several Kings reigns as did likewise Athanasius and Latimer Jeroboams especially the second of that name and here only named when six other Kings of Israel in whose time Hosea prophesied are not once mentioned but lie wrapt up in the sheet of shame because wicked idolaters such as God took no delight in and hath therefore written them in the earth And in the dayes of Jeroboam the son of Joash Not the son of Nebat that ringleader of the ten Tribes revolt from the house of Dauid but another little better and yet very prosperous and victorious 2 King 14.25 28. He reigned also fourty one years and did great exploits yet is Hosea sent to contest with him to declaim against his sin and wickednesse and to proclaim heavy judgements against him and his people This the Prophet did for a long while together with all fidelity and fortitude when the King was triumphing over his enemies and the people were not only drunk but even mad again by reason of their extraordinary prosperity as Calvin expresseth it Non tantum temulenti erant sed etiam prorsus insani Calvin Now that so young a Prophet should so sharply contend with so fierce a people in the ruffe of their pride and jollity that he should so rouse and repple up these drunkards of Ephraim with their crown of pride Esay 28.1 this shews him to have been of an heroical spirit Jonah his contemporary flinched when sent against Nineveh Micah the Morasthite another of Hosea's contemporaries prophesied in the dayes of Hezekiah King of Judah and spake to all the people of Judah saying Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Zion shall be ploughed like a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house the high places of a forest Yet did not Hezekiah King of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death c. Jer. 26.18 19. He and Hosea though they prevailed little with the people they preached to yet they were better dealt with then the Prophet Esay their contemporary too of whom Hierom tels us out of the Rabbines that he was sawn asunder because he said he had seen the Lord and secondly because he called the great ones of Judah Hieron in Isa 1. Princes of Sodom and rulers of Gomorrah Isaiah 1.10 Verse 2. The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea Heb. In Hosea to note that the Lord was both in his mind and mouth in his spirit and speech God spake in him before he spake out to the people His prophesie must therefore needs be divine and deep That 's the best discourse that 's digged out of a mans own breast that comes a corde ad cor from the heart to the heart And blessed are the pleople saith one that have such Ministers that shall speak nothing to them but what hath been first spoken by God in them saying with David and Paul We believe therefore have we spoken we also believe 2 Cor. 4.13 and therefore speak we have experimented what we deliver we believe and are sure that God is in us of a truth and that we preach cum gratia privilegio The beginning Hence some gather that Hosea was the first Prophet Hoseas videtur tempore majestate aliis prior saith O Ecolampadius Certain it is he began before Esay because he prophesied in the dayes of Jeroboam who was before Vzziah whether before Amos or no is not so certain Di praep Evang l. 20 â—ulut Eusebius tels us there was no Greek History extant before Hosea's time Well therefore might that ancient priest of Egypt say to Solon You Grecians are all boyes and babies in matters of Antiquity neither is there one old man amongst you Samuel is counted the first Prophet Acts 3.24 Plato in Timâ—o but Hosea was the first of those that lived in these Kings dayes and likely held out longest see the Note on Verse 1. as did father Latimer preaching twice every sabbath day Act. Mon. though of a very great age and rising to his study winter and summer at two of the clock in the morning Others read the words thus At the beginning when the Lord spake by Hosea he said to Hosea himself Go take unto thee c. An uncouth precept and a rough beginning for a young preacher whose youth might be despised and whose sharpnesse might be disgusted But truth must be spoken however it be taken and a preacher should take the same liberty to cry down sin that men take to commit sin Esay 58.1 Hierom was called fulmen Ecclesiasticum the Church thunderbolt And our Mr Perkins applied the word so close to the consciences of his hearers that he was able to make their hearts fall down Mr Fullers Holy State and their hairs almost to stand upright But in old age he was more milde and delighted much to preach mercy as did also our Prophet Hosea whose prophesie is comminatory in the fore-part consolatory in the latter part And the Lord said to Hosea This is now the third time inculcated for more authority sake which the people so rubb'd and menaced would be apt enough to question He therefore shews them his commission and that he hath good ground for what he saith that they may have no cause to cavil Melch. Ad. but reply as that good Dutch Divine did if God would give them a heart so to do Veniat veniat verbum Domini submittemus ei sexcenta si nobis essent colla Let the word of the Lord come yea let it come and we will submit there unto though we had six hundred lives to lose for so doing Go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms An arrant whore a stinking strumpet Calvin scortum obsoletum a known and trite harlot such as were Thais Lais Phryne c. yea and such a one as after marriage with a former husband at least went astray after other sweet-hearts for so the application of the figure to the subject Chap. 2. requireth it to be understood Whereby it appears saith Diodate that all this was done in a vision Others infer as much from that phrase in this verse The beginning of the word of the Lord in Hosea that is saith Polanus appearing and speaking to him by an inward vision as it were in an extasie Besides in the third chapter and three first verses the Prophet is bidden to marry another harlot to buy her for his own use and to keep her at his house for a time Now scimus hoc non fuisse completum saith Calvin we know that this was never really done It follows therefore that this figure was only proposed to the people that they might perpceive in the looking-glasse of this allegory first their duty toward God second their disloyalty thirdly their penalty for the same It is not an historical narration but a Prophetical vision Children of fornication a bastardly brood such as this evil and adulterous generation is
carried captive young and old naked and barefoot even with their buttocks uncovered c. as it is said of their confederates the Egyptians Esay 20.4 and as it shall be done at length to that purple whore of Rome who shall be stript naked broil'd and eaten Revel 17.16 A cold sweat stands already upon her limbs and for a presage of her future ruine it is observed that Rome since it became Papall was never besieged by any but it was taken As for their late Masculine attempts and atchievements if any it is but as here in the Kingdom of Israel a lightning before death as the blaze of a candle a little afore it goes out the bulging of a wall that 's ready to come down or as it was said of Carthage a little afore it was taken Morientium bestiarum violentiores esse morsus dying beasts bite cruelly Verse 9. Call his name Loammi Nomen extremum deploratum saith Pareus the last and most lamentable name of all containing a most heavy but spiritual and therefore lesse sensible punishment viz. an utter abjection and abdication from the covenant from grace from God from life eternall For ye are not my people But being totally cashiered and discovenanted Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me O children of Israel saith the Lord Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt and the Philistims from Caphtor Amos 9.7 and the Syrians from Kir q. d. True it is I have brought you up out of Egypt and therein you greatly glory but have I not done as much as all this for those profane Nations here mentioned with and amongst whom henceforward I shall reckon you for you are no people of mine but discarded and dispeopled Till the Covenant made with Abraham all Nations were suffered to walk in their own wayes as fishes passe at liberty thorow the paths of the Seas Psal 8.8 One person was no more respected then another But as soon as it was said I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee the Church became as fish cast into a Pond for peculiar use and was divided from other Nations Act. 14.16 no otherwise then light was from darknesse in the first creation or then Goshen was from Egypt in that wonderfull separation But here God seems to rescind his own act to cast off the people of his purchase and utterly to disown them as once before he also did when he fathered them upon Moses saying Thy people which thou hast brought out of Egypt c. Exod. 32.7 But this we must know is no other then