outstrip them are too forward they that fall short of them are deeply censured Vers 7. Now therefore restore Let knowledge reforme what ignorance offended in The times of ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every where to repent Act. 17.30 As a Master when he sets up his servant a double light expects more work and better We have a priviledg not onely above the blinde Ethnicks but above the Church of the Old Testament The sea about the Altar was brazen 1 King 7.23 And what eyes could pierce thorough it Now our sea about the Throne is glassie Rom. 4.6 like to Chrystall clearly conveying the light and sight of God to our eyes God hath destroyed the face of the covering cast over all people Esa 25.7 And we all with opeâ— face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord must see to it that we be changed into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.18 If those good souls passed from strength to strength Psal 84.7 travelling many a weary step to see the face of God in Sion in the obscure glass of the Ceremonies vae torpori nostro wo to us if now that such a light is sprung up we walk not as children of that light To know heavenly things is to ascend into heaven Prov. 30.3 4. And to know our masters will is a great talent of all other there is a much in that Luke 12.48 But then not to do his will so known is to be beaten with many stripes None so deep in hell as your knowing men because they imprisoned the truth which is as a Prophet from God in unrighteousness Rom 1.18 they kept it in their heads as rain in the middle region Sapientes sapien ter descendunt in infernum Bern. not suffering it to warm their hearts or work upon their affections therefore came wrath upon them to the utmost None are oftner drowned then they that are most skilfull in swimming So none sooner miscarry then men of greatest parts For he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee The proper work of a Prophet Jer. 27.18 If they be Prophets let them intreat the Lord they shall be heard when others shall not as the fathers blessing is most effectuall as the child could not be raised till Elisha came himself nor the sick be healed till the Elders of the Church be called for Jam. 5.14 The Apostles divided their time betwixt praying and preaching Act. 6.4 So did the Priests of the Old Testament Deut. 33.10 They shall teach Jacob thy judgements they shall put incense before thee As with every sacrifice there was incense so should every Ministeriall duty be performed with prayer St. Paul begins his Epistles with prayer and proceeds and ends in like manner What is it that he would have every of his Epistles stamped with by his own hand but prayer for all his people 2 Thess 3.17 18. Thou shalt surely dye So dear to God are his Saints that he grievously punisheth even Kings for their sakes as Jehoram in his bowels with an incurable disease 2 Chron. 21.18 Non desunt qui ad phthiriasin referunt quo avâ—s quoque ipsius Herod mag periit Beza Annot in Act. 12. Oroâ—ius He protested siquam sui corporis partem Lutherianismo sciret insectam revulsurum illicè ne longiùs serperet Sleid. Comment l. 9. Act Mon. 1914. the two Herods by the lousie malady Maximinus the Emperor a cruell persecutor cast upon his bed of sickness by God was glad to crave the prayers of the Church as Eusebius relates it Valens being to subscribe an Order for the banishment of Basil was smitten with a sudden trembling of his hand that he could not Afterward he was burned to death by the Gothes whom he had corrupted by sending them Arrian teachers The putting out of that French Kings eyes which promised before with his eyes to see Anne du Bourg one of Gods true servants burned who seeth not to be the stroke of Gods own hand Then his son Francis not regarding his fathers stripe would needs yet proceed in the burning the same man And did not the same God give him such a blow on the ear as cost him his life As for Charles the ninth author of the French massacre though he were wittily warned by Beza to beware upon occasion of that new Star appearing in Cassiopeia Novem 1572. which he applied to that Star at Christs birth and to the infanticide then with Tu verò Camdens Elis sol 165. Herodes sanguinolente time yet because he repented not God gave him blood to drink as he was worthy for the fifth moneth after the vanishing of this Star Constans fama est illum Act. Mon. fol. 1949. dum è variis corporis partibus sanguis emanaret in lecto saepe volutatum inter terribilium blasphemiarum diras tantam sanguinis vim projecisse ut paucas post horas mortuus fuerit This Charles the ninth in the massacre of Paris beholding the bloody bodies of the butchered Protestants Spec. bel sac p. 248. and feeding his eye upon that wofull spectacle is said to have breathed out this bloody speech Quam bonus est odor hostis mortui Another great Queen seeing the ground