Psal 120.6 is the Philosophers counsel Video Taceo I see and say nothing was Queen Elizabeths Motto and I am for peace was Davids or as the Hebrew hath it I am peace He heard the slander of many fear was on every side Psal 31.13 but he as a deaf man heard not and as a dumb man so he opened not his mouth Psal 38.13 Facile est in me dicere cum non sim responsurus said One once to another that revil'd at him Thou shalt fight without an adversary for I will hear and bear and say nothing The best answer to words of scorn and petulancy saith learned Hooker is Isaac's apologie to his brother Ishmael patience and silence no apologie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man would not be bound to such a slavery as to answer every calumny Qui nescit ferre calumnias convitia injurias nescit vivere saith Chytraeus He that cannot patiently bear reproaches and injuries may make up his pack and get him out of the world for here 's no being for him Vitus Theodorus sent to advise with Melancthon what he should do when Osiander preacht against him Melch. Adam Melancthon per Deum obtestatur ut taceret se it a gereret quasi non audiret Melancthon besought him for Gods sake to say nothing in that case but to carry himself so as if he heard not Vitus writes back that this was very hard yet he would obey It is hard to swallow down Physical Pills but better swallow them whole then chaw them between the teeth Vers 15. Naphish and Kedamah Twelve in all Princes of their Tribes as was promised Gen. 17.20 See saith One here B. Babington what God can do for a poor boy sent out with a bottle of water on his back God setâ—eth the solitary in families Psal 68.6 he raiseth the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the begger from the dung hill to set them among Princes c. 1 Sam 2.8 Vers 16. These are their names by their towns which they called after their own names as Cain did that first built City Fnoch after his sons name that he might be stiled Lord Enoch of Enoch So the many Alexandria's Caesarea's Augusta's c. See Psal 49.11 Vers 17. And he gave up the ghost and died and was gathered Sc. to the Congregation-house of all living as the grave is called Job 30.23 and for ought we know to the Congregation-house of the first-born 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as heaven is called Heb. 12.23 Abraham prayed that Ishmael might live in Gods sight Ishmael joyned with his brother Isaac in burying their father Abraham vers 9. of this Chapter Here he hath his whole life-time recorded the like whereof cannot be shewed of any reprobate and at his death he is said gently to give up the ghost or yeeld up the spirit as Abraham also did vers 8. and to be gathered to his people as he These are probable arguments that however he lived yet he died in the faith of his father Abraham He runs far we say that never turns Nunquam serò si seriâ— Vers 18. And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur A large tract and territory but nothing so large as his posterity the Saracens called more rightly Hagarens Psal 83.6 proved to be whose Name and Empire notwithstanding is now swallowed up in the greatness of the Turkish Empire Turk hist which laboureth with nothing more then with the weightiness of it self And he died Or dwelt as some read it Compare Chap. 16 12. Vers 19. And these are the generations That is the affairs and occurrences Vers 20. And Isaac was fourty yeers old He was not over-hasty to marry in the heat of his youth but by hard labour ardent prayers and pious meditations kept under his body and brought it into subjection as Saint Paul likewise did 1 Cor. 9.27 We are not debters to the flesh Rom. 8.12 we owe it nothing but stripes nothing but the blue eye that the Apostle gave it Vers 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife He did it constantly and instantly as the word signifies he multiplied prayer which as those arrows of deliverance 2 Kings 13.19 must be often iterated ere the mercy can be obtained And the Lord was intreated of him though it were long first even full twenty yeers God knows how to commend his mercies to us and therefore holds us long in suspence Citò data vilescunt Manna lightly come by was as lightly set by Vers 22. Jitbrotsatsu And the children struggled together Heb. They ran at tilt as it were and justled one against another even to bruising and hurting Esau that he might lose no time began to set against Jacob before he was born If it be sò why am I thus A passionate abrupt speech q. d. Better no children then so troubled with them See Chap. 27.46 compare Chap. 3.16 I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception This she should have born more patiently but she presently bethought her of the best course for she went to enquire of the Lord she got into a corner and prayed and was answered She prayed down her passions as a man sleeps out his drunkenness and sets to work lustily and so got the ensuing oracle Vers 2â— And the Lord said unto her Either by an Angel or a Prophet or some divine answer in her own heart Two nations are in thy womb So what can a man see in the Shulamite in every sanctified soul but as it were the company of two armies Cant. 6.13 Every good man is a divided man every new man two men Vers 24. And when her days to be delivered Which fell out fifteen yeers before Abrahams death to his great comfort no doubt God doth for his his best at last There were twins in her womb See Cant. 4.2 with Isai 66.8 Vers 25. And the first came ont red Red and rough cruel and crafty as that red old dragon Rev. 12.3 who inhabited in him and both acted and agitated him Eph. 2.2 ab ascensore suâ— daemone perurgebatur saith Bernard And so are those Romish Edomites Esauites Jesuites c. And they called his name Esau Factus perfectus pilis a bearded man one that had every thing more like a man then a babe a manly childe Vers 26. And after that came his brother out God could have brought Jacob out first for it is he that takes us out of the womb Psal 22.9 but he suffereth Esau for a time to enjoy the first birth-right till his own time came to set things to rights God waits to be gracious for he is a God of judgement Isai 30.18 And his hand took hold on Jacobs heel As if he would have turned up his heels and got to the goal before him And his name was called Jacob Calcanearius an heel-catcher or supplanter as he afterwards proved to Esau who hit him also in teeth with it
Paul's Epistles which he liked so well that were he now to chuse his Religion Heyl. Geog. pag. 714. he would before any other embrace Christianity But every one ought said He to dye in his own religion And the leaving of the faith wherein he was born was the only thing that he disliked in that Apostle Vers 28. Blessed them every one according c. These hard blessings to some of them especially hindered not the covenant Still they were Patriarchs and heirs of the Promises Afflictions how sharp soever shew us not to be cast-awayes If a man should be baited and used as a dog or a bear yet so long as he hath humane shape and a reasonable soul he will not believe he is either dog or bear Let not crosses cause us to take up hard thoughts of God or heavy thoughts of our selves as if out of his favour but account it a mercy rather that we may scape so and be judged here of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world Jacob is here said to have blessed all his sons He rather seemed to curse some of them And for his welbeloved Benjamin Parum auspicata honorifera videtur haec prophetia saith Pareus But because they were not rejected from being among Gods people as Ishmael and Esau were for less faults perhaps though they were to undergo great and sore afflictions they are said to be blessed yea and they shall be blessed as Isaac said to his whining son Esau Vers 29. I am to be gathered c. That is I am now going to heaven whereof being so well assured what wonder though he were so willing to dye I know that my Redeemer liveth saith Job I know whom I have trusted saith Paul Ipse viderit ubi anima mca man sura fit qui proea sic sollicitus suit ut vitam pro ea posuerit Luther Occidere potest ladere non potest And what shall become of my soul when I dye let him see to it who laid down his life for it said Luther Death may kill me but cannot hurt me said Another This assurance of heaven is as Mr. Larymer calls it the sweet-meats of the feast of a good conscience There are other dainty dishes in this feast but this is the banquet Vers 33. He gathered up his feet He quietly composed himself as it were to sleep in Jesus He had stretcht out himself before saith Musculus as well as he could for reverence to the Word of God which he delivered c. And was gathered to his people To the general Assembly and Church of the first-born whose names are written in heaven Heb. 12.23 In Jerusalem records were kept of the names of all the citizens Psal 48.3 So is it in Heaven where Jacob is now a denizon CHAP. L. Vers 1. And Joseph fell upon his fathers face AS willing to have wept him alive again if possible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 famulor curo .i. remedia morbo adhibco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adrian Imp. Tritum est nullum medicum esse peritum nisi 30 homines Orco demiscrit Farewell Physick was Chaucers Motto Olim exponebatur aeger obvio cuilibet sanandus yet more moderate then his father had been in the supposed death of him by an evil beast devouring him But of mourning for the dead see Notes on Chap. 23.2 Vers 2. And Ioseph commanded his servants the Physitians Physitians it seems were formerly of no great esteem perhaps it was because through ignorance they many times officiously killed their patients We know who it was that cryed out upon his death-bed Many Physitians have killed the Emperour And it is grown to a Proverb No Physitian can be his crafts-master till he have been the death of thirty men The Egyptians to prevent this mischief appointed for every ordinary disease a several Physitian enjoyning them to study the cure of that only And till then the fashion was to lay the sick man at his door where every passenger was bound to enquire the nature of his disease that if either himself or any within his knowledg had recovered of the like Plutarch Herodot lib. 1. he might tell by what means or stay to make tryal of that skill he had upon the Patient Physick is without question the ordinance of God Exod. 15.26 Exod. 31.19 He stiles himself Jehovah Rophe the Lord the Physitian And a Physitian is more worth then many others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. saith the Heathen Poet. Use them we must when there is need Mar. 2.17 1 Tim. 4.4 but not idolize them as 2 Chron. 16.12 And the Physitians embalmed Israel According to the custome of that country Herodot Euterpe Plin. lib. 11. cap. 27.2 Chron. 16.14 21.16 concerning which he that will see more may read in Heredotus and Pliny This custome continued also in after-ages as well among Jews as Gentiles But the Devil turned it in time into most vain superstition both among the Greeks whom Lucian frequently jeers for it and among the Latines witness that of Ennius Tarquinii corpus bona foemina lavit unxit Ioseph embalmed his fathers corpse partly to honour him with this solemnity and partly to preserve him for so long a journey but principally to testifie his faith of the Resurrection and that incorruption he hoped for at the last day Some think the Apostle hath relation to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 voce mediâ— in that 1 Cor. 15.29 and they read it thus Why do they then wash over the dead Confer Act 9 37. Vers 3. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy dayes Longer then Ioseph mourned they did it through ignorance and as men without hope for both which see 1 Thess 4.13 Ioseph could look thorow hâ—s own loss and see his fathers gain beyond it Besides Hieron ad Julian he could say as Hierome in like case Tulisti Domine patrem quem ipse de leras Non contristor quòd recepisti ago gratias quò dedisti Cic. de â—inib lib. 2. And if Epicures could comfort themselves in their greatest dejections ex praeteritarum voluptatum recordatione How much more could Ioseph now not only by calling to mind this last seventeen years enjoyment of his dear father beyond all hope and expectation but chiefly that happy change his father had made from darkness to light from death to life from sorrow to solace from a factious world to a heavenly habitation where he drinks of that torrent of pleasure without let or loathing Vers 4. Speak I pray you in the cars of Pharaoh He spake not to the King himself but set others a work Not because he was fallen out of favour Parcus for he had the happiness to be favourite to five Kings Orus Amasis Chebron Amenophes and Mephiris in the eleventh year of whose reign he dyed but because he was now a mourner and such were not wont to come before Kings Esth 4.2