mutatio rei non Dei effectus non affectus facti non consilij not a change of Gods will but onely of his works For hath God indeed cast away his people God forbid Rom. 11.1 2. God hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew Thus saith the Lord God If heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done saith the Lord. Jer. 31.37 And albeit by an angry Aposiopesis he say here I will not be your God The word God is not in the Original ab irato omittitur saith Mercer yet to shew that he is Bagnal Chemah One that can rule his wrath as Neb. 1.2 he subjoyneth here verse 10. Verse 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel i. e. of the Israel of God those Jews inwardly the Circumcision indeed which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus putting no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3.3 Bern. but saying each for himself as that good Father did Horreo quicquid de meo est ut sim meus All my care is to be found in Christ sc when sought for by the justice of God not having mine own righteousnesse which is of the law Beza but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Phil. 3.9 Lo to such Israelites indeed and of such it is here promised the Lord in Judgement remembring Mercy that they shall be the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbered This was first promised to Abraham and afterwards confirmed with an oath Gen. 22.16 It began to be fulfilled when by the preaching of the Apostles so many of both Jews and Gentiles came in and were converted to the faith of the true Messiah as S. Paul expoundeth this text Rom. 9.24 25. and he had the mind of Christ It shall have its full accomplishment when the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and all Israel shall be saved Rom. 11.26 Then the Church shall be as the stone that smote the Image it shall become a great mountain and fill the whole earth Though the beginning of it be small yet the later end of it shall greatly increase Job 8.7 for all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Christ he shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth Psal 72.8 11 17 Great is the paucity of Gods people for present but let us by the help of this promise get above that stumbling block Cosmographers tell us that if we divide all the known world into thirty parts the Heathens part is as nineteen of this thirty the Mahometans as six the Christians as five only And of those five more then the one half is held by idolatrous Papists But let not this discourage us it will be otherwise one day for the Scripture cannot be broken And although God may seem utterly to have abandoned his ancient people the Jews the ten Tribes especially yet they as well as the rest shall be vouchsafed this honour to be called to the participation of Christ Ezek. 37.16 19. Jer. 3 12 13 c. Esay 11.12 13. Obad. 20. Zach. 10.6 Rom. 11.26 If God after so dreadful a threatning come in with his non-obstante as he doth likewise Psal 106.8 and elsewhere and say yet the number of the children of Israel shall be c. who shall gain say him Their interpretation is too narrow that understand this text of the increase of this people in all their dispersions until the time of their conversion And that of Rabbi Ezra is pretty though not proper that as the sand keeps the waves of the sea from breaking in and drowning the world so doth Israel preserve man-kind from perishing by the waves of Gods wrath It should have been considered by him and the rest of those refractary Rabbines that at that general conversion of the Jews here plainly foretold there shall be some stubborn spirits that will not even then stoop to Christ but will be filled with envy as those cankered Pharisees their fore-fathers were Acts 13.44 45. to see almost the whole City come together to hear Christ Yea they will be ready to say as John 12.19 perceive ye how ye
simplicity as intending to beguile God which he cannot and man which he fain would and oft doth to further his worldly and wicked designes as Judas Herod Matth. 2.8 Pharisees Mat. 23.14 2. Falshoud opposite to truth as onely acting religion playing devotion compassiong God with deceit as the house of Israel here deceiving him not by impotency onely and in the event but by imposture and so in purpose contenting themselves with a shew with a semblance Luke 8.18 with a form of knowledge Rom. 2.20 and of godlinesse 2 Tim. 3.5 rather â—eeming to be good then seeking to be so These are hells free-holders and other sinners are said but to have their part with them There are that thus interpret this Text Ephraim compasseth me the Prophet preaching mercy and promising good things they beset me and gather close about me as desirous of my doctrine but it is in mendacio in hatâ—full hypocrysic see Ezek. 33.31 32. and when I crosse them never so little they craftily conspire to prejudice my Ministery to asperse my person c. To preach saith One is nothing else but to derive the rage of the whole world upon a mans self to become the But-mark yea the Center ad quod omnes lineae dolorum tendunt Meisner in loc to which all the lines of lies and falsehoods do tend but Judah yet ruleth with God To serve God is to rule with him as Livia said she ruled her husband Augustus by obeying him It is the greatest liberty Rom. 6.18 22. 1 Pet. 2.16 Abraham was a prince of God Jacob prevailed with God and had power as a Prince Gen. 32.28 Moses as if he had been Chancellour of heaven over-ruled the businesse and God is fain to bespeak his own freedom Exod. 32.10 Judah also is here said to rule with God to be potent with him because God was sincerely served amongst them and they held fast their first integrity the true religion was openly professed and the true worship of God incorruptly maintained in the Temple at Jerusalem This made Abijah though none of the best so boldly to boast and he prevailed so that there fell down of Israel slain four hundred thousand 2 Chron. 14.10 17. and yet the men of Judah that slew them were but four hundred thousand ina ll verse 3. Israels Apostacy is here aggravated by Judah's integrity they were not under the temptation of evil example Judah was the worse for them and not they for Judah and is faithfull with the Saints Or with the most Holy he keepeth the faith to God those Holy Ones the Father Son and Holy Spirit so some sence it as Josh 24.19 Prov. 9.10 he is far from those false and fraudulent dealings wherewith the ten Tribes seek to circumvent and beguile god Or thus Jâ—xlah is faithfull with the saints of former ages he holds to his old principles to the good old way wherein Abraham and the other Ancients went before him He is also faithfull with such as are sanctified the true priests of God consecrated to himself and set apart for holy use In opposition to the ten Tribes who went after those leaden priests made by Ieroboam of the lower sort of the people and well fitted to golden deities Lastly he is faithfull with the people of God those good souls that left the ten Tribes and went to Judah to the true worship of God With these Judah was faithfull courteous and communicative embracing and encouraging them all that might be This was a singular commendaton CHAP. XII Verse 1. EPhraim feedeth on wind Slender feeding unlesse Ephraim were of the Chamaeleon-kind quippe nec cor auro satiatur nec corpus aura Wind fills Esay 55.10 2 Cor. 9.10 but feeds not Ephraim had sowed the wind chap. 8.7 but to what profit Hee that ministreth seed to the sower and bread to the eater would here surely neither give bread for food nor multiply their seed sown but send them to the gods that they had chosen and to their confederates whom they so relied upon from whom they should reap the whirlwind See the Note on chap. 8.7 Wind we know bloweth up storms and tempests so doth idolatry and creature-confidence the tempest of Gods wrath that will never be blown over and followeth after the East-wind Which if he catch a great catch he is like to have of it Eurus est ventus urens exsiccans The East-wind is noted in Scripture for pernicious and hurtfull to fruits and herbs Gen. 41.6 Ezek. 7.10 and 29.17 Hos 13.15 violent it is also and spareth not men Ion. 4.8 The Seventy render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a burning blast as they do the former words Ephraim is an evil spirit by a mistake of the points Iob speaketh of some that fill their bellies with the East-wind they think to do so but it proves otherwise they snuff up the wind with the wild-asse but it tumours them onely and proves pestilentiall It is very dangerous for men to follow after their own conceits and counsels It may be worse to them upon their death-beds when they are lanching into the main of Immortality Euroaquilo then any rough East-wind or then any Euroclydon that wind mentioned Acts 27.14 Vna erusque uotusque ruunt Virg. that hath its name from stirring up stormes and is by Pliny called Navigantium