ward off his blow to moâ— up ones self against his fire Why should vain man contend with his Maker Why should hee beat himself to froth as the surges of the Sea do against the Rock Why should hee like the untamed Heifer unaccustomed to the yoke gall his neck by wrigling make his crosses heavier than God makes them by crosseness and impatience The very Heathen could tell him that Deus crudelius urit Tibul. Eleg. 1. Quos videt invitos succubuisse sibi God will have the better of those that contend with him and his own Reason will tell him that it is not fit that God should cast down the bucklers first and that the deeper a man wades the more hee shall bee wet Vers 12. For who knoweth what is good for man Hee may think this and that to bee good but is mostly mistaken and disappointed Ambrose hath well observed that other creatures are led by the instinct of Nature to that which is good for them The Lion when hee is sick cures himself by devouring an Ape the Bear by devouring Ants the wounded Dear by feeding upon Dittany c. in ignoras O homo remedia tuo but thou O man knowest not what is good for thee Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good saith the Prophet and what doth the Lord require of thee but this instead of raking riches together to do justly and to love mercy and instead of contending with him to humble thy self to walk with thy God Micah 6.8 For who can tell a man what shall bee after him When the Worms shall bee scrambling for his body the Devils haply for his soul and his friends for his goods A false Jesuite published in print Camd Elis Dilexi virum qui cum corpore solveretur magit de Ecclesiarum statu c. some years after Queen Elizabeths death that shee died despairing and that shee wished shee might after her death hang a while in the air to see what striving would bee for her Kingdome I loved the man said Ambrose of Theodosius for this that when hee died hee was more affected with care of the Churches good than of his own CHAP. VII Vers 1. A good name is better than precious ointment YEa than great riches Prov. 22.1 See the Note The initial letter of the Hebrew word for Good here is bigger than ordinary Majusculum to shew the more than ordinary excellency of a good name and fame amongst men If whatsoever David doth doth please the people Rom. 1.2 if Mary Magdalens cost upon Christ bee well spoken of in all the Churches if the Romans Faith bee famous throughout the whole world if Demetrius have a good report of all good men and St. John set his seal to it this must needs bee better than precious ointments the one being but a perfume of the nostrils the other of the heart Sweet ointment olfactum afficit spiritum reficit cerebrum juvat affects the smell refresheth the spirit comforts the brain A good name doth all this and more For First As a fragrant scent it affects the soul amidst the stench of evil courses and companies It is as a fresh gale of sweet air to him that lives as Noah did among such as are no better than walking dunghills and living sepulchres of themselves stinking much more worse than Lazarus did after hee had lain four daies in the grave A good name preserveth the soul as a Pomander and refresheth it more than musk or civil doth the body Secondly It comforts the conscience and exhilatates the heart cheers up the mind amidst all discouragements and fatteth the bones Prov. 15.30 doing a man good like a medicine And whereas sweet ointments may bee corrupted by dead flies a good name proceeding from a good conscience cannot bee so Fly blown it may bee for a season and somewhat obscured but as the Moon wades out of a cloud so shall the Saints innocency break forth as the light and their righteousness as the noon-day Psal 37.6 Buried it may beee in the open sepulchres of evil throats but it shall surely rise again A Resurrection there shall bee of names as well as of bodies at the last day at utmost But usually a good name comforts a Christian at his death and continues after it For though the name of the wicked shall rot his lamp shall bee put out in obscurity and leave a vile snuff behinde it yet the righteous shall bee had in everlasting remembrance they shall leave their names for a blessing Isa 65.15 And the day of death than the day of ones birth The Greeks call a mans birth-day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginning of his Nativity they call the begetting of his misery Man that is born of a woman is born to trouble saith Job chap. 14.1 The word there rendred Born signifieth also generated or conceived to note that man is miserable even so soon as hee is warm in the womb as David hath it Psal 51.5 If hee lives to see the light hee comes crying into the world Ad Marc. cap. 11. a flet is vitam anspicatur saith Seneca Insomuch as the Lawyers defined 〈◊〉 by crying and a still-born childe is all one as dead in Law Onely Zoâ—â—staâ— is said to have been born laughing but that laughter was both monstrous and ominous Justin lib. 1. For hee first found out the black Art which yet profited him not so far as to the vain felicity of this present life For being King of the Bactrians hee was overcome and slain in battel by Ninus King of the Assyrians St. Austin who relates this story saith of mans first entrance into the world Nondum loquitur tamen prophetat Ere ever a childe speaks hee prophesies by his tears of his ensuing sorrows Nec prius natus quam damnat no No sooner is hee born but hee is condemned to the Mines or Gallies as it were of sin and suffering Hence Solomon here prefers his Coffin before his Cradle And there was some truth in that saying of the Heathen Optimum est non nasci proximum quam celorrime mori For wicked men it had been best not to have been born or being born to dye quickly sith by living long they heap up first sin and then wrath against the day of wrath As for good men there is no doubt but the day of death is best to them because it is the day-break of Eternal Righteousness and after a short brightness as that Martyr said gives them Malorum ademptionem bonorum ademptionem freedome from all evil fruition of all good Hence the antient Fathers called those daies wherein the Martyrs suffered their birth-daies because then they began to live indeed sith here to live is but to lye a dying Eternal life is the onely true life saith Austin Vers 2. It is better to go to the house of mourning To the terming-house as they term it where a dead corps is laid forth for
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
the Text thus The Lord saies up sound wisdome for the righteous c. when hee is in distress then hee hath such quietness of spirit soundness and presence of mind that in the must of his straits hee is in a sufficiency Not so the wicked Job 20.22 Hee is a buckler to them The body cannot bee wounded but through the buckler if skilfully handled Happy art than O Israel who is like unto thee Deut. 33.29 O people saved by the Lord the shield of thy help c. Vers 8. Hee keepeth the paths of judgement Well may they walk uprightly that are so strongly supported Gods hand is ever under his they cannot fall beneath it Hee keepeth the feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2.9 Vers 9. Then shalt thou understand righteousness Not as cognoscitiva standing in speculation But as directiva vitae a rule of life Knowledge is either Apprehensive onely or Affective also This differs from that as much as the light of the Sun wherein is the influence of an inlivening power from the light of Torches Vers 10. Is pleasant to thy soul Spiritual joy mortifies sin His mouth hankers not after homely provision that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance Pleasure there must bee in the wayes of God because therein men let out their souls into God that is the fountain of all good hence they so infinitely distaste sins tasteless fooleries Crede mihi res severa est verum gandium saith Seneca True joy is a solid business Becman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 11. Discretion Hebr. Thoughtfulness or good advisement Cogito quasi coagito Notat sercitatem such as is that of the wife to please her husband 1 Cor. 7.34 casting this way and that way how to give best content Or that of the good huswife to build her house Prov. 14.1 studying in every business how to set every thing in order As the Carpenter studies how to set every part of the frame in joynt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 12. That speaketh froward things As if his mouth were distorted or the upper-lip stood where the nether should See Act. 20.30 Vers 13. To walk in the wayes of darkness As Theeves Drunkards Dicers and our other Solifugae that abuse even Gospel-light that put not light under a bushel but under a dunghil that when they have walked themselves aweary in these by-wayes high wayes to hell sit down in darkness and in the shadow of death Luke 1.79 which posture imports 1. Continuance there â— Content as well a paid of their scat These hate the light because their wayes are evil Joâ— 3. The light stands in the light of their wicked wayes as the Angel did in Balaams way to his sin Vers 14. Who rejoyce to do evil It is their meat drink sport Prov. 4.27 and 10.23 they cannot bee merry unless the Devil bee their play-fellow This is reckoned as an aggravation of Jerusalems sin Jer. 11.15 Melior est tristitia iniqua patientis quam latitia iniqua facieâ—tis When thou dost evil then thou rejoycest But better is the sorrow of him that suffereth evil than the jollity of him that doth evil saith Austin Vers 15. Whose wayes are crooked How justly may God say to such as the Crab in the Fable did to the Serpent when hee had given him his deaths wound for his crooked conditions and then saw him stretch himself out streight At opoâ—tuit sic vixisse It is too late now you should have lived so And they froward Absurd 2. Thess 3.2 Men made up of meer incongruities solacising in opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speeches actions all Vers 16. From the strange woman Forbidden thee by God as strange fire strange Gods c. Which flattereth with her lips Whose lips are nets whose hands are bands whose words are cords to draw a man in as a Fool to the stocks or an Oxe to the slaughter Vers 17. Which forsaketh the guide of her youth That is Her Husband as Helena Becman Herodias Bernice Act. 25.13 and other odious Harlots Adulterium quasi ad alterum vel ad alterius torum This Wanton never wants one though her Husband bee ever so near And forgetteth the Covenant of her God Marriage is a mixt Covenant partly Religious and partly Civil The parties tye themselves first to God and then to one another The bond is made to God who also will bee ready enough to take the forfeiture For Whores and Adulteresses God will judge Hâ—b 13.3 Vers 18. For her house inclineth unto death Terence calleth Harlots Cruces quia juvenes macerent affligant Venery is deaths best Harbinger Venus ab antiquis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicta Jacob. Reâ—ias Shee provideth saith one not for those that are already born but for those that shall bee born Of Pope Paul the fourth that old Goat it went for a by word Eum per candem partem animam profudisse per quam acceperat Pope John the twelfth being taken with an Adulteress was stabbed to death by her Husband Alexander the Great and Othâ— the third Barns lost their lives by their lusts But how many alas by this means have lost their souls Fleshly lusts by a specialty fight against the soul 1 Pet. 2.12 And nothing hath so much inriched hell saith one as beautiful faces And her paths unto the dead Hebrew El Rhephaim to the Giants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 projecti sunt To that part of hell where those damned monsters are together with those sensual Sodomites who giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are thrown forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude 7. Vers 19. None that go unto her return again Some of the Antients have here hence concluded that Adultery is an unpardonable sin But all manner of sin and blasphemy shall bee forgiven unto men saith our Saviour save onely the sin against the Holy Ghost Matth. 