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
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
the Text thus The Lord saies up sound wisdome for the righteous c. when hee is in distress then hee hath such quietness of spirit soundness and presence of mind that in the must of his straits hee is in a sufficiency Not so the wicked Job 20.22 Hee is a buckler to them The body cannot bee wounded but through the buckler if skilfully handled Happy art than O Israel who is like unto thee Deut. 33.29 O people saved by the Lord the shield of thy help c. Vers 8. Hee keepeth the paths of judgement Well may they walk uprightly that are so strongly supported Gods hand is ever under his they cannot fall beneath it Hee keepeth the feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2.9 Vers 9. Then shalt thou understand righteousness Not as cognoscitiva standing in speculation But as directiva vitae a rule of life Knowledge is either Apprehensive onely or Affective also This differs from that as much as the light of the Sun wherein is the influence of an inlivening power from the light of Torches Vers 10. Is pleasant to thy soul Spiritual joy mortifies sin His mouth hankers not after homely provision that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance Pleasure there must bee in the wayes of God because therein men let out their souls into God that is the fountain of all good hence they so infinitely distaste sins tasteless fooleries Crede mihi res severa est verum gandium saith Seneca True joy is a solid business Becman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 11. Discretion Hebr. Thoughtfulness or good advisement Cogito quasi coagito Notat sercitatem such as is that of the wife to please her husband 1 Cor. 7.34 casting this way and that way how to give best content Or that of the good huswife to build her house Prov. 14.1 studying in every business how to set every thing in order As the Carpenter studies how to set every part of the frame in joynt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 12. That speaketh froward things As if his mouth were distorted or the upper-lip stood where the nether should See Act. 20.30 Vers 13. To walk in the wayes of darkness As Theeves Drunkards Dicers and our other Solifugae that abuse even Gospel-light that put not light under a bushel but under a dunghil that when they have walked themselves aweary in these by-wayes high wayes to hell sit down in darkness and in the shadow of death Luke 1.79 which posture imports 1. Continuance there â— Content as well a paid of their scat These hate the light because their wayes are evil Joâ— 3. The light stands in the light of their wicked wayes as the Angel did in Balaams way to his sin Vers 14. Who rejoyce to do evil It is their meat drink sport Prov. 4.27 and 10.23 they cannot bee merry unless the Devil bee their play-fellow This is reckoned as an aggravation of Jerusalems sin Jer. 11.15 Melior est tristitia iniqua patientis quam latitia iniqua facieâ—tis When thou dost evil then thou rejoycest But better is the sorrow of him that suffereth evil than the jollity of him that doth evil saith Austin Vers 15. Whose wayes are crooked How justly may God say to such as the Crab in the Fable did to the Serpent when hee had given him his deaths wound for his crooked conditions and then saw him stretch himself out streight At opoâ—tuit sic vixisse It is too late now you should have lived so And they froward Absurd 2. Thess 3.2 Men made up of meer incongruities solacising in opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speeches actions all Vers 16. From the strange woman Forbidden thee by God as strange fire strange Gods c. Which flattereth with her lips Whose lips are nets whose hands are bands whose words are cords to draw a man in as a Fool to the stocks or an Oxe to the slaughter Vers 17. Which forsaketh the guide of her youth That is Her Husband as Helena Becman Herodias Bernice Act. 25.13 and other odious Harlots Adulterium quasi ad alterum vel ad alterius torum This Wanton never wants one though her Husband bee ever so near And forgetteth the Covenant of her God Marriage is a mixt Covenant partly Religious and partly Civil The parties tye themselves first to God and then to one another The bond is made to God who also will bee ready enough to take the forfeiture For Whores and Adulteresses God will judge Hâ—b 13.3 Vers 18. For her house inclineth unto death Terence calleth Harlots Cruces quia juvenes macerent affligant Venery is deaths best Harbinger Venus ab antiquis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicta Jacob. Reâ—ias Shee provideth saith one not for those that are already born but for those that shall bee born Of Pope Paul the fourth that old Goat it went for a by word Eum per candem partem animam profudisse per quam acceperat Pope John the twelfth being taken with an Adulteress was stabbed to death by her Husband Alexander the Great and Othâ— the third Barns lost their lives by their lusts But how many alas by this means have lost their souls Fleshly lusts by a specialty fight against the soul 1 Pet. 2.12 And nothing hath so much inriched hell saith one as beautiful faces And her paths unto the dead Hebrew El Rhephaim to the Giants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 projecti sunt To that part of hell where those damned monsters are together with those sensual Sodomites who giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are thrown forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude 7. Vers 19. None that go unto her return again Some of the Antients have here hence concluded that Adultery is an unpardonable sin But all manner of sin and blasphemy shall bee forgiven unto men saith our Saviour save onely the sin against the Holy Ghost Matth. 12.31 True it is that a Whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit Prov. 23.27 That Whoredome and Wine and new Wine take away the heart Hos 4.11 That such are said to bee destitute of understanding and to have lost even the light of nature Prov. 6.32 Rom. 1.28 to bee past feeling and given up to a dead and dedolent disposition Eph. 4.18 19. to bee impudent Jer. 2 3. wherefore also they are compared to dogs Deut. 23.18 2 Sam. 3.8 and for most part impenitent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Eccles 7.28 Grace as One well observeth is seated in the powers of Nature Now carnal sins disable nature and so set us in a greater distance from grace as taking away the heart c. Howbeit all things are possible with God Mark 9.26 27. And though few have awakened out of this snare of the Devil yet some have as David and that woman Luke 7.37 50. lest any humbled sinners should despair
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
lib. 12. c. 1. saith the Historian How much better Aspasia Milesia of whom Aelian reports that shee was Fair and Modest And the Lady Jane Gray whose excellent beauty was adorned with all variety of virtues as a clear Sky with stars as a princely Diadem with Jewels Some women are like Helen without Hecuba within but it is a small praise to have a good face and a naughty nature a beautiful countenance and a base life In thine heart See the Note on Mat. 5.28 and on 1 Cor. 7.34 Propers Paguin Neither let her take thee with her eye-lids Si nescis oculi sunt in amore duces Some render it Neque to capiat splendoribus suis Let her not take thee with her glitterings and gay habiliments or head-tires Cyprian and Austin say that superfluous attire is worse than whoredome because whoredome only corrupts chastity but this corrupts nature Hierome saith that if women adorn themselves so as to provoke men to lust after them though no evil follow upon it yet those women shall suffer eternal damnation because they offered poyson to others though none would drink it Vers 26. For by means of a Whorish woman See the Note on Chap. 5.10 These creatures know no other language but that of the Horsleeches daughter Give give and may fitly bee compared to the Ravens of Arabia that full-gorged have a tuneable sweet record but empty screech horribly or to Carrion-crows that flock to a dead carcass not to defend it but to devour it and no sooner have they bared the bones but they are gone Daniels Chronicle Thus Dame Alice Peirce King Edward the thirds Concubine served him whiles hee lived all was here as shee would and when this King lay a dying shee packt away what shee could snatch even to the rings on his fingers and so left him Corpus opes animum famam vim lumina Scortum Debilitat perdit necat aufert cripit orbat Will hunt for the precious life As Potiphars wife did for Josephs Gen. 39.14 And surely it was a great providence of God that upon her false accusation hee had not been presently put to death Into prison hee was thrown and so laden with fetters that the iron entred into his soul i. e. eat into his flesh Psal 105.18 and all by means of this Whorish woman Mantudâ— whose lust turned into hatred Aut te ardenter amat aut te capitaliter odit See more in the Note on Prov. 5.11 Vers 27. Can a man take fire Lest any man should reply I will see to my self and save one from the fore-named mischiefs I have more wit than to trust any Harlot and more skill than to let it come abroad to my disgrace and detriment The Wise-man answers that it is as possible to take a live-coal from the hearth and bear it in a mans bosome without burning his cloaths or to walk upon fire without scorching his feet as to attempt any thing in this kinde and to scape scot-free Flagitium flagellum sicut acus filum Sin and punishment go linked together with chains of Adamant Thy cloaths will stink at least of that fire thy feet will blister at least with those coals If the great showr blow over thee yet thou shalt bee wet with the after-drops Vers 28. Can one go upon hot coals Similitudes are never set out to confirm or confute but to adorn and illustrate giving unto their matter a certain kinde of lively gesture and stirring up thereby mens drowsie mindes to the consideration and acknowlegement of the truth and to the pursute and practice of vertue and godliness Of the great use of Similes wee may read in Chrysost Hom. in Gen. 13. Origen in Levit. 10. August de doctrina Christ lib. 2. Greg. Moral lib. 3. cap. 36. c. Vers 29. So hee that goeth in to his neighbour That suspiciously converseth with her alone though haply with no intent of corrupting her Joseph shunned the company of his Mistress hee would not bee with her alone Gen. 39.10 Chambering and secret familiarity with women is forbidden as a deed of darkness and dishonesty Rom. 13.13 How much more then wanton touches and dalliance Sit not at all with another mans wife sit not down upon the bed with her saith Siracides Chap. 9. Christs Disciples marvelled that hee talked with the woman of Samaria Solus cum sola saith Beza But hee might do that Joh. 427. that wee must beware of lest concupiscence kindle Abraham might see Sadome burning but Lot might not look that way Shall not bee innocent Shall not bee held so howsoever shall suffer in his name bee hee never so honest besides that hereby hee tempts the Devil to tempt him to uncleanness Now the Proverb is Oculus fama non patiuntur jocos A mans eye and his name will bear no jest And hee was no fool that said Negligere quid de se quisque sentiat non solum arrogantis est sed dissoluti Hee is not only a proud but a lewd person that takes no thought what others think and talk of him Provide wee must for things honest not onely before the Lord but also before men 2 Cor. 8.20 21. Vers 30. Men do not despise a Theef Wee use to say A lyer is worse than a theef Potior est fur quam qui assidue mentitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suidas and Siracides saith the same of a constant lyer Chap. 20. But that an Adulterer is worse than a Theef the Holy Ghost here assureth us and his reasons are unanswerable For first his necessity pleads for him hee must either steal or starve and this doth somewhat excuse him à tanto as they say but not à toto For as a man should rather dye than lye so hee should rather perish than purloin or pilfer But what excuse hath the Adulterer non ventris inediam patitur sed cordis indigentiam hee wants not meat but wit hee preserveth not his body but destroyeth his soul Vers 31. Hee shall restore seven-fold i. e. Manifold according as the Law limiteth though it bee to the utmost of what the Theef is worth But what restitution can the Adulterer make should hee make him amends with as much more The Theef steals out of want the Adulterer of wantonness Vers 32. Lacketh understanding Being wholly carried by sensual appetite against the dictates both of Religion and of Reason Beetles love dunghils better than oyntments and Swine love mud better than a garden Luther tells of a certain Grandee in his Country so besotted with the sin of Whoredome hee was not ashamed to say that if hee might ever live here and bee carried from one Whore-house to another there to satisfie his lusts hee would never desire any other heaven This filthy man did afterwards breathe out his wretched soul betwixt two notorious Harlots Loniceri theat histor p. 5â—â— Destroyeth his own soul It is not therefore leve peccatum a small sin
passions as the former seems to have because close in cloaking his malice who yet is a fool too before God Vers 19. In the multitude of words In multiloquio stultiloquium Many words are hardly well managed Non est ejusdem saith one It is seldome seen that a man of many words miscarries not But hee that refraineth his lips As Elihu did Job 32.11 and as Epaminondas is worthily praised by Plutarch for this quod nemo plura nosset pauciora loqueretur that no man knew more and spake less than hee did Vers 20. The tongue of the just is as choice silver Hee scattereth pearls Mat. 7.6 hee throws abroad treasure Mat. 12.35 even Apples of Gold in shrines of Silver Prov. 25.11 I will turn to the people a pure language saith God Zeph. 3.9 a lip of excellency Prov. 17.7 the language of Heaven As William the Conquerour sought to bring in the French tongue here by enjoyning children to use no other in schools Lawyers to practise in French no man was graced Daniels Hist but hee that spake French c. The heart of the wicked is little worth Est quasi parum is as little as need to bee Hee is ever either hatching Cockatrice Eggs or weaving Spiders Webs as the Prophet hath it Vanity or villany is his whole study and his daily discourse Isa 59.5 Vers 21. The lips of the righteous feed many A great house-keeper hee is hath his doors ever open and though himself be poor yet hee maketh many rich 2 Cor. 6.10 hee well knows that to this end God put Hony and Milk under his tongue Cant. 3.11 that he might look to this Spiritual lip-feeding to this end hath he communicated to him those rivers of water Joh. 7.38 that they may flow from him to quench that world of wickednesse that being set on fire of Hell would set on fire the whole course of Nature Jam. 3.6 They are empty vines that bear fruit to themselves Hos 10.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those are voyd houses we say where the doors daily open not The people hung upon our Saviours lips as the young Bird doth on the Damms bill Luk. 19.43 Bishop Ridley preached every Lords-day and Holy-day except letted by some weighty businesse Act. Mon. fol. 1559. to whose Sermons the people resorted saith Master Fox swarming about him like Bees and coveting the sweet juyce of his gracious discourses Look how Joseph nourished his Fathers houshold with Bread according to their Families or according to the mouthes of their Families Gen. 47.12 So doth the righteous man those of his own charge especially Chepi tappam Welfare Popery for that saith a grave Divine I have heard old folks talk M. Sam. Hier. that when in those dayes they had Holy-bread as they called it given them at Church they would bear a part of it to those that did abide at home So should Masters of Families carry home the bread of life to their Housholds But fools dye for want of wisdome By their either refusing or abusing the food of their souls as the Pharisees they pine away in their iniquities Levit. 26.39 Vers 22. The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich As is to be seen in the examples of the Patriarches Abraham Isaac Jacob and others Whereas there is a curse upon unlawful practices though men be industrious as in Jehoâ—achim Jer. 22. And all our policies without prayer are but Arena sine calce Sand without Lime they will not hold together And he addeth no sorrow with it Those three vultures shall bee driven away that constantly feed on the wealthy worldlings heart Care in getting Fear in keeping Grief in losing the things of this life God giveth to his wealth without woe store without sore gold without guilt one little drop whereof troubleth the whole sea of all outward comforts Richard the third had a whole Kingdom at command and yet could not rest in his bed for disquietment of mind Polydor Virgil thus writes of his Dreame that night before Bosworth-field That he thought all the Devils in Hell pulled and haled him in most hideous and ugly shapes and concludes of it at last I do not think it was so much his dreame as his evil conscience that bred those terrours Vers 23. It is a sport to a fool to doe mischief He is then merriest when hee hath the Devil for his play-fellow He danceth to Hell in his bolts and is passing well a paid for his woful bondage Was hee a Father or a Monster think you that playing with his own Childe for a pastime put his thumbs in the boyes eyes and thrust out the balls thereof Speed This was Robert de Beliasme Earl of Shrewsbury in the reign of our Henry the first Anno Dom. 1111. And what a mad sport was that of Joab and Abner 2 Sam. 2.14 to see and set those youngsters of Helkath Hazzurim to sheath their swords in their fellows bowels And that of Nero who set the City of Rome on fire for his pleasure whiles he plaid on his Harp the destruction of Troy But a man of understanding hath wisdome Viz. For his sport or delight It is his meat and drink his Hony and Hony-comb c. Libâ—nter omnibus omnes opes concesserim ut mihi liceat vi nulla interpellante isto modo in literis vivere saith Cicero I would give all the wealth in the world Lib. 9. Epist that I might live altogether in my Study and have nothing to trouble me Leo. Digges Slatt oâ— 1 Ep. to Thessal Ep. dedic Peach Comp Gentle Idem in his vally of vanity p. 116. Crede mihi extingui duâ—ce esset Mathematicarum artium studio saith another Beleeve me it were a dainty death to dye studying the Mathematicks Nusquam requiem invenâ— nisi in libro claustro saith a third All the comfort I have is in a Book and a Cloyster or Closet Mentior if my soul accord him not saith learned Doctor Slatter The old Lord Burley Lord high Treasurer to his dying day would carry always a Tullies Offices about him either in his bosome or pocket And the Emperour Charls the Fifth took such delight in the Mathematicks that even in the midst of his whole Army in his Tent he sate close at his study having for that purpose as his instructer Turrianus of Cremona evermore with him So sweet is the knowledge of Human Arts to those that have tasted them How much more the knowledge of the Holy which saith Agur is to ascend up into Heaven Prov. 30.3 4. to those mature ones who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil Heb. 5.14 See Psal 119.103 Job 23.12 Rom. 7.22 Vers 24. The fear of the wicked shall come upon him A sound of fear is in his ears in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him Job 15.21 Pessimus in dubiis Augur Timor Thus it befel Cain Statius in