pestis the Mariners misery An empty body meeting with tempests will have much ado to bear up If Ephraim first seed upon wind and then fall under the East-wind it must needs go hard with him The godly man who is filled with all the fulnesse of God Ephes 3.19 shall have him for a refuge from the storme a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storme against the wall Esay 25.4 His prayer is that of Ieremy chap. 17. vers 17. Be not thou a terrour unto me O Lord thou art my hope in the day of evil If the wind be not got into the earth and stir not there storms and tempests abroad cannot make an earthquake no more can afflictions or death an heart-quake where there is peace with God Such a mans mind immota manet is as mount Zion which cannot be removed He daily increaseth lies and desolation This being the fruit and consequent of those for flagitium flagellum sicut acus filum sinne and punishment are inseparable companions Wo unto them for they have fled from me destruction unto them because they have transgressed against me Hos 7.13 See the Note there To heap up lies is to hasten desolation A false witnesse shall not be unpunished and he that speaketh lies shall perish Prov. 19.9 They tell us of a threefold lie i. e. A merry lie an officious lie and a pernicious lie But the truth is every lie is pernicious and a man should rather die then lie He that lieth in jest may go to hell for it in earnest Iacob told his father an officious three-foldlie
to come out of the filth of his sins or to be washed from his wickednesse Rather then be regenerated without which there is no heaven to be had Ioh. 3.5 or freedom from deadly dangers upon earth he will venture to stay a while at least as the Text here hath it in the mouth of the matrix though it cost him a choaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such Ephraims we have not a few that proceed no further then to conviction debarring themselves of the benefit of a thorow conversion These go as far as Kadesh-barnea they are nigh to Gods kingdom they are almost perswaded to be true Christians they are come as far as the place of the breaking forth of children but there they stick and are stifled they are never brought forth from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive remission of sinnes and inheritance among the saints and sonnes of God Acts 26.18 Oh make much of the least beginnings of grace saith a Reverend man even those called repressing since they prepare the heart for conversion There is a faith in the true convert of no better perfection then that in the Temporary though he stay not there as the other being an unwise sot doth c. And although we bring forth good things saith Another as Sarah's dead womb brought forth a child it was not a child of natures but of the meer promise yet it cannot be denied that a naturall man though he be Theologically dead yet he is Ethically alive being to be wrought upon by arguments and that grace doth for the most part prepare naturals before it bring in supernaturals and if we hide our talent we are not allowed to expect the spirit of Regeneration As if we die in the wildernesse of preparatory antecedaneous works we never get to Canaan Verse 14. I will ransom them from the power of the grave c. Some read it thus Calvin Tigurin Isid Clar. Danaeus Drusius I would have ransomed them c. I would have redeemed them c. had they been wise or oughts as we say had not their incurable hardnesse and obstinacy hindered had they put forth into my hands as unto a midwife c. But alas it is no such matter therefore that that will die let it die repentance shall be hid from mine eyes I am unchangeably resolved to ruine them Or repentance should have been hid from mine eyes my goodnesse toward them should never have altered c. But let us rather look upon the words as a most sweet and comfortable promise of a mighty redemption and glorious resurrection to the Remnant according to the election of grace whom God would not have to want comfort I will ransom them Here therefore he telleth his Heirs of the promises that he will bring them back out of captivity wherein they â—ay for dead as it were and that this their deliverance should be an evident argument and sure pledge of their resurrection to life eternall To which purpose the Apostle doth aptly and properly alledge it 1 Cor. 15. and thereupon rings in Deaths ears out of this Text and Esay 25.8 the shrillest and sharpest Note the boldest and bravest challenge that ever was heard from the mouth of a mortall Death where is thy sting Hell where 's thy victory c Oh thanks be to God who hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ and thereby hath made us more then conquerours that is Triumphers 2 Cor. 2.14 But to return to the Text. Be it saith the Prophet that the Common-wealth of Israel both mother and child must perish for want of wisdom as was threatned in the foregoing verse yet let not the penitent among them despair for I the Lord Christ will ransom them by laying down a valuable price so the word signifieth from the power Ephdem Heb. hand of the grave or of hell that though hell had laid hands on them yea closed her mouth upon them as once the Whale had upon Jonas yet I would open the doors of that Leviathan and fetch them thence with a strong hand I will redeem them from death by becoming their near kinsman according to the flesh whereby I shall have the next right of redemption But how shall all this be done After a wonderfull manner O death I will be thy plagues Not one but many plagues even so many as shall certainly do thee to death The Vulgar rendreth it Ero mors tua O mors morsus tuus O inferne The Apostle for plagues hath sting for the plague hath a deadly sting and so hath sinne much more the guilt thereof is by Solomon said to bite like a serpent and sting like a cockatrice Prov. 23.32 Now Christ by dying put sinne to death Rom. 1.25 Ephes 1.7 Heb. 2.14 We read of a certain Cappadocean Sphinx Phil. pag. 750. whom when a Viper had bitten and suckt his blood the Viper her self died by the venemous blood that she had suckt But Christ being life essential prevailed over death and swallowed it up in victory as Moses his serpent swallowed up the sorcerers serpents or as Fire swalloweth up the fuell that is cast upon it yea by death he destroyed him that had the power of death the devil whose practise it was to kill men with death Rev. 2.23 this is the second death O grave or O hell I will be thy destruction thy deadly stinging disease joyned with the pestilence Psal 91.6 Death to a beleever is neither totall nor perpetuall Rom. 8.10 11. Christ hath made it to him of a curse a blessing of an enemy a friend of a punishment an emolument of the gate of hell the portall of heaven a postern to let out temporall but a street-door to let in eternall life And to assure all this Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes i. e. there shall be no such thing as repentance in me for all things that are at all are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 The meaning is I will never change my minde for this matter my covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Psal 89.34 Confer Psal 110.4 Rom. 11.29 Some render it but not so well Consolation is hid from mine eyes and so make them to be the words of the Church q. d. I see not this promise with mine eyes but I receive it and accept of it by my faith Verse 15. Though he be fruitfull among his brethren In allusion to his name Ephraim which signifieth fruitfull and flourishing Gen. 41.52 Confer Gen. 48.16 19 20 c. 49.22 See the like allusions Am. 5.5 Mic. 1.10 An East-winde shall come which is violent and hurtfull to the fruits of the earth the winde of the Lord a mighty strong winde meaning that most mercilesse and impetuous enemy the Assyrian sent by the Lord to avenge the quarrell of his