raising of his Son Christ Eph. 1.19 to raise us from the death of sin and of carnall Esa 51.16 to make us a people created againe Psal 102.18 Doth he not plant the heavens and lay the foundation of the earth that he may say to Zion thou art my people Empty man would be wise saith Zophar Job 11.12 though man be born like a wild asse colt Mans heart is a meer emptiness a very Tohu vabohu as void of matter to maâ—e him a new creature of as the hollow of a tree is of heart of oake God therefore creates in his people cleane hearts Psal 50.10 and as in the first creation so in the new creature the first day as it were God works light of knowledge the second day the firmament of faith the third day seas and trees that is repentant tears and worthy fruits the fourth day Lightf Miscel the Sun joyning light and heat together heat of zeale with light of knowledge the fifth day fishes to play and foules to flye so to live and rejoyce in a sea of troubles and flye heaven-ward by prayer and contemplation The sixt day God makes beasts and man yea of a wild asse-colt a man in Christ with whom old things are past all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess 4. And to whom besides that they are all taught of God the very beasts Esa 1.2 and birds Jer. 8.7 doe read a Divinity Lecture Aske now the beasts and they shall teach thee and the foules of the ayre they shall tell thee Anton. Eremita ap Aug. lib. 1. de doctr Christ Niceph. l. 8. c. 40 Clem. Alex. Job 12.8 The whole world is nothing else saith One but God expressed so that we cannot plead ignorance for all are or may be book learned in the creature This is the Shepherds Callender the Plowmans Alphabet we may run and read in this great book which hath three leaves Heaven Earth Sea A bruitish man knows not neither doth a foole understand this Psal 9 29. They stand gazing and gaping on the outside of things onely but asknot Who is their Father their Creator Like little children which when they finde a Picture in their booke they gaze and make sport with it but never consider it Either their mindes are like a clocke that is over wound above the ordinary pitch and so stands still their thoughts are amazed for a time they are like a blocke thinking nothing at all Esa 40.28 or else they think Atheistically that all comes by nature but hast thou not known saith the Prophet hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator c. or at best as the common passenger looks onely at the hand of the Diall to see what of the clock it is but takes no notice of the clock-work within the wheels and poises and various turnings and windings in the work so it is here with the man that is no more then a meer naturall 1 Cor. 2.15 But he that is spirituall discerneth all things he entreth into the clock-house as it were and views every motion beginning at the great wheel and ending in the least and last that is moved He studies the glory of God revealed in this great book of Nature and prayseth his power wisdome goodness c. And for that in these things He cannot order his speech because of darkness Job 37.38 39. he begs of God a larger heart and better language and cryes out continually with David Blessed be the Lord God the God of Israel who onely doth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious name for ever and eâ—er and let the whole earth be filled with his glory Amen and Amen Plal. 72.18 19. Verse 26. And God said Let us make man Man is the master-peece of Gods handy-work Sun Moon and Stars are but the workâ— of his fingers Psal 8.3 but man the work of his hands Psal 1â— 9.14 He is cura divini ingenii made by counsell at first Let us make c. and his body which is but the souls sheath Dan. 7.15 Animae vagina is still curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth that is in the womb Psal 139.15 with Eph. 4.9 as curious workmen when they have some choice peece in hand they perfect it in private and then bring it forth to light for men to gaze at Thine bands have mude me or took speciall pains about me and fashioned me saith Job Thou hast formed me by the book saith David Psal 139.16 Job 10.8 yea emâ—roidered me with nerves veyns and variety of limbs miracles enough saith One betwixt head and foot to fill a Volume Man saith a Heathen is the bold attempt of daring nature the faire workmanship of a wise Artificer saith another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trismegist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xâ—noph Miraculorum omnium maximum Stoici Gal. lib. 3. de usu partium Lib. 11. 1â— The greatest of all miracles saith a third And surely should a man be born into the world but once in a hundred years all the world would run to see the wonder Sed miracula assiduitate vilescunt Galen that prophane man was forced upon the description of man and the parts of his body only to sing a hymn to the Creator whom yet he knew not I make here saith he a true hymn in the honour of our Maker whose service I beleeve verily consisteth not in the sacrificing of Hecatombs or in burning great heaps of Frankinsence before him but in acknowledging the greatness of his wisdome power and goodness and in making the same known to others c. And in another place Now is he saith Gallen which looking but only upon the skin of a thing wondreth not of the cunning at the Creator Yet notwithstanding he dissembleth not that he had tryed by all means to find some reason of the composing of living creatures and that he would rather have fathered the doing thereof upon Nature then upon the very Authour of Nature Lib. 15. And in the end concludeth thus I confesse that I know not what the soule is though I have sought very narrowly for it Favorinus the Philosopher Nibil in terra magnum prater bominâ—m nibil in homine praeter mentem Fav ap Gel. was wont to say The greatest thing in this world is Man and the greatest thing in man is his soule It is an abridgement of the invisible world as the Body is of the visible Hence man is called by the Hebrewes Gnolam haktaton and by the Greeks Microcosmus A little world And it was a witty essay of him who stiled woman the second Edition of the Epitome of the whole world The soule is set in the body of them both as a little god in this little world as Jehovah is a great God in the great world Whence Proclus the Philosopher could say that the
repentance Whether God created these skins anew or took them off the backs of sheep and goats killed for sacrifice to mind man of his mortality and mortification it much matters not Our first parents who even after the fall were the goodliest creatures that ever lived went no better cloathed no more did those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy Heb. 11.37 And surely The dogs that kept Vulcanâ— temple would tear those that came in tattered cloâ—thes Hospinian howsoever our condition and calling afford us better array and the vulgar like a Bohemian cur fawn upon every good suit purpuram magis quam Deum colunt yet we must take heed that pride creep not into our cloaths those ensignes of our sin and shame sith our fineness is our filthiness our neatness our nastiness It is a sure sign of a base minde though in high place to think he can make himself great with any thing that is lesse then himself and win more credit by his garments then his graces St. Peter teacheth women who many of them are too much addicted to over much fineness to garnish themselves not with gay cloathes but with a meek and quiet spirit as Sarah did and not as those mincing dames 1 Vestium curiositas deformitatis mentium morum indicium est Bernard Pet. 3.3 4. whose pride the Prophet inveighs against as punctually as if he had viewed the Ladies wardrobes in Jerusalem Esa 3. Rich apparell are but fine covers of the foulest shame The worst is Natures garment the best but follies garnish How blessed a Nation were we if every silken suit did cover a sanctified soul or if we would look upon out cloathes as our first parents did as love-tokens from God Nam cum charissinia semper Munera sunt Author quae pretiosa facit How could they but see it to be a singular favour that God with own hands should cloath them though he had cast them out of Paradise for their nurture a visible Sacrament of his invisible love and grace concerning their soules in covering their sins and so interresting them into true blessedness Psal 32 1 2. Verse 22. The man is bâ—come as one of us A holy irrisionof mans vain affectation of the Deity Quod Deus loquitur cum risu tu lâ—gas cum fleâ—u Aug. de Gen. ad â—â—eram 1.11 c. 3â— Howbeit St. Aug. is of opinion that God speaks thus not by way of insulting over Adam but deterring others from such proud attempts Discite justitiam moniti c. And take also of the tree of life And so think to elude the sentence of death pronounced upon him by God which yet he could not have done had he eaten up tree and all He should but have added to his sin and judgement by abuse of this Sacrament which would have sealed up life unto him had he held his integrity Multi etiam hodie propter arborem scientiae amittunt arborem vitae Aug. In terris manducant quod apudinferos digerunt Verse 23. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth He gently dismissed him as the word signifies placed him over against Paradise in the sight thereof as Stella observeth out of the Septuagint that Stella in Luc. 7 by often beholding the sorrow of his sin might be increased Iisdem quibuâ— videmus â—culis flemus Lam. 3. 2 Cor. 2.7.11 that his eye might affect his heart Yet lest he should be swallowed up of over much sorrow and so Satan get an advantage of him for God is not ignorant of his devices Christ the promised seed was by his voluntary banishment to bring back all beleevers to their heavenly home to bear them by his Angels into Abrahams bosome and to give them to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Rev. 2.7 Our whole life here is nothing else but a banishment That we like it no worse is because we never knew better They that were born in hell saith the Proverb think there 's no other heaven The poor posterity of a banished Prince take their mean condition well-aworth Moses counts Egypt where yet he was but a sojourner his home and in reference to it calls his son born in Midian Gershom that is a stranger there Oh how should we breath after our heavenly home Aâ—â— Paradisi Gesner groaning within our selves like those birds of Paradise Naturalists speak of stretching forth the neck as the Apostles word importeth waiting for the adoption even the redemption of our bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. Rom. 8.23 glorifying God mean-while with our spirits and bodies devouring all difficulties donec à spe ad speciem transeamus till Christ who is gone to prepare a place for us returne and say This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Verse 24. So he drove out the man The Hebrews say God led Adam gently by the hand till he came to the porch of Paradise and then thrust him out violently who hungback and plaid loth to depart That he went out unwillingly as I wonder not so that he should strive with God about his going out I believe not This garden planted meerly for his pleasure and all the benefits created for his use and service in six dayes he lost in six houres say some in nine say others the same day he was made say All almost What cause then have all his sinfull posterity to distrust themselves And how little cause had that blasphemous Pope to set his mouth against heaven Juâ—ius 3. when being in a great rage at his Steward for a cold Peacock not brought to table according to his appointment and desired by one of his Cardinals not to be so much moved at a matter of so small moment he answered If God were so angry for an apple that he cast our first parents out of Paradise for the same why may not I being his Vicar be angry then for a Peacock sith it is a greater matter then an apple Act. Mon. fol. 1417. Is not this that mouth of the Beast that speaketh great things and blasphemies Rev. 13.5 CHAP. IV. Verse 1. I have gotten a man from the Lord OR that famous Man the Lord as if she had brought forth the Man Christ Jesus These were verba spei non rei for Cain was of that wicked one the Devill 1 Joh. 3.12 as all reprobates are 1 Joh. 3.10 Cain the Authour of the City of the World saith Augustine is born first and called Cain that is a possession because he buildeth a City is given to the cares and pomp of the world and persecutes his brother that was chosen out of the world But Abel the Authour of the City of God Aug. de civit Dâ—i l. 15. c. 1. is born second called Vanity because he saw the worlds vanity and is therefore driven out of the world by an untimely death so early came martyrdome into the world the