Thebaid Saul Belshazzer Pilate who for fear of Caesar delivered up Christ to bee Crucified and was afterwards by the same Caesar kicked off the Bench yea off the Stage of the world those wicked Jewes that feared that the Romans would come and take away both their place and Nation John 11.48 which accordingly befell them some forty years after Hic rogo non furor est ne moriare mori at which time some of them also killed themselves lest they should bee taken by the enemy The like may bee said of our Richard the third see the Note on Vers 22. and Henry the Fourth of France after his revolt to Popery He being perswaded by the Duke of Sully not to readmit the Jesuites which had been banished by the Parliament of Paris answered suddenly Give me then security for my life Camdeâ—s Elisab pref and afterwards admitted them into his bosome making Father Cotton his Confessor and using them ever with marvellous respect yet was stabbed to the heart by Ravilliac through their instigation Excellent is that of Solomon Prov. 29.25 The fear of man bringeth a snare but who so putteth his trust in the Lord as Hezekiah did 2 King 17.4 5. and our King Edward the Sixth and that peerlesse Queen Elizabeth shall be safe But the desire of the righteous shall bee granted Provided that these bee the lawful desires of honest hearts If such ask and misse it is because they ask amisse Jam. 4.3 either they fail in the matter as Moses in his desire to enter into the promised Land or in the manner as the Church in the Canticles chap. 5.3 Virtutem exoptant intabescuntque relicta they would and they would not Peâ—â— There is a kind of wambling willingnesse and velleity but it boyls not up to the full height of resolution for God and utmost endeavour after the thing desired Now affection without endeavour is like Rachel beautiful but barren Or lastly they fayl in the end either of Intention Jam. 4.3 or of Duration Luk. 18.1 they draw not near with that true heart Heb. 10.22 that is content either to wait or to want the thing desired being heartily willing that God should be glorified though themselves be not gratified Let them but bring this true heart and they may have any thing See the Note on Matth. 5.6 Vers 25. As the whirlwind passeth away The whirlwind is terrible for the time but not durable Lo such is the rage of Tyrants and Persecutors Nubecula est cito transibit said Athanasius of the Arrian Persecution Our Richard the third and Queen Mary had as the bloudiest so the shortest reigns of any since the Conquest Bloudy and deceitful men shall not live out half their dayes Dioclesian Euseb de vit Const lib. 3. that cruel Persecutor giving over his Empire decreed to lead the rest of his life quietly But he escaped not so For after that his house was wholly consumed with Lightning and a flame of Fire that fell from Heaven hee hiding himself for fear of the Lightning dyed within a little while after Then terrours took hold on him as waters a tempest stealeth him away in the night The East wind carrieth him away and he departeth and as a storm hurleth him out of his place for God shall cast upon him and not spare hee would fain flee out of his hand Men shall clap their hands at him and shall hisse him out of his place as Job elegantly and emphatically sets it forth Job 27.20 21 22 23. But the righteous is the everlasting foundation Or is the foundation of the world as firm as the worlds foundation which remains unmoveable The Hebrews sense it thus The righteous is the foundation of the world which but for their sakes would soon shatter and fall to ruine Sanctum semen statumen terrae Absque stationibus non staret mundus Isa 6.13 I bear up the pillars of it saith David Psal 75.3 Vers 26. So is the sluggard to them that send him Habent aulae suum cito cito What thou doest do quickly said our Saviour to the Traytor Hee cannot away with dulness and oscitancy in any of his but condemns it in those slow things the Hebrews Heb. 5.11 and commands them double diligence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 6.11 12. Not slothful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.11 A dull heart makes no riddance Baruc accendit seipsum Neh. 3.20 repairing earnestly and so finished his task in shorter time Let Ambassadours Ministers Messengers c. nimble up their business or look for no thank What a deal of content gave Cranmer to Henry the eighth by his expediting the business of the Divorce both at home and abroad in forein Universities And what a deal of distaste gave Wolsey by the contrary Vers 27. The fear of the Lord prolongeth dayes Heb. Addeth dayes viz. Beyond expectation or likelihood in a course of nature Gen. 27.41 The dayes of mourning for my Father are at hand said bloody Esau and then will I slay my brother Jacob. But threatned men if they fear God especially Eccles 8.12 13. live long For even Isaac who dyed soonest lived above fifty years beyond this See the Note on Exod. 20.12 But the years of the wicked shall bee shortned Bee not overmuch wicked neither bee thou foolish Why shouldest thou dye before thy time Eccles 7.17 Sin brings death and the worst of deaths an unseasonable death when it were better for a man to do any thing than to dye for to such death is a Trap-door to hell And as their friends are scrambling for their goods the worms for their bodies so are the Devils for their souls Vers 28. The hope of the righteous shall bee gladness The righteous doth not so fear God vers 2.7 but that hee hopes in him also See Psal 130.4 5. and that with such an hope as maketh not ashamed Deo confisi nunquam confusi The righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 his Motto is Cum expiro spero My hope lasts beyond life But the expectation of the wicked As Esau came from hunting with his head full of hopes but went away with his heart full of blanks and his face full of blushing Vers 29. The way of the Lord is strength The joy of the Lord that joy of hope spoken of in the precedent verse is their strength Neh. 8. the peace of God within them and the power of God without them bears up their spirits under whatsoever pressures such can boldly say It is well with mee for the present and it will bee better hereafter But destruction Such as they shall never bee able either to avoid or to abide Vers 30. The righteous shall never bee removed Or they shall not bee removed for ever though for a while they may seem to bee so But the wicked shall not inhabit the earth God sits upon the circle of the earth to shake them out thence as
bee soon cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb Vers 29. Hee that troubleth his own house Either by prodigality or excessive parsimony Prodigi singulis auribus bina aut terna dependent patrimonia saith Seneca wee have known great Rents soon turned into great Ruffes and Lands into Laces For parsimony and cruelty see the Note on Chap. 15.27 Shall inherit the wind That is shall bring all to nothing as hee did that having wasted his estate vainly vaunted that hee had left himself nothing praeter coelum coenum Livius His substance shall flye up like smoak into the air and nothing bee left to maintain him on earth And when all his goods are gone his liberty must go after for this fool shall bee servant to the wise in heart if not his life as that notorious unthrift Apicius who having eaten up his estate and finding by his account that hee had no more than two hundred thousand Crowns remaining Dio. thought himself poor and took down a glass of poyson Vers 30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life i. e. The commodities and comforts that one may every way receive from a righteous person for est aliquid quod à viro bono etiam tacente discas Seneca saith Seneca somewhat a man may learn from a good man even when hee sayes nothing are more than can bee imagined Plutarch reporteth that the Babylonians make three hundred and threescore several commodities of the Palm-tree and do therefore greatly honour it Should not wee much more honour the multivarious gifts of God in his righteous ones for our good For whether it bee Paul or Apollo or Cephas All is ours 1 Cor. 3. And hee that winneth souls And useth singular art and industry therein as Fowlers do to take birds for so the Hebrew word imports or Fisher-men fishes Hee is wise and wiseth others as Daniel hath it Chap. 12.3 hee is just and justifieth others hee shall save a soul from death Jam. 5.20 Hee shall shine as a star in heaven And this is instanced as one special fruit of that tree of life mentioned in the former Hemistich This is a noble fruit indeed sith one soul is more worth than a world as hee hath told us who only went to the price of it Matth. 16.26 Vers 31. The righteous shall bee recompensed i. e. Chastened afflicted judged of the Lord that they may not bee condemned with the world for their sufferings are not penal but medicinal or probational and they have it here in the earth which is their house of Correction not in Hell Much more the wicked Nahum 1.9 Non surget hic afflictio these shall bee totally and finally consumed at once See the Note on 1 Pet. 4.17 18. See also my Love-tokens pag. 69. c. CHAP. XII Vers 1. Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge HEre is shewed that Adversity is the best University saith an Interpreter Schola crucis schola lucis Corrections of instruction are the way of life Vexatio dat intellectum Men commonly beat and bruise their links before they light them to make them burn the brighter God first humbles whom hee means to illuminate as Gideon took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them hee taught the men of Succoth Judg. 8.16 See my Treatise on Rev. 3.19 pag. 152. c. Mr. Ascham was a good school-master to Queen Elizabeth but affliction was a better as one well observeth That verse was much in her mouth Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco Virgil. But hee that hateth reproof Whether it bee by the rebukes of men or the Rod of God hee is brutish tardus est hee is fallen below the stirrop of reason hee is a beast in mans shape nothing is more irrational than irreligion That sapless fellow Nabal would hear nothing there was no talking to him no dealing with him but as Horse and Mule that have no understanding Psal 32.9 Basil complains of the Western Churches that they were grown so proud Epist ad Evagr ut quid verum sit neque sciant neque sustineant discere that they neither knew what was truth nor would bee taught better Such are near to ruine and that without remedy Prov. 29.1 See the Note there Vers 2. A good man obtaineth favour of the Lord Or Hath what hee will of God id quod vult a domino impetrat quia ejus voluntas est ipsissima Dei voluntas nec aliud vult Thus Mercer out of Rabbi Levi. Thus it is written of Luther that by his prayers hee could prevail with God at his pleasure When great gifts were offered him hee refused them with this brave speech Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic satiari à Deo I solemnly protested to God that I would not bee put off with these low things And on a time praying for the recovery of a godly useful man among other passages hee let fall this transcendent rapture of a daring Faith Fiat mea voluntas Let my will bee done and then falls off sweetly Mea voluntas Domine quia tua My will Lord because thy will Here was a good man here was a blessed man according to that Rule Beatus est qui habet quicquid vult nihil male vult Blessed is hee that hath what hee will and wills nothing but what hee should But a man of wicked devices Such as no good man is hee doth not plot or plow mischief hee doth not cater and make provision for the flesh Rom. 13. there is no way of wickedness found in him the peace is not broken betwixt God and him because his mind never yeelds to sin Rom. 7.25 Psal 139 hee walks not after the flesh but after the spirit therefore no condemnation Rom. 8.1 If an evil thought haunt his heart as eftsoons it befals it is the device of the man hee is not the man of such devices The wicked on the contrary is wholly made up of sinful thoughts and purposes and is in the midst of them therefore God will call him to an heavy reckoning Jer. 6.19 Rev. 2.23 Vers 3. A man shall not bee established by wickedness For hee laies his foundation upon fire-work and brimstone is scattered upon his house top if the fire of God from Heaven but flash upon it it will bee all on a light flame immediately Hee walks all day upon a mine of gun-powder and hath God with his armies ready to run upon the thickest bosses of his buckler and to hurle him to Hell How can this man bee sure of any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cain built Cities but could not rest in them Ahab begat seventy sons but not one successor in the Kingdome Phocas having built a mighty wall heard from Heaven Though thy walls were as high as Heaven sin is under it and will subvert it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin hath no settledness But the root of the righteous
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
of York and Lancaster were slain eighty Princes of the blood royal and twice as many Natives of England as were lost in the two Conquests of France Dan. Hist The dissentions between England and Scotland consumed more Christian blood wrought more spoil and destruction to both Kingdomes and continued longer than ever quarrel wee read of did between any two people of the world Camd. Elis 165. Bee wise now therefore O yee Kings c. Tu vero Herodes sanguinolente time as Beza covertly warned Charles the ninth author of the French Massacre Many parts of Turkie lie unpeopled most of the poor being enforced with Victuals and other necessaries to follow their great armies in their long expeditions of whom Turk Hist scarce one of ten ever return home again there by the way perishing if not by the enemies sword yet by want of victuals intemperateness of the air or immoderate pains-taking Hence the Proverb where-ever the Great Turk sets his foot there grass grows not any more Vers 29. Hee that is slow to anger is of great understanding The wisdome from above is first pure then peaceable tractable c. Thunder Hail Tempest neither trouble nor hâ—â— caelestial bodies Anger may rush into a wise mans bosome not rest there Eccles 7.9 it dwells onely where it domineers and that is onely where a fool is Master of the family A wise man either receives it not or soon rids it Bee slow to wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ira horror furor wrath war jar strife c. is a lesson that God hath engraven as one wittily observeth in our very nature For the last letter that any childe ordinarily speaketh is R. and that 's the radical letter of all words of strife and wrath almost in all languages But hee that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly Hee sets it up upon a pole as it were hee makes an Oyes and proclaims his own folly by his ireful looks words gestures actions as that furious Fryar Feuardensius doth in his book called Theomachia Calvinistica where hee took up his Pen with as much passion and wrath as any souldier takes up his sword Such another hasty fool was Fryar Alphonsus the Spaniard who reasoning with Mr. Bradford Martyr Act. Mon. was in a wonderful rage chafing with Om and Cho so that if Bradford had been any thing hot one house could not have held them Vers 30. A â—ound heart is the life of the flesh A heart well freed from passions and perturbations holds out long and enjoys good health Neither causeth it molestation of mind or want of welfare to others R. Levi. It is the life of fleshes in the plural not onely its own but other mens bodies are the better at least not the worse for it whereas the envious and angry man rangeth and rageth and like a mad Dog biting all hee meets sets them as much as in him lies all a madding and undoes them But envy is the rottenness of the bones A corroding and corrupting disease it is like that which the Physicians call Corruptio totius substantiae it dries up the marrow and because it cannot come at another mans heart this hell-hag feeds upon its own tormenting the poor carkass without and within It is the moth of the soul and the worm as the Hebrew word signifies of the bones those stronger parts of the body it is the same to the whole man that rust is to Iron as Antisthenes affirmeth it devoureth it self first as the worm doth the Nut it grows in Socrates called it serram animae the souls saw and wished that envious men had more ears and eyes than others that they might have the more torment by beholding and hearing of other mens happinesses For invidia simul peccat plectitur expedita justitia Like the Viper it is born by eating through the dams belly Like the Bee it loseth its sting and life together like the little Flie to put out the Candle it burns it self like the Serpent Porphyrius it drinks most part of its own venome like the Viper that leapt upon Saint Pauls hand to hurt him but perished in the fire or as the Snake in the Fable that licked off her own tongue as envying teeth to the file in the forge In fine Envy slayeth the silly soul Job 5.2 as it did that fellow in Pausanias who envying the glory of Theagenes a famous wrestler Pausan Eliac p. 188. whipt his Statue set up in honour of him after his death every night so long till at length it fell upon him and killed him Vers 31. Hee that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker Sith it is hee that maketh poor and that maketh rich and thereby killeth and maketh alive 1 Sam. 2.6 7. Rich men onely seem to bee alive Hence David sending his servants to that Pamphagus 1 Sam. 25.6 that rich cormudgin Nabal speaketh on this sort Psal 88.5 Thus shall yee say to him that liveth there is no more in the Original as if rich men onely were alive poor people are free among the dead free of that company as David was when they are crushed and oppressed especially by rich Cormorants and Cannibals Psal 14.4 A poor mans livelihood is his life Luke 8.43 for a poor man in his house is like a snail in his shell crush that and you kill him This reflects very much upon God the poor mans King as James the fourth of Scotland was called who will not suffer it to pass unpunished for hee is gracious As unskilful Hunters may shoot at a beast but kill a man So do these oppressours hit God the poor mans maker But hee honoureth him that hath mercy on the poor Quibus verbis nihil gravius nihil efficacius dici potuit God takes it for an honour how should this prevail with us Honour the Lord with thy substance Prov. 3.8 and take it for a singular honour that hee will vouchsafe to bee thus honoured by thee as David did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.23 2 Sam. 29. How exceedingly shall such bee honoured in that great Panegyris at the last day when the Judge shall say Come yee blessed c. I was hungry and yee fed mee c. Mat. 25. Vers 32. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness Being arrested by death as a cruel Serjeant in the Devils name hee is hurried away and hurled into hell as dying in his sins and killed by death Rev. 2.23 And oh what a dreadful skreek gives the guilty soul then to see it self launching into an infinite Ocean of scalding lead and must swim naked in it for ever But the righteous hath hope in his death Death to the righteous as the valley of Achor is a door of hope to give entrance into Paradise to the wicked it is a trap-door to Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Improbi dum spirant sperant justus etiam cum expirat speâ—at Aelian tells how hee