Covenant shall come up from the wildernesse where the winds blow most fiercely because they meet with no resistance and his spring shall become dry c. This is a description of extreme desolation and it is explained and amplified in the next words he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels He that is the Assyrian not Christ as Hierom Mercer and Ribera will have it who shall take away from Death and Hell all matter of glorying Not the fire of the last day as Lyra. No nor Ephraim as Pareus and Tarnouius carry it as if it were a promise of their conquest in Christ over all their enemies corporall and spirituall dividing the spoil of the converted Gentiles who shall come in to them with all their desireable things as some read that Text Hag. 2.7 Confer Am. 9.11 12. Obad. 18. Zech. 14.14 16 20 21. That this whole verse containeth a promise of Ephraim's reduction to the Church of God I could easily yeeld reading it especially as many good Interpreters do For he shall fructifie among his brethren after that an East-wind coming a wind of Jehovah coming up from the desert his spring shall become dry and his fountain shall dry up the same shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels This is a similitude say they from a piece of ground all dried up and parched that nothing is able to grow notably expressing the miserable and distressed estate of this people that as an easterly wind and a tempestuous storm hath dried them quite and spoiled all their delightfull treasures made them the vilest and most contemptible of the earth Marcellinus tells of an Emperour Am. Marcel lib. 2. that meeting with some of this Nation and annoyed with the sight and stench of them cryed out ô Marcommani ô Quadi ô Sarmatae c. O Marcoman's Quades and Sarmatians I have found at length a more loathsome and sordid people then you All which notwithstanding Ephraim shall flourish again and hold up their head among their brethren sc by the merit and spirit of Him who ransometh them from the power of the grave from the dint of death This sence of the words is confirmed by that which followes in the next Chapter vers 5 6 7. Verse 16. Samaria shall become desolate Here many begin the fourteenth Chapter but not so well for this verse evidently cohereth with the former and sheweth that Ephraim shall not onely be plundered rea peragetur but butchered by the Assyrian by their own default Samaria shall become desolate or be found guilty as the Chaldee hath it and the words may bear How can she be otherwise when as she hath rebelled against her God she hath imbittered him or bitterly provoked him to wrath as chap. 12.15 See the Note there who therefore sent in the Assyrian to desolate her that bitter and hasty Nation to march thorow the breadth of the land to possesse the dwelling places that were not theirs Hab. 1.6 This was a bitter affliction but behold a worse they shall fall by the sword they shall lose not their land onely and the treasures of all their pleasant vessels as verse 15. but their dearest lives which to save a man will gladly part with all that he hath Job 2.4 or submit to any servile employment as the Gibeonites in Ioshuah's dayes did who were willing to take hard on as slaves and underlings rather then to be cut off with the rest of the Canaanites their infants shall be dashed in pieces Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their sucklings that are ordinarily spared for their innocencie ignoscency c. See chap. 10.14 with the Note and consider that infants are not so innocent though they have yet done neither good nor evil but that God may justly inflict upon them all torments here and tortures in hell for the guilt of originall sinne that cleaveth to their natures Howbeit this excuseth not the barbarous cruelty of his executioners who shall be surely and suitably punished Psal 137.8 and their women with childe shall be ript up Of this kinde of savage inhumanity see Am. 1.13 2 King 8.11 15.16 where you shall finde that the tyrant Menahem ript the infants of Tiphsah out of their mothers bellies because their fathers opened not the gates unto him The like cruelty was exercised in the Sicilian Vespers and Parisian Massacre by those Romish Edomites maugre whose malice Ephraim is yet fruitfull the Church flourisheth Sanguine fundata est Ecclesia sanguine crescit CHAP. XIV Verse 1. OIsrael return unto the Lord Vsque ad Dominum as far as to the Lord give not the half but the whole turn and take it for a mercy that you are yet called upon to return and may be received that yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing All the former part of the Prophesie had been most-what Comminatory this last Chapter is wholly Consolatory the Sun of righteousnesse loves not to set in a cloud Ezr. 10.2 return unto the Lord thy God He is yet thy God no such argument for our turning to God as his turning to us Zach. 1.3 See the Note there Tantùm velis Deus tibi praeoccurret If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat c. The Fathers plenty brought home the Prodigall he had but a purpose to return and his father met him Esay 65.24 See Joel 2.12 13. Esay 55.6 7. Jer. 31.18 Hos 3.5 Acts 2.38 This is the use we should make of mercy Say not He is my God therefore I may presume upon him but He is mine therefore I must return unto him Argue from mercy to duty and not to liberty for that 's the Devils Logick which the Apostle holds unreasonable yea to a good heart impossible Rom. 6.1 2. His mercy is bounded with his truth with which it therefore goes commonly coupled in Scripture It is a sanctuary for the penitent but not for the presumptuous for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity i. e. Consumption is decreed yet a remnant reserved Esay 10.22 23. Thou hast fallen into great calamity and that by thine iniquity which puts a sting into thy misery This it is fit thou shouldst be sensible of for conviction is the first step to conversion But if thou art fallen wilt thou there lie and not rise again by repentance and return to him that smiteth thee wilt thou not submit to his justice and implore his mercy Here then is another motive to conversion as indeed this verse abounds with arguments to that purpose as Pareus well observeth First thou art Israel a Prince of God who hath greatly graced thee above all people Return to him therefore 2 Thou hast run away from him by thine iniquity ad turned upon him the back and not the face Return therefore 3. He is Iehovah the Authour of thy being and well-being 4 He is God to whom thou must either turn or burn for ever aut poenitendum aut pereundum he can fetch in his
lurking-holes as he did Adam out of the thicket 2 Chro. 33.11 Manasseh from among the thornes Jonah from the sides of the ship the Duke of Buckingham in Rich. the thirds time c. Be sure saith Moses your sinne will finde you out Speed Num. 32.23 and Gods hand will hale you to punishment Though they climb up to heaven That is by an hyperbole to high and strong places as the Babel-builders the Benjamites that fled to the Rock Rimmon and there abode four moneths Judg. 20 47. the gibing Jebusites that were so confident of their strong-hold of Zion that they flouted David and his forces 2 Sam. 5.8 the proud Prince of Tyre and others thence will I bring them down From their loftiest tops of Pride and creature-confidence which God loves to confute and defeat as I might instance in Nebuchadnezzars Xerxes Haman Sejanus Bajaezet that terrour of the world and as he thought superior to fortune yet in an instant with his state in one battle overthrown into the bottome of misery and despaire Turk hist 287. and that in the middest of his great strength The same end awaits the Pope and his hierarchy ruet alto à culmine Roma that Jupiter Capitolinus shall be one day unroosted by him who casteth the wicked down to the ground Psal 147.6 Verse 3. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel In densis sylvis inter spelaea ferarum Lawfull enough it is in some cases to hides David did oft and Elias and Christ and Paul 2 Cor. 11.32 and Athanasius and diverse other Saints Tertullian was too rigid in condemning all kind of hiding in evill times Lib. de suga on persecution But to hide from God who searcheth Jerusalem with lights and to whom the darknesse and the light are both alike Psal 139.12 to whom obscura clarent muta respondent silentium confitetur this is base and bootlesse Carmel shall not cover them nor any other starting-hole secure them from divine justice The poore Jewes were pulled by the Romanes out of privyes and other under-ground places where they had hid themselvss as Josephus writeth and so were those Samaritans served by the Assyrians who ferreted them out and slaughtered them and though they be hid from my sight as they think but that cannot be for He like the Optick vertue in the eye sees all and is seen of none in the bottome of the sea which how deep and troublesome soever is to God a Sea of glasse like unto Chrystal corpus diaphanum a pervious clear Rev. 4. transparent body such as he sees thorow and hath the sole command of thence will I command the serpent For there is that crooked serpent Leviathan there are also creeping things innumerable Esay 27.1 Psal 104.26 to arrest wicked men as rebels and traitors to the highest Majestie and to drag them down to the bottom of hell All elements and creatures shall draw upon them as servants will do upon such as assault their Lord. Rebellisque facta est quia homo numini creatura homini as Austin truely and trimly avoucheth Verse 4 And though they goe into captivity c. And so may hope the worst is over Surely the bitternesse of death is past yet it shall prove otherwise The hypocrites hope is as the giving up the ghost saith Iob and that 's but cold comfort 1 Sam. 15.32 Or as the spiders web spun out of her own bowels and when the beesome comes swept to the muck-hill before their enemies whose custome was to drrive their captives before them Lam. 1.5 young and old naked and barefoot