that distemperature departed the world which himself had so oft distempered Vers 22. A merry heart doth good like a medicine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Septuagint render it And indeed it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All true mirth is from rectitude of the mind from a right frame of soul When Faith hath once healed the conscience and grace hath husht the affections and composed all within so that there is a Sabbath of Spirit and a blessed tranquillity lodged in the soul then the body also is vigorous and vigetous for most part in very good plight and healthful constitution which makes mans life very comfortable For si vales bene est And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go thy waies saith Solomon to him that hath a good conscience eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart Eccles 9.7 8 9. sith God accepteth thy works Let thy garments bee alwaies white and let thy head lack no ointment Live joyfully with the wife of thy youth c. bee lightsome in thy cloaths merry at thy meats painful in thy calling c. these do notably conduce to and help on health They that in the use of lawful means wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not bee weary they shall walk and not faint Isa 40.31 But a broken spirit drieth the bones By drinking up the marrow and radical moisture See this in David Psal 32.3 whose bones waxed old whose moisture or chief sap was turned into the drought of Summer his heart was smitten and withered like grass his daies consumed like smoak Psal 102.3 4. his whole body was like a bottle in the smoak Psal 119.83 hee was a very bag of bones and those also burnt as an hearth Psal 102. Aristotle in his book of long and short life assigns grief for a chief cause of death And the Apostle saith as much 2 Cor. 7.10 See the Note there and on Prov. 12.25 All immoderations saith Hippocrates are great enemies to health Vers 23. A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosome i. e. closely and covertly as if neither God nor man should see him The words may bee also read thus Hee that is the corrupt Judge taketh a gift out of the wicked mans bosome there being never a better of them as Solomon intimateth by this ambiguous expression Stapleten Rain is good and ground is good yet ex corum conjunctione fit lutum So giving is kind and taking is courteous yet the mixing of them makes the smooth paths of justice foul and uneven Vers 24. Wisdome is before him that hath understanding Or Vultut index animi Profecto oculis animus inhabitat Plin. the face of an understanding man is wisdome his very face speaks him wise the government of his eyes especially is an argument of his gravity His eyes are in his head Eccles 2.14 hee scattereth away all evil with them Prov. 20.8 Hee hath oculum irretortum as Job had chap. 31. and Joseph had oculum in metam which was Ludovicus vives his Motto his eye fixt upon the mark hee looks right on Prov. 4.25 hee goes through the world as one in a deep muse or as one that hath haste of some special businesse and therefore over-looks every thing besides it Hee hath learned out of Isa 33.14 15. that he that shall see God to his comfort must not onely shake his hands from taking gifts as in the former verse but also stop his ears from hearing of blood and shut his eyes from seeing of evil Vitiis nobis in animum per oculos est via saith Quintilian Quintil. declam sin entereth into the little world thorow these windows and death by sin as fools finde too oft by casting their eyes into the corners of the earth suffering them to rove at randome without restraint by irregular glancing and inordinate gazing In Hebrew the same word signifies both an eye and a fountain to shew saith one that from the eye as from a fountain flows both sin and misery Shut up therefore the five windows that the house may be full of light as the Arabian Proverb hath it Wee read of one that making a journey to Rome and knowing it to bee a corrupt place and a corrupter of others entred the City with eyes close shut neither would hee see any thing there but Saint Peters Church which hee had a great mind to go visit Alipius in Austin being importuned to go to those bloody spectacles of the gladiatory combats resolved to wink and did But hearing an out-cry of applause looked abroad and was so taken with the sport that hee became an ordinary frequenter of those cruel meetings Vers 25. A foolish Son is a grief to his Father See the Note on chap. 10.1 and 15.20 Vers 26. Also to punish the just is not good The righteous are to be cherished and protected as those that uphold the state Semen sanctum statumen terrae Isa 6.13 What Aeneas Sylvins said of learning may bee more properly said of righteousness Vulgar men should esteem it as silver Noble-men as gold Prines prize it as pearls But they that punish it as persecutors do shall bee punished to purpose when God makes inquisition for blood Psal 9. Nor to strike Princes for equity Righteous men are Princes in all Lands Psa 45. yea they are Kings in righteousnesse as Melchisedec Indeed they are somewhat obscure Kings as hee was but Kings they appear to bee by comparing Mat. 13.17 with Luk. 10.24 Many righteous saith Matthew many Kings saith Luke Now to strike a King is high-treason Daniels Hist 198. And although Princes have put up blows as when one struck our Henry the sixth hee onely said Forsooth you do wrong your self more than mee to strike the Lords annointed Another also that had drawn blood of him when hee was in prison hee freely pardoned when hee was restored to his Kingdome saying Alass poor soul hee struck mee more to win favour with others than of any evil will hee bare mee So when one came to cry Cato mercy for having struck him once in the Bath hee answered that hee remembred no such matter Likewise Lycurgus is famous for pardoning him that smote out one of his eyes yet hee that shall touch the apple of Gods eye as every one doth that wrongeth a righteous man for equity especially shall have God for a revenger And it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10. Vers 27. Hee that hath knowledge spareth his words Taciturnity is a sign of solidity and talkativeness of worthlesness Epaminondas is worthily praised for this saith Plutarch that as no man knew more than hee so none spake less than hee did And a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit Or of a cool spirit The deepest Seas are the most calm Where river smoothest
so here in the event all our wisedom is soon refuted with one black Theta which understanding us not snappeth us unrespectively without distinction and putteth at once a period to our reading and to our being And why was I then more wise This is a peece of peevishnesse a childish folly we are all prone to viz. to repent us of our best pains if not presently paid for it so short spirited are we that unlesse we may sow and reap all in a day unlesse all things may goe with us as well as we could wish wee repent us of our repentance with David Psal 73.13 hit God in the teeth with our obedience as those hypocrites in Esay chap. 58.2 3. and as that elder brother in the Parable that told his father he had never been worth a Kid to him for all his good service But what is God like to break or to dye in our debts that we are so hasty with him This was good Barucks fault and he is soundly chidden for it Jer. 45.1 with chap. 36.1 2. Good men oft find it more easie to bear evil than to wait till the promised good bee enjoyed It was so with those Christian Hebrews chap. 10.34 36. whom therefore the Apostle there tells they had need of patience or tarriance to carry Gods time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It needs not repent the wise of this world much lesse the children of Light of any good they have done or gotten however it prove with them sith some degree of comfort follows every good action as hear accompanies fire as beams and influences issue from the Sun And this is so true that very Heathens upon the discharge of a good Conscience have found comfort and peace answerable Vers 16. For there is no remembrance of the wise viz. unlesse hee bee also wise to salvation for then he shall be had in everlasting remembrance Or otherwise either he shall be utterly forgotten as being not written among the living in Jerusalem Esay 4.3 or else he shall not have the happiness to bee forgotten in the City where he had so done Eccl. 8.10 I mean where he had been either a dogmatical or at least a practical Atheist as the very best of the Philosophers were Rom. 1. 1. Cor. 1. the choysest and the most picked men amongst them 1 Cor. 3.21 And how dyeth the wise man as the fool See the Note on vers 14 15. wise men dye as well as fools Psal 49.10 good men dye as well as bad Ezek. 21.4 yet with this difference that the righteous hath hope in his death which to him is neither total but of the body only nor perpetual but for a time only till the day of refreshing See both these Rom. 8.10 11. Vers 17. Therefore I hated life i. e. I lesse loved it than I had done I saw mortality to be a mercy with Cato I was neither fond of life Vsque adeone mori miserum Virgil. nor afraid of death with Q. Elizabeth I preferred my Coffin before my Cradle my Burial-day before my Birth-day chap. 7.1 A greater than Solomon threatens those that love life with the loss of life Luk. 17.33 and hath purposely set a particular vanity and vexation upon every day of our life that wee may not dote upon it sith we dye daily Sufficient to the day is the evil that is the misery thereof Quicquid boni est in mundo saith Austin what good thing soever we have here is either past present or to come If past it 's nothing if to come it 's uncertain if present yet it is unsufficient unsatisfactory So that whilst I call to mind things past said that incomparable Q. Elizabeth behold things present and expect things to come Camb. Eliz. fol. 325. I hold them happiest that goe hence soonest Vers 18. Yea I hated all my labour i. e. I was sorry to think that I had been so eager and earnest in getting a great estate which now I must leave and to whom I know not sure I am to those that never took any pains for it And herein we see the corruption of our nature discover it self in that we are so wedded to the things of this world especially if gotten by our own art and industry that we think much to bee divorced from them by death and to leave them to others when our selves can enjoy them no longer Henry Beauford that rich and wretched Cardinal Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England in the reign of Henry 6. when hee perceived that hee must dye Act. Mon. fol. 925. and that there was no remedy murmured at death that his riches could not reprieve him till a further time For he asked wherefore should I dye being so rich If the whole Realm would save my life I am able either by policy to get it or by riches to buy it Fye quoth he will not death bee hired will money doe nothing Latimer in a Sermon before King Edward the 6. tells a story of a rich man that when hee lay upon his Sick bed there came one to him and told him that certainly by all reason they can judge by hee was like to be a man for another world a dead man As soon as ever he hears but these words saith Latimer What must I dye said he send for a Physician wounds sides heart must I dye wounds sides heart must I dye and thus he goes on and there could bee nothing got from him but wounds sides heart must I dye Must I dye and goe from these here was all here 's the end of a man that made his portion to bee in this world If this mans heart had been ript up aâ—ter hee was dead there might have been found written in it The God of this present world Serm. on Psal 17.14 April 3. 1643. before the L. Maior Mr. Jeremy Burroughes relates in print of another rich man that had sometime lived neer unto him who when hee heard his sickness was deadly sent for his bags of mony and hugg'd them in his arms saying Oh! must I leave you Oh! must I leave you And of another who when hee lay upon his sick bed called for his bags and laid a bag of gold to his heart and then bad them take it away it will not do it will not do Mr. Rogers in his Treatise of love tels of one that being near death clapt a twenty shillings peece of gold into his own mouth saying Some wiser than some I le take this with mee howsoever Vers 19. And who knoweth whether he shall bee a wise man A friend or an enemy an acquaintance or a meer stranger riches oft change masters How many by a just hand of God dye childless or else leave that they have to ding-thrifts that will spend it as merrily as ever their parents got it miserably scatter with a fork as it were what they have wretchedly raked together Our Henry 2. some few hours before hee
brutish for want of knowledge so the words may be rendred the heathen idol-makers especially Brutescit homo prae scientia so Vatablus 1. Every man is brutish in comparison of knowledge viz. of Gods knowledge whil'st he goeth about to search into the causes of rain lightening wind c. which God only understandeth Ver. 15. They are vanity Vanity in its largest extent is properly predicated of them And the work of errours Meer mockeries making men to embrace vanity for verity In the time of their visitation See on Isa 46.1 Ver. 16. The portion of Jacob is not like them God is his peoples portion they are his possession Oh their dignity and security this the cock on the dunghil understands not Ver. 17. Gather up thy wares out of the land Make up thy pack and prevent a plundering Reculas tuas sarcinas compone Ver. 18. Behold I will fling out the inhabitants of this land I will easily and speedily sling them and fling them into Babylon so God will one day hurle into hell all the wicked of the earth Psal 9.17 And will distresse them that they may find it so Just so as they were foretold it would be but they could never be drawn to beleeve it Ver. 19. Wo is me for my hurt my wound is grievous This is the moane that people make when in distresse and they find it so But what after a while of pausing Truly this is my grief and I must bear it i. e. Bear it off as well as I may by head and shoulders or bear up under it and rub through it wearing it out as well as I can when things are at worst they 'l mend again Crosses as they had a time to come in so they must have a time to go out c. This is not patience but pertinaecy the strength of stones and flesh of brasse Job 6.12 it draweth on more weight of plagues and punishments God liketh not this indolency this stupidity this despising of his corrections as he calleth it Heb. 12.5 such shall be made to cry when God bindeth them Job 36.11 as here Ver. 20. My Tabernacle is spoiled I am irreparably ruined like as when a camp is quite broken up not any part of a tent or hut is left standing Ver. 21. For the Pastours are become brutish The corrupt Prophets and Priests who seduced the people from the truth were persons that made no conscience of prayer hence all went to wrack and ruine Ver. 22. Behold the noise of the bruit is come This doleful peal he oft rung in their eares but they little regarded it See chap. 9.11 Ver. 23. O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself He is not master of his own way but is directed and over-ruled by the powerful providence even this cruel Chaldaan also that marcheth against us It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps We know not what to do or which way to turn our selves only our eyes are toward thee Behold we submit to thy justice and implore thy mercy This text doth mainly make against free-will saith Oecolampadius and yet the Pelagiam would hence gather that man can by his own strength