this man to be thy slave and bedfellow If he be not loving obedient and dutifull to thee Heyl. Geog. p. 583. I give thee here this cunâ—hare or dagger to out off his head Yet can she not forbid him to marry more wives to vex her Levit. 18.18 and to fret her as Peninnah did Hannah yea to make her to thunder as the word there signifies For Turks may take as many wives 1 Sam. 1.6 as they are able to maintain Hence it is that in jealousie they â—â—cend Italians making their women go moâ—â—ed all but the eyes 〈◊〉 106. and not suffeâ—ing them to go to Church or so much as looke out at their own windows Vers 20. Adah bâ—â— a Jabaâ— Jabal a good husband Iâ—â—al a merry Greek whence the word Iubilo in Latine and our English Joâ—iall Jaball that dwelt in tents and tended the herds had Juball to his brother the father of haâ—dâ—nd wind musick Jaball and Juball frugality and mirth good hâ—sbandry and sweet content dwel together Virgil makes mention of a happy husbandman in his time who Regum aequabat opes animis seraque reversus Virg. Georg. Nocte domum dâ—pibus mensas onerabat inemptis Vers 22. And Zillah bare Tubalcam Perhaps the same that the Poets call Vulcan He was a cunning Artificer in brasse and iron To oles they had before and instruments of iron how else could they have plowed the accursed earth Vide Natal Com. Mythol l. 2. c. 5. But this man artem jam inventam excoluit ornavitque saith Iunius and is therefore called A whetter or polisher of every Artificer in brasse and iron They had the art of it before but he added to their skill by his invention he sharply and wittily taught Smiths-craft and is therefore by the heathens fained to be the god of Smiths saith another Interpreter Vers 23. And Lamech said unto his wives Who it seems were troublesome to him with their domesticall discords and led him a discontented life He therefore gives them to understand in this set speech what a man he is if molested by them or any other and what slaughters he can make if provoked by an adversary I would slay a man if but wounded c. This revenge he counts man-hood Plutar. in Pelopidâ— which indeed is dog-hood rather So Alexander Phereus consecrated his javelin wherewith he slew his uncle Polyphron as a monument of his man-hood and called it his god Tychon Ne memoria tam prâ—â—larae rei dilueresur So Sylla caused it to be registred in the publicke Records that he had prescribed and put to death foure thousand and seven hundred Romanes So Stokesly Bishop of London comforted himself upon his death bed with this Act. Mon. that in his time he had burned fifty Heretickes as he called them Phil. 3. Is not this to glory in their shame and to have damnation for their end Is it not the Devill that sets men a worke to do thus as he did Saul to seek Davids life and Lamech to domineer in this sort over his wives New-Engl first fruits p. 4. seeking so to represse their strife A certaine Indian comming into a house of the New-English where a man and his wife were brawling and they bidding him sit downe he was welcome he answered he would not stay there Hobomack that is the Devill was there and so departed Vers 24. If Cain shall â—e avenged sevenfold c. Thrasonicall Lamech brags and goes on to out-dare God himself For it is as if he should say If God will take vengeance on them that contemne him why may not I on those that contemne me wives or other Nay though God will forgive evills against him yet will not I evills against me I le have the oddes of him seventy to seven so Iunius interprets it A desperate expression and somewhat like that of Pope Iulius the third above-mentioned in the last note upon the former Chapter whereunto may here be added that the same Pope being forbidden by his Phâ—sitian to eat Swine flesh as being noysome and nought for his gout he called to hâ—s Steward in a great rage and said Act. Mon. fol. 1417. Bring me my pork-flesh al despito di dio In despite of God O wretch Vers 25. She bare a son and called c. Virgil. The Duke of Florence gave for his Ensign a great treâ— with many spreading boughes one of them being cut off with this Posie Vno avulso c. Sic uno avulso non deficit alter Aureus Dead bones may revive and out of the ashes of a Phoenix another Phoenix spring Jana jacet Phoenix nato Phoenice c. The two witnesses that were killed received the spirit of life from God againe Rev. 11.11 Iobn Baptist revivetâ— in our Saviour qui huic succentuâ—iatus est and Steven in Paul John Hus in Luther the Goose in the Swan and the suppressed Waldenses in the Protestants The Papists gave out that when Luther dyed all his sect would dye with him and when Queene Elisabeths head was laid we should have strange worke in England A false Jesuit in a scandalous libell published it that she wished that she might after her death hang a while in the ayre to see what striving would be for her Kingdome But she both lived and dyed with glory Camdens Elisab her rightfull successour came in peaceably not a dog moving his tongue at him The true Reformed Religion was established and is hitherto maintained amongst us maugre the malice of Rome and Hell It was the Legacy left us by our Ancestours the blood of those blessed Martyrs was the seed of our Church of which I may say as he of his City Victa tamen vinces eversaque Troja resurges Obruit hostiles illa ruina domos When the Devill and his Imps had got Abel into his grave and saw Adam without another in his room for an hundred and thirty years space or near upon what a deal of joy was there think we amongst them and sending of gifts But God in due time sets up a Seth instead of Abel and so cuts the devils comb confutes his confidence He will have a Church when all 's done The Pope could tell the Turk so much in a message Niteris incassùm Christi submergere navem Pius 2. ad Imperat Turc Fluctuat at nunquà m mergitur illa ratis Vers 26. Then began men to call upon c. Publikely and in solemn assemblies to serve the Lord and to make a bold and wise profession of his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2. shining as Lamps amidst that perverse generation of irreligious Caâ—nites who said unto God Depart from us c. Job 22.17 This Job speaks there of these wicked which were cut down out of time their foundation was overflown with the flood Vers 16. CHAP. V. Verse 1. This is the Book of the generations SEpher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
stood leaning upon a desk while he slept eating little and speaking not much When he was asked how he did he would answer That he was chastised justly by God in whose hand it was what should at length become of him here But of his eternal salvation by the merits of Christ alone he nothing doubted being chastised of the Lord that he might not be condemned with the world The prints of his feet are to be seen in the pavement where he stood to this day saith the Historian After seven yeers suffering he departed in the true Faith of Christ with good hopes of a better estate in Heaven September the eleventh Anno 1552. A servant of servants shall he be to his brethren In which title the Pope of Rome not without the providence of God will needs be his successor A servant of Gods servants he will by all means be called And yet he stamps upon his coyn That Nation and Countrey that will not serve thee shall be rooted out What pride equal to the Popes making Kings kiss his Pantofles upon which he hath Christs Cross shining with Pearls and precious stones Vt plenis faucibus crucem Christi derideat Sands his Relation of West relig sect 12. What humility greater then his shriving himself daily to an ordinary Priest One while he will be filled Servus servorum Dei another while Dominus regnorum mundi which is one of the Devils titles yea Dominus Deus noster Papa Johan 23. iâ— Extravag taking upon him a power to excommunicate the very Angels also yea lifting up himself above Christ who is called Pontifex Magnus Hebrews 4.14 but the Pope calls himself Pontifex maximus Gregory the Great was the first that stiled himself A servant of servants in opposition forsooth to that proud Prelate of Constantinople who affected to be called Vniversal Bishop But after the death of Mauricius Phâ—cae adularâ— suppariseri c. Ut suam poâ—â—statem per favorem parricidae extenderet Revii hist pontif p. 45. when Phocas the Traytor came to be Emperor this Gregory clawed him shamefully and all to attain that dignity and dominion that he so much condemned in another The Pope of Constantinople could not bear a superior nor the Pope of Rome an equal The one sought to subdue to himself the East the other East and West too and thence grew all the heat betwixt them See the like ambition under the colour of zeal for their Religion in Selymus the Turk and Hismael the Persian Turk histor foliâ— 515. Vers 26. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. Shem seems to have been the chief actor and perswader of that reverent behavior and therefore as he is first named Vers 23. before his elder brother Japhet so here he hath the first and chief blessing It is good to be first in a good matter yea prompt and present to every good work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.1 as Paul hath it And Canaan shall be hâ—s servant This curse was not fulfilled of many hundred yeers after till the sins of the Amorites were grown full and then it was accomplished Gods forbearance is no acquittance He can also turn a curse into a blessing as he did this to Araunah the Jebusite 2 Sam. 5.7 of the worst and most stubborn of the Canaanites For they held the Tower of Jebus from the posterity of Sem after all the rest had yielded Yet he became a godly Proselyte and gave as a King his free-hold to King David to build an Altar on 2 Sam. 24.18 And this deed of his was long after remembred Zach. 9.7 The like may be said of the Gibeonites who are called Nethinims in Ezra and Nehemiah They were made servants to the Shemites drawers of water to the Temple as a kinde of punishment God made this Cross a Mercy Their employment so near the house of God gave them fit occasion to be partakers of the things of God And the Lord we see did wonderfully honor them the nearer they were to the Church the nearer to God It is good getting into his house though to be but a door-keeper with David or a tankard-bearer with these Gibeonites Stand but in Gods way as he passeth and thou shalt be preferred Vers 27. God perswade Japhet Formone else can do it Men may speak perswasively but to perswade is proper to God alone He speaks to the heart Hos 2.14 we to the ear onely He perswadeth and allureth not onely by a moral perswasion but by an irresistible inward drawing Acts 11.17 In the Hebrew there is a sweet Agnomination q. d. God shall perswade the perswasible He shall draw them to faith and obedience Monendo potiùs quà m minando docondo quà m ducendo saith Saint Austin by informing not inforcing He brings in his Elect by a merciful violence He sent forth at first not swordmen but fisher-men and prevailed by them in those places Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loâ—a Christo tamen subditâ— Tertul. where the Romans could never come with all their forces Elisha could do more with a kiss then his man could do with a staff in raising the dead childe Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth Cant. 1.2 And then follows Draw me we will run after thee And he shall dwell in the tents of Sem. The Churches abode here is but in tents She hath no continuing City on earth Heb. 13.14 1 Tim. 3.16 but seeks one to come This whether prophecy or prayer was fulfilled when God manifested in the flesh was preached unto the Gentiles and beleeved on in the world some thousands of yeers after The Gentiles were converted by vertue of this prayer as Paul was by Saint Stevens and as we enjoy the Gospel by Latimers yet once more and the prayers of other Martyrs Vers 28 29. And Noah lived after the flood c. This man if ever any that was born of a woman had a long life Job 14.1 and full of misery He saw the tenth generation after him before his death But oh how oft was he occasioned to get under the Juniper-tree with Elias and desire to dye Before the flood what a deal of wickedness and disorder beheld he in family Church and Common-wealth and all this punished by the deluge to his unspeakable heart-break Soon after he was mockt by his own son and despised by almost all the rest of his posterity whose unheard-of hardiness in building the Tower of Babel he was nolens volens forced to see and suffer and then shortly after the confusion of tongues as their just punishment What should I speak of their so many and so great cruelties insolencies tyrannical usurpations effusions of innocent blood wars stirs strifes superstitions and abominable idolatries under Nimrod Jupiter Belus Semiramis Vix mihi persuadeo virum ex homiâ—e miseriorem natum fuâ—sse quam Noah Funccii Chron. fol. 17. Zoroaster the Magick-Master and other Emims and Zamzummims of the Earth Of