12.31 True it is that a Whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit Prov. 23.27 That Whoredome and Wine and new Wine take away the heart Hos 4.11 That such are said to bee destitute of understanding and to have lost even the light of nature Prov. 6.32 Rom. 1.28 to bee past feeling and given up to a dead and dedolent disposition Eph. 4.18 19. to bee impudent Jer. 2 3. wherefore also they are compared to dogs Deut. 23.18 2 Sam. 3.8 and for most part impenitent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Eccles 7.28 Grace as One well observeth is seated in the powers of Nature Now carnal sins disable nature and so set us in a greater distance from grace as taking away the heart c. Howbeit all things are possible with God Mark 9.26 27. And though few have awakened out of this snare of the Devil yet some have as David and that woman Luke 7.37 50. lest any humbled sinners should despair
and wretched Cardinal found by woful experience in the reign of Henry the sixth For perceiving death at hand hee asked Wherefore should I dye being so rich If the whole Realm would save my life I am able either by policy to get it or by riches to buy it Fox Martyrol vol. 1. p. 925. Fye quoth hee will not death bee hired will mony do nothing No mony in this case bears no mastery Death as the jealous man will not regard any ransome neither will hee rest content though thou offer many gifts Prov. 6.35 Aug. de civit Dei l. 5. c. 25. And in her left hand riches and honour Bonus Deus Constantinum Magnum tantis terrenis implevit muneribus quantâ— optare nullus auderet The good Lord heaped so much outward happiness upon his faithful Servant Constantine the Great as no man ever durst to have wished more saith Austin If God give his People a Crown hee will not deny them a crust If they have bona throni the good things of a Throne they shall bee sure of bona scabelli the good things of the footstool Vers 17. Her waies are waies of pleasantnesse Such as were those of Adam before his fall strawed with Roses paved with Peace Some degree of comfort follows every good action as heat accompanies fire as beams and influences issue from the Sun Which is so true that very Heathens upon the discharge of a good conscience have found comfort and peace answerable This saith One is praemium ante praemium a fore-reward of well-doing In doing thereof not onely for doing thereof there is great reward Psal 19.11 Vers 18. Shee is a tree of life A tree that giveth life and quickeneth or as one interprets it a moâ—â— assured sign of eternal life whatsoever it is hee alludeth no doubt to the tree mentioned Gen. 2.9 3.22 See the Notes there And happy is every one that retains her Though despised by the world as a poor Sneak a contemptible caytiff We usually call a poor man a poor soul a poor soul may be a rich Christian as Roger sirnamed Paupere censu was Son to Roger Bishop of Salisbury Goodwins Catal p. 338. who made him Chancellour of England Vers 19. The Lord by wisdome By his essential wisdome by his eternal word Prov. 8.30 the Lord Christ who is the beginning of the Creation of God Rev. 3.14 See the Note on John 1.3 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth Gen. 1.1 that is In his Son as some interpret it Heb. 1.2 Col. 1.16 This interpretation is grounded upon the Jerusalimy Targum who translates that Gen. 1.1 bechochmatha in sapientia So doth Augustine and others and for confirmation they bring Joh. 8.25 but that is a mistake as Beza shews in his Annotations there Hee established the Heaven Heb. Hee aptly and trimly framed and formed them in that comeliness that wee now see The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy-work Psal 19.1 Upon the third Heaven hee hath bestowed a great deal of curious skill and cunning workmanship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.10 But of that no natural knowledge can be had nor any help by humane arts Geometry Opticks c. For it neither is aspectable nor moveable The Visible Heavens are for the many varieties therein and the wonderful motion of the several sphears fitly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coelum maximè co nomine intelligunt Graci Mercer The Original word here used ratione conjugationis plus aliquid significat quam paravit vel stabilivit Conen Mirum in modum disposuit Hee hath cunningly contrived And hence haply our antient English word Koning and by contraction King comming of the Verb Con which signifies as Becanus noteth Possum Scio Andeo I can I wot I dare do it Vers 20. The depths are broken up viz. Those great chanels and hollow places made in the earth to hold the waters Gen. 1.9 that they may not overflow the earth and this the very Philosophers are forced to confess to bee a work of divine wisdome Others by depths here understand fountains and floods breaking out and as it were flowing from the nethermost parts of the earth even as though the earth did cleave it self in sunder to give them passage And the clouds drop down the dews Clouds the bottles of rain and dew are vessels as thin as the liquor that is contained in them there they hang move though weighty with their burden How they are upheld and why they fall here and now wee know not and wonder Vers 21. Let not them depart Ne effluant haec ab oculis tuis saith the Vulgar Ne haec à tuis oculis deflectant in obliquum huc illuc So Mercer Let thy eyes look right on Chap. 4.25 look wishly and intently on these great works of God and his wisdome therein set forth and conspicuous as on a theatre Eye these things as the Steersman doth the Load-star 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Archer doth the mark hee shoots at 2 Cor. 4.18 or as the Passenger doth his way which hee findes hard to hit and dangerous to miss Yea let them bee the delight of thine eyes with the sight whereof thou canst not bee sated or surfeited Vers 22. So shall they bee life unto thy soul For by these men live and this is the spirit of my life saith Hezekiah Isa 38.16 Even what God hath spoken and done vers 15. A godly man differs from a wicked as much as a living man from a dead carkass The wicked are stark dead and stone cold The Saints also want heat sometimes but they are soon made hot again because there is life of soul in them as Charcoal is quickly kindled because it hath been in the fire And grace unto thy neck Or to thy throat that is to thy words uttered through the throat See the Note on chap. 1.9 Vers 23. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely Fidneialiter saith the Vulgar confidently and securely Every Malvoy shall bee a Salvoy to thee thou shalt ever go under a double guard the Peace of God within thee Phil. 4.7 and the Power of God without thee 1 Pet. 1.5 Thou shalt bee in league also with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field shall bee at peace with thee Job 5.23 Vers 24. Thou shalt not bee afraid See this exemplified in David Psal 3.5 6. Peter Act. 12.6 and Mr. Rogers our late Protomartyr Act. Mon. fol. 1356. who when hee was warned suddenly to prepare for the fire hee then being sound asleep in the prison scarce with much shogging could bee awaked Thy sleep shall bee sweet As knowing that God thy Keeper Psal 121.4 5. doth wake and watch for thee Psal 120.1 Wicked mens sleep is often troublesome through the workings of their evil consciences Danielâ— Hist of Eng. as our Richard the third after the murther of his
abroad Wisdome is better than strength saith Salomon And Romani sedendo vinâ—unt said they of old Polâ—b The welfare of a State is procured and preserved not so much by a multitude of worthy Warriours as of wise Counsellours as Cleon in Thucydides long since observed Thucyd. lib. 3. and as we have blessedly found in this present Parliamentum benedictum more truly so stiled than that was in the 25. of Edward the third Vers 15. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it Hebr. Shall break prove a bankrupt See the Notes on Chap. 6.1 2 3 c. Vers 16. A gracious woman retaineth honour Such a one as is set forth in Lemuels Lesson Prov. 31. such as was Sarah Deborah Abigail Ester Queen Elizabeth of whom a great French Princesse gave this Elogium Thuan. Hist lib. 124. that shee was gloriosissima omnium quae unquam sceptrum gesserunt felicissima foemina the bravest and happiest woman that ever swayed Scepter Piety Sobriety Purity Charity and Chastity maugre the venemous tongues of all Hell-born slanderers such as Sanders Rhiston and other Romish raylers Sanderus lupaâ— Anglicanam appellat Rhistonus nostram leaenam c. Speed 1236. and dead Doggs that barked against her were her inseparable companions never suffering any Lady to approach her sacred presence of whose stain she had but the least suspicion And strong men retain riches By their industry and good husbandry that they may maintain their Wives honour and bear up their port according to their place Others render it Improbi apprehendunt divitias Wicked men catch at wealth sc in the choyce of their wives And indeed among Suters both in Love and in Law Mony is a common medler and commonly drives the bargain and business to an upshot Protiâ—â—s ad ceâ—sum Juvenal de moribus ultima fiat Quaestio good enough if goods enow Vers 17. The merciful doth good to his own soul His chief business is with and for himself how to set all to rights within how to keep a continual Sabbath of soul a constant composedness He will not violate his Conscience to get or retain riches as vers 16. or purchase earth with the loss of heaven Corpus sive corpor quasi cordiâ— por i. e. puer sive famuluâ— â—a forma qua Mancipor Quintipor Camer And in as much as the body is the souls servant and should therefore be neither supra negotium nor infra negotium but par negotio fit for the souls business it ought not to be pined or pinched with penury and over-much abstinence as those Impostors Coloss 2.23 and our Popish Merit-mongers that starve their Genius and are cruel to their own flesh These shall one day hear Who required these things at your hands Vers 18. The wicked worketh a deceitful work By defrauding his Genius and afflicting his flesh as vers 17. hee thinks hee doth a very good work some Emperours have left their Thrones and thrust into a Monastery there to macerate themselves with much fasting and coarse clothing out of an opinion of promoting their souls health thereby But bodily exercise profiteth little 1 Tim. 4.8 And as the pride of Virginity is as soul a sin as impurity Augustin so is it in this case