And in his answer to Staphylus hee ingenuously confesseth or rather complaineth Quos fugiamus habemus quos sequamur nondum intelligimus Wee know whom wee are to flye from meaning the Papists but whom to follow wee as yet know not Such divisions there were amongst themselves and such lack of light at the beginning of the Reformation that it was an ingenuous thing to bee a right reformed Catholick A young man one Vincentius Victor as Chemnitius relates it when learned Augustine demurred and would not determine the point concerning the original of a rational soul censured boldly the Fathers unresolvedness and vaunted that he would undertake to prove by demonstration that souls are created de novo by God For which peremptory rashness the Father returned the young man a sober reprehension a milde answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat respondere humiliare negotiari as the Hebrew word here used importeth not so sharp as that of Basil to the Emperours Cook who yet well enough deserved it For when the fellow would needs bee pouring forth what hee thought of such and such deep points of Divinity which hee understood not Basil rounded him up with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is for thee man to look well to thy porridge-pot and not to meddle with these disputes Vers 29. The Lord is far from the wicked Hee was so from the proud Pharisee who yet gat as near God as hee could pressing up to the highest part of the Temple The poor Publican not daring to do so stood aloof off yet was God far from the Pharisee near to the Publican Videte magnum miraculum saith Augustine Altus est Deus erigis te fugit à inclinas te descendit ad te c. Behold a great miracle God is on high thou liftest up thy self and hee flyes from thee thou bowest thy self downward and hee descends to thee Low things hee respects that hee may raise them proud things hee knows a far off that hee may depress them When a stubborn fellow being committed was no whit mollified with his durance but the contrary One of the Senatours said to the rest let us forget him a while and then hee will remember himself Such is Gods dealing with those that stout it out with him I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their affliction if ever they will seek mee early Hos 5.15 Hos 5.15 And it proved so Chap. 6.1 But hee heareth the prayer of the righteous The Lord is near to all that call upon him Psal 145.18 His ears are in their prayers 1 Pet. 3.12 Yea hee can feel breath when no voice can bee heard for faintness Lam. 3.56 when the flesh makes such a din that it is hard to hear the Spirits sighs hee knows the meaning of the Spirit Rom. 8.26 27. and can pick English out of our broken requests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea hee hears our afflictions Gen. 16.11 our tears Psal 39.12 our chatterings Isa 38.14 though wee cry to him but by implication onely as the young Ravens do Psal 147.9 It is not with God as with their Jupiter of Creet Non vacat exiguis Lucian Dialog that had no ears that was not at leasure to attend small matters that had cancellos in coelo as Lucian feigns certain crevises or chinks in heaven thorough which at certain times hee looks down upon men and hears prayers whereas at other times hee hears them not though they call upon him never so long never so loud Neither is it with God as with Baal that pursuing his enemies could not hear his friends nor yet as with Diana that being present at Alexanders birth could not at the same time preserve her Ephesian Temple from the fire Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God afar off Jer. 23.23 Yes yes hee is both and delights to distinguish himself from all dunghil-deities by hearing prayers Hereby Manasseh knew him to bee the true God 2 Chron. 33.13 and all Israel hereupon cryed out with one consent The Lord hee is God the Lord hee is God 1 King 18.39 See the Note on vers 8. of this Chapter Vers 30. The light of the eyes rejoyceth the heart Light and sight are very comfortable Hee was a mad fool that being warned of wine by the Physicians as hurtful to his eyes cryed out Vale lumen amicum If they will not bear with wine they are no eyes for mee Truly the light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is to behold the Sun Plutarch Eccles 11.7 Eudoxus professed that hee would bee willing to bee burnt up by the Sun presently so hee might bee admitted to come so near it as to behold the beauty of it and to see further into the nature of it And a good report maketh the bones fat Fama bona vel auditio bona A good name or good news Ego si bonam famam servasso sat dives ero saith hee in Plautus It is riches enough to bee well reputed and reported of It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xenophon the sweetest hearing It pleased David well that whatsoever hee did pleased the people It pleased St. John well that his friend Demetrius had a good report of the truth 3 Joh. 12. and hee had no greater joy than to hear that his children walked in the truth Pindarus could say that the Bath doth not so refresh the bones as a good name doth the heart Vers 31. The ear that heareth the reproof of life That is lively and life-giving reproofs Veritas aspera est verùm amaritudo ejus utilior integris sensibus gratior quam meretricantis linguae distillans favus Truth is sharp but bee it bitter Joh. Saris de nugis curialium yet is it better and more savoury to sound senses than the hony-drops of a flattering tongue Vers 32. Hee that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul Is a sinner against his own soul as Core and his complices were and sets as light by it as if it were not worth looking after Oh is it nothing to lose an immortal soul to purchase an ever-living death wilt thou destroy that for which Christ dyed 1 Cor. 8.11 What shall a man give in exchange for his soul There is no great matter in the earth but man nothing great in man but his soul said Faverinus Whose image and superscription is it but Gods Give therefore unto God the things that are Gods by delivering it up to his discipline But hee that heareth reproof getteth understanding Hebr. Possesseth his heart This is like that sentence of our blessed Saviour Mat. 20.22 Luke 21.19 In your patience possess yee your souls They have need of patience that must hear reproof for man is a cross creature and likes not to bee controlled or contraried But suffer saith that great Apostle the words of exhortation suffer them in Gods name sharp
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
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
the foundation is but imaginary Vers 8. Open thy mouth for the dumb i.e. Speak wisely and freely for those that either cannot or may not speak for themselves Thus Nicodemus spoke for our Saviour Joh. 7.51 Paphnutius in the Council for the married Clergy Pliny to Trajan for the persecuted Christians the Elector of Saxony for Luther c. Oecolampadius saith that wise men only open their mouthes for a fools mouth is never but open Oecolamp in Job 33. Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gapers are put for fools in Lucian and Aristophanes Vers 9. Plead the cause of the poor and needy These are Gods great care as appears in many texts Job comforted himself in this Job 29.15 16 that hee had been eyes to the blind feet to the lame a father to the poor c. Ebedmelech is renowned for pleading the cause of the poor Prophet and so should Pharaohs Butler have been if he had done it sooner Master Holt who was of Counsel to Master Pryn when so unjustly censured in the Star-chamber but refused through cowardise to sign his answer according to promise being over-awed by the Prelates bewayled his own basenesse to his wife and friends New discoveries of the Prelates tyranny p. 47 48. And soon after falling sick for conceit only of the miscarriage of that cause he dyed never going to the Star-chamber after that bloudy sentence Vers 10. Who can find a vertuous woman Good Wives are rare commodities and therefore precious and highly to be prized even above Rubies The Hebrews put rarum pro charo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Ethic. as 1 Sam. 3.2 and Prov. 25.7 Let thy feet be precious in thy neighbours house that is let them seldome come there lest thou become over-cheap and under-valued It is easie to observe that the New-Testament affords more store of good Women than the Old When Paul came first to Philippi few or none came to hear him but women Acts 6.13 but they drew on their husbands and it soon became a famous Church What a rare piece was Priscilla who better instructed Apollo ventured her life for Paul Rom. 16.4 and was such a singular help to her husband that she is mentioned before him as the more forward of the two Rom. 16.3 Like as was also Manoahs wife Exod. 18.24 25 and Nazianzens mother Salomons mother was behind none of them as appears by this Poem either composed by Salomon as a character of her as some have thought or else by her self for his direction in the choyce of a good wife which would bee worthy his pains though he should fetch her as farre as men doe rubies Procul prae unionibus precium ejus What a way sent Abraham and Isaac for good Wives for their Sons Vers 11. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her Hee is confident of her love care and fidelity he dare trust her with his soul-secrets c. hee doubteth not of her chastity secresie or care to keep his family So that he shall have no need of spoyl i. e. of necessary commodities for these she will provide as plentifully by her industry as if she had shared in the spoyls of a sackt and ransackt City The Turks when they took Constantinople were so enriched Turk Hist fol. 347. that it is a Proverb amongst them at this day if any grow suddenly rich to say He hath been at the sacking of Constantinople Vers 12. She will doe him good and not evil c. She is constant in her conjugal affection and sticks to him as Sarah did to Abraham in all changes and chances whatsoever She leaves not off her kindnesse to the living and to the dead Ruth 2.20 See that notable example of the Lady Valadaura in Lud. Vives Vers 13. She seeketh wool and flax This was held no shame for Salomons wife Augustus Caesar taught his Daughters to Spin and Card hee wore no Garments but what his Wife and Daughters made him The like is reported of Charls the great Spinster they say is a term given the greatest women in our Law Rebecca was a dainty Cook so was Thamar Davids daughter 2 Sam. 13. By Mahomets Law the grand Turk himself must be of some trade And worketh willingly with her hands As if her hands did desire to doe what she put them to doe for so the Original soundeth She worketh with the will of her hands The vulgar renders it with the counsel of her hands as if her hands were oculatae She discreetly and cheerfully rids her work with fervour and fore-cast Vers 14. She is like the Merchants ships That is she gets wealth apace yea though she stirre not off her stool and studies how to buy every thing at best hand though she send farre for it Of the Low-Country-men it is said Peterent coelum navibus Belgae si navibus peti posset So the good Houswife would doe any thing to further thrift Vers 15. Shee riseth also while it is yet night That is betime in the morning a great while before day as our Saviour also did to pray Mark 1.35 And a portion to her maids She neither pines nor pampers them but allows them that which is sufficient Three things saith Aristotle a man owes to his Servants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 work meat and correction Vers 16. She considereth a field and buyeth it Here 's is the fruit of her pains and providence The Manus motitans the stirring hand maketh rich Pro. 10.4 and a wise woman buildeth her house Prov. 14.1 See the Notes She considers of the conveniency of this field and then casts about how shee may compass it Vers 17. She girdeth her loyns with strength She flyeth about her work and sets on it with a courage Wee have read of women in whom besides their Sex there was nothing woman-like or weak such were Semiramis Zenobia Blandina that brave Hungarian woman who in an assault at the Siege of Buda thrusting in among the Souldiers upon the top of the Fort with a great Sythe in her hand Turk Hist fol. 741. at one blow struck off two of the Turks heads as they were climbing up the rampier The like is reported of Marulla a Maid of Lemnos who seeing her Father slain in the Gates of the City by the Turks Ibid. 413 which hoped to have surprized it took up the Weapons that lay by him and like a fierce Amazon notably revenged his death Vers 18. She perceiveth that her merchandize is good She feels the sweet of it and is heartened to redouble her diligence as a Draught-horse feeling his load coming draws the harder The good soul doth the same For having once tasted how sweet the Lord is it can never have enough of him but is carried after him with strength of desire as the Doves to their Columbaries as the Eagles to the Carcases Psal 84.1 2 3. No reason would satisfie Moses but when God had done much for him he
sound as a Roche as hungry as Hunters as weary as ever was dog of day as they say and therefore no sooner laid in their beds but fast asleep their hard labour causing easie digestion and uninterrupted rest Whereas the restless spirit of the rich wretch rideth his body day and night care of getting fear of keeping grief of losing these three vultures feed upon him continually Hee rowls a Sisyphus his stone his abundance like a lump of lead lies heavy upon his heart and breaks his sleep Much like the disease called the Mare or Ephialtes in which men in their slumber think they feel a thing as big as a mountain lying upon their breasts which they can no way remove His evill conscience eftsoons lasheth and launceth him as it did our Richard 3. after the murther of his two innocent nephews and Charles 9. of France after the bloody massacre God also terrifies him with dreams throws hand-fulls of hell fire in his face interpellat cogitantem excitat dormientem as Ambrose hath it interrupts him while hee is thinking awakeneth him while hee is sleeping rings that doleful peal in his ears that makes him start and stare Thou fool this night shall thy soul bee taken from thee Veni miser in judicium Come thou wretch receive thy judgement Vers 13. There is a sore evil Or an evil disease such as breaks the sleep Mala infamitas Pagn Plin. Hinc pallor genae pendulae item furiales somni inquies nocturna causing paleness leanness restlesness by night This disease is the Dropsie or Bulimy of covetousness as seldome cured as Heresie Phrensie Jealousie which three are held incurable maladies Riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt Worldlings sit abrood upon their wealth and hatch to their hurt as the silly bird doth the eggs of the Cockatrice Riches are called goods but it hath been well observed that hee that first called them so was a better Husband than Divine Such an Husband was hee in the Gospel who reckoned upon much goods laid up for many years But how come these goods to prove evil to the owners but by the evil usage of them riches in themselves are of an indifferent nature and it is through mens corruption ut magna sit cognatio nominis rei divitiis vitiis that riches are weapons of wickedness Engines of evil Jer. 17.11 Hee that getteth riches and not by right shall die a poor fool Dum peritura parat per male parta perit Hee that keepeth his riches having no quick silver no current money when God calls him to part with them for pious and charitable uses keepeth them to his own greatest hurt For the rust of his canker-eaten gold shall rise up in judgement against him at that great day James 5.3 Sic plures nimia congesta pecunia cura Juvenal Sal. 10 Strangulat See the Note on Prov. 1.19 Vers 14. But those riches perish by evil travel i. e. By evil trading trafficking or other cross event and accident They waste and wither either by vanity or violence they slip out of the hand as the panting bird or wrigling Eel there is no hold to bee taken of them no trust to bee put in them they were never true to those that trusted in them See the Note on Prov. 23.5 Vers 15. As hee came forth of his Mothers womb q. d. If riches leave not us while wee live yet wee are sure to leave them when wee die Haud ullas portabis opes Acherontis ad undas Nudus al◠inferna stulte vebere rate Propert Look how a false harlot leaves her lover when arrested for debt and follows other customers so is it here And as Doggs though they go along with us in company yet at parting they run every one to his own Master so do these to the world when wee come to leave the world Death as a Porter stands at the gate and strips us of all our thick clay wherewith wee are laden See the Note on chap. 2.22 To go as hee came Like an unwelcome guest or an unprofitable servant a cipher and excrement Oh live live live saith a Reverend man quickly much long so you are welcome to the world Else you are but hissed and kickt off this stage of the world as Phocas was by Heraclius Nay many as Job 27.23 who were buried before half dead c. Abn. fun by Dr. Harris And shall take nothing of his labour Ne obolum quo naulum Charonti solvant Some have had great store of gold and silver buried with them and others would needs bee buried in a Monkes cowl out of a superstitious conceit of speeding the better in another world but it hath profited them nothing at all Eccles 9.10 Vers 16. And this also is a sore evil Malum dolorificum so it will prove a singular vexation a sharp corrosive when Balaam and his bribes Laban and his baggs Nabal and his flocks Achan and his wedge Baltasar and his bouls Herod and his harlots Dives and his dishes c. shall part asunder for ever when they shall look from their death-beds see that terrible spectacle Death Judgement Hell and all to bee passed thorow by their poor souls Oh! what a dreadful shrick gives the guilty soul at death to see it self launching into an ocean of scalding lead and must swim naked in it for ever Who therefore unless hee had rather burn with Dives than reign with Lazarus will henceforth reach out his hand to bribery usury robbery deceit sacriledge or any such like wickedness or worldliness 1 Tim. 6.9 which drown mens souls in perdition and destruction If rich men could stave off death or stop its mouth with a bagg of gold it were somewhat like But that cannot bee as Henry Beauford that rich and wretched Cardinal found by experience as the King of Persia told Constantine the Emperour who had shewed him all the glory and bravery of Rome Fulg. Mira quidem haec said hee sed ut video sicut in Persia sic Romae homines moriuntur i. e. These be brave things but yet I see that as in Persia so at Rome also the owners of these things must needs die Agreeable whereunto was that speech of Nugas the Scythian Monarch to whom when Michael Paleologus the Emperour sent certain rich robes for a present Pachymer hist lib. 5. hee asked Nunquid calamitates morbos mortem depellere possent whether they could drive away calamities sicknesses death for if they could not do so they were not much to bee regarded What profit hath hee that hath laboured for the wind i. e. For just nothing See Hos 12.1 Jer. 22.22 The Greeks express the same by hunting after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and husbanding the wind The Apostle speaks of beating the air 1 Cor. 9. as hee doth that fights with his own shadow that disquiets himself in vain The four Monarchies are called the four