the battlements of the walls of the City c. The Souldiers of Pelopidas were no less excessive when for grief of his death they would neither unbridle their horses nor untie their armor nor dress their wounds Something here may be yeelded to nature nothing to impatiency Immoderate sorrow for losses past hope of recovery is more sullen then usefull Our stomach may be bewrayed by it not our wisdome The Egyptians mourned seventy dayes for Jacob Joseph who had more cause but withall more grace mourned but twenty dayes Mark 5.38 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut Iam. â— 1 God flatly forbad his people those heathenish customes of shaving their heads and cutting their flesh Lev. 21. intoken of mourning for the dead We read in the Gospel of minstrels and people making a noise at the terming-house as they call it Matth. 9.23 And the Jews that were comforting Mary Perinde ac 〈◊〉 intercute laberantes salsamenta comederent Cartwr when they saw her rise up hastily and go forth followed her saying She goeth unto the grave to weep there Joh. 11.31 Such customes it seems they had in those dayes amongst them to provoke themselves to weeping and lamentation which was saith One as if they that have the dropsie should eat salt meats How much better Father Abraham here who came indeed from his own tent to Sarahs to mourn for her as good reason he had but exceeded not as the Jews think is signified by that one letter less then ordinary in the Hebrew word for weep Libcothah used here in the text Baal-turim gives but a bald reason of it parùm flevit erat enim vetula Abraham wept not much for her she being but an old-wife and past her best Buxtorfe gives a better pâ—tiùs quià luctus ejus fuit moderatus And therefore also in the next verse it is said that he stood up from before his dead where in likelyhood he had sitten a while on the earth as was the manner of mourners to do Job 2.12 13. Esa 47.1 to take order for her buriall as having good hopes of a glorious resurrection Excellent for our purpose is that of St. Hierome Lugeatur mortuus sed ille quem Gehenna suscipit quem Tartarus devorat in cujus poenam aeternus ignis aestuat Nos quorum exitum Angelorum turba comitatur quibus obviam Christus occurret c. gravemur magis si diutiùs in tabernaculâ— istâ— habitemus Mourn for none but such as are dead in their sins killed with death as those Rev. 2.23 Vers 3. And Abraham stood up from before his dead So she is called eight severall times in this Chapter Pareus in loc to note that death makes not any such divorce between godly couples and friends but that there remains still a blessed conjunction betwixt them which is founded in the hope of a happy resurrection Jobs children were still his even after they were dead and buried How else could it be said that God gave Job twice as much of every thing as he had before Iob. 4â— 10 13. sith he had afterwards but his first number of children viz. Seven Sonnes and three daughters Vers 4. That I may bury my dead out of my sight She that had been the desire of his eyes Ezek. 24.16 the sweet companion of his life is by death so defaced that he loathed to look on her This we are to think on in our mourning for the dead to bewail the common curse of mankinde the defacing of Gods image by death through sin c. And yet to comfort our selves in this that these vile bodies of ours shall once be conformed to Christs glorious body the standard in incorruption Phillip 3. ult agility beauty brightness and other most blessed and unconceivable parts and properties Vers 6. Thou art a Prince of God amongst us That is excellent or prosperous as Gen. 21.22 and it was their ingenuity and candor to acknowledge it Gods people are Princes in all lands Psal 45. Kings they are in righteousness and peace but somewhat obscure ones as was Melchisedec and therefore little set by 1 Joh. 3.1 2. Vnkent unkist as the Northern Proverb is So was Christ the heir of all But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him that 's enough for us In the mean space the righteous is more excellent then his neighbour let him dwell by whomsoever and shall be more prosperous if it may be for his good Vers 7. Abraham stood up and bowed himself c. It is very comely in Christians to salute willingly and in words and gestures to shew civill respect even to wicked men Abrahams behaviour to these Hittites may shame the most Christians yea the very Hittites themselves D. Hall may teach them good manners Even the savage Cannibals saith a grave Divine may receive an answer of outward courtesie If a very dog fawn upon us we stroke him on the head and clap him on the side Much less is the common band of humanity untied by grace If Elisha bad his man or our Saviour his Disciples salute no man by the way that was for haste sake they should not hinder themselves in their journey by overmuch courtesie Our Saviour was sweet and sociable in his whole conversation and the proud Pharisees upbraided him with it He never refused to go to any mans table when invited yea to Zacheus he invited himself Not for the pleasure of the dishes but for the benefit of so winning a conversation Corn. Nepos in vita Attiâ—i Courtesie allureth mens minds as fair flowers do their eyes Pomponius Atticus so carried himself at Athens Harpocrat in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut communis infimis par principibus videretur Alexander the Great got the hearts of his Foot-souldiers by calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his fellow-footmen Aristotle the better to insinuate into his hearers read not to them as other Philosophers used to do from a lofty seat or desk but walking and talking with them familiarly as with his friends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diâ—g in Apollo's porch he made them great Philosophers Vespasian was as highly esteemed by the people for his courtesie as Coriolanus contemned and condemned of all for his rusticity With one churlish breath Rehoboam lost ten tribes whom he would and might not recover with his blood But whatsoever David did pleased the people What a deal of courtesie passed betwixt Boaz and his reapers The Lord be with you said he The Lord blesâ— thee said they Ruth 2.4 The Turks salutation at this day is Salaum alâ—ek Peace be to thee the reply is Aleek salâ—um Peace be to thee also Blounts voyage into the Levant The Romans had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answerable to our Good-morrow and Good even That finger next to the thumb they called Salutaris Dio in vita Adriani Becman de Origin in verbo
dead forty years before is now by Gods blessing made lively and lusty Vers 5. Abraham gave all c. So Esa 19.25 Assyria is the work of Gods hand and Israel his inheritance Vers 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sopb Gasp Eâ—s Panis mica quam dives pater-familias projicit canibuâ— Abraham gave gifts So doth God to reprobates but they are giftless gifts better be without them Saepe Deus dat iratus quod â—egat propitius God gives wealth to the wicked non aliter ac siquis crumenam auro plenam latrinae injiciat The Turkish Empire saith Luther as great as it is is but a crust cast to the dogs by the rich House-holder or as Josephs cup c. East-ward to the East-countrey To both the Arabia's which were Countries rough but rich looked rudely but searched regularly afforded great store of fine gold pretious stones and pleasant odours Vers 8. Gave up the Ghost Defecit lenitèr expiravit Describit Moses placidam optatam quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in Abraham Gods friend is no wonder But how could that Apostate Julian say trow Vitam reposcenti naturae tanquam debitor bonae fidei rediturus exulto Sure it was but a copy of his countenance but not of his dying countenance for no wicked man alive can look death in the face with blood in his cheeks Dyed in a good old age Or with a hoar head after a hundred years troublesomepilgrimage in the promised land We if for one year we suffer hardship think it a great business Non quia dura sed quia molles patimur saith Seneca An old man and full of years The godly have oft a satiety of life as willing they are to leave the world as men are wont to be to rise from the board when they have eaten their fill Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis Said the Heathen Poet and they feign that when Tithonus might have been made immortal he would not because of the miseries of life This made Plotinus the Platonist account mortality a mercy Aug. de Civ Dei l. 4. c. 10. Siquis Deus mihi largiatur ut ex hac aetate repurascam in cunis vagiam valdèrecusem Cato ap Cic. de senect Camd. Elisabeth fol. 325. and Cato protest that if any God would grant him of old to be made young again he would seriously refuse it As for me said Queen Elisabeth in a certain speech I see no such great cause why I should be fond to live or afraid to dye And again whiles I call to minde things past behold things present and expect things to come I hold him happiest that goeth hence soonest Vers 9. And his sons Isaac and Ismael c. It is like that Abraham a little afore his death sent for his two sons and reconciled them This joyning with Isaac in the burying of Abraham some take for an argument of his repenance whereunto also they adde that his whole life time is recorded in holy Scripture which cannot be shewed of any reprobate and that he is said when he dyed to be gathered to his fathers Which is besides Mamre Where seventy six years before he had entertained the Lord Christ and heard from his mouth the promise of the Messiah Wherefore in remembrance of that most amiable apparition and for love and honour of the divine promise there uttered he would there be buried in full hope of a glorious Resurrection and that his posterity might take notice that he even dyed upon the promise As that brave Roman Captain told his Souldiers Xiphilinus that if they could not conquer Britain yet they would get possession of it by laying their bones in it Vers 13. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael When Isaac was twenty yeers married and had no childe and afterwards nothing so many as Ishmael nor so great in the world This is Gods usual way of dealing forth his favours Saints suffer wieked prosper This made Pompey deny Divine Providence Brutus cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio Cassius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thucyd Psal 73.10 expounded Exoriuntur sed exuruntur Hos 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O miserable Vertue slave of Fortune c. The Athenians in Thucydides when they had lost Nicias their good General who together with his whole Army perished in Sicily were at a great stand and much offended seeing so pious a person fare nothing better then those that were far worse And what wonder when Jeremiah and David stumbled at the same stone ran upon the same rock and were well-high shipwrackt Jer. 12.1 Psal 73.3 4. Neither they onely but many other of Gods dear servants as it is in the same I salm vers 10. Therefore his people return hither that is are every whit as wise or rather as foolish as I have been to mis-censure and misconstrue Gods dealings on this manner to repent me of my repentance and to condemn the generation of the just because waters of a full cup are wrung out to the wicked When David went into Gods Sanctuary and there consulted his Word he was better resolved Then he saw that the sunshine of Prosperity doth but ripen the sin of the wicked and so fits them for destruction as fatted ware are but fitted for the slaughter What good is there in having a fine suit with the plague in it Poison in wine works more furiously then in water Had Haman known the danger of Esthers banquet he would not have been so brag of it The prosperity of the wicked hath ever plus deceptionis quam delectionis saith One more deceit then delight able to entice and ready to kill the entangled As cunning to do that as the spirit that seduced Ahab and as willing to do the other as the Ghost that met Brutus at the battel of Philippi In which respect David Psal 17. having spoken of these men of Gods hand that have their portion in this life c. wishes them make them merry with it and subjoyns As for me I will behold thy face in righteousâ—ess I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness As who should say I neither envie nor covet their happiness but long after a glorious resurrection and have in the mean while that which is sufficient to sustain me I shall behold thy face in righteousâ—ess Menach on Levit. 10. that is Beshechinah in Christ as Rabbi Menachem expounds it And one good look of God is worth all the world It is better to feel his favour one hour then to sit whole ages as these Ishmaelites did under the worlds warmest sun-shine Vers 14. And Mishma and Dumah and Massah Out of these three names which signifie Hearing Silence and Suffering the Masorites gather the three principal duties of man in common conversation viz. to hear keep silence and bear these say they make a quiet and good life Sustine Abstine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epictâ—t Camd. Elisab