walk in the way to heaven but he must be holpen say they by Gods grace that he may be perfect Cum ratione seu modo Leniter discretè Lap. Ver. 24. O Lord correct me but with judgement i. e. In mercy and in measure Correction is not simply to be deprecated the Prophet here cryes Corret me David saith It was good for me Job calleth Gods afflicting of us his magnifying of us chap. 7.17 Feri Domine feri clementer ipse paratus sam saith Luther Smite Lord smite me but gently and I am ready to bear it patiently King Alfred prayed God to send him alwayes some sicknesse whereby his body might be tamed and he the better disposed and affectioned to God-ward Ecclesiastical history telleth of one Servulus who sick of a palsie so that his life was a lingering death said ordinarily God be thanked Ver. 25. Pour out c. This is not more votum then vaticinium a prayer then a prophecy And upon the families Neglect of family-prayer uncovers the roof as it were for Gods curse to be rained down upon mens tables meat enterprizes c. CHAP. XI Ver. 1. THe Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord To him it came but to be imparted to other Prophets say some Priests of Anathoth say others ver 2. which might be the reason why they were so enraged against him and fought his life ver 18 19. as the Popish Priests did Mancinels Savanarolas and other faithful Preachers for exciting them to do their duties Ver. 2. Hear ye the words and speak ye Ye Priests whose ordinary office it is to teach Jacob Gods judgements and Israel his Law Deut. 33.10 Ver. 3. And say thou unto them Thou Jeremy whether the rest will joyn with thee or not Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this Covenant It is probable that Jeremy when he said thus held the book in his hand viz. the book of Deuteronomy which the Rabbines call Sepher Tochechoth because of the many increpations and curses therein contained Ver. 4. From the iron furnace Where iron is melted and a fierce fire required Obey my voyce See chap 7.23 Ver. 5. A land flowing with milk and honey With plenty of dainties The City of Aleppo is so called by the Turkes of Alep milk for if the via lactea were on earth it would be found there saith one So be it O Lord Amen Fiat Fiat Oh that there were an heart in this people to obey thy voyce And oh that thou would'st still continue them in this good land c. Our hearts should be stretched out after out Amen and we should be swallowed upon God say the Rabbines Ver. 6. Hear ye the words of this Covevant and do them Else ye hear to no purpose as the Salamander liveth in the fire and is not made hot by the fire as the Ethiopian goeth black into the Bath and as black he cometh forth Ver. 7. Rising early i. e. endeavouring earnestly See chap. 5.8 Ver. 8. Yet they obeyed not See chap. 7.24 Therefore I will bring Heb. and I brought upon them Ver. 9. A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah A combination in sinful courses this is not Vnity but Conspiracy See Ezek. 22.25 Hos 6.9 such is the unity of the Antichristian crew Rev. 17.13 The Turkes have as little dissension in their religion as any yet are a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven Ver. 10. They are turned away to the iniquities of their fore-fathers Shewing themselves herein to be a race of rebels as good at resisting the holy Ghost as ever their Fathers were and are therefore justly chargeable with their iniquities which needeth not Ver. 11. Which they shall not be able to escape To avert avoid or abide I
fearlesnesse of death in so good a cause and with so good a conscience Ver. 13. Amend your wayes Fall out with your faults and not with your friends See chap. 7.3 And the Lord will repent him of the evil This he often inculcateth Ideo minatur Deus ut non puniat See chap. 18.8 Ver. 14. As for me behold I am in your hand See here how God gave his holy Prophet a mouth and wisedome such as his adversaries were not able to resist The like he did to other of his Martyrs and Confessours as were easie to instance If the Queen will give me life I will thank her if she will banish me I will thank her Act. Mon. 1462. if she will burn me I will thank her c. said Bradford to Creswel offering to intercede for him To do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you But this I can safely say Non omnis moriar all that ye can do is to kill the body kill me you may but hurt me you cannot Life in Gods displeasure is worse then death Eutipid in Aul de I am not of their mind who say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Better live basely then dye bravely Faxâ—t Deus ut quilibet nostrum epilogum habeat galeatum God grant that whether our death be a burnt offering of Martyrdome or a peace offering of a natural death it may be a free-will-offering a sweet sacrifice to the Lord. Ver. 15. Ye shall surely bring innocent blood c. So Mr. Rogers our Protomartyr in Queen Maryes dayes If God said he look not mercifully upon England the seeds of utter destruction are sown in it already by these hypocritical tyrants Act. Mon. and Antichristian prelates double traitours to their native countrey Ver. 16. Then said the Princes and all the people The Mobile vulgus See on ver 9. The good Prophet is acquitted as Athanasius afterwards was often for if to be accused were enough to make a man guilty none should be innocent Ver. 17. Then rose up certain of the Elders Vâ—ri illi admodum venerabiles erant saith Oecolampadius these were very worthy men whether Princes or pleaders well read in the Annals of the times as great men ought to be Ver. 18. Micah the Morashite See on Mic. 1.1 Zion shall be plowed like a field See Mic. 3.12 Ver. 19. Did Hezekiah King of Judah Laudable examples are to be remembred and as occasion requireth imitated That was a very good one of Constantine the Great when the Arrians brought accusations against the Orthodox Bishops as here the false Prophets did against Jeremy he burnt them and said These accusations will have proper hearing at the last day of judgement Sozomen Ver. 20. And there was also a man This seemeth to be the plea of the adverse party producing an example opposite to the former and shewing what the way was now whatever it had been heretofore New Lords new Laws According to all the words of Jeremiah Whose Contemporary he was and his memory was yet fresh bleeding Ver. 21. And when Jehoiakim This Tiger laid hold with his teeth on all the excellent spirits of the times See chap. 36.26 He was afraid and fled Not out of timorousnesse but prudence Tertullian was too rigid in condemning all kind of flight in times of persecution God hath not made his people as standing but markes to be shot at c. See Mat. 10.23 Ver. 22. And Jehoiakim sent men into Egypt Where he might have any thing for he was Pharaohs feudatary and vassal Ver. 23. And they fet forth Vriab out of Egypt As they did here Sir John Cheek out of the Low-countries and frightened him into a Recantation Not so this Vriah And they fet forth Vriah out of Egypt En collusio Principum mundi in parricidio Who slew him with the sword Without all law right or reason So John Baptist was murthered as if God had been nothing aware of him said that Martyr But Jehojakim got as little by this as he did afterwards by burning Jeremy's Book or as Vespasian afterwards did by banishing all the Philosophers of his time because they spake boldly against his vices and tyranny Ver. 24. Neverthelesse the hand of Ahikam Who had been one of Josiah's Councellours 2 King 22.12 By this mans authority and help Jeremiah was delivered and God rewarded him in his son Gedaliah made Governour of the Land 2 Kings 25.22 CHAP. XXVII Ver. 1. IN the beginning of the raign of Jehojakim By the date of this Prophecy compared with ver 12. of this Chapter and chap. 28.1 it should seem that it lay dormant for fourteen or fifteen years ere it was recited Ver. 2. Make thee bonds and yokes i. e. Yokes with bonds such as they are wont to be fastened with A Lapide And put them upon thy neck This was to the Prophet saith the Jesuite molesta probrosa poenitentia a troublesome and disgraceful pennance but this was no will-worship say we and much handsomer then the pennances they put the people to in Italy Bee-hive of Rome where you may see them go along the streets saith mine Author with a great rope about their necks as if they were dropped down from the Gallowes and sometimes they wear a Sawsedge or a Swines-pudding in place of a silver or gold chain for a sign of their mortification and that they may merit Ver. 3. By the hand of the messengers i. e. Embassadours of those neighbouring States who might come to Zedekiak to confederate with him against Nebuchadnezzar's growing greatnesse but all in vain and to their own ruine Deus quem destruit dementat The wicked oft run to meet their bane as if they were even ambitious of destruction Ver. 4. Go tell your Masters But they would not be warned and were therefore ruined So true is that of an Ancient Divinum consilium dum devitatur impletur humana sapientia dum reluctatur comprehenditur Ver. 5. I have made the earth And am therefore the great Proprietary and Lord Paramount of all to transfer Kingdoms at my pleasure This Nebuchadnezzar after seven years prentiship served among the beasts of the field had learned to acknowledge Oecolamp Dan. 4. Ver. 6. And now have I given all these lands Nebuchadnezzar shall be Monarch contra Gentes Dicunt nugatores equitasse Nabuchodonosor super Leonem infraenasse Draconem Ver. 7. And all Nations shall serve him All the neighbouring Nations and some others more remote but never was any man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vniversal Monarch though some have stiled themselves so as did Sesostris King of Egypt Qui Pharios currus regum cervicibus egit Vntil the very time of his land come The greatest Monarchies had their times and their turns their rise and their ruine And then many Nations and great Kings shall serve themselves of him As the Chaldaeans had served themselves of the Assyrians so did the Persians of the Chaldaeans the
6.2 Shall he honour This doubling of the word seemeth to shew the Angels indignation at the indignity of the fact See the like Gen. 49.4 Ver. 31. Ver. 39. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds Heb. in the fortresses of munitions i. e. both in the Temple called elsewhere a strong-hold and in the places of defence near unto the Temple where he set a garrison to force the people to worship his Idols Whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory Or those whom he shall acknowledge to be favourers and furtherers of his abominable idolatry those he shall increase with glory he shall raise and prefer them as he did Jason Menelaus c. And he shall cause them to rule over many In praestantes illos so Piscator rendreth it over the godly Jews Gods Rabbines And he shall divide the land sc Of Judaea For gain Heb. for a price Sic omnia Romae vaenalia All things are saleable and soluble at Rome Ver. 40. And at the time of the end The year before his death Shall the King of the South Ptolomie Philometor And the King of the North Antiochus his third expedition into Egypt see ver 39 in favour of Physcon And shall overflow i. e. Victoriously overrun Egypt Ver. 41. He shall enter also into the glorious land Judaea as ver 16. but for no good In Greece they say Where the Grand Signior once setteth his foot there groweth no more grasse But these shall escape Because they shall side with him Ver. 42. He shall stretch forth his hand also He shall be very victorious toward his latter end that he may be the riper for ruine fatted ware are but fitted for destruction Ver. 43. Shall be at his steps i. e. Obey him as their Captain Ver. 44. But tidings out of the East c. It it seldom seen that God alloweth to the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment but something or other they must have to trouble them still Ver. 45. And he shall plant the Tabernacles of his palace i e 1 Mac. 3.40 4 3. He shall pitch his tent royal in token of full power given to his Captains Lysias and the rest in Emmaus near to Jerusalem to keep the Jews in subjection Between the Seas The Dead Sea and the Midland Sea Polyb. Joseph l. 12. c. 12. which are the bounds of Judaea called here the glorious holy mountain Yet he shall come to his end A loathsome and lamentable one See 1 Maccab. 6.8 2 Maccab. 9. not so much because he would have spoiled the Temple of Diana but because he did spoil the Temple at Jerusalem CHAP. XII Ver. 1. ANd at that time i. e. In the last dayes and toward the end of the World for in this Chapter seemeth to be set forth the State of the Church in the last times that it shall be most afflicted yet she shall be fully delivered by Christs second coming to Judgement Cyprian was in like sort wont to comfort his friends thus Venit Antichristus sed superveniet Christus Antichrist will come but then Christ will come after him and overcome him Shall Michael stand up i. e. The Lord Christ that Prince of Angels and Protector of his people not a created Angel much lesse Michael Servetus that blasphemous heretike burnt at Geneva who was not afraid to say as Calvin reporteth it se esse Michaelem illum Ecclesiae custodem that he was that Michael the Churches Guardian David George also another blackmouthed heretike said that he was that David foretold by the Prophets Jer. 30.9 Ezek. 34.23 Hos 3.5 and that he was confident that the whole World would in time submit to him Which standeth for the children of thy people For all the Israel of God to whom Christ is a fast friend and will he while the government is upon his shoulder Isa 9.6 And there shall be a time of trouble To the Jews by the Romans after Christs ascension Mat. 24.21 to the Christians by the Romists And at that time thy people shall be delivered The elect both Jews and Gentiles shall be secured and saved Every one that shall be found written in the book Called the writing or catalogue of the house of Israel Ezek. 13.9 and the Lambs book of life Rev. 21.27 which is nothing else but conscriptio electorum in mente divina saith Lyra the writing of the elect in the divine mind or knowledge such are said to be written among the living in Jerusalem Isa 4.4 Ver. 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust Many for all as Rom. 5.18 19. these are said to sleep which denoteth the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body The soul liveth in the sleep of death as it doth in the sleep of the body in this life And this the poor Jews when to lose land and life for the truth are here seasonably and plainly told of amidst other things that are but darkly delivered to bear up their sinking spirits Awake they shall as out of a sweet sleep those that are good and then be full of Gods Image Psal 17. â—it The wicked also shall come forth but by another principle and for another purpose they shall come out of their graves like filthy roads against this terrible storm c. Some to everlasting life Which is here first mentioned in the old Testament See Matth. 25.45 Joh. 5.29 And some to shame and everlasting contempt Christ shall shame them in that ample Amphitheatre and doom them to eternal destruction Graevissima paenarum pudor est saith Chrysostom Oh when Christ shall upbraid reprobates and say Ego vos pavi lavi vestivi c. which way will they look or who shall say for them They shall look then upon him whom they have pierced and lament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but all too late they shall be sore ashamed of their sinful practises which shall all be written in their foreheads and this shall be as a bodkin at their hearts that ever they turned their backs upon Christs bleeding embracements whilst they refused to be reformed hated to be healed Ver. 3. And they that be wise And withal do what they can do to wise others to salvation as all wise ones will for Goodnesse is diffusive of itself and would have others to share with it charity is no churl Shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament A good amends for their present sufferings chap. 11.33 with Rom. 8.18 Solomon allowed little or no considerable reward to his workmen Mat. 13.42 Cant. 8.12 but Christ doth For they shall shine as the firmament yea as the Stars yea as the Sun in his strength yea as Christ himself shineth they shall appear with him in glory Colos 3.4 Their souls shall shine through their bodies as the candle doth through the lanthorn their bodies shall also be so light-some and transparent saith Aquinas that all the veins humours nerves and bowels shall be