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
Mon. 865. than swear The Merindolians those antient French Protestants were known by this through all the Country of Province that they would not swear nor easily bee brought to take an oath except it were in judgement or making some solemn covenant Vers 3. This is an evil Hoc est pessimum so Hierome the Vulgar and Tremellius renders it this is the worst evil this is wickedness with a witness scil that sith there is one event to all graceless men should therehence conclude that sith there is one event to all graceless men should therehence conclude that it is a bootless business a course of no profit to serve God Hence they walk about the world with hearts as full as hell of lewd and lawless lusts Hence they run a madding after the pleasures of sin which with a restlesse giddiness they earnestly pursue yea they live and die in so doing saith the Wise-man here noting their final impenitency that hate of Heaven and gate to Hell Ex primis per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eorum sermones Lav. Joh. 24. Sic Benedic 9. Alexand. 6. Leo. 10. Vers 4. For to him that is joyned to all the living there is hope These are the words of those wicked ones whose lives and hopes end together whose song is Post mortem nulla voluptas when life ends there is an end of all Is there not such language in some mens hearts who knows whether there bee any such thing as a life to come c. Now I shall know said that dying Pope whether the soul of man bee immortal yea or no and whether that tale concerning Christ have any truth in it Oh wretch So a living Dogg is better than a dead Lion But so is not a living sinner better that a dead Saint for the righteous hath hope in his death and they that dye in the Lord are blessed Rev. 14.13 how much more if they also dye for the Lord these love not their lives unto the death Rev. 12.11 but go as willingly to dye as ever they did to dine being as glad to leave the world for a better especially as men are wont to bee to rise from the board when they have eaten their fill to take possession of a Lordship Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis Lucret. Vers 5. For the living know that they shall dye Hence that Proverb amongst us As sure as death Howbeit that they think little of it to any good purpose appears by that other Proverb I thought no more of it than of my dying-day But the dead know not any thing So it seemeth to those Atheists that deny the immortality of the soul but they shall know at death that there is another life beyond this wherein the righteous shall bee comforted Luk. 16.25 and their knowledge perfected but the wicked tormented and with nothing more than to know that such and such poor souls as they would have disdained to have set with the Doggs of their flocks are now sitting down with Abraham Job 30.1 Luk. 13.28 Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdome of God and themselves thrust out into utter darkness Augustin in tenebras extenebris infeliciter exclusi infelicius excludendi Neither have they any more a reward What Psal 58.11 not a reward for the righteous Not a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour evil-doers That were strange Heb. 10.27 But wicked men would fain perswade themselves so ut liberius peccent libenter ignorant Bern 2 Pet. 2.5 Of these things they are willingly ignorant For the memory of them is forgotten This is true in part but not altogether Joseph was forgotten in Egypt Gideon in Israel Exod. 1 Judg. 9 Joash remembred not the kindness which Jehoiadah had done to him but slew his son 2 Chron. 24.22 Nevertheless the foundation of God stands firm having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his 2 Tim. 2 Mal. 3.16 Luk. 10.20 and there is a book of remembrance written before him for them that fear the Lord their names are written in Heaven and the memory of the just is blessed Proverbs 10.7 See the Note there Vers 6. Also their love and their hatred c. Here is lie upon lie The Atheist as hee had denyed knowledge to the dead so here hee denies affections as love hatred envy or zeal as Hierome renders it But it is certain that those that are dead in Jesus do very dearly love God and hate evil with a perfect hatred The wicked on the other side continue in that other world to hate God and goodness to love such as themselves are to stomach the happiness of those in Heaven c. Vers 7. Go thy way eat thy bread with joy Vade juste Go thy way thou righteous man live in cheerfulness of mind proceeding from the testimony of a good conscience so Lyra senseth the words Gods grace and favour turned brown bread and water into manchet and wine to the Martyrs in prison Rejoyce not thou O Israel for joy as other people for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God Hos 9.1 Thou eatest thy bane thou drinkest thy poison because to the impure all things are impure and without faith it is impossible to please God Prov. 29.6 In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare or a cord to strangle his joy with but the righteous doth sing and rejoyce Hee may do so hee must do so what should hinder him hee hath made his peace with God and is rectus in curia let him bee merry at his meals lightsome and spruise in his cloaths cheerful with his wife and children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 5.13 c. Is any man merry at heart saith St. James is hee right set and hath hee a right frame of soul is all well within let him sing Psalms yea as a traveller rides on merrily and wears out the rediousnesse of the way by singing sweet songs unto himself so should the Saints Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage Psal 119.54 Vers 8. Let thy garments bee alwayes white i. e. Neat spruse cleanly comely Or by a metaphor it may signifie Be merry in good manner for they used to wear white clothing on Festivals Devita theoretica Stuckius in Antiq. conviv Anton. Margarit and at Weddings as Philo witnesseth At this day also the Jewes come to their Synagogues in white rayment the day before the Calends of September which is their New-years-tide Purple was affected by the Romans white by the Jewes see Jam. 2.2 Hence Pilate clad Christ in purple Matth. 27.28 Herod in white Luke 23.11 Herod himself Acts 12.21 was arrayed in royal apparrel that is in cloth of silver saith Josephus which being beaten upon by the Sun-beams dazeled the peoples eyes and drew from them that blasphemous acclamation The voyce of God and not of man And let thine
are lost people Det Deus ut admonitio haec adeo sit nobis omnibus commoda quam sit accommoda Vers 9. Who so removeth stones shall be hurt therewith So he that attempteth to loose and remove the joynts and pieces of a setled Government there is danger that like Sampson he 'l be crusht in the ruin So one gives the sense of it Pemble Hee that goeth about to remove a Ruler out of his place and to divide a setled Government that is at unity in it self undertaketh a dangerous peice of businesse Granger As he undertaketh a desperate work such shall his reward be It is evil medling with edged tools c. saith another Interpreter Some by stones here understand Land-marks which to remove was counted Sacriledge among the Romans Dim Halic and worthy of death What are they guilty and worthy of then Jerem. 6. that abrogate the good old Lawes of a Land or the good old wayes of God that have given rest to so many souls See the Note on Prov. 26.27 And he that cleaveth wood shall bee in danger thereby viz. of breaking his tools if not his shins specially if hee bee a bungler at it This is to the same sense with the three former similitudes Cyprian makes use of this text against Schismatiques Test ad Quirinum lib. reading it thus Scindens ligna periclitabitur in eo si exciderit ferrum Hee that cleaveth wood shall be indangered thereby if that the iron fall off Hierom by wood here understands Hereticks as being unfruitful and unfit for Gods building and makes this Note upon it Quamvis sit prudens doctus vir c. Although he be a wise and a learned man who with the sword of his discourse cutteth this knotty wood Hieron in loc he will bee endangered by it unlesse he be very careful Lib. 34. cap. 14 Vers 10. If the Iron be blunt Pliny calls iron the best and worst instrument of mans life and shewes the many uses of it as in plowing planting pruning plaining c. but abominates the use of it in warre and murthering weapons Porsena enjoyned the Romans Ne ferro nisi in agricultura uterentur saith hee Plin. that they should not use Iron but only about their Husbandry The Philistims took the like order with the disarmed Israelites 1 Sam. 13.19 among whom swords and spears were geasen shares and coulters they allowed them but so as that they must go down to the Philistims for sharpening Gregory compares the Devil to these Philistims blinding and blunting mens wits and understandings lest the light of saving truth should shine unto them These Edge-tools therefore must bee whetted by the use of holy Ordinances and much strength put to 2 Cor. 4.4 great pains taken virtutibus corroborabitur so the old Translation hath it But when all is done he must needsly be obtusè acutus which seeth not that wisdome is profitable to direct that is that whether the iron be blunt or sharp whetted or not whetted more strength added or not added 't is wisdome that rectifies all or the benefit of rectifying is wisdome There is none to that as David said of Galiah's sword Vers 11. Surely the Serpent will bite without enchantment It is for want of wisdome that the babbler or tongue-master as the Original hath it is nothing better than the most poysonous serpent nay in some respects worse For one Serpent stings not another as back-biters doe their best friends And whereas Serpents may be charmed or their poyson kept from the vitals contra Sycophantae morsum non est remedium as the Proverb hath it there is no help to be had for the biting of a Sycophant His tongue is full of deadly poyson saith St. James Again Jam. 3. Serpents usually hisse and give warning though the Septuagint here read non in sibilo the vulgar in silentio in silence and without hissing for without enchantment so doth not the slanderer and detractor he is a silent Serpent and like the Doggs of Congo which bite but bark not Purth Pilg. And therefore as all men hate a Serpent and fly from the sight of it so will wise men shun the society of a slanderer And as any one abhorres to be like to that old Serpent the Devil so let him eschew this evil Vers 12. The words of a wise mans mouth are gracious Heb. Are grace Ne sons quae grace Col. 4. they are nothing but grace so the French Translatour hath it such as render him gracious with God and men so Lyra glosseth it as being usually seasoned with Salt and ministring grace to the hearers But the lips of a fool swallow up himself Suddenly utterly unavoydably as the Whale did Jonas as the devouring sword doth those that fall under it as the grave doth all the living How many of all sorts in all ages have perished by their unruly tongues blabbing or belching our words Quae reditura per jugulum as Pliny phraseth it that were driven down their throates again by the wronged and aggrieved parties Cave ne feriat lingua tua collum tuum Scal. Ar. Prov. Take heed saith the Arabick Proverb lest thy tongue cut thy throat it is compared to a sharp razour doing deceit Psal 52.3 which instead of cutting the hair cuts the throat Vers 13. The beginning of his words are folly Hee is an inconsiderate Ideot utters incoherences pours forth a floud of follies his whole discourse is frivolous futilous To begin foolishly may befall a wise man but when hee sees it or hath it shewed unto him he will not persist Once have I spoken saith holy Job but I will not answer again yea twice but I will proceed no further Chap. 40.4 5. Much otherwise the fool and because hee will bee dicti sui dominus as vers 11. having lasht out at first he lancheth further out into the deep as it were of idle and evil prattle And if you offer to interrupt or admonish him the end of his talk is mischievous madnesse he blusters and lets fly on all hands laying about him like a mad-man And so wee have here as one saith the Serpent the Babbler spoken of in the eleventh verse wreathed into a circle his two ends head and tayl meeting together D. Jerm And as at the one end he is a Serpent having his sting in his head so at the other end he is a Scorpion having his sting in his tavl Vers 14. A fool also is full of words A very wordy man he is Boni oratoris est sermonem habere rebus parem Plut. and a great deal of small talk he has voces susque deque effutit inanes as Thuanus hath it he layes on more words than the matter will well bear And this custom of his is graphically expressed by an imitation of his vain tautologies A man cannot tell saith he what shall be after him and what shall be after him
Contrariwise the godly in the fulness of his want is in an All-sufficiency because hee is in Christ Col. 3. who hath filled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the neuter gender not onely all the hearts of his people but All things hee hath filled up that emptiness that was before in the creature and made it satisfactory I sate down under his shadow with great delight Heb. I delighted and sate down The Church being scortcht with troubles without and terrours within ran to Christ for shelter and found singular comfort Psal 91.1 Isa 25.4 Tua praesentia Domine Laurentio ipsam craticulam dulcem fecit saith an Antient Philip Lantgrave of Hesse being a long time prisoner under Charls the fifth was demanded what upheld him all that time Respondit divinas Martyrum consolationes se sensisse hee answered that Christ came in to him with such cordials as kept up his spirits above beleef There bee divine comforts that are felt by the suffering Saints that others taste not of nor themselves neither at other times When the childe is sick out come the conserves and sweet-meats Never sits hee so much on his Mothers lap and in her bosome as then And his fruit was sweet to my taste i. e. His word and promises which I rolled as Sugar under my tongue and sucked therehence more sweetness than Sampson did from his hony-comb Psal 19.10 119.103 Jer. 15.16 Luther said hee would not live in paradise Tom. 4. Oper. Lat. if hee might without the Word at cum verbo etiam in inferno facile est vivere saith hee but with the Word hee could live even in Hell it self True it is that those that have not the Spouses palate finde no such sweetness in Christ or his promises Most men are so full gorged with the Devils dainties so surfeited with sins sweet-meats that they finde no more relish in the good Word of God Multi in terris manducant quod apud inferos digerunt Aug. than in the white of an Egge or in a dry chip These feed upon that now that they must without repentance digest in Hell there will bee bitterness in the end Whereas they that by sucking those full-strutting breasts of consolation the promises have tasted and seen how good the Lord Christ is as their souls are satisfied with fat things full of marrow with the very best of the best Isa 25.6 so hee shall make them to drink abundantly of the river of his pleasures Psal 36.9 hee shall take them into his Wine-â—eller and fill them with gladness Vers 4. Hee brought mee to the banquetting-house Heb. to the house of Wine where hee giveth mee that which is better than Apple-drink as vers 3. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ 2 Cor. 1.5 The lower that ebb the higher this tide as is to bee seen in the Martyrs who went as merrily to die as ever they did to dine sang in the flames and felt no more pain than if they had lain upon beds of Roses This their persecutors counted stupidity and vain-glory but they knew not the power of the Spirit and the force of Faith as Mr. Philpot told scoffing Morgan who coming to confer with him asked him How know you that you have the Spirit of God Mr. Philpot answered By the Faith of Christ which is in mee All by Faith quoth Morgan do yee so I ween it bee the spirit of the buttery which your fellows have had that have been burned before you who were drunk the night before they went to their death Act. and Mon. fol. 1653. and I ween went drunk unto it Whereunto Philpot replied It appears by your communication that you are better acquainted with the spirit of the buttery than of God Meethink you are liker a scoffer in a Play than a reasonable Doctor to instruct one Thou hast the spirit of illusion and sophistry which is not able to countervail the Spirit of truth Thou art but an Ass in the things of God c. God shall surely rain fire and brimstone upon such scorners of his Word and blasphemers of his people as thou art The like sensure was passed upon Nicholas Burton Martyr in Spain who because hee went chearfully to the stake and embraced death with all gladness and patience Ibid. 1866. his tormentours and enemies said that the Devil had his soul before hee came to the fire and therefore his sense of feeling was past These carnal creatures meddle not with the true Christians joy neither know they the privy armour of proof the joy of Faith that hee hath as an aes triplex about his heart making him insuperable and more than a Conquerour Rom. 8.35 True grace hath a fortifying comforting virtue which the world knows not of like as true gold comforts and strengthens the heart that Alchymy gold doth not And as a man that by good fare and plenty of the best Wines hath his bones filled with marrow and his veins with good blood and a fresh spring of spirits can endure to go with less cloathes than another because hee is well liâ—ed within So it is with a heart that by oft feasting with Christ in his Ordinances and by much reading and ruminating upon the Scriptures called here the Banquetting-house or Wine-celler as most are of opinion hath got a great deal of joy and peace such an one will go thorow troubles and make nothing of them yea though outward comforts utterly fail Hab. 3.17 Rom. 5.15 And his banner over mee was love As a Standard erected as a banner displayed so was the love of Christ shed abroad in her heart by the Holy Ghost who had also as a fruit of his love set up a Standard in her against strong temptations and corruptions Isa 59.19 and thereby assured her of his special presence like as where the colours are there is the Captain where the Standard there the King The wicked also have their banners of lust covetousness ambition malice under which they fight as the Dragon and his viperous brood Rev. 12.7 against Christ and his people but they may read their destiny Isa 8.9 10. Associate your selves O yee people stand to your arms repair to your colours c. yet yee shall bee broken in peeces gird your selves and yee shall bee broken in peeces c. Take counsel together and it shall come to nought c. for God is with us Immanuel is our General And how many do you reckon him for as Antigonus once said to his souldiers that feared their enemies numbers Surely if Christ bee for us and hee is never from us Matth. 28.20 but as Xerxes was wont to do hee pitcheth his tent and sets up his Standard in the midst of his people as once in the wilderness who can bee against us Rom. 8.31 And though many bee yet No weapon that is formed against the Church shall prosper how should it fith shee hath such a
their confidence was the fruit of prayer At the lifting up of thy self If God do but arise only his enemies shall be scattered and all that hate him shall flee before him Psal 68.1 See the Note there Ver. 4. And your spoiles shall be gathered The spoile of the Assyrians Camp now become yours as 1 Sam. 30.20 Like the gathering of Catterpillars Quae ad hominum concursum omnes repente disperguntur which are soon rid when men set themselves to destroy them Ver. 5. The Lord is exalted He hath made him a name gained abundance of honour For he dwelleth on high Whence he can poure down plagues at his pleasure on his proud enemies and fill Zion with Judgement and Righteousness Ver. 6. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times Thy times O Hezekiah but especially O Christ Or the stability of thy times and strong safeguard shall thy wisdom and knowledge be By his knowledge that is by faith in him shall my righteous servant Jesus Christ justifie many Chap. 53.11 but these are also sanctified by him the fear of the Lord is their treasure they hold faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack 1 Tim. 1.19 See the Note there The fear of the Lord is his Treasure The spirit of this holy fear rested upon Christ Paradin in symbol chap. 11.2 and good Hezekiah was eminent for it not for civil prudence only this was flos regis the fairest flower in all his garland this is solidissima regiae politiae basis as one saith the best policy and the way to wealth Ver. 7. Behold their valiant ones or their Heralds Messengers Heb. Hen Erelam Behold their Erel or their Ariel chap. 29.1 2. that is their Altar shall they i. e. the Assyrians cry without sc in mockery twitting the Jews with their Sacrifices as no way profitable to them Mr. Clarkes Eng. Martyrol So the profane Papists when they murthered the poore Protestants at Orleans sang in scorn Judge and revenge my cause O Lord Others Have mercy on us Lord. And when in the late persecution in Bohemia divers godly Nobles and Citizens were carried to prison in Prague the Papists insultingly cried after them Why do ye not now sing The Lord raigneth The Embassadours of peace thar went for peace having for their Symbol Pacem te poscimus omnes but could not effect it Weep bitterly so that they might be heard before they entered the City Vide quam vivide see here how lively things are set forth and what a lamentable report these Embassadours make of the state of the country and the present danger of losing all Ver. 8. The high-ways lye waste and by-waies are more frequented through fear of the enemy He hath broken the Covenant Irritum factum est pactum He took the money sent him but comes on nevertheless though he had sworn the contrary 2 King 18.14 17. It is said of the Turks at this day that they keep their leagues which serve indeed but as snares to intangle other Princes in no longer then standeth with their own profit Turk Hist 755. Their Maxime is There is no faith to be kept with dogs whereby they mean Christians as the Papists also say There is no faith to be kept with Hereticks whereby they mean Protestants But why kept not Vladislaus King of Hungary his Faith better with Amurath the great Turk or our Henry the third with his Barons by Papal dispensation Vah scelus vae perjuris He hath despised the Cities and will not take them for his Subjects he scorneth the motion He regardeth no man He vilipendeth and slighteth all Jewels generally Metaphora Prosâ—popoetica Ver. 9. The earth mourneth and langisheth Or the land luget languet thus they go on in their doleful relation Miserrima sunt omnia atque miseranda What sad work hath Antichrist made of late years in the Christian world what desolations in all parts Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down Sharon is like a wilderness East West North P. al. 80 13. and South of the Land are laid wast by the enemy and the avenger that boare out of the wood that bear out of the Forest Ver. 10. Now will I rise saith the Lord now Now now now Emphasin habet ingeminatio vocis Nunc This now thrice repeated importeth both the opportunity of time and Gods readiness to relieve Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses When things are at worst they 'le mend we say Now will I lift up my self who have hitherto been held an underling and inferiour to the enemy Ver. 11. Ye shall conceive chaff ye shall bring forth stubble Gravidi estis stramine parietis stipulam So did Pharaoh Antiochus Julian c. so doth Antichrist and his Champions notwithstanding his bloody alarmes to them such as was that sounded out in the year 1582. Vtere jure tuo Caesar sectamque Lutheri Ense rota ponto funibus igne neca And that other to the King of France not many years since exhorting him to kill up all the Protestants per Galliam stabulantes the very words of the Popes Bull that had any stable-room in France Your breath as fire shall devoure you shall blow up the fire that shall consume your chaff and stubble Your iniquity shall be your ruine Ezek. 18.38 Turdus sibi malum cacat Hic est gladius quem ipse fecisti this is a sword of thine own makeing said the Souldier to Marius when he ran him thorough with it Ver. 12. And the people shall be as the burning of lime As hard chalk-stones which when burnt to make lime crumble to crattle As thorns cut up Sear-thornes that crackle under a pot and are soon extinct The Hebrews tell us that the Assyrian Souldiers were burnt by the Angel with a secret fire that is with the pestilence as Berosus cited by Josephus witnesseth and our Prophet hinteth as much in many passages Lib. 10. cap. 1. Ver. 13. Hear ye that are afar of Longinqui propinqui Gods great works are to be noted and noticed by all The Egyptians heard of what God had done to the Assyrian Army and memorized it by a monument as Herodotus relateth Ver. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid At the invasion of the Assyrian Herod l. 2. Justin those that formerly fleared and jeared Gods Prophets and their menaces now fear and are crest faln ready to run into an anger-hole as we say It is as natural for guilt to breed fear and disquiet as for putrid matter to breed vermine Sinners especially those in Zion where they might be better and are therefore the worse a great deal have galled consciences and want faith to fortify theâ—r hearts against the fear of death or danger and hence those pitiful perplexities and convulsions of soul in the evil day what wonder if when they see all on fire they ring their Bells backwards if instead of mourning for their sins and
it cannot trace him and by an assurance of adherence at least get to Heaven through mourning as Christ was taken up in a cloud or as the kine that carried the Ark went right but they lowed as they went And stay upon this God As the vine doth upon some support Faith hath a catching quality at whatoever is near to lay hold on like the branches of the Vine it windeth about that which is next and stayes it self upon it spreading further and further still Fides est quae te pullastrum Christum gallinam facit saith Luther Ver. 11. Behold all ye that kindle a fire That instead of relying upon God would relieve your selves by carnal shifts and fetches a fire of your own kindling or rather sparkes of your own tinder-boxes strange fire and not that of Gods Sanctuary Or say they be your own good works you trust to like as the Phoenix gathereth sweet odoriferous sticks in Arabia together and then blows them with her wings and burns her self with them That compass your selves about with sparks Away with those tinder-boxes of yours what are your sparkles but such as are smitten out of a flint which 1. Yields no warmth or good light 2. Are soon extinct 3. Neverthelesse you are sure to lie down in sorrow to be cast into utter darknesse where you shall never see the light again till you see the whole world all on a light fire at the last day Walk in the light of your fire Do so if ye thing it good but your light shall be put out into darknesse and worse like as lightning is followed by rending and roaring Thunder This shall ye have of my hand This I will assure of and having spoken it with my mouth I will fulfil it with my hand Ye shall lie down in sorrow As sick folk who being in grievous pain and teen would fain dye but cannot Cubatum ibitis adignes ad dolores cruciatus You shall make your beds in the bottom of Hell as it is said of the King of Babylon chap. 14.11 and as of Pope Clement the fifth it was reported that upon the death of a Nephew of his whom he had sensually abused Jacob. Revius hist Pont. p. 199. he sent to a certain Magician to know how it went with his soul in the other world The Magician shewed him to the messenger as lying in Hell in a bed of fire Whereupon the Pope was so struck with horrour that he never held up his head more but soon after dyed also CHAP. LI. Ver. 1. HEarken unto me ye that fellow after righteousnesse Heb. ye that pursue or follow hard after it as Paul did Philip. 3. The speech is directed to those Jews that embraced the Gospel perswading them to persist in the faith in nothing terrified by their adversaries sith Almighty God would keep and help them as he had done faithful Abraham and Sarah their Ancestours Banim meabanim to whom also he would of stones raise up sons in the conversion of the Gentiles and could do it as easily as he had hewed the Hebrews that great Nation out of aged Abraham and superannuated Sarah who are here compared to a dry-rock and a deep pit And to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged Est honesta periphrasis actus conjugalis The word here used is of the same root with Nekebah the female kind of all creatures Ver. 2. Look unto Abraham your Father Look and again Look hearken and again hearken These poor Jews before the coming of Christ in the flesh were vino somnoque sepulti drunk with the cup of Gods fury ver 17. and so fast asleep that they needed to be thus roused and raised up to the hope of better times which now were at hand And unto Sarah that bare you By the force of her Faith also Heb. 11.11 her son Isaac was emeritae fidei filius Now these domestical examples are alledged to assure them that God could do the like again in respect of spiritual children Abraham's right seed Gal. 4. For I called him alone Be not ye therefore troubled at your alonenesse And blessed him and increased him Gods benediction is his benefaction the Popes is not so fumos vendit fumo pereas Ver. 3. For the Lord shall comfort Zion As once he did Abraham by multiplying her children giving her in good store of Converts these were the Apostles and the Primitive Christians those earthly Angels who made the world which before was as a waste wildernesse to become a most pleasant and plentiful Paradise Chrysostom somewhere calleth them Angels and saith that they were puriores coel◠afflictione facti more clear then the azured sky Joy and gladnesse shall be found in them See chap. 35.10 Thanksgiving and the voice of melody Paul as the Pracentor sweetly sings and gives the Note to us all Eph. 1 3 4 5. c. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us c. Ver. 4. Harken unto me See on ver 2. For a Law shall proceed from me i. e. The Gospel of grace that perfect Law of liberty the Law of the Spirit of life Rom. 8.2 Diod. And I will make my Judgement to rest I will firmly and irrevocably establish the government of my Word and Spirit in the Church for a secure guide to bring it to eternal life Some render it thus My Judgement i. e. My Gospel shall be for a light of the people whereby I will give rest So that here is a double effect of the Gospel viz Saving light and Peace of Conscience Jam amodò iter ingressa est Hyper. Ver. 5. My righteousnesse i. e. my faithfulnesse or my Son that Sun of righteousnesse is already on the way and will be with you forthwith And mine arm shall judge the people i. e. All that set themselves against the Lord and against his Christ Psal 2.2 these shall feel his power to their perdition even the force of both his arms The Iles shall wait upon me They shall stretch out their souls as a line so the word importeth and direct them toward Christ And on mine arm shall they trust i. e. On my power or on my Gospel-promises Ver. 6. Lift up your eyes to the Heavens Man hath a muscle more then ordinary to draw up his eyes heavenward And look upon the earth beneath How fast and firm it standeth Eccles 1.4 Yet the whole engine shall be changed 2 Pet. 3.10 Shall dye in like manner Or like a louse as some render it But my salvation shall be for ever The Gospel together with the spiritual benefits thereby shall out last Heaven and Earth Ver. 7. Hearken unto me See on ver 2. Ye that know righteousnesse with a knowledge Apprehensive and Affective also The people in whose heart is my Law and not in your heads only Fear ye not the reproach of men Tertullian thinketh that our Saviour alludeth to this of Isaiah in that
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