and being to swear to a Syrian swears here by the Fear of his father Isaac Where note that he riseth up no higher then his father whereas Laban the Idolater pretends Antiquity appeals to the Gods of Abraham of Nahor and of their father Terah who served strange gods Josh 24.2 Papists boast much of Antiquity as once the Gileonites did of old shooes and mouldy bread A Gentleman being importuned by a Popish Questionist to tell where our Religion was before Luther answered That our Religion was always in the Bible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. where your Religion never was Mine Antiquity is Jesus Christ saith Ignatius and we with him Vers 54. Called his brethren to eat bread And so overcame evil with good which is the noblest of all victories God cannot but love in us this imitation of his mercy and that love is never fruitless Vers 55. Laban rose up Laban leaves him Esau meets him and both with a kiss When a mans ways please the Lord c. CHAP. XXXII Vers 1. Angels of God met him SEnsibly and visibly as servants meet their masters as the guard their Prince Oh the dignity and safety of the Saints who are in five respects say some above the Angels 1. Our nature is more highly advanced in Christ 2. The righteousness whereby we come to glory is more excellent then theirs which though perfect in its kinde is but the righteousness of meer creatures such as God may finde fault with Job 4.18 such as may need mercy therefore the Cherubims are said to stand upon the Mercy-seat and to be made of the matter thereof 3. The sonship of the Saints is founded in a higher right then theirs viz. in the Sonship of the second Person in Trinity 4. They are members of Christ and so in neerer union then any creature 5. They are the Spouse the Bride Angels onely servants of the Bridegroom and ministring spirits sent out as here to minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation They meet us still as they did Jacob they minister many blessings to us yet will not be seen to receive any thank of us they stand at our right hands Luke 1.11 as ready to relieve us as the devils to mischief us Zech. 3.1 If Satan for terrour shew himself like the great Leviathan or for fraud like a crooked and piercing serpent or for violence and fury like the dragon in the seas yet the Lord will smite him by his Angels as with his great and sore and strong sword Isai 27.1 Angels are in heaven as in their watch-tower whence they are called watch-men Dan. 4.10 to keep the world the Saints especially their chief charge in whose behalf they stand ever before the face of God waiting and wishing to be sent upon any designe or expedition Matth. 18.10 for the service and safety of the Saints They are like Master◠or Tutors to whom the great King of heaven commits his children these they bear in their bosoms as the nurse doth her babe or as the servants of the house do their young Master glad to do them any good office ready to secure them from that roaring Lion that rangeth up and down seeking to devour them The Philosopher told his friends when they came into his little and lowe cottage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The gods are here with me The true Christian may say though he dwell never so meanly God and his holy Angels are ever with him c. Vers 2. This is Gods host So called for their number order obedience strength c. God hath a compleat hest of horse and foot Angels and heavenly bodies are his horse as it were horses and chariots of fire 2 Kings 6.17 yea both horse and foot for there are whole legions of them Matth. 26.53 Now a Legion is judged to be six thousand foot and seven hundred horse Daniel tells us there be millions of Angels Dan. 7.10 yea an innumerable company saith the Author to the Hebrews Chap. 12.22 The Greek Poet could say There were thirty thousands of them here upon earth keepers of mortal men and observers of their works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod Some think they are meant in the Parable by the ninety and nine sheep as if they were ninety and nine times as many as mankind in number All these how many soever pitch camp round about the godly Psal 38.8 make a lane for them as they did here for Jacob at Mahanajim which signifies a double camp fight in battel-ray against their enemies Dan. 10.20 and convey them at death as they did Lazarus thorow their enemies country the air Luke 16. into Abrahams bosom So that all Gods children may call death as Jacob did this place Mahanaim because there th◠Angels meet them And as the palsie-man in the Gospel was let down with his bed thorow the tyling before Jesus Luke 5.18 so is every good soul taken up in a heavenly couch or coach rather thorow the roof of his house and carried into Christs presence by the blessed Angels Vers 3. And Jacob sent messengers Means he knew was to be used by him though well assured of safeguard God must be trusted not tempted means must be used but not trusted Jacob was as one that fled from a Lion Amos 5.19 and a Bear met him Laban as a Lion had some shamefac'dness saith a Rabbi Esau as a Bear had none Pirkei R. Eliez c. 37◠Jacob therefore prays and sends and submits and presents him and all to pacifie him He that meets with a Bear will not strive with him for the wall but be glad to scape by him Vers 4. to my lord Esau Thy servant Jacob c. This was not baseness of spirit much less a renouncing of his birth-right and blessing but a necessary submission for a time such as was that of David to Saul till the prophecie of his superiority should be fulfilled 1 Sam. 24.7 9. That was baseness in the Samaritanes that in writing to Antiochus Epiphanes that great king of Syria because he tormented the Jews to excuse themselves that they were no Jews they stiled him Josephus Antiochus the mighty God the Scripture stiles him a vile person Dan. 11.21 So was that also in Teridates king of the Parthians who with bended knee and hands held up worshipped Nero and thus bespake that monster of mankinde To thee I come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio in vita Neronis as to my god and thee I adore as I do the sun what thou decreest of me I will be and do for thou art to me both Fate and Fortune c. And what shall we think of those superstitious Silicians who when they were excommunicated by Pope Martin the fourth laid themselves prostrate at his feet and cried O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world grant us thy peace The Venetians also being excommunicated by Pope Clemens the fifth Jac. Rev. de vitis
the Gospel to England that he would have no nay at Gods hands He many times continued kneeling and knocking so long together Ibid. that he was not able to rise without help His knees were grown hard like camels knees as Eusebius reports of James the Lords brother 2 Cor. 12. Paul prayed thrice that is often till he had his desire Nay Paulus Aemylius the Roman General being to fight against Perses King of Macedony when as he had sacrificed to his god Hercules and it proved not to his minde Sabellicus he slew twenty several sacrifices one after another and would not give over till in the one and twentieth he had descried certain arguments of Victory Surely his superstition shames our indevotion his importunity our faint-heartedness and shortness of spirit Surely as painfulness of speaking shews a sick body so doth irksomness of praying a sick soul Vers 27. What is thy name As if the Angel should say Thou art such a fellow as I never met withal Titles of honour are not worthy of thee Kneel thou down Jacob rise up Israel Thou art a conqueror Bucholc if ever any were Factus teipso fortior Creatore tuo superior O quà m hic honos noâ— est omnium Vers 28. No more Jacob but Israel That is Not onely or not so much Jacob as Israel Both these names he had given him of striving and strugling All Gods Israel are wrestlers by calling Eph. 6 Nuâ—quam bella boâ—â—s â—unquam discrimina desunt 12. and as good souldiers of Jesus Christ must suffer hardship Nothing is to be seen in the Shulamite but as the appearance of two armies maintaining civil broils within her The spirit would always get the better of the flesh were it upon equal terms but when the flesh shall get the hill as it were of temptation and shall have the winde to drive the smoke upon the eyes of the combatant and so to blinde him upon such a disadvantage he is overcome For it is not flesh and blood onely that we wrestle against whether we take the Apostles meaning for the weakness of our nature or the corruption of it but against principalities against powers c. against many mighty malicious adversaâ—ies spiritual wickednesses in high places that are above us and hang over our necks Wherefore we have more then need to take unto us the whole armour of God and to strengthen our selves with every piece of it whether those of defence as the girdle of truth Eph. 6.14 the brest-plate of righteousness the shooes of peace and patience the shield of faith the helmet of hope or those of offence as the sword of the spirit and the darts of prayer At no place must we lie open for our enemy is a serpent If he can but bite the heel he will transfuse his venom to the heart and head Gods Spirit in us sets up a standard Isai 59.19 The Apostle sounds the alarm Arm arm Eph. 6. The holy Scripture is our Armory Cant. 4.4 like Solomons tower where hang a thousand shields and all the weapons of strong men God himself is the' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that both ordaineth and ordereth our temptations with his own hand as he dealt with Jacob. And the Lord Christ stands over us Acts 7. as he did once over Steven with a crown upon his head and another in his hand with this inscription Vincenti dabo To him that overcometh Revel 2. will I give c. Fight but with his arms and with his armour and we are sure to overcome before we fight for he hath made all our foes our footstool and hath caused us to triumph 2 Cor. 2.14 Let therefore the assaults of our already-vanquished enemies not weaken but waken us let their faint oppositions and spruntings before death encourage us or rather enrage us to do them to death we are sure to be more then conquerours D. Ussier de Britan. Ecclâ—sâ— primord p. 332. and to have Victoriam Halleluiaticam as the Britains fighting for their Religion had once against the Saxons and Picts in this kingdom Vers 29. And he blessed him there That was a better thing to Jacob then to answer his curious request of knowing the Angels name So when the disciples asked our Saviour Acts 1.6 Wilt then at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel It is not for you to know the times saith he but ye shall receive the holy Ghost that 's better for you c. vers 8. God sometimes doth not onely grant a mans prayer but fulfil his counsel Psal 20.4 This if he do not because we sometimes ask we know not what yet some better thing we shall be sure of Zech. 10.6 I will strengthen the house of Judah and they shall be as if I had not cast them off and I will hear them Vers 30. I have seen God face to face Christ would not tell Jacob his name to lift up his minde above what he saw of him and to insinuate that his name was Wonderful his essence incomprehensible Judg. 13.17 18 And whereas Iacob said here he had seen God face to face he means onely praesens praesentem as Moses spake with God mouth to mouth Num. 12.8 He saw not Gods Majesty and Essence Isai 8.17 1 Tim. 6.16 for he is a God that hides himself and dwells in the light unapproachable But he saw him more apparently and manifestly then ever he had done before We can see but his back parts and live we need see no more that we may live God that fills all saith Nazianzen though he lighten the minde yet flies before the beams thereof still leaving it as it is able in sight to follow him draws it by degrees to higher things but ever interposeth between it and his incomparable Essence as many vails as were over the tabernacle Some created shape some glimpse of glory Jacob saw whereby God was pleased for present to testifie his more immediate presence but not himself Vers 31. He halted upon his thigh Yet had the blessing So Gods people are promised an hundred fold here with persecution that 's tied as a tag to the profession of Christianity No heaven can be had without tribulation Christ our Captain had a bloody victory of it Gal. 6. 1 Cor. 12. Joh. Manl. loc com 127. Paul bare in his body the marks or scars of the Lord Jesus and glories in these infirmities as he calls them These are Gods gems and precious ornaments said Munster to his friends pointing them to his sores and ulcers wherewith God decketh his children that he may draw them to himself This he said a little before his death At death saith Piscator God wrestles with his people laying hold on their consciences by the menaces of the Law They again resist this assault by laying hold upon God by the faith of the Gospel well assured that Christ hath freed them from the curse