The Formal faster loseth his labour Isa 58.3 Zach. 7.5 In seventy years they kept sevenscore Fasts in Babylon yet amongst them all not one Fast to God There are that render it thus Improbus comparat praemium falsum The wicked gets a false reward all that he hath is but the things of this life quae nec vera sunt nec vestra For the very fashion of this world passeth away And surely every man walketh in a vain shew or shadow surely hee disquieteth himself in vain hee heapeth up riches and knows not who shall gather them Psal 39.6 They that digge in Mines or labour in Mints have gold enough about them but are little the better for it A Sumpter-horse bears much treasure on his back all day but is cased of it at night and turned into the Stable with his back full of galls and bruises So shall it bee with wicked rich men at death so that they have no great bargain of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in locis irrigâ—is But to him that soweth righteousnesse And so soweth upon blessings as the Apostles Greek hath it 2 Cor. 9.6 See the Note there and on Gal. 6.7 8. upon well watered places Eccles 11.1 To such shall be a sure reward Only he must have patience and not look to sow and reap all in one day Jam. 5.7 See the Note there Vers 19. As righteousnesse tendeth to life Hebr. Lives for godlinesse hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 And this is that sure reward spoken of in the former verse For hee that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.8 which indeed is the only life that deserveth so to be called and counted So he that pursueth evil That follows it hot-foot as Asael followed Abner that is wholly carried after it and thinks to have a great catch of it that works all uncleannesse with greedinesse Ephes 4.19 This the Prophet calls a spirit of whoredome a strong inclination a vehement impetus to that and other sins an adding drunkennesse to thirst rebellion to sin till wrath come upon them to the utmost Hell gapes for such sinners Vers 20. They that are of a froward heart c. Not only those that pursue and practise wickednesse but they also that harbour it in their hearts are hated of God Luk. 16.15 A man may dye of inward bleeding a man may be damned for contemplative wickednesse Jer. 4.14 The Schools doe well observe that outward sins are majoris infamiae but inward heart-sins are majoris reatus as we see in Devils But such as are upright in their way The Antithesis requires that hee should say such as are upright in heart But he chuseth rather to say in their way not only because a good heart ever makes a good life but to meet with such as brag of the goodnesse of their hearts when their lives are altogether loose and licentious Whereas holinesse in the heart as the Candle in the Lanthorn well appears in the body These boasters are ignorant Revel 3.17 proud John 9.41 carnal Rom. 8.6 therefore stark naught Prov. 19.2 Vers 21. Though hand joyn in hand c. Hebr. Hand to hand that is out of hand by and by as some interpret it Munster renders it Though plague follow upon plague the wicked will not amend Others though there be a combination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a conspiracy of wicked doers as if Giant-like they would fight against God and resist his wrath yet they shall never bee able to avert or avoyd it The wicked shall be turned into Hell yea whole Nations that forget God Psal
sought for a comfortable use of the Creature and then be merry at thy meat and put sorrow from thy heart chap. 9.7 Eat the fat and drink the sweet c. for the joy of the Lord is your strength Nehem. 8.10 Vers 25. For who can eat or who can hasten c. And yet I have found and so shall you that tranquillity and true happiness the Kindgom of God doth not consist in meats and drinks A Turk may beleeve sensualities in his fools paradise but no servant of God is a slave to his palate Vers 26. Wisdome and knowledge To get these things rightly and to use them comfortably To gather and to heap up Converrere congerrere to rake and scrape together the muck-worms occupation That he may give As he did the Aegyptians goods to Israel Nabals to David Hamans to Mordecai CHAP. III. Vers 1. To every thing there is a season A Set time such as we can neither alter nor order This is one of those keys that God carries under his own girdle Act. 1.7 To seek to doe or get any thing before the time is to pull apples before they are ripe saith a Father which set the teeth on edge Fomâ— importuni tempore decerpunt Tertul. and breed stomack-worms They labour in vain that would prevent the time prefixed by God as those hasty Ephraimites in Aegypt 1 Chron. 7.22 with Psal 78.9 those heady Israelites in the Wilderness Numb 14.40 Moses would be acting the Judge before his time Exod. 2.12 he is therefore sent to keep sheep in Midian vers 15. David staid Gods leisure for the Kingdom those in Esther for deliverance they knew that God would keep his day exactly as he did with the Israelites in Aegypt Exod. 12.40 41. Evâ—n the self-same day when the four hundred and thirty years fore-told were expired Gods people were thrust out of Aegypt So Dan. 5.30 In that night was Belshazzar slain because then exactly the seventy years were ended And as God fails not his own time so he seldome comes at ours Jâ—r 8.20 for he loves not to be limited We are short-breath'd short-sighted apt to antedate the promises in regard of the accomplishment Hab. 2.2 And no less apt to out-stand our own markets to let slip opportunities of grace which are ever head-long and once past irrecoverable O if thou hadst known at the least in this thy day Heb. 2.3 Psal 32.6 c. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Therefore shall every one that is godly seek thee in a time when thou mayst be found There is a certain time set for men to come in and be saved as Alexander set up a Taper when he besieged a Town as Tamerlan hang'd out first a white flag and then a red Many a man loseth his soul as Saul did his Kingdome by not discerning his time Esau came too late so did the foolish Virgins If the gate of grace be over-past the gate shut the draw-bridge taken up there is no possibility of entrance Heb. 4.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us and an overture made us of entring into Gods rest any of us should seem to fall short or come late a day after the fair an hour after the feast God who in his eternal Counsel hath appointed things to be done hath also ordained the opportunity and time wherein each thing should bee done which to neglect is such a presumption as hee usually punisheth with final hardning Ezek. 24.13 Vers 2. There is a time to be born and a time to dye Wee doe not hear the Wise-man say There is a time to live What is more fleeting than time yet life is not long enough to be worthy the title of time Death borders upon our birth and our cradle stands in our grave Orimur Morimur Multos ostendunt terris bona faeta nec ultra Esse siâ—unt Finisque ab origine pendet How many have we seen carried from the Womb to the Tomb from the birth to the burial Ab utero ab urnam And what a short cut hath the longest liver from the grave of the womb to the womb of the grave Men chop into the earth before they are aware many times like as he that walks in a field covered with snow falls suddenly into a marle pit A time to plant c. In point of good husbandry fit seasons are to be observed or else little increase can bee expected God also the great vine-dresser plants and plucks up more Churches or particular persons at his pleasure Esay 5.1 to the 8. Mat. 15.13 Jerusalem that plant of renown is now of an Eden become a Sodom and that which Moses threatned Deut. 28.49 c. fulfilled to the utmost Susa in Persia signifies a Lilly and was so called for the beauty and delectable sight Now it is called Valdac of the poverty of the place Niniveh that great City that once had more people within her walls than are now in some one Kingdome is at this day become a sepulture of it self a little Town of small Trade where the Patriarch of the Nestorians keeps his â—eat at the devotion of the Turks Frid. secund Imper. Roma diu titubans variis erroribus acta Corruet mundi desinet esse caput Vers 3. A time to kill viz. To cut off corrupt members by the sword of Justice or of War ne pars sincera trahatur There is a cruel mercy saith one there is a pious cruelty saith another But cursed is hee that doth the Lords work negligently and cursed is hee that in a good cause and upon a good calling keepeth back his sword from blood Jer. 48.10 But that souldier can never answer it before God that striketh not more as a Justice of Peace than as a souldier of fortune A time to break down and a time to build up This and the rest though every one knows to be so in common experience yet one and the same thing in effect is oft repeated that it may be once remembred viz. that this whole world is nothing else but a mass of mutabilities that every man every State every thing is a planet whose spherical revolutions are some of longer some of shorter continuance Omnia versantur in perpetuo ascensu descensu there is a perpetual ascending and descending of life and state Vers 4. A time to weep and a time to laugh Onely wee must not invert the order but weep with men that wee may laugh with Angels lay godly sorrow as a foundation of spiritual joy Surely out of this eater comes meat out of this strong sweet strong and sweet refreshments follow upon penitential performances these April showers bring on May flowers Tertullian saith that he was nulli rei natus nisi poenitentiae born for no other purpose but to repent but then he that truly repenteth de peccatis dolet de dolore gandet is grieved for his