covered with the naked carcasses of her Protestant Subjects said M. Newcomâ—n Fast Serm. 27. Like Hannibals O formosum spectaculum De Alexandra Josephus Act Mon. fol. 1 901. that it was the bravest peece of Tapestry that ever she beheld but it was not long that she beheld it Our Queen Mary though non naturâ sed Pontiâ—iciorum arte ferox Ipsa solùm nomen regium ferebat caterùm â—mnem regâ—i potestatem Pharisaei possidebant dyed of a Tympany or as some by her much sighing before her death supposed she dyed of thought and sorrow either for the loss of Callice or for the departure of King Phillip This King going from the Low-countries into Spain by Sea with resolution never to remove thence fell into a storm in which almost all the Fleet was wracked his houshold-stuffe of very great value lost and himself hardly escaped Hist of Coun. of Trent 417. He said he was delivered by the singular providence of God to root out Lutheranisme which he presently began to do protesting that he had rather have no Subjects then Lutheran Subjects Whether it was this Phillip or his successor I cannot certainly tell But Carolus Sexibaâ—â—â— tells a lamentable story of one of those two Phillips Hear him else Vlcerum magnitudinem multitudinem acorbitatem fatorem lecto tanquam durae crucâ— â—â—â—o integra affixionem ut in nullam prope commoveri partem possit acres continuosque annâ—r um sex podagrae dolores febrim 〈◊〉 cum dupâ—ici per anâ—os 〈…〉 intima Carot Sâ—ribâ—n Instit princip c. 20. adeoque ossiâ—â—â— medullas depascentem gravissimam 22. dierum dysenteriam quâ— nâ—c moram darâ—t nec detersionâ—m admitteret perpetua
dead forty years before is now by Gods blessing made lively and lusty Vers 5. Abraham gave all c. So Esa 19.25 Assyria is the work of Gods hand and Israel his inheritance Vers 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sopb Gasp Eâ—s Panis mica quam dives pater-familias projicit canibuâ— Abraham gave gifts So doth God to reprobates but they are giftless gifts better be without them Saepe Deus dat iratus quod â—egat propitius God gives wealth to the wicked non aliter ac siquis crumenam auro plenam latrinae injiciat The Turkish Empire saith Luther as great as it is is but a crust cast to the dogs by the rich House-holder or as Josephs cup c. East-ward to the East-countrey To both the Arabia's which were Countries rough but rich looked rudely but searched regularly afforded great store of fine gold pretious stones and pleasant odours Vers 8. Gave up the Ghost Defecit lenitèr expiravit Describit Moses placidam optatam quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in Abraham Gods friend is no wonder But how could that Apostate Julian say trow Vitam reposcenti naturae tanquam debitor bonae fidei rediturus exulto Sure it was but a copy of his countenance but not of his dying countenance for no wicked man alive can look death in the face with blood in his cheeks Dyed in a good old age Or with a hoar head after a hundred years troublesomepilgrimage in the promised land We if for one year we suffer hardship think it a great business Non quia dura sed quia molles patimur saith Seneca An old man and full of years The godly have oft a satiety of life as willing they are to leave the world as men are wont to be to rise from the board when they have eaten their fill Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis Said the Heathen Poet and they feign that when Tithonus might have been made immortal he would not because of the miseries of life This made Plotinus the Platonist account mortality a mercy Aug. de Civ Dei l. 4. c. 10. Siquis Deus mihi largiatur ut ex hac aetate repurascam in cunis vagiam valdèrecusem Cato ap Cic. de senect Camd. Elisabeth fol. 325. and Cato protest that if any God would grant him of old to be made young again he would seriously refuse it As for me said Queen Elisabeth in a certain speech I see no such great cause why I should be fond to live or afraid to dye And again whiles I call to minde things past behold things present and expect things to come I hold him happiest that goeth hence soonest Vers 9. And his sons Isaac and Ismael c. It is like that Abraham a little afore his death sent for his two sons and reconciled them This joyning with Isaac in the burying of Abraham some take for an argument of his repenance whereunto also they adde that his whole life time is recorded in holy Scripture which cannot be shewed of any reprobate and that he is said when he dyed to be gathered to his fathers Which is besides Mamre Where seventy six years before he had entertained the Lord Christ and heard from his mouth the promise of the Messiah Wherefore in remembrance of that most amiable apparition and for love and honour of the divine promise there uttered he would there be buried in full hope of a glorious Resurrection and that his posterity might take notice that he even dyed upon the promise As that brave Roman Captain told his Souldiers Xiphilinus that if they could not conquer Britain yet they would get possession of it by laying their bones in it Vers 13. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael When Isaac was twenty yeers married and had no childe and afterwards nothing so many as Ishmael nor so great in the world This is Gods usual way of dealing forth his favours Saints suffer wieked prosper This made Pompey deny Divine Providence Brutus cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio Cassius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thucyd Psal 73.10 expounded Exoriuntur sed exuruntur Hos 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O miserable Vertue slave of Fortune c. The Athenians in Thucydides when they had lost Nicias their good General who together with his whole Army perished in Sicily were at a great stand and much offended seeing so pious a person fare nothing better then those that were far worse And what wonder when Jeremiah and David stumbled at the same stone ran upon the same rock and were well-high shipwrackt Jer. 12.1 Psal 73.3 4. Neither they onely but many other of Gods dear servants as it is in the same I salm vers 10. Therefore his people return hither that is are every whit as wise or rather as foolish as I have been to mis-censure and misconstrue Gods dealings on this manner to repent me of my repentance and to condemn the generation of the just because waters of a full cup are wrung out to the wicked When David went into Gods Sanctuary and there consulted his Word he was better resolved Then he saw that the sunshine of Prosperity doth but ripen the sin of the wicked and so fits them for destruction as fatted ware are but fitted for the slaughter What good is there in having a fine suit with the plague in it Poison in wine works more furiously then in water Had Haman known the danger of Esthers banquet he would not have been so brag of it The prosperity of the wicked hath ever plus deceptionis quam delectionis saith One more deceit then delight able to entice and ready to kill the entangled As cunning to do that as the spirit that seduced Ahab and as willing to do the other as the Ghost that met Brutus at the battel of Philippi In which respect David Psal 17. having spoken of these men of Gods hand that have their portion in this life c. wishes them make them merry with it and subjoyns As for me I will behold thy face in righteousâ—ess I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness As who should say I neither envie nor covet their happiness but long after a glorious resurrection and have in the mean while that which is sufficient to sustain me I shall behold thy face in righteousâ—ess Menach on Levit. 10. that is Beshechinah in Christ as Rabbi Menachem expounds it And one good look of God is worth all the world It is better to feel his favour one hour then to sit whole ages as these Ishmaelites did under the worlds warmest sun-shine Vers 14. And Mishma and Dumah and Massah Out of these three names which signifie Hearing Silence and Suffering the Masorites gather the three principal duties of man in common conversation viz. to hear keep silence and bear these say they make a quiet and good life Sustine Abstine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epictâ—t Camd. Elisab
time about cap and surpliss They could never agree till they met in prison and then misery bred unity then they could heartily bewaile their former dissentions about matters of no more moment Epist 36. ad Reg. Elizabeth Peter Martyr commends it to the care of Queen Elizabeth that Church-governours indeavour not to carry the Gospell into England upon the cart of needless ceremonies By his advice among others in King Edward the sixths dayâ—s some people contending for one image some for another the King took down all those Balâ—ams-blocks And the very self-same day and hour wherein the reformation enjoyned by Parliment was pat in execution at London by burning of idolatrous images the English put to slight their enemies Act. Mon. 〈◊〉 in Muscleborough field is Mr. Fox hath well observed We had Images and other like popâ—sh paltrement pressing in upon us again and amain not long since till God stirred up the spirit of our religious Nehemi ths to step between and stop the torrent whom therefore God I doubt not will crown with conquest over all their and his Churches enemies Vers 20. And he set Ephraim before God many times sets the yonger before the elder makes the last to be first and the first last to shew the freedom of his grace and that he seeth not as man seeth 1 Sam. 16 7. The maids were first purified and perfumed before Ahashuerosh chose one But Christ first loves and then parifies his Church Eph. 5.25 26. and loves because he loves Deut. 7.7 8. And hath mercy on whom he will have mercy Rom. 9.18 Vers 21. Behold I dye