read of in holy-writ Ezechiels wife was the delight of his eyes hee took singular complacency in her company This conjugal joy is the fruit of love which therefore hee commendeth to all married men in the next words Vers 19. Let her bee as the loving Hind c. The Hind and the Roe are the females of the Hart and Roebuck of which creatures it is noted Inter utrumque ardor amoris summus ut Oppianus de cervis agens scribit that of all other beasts they are most inamoured as I may so speak with their mates and even mad again in their heat and desire after them This being taken in a good sense may set forth the ardent affection that husbands should bear to the wives of their bosomes so they are called too because they should be as dear to them as the hearts in their bosomes A wife is the most proper object of love Col. 3.18 above Parent Friend Childe or any other though never so dear to us And bee thou ravished alwaies Heb. Erre thou alwaies in her love Mercer velut extra te sis rerum aliarum obliviscare It implies saith one a lawful earnest affection so as first to oversee some blemishes and defects Love is blind In facie naevus causa decoris erit Secondly so highly to esteem her Ovid. and so lovingly to comport with her that others may think him even to dote on her Howbeit muliâ—rosity must bee carefully avoided as a harmful errour and that saying of Hierome duly pondered and beleeved Quisquis in uxorem ardentior est amator adulter est As a man may bee drunk with his own drink and a glutton by excessive devouring of his own meat so likewise one may bee unclean by the intemperate or intempestive abuse of the marriage-bed which ought by no means to bee stained or dishonoured with sensual excesses Vers 20. And why wilt thou my Son The premises considered there is no reason for it but all against it Nothing is more irrational than irreligion and yet nothing more usual with the Devil than to perswade his vassals that there is some sense in sinning and that they have reason to bee mad And truly though there were no Devil yet our corrupt nature would act Satans part against it self it would have a supply of wickedness as a Serpent hath of poison from it self it hath a spring within to feed it Nitimur in vetitum semper petimusque negata Nothing would serve the rich mans turn but the poor mans Lamb if Ahab may not have Naboths Vineyard hee hath nothing The more God forbids any sin the more wee bid for it Rom. 7.8 Nay but wee will have a King said they when they had nothing else to say why they would Vers 21. For the waies of man c. Turpe quid acturus te sine teste time Ausâ—â— A man that is about any evil should stand in awe of himself how much more of God sith hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All eye and beholdeth the secretest of thine actions The Proverb is Si non caste saltem caute carry the matter if not honestly yet so closely and cleanly that the world may bee never the wiser How cunningly did David art it to hide his sin but it would not bee there is nothing covered that shall not bee revealed Luk. 12.2 If I make my bed in Hell said hee Psal 139.8 as indeed the places where fornicatours use to lodge are little better Behold thou art there This God alledgeth as a forcible reason against this sin Jer. 13.27 I have seen the lewdness of thy whoredomes And Jer. 29.23 Even I know and am a witness saith the Lord. Vers 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked As so many Serjeants set on by God who will surely hamper these unruly beasts that think to shift and scape his fingers with the cords of their own sins binding them hand and foot and bringing them to condign punishment So that say the Adulterer bee not punished by the Magistrate or come off by commutation yet hee shall feel himself in the gall of bitterness and bond of perdition hee shall finde that hee hath made a halter to hang himself No body can be so torn with stripes as a mind is with the remembrance of wicked actions Tiberius felt the remorse of conscience so violent that hee protested to the Senate Taci that hee suffered death daily Vers 23. Hee shall dye without instruction To spend the span of this transitory life after the waies of ones own heart is to perish for ever But oh what mad men are they that bereave themselves of a room in that City of Pearl for a few dirty delights and carnal pleasures CHAP. VI. Vers 1. My Son if thou bee Surety THe wise-man having exhorted his Son to marry rather than burn and to nourish a family rather than to haunt Harlots houses to the end that hee may shew himself a good Oeconomick and provide for the comfortable subsistence of wife and children hee bids him here beware 1 Of unadvised suretiship 2 Of idleness two great enemies to thrift without which there can be no good house kept The royalty of Salomon could not have consisted for all his riches without forecast and frugality Vers 2. Thou art snared i. e. Endangered to slavery or poverty or both Hence the proverb Sponde noxa praesto est Give thy word and thou art not far from a mischief Shun therefore suretiship if fairly thou canst or if not propound the worst and undertake for no more than thou canst well perform without thy very great prejudice ne ut leo cassibus irretitus dixeris Si praescivissem lest thou being got into the hamble trambles come in too late with thy tools Had I wist Thou art taken For a bargain binds a man by the Law of Nature and of Nations Judah though in a shameful business would make good his engagement to the Harlot Gen. 38.23 Every godly man will do so though it bee to his own hinderance Psal 15.4 The Romans had a great care alwaies to perform their word insomuch that the first Temple built in Rome was dedicated to the goddesse Fidelity The Athenians were so careful this way that Atticus testis is used for one that keeps touch and Attica fides is sure hold as contrarily Punica fides there was no hold to bee taken of Carthaginian promises Of a certain Pope and his Nephew it is said that the one never spoke as hee thought the other never performed what hee spake Rom. 13. This was small to their commendation Debt is a burden to every well-minded man neither can hee bee at rest till hee come to Owe nothing to any man but this that yee love one another When Arch-bishop Cranmer discerned the storm which afterwards fell upon him in Queen Maries daies Act. Mon. vol. 2. p. 1541. hee took express order for the payment of all his debts and
attended with the renting and roaring thunder of Gods wrath Vers 14. The Back-slider in heart shall bee filled with his own waies Hee hath made a match with mischief hee shall soon have enough of it hee hath sold himself to do wickedness and hee shall bee sure of his paiment hee hath drawn back to perdition hee hath stollen from his colours run away from his Captain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.38 hee shall have Marshal-Law for it God will serve such odious Apostates as Theodorick King of Gothes did a Deacon that to engratiate with this Arrian Prince turned Arrian instead of preferring him hee cut off his head Or as that Turk served the traitour that betrayed the Rhodes His promised wife and portion were presented but the Turk told him that hee would not have a Christian to bee his Son-in-law but hee must bee a Musulman that is a beleeving Turk both within and without And therefore hee caused his baptized skin as hee called it to bee taken off and him to bee cast in a bed strawed with salt that hee might get a new skin and so hee should bee his Son-in-Law But the wicked wretch ended his life with shame and torment But a good man shall bee satisfied from himself For hee hath a spring within his own breast hee needs not shark abroad hee hath an Autarkie a self-sufficiency 1 Tim. 6.6 Hic sat lucis said Oecolampadius claping his hand on his breast when sick and asked whether the light did not offend him Another being likewise sick and asked how hee did answered My body is weak my mind is well Mr. Bolton A third when the pangs of death were upon him being asked by a very dear friend that took him by the hand whether hee felt not much pain Truly no said hee the greatest I finde is your cold hand These good men knew within themselves that they had in Heaven a better and a more enduring substance Heb. 10.34 within themselves they knew it not in others not in books but in their own experience and apprehension in the workings of their own hearts Their knowledge was non in eodicibus sed incordibus They could feelingly say that in doing of Gods will not onely for doing it or after it was now done but even whiles they were doing of it there was great reward Psal 19.11 Righteousness is its own reward and is never without a double joy to bee its strength Gaudium in re gaudium in spe gaudium de possessione Bern. gaudium de promissione gaudium de praesenti exhibitione gaudium de futura expectatione joy in hand and in hope in present possession and in certain reversion Vers 15. The simple beleeveth every word You may draw him any way with a wet finger perswade him to any thing as Rehoboam that old Baby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was a very good rule of Epicharmus Bee not light of beleef Try before you trust look before you leap Bern. de bono desert Alioquâ— saliens antequà m videas casurus es antequà m debeas Wisdome would that as men should not bee over censorions This man blasphemeth said they of our Saviour so neither overcredulous as the giddy-headed Galathiaens were to their seducing Doctors Chap. 1.6 I wonder that yee are so soon removed c. Let us leave to the Papists Ministrorum muta officia populi caeca obsequia their Ministers dumb services their peoples blinde obediences And ever count it a singular folly to take mens bare authority in matters of faith and not to prove the spirits whether they are of God 1 Joh. 4.1 as those noble Beraeans did and are worthily renowned for it Act. 17. But the prudent man looketh well to his goings Hee looketh not so much what others beleeve or not beleeve do or not do as what hee is bound to beleeve or do Hee pins not his faith to another mans sleeve hee frames not his pace by another mans practice but walks by line and by rule treads gingerly steps warily lifts not up one foot till hee findes sure footing for the other as those Psal 35.6 This is to walk exactly accurately not as fools but as wise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5.15 Vers 16. A wise man feareth and departeth from evil Hee trembleth at the judgements whiles they hang in the threatnings meets God with intreaties of peace and so redeems his own sorrows Solo auditu contremisco saith Hierom Speaking of that terrible text Ezek. 16.42 I tremble at the very hearing of it So Erasmus repeating those words Ezek. 3.18 His blood will I require at thy hands These saith hee are fulmina non verba not words but thunderbolts A good childe if but threatned only will amend his fault yea if hee but hear others threatned Daniel was more troubled than Nebuchadnezzar was Dan. 4.18 Habakkuck when in a vision hee saw the judgements of God that were to come upon the Caldeans it made his very heart to ake and quake within him Chap. 3.16 But the fool rageth and is confident Some render it Rangeth and is confident transit confidit so the Vulgar and Original will well enough bear it hee passeth on from sin to sin like a mad man and yet perswades himself that all shall do well such a desperate fool was Balaam though the Angel met him with a drawn sword yet hee would needs on and what was the issue hee dyed by the sword of Israel though hee seemed a friend to Israel Not to bee warned is both a just presage and desert of ruine Vers 17. Hee that is soon angry dealeth foolishly Alexander in his hot blood slew his dearest friend whom hee would have revived again with his heart-blood Qui non moderabitur irae Infectum velit esse dolor quod suaserit mens Rash anger differs from madness saith Seneca in nothing but in time onely See my Common-place of Anger And a man of wicked devices is hated i. e. Hee that beareth a grudge intending revenge as one that onely wants and therefore waits a fit time as Absolom did for Amnon this is a dangerous man and deservedly detested of all It is counted Manhood indeed its Doghooâ—â— The Curs of Congo they say bite but never bark Esau threatned Jacob. 〈◊〉 â—â—ius lentus in meditando ubi prorupisset tristioribus dictis atrocia facta conjungebat The more hee meditated revenge the more did time and delay sharpen it and the further off bee threatned the heavier the stroke fell therefore hee was generally hated as an odious miscreant Vers 18. The simple inherit folly Acceperunt per successionem seu hareditario jure so one renders it they are as wise as their fore-fathers and they are resolved to bee no wiser Me ex ea opinione quam à majoribus accepi de cultis deorum nullius unquam movebit oratio said Tully I will never forsake that way of divine service that I have received from my fore-fathers for any mans pleasure