man and who so wise as not sometimes to bee over-carried by his passion to his cost Oppression may express that from the meekest Moses that hee may sorely repent but knows not how to remedy Anger anteverts reason in the wisest sometimes and especially in case of calumny for the eye and the good name will bear no jeasts as the Proverb hath it A man can better bear a thultch on the back than a touch on the eye You shall finde some saith Erasmus that if death bee threatned can despise it but to bee belyed they cannot brook nor from revenge contain themselves How could wee digest that calumny might Erasmus well think then that hee basely casts upon our Profession in his Epistle to Bilihaldus Ubicunque regnat Lutherns ibi literarum est interitus duo tantum quaerunt censum uxorem Wheresoever Luther prevails learning goes down wealth and wives is all they look after How ill himself with all his wisdome could endure this kinde of oppression appears by his Hyperaspistes and many other his Apologies for by his playing on both hands Amama in Antibarb praefat Nec Evangelicorum vitavit censuras nec apud Episcopos Monachos gratiam inivit hee was beaten on both sides which made him little less than mad and it was but just upon him Davids grief was that his enemies traduced and abused him without cause Job and Jeremy make the same complaint and were much troubled Defamations they knew well do usually leave a kinde of lower estimation many times even where they are not beleeved Hence Paul's Apologies and self-commendation even to suspition of madness almost Calumniare audacter aliquid saltem adhaerebit Hence Basil in an Epistle ad Bosphorum Episcop Quo putas animum meum dolore affecit fama calumnia illius quam mihi offuderunt quidam non metuentes Judicem perditurum omnes loquentes mendacium Tanto videlicet ut prope totam noctem insomnem duxerim c. with what grief dost thou think saith Hee did that calumny oppress my mind which some not fearing the Judge that shall destroy all them that speak lies did cast upon mee Even so much that I slept not almost all the night so had the apprehended sadness possessed the secrets of mine heart c. And a gift destroyeth the heart i. e. Corrupts it makes it blinde and so destroies it Pliny as the Eagle lights upon the Harts horns flutters dust in his eyes and so by blinding him brings him to destruction See Deut. 16.19 with the Note Let a Judge bee both wise for his understanding and righteous for his will a gift will mar all as it is there it dazleth the eyes and maketh a wise man mad Vers 8. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning No right judgement can bee made of any thing unless wee can see the end of it God seems oft to go a contrary way to work but by that time both ends bee brought together all is as it should bee and it appears that hee doth all things in number weight and measure Acts and Mon. fol. 1377. Wee may learn said Mr. Hooper Martyr in a certain letter exhorting to patience by things that nourish and maintain us both meat and drink to what loathsome and abhorring they come unto before they work their perfection in us From life they bee brought to the fire and clean altered from what they were when they were alive from the fire to the trencher and knife and all to bee hacked from the trencher to the mouth and as small ground as the teeth can grinde them from the mouth into the stomach and there so boiled and digested before they nourish that whosoever saw the same would loathe and adhor his own nourishment till it come to perfection But as a man looketh for the nourishment of his meat when it is full digested and not before so must hee look for deliverance when hee hath suffered much trouble and for Salvation when hee hath passed thorow the straight gate c. Let the wise man look to the end and to the right which in the end God will do him in the destruction of his oppressours and this will patient his heart and heal his distemper Wee have heard of the patience of Job Job 5. and what end the Lord made with him Bee yee also patient you shall shortly have help if yee hold out waiting Mark the upright man and behold the just for whatever his beginning or his middle bee the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 Onely hee must hold out Faith and Patience and not fall off from good beginnings for as the evening crowneth the day and as the grace of an Interlude is in the last Scene so it is constancy that crowneth all graces and hee onely that continueth to the end that shall bee saved Laban was very kinde at first but hee shewed himself at parting Sauls three first years were good Judas carried himself fair usque ad loculorum officium saith Tertullian till the bag was committed to him Many set out for Heaven wiâ—h as much seeming resolution as Lots wife did out of Sodom as Orphah did out of Moab as the young man in the Gospel came to Christ But after a while they fall away they stumble at the cross and fall backwards Now to such it may well bee said The end is better than the beginning Better it had been for such never to have known the way of God c. Christ loves no lookers back See how hee thunders against them Heb. 10.26 27 38 39. So doth St. Paul against the Galatians because they did run well but lying down in that heat they caught a surfeit and fell into a consumption And the patient in spirit is better than the proud c. Pride is the Mother of impatiency as infidelity is of pride The just shall live by Faith live upon promises reversions hopes wait deliverance or want it if God will have it so But his soul which for want of Faith to ballast it is lifted up and so presumes to set God a time wherein to come or never come 2 King 6.33 is not upright in him some things hee doth as it were a mad man not knowing or greatly caring what hee doth saith Gregory Hee frets at God Greg. Pastor and rails at men laies about him on all hands and never ceaseth till in that distemperature hee depart the world which so oftentimes himself had distempered Daniel as the Chronicler concludes the life of our Henry the second Vers 9. Bee not hasty in thy Spirit to bee angry The hasty man wee say never wants woe For wrath is an evil counsellour and inwrappeth a man in manifold troubles mischiefs and miseries It makes man alike the Bee that vindictive creature which to bee revenged loseth her sting and becomes a drone or like Tamar who to bee even with her Father in Law defiled him and her self
Church and take away you so worthy a workman and labourer in the Lords Vineyard Acts and Mon. 1744. c And who knoweth the interpretation of a thing Wise a man may bee and yet not so apt and able to wise others Those wise ones that can wise others so as to turn them to righteousness shall shine as the brightness of the firmament yea as the Stars Dan. 12.3 they do so whilst upon earth Wisdome makes their very faces to shine Acts 6 15. as St. Stephens did and as Holy Jobs whiles hee was in a prosperous condition Chap. 29.8 9 10. Jobab hee was then the same some think that is mentioned Gen. 36.33 as when in distress his name was contracted into Job And then though himself were otherwise wise hee might want an Interpreter One of a thousand for such are rare every man cannot sell us this precious oyl Matth. 25.9 to shew unto him his uprightness that is the righteousness of his own experience how himself hath been helped and comforted in like case or to clear up to an afflicted Job his spiritual estate and to shew him his Evangelical Righteousness Oh how beautiful are the feet of such an Interpreter I have seen thy face saith the poor soul to such as though I had seen the face of God Gen. 33.10 A mans wisdome maketh his face to shine Godliness is venerable and reverend Holy and Reverend is his name Psal 112. Gods Image is amiable and admirable Natural conscience cannot but stoop and do obeysance to it What a deal of respect did Nebuchadnezzar and Darius put upon Daniel Alexander the Great upon Jaddus the High-Priest Theodosius upon Ambrose Constantine upon Paphnutius kissing that eye of his that was bored out for the cause of Christ c Godly men have a daunting presence as Athanasius had and Basil to whom when Valens the Arrian Emperour came whiles hee was in holy exercises it struck such a terrour into him Greg. Orat. de lande Basilii that hee reeled and had fallen had hee not been upheld by those that were with him Henry the second of France being present at the Martyrdome of a certain Taylor burnt by him for Religion was so terrified by the boldness of his countenance Epit. hist Gall. 82. and the constancy of his sufferings that hee swore at his going away that hee would never any more bee present at such a sight And the boldness of his face shall bee changed Or doubled his conscience bearing him out and making him undaunted as it did David Psal 3. and the Dutch Martyr Colonus who calling to the Judge that had sentenced him to death desired him to lay his hand upon his heart and then asked him whose heart did most beat his or the Judges By this boldness Jonathan and his Armour-bearer set upon the Garrison of the Philistims David upon Goliah their Champion The Black-Prince was so called not of his colour Speed 688. but of his valour and dreaded acts in battel Vers 2. To keep the Kings commandement Heb. Mouth i. e. The express word of command go not here by guess or good intention lest you speed as that Scotch Captain did who not expecting Orders from his Superiours took an advantage offered him of taking a Fort of the Enemies Speed for which good service hee was knighted in the morning but hanged in the after-noon of the same day for acting without order And that in regard of the Oath of God Thine Oath of Allegiance to thy Prince This Papists make nothing of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pascenius scoffs King James for the invention of it They can swear with their mouths and keep their hearts unsworn as shee in the Comedy Mercatorum est stare juramentis say they at Rome They can assoil men of their allegiance at pleasure and slip their solemn Oaths as easily as Monkies do their Collars And I would this were the sin of Papists onely and that there were not those found even amongst us that keep no oaths further than makes for their own turn like as the Jews keep none unless they swear upon their own Torah Weems brought out of their Synagogues Vers 3. Bee not hasty to go out of his sight Turn not thy back discontentedly fling not away in a chase for this will be construed for a contempt As it was in the Earl of Essex Anno 1598. Dissention falling out between the Queen and him about a fit man for Governour of Ireland hee forgetting himself and neglecting his duty uncivilly turned his back with a scornful countenance Shee waxing impatient gave him a cuff on the ear bidding him bee gone with a vengeance Hee laid his hand upon his sword the Lord Admiral interposing himself hee swore a great oath Camd. Elisch fol. 494. that hee neither could nor would swallow so great an indignity nor would have born it at King Henry the Eighths hands and in great discontentment hasted from the Court But within a while after hee became submiss and was received again into favour by the Queen who alwaies thought it more just to offend a man than to hate him Blunts voyage pag. 97. The very Turks are said to receive humiliation with all sweetness but to bee remorseless to those that bear up Vers 4. Where the word of a King is there is power Ibi dominatio Hee hath long hands and can reach thee at a great distance as Mithridates did when with one letter he slew fourscore thousand Citizens of Rome Val. Max. lib. 9 that were scattered up and down his Kingdome for Trading-sake So Selimus the Great Turk Turk hist. fol. 885 in revenge of the loss received at the battel of Lepanto was once in a minde to have put to death all the Christians in his Dominions in number infinite Charls the Ninth of France is reported to have been the death of thirty thousand of his Protestant Subjects in one years space Anno 1572. See Dan. 5.19 And who may say unto him What dost thou viz. Without danger What safety can there bee in taking a Bear by the tooth or a Lion by the beard I dare not dispute said the Philosopher to the Emperour Adrian with him that hath thirty Legions at his command Neque in cum scribere qui potest proscribere Praescus praesentem Pontisicem redarguit Polycraticon conscripsit Jac. Rev. 145. nor write against him that can as easily undo mee as bid it to be done How be it Elias Micaiah John Baptist and other holy Prophets and Ministers have dealt plainly with great Princes and God hath secured them John Bishop of Salisbury reproved the Pope to his face and yet the Canonists say that although the Pope should draw millions of souls to Hell with him none may dare to say unto him What dost thou But Philip the Fair made bold with his Holiness when hee began his letter to him with Sciat Fatuitas Tua c. So did