This was a speech of faith uttered without the least fear consternation or dismayment As it was no more betwixt God and Moses but goe up and dye so betwixt God and Iacob but behold I dye Death he knew to him should neither be totall but of the body only nor perpetuall of the body but for a season only See both these set forth by the Apostle Rom. 8.10 11. Vers 22. I have given thee one portion Ioseph had the double portion as Iudah the dignity from Reuben who had forfeited both by his incest And here it appeareth that the right of the first-born to a double portion was in force and in use before that law Deut. 21.17 as was also the Sabbath circumcision and the raising up seed to a deceased brother With my sword and with my bow That is with the warlike weapons of my sons Simeon and Levi whose victory he ascribeth to himself not as it was wickedly got by his sons for so he disavows and detests it Chap. 49. but as by a miracle from heaven the Canaanites were held in from revenging that slaughter and made to fear his force and valour The Chaldee Paraphrast expounds it metaphorically I took it with my sword and my bow hoc est oratione deprecatione mea saith He by my prayer and supplication Prayers indeed are bombardae instrumenta bellic a Christianorum saith Luther a Christians best Arms and Ammunition The Jesuites pretend and protest that they have no other weapons or wayes to work but preces lachrymas Whereas it is too well known that they are the greatest Incendiaries and boutefeau's of Christendome and their faction a most agile sharp sword whose blade is sheathed at pleasure in the bowels of every Common-wealth but the handle reacheth to Rome and Spain CHAP. XLIX Vers 1. Gather your selves together THis is Jacobs swan-like song his last bequeath Sic ubi fata vâ—cant uâ—is abjectus in herbis Ad vada Maeandri conciuit albus olor Ovid. Epist his farewell to the world and it is a most heavenly one The wine of Gods Spirit is usually strongest and best at last in the hearts of his people his Motions quickest when natural motions are slowest most sensible when the body begins to be senseless most lively when holy men are adying Look how the Sun shines most amiably toward the descent and Rivers the nearer they draw to the sea the sooner they are met by the tide so is it with the Saints when nigh to death when grace is changing into glory they deliver themselves usually to the standers by most sweetly So besides Jacob did Moses Joshuah Paul and He in whose one example is a globe of precepts Our Lord Jesus Christ in that last heavenly Sermon and Prayer of his Ioh. 14.15.16.17 Whereunto let me add that faithful Martyr John Diazius who was cruelly butchered by his own brother Alphonsus Diazius and that meerly for his religion See the Notes on Chap. 4. ver 8. I remember saith Senarclaeus his friend and bed-fellow who wrote the history of his death when he and I were at Newburg the very night before he was murthered he prayed before he went to bed more ardently then ordinary and for a longer time together After which he spent a good part of the night in discoursing of the great works of God and exhorting me to the practice of true piety Ego verò illius oratione sic incoudebar ut cum eum â—issâ—â— entem audirem â—piritus ancti verba me audire exâ—stimarem Ibid. Quest Answ And truly I felt my self so inflamed and quickned by his words that when I heard him discoursing methoughts I heard the Spirit of God speaking unto me This and much more Senarclaeus writes to Bucer who at that time had employed Diazâ—us to over-look the right printing of a book of his that was then in the Press That I may tell you that which shall befall you But how knew Moses this last speech of Jacob being born so long after Partly by Revelation and partly also by Tradition For the words of dying men are living Oracles and their last speeches are long remembred And the accomplishment of all these Prophecies in their due time as the following Scriptures shew adds much to the authority of Moses's writings and confirms them to be faithful and true as He saith Joh. 21.24 Vers 2. Hear ye sons of Jcaob and hearken Draw up the ears of your souls to the ears of your bodies that one sound may pierce both at once Let him â—hat hath an ear to hear hear not only with that outward gristle that grows upon his head but with his utmost intention of mind attention of body and retention of memory and of pracâ—câ— also He that hears the Word of God must hear as if he did for so he doth hear for life and death he must as Jacob bids his sons hear and hearken Vers 3. Virgil. My might and beginning of my strength Nate meae vires The word here used signifieth the straining of the body forcibly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to effect a thing much desired such as was that of S. Paul Phil. 3.13 and that of Eliah 1 King 18.42 when he prayed and prayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 5.17 as St. Iames hath it that is with utmost intention of affection