even with their buttocks uncovered Esay 20.4 Or before their enemies that is before they are taken captive by the enemies by a voluntary yeeldance in hope of quarter for their lives The Jewes indeed had a promise from the Prophet Jeremy chap. 21.9 That if they went out and fell to the Chaldeans that besieged them they should have their lives for a prey but the ten tribes had no such promise made them They were strangers from the covenants Ephes 2.12 and therefore could look for no mercy Loammi and therefore Lo-ruhamah Hos 1. the Ark and the Mercy-seat were never sundred thence will I command the sword See Esay 13.15 16. Jer. 9.10 and 43.11 Ezek. 14.17 and I will set mine eyes upon them Emphaticoteâ—on est qâ—am si dixiâ—set Oculos pluraliter Mercer Heb. eye viz. the eye of my providence that oculus irretortus whereby I will look them to death and take course that nothing shall go well with them see a little below vers 8. Jer. 21.10 Psal 34.16 In Tamerlanes eyes sat such a Majesty as a man could hardly endure to behold and many in talking with him became dumb He held the East in such awe as that he was commonly called Turk hist 211.236 The wrath of God and terrour of the world Augustus Cesar frowned to death Cornelius Gallus and so did Queen Elizabeth Sir Christopher Hatton Lord Chancellour Gods enemies are sure to perish at the rebuke of his countenance Psal 80.16 and if he but set his eyes upon them for evil and not for good all occurrences shall certainly work together for the worst unto them Verse 5. And the Lord God of Hosts is he c. Here the Prophet proveth what he had said in the foregoing verses by an argument drawn from the wonderfull power of God which profane persons are apt to question that they may harden their hearts against his fear Consider saith He first that He is the Lord God of Hosts and as the Rabbines well observe he hath the upper and lower troops ready prest as his horse and foot to march against his enemies Next that he toucheth the land as it were with his little finger and it shall melt like the fat of lambs before the fire it shall crumble to crattle moulder away and be moved because he is wroth Psal 18.7 and shall men be unmoved shall they bee more insensible then the senselesse earth The people of Antioch though many of them gave their hands for Chrysostoms banishment yet terrified by an earthquake which wrought in them an heart-quake as it had done in the Gaoler Acts 16. they immediately sent for him again But thirdly the tremend power of God appears in this that The land shall rise up wholly like a flood and it shall be drowned as by the flood of Egypt God can flote it and flood it at his pleasure See chap. 8.8 Water is naturally above the earth as the garment above the body saith David and would but for the power and providence of God prove as the shirt made for the murdering of Agamemnon where the head had no issue out Let God be seen herein and mens hearts possessed with his holy fear who can so easily pull up the sluces let in the Sea upon them and bury them all in one universall grave of waters Fear ye not me
consalanei others amici that are seldome either satisfied or sure have laid a wound under thee The Hebrew word signifieth both a wound and a plaister they would secretly wound them lay a wound under them and yet seeme willing to bind up their wounds and heale them by applying a plaster such dawbing there is in the world Fide deffide Cavebis autem si pavebis there is none understanding in him that is in Edom. and this seemeth spoken by way of Apostrophe to the Israelites whose comfort is intended in this whole Prophesie It is as if it had been said Edom holds himself wise but will shew himself a very sot destitute of common sense such as taketh not notice that these are the wounds with which he was wounded in the house of his friends the witâ—al is either insensible of it or else well content with it till he hath bought his wit and begins to open his eyes but not till the paines of death are upon him as it is said of the Mole Verse 8. Shal I not in that day saith the Lord c. Edom was famous for wisdome as appeareth by Eliphaz the Temanite and other of Iobs friends who were Idumeans and Rabshakeh could say that counsel and strength are for waâ—r Esa 36.5 what a price did Agamemnon sat upon Nestor and Darins upon Zophirus Scipio did nothing without his Polybius and ascribed most of his victories to his advise Prov. 20.18 Every purpose is established by counsel and with good advice make warr saith Salomon Romani sedendo vincnnt passed for a proverbe of old The Romanes conquered by sitting in counsel and Cyreas got more cities by his wisdome then Pyrebus by his puissance But where no counsel is the people fall Prov 11.14 and this was Edoms case in that day that is at that time when their confederates betrayed them to their enemie and desolation was at next doore by God destroyed their wise men he either cut them off or infatuated them Deus quem destruit dementat When God intends to undo a man say the Dutch he first puts out his eyes and befools him Pliny saith of the Eagle that setting upon the Hart hee lights upon his hornes and there flutters up and down filling his eyes with dust born in her feathers that at last he may cast himself from a rock and become a prey God blindeth the understanding and expectorateth the wisdome of those whom he designeth to destruction Surely the Princes of Zoan are fools the wise counsellours of Pharaoh are become bruitish they have also seduced Egypt The Lord hath mingled a spirit of perversities in the middest thereof c. Esay 19.11 12 13 14. Verse 9. And thy mighty men O Teman thy Gyants thy Champions that durst look death in the face upon great adventures in the field these were now dismayed and dispirited their courage was quailed and even broken with fear as the word signifieth so that as Saul when the Devil had preached his funerall made haste and fell with the fulnesse of his stature all along on the earth as being sore afraid 1 Sam. 28.20 so shall it be with the mighties of Teman that is of Edom for Teman was nephew to Esau and sonne to Eliphaz Gen. 36. and of him some city or part of the countrey took its denomination The Chaldee and the Vulgar Latine take the word Teman appellatively and render it thus Thy mighty men shall perish from the South or those that dwell to the Southward of thy countrey and so are more remote from the Northern Chaldees yet they shall no sooner hear of their coming but they shall tremble and forget their prowesse to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter Heb. every man be he never so manly and magnanimous Of the mount of Esau of Idumea which was mountaneous and therefore fitly called Seir that is rough and rugged nay be cut off by slaughter so that they shall live by fame onely and hardly that Verse 10. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob For thine open violence Hence tachmas the vulture who liveth by rapine Levit. 11.10 thine iniquity rapine injury done by force and in publike view set upon the top of a rock that all might behold it Ezek. 24.7 against thy brother thine own mothers sonne Psal 50.20 This is no small aggravation of thy sinne that it is in germanum Iaeob thy nearest Allies Edom had other sinnes not a few but this was the chief and is therefore here and elsewhere chiefly alledged as the cause of their utter ruine Ezech. 25. and 35. Amos 1. Mal. 1. Nothing is more hatefull to God then unnaturalnesse A brother is born for adversity Prov. 17.17 his birth bindes him to it and hee must first offer violence to himself that is unkind to his distressed brother he must tear the dictates of nature out of his own heart And however at other times brethren may jarre and jangle yet at a strait and in a stresse good nature if there be any remains of it will work and good blood will not belie it self Israel was charged for this cause not to abhor an Edomite because he was his brother Deut. 23.7 and yet the Edomites used them as discourteously in their passage to Canaan as the Moabites and Ammonites did Num. 20.20 21. they were also their perpetuall enemies and of a devilish vindictive spirit toward them to the very last hence their ensuing doom shame shall cover thee for thy violence covering thee as a garment and for thy pride compassing thee as a chain Psal 73.6 The face of such as are ashamed is wont to be covered with blushing the blood flushing to the outward parts to relieve them and as it were to hide their shame Hence the Hebrews say that those that blush for shame are covered with shame Mic. 6.10 Psal 69.8 and 35.26 and 109.17 29. Iob 18.22 Those that shame the counsel of the poor because the Lord is his refuge Psal 14.6 shall themselves be covered with confusion here and be raised up at last day to shame and everlasting contempt Dan. 12.2 And thou shalt be cut off for ever Aeteruùm ex ima decisus stirpe peribis Esay prophcieth the same irreparable ruine to Edom chap. 34.10 and so doth Ezechiel chap. 35.9 That which Ieremy speaketh of seventy years continuance only of their serving the king of Babel chap. 25.11 it is not meant of an end of their captivity but of the Babylonish Monarchy Verse 11. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side Over-anent curiously cying and maliciously promoting by thy virulent tongue and violent hands the downfall of Israel Nemo curiosus quin malevolus saith an Ancient These Edomites fed their eyes with their brethrens miseries as with a pleasant spectacle At first perhaps they were onely lookers on but afterwards they stood against them in battel when they saw them worsted and took part with their enemies See