Father who tells him there that which hee found true by experience Loe children are an heritage of the Lord c. for by all his Wives Salomon had none but one Son and him none of the wisest neither Vers 2. What my son and what the son of my wombe An abrupt speech importing abundance of affection even more than might be uttered There is an Ocean of love in a Parents heart a fathomless depth of desire after the Childes welfare in the mother especially Some of the Hebrew Doctors hold that this was Bathsheba's speech to her son after his fathers death when she partly perceived which way his Genius leaned and lead him that then shee schooled him in this sort q. d. Is it even so my son my most dear son c. O doe not give thy strength to women c. Vers 3. Give not thy strength to women Waste not unworthily the fat and marrow of thy dear and precious time the strength of thy body the vigor of thy spirits in sinful pleasures and sensual delights See chap. 5.9 Nor thy wayes to that which destroyeth Kings Venery is called by one Deaths best Harbinger It was the destruction of Alexander the great of Otho the Emperour called for his good parts otherwise Miraculum mundi of Pope Sextus the fourth qui decessit tabidus voluptate saith the Historian dyed of a wicked waste and of Pope Paul the fourth of whom it passed for a Proverb Eum per candem partem animam profudisse per quam acceperat The Lacedemonian Common-wealth was by the hand of Divine Justice utterly overturned at Leuctra for a rape committed by their Messengers on the two Daughters of Scedosus And what befell the Benjamites on a like occasion is well known out of Judg. 20. that I speak not of the slaughter of the Shechemites Gen. 34. c. Vers 4. It is not for Kings to drink wine i. e. To bee drunk with Wine wherein is excess Ephes 5.18 where the Apostle determines excessive drinking to bee down-right drunkenness viz. when as Swine do their bellies so men break their heads with filthy quaffing This as no man may lawfully doe so least of all Princes for in maxima libertate minima est licentia Men are therefore the worse because they are bound to be better Nor for Princes strong drink Or as some read it where is the strong drink It is not for Princes to ask such a question All heady and intoxicating drinks are by statute here forbidden them Of Bonosus the Emperour it was said that he was born non ut vivat sed ut bibat not to live but to drink and when being overcome by Probus he afterwards hanged himself it was commonly jested that a tankard hung there and not a man But what a Beast was Marcus Antonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strabo Camd. Elis that wrote or rather spued out a book concerning his own strength to bear strong drink And what another was Darius King of Persia who commanded this inscription to bee set upon his Sepulcher I was able to hunt lustily to drink wine soundly and to bear it bravely That Irish Rebel Tiroen Anno 1567. was such a Drunkard that to cool his body when hee was immoderately inflamed with Wine and Uskabagh hee would many times bee buried in the earth up to the chin These were unfit men to bear rule Vers 5 Lest they drink and forget the Law Drunkennesse causeth forgetfulness hence the Ancients feigned Bacchus to bee the sonne of forgetfulness and stands in full opposition to reason and religion when the Wine is in the Wit is out Plutarch in Sympos Seneca saith that for a man to think to be drunk and yet to retain his right reason is to think to drink rank poyson and yet not to dye by it And pervert the judgement c. Pronounce an unrighteous sentence which when Philip King of Macedony once did the poor woman whose cause it was presently appealed from Philip now drunk to Philp when hee should be sober again The Carthaginians made a Law that no Magistrate of theirs should drink wine The Persians permitted their Kings to be drunk one day in a year only Solon made a Law at Athens that drunkenness in a Prince should be punished with death See Eccles 10.16 17. Vers 6. Give strong drink to him c. To those that stand at the barre rather than to them that sit on the bench Wine maketh glad the heart of man Judg. 9.13 Psal 104.15 Plato calls Wine and Musick the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mitigaters of mens miseries Hence that laudable custome among the Jews at Funerals to invite the friends of the deceased to a feast and to give them the cup of consolation Jer. 16.7 And hence that not so laudable of giving Wine Bacchus afflictis requienâ— mortalibus affert Tibul. mingled with Myrrhe to crucified Malefactors to make them dye with lesssense Christ did not like the custom so well and therefore refused the potion People should be most serious and sober when they are to dye sith in Death as in Warre non licet bis errare if a man miss at all he misses for all and for ever Vitellius trepidus dâ—in temâ—lentus Vitellius therefore took a wrong course who looking for the messenger Death made himself drunk to drown the fear of it And Wine unto those that be of heavie hearts Heb. bitter of spirit as Naomi was when she would needs be called Marah Ruth 1.20 as Hannah was when she pleaded that she had neither drunk Wine nor strong drink though at that time she had need enough of it but was a Woman of a sorrowful spirit 1 Sam. 1.15 as David was when his heart was leavened and sowred with the greatness of his grief and he was pricked in his reins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 73.21 This grief was right because according to God 2 Cor. 7.11 so was that bitter mourning Zach. 10.12 and Peters weeping bitterly These waters of Marah that flow from the eyes of repentance are turned into wine they carry comfort in them there is a clear shining after this rain 2 Sam. 23.4 Such April-showers bring on May-flowers Dejicit ut revelet premit ut solatia praestet Enecat ut possit vivificare Deus Vers 7. Let him drink and forget his Poverty And yet let him drink moderately too lest he increase his sorrows as Lot did and not diminish them for drunkennesse leaves a sting behind it worse than that of a Serpent or of a Cockatrice Prov. 23.32 Wine is a prohibited ware among the Turks which makes some drink with scruple others with danger The baser sort when taken drunk are often bastinadoed upon the bare feet And I have seen some saith mine Author after a fit of drunkennesse lye a whole night crying and praying to Mahomet for intercession Bluâ—tâ— voyage p. 105. that I could not sleep neer them so strong is conscience even where
years So that hee bee trisaeclisenex as Nestor was of old and Johannes de temporibus a French-man not many ages since to whom I may add that old Parre old very old man that died of late years having been born in Henry the sevenths daies or Edward the fourths And his soul bee not filled with good Though hee bee filled with years and filled with children that may survive and succeed him in his estate yet if hee bee a covetous caytiff a miserable muckworm that injoyes nothing as in the former verse is not Master of his wealth but is mastered by it lives beside what hee hath and dies to save charges * As hee in Camd. Remains And also that hee have no burial Hee leaves nothing to bring him honestly home as they say or if hee do yet his ungrateful greedy heirs deny him that last honour Jer. 22.19 so that hee is buried with the burial of an Ass as Coniah suffered to rot and stink above ground as that Assyrian Monarch Isa 14. 19 20. and after him Alexander the Great who lay unburied thirty daies together So Pompey the Great of whom Claudian the Poet sings thus Nudus pascit aves jacet en qui possidet orbem Exiguae telluris inops And the like is storied of our William the Conquerour and divers other greedy engrossers of the worlds good See here the poisonful and pernicious nature of niggardise and covetousness that turns long life and large issue those sweetest blessings of God into bitter curses And withall take notice of the just hand of God upon covetous old men that they should want comely burial which is usually one of their greatest cares as Plutarch observeth For giving the reason why old men that are going out of the world should bee so earnestly bent upon the world hee saith it is out of fear that they shall not have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 friends to keep them whiles alive and some to bury them when they are dead I say that an untimely birth I affirm it in the word of truth and upon mature deliberation That an untimely birth not onely a naked young childe as aforesaid that is carried ab utero ad urnam from the womb to the tomb from the birth to the burial but an abortive that coming too soon into the world comes not at all and by having no name findes it self a name as Pliny speaks of the herb Anonymus Vers 4. For hee cometh in with vanity c. As nothing being senseless of good or evil And departeth in darkness is buried in huggermugger And his Name shall bee covered c. that is there is no more talk of this abortive Vers 5. Moreover hee hath not seen the Sun A second priviledge and prerogative of the poor abortive None are so miserable wee see but they may bee comparatively happy It is ever best to look at those below us and then wee shall see cause to bee better contented This hath more rest than the other The Corn that is cropt as soon as it appeareth or is bruised in peeces when it lies in sprout is better than the old weed that is hated while it standeth and in the end is cut down for the fire Vers 6. Yea though hee live a thousand years Which yet never any man did Methusalah wanted thirty two of a thousand The reason thereof is given by Occolampadius quia numerus iste typum habeat perfectionis ut qui constet è centenario decies revoluto because the number of a thousand types out perâ—ection as consisting of an hundred ten times told But there is no perfection here saith hee Yet hath hee seen no good For All the daies of the afflicted are evil saith Solomon And mans daies are few and full of trouble Prov. 15.15 Job 14.1 Gen. 47.9 saith Job Few and evil are the daies of my pilgrimage saith Jacob and I have not attained to the daies of the years of the life of my Fathers c. For Abraham lived one hundred seventy five years and Isaac one hundred eighty near upon forty years longer than Jacob but to his small comfort for hee was blinde all that time yet nothing so blinde as the rich wretch in the Text qui privatus interno lumine tamen in hac vita din vult perpeti caecitatem suam as one speaketh who being blind as a Mole lies rooting and poring uncessantly in the bowels of the earth as if he would that way dig himself a new and a nearer way to Hell and with his own hands addeth to the load of this miserable life As hee hath done no good so hee hath seen or enjoyed none but goes to his place Do not all go to one place the place that Adam provided for all his posterity the house appointed for all living as Job calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.23 chap. 30.23 the Congregation-house as One renders it Heaven the Apostle calls the Congregation-house of the first-born whose names also are there said to bee written in Heaven But covetous persons as they are called the inhabitants of the earth Rev. 12. Jer. 17.13 in opposition to those Coelicola Citizens of Heaven the Saints so their names are written in the earth because they have forsaken the Lord Jer. 2.13 the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns that can hold no water What marvel then if they live long and yet see no good if they are driven to that doleful complaint that Saul made God hath forsaken mee 1 Sam. 28.15 and the Philistims are upon mee sickness death hell is upon mee I am even now about to make my bed in the dark and all the comfort I can have from God is that dismal sentence This shall yee have of mine hand yee shall lye down in sorrow Isa 50.11 Loe this is the cursed condition of the covetous carl as hee hath lived beside his goods having jaded his body broken his brains and burthened his conscience so hee dies hated of God and loathed of men the Earth groans under him Heaven is shut against him Hell gapes for him 1 Cor. 6.8 9. Phil. 3.18 Thus many a Miser spins a fair threed to strangle himself both temporally and eternally O that they would seriously think of this before the cold grave hold their bodies and hot hell torment their souls before death come with a writ of Habeas corpus and the Devil with a writ of Habeas animam as once to that rich fool Luk. 12. Vers 7. All the labour of man is for his mouth That is Dii boni quantum hominum unus exercet venter Seneca Deus homini augustum ventrem c. Sergius PP for food and rayment as 1 Tim. 6. a little whereof will content nature which hath therefore given us a little mouth and stomach to teach us moderation as Chrysostome well observeth to the shame of those beastly belly-gods that glut themselves and devour the creatures
ward off his blow to moâ— up ones self against his fire Why should vain man contend with his Maker Why should hee beat himself to froth as the surges of the Sea do against the Rock Why should hee like the untamed Heifer unaccustomed to the yoke gall his neck by wrigling make his crosses heavier than God makes them by crosseness and impatience The very Heathen could tell him that Deus crudelius urit Tibul. Eleg. 1. Quos videt invitos succubuisse sibi God will have the better of those that contend with him and his own Reason will tell him that it is not fit that God should cast down the bucklers first and that the deeper a man wades the more hee shall bee wet Vers 12. For who knoweth what is good for man Hee may think this and that to bee good but is mostly mistaken and disappointed Ambrose hath well observed that other creatures are led by the instinct of Nature to that which is good for them The Lion when hee is sick cures himself by devouring an Ape the Bear by devouring Ants the wounded Dear by feeding upon Dittany c. in ignoras O homo remedia tuo but thou O man knowest not what is good for thee Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good saith the Prophet and what doth the Lord require of thee but this instead of raking riches together to do justly and to love mercy and instead of contending with him to humble thy self to walk with thy God Micah 6.8 For who can tell a man what shall bee after him When the Worms shall bee scrambling for his body the Devils haply for his soul and his friends for his goods A false Jesuite published in print Camd Elis Dilexi virum qui cum corpore solveretur magit de Ecclesiarum statu c. some years after Queen Elizabeths death that shee died despairing and that shee wished shee might after her death hang a while in the air to see what striving would bee for her Kingdome I loved the man said Ambrose of Theodosius for this that when hee died hee was more affected with care of the Churches good than of his own CHAP. VII Vers 1. A good name is better than precious ointment YEa than great riches Prov. 22.1 See the Note The initial letter of the Hebrew word for Good here is bigger than ordinary Majusculum to shew the more than ordinary excellency of a good name and fame amongst men If whatsoever David doth doth please the people Rom. 1.2 if Mary Magdalens cost upon Christ bee well spoken of in all the Churches if the Romans Faith bee famous throughout the whole world if Demetrius have a good report of all good men and St. John set his seal to it this must needs bee better than precious ointments the one being but a perfume of the nostrils the other of the heart Sweet ointment olfactum afficit spiritum reficit cerebrum juvat affects the smell refresheth the spirit comforts the brain A good name doth all this and more For First As a fragrant scent it affects the soul amidst the stench of evil courses and companies It is as a fresh gale of sweet air to him that lives as Noah did among such as are no better than walking dunghills and living sepulchres of themselves stinking much more worse than Lazarus did after hee had lain four daies in the grave A good name preserveth the soul as a Pomander and refresheth it more than musk or civil doth the body Secondly It comforts the conscience and exhilatates the heart cheers up the mind amidst all discouragements and fatteth the bones Prov. 15.30 doing a man good like a medicine And whereas sweet ointments may bee corrupted by dead flies a good name proceeding from a good conscience cannot bee so Fly blown it may bee for a season and somewhat obscured but as the Moon wades out of a cloud so shall the Saints innocency break forth as the light and their righteousness as the noon-day Psal 37.6 Buried it may beee in the open sepulchres of evil throats but it shall surely rise again A Resurrection there shall bee of names as well as of bodies at the last day at utmost But usually a good name comforts a Christian at his death and continues after it For though the name of the wicked shall rot his lamp shall bee put out in obscurity and leave a vile snuff behinde it yet the righteous shall bee had in everlasting remembrance they shall leave their names for a blessing Isa 65.15 And the day of death than the day of ones birth The Greeks call a mans birth-day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginning of his Nativity they call the begetting of his misery Man that is born of a woman is born to trouble saith Job chap. 14.1 The word there rendred Born signifieth also generated or conceived to note that man is miserable even so soon as hee is warm in the womb as David hath it Psal 51.5 If hee lives to see the light hee comes crying into the world Ad Marc. cap. 11. a flet is vitam anspicatur saith Seneca Insomuch as the Lawyers defined 〈◊〉 by crying and a still-born childe is all one as dead in Law Onely Zoâ—â—staâ— is said to have been born laughing but that laughter was both monstrous and ominous Justin lib. 1. For hee first found out the black Art which yet profited him not so far as to the vain felicity of this present life For being King of the Bactrians hee was overcome and slain in battel by Ninus King of the Assyrians St. Austin who relates this story saith of mans first entrance into the world Nondum loquitur tamen prophetat Ere ever a childe speaks hee prophesies by his tears of his ensuing sorrows Nec prius natus quam damnat no No sooner is hee born but hee is condemned to the Mines or Gallies as it were of sin and suffering Hence Solomon here prefers his Coffin before his Cradle And there was some truth in that saying of the Heathen Optimum est non nasci proximum quam celorrime mori For wicked men it had been best not to have been born or being born to dye quickly sith by living long they heap up first sin and then wrath against the day of wrath As for good men there is no doubt but the day of death is best to them because it is the day-break of Eternal Righteousness and after a short brightness as that Martyr said gives them Malorum ademptionem bonorum ademptionem freedome from all evil fruition of all good Hence the antient Fathers called those daies wherein the Martyrs suffered their birth-daies because then they began to live indeed sith here to live is but to lye a dying Eternal life is the onely true life saith Austin Vers 2. It is better to go to the house of mourning To the terming-house as they term it where a dead corps is laid forth for