to be a holy glutton Yea come Heb. And come Come and come yea come come come linger not loyter not frame not excuse strain not curtesie hang not off by a sinful bashfulness t is good manners to fall to your meat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Colos 3. Argonaut lib. 3. Buy wine and milk Any thing every thing that is good and comfortable for Christ is all and in all As the worth and value of many pieces of silver is in one piece of gold so all the petty excellencies scattered abroad in the creatures are united in Christ Apollonius writeth that in the Court of Aeta King of Colchis were three fountaines which flowed one with milk another with wine and a third with honey Christ is all this and more in one And of beleevers it may better be said than Justin doth of the Scythians Lib. 2. Lacte melle vescuntur nihil alienum concupiscunt c. they feed upon milk and honey they desire nothing more than what they have vines they have none but gods they have as they use to glory Nazianzen and Hierom tells us that anciently in some Churches they used to give to those Proselites whom they baptised wine and milk grounding upon this text by a mistake Without money and without price All things for nothing gratis this is doubled and trebled for the comfort of poor trembling consciences Christ is rich to all that call upon his Name Rom. 10.12 none giveth to him Rom. 11.35 but he to all his freely Isa 43.25 for the praise of his gloriour grace Eph. 1.6 T is his good pleasure to do so Luk. 12.32 And if so what can man devil or any distrustful heart say against it Ver. 2. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread Heb. for not bread for that which can no more feed you than those huskes could the hungry Prodigal Luk. 15.16 Martial Turpe est difficiles habere nugas Et stultus labor est ineptiarum The saying of the Romane General to the Souldier that kept the Tents when he should have been fighting in the field Non amo nimium diligentes I love not those that are over-diligent will be used of God if when he calleth us to the care of higher things we busie our selves only about matters of an inferiour alloy Surely as Domitian the Emperour spent his time in catching flyes and Artaxerxes in making haftes for knives so do most men in trifles and lying vanities neglecting the One thing necessary with Martha and preferring as those Gergesites in the Gospel haram domesticam arae Dominicae a swine-sty before a Sanctuary Betwixt such and true beleevers there is as much difference as is betwixt substantial merchants who deale in rich commodities and those nugivenduli Agyrtae who sell gawdes rattles and trangums as is betwixt Spiders that catch flyes and Eagles that hunt after Hares and Hirons as is betwixt Fowlers that follow after Quailes and children that run after butter-flyes Had men but tasted of Gods bread they would never set such a price upon Doves-dung Had they drunk of Christs wine which is beyond the best Nectar or Ambrosia they would never thirst again after the worlds delights Joh. 4.14 which are such as whereof a man may break his neck before his fast Eccles 1.8 Clitorio quicunque sitim de fonte levarit Ovit Metam lib 15. Vina fugit gaudetque meris abstemius undis And your labour for that which satisfieth not The world is full of pomp and pleasure 1 Joh. 2.15 and yet it satisfieth not because it is full of nothing but of emptiness the creature is now ever since the fall as the husk without the grain the shell without the kirnel yea the world passeth away and the lust thereof ver 17. for a man cannot make his heart long to delight in the same things but ipsa etiam vota post usum fastidio sunt we loath after a while what we greatly lusted after as Amnon did Tamar Therefore love not the world ver 15. labour not for the meat that perisheth Joh. 6.27 but hasten heaven-ward saying as that Pilgrim did who travelling to Jerusalem and by the way visiting many brave Cities with their rare-Monuments and meeting with many friendly entertainments would say eftsoones I must not stay here this is not Jerusalem Harken diligently unto me Heb. hearing heare i. e. heare as for life with utmost attention of body intention of mind and retention of memory And eat ye that which is good Not only heare the Word of God but eat it turn it in succum sanguinem disgest it incorporate it into your souls Jam. 1.20 for it is the heavenly Manna that hath all manner of good tastes in it and properties with it 2 Tim. 3.16 And let your soul delight it self in fatnesse Talis est doctrins gratia Evangelica qua mentem saginat impinguat A good soul feedeth on the fat and drinketh of the sweet that is found in the precious promises Psal 36.8 and 63.5 Ver. 3. Encline your ear Hear with all your might Alphonsus King of Arragon is renowned for his attentive hearing so is our King Edward 6. who usually stood and took notes all the Sermon while Origen chideth his hearers for nothing so much as for their seldom coming to hear Gods Word and for their careless and needlesse hearing it when they did come whence their slow growth in godlinesse Hear and your soule shall live God hath ordained as it were to cross the devil that as death entred into the world through the ear by our first Parents listening to that old man slayer so should life enter into the soul by the same door as it were The dead shall hear the voyce of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Joh. 5.25 The Romanists hold not hearing so absolutely needful Spec. Europ the Mass only they make a work of duty but the going to Sermons but a matter of conveniency and such as is left free to mens leasures and opportunities without imputation of sin And I will make an everlasting Covenant with you Heb. I will cut out unto them a Covenant of perpetuity A Covenant is a cluster of Promises solemnly made over Even the sure mercies of David Or firm faithful The Greek Act. 13.34 hath it The holy things or the venerable things of David that is of Christ for the ratifying and assuring whereof it was necessary that Christ should rise from death and enter into glory for which purpose Paul alledgeth this text Act. 13.34 Ver. 4. Behold I have given him i. e. Christ called David ver 3. because typed out by David promised to him and sprang of him For a witnesse To teach and testifie his Fathers will and counsel at which Vt de veritate hac voluntate Patris testaretur being his eternal wisdom he had been present See Rev. 3.14 A Leader and Commander to the people Of Christs
bruised or broken sc in their estates And that ye break every yoke Cancel every unjust writing say the Septuagint They took twelve in the hundred in Nehemia's time this was a yoke intolerable Specul Europi I pray you let us leave off this usury saith he chap. 5.10 At this day the Jews are in all places permitted to strain up their usury to eighteen in the hundred upon the Christians but then they are used as the Friars to suck from the meanest and to be sucked by the greatest Ver. 7. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry Thine own bread it must be and that especially whereof thou hast on the fast-day abbridged thy self for what the rich spare on such a day the poor should spend Hereby 1. Mens prayers shall speed the better Acts 10.4 2. They shall make God their debtor Prov. 19.17.3 That is best and most pleasing alms to God that is given in Church assemblies for 1. It is an Ordinance of God and a Sabbath-duty 1 Cor. 16.1 2. 2. Christ there sitteth and seeth the gift and mind of every alms-giver Luke 21.1 2. setting it down in his book of remembrance Mal. 3.16 And that thou bring the poor that are cast out Scilicet tanquam rebelles as those poor Albigenses were in France and their posterity lately in Piedmont Scultet Annal the Protestant Lorainers proscribed for religion by their Duke and entertained by the State of Strasborough at the earnest suit of the Ministers there till they could be conveniently provided for elsewhere there being some thousands of them which till then were forced to feed upon hips haws leaves of trees and grasse of the field That thou cover him Duties of the second Table only are here enjoyned because they are excellent evidences of true piety and pure religion Jam. 1. ult And that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh Thy poor brother who is of the same nature with thee and is as capable of grace and glory as thy self Learn to see Christ in thy poor Pâ—titioner and thou wilt the sooner yield Matth. 25. Consider also what is said of him that shutteth up his bowels of compassion from his necessitous brother 1 Joh. 3.17 Ver. 8. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning He saith not shall appear but shall break forth ut velocitatem copiam dantis exprimeret saith Chrysostom that he might expresse the swiftnesse and bountifulnesse of God the giver of it And thy health shall spring forth speedily The Sun of righteousness shall arise unto thee with healing under his wings Mal. 4.2 See the Note And thy righteousnesse shall go before thee Thou shalt have the comfort and credit of thy bounty and charity which is oft called righteousnesse as Psal 112.9 Dan. 4.24 Acts 10.35 And the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward i. e. The glorious Jehovah shall see to thy safety See Psal 27.10 with the Note See also Isa 52.12 Ver. 9. Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer Thou shalt have the royalty of his ear easy accesse to and all best successe at the throne of grace no such cause to complain as thou didst ver 3. that thy prayers were lost If thou take away from the midst of thee E meditullio tui from thy very heart Jun. by an inward reformation si animo opere sermone aversaberis inhumanitatem if thou heartily hate cruelty and act accordingly The yoke As ver 6. The putting forth of the finger The finger of that wicked fist ver 4. or that finger wherewith thou threatenest thy servants or pointest at others in scorn or disdain as the proud Pharisee seemeth to have done at the poor Publican when he said I am not as that fellow Luke 18.11 And speaking vanity Or violence as the Chaldee here talk concerning the wringing and wronging of others All this must be done or else no hope that God will hear prayers look to it See Psal 66.18 with Notes Ver. 10. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry Not thy sheaf only relieving the necessitous out of deep commiseration Ex animo liberaliter bilariterque and couldest part with thy very life also for them if duely called thereunto Compassion excelleth alms and outward works of mercy for when one giveth an alms he giveth something without himself but by compassion we relieve another by somewhat within and from our selves And satisfy Not save him alive only by a scant allowance prisoners pittance Then shall thy light arise in obscurity Thou shalt abound with blessings of all sorts See my common place of Alms. And thy darknesse be as the noon-day In agone horrore mortis erit tibi consolatio spes salutâ— ac lucis God will make thy bed in all thy sickness and comfort thee at the hour of death Ver. 11. And the Lord shall guide thee Or lead thee as thou leadest the harbourless outcast into thine house ver 7 And satisfy thy soul in drough As thou didst satisfy the poor hungry mans soul ver 10. See Psal 33.19 and Prov. 28.27 with the Notes And make fat thy bones i. e. Chear up thy heart for a sorrowful spirit drieth up the bones Prov. 17.22 The Vulgar Translation hath it he will deliver or set free thy bones sc from bands and fetters as thou hadst loosed or set free thy poor brethren from their bands and yokes ver 6. And thou shalt be like a watered garden Filled with the fruits of righteousness and with spiritual consolations unspeakable and glorious joyes And like a spring of water whose waters fail not Similitudines Allegoriae magnam habent gratiam Who would not now turn spiritual purchaser Ver. 12. And they that shall be of thee Thy posterity that have taken their being and beginning from thee Shall build the old waste places Heb. the wastes of antiquity i. e. The ruinous places of Jerusalem The Apostles also as master-builders and others as builders together with them have an happy hand in rearing the fair fabrick of the new man that hidden man of the heart See Ephes 2.20 21 22. And thou shalt be called the Repairer of the breach The Father of thy Country the repairer of peace the restorer of lost liberty c. Such honour had Nehemiah of old Hunniades alate who having overthrown Mesites the Turks General at his return into the Camp a wonderful number of the poor Captives came and falling at his feet and kissing them gave God thanks for their deliverance by him some called him the Father some the Defender of his Country the Souldiers their invincible General the Captives their Deliverer the women their Protectour the young men and children their most loving Father He again with tears standing in his eyes courteously embraced them rejoycing at the publick good and himself giving most hearty thanks to God commanded the like to be done in all the Churches of that Province Turk â—â—st 269. c.
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.
rusheth with as much violence as an overflowing flood Hinc apparet fructus liberi arbitrii saith Oecolampadius See here the fruit of free-will and what man will do being left to himself Carnal affections are forcible and furious Plato himself saw and could say as much In Phadâ—o when he compared concupiscence to an headstrong horse that runneth away with his rider and cannot be ruled Ver. 7. Yea the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed time These fouls though wanting reason know well when to change quarters whether against summer as the stork turtle and swallow or against winter as the crane But my people know not the judgement of the Lord Whether his summer of grace offered or his winter of punishment threatened to embrace the one or to prevent the other See a like dissimilitude and opposition Isa 1.3 Ver. 8. How do ye say We are wise If ye were so ye would never say so Surely I am more brutish then any man said holy Agur Prov. 30.2 This only I know that I know nothing said Socrates Neither know I so much as this that I know just nothing said a third How could these in the text say We are wise when the fouls of the ayr outwitted them confer Job 35.11 The Law of the Lord is with us Vox est Pharisaeorum So the Jesuites at this day as of old the Gnosticks will needs be held the only knowing men The Empire of learning belongeth to the Jesuites say they a Jesuite cannot be an heretick Casaub ex Apologista Jungantur in unum dies cum nocte lux cum tenebris c. i. e. Let day and night be jumbled together light and darkness heat and cold health and sickness life and death so may there be some likelihood that a Jesuite may be an heretick saith one of them The Church is the soul of the world the Clergy of the Church and we of the Clergy saith another Lo certainly in vain made he it i. e. The Law for any good use that this people or their leaders put it to See Hos 8.12 Rom. 2.17 25. Ver. 9. The wise men are ashamed They have cause to be ashamed of their grosse ignorance and folly ver 7 8. and greater cause then ever humble Austin had to say Scientia mea me damnat my knowledge undoeth me Lo they have rejected the word of the Lord As to any holy practice their knowledge is only Apprehensive and notional not Affective and practical And what wisdom is in them q d. None worth speaking of they lose their civil praises because not wise to salvation Ver. 10. Therefore will I give their wives For a punishment of their rejecting my Word which ought to be received with all reverence and good affection Dilher Elect. lib. 1. cap. 2. The Turkes do so highly respect the Alchoran which is their Bible that if a Christian do but sit upon it though unwittingly they presently put him to death For every one c. See chap. 6.13 Ver. 11. For they have healed See chap. 6.14 Ver. 12. Were they ashamed See chap. 6.15 Ver. 13. I will surely consume them saith the Lord Texitur hic quasi tragoediae scena here followeth a kind of Tragedy saith an Expositour God is brought in threatening the Prophet bewailing the people despairing and yet bethinking themselves of some shelter and safeguard if they knew where to find it c. There shall be no grapes on the vine nor figs But instead thereof I will give them waters of gall to drink ver 14. Tremellius and Piscator read it thus There are no grapes on the vine nor figs on the figtree yea the leaves are fallen that is say they there is no power of godlinesse found among them no not so much as any profession neither fruit nor leafe And the things that I have given them shall passe away I will curse their blessings Mal. 2.2 and destroy them after that I have done them good Josh 24. Ver. 14. Why do we sit still Here the people speak see on ver 13. being grievously frighted upon the coming of the Chaldees and thereupon consulting what course to take but all would not do ver 16. Let us be silent Sic silent pavidimures coram fele For the Lord our God hath put us to silence Hath expectorated our courage and stopped our mouths And hath given us waters of gall to drink Succum cicutae our bane our deaths-draught so that now we know by woful experience what an evil and bitter thing sin is for a drop of honey we have now a sea of gall Ver. 15. We looked for peace but no good came Our false Prophets have merely deluded us So poor souls when stung by the Friers Sermons were set to pennances and good deeds which stilled them for a while but could not yeeld them any lasting comfort The soul is still ready to shift and shark in every by-corner for ease but that will not be till it comes to Christ Ver. 16. The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan See chap. 4.15 this caused in the Jews hearts a motion of trepidation confer Job 39.20 It is the priviledge of believers in nothing to be terrified by their adversaries Phil. 1.28 but with the horse spoken of Job 39.22 to mock at fear and not to turn back from the dint of the sword Ver. 17. Behold I will send Serpents Cockatrices i. e. Chaldees no lesse virulent then serpents as violent as horses Serpentum tot sunt venena quot genera tot pernicies quot species tot dolores quot colores saith an Ancient Serpents are of several sorts Isidor lib. 12. cap. 2. but all poisonful and pernicious The Basilisk or Cockatrice here instanced the worst sort of serpents say the Septuagint here goeth not upon the belly as other serpents but erect from the middle part and doth so infect the aire that by the pestilent breath coming therefrom fruits are killed and men being but lookt upon by it and birds flying over it stones also are broken thereby and all other serpents put to flight Dlod Pisc And they shall bite you There is an elegancy in the original Ver. 18. When I would comfort my selfe c. Or as some render it O my comfort against sorrow i. e. O my God others my recreation is joyned with sorrow Ver. 19. Behold the voyce of the cry This was it that broke the good Prophets heart the shrieks of his people Haec est querela hypocritarum Oecol Is not the Lord in Zion Thus in their distresse they leaned upon the Lord as Mic. 3.11 and enquired after him whom in their prosperity they made little reckoning of Why have they provoked me to anger q. d. The fault is meerly in themselves who have driven me out from amongst them by their Idolatries Ver. 20. The harvest is past the summer is ended They had set God a time and looked for help that summer at farthest but the Lord as he