of the Law by being made a curse for them on the Cross God yeelds himself overcome by this reencounter but yet toucheth their thigh takes away their life Howbeit this hindereth not the Sun of life eternal to arise upon them as they pass over Peâ—â—el Vers 32. Therefore the children c. This custom Josephus saith continued till his time A ceremony indifferent in it self and good by institution in remembrance of that famous conquest might become evil by abuse if it turned into superstition CHAP. XXXIII Vers 1. He divided the children CArnal fear oft expectorates a mans wisdom and leaves him shiftless But Jacob after he had prayed and prevailed was not so moped as not to know what to do in that great danger he masters his fears and makes use of two the likeliest means 1. The marshalling of his wives and children in best manner for the saving of the last at least 2. The marching before them himself and doing lowe obeysance So Esther when she had prayed resolved to venture to the King whatever came of it And our Saviour though before fearful yet after he had prayed in the garden goes forth and meets his enemies in the face asking them Whom seek ye Great is the power of prayer to steel the heart against whatsoever amazements Vers 2. He put the handmaids c. Of children and friends some may be better beloved then others And whereas all cannot be saved or succoured the dearest may be chiefly cared for Vers 3. And he passed over before them As a good Captain and Shepherd ready to be sacrificed for the safety of his charge So the Captain of our salvation the Arch-shepherd Christ So should the under-shepherds the captains as Ministers are called Heb. 12.5 fight in the front and bear the brunt of the battel not loving their lives unto the death so they may finish their course with joy de scuto magis quà m de vita solliciti as Epaminondas The diamond in the Priests brest-plate shewed what should be their hardness and hardiness for the peoples welfare Vers 4. And kissed him The word kissed hath a prick over every letter in the Original to note say the Hebrew Doctors that this was a false and hypocritical kiss a Judas-kiss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Philo Amor non semper est in osculo But our Interpreters are agreed that this kiss was a signe Qui probabilâ—us loqâ—untur aiuns co ipsoâ—oâ—ari animi Esauici câ—â—verâ—ionem Am. that his heart was changed from his former hatred and that those extraordinary pricks do denote the wonder of Gods work therein which is further confirmed in that they both wept which could not easily be counterfeit though they were in Ishmael that notable hypocrite Jer. 41.6 and in the Emperour Andronicus who when he had injuriously caused many of the Nobility to be put to death pretended himself sorry for them Turk hist fol. 50. and that with tears plentifully running down his aged cheeks as if he had been the most sorrowful man alive Ibid. fol. 175. So the Egyptian Crocodile having killed some living beast lieth upon the dead body and washeth the head thereof with her warm tears which she afterward devoureth with the dead body We judge more charitably of Esau here And yet we cannot be of their minde that here-hence conclude his true conversion and salvation We must take heed we neither make Censures whip nor Charities cloke too long we may offend in both and incur the curse Isai 5.20 Joh. Manl. loc com 496. as well by calling evil good as good evil Latomus of Lovain wrote that there was no other a faith in Abraham then in Cicero Another wrote a long Defence and Commendation of Cicero and makes him a very good Christian and true penitentiary Ibid. 483. because he saith somewhere Reprehendo peccata mea quòd Pompeio confisus ejusque partes secutus fuerim I believe neither of them Vers 5. The children which God hath graciously given Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For children are Gods gifts as David taught Solomon Psal 127. It is well observed that good Jacob before a bad man speaks religiously God of his grace c. and Esau as bad as he was makes no jest of it There is no surer signe of a profane heart then to jeer at good expressions then which nothing now adays is more familiar Carnal spirits cannot hear savoury words but they turn them off with a scorn as Pilate did our Saviour speaking of the truth with that scornful profane question What 's truth Shall these scoffers be counted Christians Could any that heard Elijah mocking the service and servants of Baal believe that Baal was god in his esteem Shall not Esau rise up in judgement against such profane persons And shall not Jacob disclaim all such profligate professors for having any relation to him that dare not speak religiously for fear of some Esau in company that are ashamed to seem what they are with Zedekiah lest they that are fallen to the Chaldeans should mock them Vers 7. After came Joseph neer c. Jussus accedere Joseph saith Junius for he was but a little one of six yeers old therefore he did nothing but as his mother bade him and because he went before her he is first named Vers 8. What meanest thou by all this drove c. He met it but had not yet accepted of it either that he might take occasion at their meeting more mannerly to refuse the Present or that he might shew his brotherly affection frankly and freely not purchased or procured by any gift or Present Piscator Vtrunque liberale civile est oblata munera modestè recusare praesertim si grandia sint eadem ab instante humaniter acceptare Vers 9. I have enough my brother Here 's no mention of God God is not in all the wicked mans thoughts he contents himself with a natural use of the creature as bruit beasts do the godly taketh all as from God and findeth no such sweetness as in tasting how good the Lord is in the creature Tam Dei meminisse opus est quà m respirare saith One But prophane Esaus will neither have God in their heads Psal 10.4 nor hearts Psal 14.1 nor ways Tit. 1.16 nor words Psal 12.4 They stand in a posture of distance nay of defiance to God Vers 10. As though I had seen the face of God I cannot but see God and his goodness in thy so unexpected kindness The Lord hath done great things for me whereof I am glad and think my Present well bestowed Vers 11. I have enough Heb. I have all Esau had much but Iacob had all because he had the God of all Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia saith Augustine Esau's enough in the Original is not the same with Iacob's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are two manner of enoughs Godliness onely hath contentedness 1 Tim. 6.6 Vers 12. Let
tot priorum hominum donariis intervertendis Sculter Annal. pag. 332. saith the Annalist and came all to fearful ends Two of them fell out and challenging the field One killed the other and was hang'd for it A third drowned himself in a Well The fourth from great riches fell to extreme beggery and was hunger-starved The last one Doctor Alan being Archbishop of Dublin was there cruelly murthered by his enemies Now if Divine Justice so severely and exemplarily pursued and punished these that converted those abused goods of the Church to better uses without question though they looked not at that but at the satisfying of their own greedy lusts What will be the end of such Sacrilegious persons as enrich themselves with that which should be their Ministers maintenance Sacrum sacrove commendatum qui clepserit rapseritque Ex duod tab Neand. Chron. parricida esto said the Romane law It is not only sacriledg but parricide to rob the Church Vers 25. Let us find grace That is do us the favour to intercede for us to Pharaoh that we may be his perpetual farmers and hold of him It seems that Pharaoh was no proper name but common to the Kings of Egypt as Caesar to the Emperours of Rome a title of honour as His Majesty amongst us Otherwise these poor people had been over-bold with his name Vers 27. Grew and multiplyed exceedingly Here that promise Chap. 46.3 began to be accomplished God dyes not in any mans debt Vers 28. Iacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years So long he had nourished Ioseph and so long Ioseph nourished him paying his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the utmost penny These were the sweetest dayes that ever Iacob saw God reserved his best to the last Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for be his beginning and his middle never so troublesome the end of that man is peace Psal 37.47 A Goshen he shall have either here or in heaven Vers 29. Bury me not I pray thee in Egypt This he requested partly to testifie his faith concerning the promised land heaven and the resurrection partly to confirm his family in the same faith and that they might not be glewed to the pleasures of Egypt but wait for their return to Canaan And partly also to declare his love to his ancestours together with the felicity he took in the communion of Saints Vers 30. Bury me in their burying-place That he might keep possession at least by his dead body of the promised land There they would be buried not pompously but reverently that they might rise again with Christ Some of the Fathers think that these Patriarches were those that rose corporally with him Matth. 27.57 Vers 31. And Israel bowed himself In way of thankfulness to God framing himself to the lowliest gesture he was able rearing himself up upon his pillow leaning also upon his third leg his staffe Heb. 11.21 In effoeta senecta fides non effoeta CHAP. XLVIII Vers 1. Behold thy father is sick ANd yet 't was Iacob have I loved So Behold he whom thou lovest is sick Joh. 11.3 Si amatur quomodò infirmatur saith a Father Very well may we say The best before they come to the very gates of death pass oft thorough a very strait long heavy lane of sickness and this in mercy that they may learn more of God and depart with more ease out of the world Such as must have a member cut off willingly yeeld to have it bound though it be painful because when it is mortified and deaded with strait binding they shall the better endure the cutting of it off So here when the body is weakned and wasted with much sickness that it cannot so bustle we dye more easily Happy is he saith a Reverend Writer that after due preparation D. Hall Contemp is passed thorow the gates of death ere he be aware happy is he that by the holy use of long sickness is taught to see the gates of death afar off and addresseth for a resolute passage The one dyes like Henoch and Eliah the other like Iacob and Elisha both blessedly Vers 2. And Israel strengthened himself Ipse aspectus viri boni delectat saith Seneca sure it is that the sight of a dear friend reviveth the sick One man for comfort and counsel may be an Angel to another nay as God himself Such was Nathan to David B. Ridley to King Edward the sixth and that poor Priest to Edward the third who when all the Kings friends and favourites forsook him in his last agony leaving his chamber quite empty called upon him to remember his Saviour Dan. hist of Engl. 255. and to ask mercy for his sins This none before him would do every one putting him still in hope of life though they knew death was upon him But now stirred up by the voyce of this Priest he shew'd all signs of contrition and at his last breath expresses the name of Jesu Vers 3. God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz The truly thankful keep calenders and catalogues of Gods gracious dealings with them and delight to their last to recount and reckon them up not in the lump only and by whole-sale as it were but by particular enumeration upon every good occasion setting them forth one by one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as here and Ciphering them up as Davids word is Psal 9.1 we should be like civet-boxes which still retain the scent when the civit is taken out of them See Psal 145 1 2. Exod. 18.8 Vers 5. As Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine God hath in like part 2 Cor. 6.18 adopted us for his dear children saying I will be a father unto them and they shall be my sons and my daughters saith the Lord Almighty This S. Iohn calls a royalty or prerogative Joh. 1.12 such as he elsewhere stands amazed at 1 Ioh. 3.1 And well he may for all Gods children are first-born and so higher then all the Kings of the Earth Psal 89.27 They in the fulnesse of their sufficiency are in straits Job 20.22 Whereas the Saints in the fulness of their straits are in an All-sufficiency Vers 6. After the name of their brethren That is of Ephraim and Manasseh as if they were not their brethren but their sons Thus Iacob transfers the birth-right from Reuben to Ioseph 1 Chro. 5.1 2. Vers 7. And I buried her there He could not carry her to the cave of Machpelah and he would not bury her at Bethlehem among Infidels This he tells Ioseph to teach him and the rest not to set up their rest any where but in the land of Canaan Vers 8. Who are these Here Jacob seeing Ioseph's two sons and now first understanding who they were breaks off his speech to Ioseph till the two last verses of the chapter and falls a blessing his sons Titus 3.1 teaching us to be ready to every good word and work laying hold of every hint