being little less than a Monster What so monstrous as to behold green Apples on a tree in winter and what so indecent as to see the sins of youth prevailing in times of age among old decrepit Goats that they should bee capering after capparis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fruit of Capers as the Septuagint and Vulgar render it here Because man goeth to his long home Heb. to his old home scil to the dust from whence hee was taken Or to the house of his eternity that is the grave that house of all living where hee shall lye long till the Resurrection Tremellius renders it in domum saeculi sui to the house of his generation where hee and all his contemporaries meet Cajetan in domum mundi sui into the house of his world that which the world provides for him as nature at first provided for him the house of the womb Toward this home of his the old man is now on gate having one foot in the grave already Hee sits and sings with Job My spirit is spent my daies are extinct the graves are ready for mee Job 17.1 And the mourners go about the streets The proverb is Senex â—os non lugetur An old man dies unlamented But not so the good old man Great moan was made for old Jacob Moses Aaron Samuel The Romans took the death of old Augustus so heavily that they wished hee had either never been born or never died Those indeed that live wickedly dye wishedly But godly men are worthily lamented and ought to bee so Isa 57.1 This is one of the dues of the dead so it bee done aright But they were hard bestead that were fain to hire mourners that as Midwives brought their friends into the world so those widows should carry them out of it See Job 3.8 Jer. 9.17 Vers 6. Or ever the silver cord bee loosed Or lengthened i. e. before the marrow of the back which is of a silver colour bee consumed From this Cord many sinews are derived which when they are loosened the back bendeth motion is slow and feeling faileth Or the golden bowl be broken i. e. The heart say some or the Pericardium the Brain-pan say others or the Piamater compassing the brain like a swathing-cloath or inner rind of a tree Or the pitcher bee broken at the fountain That is the veins at the Liver which is the shop of sangnification or blood-making as one calls it but especially Vena porta and Vena cava Read the Anatomists Or the wheel bee broken at the cistern i. e. The head which draws the power of life from the heart to the which the blood runs back in any great fright as to the fountain of life Vers 7. Then shall the dust return to the earth c. What is man saith Nazianzen but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soul and Soil Breath and Body a puff of wind the one a pile of dust the other no solidity in either Zoroaster and some other antient Heathens imagined that the soul had wings that having broken these wings shee fell headlong into the body and that recovering her wings again shee flies up to Heaven her original habitation That of Epicharmus is better to bee liked and comes nearer to the truth here delivered by the Preacher Concretum fuit discretum est rediitque unde venerat terra deorsum spiritus sursum It was together but is now by death set asunder and returned to the place whence it came the Earth downward the Spirit upward See Gen. 2.7 God made man of the dust of the earth to note our frailty vility and impurity Lutum enim conspurcat omnia sic caro saith one Dirt defiles all things so doth the flesh It should seem so truly by mans soul which coming pure out of Gods hands soon becomes Mens oblita Dei vitiorumque oblita coeno Bernard complains not without just cause that our souls by commerce with the flesh are become fleshly Sure it is that by their mutual defilement corruption is so far rooted in us now that it is not cleansed out of us by meer death as is to bee seen in Lazarus and others that died but by cinerification or turning of the body to dust and ashes The spirit returns to God that gave it For it is divinae particula aurae an immaterial immortal substance that after death returns to God the Fountain of life D. Prest The soul moves and guides the body saith a worthy Divine as the Pilot doth the ship Now the Pilot may bee safe though the ship bee split on the rock And as in a chicken it grows still and so the shell breaks and falls off So it is with the soul the body hangs on it but as a shell and when the soul is grown to perfection it falls away and the soul returns to the Father of spirits Augustine after Origen held a long while that the soul was begotten by the Parents as was the body At length hee began to doubt of this point and afterward altered his opinion confessing inter caetera testimonia hoc esse praecipuum that among other testimonies this to bee the chief to prove the contrary to that which hee had formerly held Vers 8. Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher Who chose for his Text this Argument of the vanity of humane things which having fully proved and improved hee here resumes and concludes Vide supra Vers 9. And moreover because the Preacher was wise Hee well knew how hard it was to work men to a beleef of what hee had affirmed concerning earthly vanities and therefore heaps up here many forcible and cogent Arguments as First that himself was no baby but wise above all men in the world by Gods own testimony therefore his words should bee well regarded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our wise men expound to day said the Jews one to another Come let us go up to the house of the Lord c. Cicero had that high opinion of Plato for his wisdome that hee professed that hee would rather go wrong with him than go right with others Averroes over-admired Aristotle as if hee had been infallible But this is a praise proper to the holy Pen-men guided by the Spirit of Truth and filled with wisdome from on high for the purpose To them therefore and to the word of prophecy by them must men give heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place c. 2 Pet. 1.19 Hee still taught the people knowledge Hee hid not his talent in a Napkin but used it to the instruction of his people Have not I written for thee excellent things or three several sorts of Books viz. Proverbial Penitential Nuptial in counsels and knowledge Prov. 22.20 Synesius speaks of some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Synes that having great worth in them will as soon part with their hearts as with their conceptions And Gregory observeth that there are not a few who being enriched with spiritual gifts
that notwithstanding wee shall soon fall to the ground if Christ put not to both his hands to keep us up Wee stand in need of whole Christ and having him to support us wee cannot fall finally because fall wee never so low wee shall arise for the Lord puts under his hand Psal 37.24 his goodness is lower than wee can fall hee circleth his Saints with amiable embracements and none can pull them out of his hands Jacob under-bare Rachel till shee died upon him died on his hand Gen. 48.7 The good Shunamite held her Son till hee died on her lap But the love-sick Church Rom. 14.8 whether shee lives or dies shee is the Lords and who so liveth and beleeveth on him cannot die eternally But as when Christ himself died though soul and body were sundred for a season yet neither of them were sundred from the Godhead whereunto they were personally united So is it here death may separate soul and body but cannot separate either of them from Christ And as Christ being raised from the dead dies no more Rom. 6.9 Col. 3.1 so neither doth any one that is risen with him Christ may as easily die at the right hand of his heavenly Father as in the heart of a true Beleever Vers 7. I charge you O yee daughters of Jerusalem A vehement obtestation or rather an adjuration I charge you and that by an Oath taken from the manner of Country-speech For in this whole Chapter the Allegory is so set as if the feast or meeting were made and represented in a Country-house or Village These Daughters of Jerusalem therefore the particular Congregations and all faithful men and women as Luk. 23.28 are straightly charged and as it were in conscience bound by the Church the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 not to disease or offend much or little her Well-beloved Spouse that resteth in her love Zeph. 3.17 and taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his Servants Psal 35.27 until hee please that is not at all for hee is not a God that taketh pleasure in wickedness Psal 5.4 his holy Spirit is grieved by it Ephes 4.30 Or until hee please that is till hee waken of his own accord bee not over-hasty with him for help but hold out faith and patience let him take his own time For hee is a God of Judgement Isa 30.18 and waiteth to bee gracious If through impatience and unbeleef you set him a day or send for him by a Post hee will first chide you before hee chide the waves that afflict you as hee dealt by his Disciples that wakened him ere hee was willing Mark 4.37.40 Those that are suddenly roused out of a deep and sweet sleep are apt to bee angry with those that have done it Great heed must bee taken by our selves and Gods charge laid upon others that nothing be spoken or done amiss against the God of Heaven Dan. 3.39 Their sorrows shall bee multiplied that hasten after another God Psal 16.4 The Lord shall trouble thee thou troubler of Israel 1 Cor. 10.22 Josh 7.25 Do yee provoke the Lord to wrath are yee stronger than hee will yee needs try a fall with him Psal 18.26 Hath ever any yet waxed fierce against God and prospered Job 9.4 Surely as Ulysses his companions told him when hee would needs provoke Polydamas so may wee say much more to those that incense the Lord to displeasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10. Had men the feet of Roes and Hindes of the field they could not out-run his wrath witness Jonah Or if they could yet the Roes and Hindes those loving creatures Prov. 5.19 would bee swift witnesses against them for their baseness and disloyalty sith they do such things as those poor creatures would not see Deut. 30.19 Isa 1.2 Bee thou instructed therefore Oh Jerusalem lest Christs soul bee dis-joynted from thee lest as well as hee loves thee now hee make thee desolate a land not inhabited Jer. 6.8 Let him bee that Love of thine as shee here emphatically calls him that taketh up thy whole heart soul and strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a love not onely of Desire but of Complacency with a God-like love True it is that wee cannot neither are wee bound to love God in quantum est diligibilis so much as hee is loveable for so God onely can love himself but wee must love nihil supra aeque or contra nothing more or so well or against God Other persons wee may love with his allowance but it must bee in him and for him as our friends in the Lord our foes for the Lord Other things wee may also love but no otherwise than as they convey love to us from Christ and may bee means of drawing up our affections unto Christ This true love will keep us from doing any thing wilfully that may disease or displease him it will also constrain the Daughters of Jerusalem to abide with the Roes and with the Hindes of the field so some read this Text as Rachel did by her Fathers Herds to glorifie Christ in some honest and lawful vocation and not to vex him by idleness and unprofitableness sith as punishment hath an impulsive so love hath a compulsive faculty 2 Cor. 5.14 Vers 8. The voice of my Beloved Behold An abrupt passage proceeding from a pang of love whereof shee was even sick and now lay languishing as it were at Hopes Hospital lingering and listening hankering and kearkening after her beloved Of the ear wee use to say that it is first awake in a morning Call one that is asleep by his name and hee will soon hear and start up Christ calls all his sheep by their name John 10.3 and they know his voice vers 4. so well are they versed in his Word and so habitually are their senses exercised Heb. 5.14 yea they know his pase for Behold hee cometh viz. to make his abode with mee according to his promise John 14.23 to fulfil with his hand what hee had spoken with his mouth as Solomon phraseth it in his prayer 1 King 8.15 Christ sends his voice as another John Baptist a forerunner and this no sooner sounds in the ear and sinks into the heart than himself is at hand to speak comfort to the conscience Psal 51.8 Hee thinks long of the time till it were done as the Mothers breast akes when it is time the childe had suck Hee comes leaping upon the Mountains skipping upon the Hills Look how the jealous Eagle when shee flieth highest of all from her nest and seems to seat her self among the clouds yet still she casts an eye to her nest where are her young ones and if shee see any come near to offend presently shee speeds to their help and rescue So doth the Lord Christ deal by his beloved Spouse Neither mountains nor hills shall hinder his coming neither the sins of his people