onely that delivereth from death The wicked may make a covenant with death but God will disanul it Shall they escape by iniquity saith the Psalmist What have they no better medium's No in thine anger cast down the people O God Isa 28.15 Psal 50.7 Every man should dye the same day that hee is born the wages of death should bee paid him presently but Christ beggs their lives for a season Hee is the Saviour of all men 1 Tim. 4.10 not of eternal preservation but of temporal reservation that his Elect might lay hold on eternal life and reprobates may have this for a bodkin at their hearts one day I was in a fair possibility of being delivered Vers 9. One man ruleth over another to his own hurt Not only to the hurt of his subjects but to his own utter ruine though after a long run haply vers 12 13. Ad generum Cereris c. What untimely ends came the Kings of Israel to and the Roman Caesars all almost till Constantine Vespasianus unus accepto imperio melior factus est Vespasian was the only one amongst them that became better by the Office Whiles they were private persons there seemed to be some goodnesse in them But no sooner advanced to the Empire than they ran riot in wickednesse listening to flatterers and hating reproofs they ran head-long to Hell and drew a great number with them by the instigation of the Devil that old Man-slayer whose work it was to act and agitate them for a common mischief Vers 10. And so I saw the wicked buried With Pomp and great solemnity funeral Orations Statues and Epitaphs c. as if he had been another Josiah or Theodosius so doe men over-whelm this mouse with praises proper to the Elephant as the Proverb hath it Who had come and gone from the place of the Holy That is from the place of Magistracy Seat of Judicature where the Holy God himself sits as chief President and Lord Paramount Deut. 1.17 2 Chron. 19.6 Psal 82.1 And they were forgotten in the City where they had so done A great benefit to a wicked man to have his memory dye with him which if it be preserved stinks in keeping Pemble and remains as a curse and perpetual disgrace as one very well senseth it Vers 11. Because sentence against an evil work c. Ennarrata sententia a published and declared sentence So that it is only a reprieve of mercy that a wicked man hath his preservation is but a reservation to further evil abused mercy turning into fury Hieron in Ierem Aeripedes dictae sunt Furia Aries quo altius erigitur hoc figit fortius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De utroque Dionysio Val. l. 1. cap. 2. Bucholc Morae dispendium fauoris duplo pensatur saith Hierom Gods forbearance is no quittance he will finde a time to pay wicked men for the new and the old The Lord is not slow as some men count slownesse 2 Pet. 3.9 Or if he be slow yet he is sure Hee hath leaden heels but iron hands the farther he fetcheth his blow or draweth his arrow the deeper hee will wound when hee hitteth Gods Mill may grind soft and slow but it grindes sure and small said one Heathen Tarditatem supplicii gravitate compensat he recompenseth the delay of punishment with an eternity of extreamity saith another He hath vials of vengeance Rev. 16.1 which are large vessels but narrow mouthed they pour out slowly but drench deeply and distill effectually Caveto igitur saith one ne malum dilatum fiat suplicatum Get quickly out of Gods debt lest yee be forced to pay the charges of a sute to your pain to your cost Patientia Dei quo diuturnior eo minacior God will not alwayes serve men for a sinning-stock Poena venit gravior quo mage sera venit Adonijah's feast ended in horrour Ever after the meal is ended comes the reckoning Therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set Heb. is full So full of wickednesse that there is no room for the fear of Gods wrath till wrath come upon them to the utmost Intus existens prohibet alienum God offers and affords them heart-knocking time Rev. 3.20 but they ram up their hearts dry their tears as Saul and are scalded in their own grease stewed in their own broath The sleeping of vengeance causeth the over-flowing of sin and the over-flow of sin causeth the awakning of vengeance Vers 12. Though a sinner doth evil an hundred times Commit the same sin an hundred times over which is no small aggravation of his sin as numbers added to numbers are first ten times more then an hundred then a thousand c. And truly a Sinner left to himself would sin in infinitum which may be one reason of the infinite torments of Hell hee can set no bounds to himself till he become a brat of fathomless perdition The Devil commits that sin unto death every day and oft in the day His Imps also resemble him herein Hence their sins are mortal saith St. John rather immortal 1 Joh. 5. as saith St. Paul Rom. 2.5 And his dayes bee prolonged By the long sufferance of God which is so great that Jonah was displeased at it chap. 4. Averroes turned Atheist upon it But Micah admires it chap. 7.18 and Moses makes excellent use of it when he prays Exod. 34. O Lord let my Lord I pray thee goe along with us for it is a stiff-necked people As who should say None but a God is able to endure this perverse people my patience and meekness is farre too short and yet Moses by Gods own testimony was the meekest man upon earth That the vilest of men may live a long while is evident but for no good will that God bears them but that heaping up sin they may heap up wrath and by abuse of Divine patience be fitted for the hottest fire in Hell Rom. 9.22 as stubble laid out a drying Nah. 1.10 or as Grapes let hang in the Sun-shine till ripe for the Wine-press of wrath Rev. 15.16 Surely as one day of mans life is to be preferred before the longest life of a Stagge or a Raven so one day spent religiously is farre better than an hundred years spent wickedly Non refert quanta sit vitae diuturnitas sed qualis sit administratio saith Vives The businesse is not how long but how well any man liveth Hierom reads this verse thus Quia peccator facit malum centies elongat ei Deus ex hoc cognosco ego c. Because a sinner doth evil an hundred times and God doth lengthen his dayes unto him from hence I know that it shall bee well with them that fear God c. And he sets this sense upon it Inasmuch as God so long spares wretched sinners waiting their return he will surely bee good to pious persons Symmachus Aquila and Theodotion read it thus Peccans enim malus mortuus est long
way of truth and holiness The Papists propose rewards to such as shall relinquish the Protestant religion and turn to theirs as in Ausborough where they say there is a known price for it of ten Florens a year In France Spec. Europ where the Clergy have made contributions for the maintenance of runagate Ministers Stratagema nunc est Pontificum ditare multos ut pii esse desinant saith one that was no stranger to them Joh. Bapt. Gell. dial 5. It is a cunning trick that the Popes have taken up to enrich men that they may rob them of their religion And though Luther would not swallow that hook yet there are those that will not a few Tell men a tale of Utile promise them preferment and you may perswade them to any thing Fac me Pontificem ero Christianus said one Pammachius an Heathen once to the Pope Make mee a Bishop and I 'le turn Christian But as one said of Papists that they must have two conversions ere they come to heaven one from Popery and another from prophaneness like as corn must be first threshed and then winnowed so this money-merchant this preferment-proselyte might have been a Christian at large had hee had his desired Bishoprick but Christ never favoured any such self-seeking followers See Mat. 8.20 John 6.26 their love hee knows to be no better than meretricious and mercenary It is a sad thing that any Augustine should have cause to complain Vix diligitur Jesus propter Jesum that scarce any man loves Christ but for his rewards like the mixt multitude that came up with Israel out of Egypt for a better fortune Or those Persians that in Mordecai's daies for self-respects became Jews All Gods people should bee like those Medes in Isaiah that regarded not silver and as for gold they delighted not in it chap. 13.17 Christs love should bee better to them than wine Cant. 1.2 and when in exchange for it the devill doth offer them this worlds good they should answer him as the witch of Endor did Saul 1 Sam. 28.9 Judg. 9.11 Wherefore laiest thou a snare for my soul to cause mee to dye or as the vine and fig-tree in Jonathans Parable answered the rest of the trees Should I leave my fatness and sweetness derived unto mee from Christ and so go out of Gods blessing into the worlds warm Sunne God forbid that I should part with my patrimony as Naboth said take an apple for paradise as Adam did lose the love of Christ for the worlds blandishments c. Vers 8. Wee have a little sister Thou Lord and I have such a sister sc the Church of the Gentiles known to thee and fore-appointed to conversion as James speaketh in that first Christian counsell Act. 15.18 from the beginning of the world unknown to mee more than by hear-say from the holy Prophets 1 Pet. 1.10 who prophecied of the grace that should come unto her but not unloved or undesired Now therefore as a fruit of my true love unto thee such as no floods of troubles can quench or drench no earthly commodity can compass or buy off I desire not onely to deliberate with thee about the enlargement of thy Kingdome by the accession of the elect Gentiles thereunto but also by making as I may say large and liberal offers set forth my care and study for their eternal salvation See the like affection in St. Paul toward his country-men the Jews proceeding from that full assurance that hee found in himself Rom. 8.38 39. with chap. 9.1 And learn wee to pray as earnestly for their conversion as they have done for ours longing after them from the very heart-root in Jesus Christ as Philipp 1.8 and turning to the Lord that they may the sooner finde compassion It is Hezekiah's reason and a very remarkable one 2 Chron. 30.9 And shee hath no breasts i. e. Shee is not yet Nubilis apta viro marriageable and fit for Christ to bee presented as a chaste Virgin unto him shee wanted such paranymphs as Paul was to do it for her 2 Cor. 11.2 Shee had not a stablished Ministry to nurse up her children withall And at this same pass was the old Church at first not onely small but unshapen Ezek. 16.7 8. A society of men without the preaching of the Word is like a mother of children without breasts All the Churches children must suck and bee satisfied Isa 66.11 they must desire the sincere milk of the Word and grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 not like the changeling Luther speaks of ever sucking never batling Such shall be made to know that their mother hath verbera as well as ubera rods as well as dugges Their father will also repent him as once David did of his kindness to Nabal and take up his old complaint Isai 1.2 I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me The ox knoweth his owner c. the most salvage creatures will bee at the beck and check of those that feed them disobedience therefore under means of grace especially is against the principles of nature It is to bee like the horse and mule yea like the young mulet which hath no sooner done sucking her dammes teats but shee turns up her heels and kicks her What shall wee do for our sister Love is not more cogitative than operative and delights to bee doing for the beloved I love the Lord c. What shall I render unto him I will pay my vows c. Psal 116. Jonathan will disrobe and strip himself even to his sword and girdle for David because hee loved him as his own soul 1 Sam. 18.3 4. Shechem will do all that can be done for his beloved Dinah The Macedonians will over-do for their poor brethren Pauls love to the Jews was like the Ivy which if it cleave to a stone or an old wall will rather die than forsake it Rom. 9.3 He tells his Hebrews of their labour of love Heb. 6. all love is laborious In the day when shee shall bee spoken for Or wherein speech shall he had concerning her viz. for an husband for her how wee may best prefer her in marriage The care of disposing young people to fit yoke-fellows lay upon their parents and other kindred The Church as an elder-sister shews her self solicitous and propounds the matter to Christ as the onely best husband for her the partition-wall being broken down Vers 9. If shee be a wall wee will build upon her c. Christ answers If she be as she ought to be strong and well-grounded in the faith able to bear a good weight laid upon her as a wall pillar and ground of truth not sinking or fainting under the heaviest burden of these light afflictions which are but for a moment but patient and perseverant in the faith unto the death then will I do all for her that may bee done to make her happy This speech is somewhat like that of Solomon concerning Adonijah