blows It speaketh deceit See Psal 52.2 with the Notes One speaketh peaceably but in his heart he layeth his wait Such a one was the tyrant Tiberius and our Richard 3. who would use most complements and shew greatest signs of love and curtesie to him in the morning Dan hist 249. whose throat he had taken order to be cut that evening Ver. 9. Shall I not visit them See on chap. 5.9 Ver. 10. For the mountains will I take up a weeping Accingit se Propheta ad luctum Jeremy was better at weeping then Heraclitus and from a better principle Lachrymas angustiae exprimit Crux lachrymas poenitentiae peccatum lachrymas sympathiae affectus humanitatis vel Christianitatis lachrymas nequitiae vel hypocrisis vel vindictae cupiditas Jeremies tears were of the best sort Because they are burnt up The Rabbines tell us that after the people were carried captive to Babylon the land of Jury was burnt up with sulphur and salt But this may well passe for a Jewish fable Both the fowl of the heaven See chap. 4.25 Ver. 11. And I will make Jerusalem heaps So small a distance is there saith Seneca betwixt a great City and none The world is as full of mutation as of motion And a den of Dragons Because she made mine house a den of theeves chap. 7.11 Ver. 12. Who is the wise man that he may understand this This who and who denoteth a great paucity of such wise ones as consider common calamities in the true causes of them propter quid pereat haec terra for what the land perisheth and that great sins produce grievous judgements The most are apt to say with those Philistines It is a chance to attribute their sufferings to Fate or Fortune to accuse God of injustice rather then to accept of the punishment of their iniquity And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken q. d. Is there never a one of your Prophets that will set you right herein but the dust of covetousnesse hath put out their eyes and they can better sing Placentia then Lachrymae c. Ver. 13. And the Lord saith Or therefore the Lord saith q. d. Because neither your selves know nor have any else to tell you the true cause of your calamities hear it from Gods own mouth Ver. 14. But have walked after the imagination of their own heart Then the which they could not have chosen a worse guide sith it is evil only evil and continually so Gen. 6.5 See the note there Which their fathers taught them See chap. 7.18 Ver. 15. Behold I will feed them with wormwood i. e. With bitter afflictions Et haec poena inobedientiae fidei respondet The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own wayes Prov. 14.14 he shall have his belly full of them as we use to say See chap. 8.14 Ver. 16. And I will scatter them also among the heathen As had been forethreatned Deut. 28. Lev. 26. But men will not beleeve till they feel They read the threats of Gods law as they do the old stories of forreign wars and as if they lived out of the reach of Gods rod. Ver. 17. Consider ye Intelligentes estote Is not your hard-heartednesse such as that ye need such an help to do that wherein you should be forward and free-hearted The Hollanders and French fast saith one but without exprobration be it spoken they had need to send for mourning-women Spec. bel sac 209. Vt flerent oculos erudiere suas Ovid. that by their cunning they may be taught to mourn And call for the mourning women In planctum omne pathos faciles such as could make exquisite lamentation and cunningly act the part of mourners at funerals so as to wring teares from the beholders These the Latines called Praeficas quia luctui praeficiebantur because they had the chief hand in funeral mournings for the better carrying on whereof they both sang doleful ditties See 2 Chron. 35.25 and played on certain heavily-sounding instruments Mat. 9.23 whence the Poet Cantabit maestis tibia funeribus Ovid. Ver. 18. And let them make haste and take up a wailing for us Of this vanity or affectation God approveth not as neither he did of the Olympick games of usury of that custome at Corinth 1 Ep. 15.29 which yet he maketh his use of Ver. 19. For a voyce of wailing is heard out of Zion How are we spoiled Ponit formulam threnodiae Quis tragoediam aptius magis graphice depingeret what tragedy was ever better set forth and in more lively expressions Ver. 20. Yet hear the Word of the Lord O ye women For souls have no sexes and ye are likely to have your share as deep as any in the common calamity you also are mostly more apt to weep then men and may sooner work your men to godly sorrow then those lamentatrices Ver. 21. For death is come up into our windows i. e. The killing Chaldees break in upon us at any place of entrance doors or windows Joel 2.9 Joh. 10.1 The Ancients give us warning here to see to our senses those windows of wickednesse that sin get not into the soul thereby and death by sin Ver. 22. Speak Thus saith the Lord Heb. Speak it is the Lords saying and therefore thou mayst be bold to speak it So 1 Thes 4.15 For I say unto you in or by the Word of the Lord. And as the handful after the harvest man Death shall cut them up by handfuls and lay them heaps upon heaps Ver. 23. Let not the wise-man glory in his wisdom q. d. You bear your selves bold upon your wisdom wealth strength and other such seeming supports and deceitful foundations as if these could save you from the evils threatned But all these will prove like a shadow that declineth delightful but deceitful as will well appear at the hour of death Charles the fifth whom of all men the world â—udged most happy cursed his honours a little afore his death his victories trophees and riches saying Abite hinc abite longe get you far enough for any good ye can now do me Abi perdita bestia quae me totum perdidisti be gone thou wretched creature that hast utterly undone me said Corn Agrippa the Magician to his familiar spirit when he lay a dying So may many say of their worldly wisdom wealth c. Let not the wise man glory Let not those of great parts be head-strong or top-heavy let them not think to wind out by their wiles and shifts Let not the mighty man glory Fortitudo nostra est infirmitatis in veritate cognitio Aug. in humilitate confessio Nor the rich man glory in his riches Sith they availe not in the day of wrath Zeph. 1.18 See the Note there Ver. 24. But let him that glorieth glory in this And yet not in this neither unlesse he can do it with self-denial and lowlymindednesse Let him glory
brutish for want of knowledge so the words may be rendred the heathen idol-makers especially Brutescit homo prae scientia so Vatablus 1. Every man is brutish in comparison of knowledge viz. of Gods knowledge whil'st he goeth about to search into the causes of rain lightening wind c. which God only understandeth Ver. 15. They are vanity Vanity in its largest extent is properly predicated of them And the work of errours Meer mockeries making men to embrace vanity for verity In the time of their visitation See on Isa 46.1 Ver. 16. The portion of Jacob is not like them God is his peoples portion they are his possession Oh their dignity and security this the cock on the dunghil understands not Ver. 17. Gather up thy wares out of the land Make up thy pack and prevent a plundering Reculas tuas sarcinas compone Ver. 18. Behold I will fling out the inhabitants of this land I will easily and speedily sling them and fling them into Babylon so God will one day hurle into hell all the wicked of the earth Psal 9.17 And will distresse them that they may find it so Just so as they were foretold it would be but they could never be drawn to beleeve it Ver. 19. Wo is me for my hurt my wound is grievous This is the moane that people make when in distresse and they find it so But what after a while of pausing Truly this is my grief and I must bear it i. e. Bear it off as well as I may by head and shoulders or bear up under it and rub through it wearing it out as well as I can when things are at worst they 'l mend again Crosses as they had a time to come in so they must have a time to go out c. This is not patience but pertinaecy the strength of stones and flesh of brasse Job 6.12 it draweth on more weight of plagues and punishments God liketh not this indolency this stupidity this despising of his corrections as he calleth it Heb. 12.5 such shall be made to cry when God bindeth them Job 36.11 as here Ver. 20. My Tabernacle is spoiled I am irreparably ruined like as when a camp is quite broken up not any part of a tent or hut is left standing Ver. 21. For the Pastours are become brutish The corrupt Prophets and Priests who seduced the people from the truth were persons that made no conscience of prayer hence all went to wrack and ruine Ver. 22. Behold the noise of the bruit is come This doleful peal he oft rung in their eares but they little regarded it See chap. 9.11 Ver. 23. O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself He is not master of his own way but is directed and over-ruled by the powerful providence even this cruel Chaldaan also that marcheth against us It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps We know not what to do or which way to turn our selves only our eyes are toward thee Behold we submit to thy justice and implore thy mercy This text doth mainly make against free-will saith Oecolampadius and yet the Pelagiam would hence gather that man can by his own strength walk in the way to heaven but he must be holpen say they by Gods grace that he may be perfect Cum ratione seu modo Leniter discretè Lap. Ver. 24. O Lord correct me but with judgement i. e. In mercy and in measure Correction is not simply to be deprecated the Prophet here cryes Corret me David saith It was good for me Job calleth Gods afflicting of us his magnifying of us chap. 7.17 Feri Domine feri clementer ipse paratus sam saith Luther Smite Lord smite me but gently and I am ready to bear it patiently King Alfred prayed God to send him alwayes some sicknesse whereby his body might be tamed and he the better disposed and affectioned to God-ward Ecclesiastical history telleth of one Servulus who sick of a palsie so that his life was a lingering death said ordinarily God be thanked Ver. 25. Pour out c. This is not more votum then vaticinium a prayer then a prophecy And upon the families Neglect of family-prayer uncovers the roof as it were for Gods curse to be rained down upon mens tables meat enterprizes c. CHAP. XI Ver. 1. THe Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord To him it came but to be imparted to other Prophets say some Priests of Anathoth say others ver 2. which might be the reason why they were so enraged against him and fought his life ver 18 19. as the Popish Priests did Mancinels Savanarolas and other faithful Preachers for exciting them to do their duties Ver. 2. Hear ye the words and speak ye Ye Priests whose ordinary office it is to teach Jacob Gods judgements and Israel his Law Deut. 33.10 Ver. 3. And say thou unto them Thou Jeremy whether the rest will joyn with thee or not Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this Covenant It is probable that Jeremy when he said thus held the book in his hand viz. the book of Deuteronomy which the Rabbines call Sepher Tochechoth because of the many increpations and curses therein contained Ver. 4. From the iron furnace Where iron is melted and a fierce fire required Obey my voyce See chap 7.23 Ver. 5. A land flowing with milk and honey With plenty of dainties The City of Aleppo is so called by the Turkes of Alep milk for if the via lactea were on earth it would be found there saith one So be it O Lord Amen Fiat Fiat Oh that there were an heart in this people to obey thy voyce And oh that thou would'st still continue them in this good land c. Our hearts should be stretched out after out Amen and we should be swallowed upon God say the Rabbines Ver. 6. Hear ye the words of this Covevant and do them Else ye hear to no purpose as the Salamander liveth in the fire and is not made hot by the fire as the Ethiopian goeth black into the Bath and as black he cometh forth Ver. 7. Rising early i. e. endeavouring earnestly See chap. 5.8 Ver. 8. Yet they obeyed not See chap. 7.24 Therefore I will bring Heb. and I brought upon them Ver. 9. A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah A combination in sinful courses this is not Vnity but Conspiracy See Ezek. 22.25 Hos 6.9 such is the unity of the Antichristian crew Rev. 17.13 The Turkes have as little dissension in their religion as any yet are a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven Ver. 10. They are turned away to the iniquities of their fore-fathers Shewing themselves herein to be a race of rebels as good at resisting the holy Ghost as ever their Fathers were and are therefore justly chargeable with their iniquities which needeth not Ver. 11. Which they shall not be able to escape To avert avoid or abide I
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
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
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
Disciples The punishment of strange language Mr. Whatel Prototyp saith a grave Divine was an heavy punishment next to our casting out of Paradise and the Flood Ver. 7. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee They will not See the like Joh. 5.40 and 8.44 A mans will is his hell saith Bernard And it is easier saith another to deal with twenty mens reasons then with one mans will What hope is there of those that will not hear or if they do yet have made their conclusion aforehand and will stir no more then a stake in the midst of a stream For they will not hearken unto me Speaking unto them in the Scriptures See Hos 8.12 Mat. 10.24 25. Joh. 15.18 c. Let this speech of God to the Prophet comfort faithful Ministers contra cervicosos cerebrosos istes hypocritas that reject or resist their preaching What are we that we may not be slighted when as Christ himself the Arch-Prophet is Curtius Impudent Heb. stiffe of forehead This was a point next the worst Illum ego perjisse dico cui perjit pudor said that heathen he is an undone man who is past shame Ver. 8. Behold I have made thy face strong against their faces I have steeled thy forehead and strengthned thine heart that thou shalt budge for none of them I have rendred thee insuperable Ver. 9. As an adamant harder then flint Heb. strong above a Rock instar rupis quae in mari vadoso horridi Jovis Joh. Wower Polymath irati ut ita dicam Neptuni fer vidis assultibus undique verberata non cedit aut minuitur sed obâ—â—ndit assuetum fluctibus latus firma duritie Durus ut his animus solido ex adamante creatus Hesiod tumentis undae impetum sustinet ac frangit This invincible courage and constancy in Gods Ministers the mad world calleth and counteth pride and pertinacy but these know not the power of the Spirit nor the privy armour of proof that such have about their hearts Fear them not c. See chap. 2.6 Ver. 10. Son of man all my words receive in thine heart c. This is to eat the roul to turn it in succum sanguinem that it may surely nourish See on ver 1 2 3. Go get thee to them of the captivity The fruit whereof they have lost in great part because so little amended thereby Vnto thy people For I can scarce find in my heart to own them So Exod. 32.7 God fathers that rebellious people upon Moses Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear q. d. let them chuse and if they have a mind to it be miserable by their own election See chap. 2.5 Ver. 12. Then the spirit took me up and I heard behind me c. This was for the Prophets encouragement and to put mettle into him as it were that he might the better bear up amidst all sith he should shortly bear a part in that Angelical consort whose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theodoret hath it their dayly service is singing of Psalmes Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place i. e. From heaven where Saints and Angels glorifie his name without ceasing or saciety Monica after a discourse with her son Augustine about the happiness of heaven concluded thus Quantum ad me astinet fili nulla re amplius delector in hac vita Quid hîc facio As for me what make I here sith I take no more pleasure in any thing that is here to be had A picture of a globe of the whole earth saith one set out with all the brave things that sea and land can afford with this sentence encircling it round To be with Christ is far better is a Christians Emblem and should be his ambition Ver. 13. I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures In consent with the former doxology That touched one another Heb. kissed noting the love and good agreement that is betwixt the holy Angels no woman is so well affected to her sister as they are one to another in serving God and his people And the noise of the wheeles As the Angels so all actions and motions do as they can sing praise to God Ver. 14. So the spirit lifted me up As it did afterwards also Philip Act. 8.39 40. not visionally but really And took me away To Tel-abib And I went in bitternesse in the heat of my spirit Heb. I went bitter in the hot anger of my spirit q. d. I was in a great pet as considering that Gods truths must be spoken however they are taken Hic ecce pilluld voluminis in ore duleâ— in ventre dissoluta ventrem torquet lancinat Alapide and full ill they would be taken from me by mine untoward Country-men This made me for the time much out of temper but I soon denyed my self and got the better of mine unruly passions For The hand of the Lord was strong upon me I was overpowered by the Spirit of God who soon brought those high thoughts of mine into captivity and conformity to Christ 2 Cor. 10 5. Ver. 15. Then I came to them of the captivity of Tel-abib Which was the name of some chief place or plantation of the Jews in captivity saith Diodat It was in the middle part of Mesopotamia saith Junius between two rivers Chebar and Saocorah I sat where they sat Sculking and lusking or at least not acting according to my propheticke function and the gift bestowed upon me which I ought to have stirred up and exercised for the good of my fellow-captives This he freely confesseth as giving glory to God and taking shame to himself Seven dayes Which circumstance of time increased his sinnes saith Polanus Ver. 16. And it came to passe at the end of seven dayes Probably on the Sabbath-day that day of grace and opportunity of holiness God glorifieth his free-grace in coming to his offending Prophet as the Physician doth to his sick Patient and by setting him a work again sealing up his love to him like as he also did to the eleven Apostles by sending them abroad to preach the Gospel after that they had so basely deserted him at his apprehension and death upon the Cross Ver. 17. Son of man So Christ constantly calleth this Prophet to keep him humble See chap. 2.1 I have made thee a watch-man I who am the chief Bishop and Shepherd of souls 1 Pet. 2.25 have set thee in thy watchtower with charge to look well to my flock with golden fleeces precious souls that none be lost for want of warning See therefore that thou be Episcopus not Aposcopus an over-seer not a by-seer a Watcher not a sleeper somnolentia Pastorum est gaudium luporum Ephrem tract de tim Dei Shall the Shepherds sleep when as the wolves watch and worry the flock Act. 20.29 30. Herodotus telleth of one Euenius a City-shepherd Lib. 9. who for sleeping
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