Lysimachusses came of this tribe that as Sampson and David first fought with lions and then with their enemies all which were types of that lion of the tribe of Judah Rev. 5.5 The divell is a roaring lion Leo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lyes in wait for the Church but Christ her invincible Champion is ever at hand for her help who is also Leo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Paul hath it the Lion of the tribe of Iâ—dah 2 Thess 1. ult that delivereth us from the wrath to come And when this Lyon roareth all creatures tremble Amos 3.8 Saint Ambrose tells us that when the Lyon puts forth his voyce many creatures that could out-run him are so astonied at the terrour of his roar that they are not able to stir from the place And Isidore writeth that the Lions whelp for the first three dayes after it comes into the world lyeth as it were asleep and is afterwards rouzed and raised by the old Lions roaring which makes the very den to shake Christ at the last day shall come with the voyce of the Archangell and trump of God c. And then shall they that sleep in the dust of death awake some to everlasting life and some to everlasting horrour and amazement Dan 12.2 Vers 10. Till Shiloh come Shiloh is by some expounded Vsque dum venturae erunt secundinae ejus id est Judae ut masculin genua in Heb. ostendit Athemate Shalab unde Shaluab Tranquillitas Unde Lat. Salvere Salvus salvare Amama Sub Augustâ— cuncta atque continua totius generis humani aus pax fuit aut pactio Flor. hist l. 4. the son of his secundines The Hebrew word implyes His son and Her son that is the son of the Virgin that came of the line of Iudah Secundines are proper to women He therefore whom Secundines alone brought forth without help of man is Christ alone the promised seed Others render Shiloh Tranquillator Salvator The Safe-maker The Peace-maker The Prosperer This Prince of Peace was born in a time of peace not long after that Pompey had subdued Iudaea to the Romane Government and reduced it into a Province Then was the Scepter newly departed from Iudah and Herod an Edomite made King of the Country And unto him shall the gathering of the people be As unto the standard-bearer Cant. 5.10 the carkase Matth. 24.28 the desire of all nations Hag. 2.7 with Heb. 12.25 Totus ipse desideria saith the Church Cant. 5.16 and When I am lifted up saith He I will draw all men after me Joh. 12.32 they follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth as the hop and heliotrope do the sun Vers 11. Binding his foal unto the vine Vines shall be so plentiful that as Country-men tye their asses to briars and shrubs so shall Judah to the vines that shall grow thick every where Where Christ is set up in the power and purity of his ordinance there is usually a confluence of all inward and outward comforts and contentments He is the Cornu-copia of both to his Church and chosen Vers 12. His eyes shall be red c. Wine and milk are used to signisie plenty of spiritual blessings in heavenly things Esay 55.1 25.6 Vers 13. Act. 17. Zebulun shall dwell c. It is God that appoints us the bounds of our habitations Be content therefore and although we have not all things to our minds yet having God for our portion let us cry out with David The lines are fallen unto me in a fair place c. Zebulon is placed by the sea-side Now shore men are said to be borridi immanes latrociniâ—â— dediti omnium denique pessimi Hence the Proverb Maritimi mores And hâ—â—ce haply that rash and harsh character that Scalâ—ger gives of us Scal. de re Poet. cap. 16. Heyl. Geog. p. 468. Angli pâ—rfidi inflati feri contemptores stolidi amentes inertes inhâ—â—pitales immanes His bolt you see saith One is soon shâ—t and so you may haply guess at the quality of the Archer Be it that our Ancestors were such yet the Gospel hath civilized us at least whatever the more be Christ left Nazareth and came and dwelt at Capernaum which is upon the sea-coast in the borders of Zabulon and Napbtali Ever since which The people which sate in darkness have seen a great light c. Matth. 4.13 16. And when Gilead abode beyond Jordan and came not to the help of the Lord against the mighty Reuben was busic about his sheep Dan about his ships Asher about his breaches c. Zabulon and Naphtali are much commended Judg. 5.16 17 18. for a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field that studied and promoted the publike more then their own pirticular interests Oh it is a brave thing to be of a pablike spirit and to study Gods ends more then our own Surely if â—od saw us to be such we might have what we would and God even think himself beholden to us Shall a Heathen say Cicero Loel Non nobis solùm nati sumus c. And again Mihi non minoris curae est qualis resp post meam moâ—tem futura sit quam qualis hodiè sit And shall Christians be all for themselves looking only to their own things and not to the things of one another the common good of all â—specially S. Chrysostome upon those words 1 Cor. 10.33 Not seeking mine own profit c. saith that to seek the publike good of the Charch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to prefer the salvation of others before his own safety and commodity is the most perfect Canon of Christianity the â—â—â—ghest pitch of perfection the very toâ—-gallant of Religion And I could not but love the man saith Theodosius the Emperour concerning Ambrose who when he dyed Magis de Ecclesiarum statu quam de suis periculis angebatur was more troubled for the Churches troubles then for his own dangers This made the same good Emperour say that he knew none that deserved to be called a Bishop but Ambrose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paul n. Nolan in vita Amb. He was called the walls of Italy whiles he lived As when he dyed Stilico the Earl said that his death did threaten the destruction of that whole country Vers 14. Issachar is a streng asse c. He so commends his strength that withal he condemns his dulness This Christ can so little abide that he said even to Judas That thou doest do quickly God utterly refused an asse in sacrifice The firstling of an asse must either be redeemed or have his neâ—â— broke Bellarmine gives the reason and it is a very good one quia tardum pigrum animal because it is a slow sluggish creature segnis quasi seignis without fire heavy to action which God who is himself a pure act cannot abide Vers 15. And he saw that rest was good He submitted to any burdens
cannot put words and how oft doth he chuse the weak to confound the wise _____ And she said unto Balaam The Angel some think did speak in the Asse as the Devil had done to Eve in the garden Vers 29. I would there were a sword Pity but a mad-man should have a sword how much fitter for him were that rod that Solomon speaks of Prov. 26.3 Vrs 32. Because thy way is perverse Thou art resolved to curse howsoever and not to lose so fair a preferment which he must needs buy at a dear rate that payes his honesty for it Better a great deal lye in the dust then rise by such ill principles I shall shut up with that excellent prayer of Zuinglius Deum Opt. Max. precor ut vias nostras dirigat ac sicubi simus Bileami in morem veritati pertinaciter oblucâ—atâ—ri aâ—gelum suum opponat Zuing. epist lib. tertio qui machae 〈◊〉 suoe minis 〈◊〉 asinum insciâ—amâ—t audaciam dico nostram sic ad maâ—criam assligat ut fraclum pedem hoc est impurum illicitumque carnis sensum auferamus ne ultra blasphememus nomen Domini Dei nostri CHAP. XXIII Vers 1. BVild me here seven altars Here in Baals high-places Chap. 22.41 A sinfull mixture such as was that of those Mongrels 2 King 17.28 29. and their naturall Nephews the Samaritans Ioh. 4. Ambodexters in their religion which being grosser at first was afterward refined by Manasseh a Iew-Priest such another as Balaam that in Alexanders time made a defection to them and brought many Iewes with him Of Constantinus Copronymus it is said how truly I know not that he was neither Iew Heathen nor Christian sed colluviem quandam impietatis but a hodg-podg of wickedness And of Redwald King of the East-Saxons the first that was baptized Camden reports that he had in the same Church one Altar for Christian Religion and another for sacrificing to devills And a loafe of the same leaven was that resolute Rufus that painted God on the one side of his shield and the devill on the other with this desperate inscription In â—trumque paratus Ready for either catch as catch may Vers 2. And Balak did Ready to conform to any religion so he might obtain his purposes So did Henry the fourth of France but it was his ruine whiles he sought the love of all parties aequè malo ac bono reconciliabilis as one saith of him he lost all Whiles he stood to the true religion he was Bonus Orbi as one wittily anagrammatized his name Borbonius but when he fell from it Orbus boni And surely he was not like to stand long to the truth who at his best had told Beza Pelagose non ita commissurus esset quin quando liberct pedem referre posset that he would launch no further into the sea then he might be sure to return safe to the haven some countenance he would shew to religion but yet so as he would be sure to save himself God abhors these luke-warme Neuter-passives that are inter coelum terramque penduli that halt between two that commit Idolatry between the porch and the altar with those five and twenty miscreants Ezek. 8.16 Vers 4. I have prepared seven Altars He boasts of his devotions and so thinks to demerit Gods favour So those hypocrites in Esay Chap. 58.3 Non sic deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret we have not so served the gods as that the enemy should have the better of us said the Emperour Antoninus the Philosopher Vers 5. And the Lord put a word in Balaams mouth The words thus put into his mouth do but pass from him they are not polluted by him because they are not his as the Trunk through which a man speaks is not more eloquent for the speech uttered through it Balaam did not eate Gods word as Ieremy did Chap. 15.16 nor believe what he had spoken as David and after him Saint Paul did Psal 116.10 2 Cor. 4.13 No more did Plato Seneca and other Heathens in their divine sentences Vers 7. And he took up his parable Or pithy and powerfull speech uttered in numerous and sententious tearms and taken among the Heathen for prophecyes or oracles poëmata pro vaticiniis c. Poets were taken for Prophets Tit. 1.2 and Poems for prophecyes Hence their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein opening a book of Homer Hesiod c. they took upon them by the first verse they lighted upon to divine Tragedians also for their pâ—rables or Master-sentences were highly esteemed of old insomuch as after the discomfit of the Athenians in Sicily they were releeved who could repeat somewhat of Euripides Out of Aram Aram Naharim or Mesopotamia so called because it is scituate betwixt those two rivers of paradise Tigris and Euphrates This was Abrahams country where whiles he was it it he served strange gods Iosh 24.2 Vers 8. How shall I curse He had a good minde to it but did not because he durst not God stood over him with a whip as it were the Angell with a sword in his hand could not be forgotten by him Virtus nolentium nulla est Vers 9. From the top of the rocks I see him And have no power to hurt him She heard me without daunting I departed not without terrour Camb. Elis when I opened the conspiracy against her life howbeit cloathed with the best art I could said Parry the traytour concerning Queen Elizabeth Achilles was said to be Styge armatus but Israel was deo armatus and therefore extra jaâ—tum Lo the people shall dwell alone That they might have no medling with the heathen God would not have them lye neer the sea-coasts for the Philistims lay between them and the sea leâ—t they should by commerce wax prouder as Tyrus did Ezek 27.28 and learn forrein fashions See Esther 3.8 Hence Iudaeâ— though part of the continent is called an Island Isai 20.6 Vers 10. Let me dye the death But he was so far from living the life of the righteous that he gave pestilent counsell against the lives of Gods Israel and though here in a fit of companction Chap. 31.8 he seem a friend yet he was afterward slain by the sword of Israel whose happiness he admireth and desires to share in Bern. Carnales non curant quaerere quem tamen desiderant invenire cupieuses consequi sed non et sequi Carnall men care not to seek that which they would gladly finde c. some faint desires and short-winded wishes may be sometimes found in them but the mischief is they would break Gods chain sunder happiness from holiness salvation from sanctisication the end from the meanes they would dance with the devill all day and then sup with Christ at night live all their lives-long in Dalilah's lap and then go to Abrahams bosome when they dye The Papists have a saying that a man would desire to live in Italy a place of great pleasure but to