threatened for versum vicesimum primum secundus explicat saith Scultetus Ver. 22. And they shall be gathered together c. Id quod de poenis Judaeorum intelligimus saith an Interpreter that is This we understand of the punishment of the obstinate Jews whose bodies after death were clapt up close prisoners in the grave their souls held fast in hell till the last day when after many dayes they shall be visited i. e. in the whole man punished with eternal torments Caveamus si sapimus à destinata peccandi malitia Origen was certainly out when he argued from this Text that the damned in Hell should after a time be visited that is delivered There are that begin the promise at these words And after many dayes shall they be visited i. e. In mercy and favour as chap. 23.17 thorow Christ This gracious visitation began in Israel Luke 1.68 and then came abroad to the Gentiles also Act. 15.14 15.16 17. Ver. 23. Then the Moon shall be confounded The glory of Christs Kingdom shall be so great that in comparison of it the Sun and Moon shall cast no light See Isa 54.11 c. and 60.12 When the Lord of hosts The Lord Christ summus coelitum Imperator And before his Ancients The whole Church and especially her Officers which are the glory of Christ 2 Cor. 8.23 CHAP. XXV Ver. 1. O Lord thou art my God Sunt verba fidelium in regno Christi saith Piscator These are the words of the Subjects of Christs Kingdom who in the end of the former Chapter are called his Ancients or Elders See Rev. 4.4 But that of Oecolompadius I like better More suo in jubilum hymnum â—rumpit Propheta The Prophet as his manner is breaketh forth into a joyful jubilation and being ravished and as it were rapt beyond himself with the consideration of so marvelous things he first maketh a stop or breathing and then sweetly celebrateth Gods Power Truth Justice and Mercy the naked bowels whereof were seen as it were in an anatomy in the sending of his Son and the benefits thereby concerning which the Apostles afterwards discoursing more plainly and plentifully do yet make use of some passages in this Chapter as is to be seen 1 Cor. 15. Rev. 7. 21. Thou art my God So to say ex animo is the very pith of true Faith the property whereof is to individuate God and appropriate him to it self I will exalt thee This we do when we bless and praise him for his blessings But what a mercy is it of so great a Majesty that he should count himself thus exalted and magnified by such worthless worms as we are and how should this excite and edge us to so holy a service For thou hast done wonderful things In the Worlds creation but especially in the Churches preservation Thy counsels of old Thy promises and threatnings are all fulfilled and verified they are faithful and firm Ver. 2. For thou hast made of a City an heap Babylonem intelligit say some Narratur eversio urbis Romae say others the ruin of Rome is here foretold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. which is therefore also say they called a palace of Strangers because Antichrist with his adherents reigneth there Hierom saith the Jews understand it of Rome which shall be in the end destroyed and then their poor Nation shall be relieved as v. 4. It may be so Ver. 3. Therefore shall the strong people glorifie thee Will they nill they they shall confess as Julian did that thou art too hard for them and that thy Church is invincible Thus God wringeth out of the mouth of the wicked a confession of his praises and a counterfeit subjection Isa 60.14 Ver. 4. For thou hast been a strength to the poor c. That is Thou hast protected thy poor people from the persecution of the Antichristian rout saith Piscator Great is Gods mercy in succouring his oppressed ones This is here set forth by a double comparison First A refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat Christ is a shadow c. when as all worldly comforts are but as so many burning-glasses to scorch the soul more c. Where the Churches enemies are compared to raging waters that bear down all before them God to a place of refuge to fly unto Secondly Ver. 5. As the heat in a dry place Where the insolency of these Strangers from the lâ—fe of God the Antichristian rabble the stir and ado they make is resembled to a heat and drought that doth parch and scorch the godly Gods protection of his to a thick shadow The branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low Some read the Text thus As the heat is ubated with a thick shadow So the song or chanting of the terrible ones was abased Others the whole verse thus As the heat in a drought thou hast brought down the stir of the strangers heat I say with the shadow of a cloud which heat did answer a life to the branch of the terrible ones That is say they served well their turn and was most commodious for the wicked who think their branches spread and flourish when the Godly are scorched with calamities Ver. 6. And in this mountain i. e. in the Church Chap. 2.2 Gods Court chap. 24.23 as the Tablestood in the Sanctuary Shall the Lord of hosts make Instead of that tree of life in Paradise See Rev. 2.7 Vnto all people i. e. To the Elect among all people for reprobates are not worthy Mat. 22.8 with Rev. 3.4 Convivium opimum munificentis convivium medullatorum A feast of fat things The very best of the best fat things and marrow of fatness wines and the most refined so that the meek shall eat and be satisfied Psal 22.16 Their soul shall delight it self in fatness chap. 55.2 In the life to come especially where there shall be solidum hujus convivii complementum ac plena perfruitio Meanwhile the Saints have here at the Lords Table especially their dainties and junketting dishes their celestial viands and most precious provisions fat things marrowed as the Hebrew word is not only full of marrow but picked as it were and culled out of the heart of marrow Wine first in the lees that keepeth the smell taste and vigour Vina probantur odore colore sapore nitore Convivium faecium Heb. Shemarim faeces enim vina ipsa conservant Vinum Cos as they call it as Jer. 48.11 Next of the finest and the best such as at Lovain they call Vinum Theologicum because the Divines there as also the Sorbonists at Paris drink much of it Jesus Christ in his Ordinances and Graces is all this and much more Prov. 9.2 Mat. 22.2 and yet men had rather as Swine feed on swill and husks then on these incomparable delicacies Ver. 7. And he will destroy in this mountain c. Absorbebit velum faciei id est faciem veli Christ came a light
of death was to this good man bitter bitternesse and yet Christ had taken away from him the sting or gall of death so that he might better say then Agag did Surely the bitternesse of death is past or then Lucan doth of the Gaules and Britones animaeque capaces Mortis But thou hast in love to my soul Or thou hast embraced my soul out of the corrupting pit Complectendi verbum affectum planè paternum studium juvandi singulare exprimit For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back As an old oreworn evidence that 's out of date and of no use Here it is well noted that we must set our sins before our face if we would have God to cast them behind his back Psal 50 2◠and 51.3 Ver. 18. For the grave cannot praise thee i. e. Palam cum aliis openly and exemplarily See Psal 6.5 with the Notes David desires to live for no other end and so Hezekiah then to be glorifying of God They that go down into the pit Of the grave so of despair It is a sin for any man to say I am a reprobate for it keeps him in sin and cuts the sinews of endeavour Ver. 19. The living the living he shall praise thee Those that live the life of nature if withall they live the life of Grace and so are living living and not dead whilst they live for the wicked cannot praise God they can say God a thank and that 's all But as it is with the hand-diall the finger of the diall standeth at twelve when the dial hath not moved one minute so though their tongues are forward in praises yet their hearts stand still What they do this way is but dead work The Father to the Son shall make known and for this end Parents may desire to live longer Hezekiah did his part no doubt by wicked Manasseh who also at length repented and was saved Ver. 20. The Lord was ready to save Heb. The Lord to save Servati sumus ut serviamus Hezekiah was the better for his sickness God had brought health out of it as he doth out of all his by bringing the body of death into a consumption Therefore we will sing my songs Quales quae so illi saith Scultetus what kind of songs would he sing in the house of the Lord and in the hearing of all the people as long as he bad a day to live Surely this here recorded among and above the rest though it set forth his queritations and infirmities Deprimunt se sancti ut Deus exaltetur The Saints gladly abase themselves if thereby God may be exalted Ver. 21. Let them take a lump of figs Commendatur hic usus Medicinae The Patient must pray but withall make use of means trust God but not tempt him See the Note on 2 King 20. Ver. 22. See on 2 King 20.8 CHAP. XXXIX VErse 1 2 3 c. See 2. King 20.12 13 14 c. with the Notes thereon CHAP. XL. Ver. 1. COmfortye comfort ye my people Hitherto hath been the Comminatory part of this Prophecy followeth now the Consolatory Here beginneth the Gospel of the Prophet Isaiah and holdeth on to the end of the book The good people of his time had been forewarned by the foregoing Chapter of the Babylonian Captivity Those in after-times not only during the Captivity but under Antiochus and other Tyrants were ready to think themselves utterly cast off because heavily afflicted See ver 27. of this Chapter with Lam. 5.22 Here therefore command is given for their comfort and that Gospel be preached to the penitent the word here used signifieth first to repent then to comfort 1 Sam. 5. 35. 1 Sam. 12.24 This our Prophet had been a Boanerges a thundering Preacher all the fore-part of his life see one instance for all chap. 24. where Pericles-like fulgurat intonat totam terram permiscet c. Now toward his latter end and when he had one foot in the grave the other in Heaven he grew more mellow and melleous as did likewise Mr. Lever Mr. Perkins Mr. Whately and some other eminent and earnest Preachers that might be named setting himself wholly in a manner to comfort the abject and feeble minded Sunt eutem omnia plena magnis adfectibus Hyp. which also he doth with singular dexterity and efficacy This redoubled Comfort ye is not without its Emphasis but that which followeth ver 2. is a very hive of heavenly honey Ver. 2. Speak ye comfortably Speak to the heart as Gen. 34.3 Hos 2.14 Chear her up speak to her with utmost earnestness that your words may work upon her and stick by her do it solidly not frigidly That her warfare is accomplished Militiam not Malitiam as the Vulgar hath it The word signifieth also a set term of time See Dan. 9.2 and Gal. 4.4 God hath limited the Saints sufferings Rev. 2.10 Some by warfare here understand that hard and troublesome Pedagogy of Moses Law that yoke importable Act. 15.10 taken away by Christ That her iniquity is pardoned Heb. her iniquity is accepted Perfectam esse paenam ejus so Piscator rendreth it She might be under Gods hand though her sins were pardoned The Palsy-man heard Son thy sins are forgiven thee some while before he heard Take up thy bed and walk That she hath received of the Lords hand double i. e. Abundantly and in a large measure satis superque so much as to her merciful Father seemeth over and above more than enough She hath received double for all her sins and yet death is the just hire of the least sin Rom. 6.23 But this is the language of Gods compassions rolled together and kindled into repentings Jerusalem her self was of another judgement Ezra 9.13 Our God hath punished us lesse than our sins and yet he reckoneth that we fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ Col. 1.24 Ver. 3. The voyce of him that cryeth See Mat. 3.3 John 1.25 with the notes there but Luke citeth this text more fully than the other Evangelists applying it to the Baptist crying in the wildernesse sc of Judea where he first preached or as some sense it in the ears of a waste and wild people Hereby is meant the world saith one word of Gods grace barren in all vertue having no pleasing abode Diod. nor sure direction of any good way in it being full of horrour and accursed Ver. 4. Every valley shall be exalted Termes taken from the custome of Princes coming into a place viz. to have their way cleared and passages facilitated See on Mat. 3.4 Ver. 5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed i. e. Jesus Christ the Lord of glory Jam. 2.1 shall appear in the flesh Some interpreters understand this whole Sermon ad literam concerning Christ and Redemption wrought by him yet with an allusion to the Jewes deliverance out of Babylon for this was a type of that like as Cyrus also was of
for his own proper sins and in a way of vengeance was a gross mistake And afflicted Or humbled He was stricken smitten afflicted But then afterwards he was exalted extolled and made very high ch 52.13 We also who suffer with him shall be glorified together and in a proportion 2. Tim. 2.12 Ver. 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions Not for his own for he knew no sin neither was guile found in his mouth neverthelesse he took upon him whatsoever was penal that belonged to sin that we might go free he was content to be in the wine-press that we might be in the wine-cellar He was bruised for our iniquities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Anacreon did upon a worse occasion Cernis ut in toto corpore sculptus amor Oh love that love of his as Bernard speaketh let it bruise our hard hearts into peices grind them to powder and make them fall asunder in our bosoms like drops of water Let us propagate our thankfulness into our lives meditating returns answerable in some proportion to our Saviours sufferings Oh that as Christ was crucifixus so he were cordifixus The chastisement of our peace was upon him They which offered burnt-offerings of old were to lay their hand upon the head of the beast thereby signifying the imputation of our sins unto Christ and that we must lay hand on him by Faith if we look for any comfort by his death and passion And with his stripes we are healed By the black and blew of his body after he was buffetted with dry-blows and by the bloody wailes left on his back after he had been scourged which was a punishment fit for dogs and slaves Nero they threatened to scourge to death as judging him rather a beast then a man But what had this innocent Lamb of God done And why should the Physicians blood thus become the sick mans salve We can hardly believe the power of Sword-salve c. Ver. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray Gone of our own accords as longing to wander Jer. 14.10 to wander as sheep lost sheep then the which no creature is more apt to stray and less able to return The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Ass his masters crib the very Swine accustomed to the trough if he goe abroad yet at night will find the way home again Not so the silly sheep Loe ye were all as sheep going astray saith Peter but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls 1 Epist 2.25 We have turned every one to his own way Quo variae errorum formae inuunntur dum suas quisque opiniones sectatur Each one as he is out of Gods way so hath his own by-way of wickednesse to wander in Wherein yet without a Christ he cannot wander so far as to miss of hell And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all i. e. Of all his Elect the iniquity of us all he hath made to meet on him so the Hebrew hath it or to light on him even the full weight of his wrath and dint of his dipleasure for our many and mighty sins imputed unto him Let the Jew jear at this and say that Every fox must pay his own skin to the fleare Let the Romist reject imputed righteousnesse calling it putative by a scoff there is not any thing that more supporteth a sinking soul then this righteousnesse which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Philip. 