsed Moon by keeping her motion wades out of the shadow and recovers her splendour so shall it be with such Vers 20. And the tokens Nor any natural impediment can be proved as the Hebrews explain it Vers 22. With a woman married Adultery was punished with death because society and the purity of posterity could not otherwise continue amongst men Vers 24. Humbled his neighbours wife So called because betrothed quià nuptias facit consensus non concubitus as the Lawyers determine it Vers 25. And the man force her and lie with her It was a speech of Charles 5. Emperour If that impure fellow Farnesins who being the Popes General had forced many fair Ladies were here present I would kill him with mine own hand Nec vocem iracundiorem unquam ex Carolo auditam ferunt Parei hist prof medulla Never was he heard to speak so angerly The Lacedaemonian Common wealth was utterly ruined by a rape committed on the two daughters of Scedasus at Leuctra Vers 29. She shall be his wife Howbeit he must be humbled before the Lord for entring into his ordinance thorough the Devils portal CHAP. XXIII Vers 1. OR hath his privy member cut off As it is a barbarous custome at this day among the Turks to deprive divers Christian children of their privities supplying the uses of nature with a silver quill Turk hist This was first brought in amongst them by Selymus the second out of jealousie lest his Eunuches were not so chaste as they should have been in keeping their Ladies beds Such are usually effeminate and unfit to bear office _____ Shall not enter into the Congregation i. e. Shall not go in and out before the people as a publike Officer Sith such should be drained from the dregges and sifted from the brannes of the vulgar they should be eminent and eximious persons higher then the rest as Saul by head and shoulders Vers 2. A bastard shall not enter Utpote qui naâ—i sunt ex prostibulo plaâ—è iucerto patre sed certissima infamia 1 Sam. 20.30 Lest the reproach of his birth render him contemptible or lesse courageous lest some son of Belial set upon him as Saul did upon his son Jonathan and say Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman so of the base and beastly woman doe not I know that thou hast done this to the confusion of thy mothers nakednesse The mutinous Janizaries called their Emperour Bajazet the second drunkard beast rascal bastard Bengi that is Batchelour Turk hist or Scholler and told him moreover that they would teach him to use his great place and calling with more sobriety and discretion The English slighted and scorned their William the Conquerour because a bastard In spite also to whom and disgrace to his mother Arlet they called all whores Harlets The Jews at this day amongst other opprobrious words wherewith they spitefully load us they call all Christians Mamzer Goi that is Heathen bastards Our Saviour upon better grounds called them long since a bastardly brood Matth. 12.39 And their own Prophet Esay did the same thing long before Chap. 57. vers 3 4 and that for their prophane scoffing at the truth and the Professours thereof Yet who so forward as they to say We are not born of fornication no bastards Joh. 8.41 Vers 3. For ever i. e. This law is perpetual and indispensable so highly displeasing are many meer omissions of duty Omission of diet breeds diseases brings death so here Vers 4. Because they met you not As God takes notice of the least courtesie shewed to his people even to a cup of cold water to requite it so he doth of the least discourtesie even to a frown or a frump Gen. 4.6 See the Note there to revenge it _____ And because they bired c. See the Note on Num. 22.3 6. Vers 5. Nevertheless the Lord c. q.d. No thank to the wicked Moabites that Balaam blasted thee not as neither to Balaam whose tongue was meerly over-ruled by the Almighty and made to bless those whom he would gladly have cursed And thus still the Lord orders the worlds disorders turning dross into gold by a stupendious Alchymy and directing mens evill actions to a good end Hence it is that they fulfill though they intend no such thing but the satisfying of their own lusts Esay 10.5