continual craving Here is an Ironical and Poetical representation of the King of Babylons coming into Hell and his entertainment there the dead Kings rising from their places for reverence to receive him Even all the chief ones of the earth Heb. The He-goats such as lead and go before the flock such Rhetorick as this we meet with in Lucians Dialogues Of Laurentius Valla that great Critick who found fault with almost all Latine Authors One made this Tetrastich Nunc postquà m manes defunctus Valla petivit Trithem Non audet Pluto verba Latina loqui Jupiter hunc caeli dignatus honore fuisset Censorem linguae sed timet ipse suae From their Thrones i. e. From their Sepulchres saith Piscator Ver. 10. Art thou also become weak as we Interrogatio sarcastica insultabunda Hast thou also an Hic fitus est or Mortuus est set upon thy Tombstone This if thou hadst fore-thought thou wouldest have better behaved thy self whilest alive the meditation of Death would have been a death to thy passions and an allay to thine insolencies Virgil saith if swarms of Bees meet in the ayr they will sometimes fight as it were in a set battel with great violence But if you cast but a little dust upon them they will be all presently quiet Hi motus animorum atqueâ—aec certamina tanta Georg. lib. â— Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescunt Had Nebuchadnezzar or his Successors bethought themselves of their Mortality and of Deaths impartiality they would have been more moderate Ver. 11. Thy pomp is brought down to the grave Ipsaque justa sepulta jacent Funeral rites those Dues of the Dead are wanting to thee This was fulfilled in Belshazzar slain at his impious Feast These Feast-dayes were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like the Roman Saturnalia whilest he profaned the vessels of Gods house to quaff in to the honour of Shac his drunken god and had no doubt variety of Musick See Jer. 51.39 41 47. Dan. 5.1 30. The worm is spread under thee and worms cover thee Pro liâ—eamine tinea sternitur pro lodice vermes superimponuntur for sheets thou hast Maggots and for a coverled worms and this the rather because whereas the Assyrian Kings as Strabo testifieth Lib. 16. Lib. 1. and the Babylonian Kings as Herodotus were wont to be Embalmed after their death that they might keep sweet Belshazzar was not so ver 19.20 Ver. 12. How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer That is not O Belzeebub as some Ancients but O Belshazzar rather called Lucifer here or the Morning-star for his beauty and brightness and as much wonder it was to see the Chaldaean Monarch at such an under as to have seen Lucifer the Suns constant companion fallen from Heaven He was the terrour of the world and as he thought superiour to Fortune yet a sudden and dismal change befell him In the Chariot of the Roman Triumpher there hung up a little bell and a whip to put him in mind he might one day be whipt as a slave or as an offendor lose his head Nemo confidat minium secundis Ver. 13. For thou hast said in thine heart The natural heart is a Palace of Satanical pride it is like unto the Table of Adonibezek at which he sat in a Chair of State and made others even Kings to eat meat like dogs under his feet with their thumbs cut off Oecolamp I will ascend into Heaven Vide quomodo non satientur honore superbi Ambition as the Crocodile grows is long as it lives and is never satisfied Above the stars of God i. e. Above all the Kings of the earth or above the Saints Rev. 12.1 those earthly Angels I will sit also upon the Mount of the Congregation I will sit upon the skirts of Gods Church yea I will set my Throne upon Gods Throne and take up his room See the like madness in Pharaoh Ezek. 29.3 that proud Prince of Tyre Ezek. 22.28 Antiochus sirnamed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod Act. 12. Caligula Chosroes Diocletian Antichrist of whom and his practises One cryes out O Lucifer out-devil'd c. 2 Thess 2.4 One of the Popes Parasites Valladerius saith of Paul the fifth that he was a God lived familiarly with the Godhead heard Predestination it self whispering to him had a place to sit in Council with the most blessed Trinity c. In the sides of the North In Mount Moriah where the Temple stood Ver. 14. I will ascend above the height of the clouds Vt verbo dicam ero summa sacra majestas Hor. lib. 1. Ode 3. Attingit solium Jovis coelestia tentat Ver. 15. Yet thou shalt be brought down to Hell To the counterpoint of thy haughtiest conceits ad infimam Erebi sedem So a merry fellow said that Xerxes that great Warrior who took upon him to controul the Sea was now mending old shoos under a shop-board in Hell Adagium Homer cum To the sides of the pit i. e. Of the infernal Lake a Tartesso in Tartarum detrusus from the sides of the North ver 13. whether thou hadst pierked thy self ad latera luci to the sides of the pit and to an odd corner of the burying place This was a foul fall Rev. Hist Pontif. 195. and worse then that of Hermannus Ferrariensis who having been canonized for a Saint was thirty years after unburied and burnt for an Heretick by Pope Boniface the eight or that of Thomas Becket of whom fourty eight years after he had been Sainted Dan. Hist Fol. 99. it was disputed among the Doctors of Paris whether he were damned or saved Ver. 16. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee Shall look wishly upon thee as scarce believing their own eyes for the strangeness of the thing Is this the man that made the earth to tremble The earth to quake and mens hearts to ake yea sure this is very He. At one end of the Library at Dublin was a Globe at the other a Sceleton to shew saith mine Author that though a man be Lord of all the world yet he must dye nullusque fiet qui omnia esse affectabat Ver. 17. That made the world as a Wilderness Nero the Tyrant came into the world an Agrippa or born with his feet forward and turned the world upside down ere he went out of it so that the Senate at last proclaimed him a publick enemy to mankind and condemned him to be drawn through the City and whipped to death That opened not the house of his prisoners Or that did not lose his prisoners homewards but kept them in durance with prisoners pittance Lam. 3.34 Ver. 18. All the Kings of the Nations i. e. Very many of them have their stately Pyramides Tombs Mausolaean Monuments erected as amongst us at Westminster Henry the sevenths Chappel is a curious and costly piece Ver. 19. But thou art cast out of thy grave i. e. Cast out Insepultâ
went with him to New-England By sins mens bands are made strong as by repentance they are loosened videte ergo ut resipiscatis mature Ver. 23. Give ear and hear my voice hearken c Being to assure the faithful of Gods fatherly care of their safety and indemnity amidst all those distractions and disturbances of the times he calleth for their utmost attention as knowing how flow of heart and dull of hearing the best are how backward to believe Luk. 24.25 and apt to forget the consolation Heb. 12.5 See the Note on Mat. 13.3 Ver. 24. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow Or every day Doth he not find him somewhat else to do besides Preponit parabolam rusticam sed magna sapientia refertam Sua sunt rebus omnibus agendis tempora novandi arandi occandi aequandi serendi metendi colligandi excernendi grani suae rationes singulis And shall not the only wise God afflict his people with moderation and discretion yea verily for he is a God of judgement and waiteth to be gratious chap. 30.18 We are no longer plowed then needs and whereas we may think our hearts soft enough it may be so for some grace but God hath seeds of all sorts to cast in the wheat and the rie c. and that ground which is soft enough for one is not for another God saith Chrysostom doth like a Lutanist who will not let the strings be too slack lest they marr the musick nor suffer them to be too hard-stretcht or scrued up lest they break Ver. 25. When he hath made plain laid it level and equal Doth he not cast in the fitches See on ver 24. The appointed barley Hordeum signatum Whatsoever is sealed with a seal is excellent in its own kind so are all Gods sealed ones Eph. 4.30 Ver. 26. For his God doth instruct him to discretion Being a better Tutor to him then any Varro de Agricultura Cato derè Rustica Hesiod in his works and dayes Virgils Georgicks or Geonomica Constantino inscripta Some read the verse thus And he beateth it out according to that course that his God teacheth him that is according to the judgement of right reason God is to be praised for the art of Agriculture How thankful were the poor Heathens to their Saturn Triptolemus Ceres c. Ver. 27. For the fitches are not threshed out c. So are Gods visitations diversly dispensed he proportioneth the burthen to the back and the stroke to the strength of him that beareth it sparing his afflicted as a man spareth his Son that serveth him Thus Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto death but not unto death and why see Phil. 2.27 Some of the sweet smelling Smyrnians were in prison ten dayes and no more Rev. 2.10 Ver. 28. Bread-corn is bruised yet not mauled or marred That of Ignatius is well known Commolor dentibus ferarum ut purius Domino panis fiam Because he will not ever be threshing it As he is not ever sowing mercies so he will not alwayes be inflicting miseries Nor bruise it with his horsemen Or with his horses-hoofs Ver. 29. This also cometh forth from the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As doth likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 1.17 Which is wonderful qui mirificus est consilio magnificus opere Chap. XXIX Ver. 1. WO to Ariel to Ariel i. e. to the brazen altar Metonymia adjuncti Synecdochica Ezek. 43.15 16. called here Ariel or Gods lyon because it seemed as a lyon