3.9 This Manus Christi as nailed to the crosse is the only Physick for a sin-sick soul believe it Ver. 7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted Heb. It the punishment of our sin was exacted and he being our surety was afflicted Or It was exacted and he answered i. e. satisfied Yet he opened not his mouth Though he suffered the just for the unjust with the unjust upon unjust causes under unjust Judges and by unjust punishments Silence and sufferance was the language of this Holy Lamb dumb before the shearer insomuch as that Pilat wondered exceedingly The Eunuch also wondered when he read this Text In vita ejus apud Surlum Acts 8.32 and was converted And the like is related of a certain Earle called Eleazar a cholerick man but much altered for the better by study of Christ and of his patience I beseech you by the meeknesse of Christ saith Paul and Peter who was an eye-witnesse of his patience propoundeth him for a worthy partern 1 Epist 2.23 Vide mihi languidum exhaustum cruentatum trementem gementem Jesum tuum evanescet omnis impatientiae effectus Christ upon the Crosse is as a Doctour in his chair where he readeth unto us all a lecture of Patience He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter Or as a sheep that is led to the slaughter which when we see done we should bethink us of Christ and see Him as it were in an Optick glasse The Saints of old did so in their Sacrifices and this was that hidden wisdom David speaks of Psal 51.8 the Ceremonial Law was their Gospel And as a sheep before her shearer is dumb The word Rachel signifieth an Ew Gen. 31.38 32.14 This Ew hath brought forth many Lambs Act. Mon. fol. 811. such as was Lambert and the rest of the Martyrs who to words of scorn and petulancy returned Isaac's Apology to his brother Ishmael Patience and Silence insomuch as that the Persecutours said that they were possessed with a dumb devil This was a kind of blasphemy Ver. 8. He was taken from prison and from judgement Absque dilatione titra judicium raptus est sc ad crucem so Vatablus rendereth it He was hurried away to the Crosse without delay and against right or reason Or as others he was taken from distresse and torment into glory when he had cryed consummatum est It is finished Inauditâ causâ and Father into thy hands I commit my Spirit The Seventy render it somewhat otherwise as may be seen Act. 8.33 the Apostle Peter explaineth it Act. 2.24 And who shall declare his generation Or who can reckon his age or his race Or who can utter or describe his generation i. e. The wickednesse of the men of those times he lived in or the history of his life and death Some understand it of his eternal generation Prov. 8.24 25. Others of his Incarnation that great Mystery of godlinesse Quantus enim Deus quantillus factus est homo Others of his holy seed his Crosse being fruitful Aug. and his death giving life to an innumerable generation Revl 7.9 For he was cut off out of the land of the living Quasi arbor saevis icta bipennibus as a tree that is hewn down 2 King 6.4 For the transgression of my people Our iniquities were the weapons and our selves the traitours that put to death the Lord of Life Judas and the Jews were but our workmen This should draw
dreary tears from us Zach. 12.10 Ver. 9. And he made his grave with the wicked i. e. He should have been buried among malefactours had not rich Joseph begged his body Or his dead body was at the disposal of wicked ones and of rich men or Rulers the Jews and Pilat at his death And with the rich The same say some with wicked And indeed Magna cognatio ut rei siâ— nominis divitiis vitiis Rich men are put for wicked rich Jam. 5.1 And how hardly do rich men enter Heaven Hyperius thinketh that the two thieves crucified together with Christ were rich men put to death for Sedition and Christ was placed in the midst as their chieftain whence also that memorable title set over his head King of the Jews Because he had done no violence Or albeit he had done c. notwithstainding his innocency and integrity Nec te tua plurima Pentheu Labentem texit pietas Ver. 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him Singula verba hic expendenda sunt cum Emphasi saith One Here every word hath its weight Hyper. and it is very sure that the Apostles and Evangelists in describing the mysteries of our salvation have great respect as to this whole Chapter of Isaiah so especially to these three last verses And it must needs be that the Prophet when he wrot these things was indued with a very great Spirit because herein he so clearly setteth forth the Lord Christ in his twofold estate of Humiliation and of Exaltation that whereas other oracles of the Old Testament borrow light from the New this Chapter lendeth light to the New in several places He hath put him to grief Or he suffered him to be put to pain See Acts 2.23 4.28 God the Father had a main hand in his Sons sufferings and that out of his free mercy Joh. 3.16 for the good of many When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin Confer 2 Cor. 5.20 He made him sin for us that knew no sin Our sins were laid upon him as the sins of him that sacrificed were laid upon the beast which was thereby made the sinner as it were and the man righteous Christs Soul suffered also Matth. 26.38 it was undequaque tristis surrounded wich sorrows and heavy as heart could hold This Sacrifice of his was truly expiatory and satisfactory Confer Heb. 10.1 2. He shall see his seed Bring many sons to God Heb. 2.10 13. See on ver 8. an holy seed the Church of the New Testament to the end of the world Parit dum perit perit dum parit Phaeâ— nic aenigma Psal 72.17 filiabitur nomine ejus The name of Christ shall endure for ever it shall be begotten as one generation is begotten of another there shall be a succession of Christs name till time shall be no more And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand He came to send fire on the earth which whiles he lived upon earth was already kindled Luke 12.49 This some interpret of the Gospel which how wonderfully it spred and prospered the Evangelical and Ecclesiastical histories testify Ver. 11. He shall see of the travel of his soul Or because his soul laboureth he shall see his seed and be satisfied A Metaphor from a travelling woman confer Acts 2 24. Joh. 16.21 And shall be satisfied As a Parent is in his dear children or a rich man in the fight of his large farms and incomes Saturabitur salute fidelium quam esurivit If therefore we would gratify and satisfy Christ come by troops to the Ordinances By his knowledge i. e. By the lively light and impression of Faith as Joh. 17.3 Acts 25.23 26.18 Joh. 6.69 Faith comprehendeth in it self these three acts Knowledge in the understanding Assent of the will and Trust of the hearâ— so that justifiyng Faith is nothing else but a fiducial assent presupposing knowledge The Popish-Doctours settle the seat of Faith in the Will as in its adaequate subject that they mean while may doe what they will with the Heart and with the Understanding To which purpose they exclude all knowledge and as for confidence in the promises of Christ they cry it down to the utmost and everywhere expunge it by their Iudices expurgatorii for a bare assent though without wit or sense is sufficient say they and Bellarmine defendeth it that Faith may better be defined by ignorance then by knowledge Shall my righteous servant Jesus Christ the just one 1 Joh. 2.2 Jehovah our righteousnesse Jer 23.6 Justify many i. e. Discharge them from the guilt of all iniquity by his righteousnesse imputed unto them This maketh against Justification by works Cardinal Pighius was against it so before him was Contarenus another Cardinal And of Stephen Gardiner it is recorded that he died a Protestant in the point of mans Justification by the free mercies of God Fullers Church hist and merits of Christ For he shall bear their iniquities Bajulabit that by nailing them to his Crosse he may expiate them Ver. 12. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great Or I will give many to him Psal 2.8 Some sense it thus I will give him to conquer plunder and spoil the evil spirits as Colos 2.15 and this he shall have for a reward of his ignominious death and his intercession for some of his enemies whom he conquered by a new and noble kind of victory viz. by loving them and by praying for them And he was numbred with transgressours So he became a sinner though sinlesse 1. By Imputation 2. By Reputation And he bare the sins of many Not of all as a Lapide here would have it because all are many c. And made intercession For those that with wicked hands crucified him Luke 23.34 so for others still Heb. 7.25 CHAP. LIV. Ver. 1. SIng O barren thou that didst not bear O Church Christian O Jerusalem that art above the mother of us all the purchase of Christs passion chap. 53. to whom thou hast been a bloody spouse Acts 20.28 an Acheldama or field of blood 1 Pet. 1.18 19. he hath paid dear for thy fruitfulnesse As the blood of beasts applied to the roots of trees maketh them sprout and bear more fruit so doth the blood of Christ sprinckled on the roots of mens hearts make them more fruitful Christians as it did the Gentiles whose hearts were purified by Faith Acts 15.9 See Gal. 4.27 The corn of wheat that fell into the ground and died there abode not alone but brought forth much fruit Joh. 12.44 For more are the children of the desolate The Christian Church made up of Jews and Gentiles shall have a more numerous and glorious off-spring then ever the Synagogue had Sarah shall have more issue then Hagar Hannah then Peninnah Ver. 2. Enlarge the place of thy tent Thus he speaketh after the custom of those Countries wherein was frequent use of tents neither is it
Recantation yet when Luther was dead he not only licked up his former vomit but fell to worse as aforesaid Ver. 25. Since the day The Church hath never wanted Preachers of the Truth See my True Treasure pag. 7 8. Wo to the world because of this Dayly rising up early See on ver 13. Ver. 26. Yet they harkened not unto me This God speaketh to the Prophet as weary of talking to them any longer sith it was to no better purpose Ver. 27. But they will not hearken unto thee Howbeit speak whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for a testimony against them Ver. 28. This is a Nation A heathenish Nation such as they use to reproach with this Name Goi and Mamzer Gojim that is bastardly Heathens Nor receiveth correction Or instruction Ver. 29. Cut off thine haire O Jerusalem In token of greatest sorrow and servitude Job 1.20 Esa 15.2 Ezek. 27.31 Tu dum servus es comam nutris said he in Aristophanes The world here rendred hair is Nezir which signifieth a crown and there hence the Nazarites had their name Num. 6. intimating hereby haply that their Votaries should be as little accepted as were their sacrifices ver 21. And forsaken the generation of his wrath Who are elsewhere called the people of his curse and vessels of wrath fitted for destruction Ver. 30. They have set their abominations in the house So do those now that broach heresies in â—ste Church Ver. 31. To burn their sons and their daughters Haply in a sinful imitation of Abraham or Jephta Or else after the example of the Canaanites Deut. 12.31 and other heathens who thus sacrificed to the Devil commanding them so to do by his Oracles Macrob. Saturn lib. 7. though Hercules taught the Italians to offer unto him rather men made of wax Ver. 32. It shall no more be called Tophet Unless it be quasi Mophet i. e. Portentum Nor the vally of the son of Hinnom As it had been called from Joshua's dayes chap. 15.8 But the valley of slaughter Or Ge-haharegah for the great slaughter that the Chaldees shall make there Ecce congrua poena peccato saith Oecolampadius For they shall bury in Tophet It shall become a Polyandrion or common burial-place till there be no place or room left Et erit morticinum populi Ver. 33. And the carcasses of this people Their murrain-carcasses as the Vulgar rendreth it Shall be meat for the foules of the heaven Whereby we may also understand the devils of hell saith Oecolampadius Ver. 34. Then will I cause to cease Laetitia in luctum convertetur plausus in planctum c. Their singing shall be turned into sighing their hollowing into howling c. The voyce of the bridegroom No catches or canzonets shall be sung at weddings no Epithalamia CHAP. VIII Ver. 1. AT that time they shall bring out the bones They shall not suffer the dead to rest in their graves Maximè propter ornamenta in sepulchris condita chiefly for the treasure the Chaldees shall there look for See 2 Chron. 36.19 Neh. 2.3 Joseph Antiq. lib. 13. chap. 15. Baruch 2.24 For extremity of despite also A. D. 897. dead mens bones have been digged up Pope Formosus was so dealt with by his successour Stephanus the sixth and many of the holy Martyrs by their barbarous persecutors Act. Mon. 1905. Ibid. 1784. Cardinal Paol had a purpose to have taken up King Henry the eighths body at Windsor and to have burned it but was prevented by death Charles 5. would not violate Luthers grave though he were solicited so to do when he had conquered Saxony But if he had it had been never the worse with Luther who being asked where he would rest answered sub caelo Caelo tegitur qui caret urnâ Of all foule we most hate and detest the crows and of all beasts the Jackalls a kind of foxes in Barbary because the one digs up the graves and devours the flesh the other picketh out the eyes of the dead Ver. 2. And they shall spread them before the Sun Whom these Idolaters had worshipped whiles they were alive and thought they could never do enough for as is hinted by those many expressions in the text Whom they have loved and whom they have served c. Innuitur poena talionis saith Piscator their dead bodies shall lye unburied in the sight of these their deities who could do them no good either alive or dead Ver. 3. And death shall be chosen rather then life They being captives and sorely oppressed shall sing that doleful ditty O terque quaterque bâ—ati Queis ante ora patrum Solymae sub moenibus altis Contigit oppetere Oh how happy were they that perished Vae victis during the siege or in the surprisal of the City Life indeed is sweet as we say and man is a life-loving creature said that heathen but it may fall out that life shall be a burden and a bitternesse how oft doth Job unwish it and how fain would Eliah have been rid of it so little cause is there that any good man should be either fond of life or afraid of death Ver. 4. Shall they fall and not arise Or when men fall will they not arise Or will not one that hath turned aside return To fall may befall any man but shall he lye there and not assay to get up again to lose his way may be incident to the wisest but who but a fool would not make haste to get into the right way again Errare humanum est perseverare diabolicum And yet these stubborn Jews refuse to rise or return Ver. 5. Why then is this people of Jerusalem c. Why else but because they are voyd of all true reason and quite beside themselves in point of salvation their pertinacy or rather pervicacy in sinning is altogether insuperable Monoceres interimi potest capi non potest They hold fast deceit They hold close to their false Prophets or rather a false heart of their own hath deceived them as ver 11. a deceived heart hath turned them aside as Esa 44.20 See there Ver. 6. I hearkened and heard Or I have listened to hear but could not yet hear them lisp out one syllable of savoury language No man repented of his wickednesse No nor so much as reflected or turned short again upon himself to take a reveiw of his former evil practices which yet is the very first thing in repentance 2 Chron. 6.37 Luk. 15.17 Saying What have I done The Pythagoreans once a day put this question to themselves And the Oratour thus bespoke his adversary Nevius Si haec duo tecum verba reputasses Quid ago respirasset cupiditas avaritia paululum Cicero orat pro Quintio that is hadst thou but said those two words to thy self What do I thy lust and covetousness would thereby have been cooled and qualified Every one turned to his course as a horse rusheth Heb.