raising of his Son Christ Eph. 1.19 to raise us from the death of sin and of carnall Esa 51.16 to make us a people created againe Psal 102.18 Doth he not plant the heavens and lay the foundation of the earth that he may say to Zion thou art my people Empty man would be wise saith Zophar Job 11.12 though man be born like a wild asse colt Mans heart is a meer emptiness a very Tohu vabohu as void of matter to maâ—e him a new creature of as the hollow of a tree is of heart of oake God therefore creates in his people cleane hearts Psal 50.10 and as in the first creation so in the new creature the first day as it were God works light of knowledge the second day the firmament of faith the third day seas and trees that is repentant tears and worthy fruits the fourth day Lightf Miscel the Sun joyning light and heat together heat of zeale with light of knowledge the fifth day fishes to play and foules to flye so to live and rejoyce in a sea of troubles and flye heaven-ward by prayer and contemplation The sixt day God makes beasts and man yea of a wild asse-colt a man in Christ with whom old things are past all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess 4. And to whom besides that they are all taught of God the very beasts Esa 1.2 and birds Jer. 8.7 doe read a Divinity Lecture Aske now the beasts and they shall teach thee and the foules of the ayre they shall tell thee Anton. Eremita ap Aug. lib. 1. de doctr Christ Niceph. l. 8. c. 40 Clem. Alex. Job 12.8 The whole world is nothing else saith One but God expressed so that we cannot plead ignorance for all are or may be book learned in the creature This is the Shepherds Callender the Plowmans Alphabet we may run and read in this great book which hath three leaves Heaven Earth Sea A bruitish man knows not neither doth a foole understand this Psal 9 29. They stand gazing and gaping on the outside of things onely but asknot Who is their Father their Creator Like little children which when they finde a Picture in their booke they gaze and make sport with it but never consider it Either their mindes are like a clocke that is over wound above the ordinary pitch and so stands still their thoughts are amazed for a time they are like a blocke thinking nothing at all Esa 40.28 or else they think Atheistically that all comes by nature but hast thou not known saith the Prophet hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator c. or at best as the common passenger looks onely at the hand of the Diall to see what of the clock it is but takes no notice of the clock-work within the wheels and poises and various turnings and windings in the work so it is here with the man that is no more then a meer naturall 1 Cor. 2.15 But he that is spirituall discerneth all things he entreth into the clock-house as it were and views every motion beginning at the great wheel and ending in the least and last that is moved He studies the glory of God revealed in this great book of Nature and prayseth his power wisdome goodness c. And for that in these things He cannot order his speech because of darkness Job 37.38 39. he begs of God a larger heart and better language and cryes out continually with David Blessed be the Lord God the God of Israel who onely doth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious name for ever and eâ—er and let the whole earth be filled with his glory Amen and Amen Plal. 72.18 19. Verse 26. And God said Let us make man Man is the master-peece of Gods handy-work Sun Moon and Stars are but the workâ— of his fingers Psal 8.3 but man the work of his hands Psal 1â— 9.14 He is cura divini ingenii made by counsell at first Let us make c. and his body which is but the souls sheath Dan. 7.15 Animae vagina is still curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth that is in the womb Psal 139.15 with Eph. 4.9 as curious workmen when they have some choice peece in hand they perfect it in private and then bring it forth to light for men to gaze at Thine bands have mude me or took speciall pains about me and fashioned me saith Job Thou hast formed me by the book saith David Psal 139.16 Job 10.8 yea emâ—roidered me with nerves veyns and variety of limbs miracles enough saith One betwixt head and foot to fill a Volume Man saith a Heathen is the bold attempt of daring nature the faire workmanship of a wise Artificer saith another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trismegist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xâ—noph Miraculorum omnium maximum Stoici Gal. lib. 3. de usu partium Lib. 11. 