to devour the sacrifices daily burnt upon it Here it is put for the whole Temple which together with the City wherein it stood is threatned with destruction The City where David dwelt Both Mount Moriah whereon stood the Temple and Mount Zion whereon stood the Palace both Church and State are menaced with Judgements Temporal in the eight first verses and Spiritual in the eight next The rest of the Chapter is no less Consolatory then this is Comminatory Add ye year to year i. e. feed your selves on with these vain hopes that years shall run on alwayes in the same manner See 2 Pet. 2.4 Ezek. 12.22 Let them kill sacrifices and thereby think but falsly and foolishly to demerit God to themselves as that Emperor did who marching against his enemy sacrificed and then said Non sic deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret Antonin Philosop we have not so served God that he should serve us no better then to give our enemies the better of us see Isa 58.3 Jer. 7.21 Hos 9.1 Ver. 2. Yet I will distress Ariel though a sacred place Profligate Professors are the worse for their priviledges The Jew first Rom. 2.9 And it shall be unto me as Ariel i. e. it shall be full of slain bodies as the Altar is usually full of slaughtered beasts and swimmeth as it were in blood So Jer. 12.3 Isa 34.6 Arias Montanus giveth this sense Jerusalem which once was Ariel that is a strong lyon shall now be Ariel that is a strong curse or a rain of malediction Ver. 3. And I will camp against thee round about I will bring the woe of war upon thee a woe that no words how wide soever can possibly express see this accomplished 2 King 25.4 And will lay seige As the Captain General of the Chaldees Ver. 4. And thou shalt be brought down from those lofty pinacles of self exaltation whereunto thy pride hath peirhed thee And speak out of the ground humillime submissime thou shalt speak supplicatione with a low voice as broken men who wast wont to face the heavens and speak in spite of God and men speak big words bubbles of words See Jer. 46.22 And thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit cujus vox est gracilis flebilis hiulca confusa gemebunda Out of the ground as the Devil at Delphos did Ver. 5. Moreover the multitude of thy strangers thy forreign Auxiliaries these shall do thee no good but be blown away as with a whirlwind It shall be at an instant suddenly The last siege and sack of Jerusalem was so by a specialty as is to be read in Josephus And some Interpreters understand this whole Chapter of the times of the new Testament because our Saviour and St. Paul do cite some places herehence and apply the same to those their times not by way of Accommodation only but as the proper and true sense of the text as Mat. 15.8 9. Rom. 11.8 1 Cor. 1.19 Ver. 6. Thou shalt be visited with thunder and earth-quake i. e. fragosis repentinis vehementibus immedicabilibus plagis with ratling sudden violent and unmedicinable miseries and mischiefs as if heaven and earth had conspired thine utter undoing Some apply this to the prodigies that went before the last devastation of Jerusalem whereof see Joseph lib. 7. cap. 12. Ver. 7. Shall be as the dream of a night-vision Both in regard of thee to whom this siege and ruin
blows It speaketh deceit See Psal 52.2 with the Notes One speaketh peaceably but in his heart he layeth his wait Such a one was the tyrant Tiberius and our Richard 3. who would use most complements and shew greatest signs of love and curtesie to him in the morning Dan hist 249. whose throat he had taken order to be cut that evening Ver. 9. Shall I not visit them See on chap. 5.9 Ver. 10. For the mountains will I take up a weeping Accingit se Propheta ad luctum Jeremy was better at weeping then Heraclitus and from a better principle Lachrymas angustiae exprimit Crux lachrymas poenitentiae peccatum lachrymas sympathiae affectus humanitatis vel Christianitatis lachrymas nequitiae vel hypocrisis vel vindictae cupiditas Jeremies tears were of the best sort Because they are burnt up The Rabbines tell us that after the people were carried captive to Babylon the land of Jury was burnt up with sulphur and salt But this may well passe for a Jewish fable Both the fowl of the heaven See chap. 4.25 Ver. 11. And I will make Jerusalem heaps So small a distance is there saith Seneca betwixt a great City and none The world is as full of mutation as of motion And a den of Dragons Because she made mine house a den of theeves chap. 7.11 Ver. 12. Who is the wise man that he may understand this This who and who denoteth a great paucity of such wise ones as consider common calamities in the true causes of them propter quid pereat haec terra for what the land perisheth and that great sins produce grievous judgements The most are apt to say with those Philistines It is a chance to attribute their sufferings to Fate or Fortune to accuse God of injustice rather then to accept of the punishment of their iniquity And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken q. d. Is there never a one of your Prophets that will set you right herein but the dust of covetousnesse hath put out their eyes and they can better sing Placentia then Lachrymae c. Ver. 13. And the Lord saith Or therefore the Lord saith q. d. Because neither your selves know nor have any else to tell you the true cause of your calamities hear it from Gods own mouth Ver. 14. But have walked after the imagination of their own heart Then the which they could not have chosen a worse guide sith it is evil only evil and continually so Gen. 6.5 See the note there Which their fathers taught them See chap. 7.18 Ver. 15. Behold I will feed them with wormwood i. e. With bitter afflictions Et haec poena inobedientiae fidei respondet The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own wayes Prov. 14.14 he shall have his belly full of them as we use to say See chap. 8.14 Ver. 16. And I will scatter them also among the heathen As had been forethreatned Deut. 28. Lev. 26. But men will not beleeve till they feel They read the threats of Gods law as they do the old stories of forreign wars and as if they lived out of the reach of Gods rod. Ver. 17. Consider ye Intelligentes estote Is not your hard-heartednesse such as that ye need such an help to do that wherein you should be forward and free-hearted The Hollanders and French fast saith one but without exprobration be it spoken they had need to send for mourning-women Spec. bel sac 209. Vt flerent oculos erudiere suas Ovid. that by their cunning they may be taught to mourn And call for the mourning women In planctum omne pathos faciles such as could make exquisite lamentation and cunningly act the part of mourners at funerals so as to wring teares from the beholders These the Latines called Praeficas quia luctui praeficiebantur because they had the chief hand in funeral mournings for the better carrying on whereof they both sang doleful ditties See 2 Chron. 35.25 and played on certain heavily-sounding instruments Mat. 9.23 whence the Poet Cantabit maestis tibia funeribus Ovid. Ver. 18. And let them make haste and take up a wailing for us Of this vanity or affectation God approveth not as neither he did of the Olympick games of usury of that custome at Corinth 1 Ep. 15.29 which yet he maketh his use of Ver. 19. For a voyce of wailing is heard out of Zion How are we spoiled Ponit formulam threnodiae Quis tragoediam aptius magis graphice depingeret what tragedy was ever better set forth and in more lively expressions Ver. 20. Yet hear the Word of the Lord O ye women For souls have no sexes and ye are likely to have your share as deep as any in the common calamity you also are mostly more apt to weep then men and may sooner work your men to godly sorrow then those lamentatrices Ver. 21. For death is come up into our windows i. e. The killing Chaldees break in upon us at any place of entrance doors or windows Joel 2.9 Joh. 10.1 The Ancients give us warning here to see to our senses those windows of wickednesse that sin get not into the soul thereby and death by sin Ver. 22. Speak Thus saith the Lord Heb. Speak it is the Lords saying and therefore thou mayst be bold to speak it So 1 Thes 4.15 For I say unto you in or by the Word of the Lord. And as the handful after the harvest man Death shall cut them up by handfuls and lay them heaps upon heaps Ver. 23. Let not the wise-man glory in his wisdom q. d. You bear your selves bold upon your wisdom wealth strength and other such seeming supports and deceitful foundations as if these could save you from the evils threatned But all these will prove like a shadow that declineth delightful but deceitful as will well appear at the hour of death Charles the fifth whom of all men the world â—udged most happy cursed his honours a little afore his death his victories trophees and riches saying Abite hinc abite longe get you far enough for any good ye can now do me Abi perdita bestia quae me totum perdidisti be gone thou wretched creature that hast utterly undone me said Corn Agrippa the Magician to his familiar spirit when he lay a dying So may many say of their worldly wisdom wealth c. Let not the wise man glory Let not those of great parts be head-strong or top-heavy let them not think to wind out by their wiles and shifts Let not the mighty man glory Fortitudo nostra est infirmitatis in veritate cognitio Aug. in humilitate confessio Nor the rich man glory in his riches Sith they availe not in the day of wrath Zeph. 1.18 See the Note there Ver. 24. But let him that glorieth glory in this And yet not in this neither unlesse he can do it with self-denial and lowlymindednesse Let him glory