knowledge Hos 4.6 Infatuaci seducentur seducti judicabuntur being infatuated they shall be seduced and being seduced they shall be judged as Austin's Note is on 2 Thess 2.10 Ver. 11. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away sc By Antiochus as hath been before said and with the knowledge whereof I would have thee to rest satisfied There shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety dayes Which are the three years and a half mentioned before saith Diodate with thirteen dayes over for some unknown reason The Wonderful Numberer hath all in numerato The Russians use to say in a difficult question God and our great Duke know all this The Jews in like case say Messias when he comes will tell us all things we desire to be informed of Ver. 12. But blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty dayes Here are forty five dayes more then in the former number and Probably they were from the restauration of Gods service until the death of Antiochus a blessed time to Gods poor persecuted people as was here the death of Queen Mary or else until some other signal mercy as the victory that Judas Machabaus and his brethren had about that time over the Edomites Ammonites and Moabites who thought to root Israel quite out Ver. 13. But go thou thy way Here Daniel to his great comfort hath a fair and favourable dismission out of this life before those great clashings and confusions should come which had been foreshewn to him So Austin and Paraeus dyed a little before Hippo and Hidelberg were taken Till the end be Whenever it shall be sooner or later thou shalt be sure to awake out of the dust of death unto everlasting life as ver 2. Yea thou shalt shine as the Stars for ever and ever ver 3. All that thou hast to do now is to prepare for such an end and to wait till thy change shall come comforting thy self against death with the hope of a blessed resurrection For thou shalt rest Thy soul shall rest in Abraham's bosom thy body in the grave as in a bed of down until the Resurection of the Just Mors aerumnarum requies was Chaucers Motto And stand in the lot i. e. In thine own order 1 Cor. 15.23 and in that degree of heavenly glory which shall be given thee as thy lot in allusion to the promised land divided amongst the Israelites by lot and as the reward of a faithful Prophet instrumental to the good of many who shall blesse God for thee thoroughout all eternity Ipse quidem studuì bene de pietat◠mereri Sed quicquid potui gratia Christe tua est Sel◠Quid sum Nil quis sum Nullus sed gratia Christi Quod sum quod vivo quodque laboro facit FINIS AN Alphabetical TABLE OF All the Principal things contained in this whole WORK A ACtion Life consisteth in it b. pag. 125. being acted by God let us act vigorously for him b. 207 353. a. 164 Adultery See Whoredom Affliction make the best of it a. 12. Men are best when worst a. 139. faint not in adversity a. 161. God afflicteth his in measure and for good b. 63. rejoyce in affliction b. 86. t is but short b. 71. it instructeth b. 92. exciteth devotion b. 94. it is in love not fury b. 96. in measure 97. for a cure or for a curse ib. purgeth out sin ib. God afflicteth not willingly b. 102. but most wisely b. 102 103. and in measure b. 152. why God afflicteth his own b. 173. Affliction sanctified is a great mercy b. 258. Some are good only in Afflictions b. 322 Alcair a great City b. 473 Alexander the great described b. 552 557 Alms Give liberally a. 16 131. chearfully a. 150. of your own a. 296. Motives and Directions a. 297 298 299. Alms-deeds are acceptable b. 189 Ambition Limitless a. 166. masked with Religion b. 341. pernicious b. 439 Angels Gods Agents b. 393. their knowledge swiftness serviceableness c. ib. See also on Dan. 9 10 11 12. Anger defer it a. 129. it is allayed by time a. 168. proud wrath stigmatized a. 145. t is unruly a. 177. moderate it and why a. 263. Rash anger is over-hot b. 532. angry not fit to be conversed with a. 154 Antinomy Dogmatical and Practical a. 195 Apostates are dangerous creatures a. 241 249. their doom a. 84 Arnold martyred for plain dealing b. 300 Arrogancie intollerable b. 470. arrogant boasters b. 539 Astrologers their vain predictions b. 150. their covetousness b. 151. they befool folk b. 543 B BAbylons strength b. 364. ruine b. 360 Bancrofts Epitaph b. 114 Beauty abused a. 62 Bellarmines rash censure a. 348 Blasphemy b. 485 Blind folk are sharp-witted b. 136 Boasting a. 134. proud boasters a. 168 b. 539. praise not thy self a. 176 Brittain soon converted and perverted b. 195 Butas a cunning thief b. 228 C CAto Major commended b. 520 Causes of things are unknown to us b. 395 Chaldee tongue b. 521 Chinois are a great people b. 156 Children to be corrected a. 79 194 195. Catechized 140. children cruelly punished for parents faults b. 441. Duke Dudleyes children dyed all childless b. 290 Cities die as well as men b. 85 Colosse Rhodian huge b. 531 Company good keep such a. 77. comfort and benefit of it a. 240 241 242. Man a sociable creature b. 26 27 Company evil danger of it a. 33. shun it a. 20 Compassion excelleth alms b. 190. Saints pitty the wickeds misery b. 69 70 Conscience is a divine faculty a. 139. power of it a. 270. what it is b. 192. t is spring of duty b. 531. comfort of a good Conscience a. 96 97 120. force of a clear Conscience b. 533. burthen of a wounded Conscience a. 125. terrour of an evil Conscience b. 542 549 281 Confession findeth mercy a. 186. b. 232 233 Content hath comfort a. 97 Christ Affect a unity with him a. 314. his sweetness a. 315. run to him a. 316. let him alone have the heart a. 323. his dear love to his Church a. 326. why he is compared to common creatures a. 328. his fulness a. 329. b. 175 176 197. his gifts to all his b. 512. Love the Lord Jesus a. 333. provoke him not ibid. he is at hand to help his a. 334. our safety is from him 332. his death a pledge of Gods greatest love a. 349. deny thy self for Christ ibid. He is a branch b. 21. his Incarnation and Government 39. by him we conquer b. 46. his names offices c. b. 46 47 55.56 57 197 198. The Lord our Righteousness a sweet name b. 290 291. his humiliation b. 168 169. his satispassion is our satisfaction ibid. our sins are imputed to him b. 170. his singular patience ib. come freely to him b. 170 Church not alway so visible a. 337. it is Christs workmanship a. 347. a Vineyard b. 24. Her beauty a. 350. t
ictus ictus vulnera saepe vulnera morâ— consequitur Wrath stirs up strife strife causeth ill words ill words draw on blows bloodshed and losse of life sometimes But hee that is slow to anger appeaseth strife Is as busie to stint strife as the other to stir it brings his buckets to quench this unnatural fire betwixt others and puts up injuries done to himself as Jonathan did when his Father flung a Javelin at him hee rose from Table and walked into the field David also though provoked yet hee as a deaf man heard not and was as one dumb in whose mouth there was â—â— reproof Such peaceable and peace-making men are blessed of God and â—â—ghly esteemed of men when wranglers are to be shunned as perilous persons Make not friendship with an angry man saith Solomon Prov. 22.24 And they are not much to bee regarded that with every little offensive breath or disgraceful word are blown up into rage that will not bee laid down without revenge or reparation to cure their credits Vers 19. The way of a slothful man is as a hedge of thorns Perplexed and let some so that hee gets no ground makes no riddance hee goes as if hee were shackled when hee is to go upon any good course so many perils hee casts and so many excuses hee makes this hee wants and that hee wants when in truth it is a heart onely that hee wants being wofully hampered and inthralled in the invisible chains of the Kingdome of darkness and driven about by the Devil at his pleasure This will bee a bodkin at these mens hearts one day to think I had a price in my hand but no heart to make use of it I foolishly held Germani dicunt Anser est in porta that a little with ease was best and so neglected so great salvation shifting off him that spake to mee from Heaven Heb. 12.25 and pretending some Lion in the way some Goose at the gate when I was to do any thing for my souls health Never any came to Hell saith one but had some pretence for their coming thither Vâ—a strata But the way of the righteous is made plain Or Is cast up as a Causey a Gabbatha John 19.13 a rode raised above the rest There seems to bee an allusion to that bank or causey that went from the Kings house to the Temple 1 Chron. 26.16 18. 1 King 10.5 2 Chron. 9.11 And the sense is that the godly by much practice of piety having gotten an habit dispatch duty with delight and come off with comfort See Isa 40.31 Vers 20. A wise Son maketh a glad Father See the Note on chap. 10.1 Vers 21. Folly is joy to him that is destitute of understanding See the Note on chap. 10.23 But a man of understanding walketh uprightly And hee doth it with delight as the opposition implies Christs burden is no more grievous to him Sinceritas screnitatis mater siâ—e qua tranquillitas omnis tempestas est Isidor than the wing is to the bird Matth. 11.30 1 John 5.3 His sincerity supplies him with a serenity the joy of the Lord as an oyl of gladness makes him lithe and nimble in waies of holiness And this spiritual joy in some is an habitual gladness of heart which constantly after assurance is found in them though they feel not the passions of joy but in others there are felt at sometimes the vehement passions of joy but not any constant gladnesse Vers 22. Without counsel purposes are disappointed The word here rendred Counsel signifies Secret because counsel should bee kept secret which to signifie the old Romans as Servins testifieth built the Temple of Consus their God of Counsel sub tecto in Circo in a publick place but under a covert And it grew to a proverb Romani sedendo vincunt The Romans by sitting in Counsel conquer their enemies But what a strange man was Xerxes and it prospered with him accordingly who in his expedition against Greece called his Princes together but gave them no freedome of speech Val. Max. lib. 9. cap. 5. nor liberty of Counsel Lest said hee to them I should seem to follow mine own counsel I have assembled you And now do you remember that it becomes you rather to obey than to advise Daniels Hist Such another was that James that reigned in Scotland in our Edward the fourths time Hee was too much wedded saith the Historian to his own opinion and would not endure any mans advice how good soever that hee fancied not hee would seldome ask counsel but never follow any See the Note on chap. 11.14 Vers 23. A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth It reflects comfort upon a man when hee hath spoken discreetly to the benefit and good content of others Some degree of comfort follows every good action as heat accompanies fire as beams and influence issue from the Sun which is so true that very Heathens upon the discharge of a good conscience have found comfort and peace answerable A word spoken in due season how good is it One seasonable truth falling on a prepared heart hath oft a strong and sweet operation Galeacius was converted by a similitude used by Peter Martyr reading on 1 Corinth Junius was reduced from Atheism by conference with a country-man of his Luther having heard Staupicius say that that is kinde repentance which begins from the love of God ever after that time the practice of repentance was the sweeter to him Also this speech of his took well with Luther Melch. Adam Doctrina praedestinationis incipit à vulneribus Christi The doctrine of predestination begins at Christs wounds Melancthon tells how that one time when Luther as hee was naturally passionate fell into a great distemper upon some provocation he quickly quieted him by reciting this verse Vince animos iramque tuam qui catera vincis At the hearing hereof Luther curbs in his passion and smiling said Non volumus de his amplius sed de aliis colloqui Joban Manâ— loc com Wee 'l talk no more of these matters Vers 24. The way of life is above to the wise Hee goes an higher way than his neighbour even in his common businesses because they are done in Faith and Obedience Hee hath his feet where other mens heads are and like an heavenly Eagle delights himself in high-flying Busied hee may bee in mean low things but not satisfied in them as adequate Objects A wise man may sport with children but that is not his business Domitian spent his time in catching flyes and Artaxerxes in making hafts for knives but that was the baseness of their spirits Wretched worldlings make it their work to gather wealth as children do to tumble a snow-ball they are scattered abroad throughout all the land as those poor Israelites were Exod. 5.12 to gather stubble not without an utter neglect of their poor souls But what I wonder will these men do when Death
shall come with a Writ of Habeas corpus and the Devil with a Writ of Habeas animam when the cold grave shall have their bodies and hot hell hold their souls O that they that have their hands elbow deep in the earth that are rooting and digging in it as if they would that way dig themselves a new and a nearer way to hell O that these greedy moles these insatiate muck-worms would be warned to flye from the wrath to come to take heed of hell beneath and not sell their souls to the Devil for a little pelf as they say Pope Silvester did for seven years enjoyment of the Popedome Oh that they would meditate every day a quarter of an hour as Francis Xaverius counselled John 3. King of Portugal on that divine sentence What shall it profit a man to win the whole world and lose his own soul Hee should bee a loser by the sale of his soul hee should bee that which hee so much feared to bee a beggar begging in vain though but for a drop of cold water to cool his tongue Vers 25. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud Where hee thinks himself most safe God will pull him as it were by the ears out of his Tabernacle hee will surely unroost him unnest him yea though hee hath set his nest among the stars as hee did proud Lucifer who kept not his first estate but left his habitation Jude 6. which indeed hee could hold no longer for it spued him out into hell that Infernus ab inferendo dictus See the Note on Chap. 12.7 14.11 But hee will establish the border of the widow Not the rest of her goods onely but the very utmost borders of her small possession Shee hath commonly no great matters to bee proud of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor any Patrons to stick to her and stickle for her Shee hath her name in Hebrew of Dumbness because either shee cannot speak for her self death having cut off her head her husband who was wont to speak for her or if shee do speak her tale cannot bee heard Luke 18.4 God therefore will speak for her in the hearts of her greatest opposites and oppressours Hee also will do for her and defend her borders as hee did for the Shunamite and for the Sareptan and for the poor Prophets widow whose debts hee paid for her and for the widow of Naim whose son hee raised unrequested Luke 7.13 Especially if shee bee a widow indeed 1 Tim. 5. such as Anna was Luke 2. A vine whose root is uncovered thrives not a widow whose covering of eyes is taken away joyes not But in God the fatherless findeth mercy Hos 14.3 and hee will cause the widows heart to sing for joy Job 29.13 Vers 26. The thoughts of the wicked are abomination Let him not think to think at liberty Thought is not free as some fools would have it To such God saith Hearken O earth Behold I bring evil upon this people even the fruit of their thoughts Jer. 6.19 The very Heathen could say Fecit quisque quantum voluit what evil a man wills hee doth And Incesta est sine stupro quae stuprum cupit Hee that lusteth after a woman hath lain with her in his heart If I regard iniquity in mine heart saith David shall not God finde this out and for it reject my prayer Psal 66.18 Kimchi being sowred with Pharisaical leven makes this strange sense of that Text If I regard iniquity onely in my heart so that it break not forth into outward act the Lord will not hear mee that is hee will not hear so as to impute it or account it a sin But was not this coedem Scripturaerum facere as Tertullian hath it to murder the Scripture or at least to set it on the rack so to make it speak what it never intended to force it to go two miles when it would go but one But the words of the pure are pleasant words Such as God books up Mal. 3.16 and makes hard shift to hear as I may so say for hee hearkens and hears ibid. The rather because these pleasant words are the fruits and products of that law of grace within that good treasure that habit of heavenly mindedness they have acquired For though the heart of the wicked bee little worth and as little set by Yet the tongue of the just is as choice silver Prov. 10.20 See the Note there Hee mints his words and God layes them up as his riches yea looks upon them as apples of gold in pictures of silver Prov. 25.11 as gold put in a case of cut-work of silver which is no less precious than pleasant See Eccles 12.10 with the Note there Vers 47. Hee that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house Fires his own nest while hee thinks to feather it fingers that that will burn in his purse will prove lucrum in arca damnum in conscientia gain to his purse Augustin but loss to his conscience Adde hereunto that the covetous mans house is continually on a tumult of haste and hurry Up up up saith hee to bed to bed quick at meat quick at work c. what with labour and what with passion and contention hee and his houshold never live at hearts-ease and rest Thus it was in the houses of Laban and Nabal But hee that hateth gifts shall live Viz. Gifts given to pervert or buy justice The fire of God shall devour the Tabernacles of such corrupt Judges Job 15. So for those that are bribed out of their Religion Joh. Egnat Gelli dâ—al 5. Stratagema nunc est Pontificium ditare multos ut pii esse desinant The Papists propose rewards to such as shall relinquish the Protestant Religion and turn to them as in Ausburgh where they say there is a known price for it of ten Florens a year In France where the Clergy have made contributions for the maintenance of Renegado Ministers Thus they tempted Luther Specul Europ Hem. Germana ills bestia non curat aurum but hee would not bee hired to go to hell and thus they tempted that noble Marquess of Vicum Nephew to Pope Paul the fifth who left all for Christ and fled to Geneva but hee cryed out Let their money perish with them that prefer all the worlds wealth before one dayes communion with Jesus Christ and his despised people Vers 28. The heart of the righteous studieth to answer His tongue runs not before his wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but hee weighs his words before hee utters them as carrying a pair of ballance betwixt his lips and dips his words in his minde ere men see what colour they are of as Plutarch saith Phocion did Hee hath his heart not at his mouth but at his right hand saith Solomon to make use of when hee sees his time Melancthon when some hard question was proposed to him would take three dayes deliberation to answer it