1â— The greatest of all miracles saith a third And surely should a man be born into the world but once in a hundred years all the world would run to see the wonder Sed miracula assiduitate vilescunt Galen that prophane man was forced upon the description of man and the parts of his body only to sing a hymn to the Creator whom yet he knew not I make here saith he a true hymn in the honour of our Maker whose service I beleeve verily consisteth not in the sacrificing of Hecatombs or in burning great heaps of Frankinsence before him but in acknowledging the greatness of his wisdome power and goodness and in making the same known to others c. And in another place Now is he saith Gallen which looking but only upon the skin of a thing wondreth not of the cunning at the Creator Yet notwithstanding he dissembleth not that he had tryed by all means to find some reason of the composing of living creatures and that he would rather have fathered the doing thereof upon Nature then upon the very Authour of Nature Lib. 15. And in the end concludeth thus I confesse that I know not what the soule is though I have sought very narrowly for it Favorinus the Philosopher Nibil in terra magnum prater bominâ—m nibil in homine praeter mentem Fav ap Gel. was wont to say The greatest thing in this world is Man and the greatest thing in man is his soule It is an abridgement of the invisible world as the Body is of the visible Hence man is called by the Hebrewes Gnolam haktaton and by the Greeks Microcosmus A little world And it was a witty essay of him who stiled woman the second Edition of the Epitome of the whole world The soule is set in the body of them both as a little god in this little world as Jehovah is a great God in the great world Whence Proclus the Philosopher could say that the
a comfort to friends Cyprian epist that death it self is called but a departure This the heathen persecutours knew and therefore banished the Christian Confessours far asunder One man may be by his counsell an Angell to another Ezra 10.3 As Bradford was to D. Taylour in prison communion with such 1 Sam. 25. is the being bound up in the bundle of life which was the blessing of Abigail upon David St. Iohn trusted to come unto the Elect Lady 2 Ioh. 12. and speak face to face that their joy might be full When one desired to see Alexanders treasure he bid one of his servants shew him not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liban Progyn Chria 1. Ioh 15.14 not his wealth but his friends What an honour is that that Christ should say to us ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you And should say to his Father Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me Ioh. 17.24 1 Tim. 5.4 A thenis capitale suit parentibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non persolvere Melancth Not. in Hesiod Plin. I 10. c. 23. Propriam matrem crudeliter deverat currucam silicat Melancth Mures genitores fuos alunt infigal pietate Sphinx Philos p. 230. Macrob. lib. 1. Satur. cap. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ariston de Mundo cap. 6. be with me were I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me what could Ioseph say more for his father and brethren Vers 11. And there will I nourish thee To requite parents is good and acceptable before God At Athens it was death not to be kinde to parents and cherish them The Stork nourisheth her old sire and damme with admirable piety saith Pliny and is therefore called by the Hebrews Chasidah or Mercifull and by the Latines Pietati-cultrix The cuckooe on the other side is worthily hated for that she cruelly devoureth her own damme the hedge-sparrow saith Melancthon Mice are said to nonrish their old ones that cannot shift for themselves insigni pietate Cornelius among the Romans got the name of Scipio by his kindness to his blind father to whom he was the staff of his old age as Macrobius relateth And Aristotle tels a strange story how that when from the hill Aetna there ran down a torrent of fire that consumed all the houses thereabouts in the midst of those fearfull stames Gods speciall care of the godly shined most brightly For the river of fire parted it self and made a kinde of lane for those who ventured to rescue their aged parents and pluck them out of the jawes of death Our Saviour much distasted and detested that damnable doctrine of the Pharisees teaching children to starve their parents Matth. 