cause before he proceedes to judgment this deserves admiration and acknowledgement in the highest degree O the depth Verse 4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt Here God twits them with his former favours which he never doth but in case of brutish unthankfulnesse Now there was brutish and worse To render good for evill is divine good for good is humane evill for evill is brutish but evill for good devilish This makes God contrary to his custome upbraid people with what he hath done for them and angrily call for his love-tokens back againe as Hos 2.9 For their deliverance out of the Egyptian servitude how great a mercy it was see the Note on Hos 11.1 such as they were againe and againe charged never to forget Deut. 6.12 and 5.15 and 26.5 to 12. How much more bound are we to God for our Redemption by Christ for what 's Pharaoh to Satan Egypt to this present evill world Egyptian bondage to fins slavery Seeing then that our God hath given us such deliverance as this should we againe break his commandements c. Well might the hills and mountaines testify against such a monstrous unthankfullnesse and disingenuity and redeemed thee out of the house of servants Gradatim progreditur saith Calvin It was somthing to be brought out of the land of Egypt a most superstitious place where they turned the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of the image of a corruptible man for they defiled their king Osiris and of birds for they worshipped the hawk and Ibis and of foure-footed beasts for they worshipped an ox Rom. 1.23 a dog a cat a swine and of creeping things for they worshipped the Crocodile Ichneumon c. yea they worshipped plants and pot-herbs Hence the Poet Felices gentes Iuven. quibus haec nascuntur in hortis Numina To be brought out therefore from amongst such hatefull Idolaters was no small favour lest they should smell of their superstitions as Mica's mother did after all that ayring sin in the desert Judg. 17.3 and Jeroboam by being there awhile had learned calf-worship hence that strickt charge never to make leagne with them But to be redeemed out of the house of servants was more out of the iron furnace Deut. 4.20 Ier. 11.4 where they wrought night and day in latere luto Exod. 1. in setting up those famous Pyramids and treasure-cities for Pharaoh where they served with rigour Exod. 1.13 their lives were made bitter with hard bondage ver 14. till God withdrew their shoulders from the burden and their hands did leave the pots Psal 81.6 till they saw the God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved-work of a Saphire-stone Exod. 24.10 to shew that God had now changed their condition their bricks made in their bondage to Saphirs Confer Esay 54.11 and consider what God hath done for us by bringing us into the glorious liberty of his own children who were once the devils drudges and dromedaries serving diverse lusts and pleasures Tit. 3.3 which gave lawes to our members Rom. 7. and held us under in a brutish bondage much worse then the Heathens mil-house the Turks gallies Bajazets iron-cage the Indian mines or Egyptian furnace For there if they did their task they escaped stripes but here let men do the devill never such doughty service they are sure of scourges and scorpions after all armies and changes of sorrowes and sufferings terrours and torments without any the least hope of ever either mending or ending This should make us lift up many an humble joyfull and thankfull heart to our most powerfull Redeemer saying with St. Paul Now to the King eternal immortal invisible the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen 1 Tim. 1.17 and I sent before thee Moses Aaron and Miriam As three principall guides and Miriam for one who did her part among the women Exod. 15.20 and having a prophetick spirit became a singular instrument in the hand of God who spake by her Num. 12.2 But her weak head was not able to bear such a cup of honour without being intoxicated which caused her father to spit in her face Num. 12.2 14. Her death is recorded in scripture Num 20.1 but not her age as is Sarahs Gen. 23.1 Some have observed that God thought not fit to tell us of the length of the life of any woman in Scripture but Sarah to humble that sex But as soules have no sexes so of some women such as were Miriam Deborah the Virgin Mary Priscilla Blandina the Lady Jane Gray Q. Elizabeth c. it may be said that in them besides their sex there was nothing woman-like or weak as if what Philosophy saith the soules of these noble creatures had followed the temperament of their bodies which consist of a frame of rarer roomes of a more exact composition then mans doth It is possible that Miriam might till that matter of emulation betwixt her and Moses his wife fell out be as helpfull to Moses and Aaron as Nazianzens mother was to his father Non solum adjutricem in pietate sed etiam doctricem gubernatricem Nazian Epitap pat not a help-fellow only but a doctresse and governesse Verse 5. O my people remember now what Balak There must be a Recognition of Gods mercies or else there will neither follow Estimation nor Retribution Else we that should be as temples of his praises shall be as graves of his benefits Our soules are naturally like filthy ponds wherein fish die soon and frogs live long rotten stuff is remembred memorable mercies are forgotten whereas the soul should be as an holy Ark the memory like the pot of Manna preserving holy truths as the Law and speciall blessings as Aarons rod fresh and flourishing This Israel did not and are therefore justly blamed Psal 106.7 13 21. and here againe reminded of one signall mercy among many that they might take notice of the enemies malignity Gods benignity and their own indignity and ingratitude that parching wind that drieth up the fountaine of divine favours Ventus urens exsiccans what Balack king of Moab consulted Joshua saith that he arose and fought against Israel chap. 24.9 that is he had a good mind to have fought but he did not because he durst not So Esth 8.7 Haman is said to have laid his hand upon the Jewes because he intended and attempted such a matter They that is the Sortilegi or Lot-sorcerers with whom Balack-like he consulted cast Pur that is the lot before Haman from day to day and from month to month viz. Esth 3.7 to find out what month or day would be lucky for the accomplishment of his intended massacre of the Iewes but before that black-day came Mordecai was advanced and Haman hanged Now as there by the speciall providence of God over-ruling the superstition of that wicked wreth way was made for the preservation of Gods people So
manet may better be her Motto then Venice's She is surely invincible Zach. 12.5 6 7. as having a mighty Champion even the holy One of frael and this makes her though but a Virgin to laugh to scorn her proudest enemies yea to shake her head at them Esay 37.22 23 as rather to be pitied then envied There were they in great fear saith David of the Churches enemies for why God is in the generation of the righteous Psal 14. Hence those Philistims were so woe-begone 1 Sam. 4.7 And the Egyptians no lesse Exod. 14.25 Let us flee say they from the face of Israel for the Lord fighteth for them What shall wee then say to these things saith Paul who had often heard when he was in the enemies hand Fear not I am with thee If God be for us who can be against us who dare be so fool-hardy so ambitious of his own destruction Hath ever any waxed fierce against God and prospered Job 9.4 Where is Pharaoh Nero Nebuchadnezzar c Was it safe for these or any any other to provoke the Lord to anger were they stronger then he Oh that men would according to Solomons counsell meddle with their match and not contend with him that is mightier then they Esth 7.8 Can God be with his people and see them abused to his face Will they force the Queen also before him in the house Will they Giant-like fight against God will they needs touch the apple of his eye that tenderest piece of the tenderest part Will they invade his portion plunder him of his jewels pull the signet from his right hand Surely God is so with his people that as he taketh notice of the least courtesie done to them to reward it even