a potent enemy that comes to dethrone thee then a ceiling of Cedar What if thy Cedar putrify not can it secure thee that thou perish not Ah never think it Did not thy father eate and drink Live chearfully and comfortably enjoying peace and prosperity through his righteousnesse and piety And then it was well with him Heb. then was good to him though he did not flaunt it out in sumptuous buildings But you have great thoughts and will not take it as your father did Ver. 16. He judged the cause of the poor and needy And so took a right course a thriving way Prov. 29.4 Was not this to know me saith the Lord i. e. To shew that he knew me soundly and savingly whilest he exercised his general calling in his particular and observed the first Table of the Decalogue in the second Ver. 17. But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousnesse That 's all thou mindest and lookest after oculis atque animo intentus ad rem Hearts they have saith Peter of such exercised with covetous practices cursed children 2 Pet. 2.14 William Rufus is in story noted for such another Ver. 18. They shall not lament for him By his exactions he had so far lost his peoples affections that none were found either of his Allyes or others that bewailed his death but Jehorâ—m-like as he had lived undesired so he dyed unlamented Edwin-like Daniel Hist Turk Hist as he lived wickedly so he dyed wishedly Mahomet-like he lived feared of all men and dyed bewailed of none See the contrary promised to his brother Zedekiah for his curtesie to Jeremy chap. 34.5 Ver. 19. He shall be buried with the burial of an asse His corps shall be cast out like carryon into some by-corner A just hand of God upon this wicked one that he who had made so many to weep should have none to weep over him he who had such a stately house in Jerusalem should not have a grave to house his carcasse in sed insepulta sepultura elatus Philippic 1. as Tully phraseth it but without the ordinary honour of burial should be cast out or thrown into a ditch or a dunghil to be devoured by the beasts of the earth and fouls of heaven Our Richard the second for his exactions to maintain a great Court and Favourites lost his Kingdome was starved to death at Pomfret-Castle and scarce afforded common burial King Stephen was enterred in Feversham-Monastery but since his body for the gain of the lead wherein it was coffined was cast into the River Let great ones so live as that they meet not in the end with the death of a dog the burial of an asse and the Epitaph of an Ox such as Aristotle calleth that of Sardanapalus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Or that of Pope Alexander the sixth and his Lucrece Hospes abi jacet hic scelus vitium Ver. 20. Go up to Lebanon and cry Johoiakim hath had his doom and his destiny read him Sub icit fata tristissima Jechonia followeth now Jehoiakims part and what for his obstinacy he shall trust to The Prophet beginneth this part of his discourse with a sarcasmae or scoffe at their carnal security and creature confidence Get up saith he into those high mountaines here mentioned Lebanon Bashan Abarim that look all toward Egypt and see if thence by crying and calling for help thou mayst be saved from the Chaldees who are coming upon thee but all shall be to small purpose But thy lovers are all destroyed The Egyptians to whom thou bearest a blind affection contrary to Gods Covenant Ver. 21. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity Heb. in thy prosperities or tranquillities Prosperity rendreth men refractory Demetrius called a peaceable and prosperous life a dead sea because being not tossed with any considerable troubles it slayeth the simple as Solomon hath it Prov. 1.32 Men are usually best when worst and worst when best like the snake which when frozen lyeth quiet and still but waxing warm stirreth and stingeth The parable of the sun and the wind is known Anglica gens est optimae fleus pessima ridens Some of those who in Queen Maries dayes kept their garments close about them wore them afterwards more loosly It is as hard to bear prosperity as to drink much wine and not be giddy It is at least as strong waters to a weak stomack which however they do not intoxicate yet they weaken the brain plus deceptionis semper habet quam delectationis able it is to entice and ready to kill the intangled In rest we contract rust neither are mens eares opened to hear instruction but by correction Job 33.16 God holdeth us to hard meat that he may be true to our souls Psal 119.75 This hath been thy manner from thy youth Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked is an old complaint Deut. 32.15 To have been an old sinner habituated and hardened in iniquity is no small aggravation of it Ezek. 20 13. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wildernesse c. there they murmured against God and Moses ten times forty years was he there grieved with that perverse generation They began as soon as ever they were moulded into a state like as Esau began to persecute Jacob in the very womb that no time might be lost Ver. 22. The wind shall eat all thy Pastors i. e. Vento vanitatis ut chamaleontes aere pascuntur The vain hope that thy Governours have in forreign helps shall deceive them for God will make the strongest sinew in the arm of flesh to crack and break Surely then shalt thou be ashamed When thou shalt see thy self so shamefully disappointed of humane helps which were never true to those that trusted them Ver. 23. O inhabitant of Lebanon Heb. O inhahitresse that is O Jerusalem who hast peirked thy self aloft and pridest thy self in thy strength and stateliness How gratious shalt thou be i. e. How ridiculous when thy lofty and stately roomes wherein thou art roosted shall be to thee but as groaning rooms to women in travel Ver. 24. At I live saith the Lord An oath which none may lawfully take but God himself who is Life it self It is therefore sinful for any one to say Aâ— I live such a thing is so or so That it is Gods oath see Num. 14.21 with Psal 95. ult Though Coniah So Jechoniah or Jehoiakin by an Apheresis is called in scorn and contempt Prepared he was of the Lord as his name signifieth for misery and yet he was now but eighten years old 2 King 24.8 Youth excuseth not those that are wicked This young King was scarce warm in his throne when carryed captive to Babylon Were the signet on my right hand Which is very carefully kept and carryed about See Cant. 8.6 Hag. 2.23 where good Zorobabel the nephew of this Jechoniah is called Gods signet Yet would I pluck thee thence This Nazianzen
out of the deep called upon God whom he found far more facile then these Princes did Zedekiah Thou drewest near saith he in the day when I called upon thee Thou saidest fear not Lam. 3.57 I called upon thy name O Lord out of the low dungeon And they let down Jeremiah with cords With a murtherous intent there to make an end of him privily ut ibi praefocatus moreretur ille vero usque ad collum mersus ibi manebat saith Josephus that he might there pine and perish but God graciously prevented it And in the dungeon there was no water but mire A typical hell it was worse then Josephs pit Gen. 37. or Hemans lake Psal 88.6 or any prison that ever Brown the Sect master ever came into who used to boast that he had been committed to two and thirty prisons and in some of them he could not see his hand at noon-day Fullers Church-hist p. 168. He dyed at length in Northampton jayle Anno 1630. whereto he was sent for striking the Constable requiring rudely the payment of a rate So Jeremiah sunk in the mire Up to the neck saith Josephus and so became a type of Christ Psal 69.2 Ver. 7. Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian But a Proselyte and a Religious Prince a stranger but as that good Samaritan in the Gospel more merciful then any of the Jewish Nation who gloried in their priviledges See Rom. 2.26 27. One of the Eunuches And Eunuches say the Rabbines are ordinarily more cruel then other men but so was not this Cushite Piety is the fountain of all vertues whatsoever Which was in the Kings house As Obadiah was in Ahabs Nehemiah in Artaxerxes's some good people in Herods Luk. 8.3 and Nero's Philip. 4 22. Cromwel and Cranmer in Henry the eighths The King then sitting in the gate of Benjamin Sitting in judgement where Jeremyes enemies had once apprehended him for a fugitive but durst not try it out with him though Ebedmelech there treated with the King for him in the presence of some of them as it is probable Ver. 8. Ebedmelech Not more the Kings servant so his name signifieth then Gods Joseph of Arimathaea was such another who went boldly to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus Faith quelleth and killeth distrustful fear Ver. 9. My Lord the King these men have done evil What a brave man was this to oppose so many Princes and so potent that the King himself durst not displease them It was Gods holy Spirit that put this mettle into him and gave him the freedom of speech Psal 119.46 And he is like to dye for hunger in the place where he is Or who would have dyed for hunger in the place where he was For there is no more bread in the City Cum panum annona sit pauca parca What need he to be doubly murthered Ver. 10. Then the King commended Ebedmelech A sweet providence of God thus to incline the heart of this effeminate cruel inconstant and impious King to harken to the motion and to give order for the Prophets deliverance from that desperate and deadly danger A good encouragement also to men to appear in a good cause and to act vigorously for God notwithstanding they are alone and have to encounter with divers difficulties Take from hence thirty men with thee Four or fewer might have done it but perhaps the Princes with their forces might have endeavoured to hinder them but that they saw them so strong Ver. 11. So Ebedmelech took the men with him and went The labour of love that this Ethiopian performed to the man of God is particularly and even parcel-wise described for his eternal commendation and all mens imitation Ver. 12. But now these cast-clouts Hence some gather that the Prophet was put into this loathsome hole naked or very ill clad at least The Fathers allegorize this story to set forth the vocation of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews Ver. 13. So they drew up Jeremiah with cords And God was not unrighteous to forget this their work and labour of love Heb 6.10 Jer. 39.17 18. And Jeremiah remained in the Court of the prison Manacled and fettered as some gather from chap. 40.4 R. David Vatabl. Ver. 14. Then Zedekiah took Jeremiah into the third entry Which was right over against the Kings house this wretched King was so overawed by his Counsellors that he durst not advise with Gods Prophet in their presence or with their privity Ver. 15. If I declare it unto thee It is for the sins of a people that an hypocrite raigneth over them Job 34.30 Such a one was Zedekiah and the Prophet here freely reproveth him for his hypocrisie And if I give thee counsel wilt thou not hearken Or And though I advise thee thou wilt not hearken to me Thou art set and hast made thy conclusion aforehand Ver. 16. So the King Zedekiah sware secretly unto Jeremiah But what credit was to be given to his oath who was notoriously known to be a perjured person as having broken his oath of fidelity to Nebuchadnezzar As the Lord liveth that made us this soul Hence the truth of that assertion is cleared up unto us that mens souls drop not down from heaven nor are propagated by their parents but are created by God and infused into their bodyes I will not put thee to death neither will I c. The former part of the Prophets condition he sweareth to perform but saith nothing to the latter as having no such liking to it So many come now-adayes to hear who resolve to practise only so far as they see good Ver. 17. If thou wilt assuredly go forth Jeremy was semper idem one and the same still no changeling at all but a faithful and constant Preacher of Gods Word Ver. 18. But if thou wilt not go forth See chap. 32.39 Thus Zedekiah hath it both wayes that it may abide by him but he was uncounselable and irreclaimable Ver. 19. Then Zedekiah said unto Jeremiah I am afraid of the Jews Thus hypocrites will at one time or other detect themselves as Zedekiah here plainly declareth that he more feared the losse of his life honour wealth c. then of Gods favour and Kingdom so do the most amongst us Pilate feared how Caesar would take it if he should loose Jesus Herod laid hold on Peter after he had killed James that he might please the people The Pharisees could not beleeve because they received glory from men This generous King cannot endure to think that his own fugitives should flout him but to be ruled by God and his holy Prophet advising him for the best he cannot yeeld Thus still vain men are niggardly of their reputation and prodigal of their souls Do we not see them run willfully into the field into the grave into hell and all lest it should be said they have as much fear as wit Ver. 20. They shall not deliver thee This the good Prophet speaketh from
into his mouth by his wiser grandmother Only what she discreetly concealed viz. that Daniel was one of the Captives c. hoc unum commemorat gloriosus Rex that he blures out Oecolamp in a way of upbraiding Ver. 15. But they could not shew the interpretation of the thing They could not read nor interpret it Such as seek to Sorcerers are worthy to lose their labour as a punishment of their folly Suidas testifieth that the Citizens of Alexandria in Egypt devised and decreed that Astrologers should pay a certain tribute to the State out of their gettings and that it should be called The fools tribute because none but fools and light fellows would repair to such for direction Ver. 16. And I have heard of thee As far off as he maketh it Belshazzar could not be so ignorant of Daniel as he would seem to be sith he understood punctually the dreams honours and troubles of his grandfather ver 22. But this he took for a piece of his silly glory to make it very strange as if he had never heard of Daniel till now Ver. 17. Let thy gifts be to thy self Honours Pleasures Riches Hac tria pro trino numine Mundus habet Bus as Moses by the force of his faith overcame them all Heb. 11.24 25 26 27. so did Daniel here throwing off the offers of them and answering the Kings proud speech with a grave Invective which he beginneth somewhat abruptly not without indignation as having to deal with a wicked and desperate man rejected of God Ministers must carry in them a retired majesty saith One toward the persons of wicked men 2 Kings 3.14 Ver. 18 O thou King the most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar See here the necessary and profitable use of history which hath its name saith Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from stopping the flux and overflow of impiety in others Exemplo alterius qui sapit ille sapit Domestical examples are most prevalent as not to profit by them is a great provocation and yet too too common Psal 49.14 Lamech was nothing bettered by Cain's punishment but the contrary Jude inveyeth against such as made no use of Sodoms ruine this was a just presage and desert of their own And kingdom and majesty and glory and honour His offences were much increased by these many obligations Ver. 19. Whom he would he slew De facto loquitur non de jure See the like 1 Sam. 8.10 11 c. Lib. 5. cap. 11. See the Notes there Lactantius telleth of a certain tyrant qui lucem vivis terram mortuis denegabat who would never let his subjects rest alive or dead Ver. 20. But when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardend in pride Pride is of an hardening property causeth men to commit sin with an high hand as Pharaoh The increase of the spleen is the decrease of the body so is pride of the soul and overturneth the whole man Evagrius noteth it for a special commendation of Mauritius the Emperour that he was not puffed up with his preferments Ver. 21. And he was driven See on chap. 4.22 Lege historiam ne fias historia Ver. 22. And thou his son O Belshazzar hast not humbled thy heart It was no small aggravation of his sins not to be warned and now he shall heare of it on both cares The putting out of the French Kings eyes which promised before with his eyes to see one of Gods true servants burned who seeth not to be the stroak of Gods hand Act. Mon. fol. 1914. Then his son Francis not regarding his fathers stripe would needs yet proceed in burning the same man And did not the same God give him such a blow on the ear that it cost him his life Ver. 23. But hast lifted up thy self aginst the Lord of heaven As did also Pharaoh Senacherib Herod Acts 12. whose acts were set forth with false and flattering praises by Nicolas Damascenus as Josephus complaineth but so are not Balshazzar's by holy Daniel Antiq. lib. 16. cap 11. who yet is almost his only Historiographer And whose are all thy wayes Chald. thy whole journy Ver. 24. Then wat the part of the hand Completâ peccati mensurâ non differture poena when sin is once ripe punishment is ready The bottle of wickednesse when once full with those bitter waters will soon sink to the bottom Ver. 25. Mene Mene Tekel Vpharsin These words signify He hath perfectly numbred he hath weighed and it falleth in pieces They were the Samaritan Characters Weemâ—e saith One therefore the Babylonians could not read them nor could the Jewes understand them though they knew the characters because they understood not the Chaldeâ— tongue as Daniel did See on ver 8. Ver. 26. Mene God hath numbred thy kingdom He hath cast up thy reckonings taken account of thy mal-administration and calleth for satisfaction So he dealt with Pharaoh King of Egypt Cum duplicarentur lateres venit Moses when the tale of bricks was doubled then came Moses and when the four hundred or the four hundred and thirty years of their Captivity in Egypt were exacty expired the same night were the first-born slain So the tyranny of the Roman Emperours was numbred at the end of three hundred years after Christ when they sounding the triumph before the victory had foolishy engaven upon pillars of marble these bubbles of words Nomine Christianorum deleto qui Remp. evertebant We have utterly rooted out the name of Christians those traytours to the Commonwealth So lastly God hath numbred the Popes kingdom and well-nigh finished it Let him look to the year 1666. T is plain Satan shall be tyed up a thousand years 666 is the number of the beast Antichrist shall so long reign these two together make the just number Jupiter ipse duas aequato examine lances Sullineâ— Virg. Ver. 27. Tekel Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting As the former was a term taken from creditours so this from light coyn deprehensus et minus habere thou art not currant Others may think thee weighty enough and worthy but God pondereth the hearts Prov. 22.2 and findeth thee fit to be refused ut nummus reprobuâ— Ver. 28. Peres thy kingdome is divided and given to the Medes This had been long before prophecyed of Isa 13.17 yea Gen. 9.25 And now Chams posterity felt his fathers curse Nimrod the founder of Babylon came of Cham Madai or the Medes were of Japhet and Elam or the Persians of Sem. Gods forbearances are no quittances Let all wicked ones look to it What is Mene but death Tekel but Judgement Peres but hell or utter separation from God and all to be passed thorough by their poor souls if timely course be not taken Hear this all ye drunkards who glory in drinking the three Ou ts c. Ver. 29. Then commanded Belshazzar and they cloathed Daniel No nay but they would do it and he at length admitted