15. under pretence of devotion And what would he have said to the Popish Pharisees that say that a Monk may not leave his cloister to relievo his father but rather let him dye for hunger in the streets Christ upon his Cross though as full of sorrow as heart could cold commâ—â—ded his mother to be kept by the Disciple whom he loved with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 19.27 Agreeable whereunto was that speech of the Samians I give thee this woman for a mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when to the richer of the Citizens the Mothers of those who dyed in the wars were given to be maintained by them Vers 13. And you shall tell my father So the Lord Christ bad Mary Magdalen tell his Disciples and Peter because he was most dejected for denying his Master and in his dumps he must know with the first I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God Vers 14. And he fell upon his brother c. Gods people are not senseless Stoicks or flinty Nabals but have natural affections in them as others yea above others that have banished good nature and can weep as little as witches The enemy hath stopt the Wells and staid the water-courses as Holophernes what should hinder him now from taking the town Vers 16. It pleased Pharaoh well and his servants And therefore his servants because Pharaoh For Aulici sunt instar speculi saith Pareus Courtiers are their Princes looking-glasses If he laugh so do they where he loves they love in pretence at least Cic. de Divinatione lib. 2. for all 's but counterfeit And here Potest Augur Augurem videre non ridere saith Cato in Tully The Senate gave publike thanks to the gods for all that Nero did even when he had killed his mother though they never so much abhor'd it When he sang at any time though it were never so ill for he had a small harsh voyce his Courtiers would sooth him up with Quam pulcher Caesar Apollo Augustus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio in Norone c. And because he hated the Senate notwithstanding all their flatteries Vatinius was greatly in favour with him for saying Odi te Caesar quòd Senator es Parasiti principum sputa instar canum lingunt Vers 17. And Pharaoh said unto Ioseph Pharaoh is good to Jacob and his house for Ioseph's sake so is God to us and ours for Jesus sake As any man was intimate with Sejanus so he found favour with Tiberius Ut quisque Sâ—jano lâ—timus it a ad Caesaris amicitiam valiâ—usâ— contra quibus inseâ—sus esset metu ac sordidus conflictabantur Tacit. Matth. 11. As if any were at odds with him they lived in continual danger and durance saith Tacitus so here O miserabilis humana conditio sine Christo vanum omne quod vivimus saith S. Hierome Epitaph Nep. tom 1. p. 25. O the misery of those that be without Christ in the world Vers 8. Come unto me and I will give you c. So saith Christ Come unto me and ye shall find rest to your souls health to your bones all the blessings of this life and a better Say you meet with some trouble by the way as haply Iacob had foul weather erc he came down to Egypt Non sunt condignae passiones ad praeteritam culpam quae remittitur ad praesentis consolationis gratiam quae immittitur ad futuram gloriam quae promittitur saith Bernard sweetly What is a drop of vineger put into an Occan of wine No country hath more venemous creatures then Egypt none more Antidotes So godliness saith One hath many troubles and as many helps against trouble Vers 19. Take you wagons out of the land of Egypt Christ also will send his wagons for us his Cherubims and clouds to fetch us up to him to heaven at the last day 1 Thess 4.15 as they did Moses and Elias Matth. 17. This David foresaw and therefore envied not the pomp and state of those men of Gods hand that are whirled here up and down in wagons and chariots c. Psal 17.14 15. Vers 20. Also regard not your stuff The same saith God to
tot priorum hominum donariis intervertendis Sculter Annal. pag. 332. saith the Annalist and came all to fearful ends Two of them fell out and challenging the field One killed the other and was hang'd for it A third drowned himself in a Well The fourth from great riches fell to extreme beggery and was hunger-starved The last one Doctor Alan being Archbishop of Dublin was there cruelly murthered by his enemies Now if Divine Justice so severely and exemplarily pursued and punished these that converted those abused goods of the Church to better uses without question though they looked not at that but at the satisfying of their own greedy lusts What will be the end of such Sacrilegious persons as enrich themselves with that which should be their Ministers maintenance Sacrum sacrove commendatum qui clepserit rapseritque Ex duod tab Neand. Chron. parricida esto said the Romane law It is not only sacriledg but parricide to rob the Church Vers 25. Let us find grace That is do us the favour to intercede for us to Pharaoh that we may be his perpetual farmers and hold of him It seems that Pharaoh was no proper name but common to the Kings of Egypt as Caesar to the Emperours of Rome a title of honour as His Majesty amongst us Otherwise these poor people had been over-bold with his name Vers 27. Grew and multiplyed exceedingly Here that promise Chap. 46.3 began to be accomplished God dyes not in any mans debt Vers 28. Iacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years So long he had nourished Ioseph and so long Ioseph nourished him paying his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the utmost penny These were the sweetest dayes that ever Iacob saw God reserved