to a cup of cold water so of the least affront or offence to revenge it be it but a frown or a frump Gen. 4.6 Num. 12.10 Better a milstone were hang'd c. Better anger all the witches in the countrey then one of Gods zealous witnesses Rev. 11.5 Death cannot hurt them Psal 23.3 Hell could no more hold them the pains of hell gat hold on David but he was delivered Psal 116.3 then the Whale could hold Jonas It must needs render them up again because God is with them Now I had rather be in hell said Luther with God then in heaven without him and it were far safer for mee Verse 14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel c. Here 's the Appendix of the foregoing sermon whereof we have heard but the brief Notes That one word I am with you seconded and set on by Gods holy Spirit set them all awork How forcible are right words Job 6.25 One seasonable truth falling on a prepared heart hath oft a strong and sweet operation sc when God is pleased to work with it and make it effectuall this man cannot do no more then the husband-man can make an harvest The weapons of our warfare are mighty 2 Cor. 10.4 through God to the pulling down of strong-holds Luther having heard Staupicius say that that is kindly repentance which begins from the love of God found from that time forward the practise of repentance far sweeter to him then before Galeacius Caracciolus an Italian Marquesse was converted by an apt similitude used by Peter Martyr reading on the first Epistle to the Corinthians Dr. Taylour Martyr blessed God that ever he became fellow-prisoner to that Angel of God as he called him John Bradford Senarclaeus in his Epistle to Bucer prefixed before the history of the death of Iohn Diarius slain by his own brother as Abel was for religions sake I remember saith He when he and I were together at Newburg the day before his slaughter he gave me a great deal of grave and gracious counsell Ego verò illius oratione sic incendebar ut cum eum disserentem audirem Spiritus Sancti verba me audire existimarem i. e. I was so stirred up with his discourse as if I had heard the Holy Ghost himself speaking unto me so fervent was he and full of life for he first felt what he spake and then spake what he felt So should all do that desire to speak to purpose and then pray to God as for a door of utterance so for a door of entrance to be opened unto them such as St. Paul had to the heart of Lydiae and as Bishop Ridley had to the heart of good King Edw. 6. whereof before and they came and did work The Governours also by overseeing others and ruling the businesse by their discretion Where Gods glory and the common good is concerned all sorts must set to their helping hand Verse 15. In the four and twentieth day See the Note on vers 13. The time is diligently noted to teach us to take good note of the moments of time wherein matters of moment have been by Gods help begun continued and perfected in the Church This will be of singular use both for the increase of faith and of good affection in our hearts CHAP. II. Verse 1. IN the seventh moneth in the one and twentieth day of the moneth This is the Preface to the fourth sermon as some reckon it noting the exact time when it was delivered See the Notes on chap. 1.1 and 15. came the word of the Lord This he often inculcateth to set forth the truth of his calling and validity of his commission See the Note on chap. 1. ver 5. by the Prophet Haggai Heb. by the hand of the Prophet See the Note on Mal. 1.1 Verse 2. Speak now to Zerubbabel c. The better to hearten them on in the work the Prophet is sent again to them with a like message as before Note here 1. That there are none so forward for God and his work but may stand in need of continuall quickening there being more snares and back biasses upon earth then there are starres in heaven and the good gift of God having so much need of righting up For like a dull sea-coal-fire if it be not now and then blown or stirred up though there be no want of fuell yet will of it self at length dye and go out Besides that every inch every artery of our bodies if it could would swell with hellish venome to the bignesse of the hugest Giant that it might make resistance to the work of Gods sanctifying Spirit Heb. 10.24 Let us therefore consider one another and study every man his brothers case to stirre up or whet on to love and good works God will not forget this our labour of love but abundantly both regard and reward it Mal. 3.16 See the Notes there 2. That continuall preaching makes men continue in well-doing Therefore it was that Barnabas was sent to Antioch Acts 11.22 23. who when he came and had seen the grace of God was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. And hence also it was that Paul and Barnabas
up and down when the deadly arrow sticks in their ribbes but not so easily shake it off Verse 6. Did they not take hold of your fathers Overtake and catch them as Huntsmen their prey or as one enemy doth another in flight 1 King 18.27 2 King 25.5 to drag them down to the bottome of hell A godly man as he hath peace with God with himselfe and with the creatures so he hath also with the Ordinances and may say as Hezekiah Good is the Word of the Lord which thou hast spoken Are not my words alwaies good saith God to them that walk uprightly Mic. 2.7 Excellently Augustine Adversarius est nobis quamdiu sumus ipsi nobis quamdiu tu tibi inimicus es inimicum habebis sermonem Dei Gods word is adversary to none but such as are adversaries to themselves Neither doth it condemn any but such as shall be assuredly condemned by the Lord Cor anima Dei Greg. in 3. Reg. for what is the Word but the heart and soul of God as Gregory saith And what saith the Essential Word of God who came out of the bosome of his father and knew all his counsell He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the some shall judge him in the last day Iohn 12.48 Oh consider this ye that forget God that slight his word as if it were but wind that bely the Lord and say It is not he neither shall the cvill foretold come upon us neither shall we see sword nor famine And the Prophets shall become wind and the word is not in them thus shall it bee done unto them Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts because ye speak this word and is there not such language of many mens hearts now-adayes Behold I will make my words not wind but fire and this people wood and it shall devour them Ier. 5.12 13 14. The Word of God in the mouths of his Ministers may well be likened to Moses his rod which whiles he held it in his hand it flourished and brought forth almonds but being cast upon the ground it became a serpent Semblably Gods words and statutes if laid to heart they yeeld fruit and comfort but if slighted or snuffed at as Mal. 1.13 serpent-like they will sting the soul and become a savour of death c. This contempt will also call for a sword to revenge the quarrel of the Covenant as it did upon these mens fathers for their instance and admonition It is reckoned by Daniel as a great aggravation of Belshazzars sinne Dan. 5.22 that hee was not sensible of his father Nebuchadnezzars pride and fall And thou his sâ—nne Belshazzar hast not humbled thine heart though thou knewest all this The sinne of these Jewes in the Text was the greater because their Fathers and Elders either out of sound conversion or at least out of clear conviction of conscience had confessed and remonstrated the truth and justice of God in threatening and executing his judgements upon themselves saying as Lam. 1.18 The Lord is righteous for we have rebelled against his commandements and as chap. 2.17 The Lord hath done that which he had devised he hath fulfilled his word he hath thrown down and hath not pittied c. Hear them in their own words here like as the Lord of hosts whose power is irresistible thought devised determined with himselfe Zamam and accordingly denounced by his Prophets to doe unto us who did not the words which he commanded us Ier. 11.8 according to our wayes which were alwaies grievous Psal 10.5 and according to our doings that were not good Ezek. 36.31 so hath he dealt with us for he loves to retaliate and to render to every transgression and disobedience a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 Verse 7. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month The third month after the former prophecy when the Jewes probably had practised the doctrine of Repentance so earnestly pressed upon them and had humbled themselves under the mighty hand of God who was now ready to lift them up by this and the seven following most comfortable Visions touching the restauration and reformation of the Church and State The Devill and his impes love to bring men into the briars and there to leave them as familiars forsake their witches when they have brought them once into fetters as the Priests left Judas the traytour to look to himself Mat. 27.4 and as the Papists cast off Cranmer after that by subscribing their Articles he had cast himself into such a wretched condition that there was neither hope of a better nor place for a worse Melch. Ad. in vita ut jam nec honestè mori nec vivere inhonestè liceret But such is not Gods manner of dealing with those that tremble at his word and humble at his feet Deijcit ut relevet premit ut solatia praestet He comforteth those that are cast down 2 Cor. 7.6 commandeth others to comfort the feeble-minded 1 Thes 5.14 and noteth those that do not with a black-coal Nigro carbone notar Job 6.14 See the workings of his bowels the rowlings of his compassions kindled into repentance toward his penitentiaries Jer. 31.20 Hos 11.8 Esay 40.1 2. See how he comforts them with cordials according to the time wherein he had afflicted them Psal 90.15 and in the very thing wherein he had abased them as he once dealt with their Head Philip. 2.7 8. Kerse 8. I saw by night The usuall time for such revelations It may note moreover the obscurity of the Prophecy whence also the mention of myrtle-trees low and shady and that in a bottom as Calvin conceiveth and all this that he might give a taste of good hope to the Jews by little and little and behold a man riding upon a red horse Not Alexander the Great riding upon his horse Bucephalus and translating the Empire from the Persians to the Grecians as Arias Montanus conceited it But the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 the Captain of the Lords Host Josh 4.14 and of our salvation Heb. 2.10 riding upon a red horse In the same sense saith One that this colour is given to his garments Esay 63.1 2 3. and to the Angels horse Rev. 6.4 The wild Bull saith Another of all things cannot abide any red colour Therefore the hunter for the nonce standing before a tree puts on a red garment whom when the Bull seeth he runneth at him as hard as he can drive But the hunter stepping aside the bulls horns stick fast in the tree as when David slipped aside Sauls spear stuck fast in the wall Such an hunter is Christ He lifted up upon the tree of his crosse had his garment dipt and died in his own blood as one that cometh with red garments from Bozra Therefore the Devil and his Angels like wild bulls of Bashan ran at him with all their force in that
that in baptisme they renounce the devill and all his works part whereof say the Papists amongst whom they live are the Jews goods being gotten either of themselves or of their Ancestours by usury Now this is such cold comfort to men of their mettall that they have little mind to turn Christian And as little doubtlesse have such as with these in the text have got their living by lying and through covetousnesse with fained words made marchandise or prize of mens precious soules to return to the hard labour of husbandry or any other lawful but painfull employment Yet this was done both in Wicklifes dayes by many Fryars that fell to him and embraced his opinions and in the reformation by Luther many Monkes and Nuns betook themselves to honest trades renouncing their Popish vowes and orders yea Scultetus reporteth that at Aushborough in Germany by the powerfull preaching of Dr. John Speiser Ann. 1523. some harlots forlooke the publike stews and married to honest men lived chastly and were great pains-takers Verse 6. And One shall say unto him What are these wounds in thine hands Hierome here supposeth the false Prophet crucified for his false doctrine and thereupon thus questioned This is better then that of the Popish Interpreters who will needs have it to be meant of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 27 63. that cozener to our very faces Eustath and of his wounds on the crosse as a deceiver of the people Lucian the Atheist villanously tearmeth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the crucified Cozener But the Text is clear that the person here spoken to and returning an anser is the false-Prophet now a true Convert as appeareth by his fruits which he beares quick and thick being like Aarons rod soon changed from a withered stick into a flourishing tree Ashamed he is at heart of his former falsities and as in heart so in habit he is altered for he will no longer weare a rough garment the garb of Prophets in those dayes to deceive as the Cappuchines and other orders of Friars or rather Lyars at this day 2 King 1.8 Isa 20.2 Mat. 3.4 He abrenounceth and abjureth quasi conceptis verbis his former profession of a Prophet or chief speaker amongst others I am no Prophet But a plain husbandman or a shepheard that 's all I can truly pretend to And lastly in this verse having passed thorough the churches discipline as a seducer Iosh 7.19 he shall doe as Ioshuah advised Achan Give glory to the Lord my son and confesse thy sin he shall approve of the Churches severity used for his correction though he should go maimed or marked for it to his dying day In point of seducement saith Mr. Cotton descanting upon this text if a man upon conviction shall see the wickednesse of his way and humble his soule before God The powring out of the 7. viuls â— third viall 11. and give satisfaction to the Church and State where he shall be convinced on such conviction and repentance we find liberty to pardon but yet stigmatize him Thus He. But what reason had the Convocation held at Oxford to set a brand of ignominy upon the cheeks of those outlandish Divines that came to assist them because they pleased them not in the point of Priests marriage which they defended Or Bishop Laud for his Stigmata Laudis on renouned Mr. Prinne for his constancy to the truth How much better his predecessours Stephen Langton who crucified that Pseudo-Christ who shewed marks of wounds in his hands feet and sides Anno 1206. And Odo Severus who burnt King Edwins Concubine whom he most doted on in the forehead with a hot iron and banished her into Ireland Anno 934 c. Verse 7. Awake O Sword against my Shepheard A powerful expression containing a commission given out to the sword by way of Apostrophe Awake or up as the Septuagint up and about thou that hast long lain lockt up in the scabbard Thus the sword is of Gods sending it is bathed in heaven Isa 34.5 Ezek. 14.17 Jer. 47.6 7. It is he that awakes it and sets it on work he commands it Am. 9.4 and ordereth it Jer. 50.25 Let this patient us under it as it did Job Chap. 1.15 17 21. Among Philosophies the most noted sect for patience was that of the Stoicks who ascribed all to destiny O sword Framea which seems to come of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Septuagints word here by putting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Glâ—die which comes à claae from destruction like as the Hebrew word Chereb from desolating and laying wast Hence the sword is said to contemn the rod Ezek. 21.10 13. that is all lighter and lesser judgements which are but its forerunners and whereof it seemes to say What does this silly rod doe here Will not-men stoop Let me come I le make them either bend or break either yield or I le have their bloud against my shepheard i.e. saith Calvin against Magistrates and Ministers Gods undershepheards and Associates in feeding the flock Labourers together with him 1 Cor. 3.9 But because Christ is the great shepheard Heb. 13.20 and the good shepheard John 10.11 Optimus maximus that is Gods fellow-mate and yet suspending his glorie became a man to seek him out a flock in the wildernesse and afterwards laid down his life for his sheep John 10.11 underwent the deadly dint of Gods devouring sword put into the hands of those men of Gods hand Psal 17.13 who put him to many a little death all his life long and at length to that cursed and cruel death of the crosse at which time the Shepheard was smitten and the sheep scattered as this Text is most fitly applyed Matth. 26.31 therefore I understand it thiefly of Christ the chief Shepheard and Bishop of our soules Esay 53.5 who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities c. And this not by chance or malice of his enemies only though they laid upon him without mercie nailing him to the tree in the hands and feet which in all men are the most sensible parts of the body as being fullest of nerves and sinews but in him much more as being of the sinest temperature and most exquisite sense but by the determinate counsel of God as St. Peter shewes those Kill-Christs Acts 2.23 and according to the Scriptures that went before of him and foretold all his passion even to the casting of the dice upon his cloathes Psal 22. and Isai 53 by the reading of which lively description of Christs sufferings in that Chapter Hoc ego ingenuè confiteuor ait ille caput illud ad fidem Christime adduxisse Johannes Isaac a Jew confesseth that he was converted to the faith of Christ He is called Gods Shepheard because God anointed and appointed him to that Office putting a charge into his hands John 10. and 17. that he might tend them and tender them