brutish for want of knowledge so the words may be rendred the heathen idol-makers especially Brutescit homo prae scientia so Vatablus 1. Every man is brutish in comparison of knowledge viz. of Gods knowledge whil'st he goeth about to search into the causes of rain lightening wind c. which God only understandeth Ver. 15. They are vanity Vanity in its largest extent is properly predicated of them And the work of errours Meer mockeries making men to embrace vanity for verity In the time of their visitation See on Isa 46.1 Ver. 16. The portion of Jacob is not like them God is his peoples portion they are his possession Oh their dignity and security this the cock on the dunghil understands not Ver. 17. Gather up thy wares out of the land Make up thy pack and prevent a plundering Reculas tuas sarcinas compone Ver. 18. Behold I will fling out the inhabitants of this land I will easily and speedily sling them and fling them into Babylon so God will one day hurle into hell all the wicked of the earth Psal 9.17 And will distresse them that they may find it so Just so as they were foretold it would be but they could never be drawn to beleeve it Ver. 19. Wo is me for my hurt my wound is grievous This is the moane that people make when in distresse and they find it so But what after a while of pausing Truly this is my grief and I must bear it i. e. Bear it off as well as I may by head and shoulders or bear up under it and rub through it wearing it out as well as I can when things are at worst they 'l mend again Crosses as they had a time to come in so they must have a time to go out c. This is not patience but pertinaecy the strength of stones and flesh of brasse Job 6.12 it draweth on more weight of plagues and punishments God liketh not this indolency this stupidity this despising of his corrections as he calleth it Heb. 12.5 such shall be made to cry when God bindeth them Job 36.11 as here Ver. 20. My Tabernacle is spoiled I am irreparably ruined like as when a camp is quite broken up not any part of a tent or hut is left standing Ver. 21. For the Pastours are become brutish The corrupt Prophets and Priests who seduced the people from the truth were persons that made no conscience of prayer hence all went to wrack and ruine Ver. 22. Behold the noise of the bruit is come This doleful peal he oft rung in their eares but they little regarded it See chap. 9.11 Ver. 23. O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself He is not master of his own way but is directed and over-ruled by the powerful providence even this cruel Chaldaan also that marcheth against us It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps We know not what to do or which way to turn our selves only our eyes are toward thee Behold we submit to thy justice and implore thy mercy This text doth mainly make against free-will saith Oecolampadius and yet the Pelagiam would hence gather that man can by his own strength walk in the way to heaven but he must be holpen say they by Gods grace that he may be perfect Cum ratione seu modo Leniter discretè Lap. Ver. 24. O Lord correct me but with judgement i. e. In mercy and in measure Correction is not simply to be deprecated the Prophet here cryes Corret me David saith It was good for me Job calleth Gods afflicting of us his magnifying of us chap. 7.17 Feri Domine feri clementer ipse paratus sam saith Luther Smite Lord smite me but gently and I am ready to bear it patiently King Alfred prayed God to send him alwayes some sicknesse whereby his body might be tamed and he the better disposed and affectioned to God-ward Ecclesiastical history telleth of one Servulus who sick of a palsie so that his life was a lingering death said ordinarily God be thanked Ver. 25. Pour out c. This is not more votum then vaticinium a prayer then a prophecy And upon the families Neglect of family-prayer uncovers the roof as it were for Gods curse to be rained down upon mens tables meat enterprizes c. CHAP. XI Ver. 1. THe Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord To him it came but to be imparted to other Prophets say some Priests of Anathoth say others ver 2. which might be the reason why they were so enraged against him and fought his life ver 18 19. as the Popish Priests did Mancinels Savanarolas and other faithful Preachers for exciting them to do their duties Ver. 2. Hear ye the words and speak ye Ye Priests whose ordinary office it is to teach Jacob Gods judgements and Israel his Law Deut. 33.10 Ver. 3. And say thou unto them Thou Jeremy whether the rest will joyn with thee or not Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this Covenant It is probable that Jeremy when he said thus held the book in his hand viz. the book of Deuteronomy which the Rabbines call Sepher Tochechoth because of the many increpations and curses therein contained Ver. 4. From the iron furnace Where iron is melted and a fierce fire required Obey my voyce See chap 7.23 Ver. 5. A land flowing with milk and honey With plenty of dainties The City of Aleppo is so called by the Turkes of Alep milk for if the via lactea were on earth it would be found there saith one So be it O Lord Amen Fiat Fiat Oh that there were an heart in this people to obey thy voyce And oh that thou would'st still continue them in this good land c. Our hearts should be stretched out after out Amen and we should be swallowed upon God say the Rabbines Ver. 6. Hear ye the words of this Covevant and do them Else ye hear to no purpose as the Salamander liveth in the fire and is not made hot by the fire as the Ethiopian goeth black into the Bath and as black he cometh forth Ver. 7. Rising early i. e. endeavouring earnestly See chap. 5.8 Ver. 8. Yet they obeyed not See chap. 7.24 Therefore I will bring Heb. and I brought upon them Ver. 9. A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah A combination in sinful courses this is not Vnity but Conspiracy See Ezek. 22.25 Hos 6.9 such is the unity of the Antichristian crew Rev. 17.13 The Turkes have as little dissension in their religion as any yet are a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven Ver. 10. They are turned away to the iniquities of their fore-fathers Shewing themselves herein to be a race of rebels as good at resisting the holy Ghost as ever their Fathers were and are therefore justly chargeable with their iniquities which needeth not Ver. 11. Which they shall not be able to escape To avert avoid or abide I
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
for it came up four notable horns i. e. Four potent Princes out of the shipwrack of his Empire which four in processe of time came to two Dan. 11.5 6. Ver. 9. And out of one of them Out of the posterity of Seleucus King of Syria Came forth a little horn This was Antiochus sirnamed Epiphanes Illustrious Polybius called him Epimanes the mad man He is here called a little horn because he was vile and base from the very first to the last of him Indeed he was born a Prince but without a Kingdom a meer Nullatenensis till he became an V surper He was sent for an hostage to Rome by his father Antiochus Magnus whom the Romans had â—ndgeld into a treaty taking away from him the best part of his Kingdom After his fathers death he stole away from Rome and seized upon the Kingdom of Syria casting out of it his nephew Demetrius who was the right heir Afterwards he got into his hands also the Kingdom of Egypt under colour of Protectour to his young nephew Ptâ—lomy Philometor And being therehence discharged by the Romans and made to answer Parebo I will be gone he went thence in a rage and like a mad man recked his teem as we say upon the poor Jews playing the devil amongst them Toward the South i. e. Egypt And toward the East Persia which he also conquered And toward the pleasant land i. e. Judaea called here Decus Capreolus the delectable and desireable Country by reason of its great prerogatives So Ezek. 20.6 Psal 48.2 See there Ver. 10. And it waxed great even to the host of heaven Or against the host of heaven so the Church militant is called The Saints are the worlds great luminaries yea the only earthly Angels although wicked people count and call them the filth and off couring of all things And of the stars Such as shone in the light of holy doctrine Rev. 1.10 Persecutors spite is specially against such Zach. 13.7 Ver. 11. Yea he magnified himself extolled or extended himself such was his insolency Even to or against the Prince of the host Christ the Captain of his peoples sufferings and of their salvation Heb. 2.10 he bare an hostile spirit against the God of the Jews such an hell-bound hardly ever was born casting him out of his place and setting up in his room Jâ—piter Olympius that is the devil he defaced also and burnt up the books of the Law all he could light on 1 Mac. 1.59 Ver. 12. And an host was given him Or the host was given over for the trasgression against the daily sacrifice The Jewes were grown to a great height of profanesse even in Malachies dayes as is to be seen chap. 1 2 3. And by this time doubtlesse they were become much worse God therefore for punishment turned this Tiger loose upon them And it cast down the truth to the ground The doctrine of truth together with the Professors thereof The like whereunto is still done by the Romish Antichrist to whom some apply all this part of the Chapter as the proper and genuine sense of the Text. See the visions and Prophecies of Daniel expounded by Mr. Thomas Parker of Newbery in New-England pag. 43 44 c. And it practised and prospered Wicked practises against Religion may prosper for the time Acts 12.1 2 3. It was therefore no good argument that the Earl of Darby used to George Marsh Martyr telling him that the Dukes of Northumberland and of Suffolk and other of the new perswasion had ill luck Act. Mon. 1421. and were either put to death or in danger so to be And again he rehearsed unto him the good hap of the Queens highnesse and of those that held with her and said that the Duke of Northumberland confessed so plainly Ver. 13. And I heard one Saint speaking i. e. One holy Angel for they are sollicitous of Gods glory and sensible of the Saints sufferings whereof they would have a speedy end and should not we be so too weeping with those that weep and rejoycing with those that rejoyce And another Saint said unto that certain Saint which spake Anonymo illi qui loquebatur so Piscator rendereth it others To the wonderful Numberer who spake i. e. who commanded Gabriel to declare the vision to Daniel ver 16. This was Jesus Christ the Wisdom and Word of God He who knoweth all the secrets of his Father as perfectly as if they were numbred before him How long shall be the vision It appeareth then that Angels know not all secrets but that their knowledge is limited they know not so much but they would know more Ephes 3.10 1 Pet. 1.12 Concerning the daily sacrifice The losse whereof was a just matter of lamentation to godly minds See Zeph. 3.18 And the transgression of desolation Transgression is a land-desolating evil Lam. 1.9 And the host to be trodden under foot i. e. The Professors of the truth were over-turned some by perswasion others by persecution Ver. 14. And he 〈◊〉 unto me Not to the Angel but to me who should have proposed the question the holy Angel did it for me Vnto two thousand and three hundred dayes Heb. to the evening and morning two thousand and three hundred i. e. to so many natural dayes consisting of 24. hours which in all do make up six years three moneths and twenty dayes This point of skil Daniel here learneth of the Wonderful Numberer Christ who hath all secrets in numerato and will put a timely period to his peoples afflictions Not full seven years did they suffer here much lesse Seventy as once in Babylon How he moderateth the matter See on Rev. 2.10 How this Prophecy was fulfilled See 1 Maccab. 1.12 13 14. 2 Maccab. 4.12 c. with 1 Maccab. 4.52 Ver. 15. And it came to passe when I even I Daniel Not another as that black-mouthed Porphyry slanderously affirmed that not the Prophet Daniel saw Porphyr cont Christian l. 12. Hieronym and uttered these Prophecyes so long before they fell out but another who lived after the reign of Antiochus wrot an history of things past and entitled it falsely to Daniel as a prophecy of things to come Oâ—durum Then behold there stood before me They who seriously and sedulously seek after divine knowledge shall finde means to attain unto it Rev. 13.1 Ver. 16. And I heard a mans voice This was the Man Christ Jesus the great Doctour of his Church and Commander of Angels viro similis quia incarnandus Make this man to understand Angels and Ministers make men to understand secrets give the knowledge of salvation to Gods people Luke 1.77 not by infusion but by instruction Ver. 17. So he came near where I stood Let our obedience be like that of the Angels prompt and present I was afraid Through humane frailty and conscience of sin Vnderstand O son of man Ezekeil and Daniel only of all the Prophets are so called haply lest they should be exalted