his best to the last Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for be his beginning and his middle never so troublesome the end of that man is peace Psal 37.47 A Goshen he shall have either here or in heaven Vers 29. Bury me not I pray thee in Egypt This he requested partly to testifie his faith concerning the promised land heaven and the resurrection partly to confirm his family in the same faith and that they might not be glewed to the pleasures of Egypt but wait for their return to Canaan And partly also to declare his love to his ancestours together with the felicity he took in the communion of Saints Vers 30. Bury me in their burying-place That he might keep possession at least by his dead body of the promised land There they would be buried not pompously but reverently that they might rise again with Christ Some of the Fathers think that these Patriarches were those that rose corporally with him Matth. 27.57 Vers 31. And Israel bowed himself In way of thankfulness to God framing himself to the lowliest gesture he was able rearing himself up upon his pillow leaning also upon his third leg his staffe Heb. 11.21 In effoeta senecta fides non effoeta CHAP. XLVIII Vers 1. Behold thy father is sick ANd yet 't was Iacob have I loved So Behold he whom thou lovest is sick Joh. 11.3 Si amatur quomodò infirmatur saith a Father Very well may we say The best before they come to the very gates of death pass oft thorough a very strait long heavy lane of sickness and this in mercy that they may learn more of God and depart with more ease out of the world Such as must have a member cut off willingly yeeld to have it bound though it be painful because when it is mortified and deaded with strait binding they shall the better endure the cutting of it off So here when the body is weakned and wasted with much sickness that it cannot so bustle we dye more easily Happy is he saith a Reverend Writer that after due preparation D. Hall Contemp is passed thorow the gates of death ere he be aware happy is he that by the holy use of long sickness is taught to see the gates of death afar off and addresseth for a resolute passage The one dyes like Henoch and Eliah the other like Iacob and Elisha both blessedly Vers 2. And Israel strengthened himself Ipse aspectus viri boni delectat saith Seneca sure it is that the sight of a dear friend reviveth the sick One man for comfort and counsel may be an Angel to another nay as God himself Such was Nathan to David B. Ridley to King Edward the sixth and that poor Priest to Edward the third who when all the Kings friends and favourites forsook him in his last agony leaving his chamber quite empty called upon him to remember his Saviour Dan. hist of Engl. 255. and to ask mercy for his sins This none before him would do every one putting him still in hope of life though they knew death was upon him But now stirred up by the voyce of this Priest he shew'd all signs of contrition and at his last breath expresses the name of Jesu Vers 3. God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz The truly thankful keep calenders and catalogues of Gods gracious dealings with them and delight to their last to recount and reckon them up not in the lump only and by whole-sale as it were but by particular enumeration upon every good occasion setting them forth one by one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as here and Ciphering them up as Davids word is Psal 9.1 we should be like civet-boxes which still retain the scent when the civit is taken out of them See Psal 145 1 2. Exod. 18.8 Vers 5. As Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine God hath in like part 2 Cor. 6.18 adopted us for his dear children saying I will be a father unto them and they shall be my sons and my daughters saith the Lord Almighty This S. Iohn calls a royalty or prerogative Joh. 1.12 such as he elsewhere stands amazed at 1 Ioh. 3.1 And well he may for all Gods children are first-born and so higher then all the Kings of the Earth Psal 89.27 They in the fulnesse of their sufficiency are in straits Job 20.22 Whereas the Saints in the fulness of their straits are in an All-sufficiency Vers 6. After the name of their brethren That is of Ephraim and Manasseh as if they were not their brethren but their sons Thus Iacob transfers the birth-right from Reuben to Ioseph 1 Chro. 5.1 2. Vers 7. And I buried her there He could not carry her to the cave of Machpelah and he would not bury her at Bethlehem among Infidels This he tells Ioseph to teach him and the rest not to set up their rest any where but in the land of Canaan Vers 8. Who are these Here Jacob seeing Ioseph's two sons and now first understanding who they were breaks off his speech to Ioseph till the two last verses of the chapter and falls a blessing his sons Titus 3.1 teaching us to be ready to every good word and work laying hold of every hint