to another and proceeded as far as excommunication postea comperti idem sentire so did Cyrill and Theodoret. Vers 23. Be sure your sin will find you out The guilt will haunt you at heels as a bloodhound and the punishment will overtake you as it did that Popish Priest in Lancashire who being followed by one that found his glove with a desire to restore it him but pursued inwardly with a guilty conscience leaps over a hedge plunges into a Marle-pit behind it unseen and unthought of wherein he was drowned Or as it did that other Priest who having escaped the fall of Black-Friers Anno 1623. where two of his fellow-shavelings with about a hundred more Jac. Rev. de vit Pontific 312. perished and taking water with purpose to sail into Flanders was east away with some others under London-Bridg the boat being over-turned Vers 38. Their names being changed Out of detestation of those idols Baal Nebo c. See Exod. 23.13 Psal 16.4 Isai 46.1 Absit ut de ore Christiano sonet Jupiter omnipotens Mehercule Mecastor coetera magis portenta quam numina saith Hierom. Heathenish gods should not be so far honoured as to be heard of out of Christian mouthes nor Popish Idols neither I my self saith Latimer Serm. in 3. Sund. in Advent have used in mine earnest matters to say yea by the Rood by the Masse by St. Mary which indeed is naught Some simple folk say they may swear by the masse because there is now no such thing and by our Lady because she is gone out of the Country CHAP. XXXIII Vers 2. ANd Moses wrote Moses was primus in historia as Martial saith of Salust Vers 4. For the Egyptians buried As iron is very soft and malleable whiles in the fire but soon after returns to its former hardness so was it with these Egyptians Affliction meekneth men hence affliction and meeknesse grow upon the same Hebrew root Vers 29. From Mithcah Which signifies sweetnesse And pitched in Chasmonah Which signifies swiftnesse We must also when we have tasted of Gods sweetness use all possible swiftness in the wayes of holiness as Jacob when he had seen visions of God at Bethel he lift up his feet Gen. 29.1 and went on his way lustily like a generous horse after a bait or a giant after his wine the joy of the Lord is your strength Neh. 8. Vers 38. And dyed there in the fourtieth year Nec te tua plurima Pentheâ— Labentem texît pietas The righteous dye as well as the wicked yea the righteous oft before the wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God sends his servants to bed when they have done their work as here he did Aaron and as within these few dayes he hath done to mine unspeakable loss and grief my dearest brother and most faithful friend Mr. Thomas Jackson that able and active instrument of Gods glory while he lived in the work of the Ministery at Glocester the sad report of whose death received whilest I was writing these things made the pen almost fall out of my singers not for my own sake so much as for my Countrey whereof he was I may truly say Paulin. Nolan in vita Ambros the Bul-wark and the Beauty as Ambrose is said to have been the walls of Italy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Theodosius Ambrose whiles alive was the only Minister to speak of that I knew in the whole Countrey And dilexi virum qui cum corpore solveretur magis de Ecclesiarum statu juam de suis periculis angebatur said the same Emperour of the same Ambrose I could not but love the man for that when he dyed his care was more for the Churches welfare then for his own I can safely say the same of the man in speech without offence to any be it spoken and I greatly fear lest as the death of Ambrose fore-ran the ruine of Italy so that it bodes no good to us that God pulls such props and pillars out of our building But this by way of digression to satisfie my great grief for so dear a friend deceased as David did his for his brother Jonathan and made him an Epitaph 2 Sam. 1.17 Vers 52. Destroy all the pictures Those Balaam's blocks those excellent instruments of idolatry such as was the rood of Hailes and Cockraâ— rood which if it would not serve to make a god yet with a pair of horns clapt on his head might make an excellent Devil Act. and Mon. 1340. as the Mayor of Doncaster perswaded the men of Cockram who came to him to complain of the Joyner that made it and refused to pay him his money for the making of it Vers 55. Shall be pricks in your eyes The eye is the tenderest part and soon vexed with the least mote that falls into it These Jebusites preserved should be notorious mischiâ—fs to them as the Jesuites at this day are to those Christian States that haâ—bour them Shall we suffer those vipers to lodg in our bosomes till they eat out our hearts Sic notus Vlysses Jesuites like bells will never be well tuned till well hanged Among much change of houses in forraign parts they have two famous for the accordance of their names the one called the Bow at Nola the other the Arrow la Flescâ—e given them by Henry 4 whom afterwards they villanously stabbed to death in France Their Apostate Ferrier plaid upon them in this distich Arcum Nola dedit dedit illis alma sagittam Gallia quis funem quem meruere dabit Nola the bow and France the shaft did bring But who shall help them to a hempen-string CHAP. XXXIV Vers 2. THis is the land that shall fall It is God that assigns us our quarters and cuts us out our several conditions appointing the bounds of our habitation Act. 17. This should make us rest contented with our lot and having God our portion say howsoever as David did The lines are fallen to me in a fair place Psal 16.6 It is that our Father sees fit for us Vers 3. Then your South-quarter shall be Judaea was not above 200 miles long and 50 miles broad not neer the half of England by much but far more fertile called therefore Sumen totius orbis and yet England is for good cause counted the Western granary the garden of God whose valleys are like Eden whose hills are as Lebanon whose springs are as Pisgah Speeds hist whose rivers are as Iordan whose walls is the Ocean whose defence is the Lord Jehovah Vers 6. The great Sea Commonly called the Mediterranean Sea betwixt which and the Jews lay the Philistims as now betwixt the Church and the Turk lies the Pope and his followers Italy being the mark that the Turk shoots at Loe a sweet providence of God Vers 8. Vnto the entrance of Hamath Called Hamath the Great Amos 6.8 affecting haply to be held the greatest Village as the Hague in Holland doth and remains therefore unwalled
destruction of Jerusalem at which time wrath came upon them to the utmost 2 Thess 2. Vers 58. This glorious and fearful Name That Nomen majestativum as Bernard calleth it The wiser sort of Heathens acknowledged augustius esse de Deo sentiendum Hinc Pythagericum illud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quà m ut nomen imaginem ejus passim ac temerè usurpemus that higher thoughts must be taken of God then lightly and prophanely to make use of his name which no man may presume in a sudden unmannerliness to blurt out When they would swear by their Jupiter they would break off their oath with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suidas as those that only durst to owe the rest to their thoughts Vers 63. So the Lord will rejoyce over you See here the venemous nature of sin so far forth offensive to Almighty God as to cause him who otherwise afflicts not willingly Lam. 3.33 but delights in mercy Mic. 7.18 to rejoyce in the ruine of his creatures as here to laugh at their destruction and mock when their fear cometh Prov. 1.26 to take as much pleasure therein as a man would do in a cup of generous wine Rev. 16.19 and to be as much eased thereby as one over-gorged would be in ridding his stomach of that that oppressed it Rev. 3.16 Vers 65. A trembling heart Juvenal by a jeer calls them Judaeos trementes trembling Jews Sat. 6. It seems they had Cains curse upon them Vers 66. And thy life shall hang in doubt Semper indesinenter desperabis de vita thou shalt live in continual expectation of death as Tiberius caused such to do as he most hated for a singular punishment Vers 68. And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt This is the last and greatest curse here threatned Oh pray pray said that Dutch Divine upon his death-bed Pontifex enim Romanus concilium Tridentiaum mira moliuntur for the Pope and his Council are seeking to bring us all back into spirituall Egypt Ah ne diem illum posteri Vivant mei quo pristinum Vertantur in lutum aurea Qua nos beârunt soecula What long hath been the opinion and fear of some not unconsiderable Divines Mr. Baylie his Anabaptis unsealed c. pref that Antichrist before his abolition shall once again overflow the whole face of the West and suppresse the whole Protestant Churches I pray God to avert CHAP. XXVI Vers 1. BEside the covenant Which yet was also a covenant of grace and the same with this in substance only that at Horeb was made and delivered in a more legal manner this in a more Evangelical as appears in the following Chapter Vers 4. Yet the Lord hath not given you Nor is he bound to do but on whom he will he sheweth mercy and whom he will he hardeneth i.e. he softneth not Till when a man stands in the midst of means as a stake in the midst of streams unmoveable yea the more God forbids a sin the more he bids for it Rom. 7.8 See the Notes on Matth. 13.11 13 14. Vers 5. Your clothes See the Note on Chap. 8.4 Vers 6. ye have not eaten bread Viz. ordinarily see Deut. 2.6 but Manna beneficium postulat officium Vers 11. From the hewer of thy wood The meanest amongst you such as afterwards were the Gibeonites who also by faith became Covenanters and are called Nethinims in Ezra and Nehemiah They were made drawers of water to the Temple as a kind of punishment God made it a mercy for the nearer they were to the Church the nearer they became to God Vers 16. How we have dwelt And how hard is it to passe thorow Ethiopia how much more to dwell there and not to be discoloured Sin is catching and by the senses those cinque-ports of the soul that old serpent oft winds himself into the heart Ye have seen their abominations oh that you would say Satis est vidisse c. Now therefore lest there should be c. vers 18. Vers 17. A root that beareth gall An evill heart of unbeliefe Heb. 3.12 a deceitfull and deceived heart Ier. 17.9 Isai 44.20 that is ever either weaving spiders webbes i e. loving vanity seeking after leasing Psal 4.2 or hatching cockatrice eggs that is acting mischief Esay 59.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As in that first Chaos were the seeds of all creatures so in mans heart here therefore fitly called a root of rottenness of all sins Holy Bradford would never look upon any ones leud life with one eye but presently reflect upon himself with the other and say In this my vile heart remains that sin which without Gods speciall grace I should have committed as well as he Vers 19. When be heareth the words But feareth them no more then Behemoth doth the iron weapons which are esteemed by him as straws The presumptuous sinner saith one makes God a God of cloutes one that howsoever he speaks heavy words will not do as he saith Words are but wind say they in Ieremy Chap. 5.13 God forbid say they in the Gospell Luk. 20.16 These things are but spoken in terrorem thinks the practicall Athiest bug-beare words devised on purpose to affright silly people c. Ahab after he was threatned with utter rooting out begat fifty sons as it were to cross God and to try it out with him So Thrasonicall Lamech brags and goes on to out-dare God himself If Cain be avenged c. Gen. 4.23 The old Italians were wont in time of thunder to shoot off their greatest ordnance and to ring their greatest bells to drown the noise of the heavens like unto these are many frontless and flagitious persons But shall they escape by iniquity in thine anger it is not more a prayer then a prophecy cast down the people O God Psal 56.7 To add drunkenness to thirst To add rebellion to sin Iob 34.37 To drink iniquity like water Vers 7. His sin and his repentance run in a circle as drankenness and thirst do He sins and cryes God mercy and sayes he will sin no more and yet does it again the next day till his heart be so heardened by the deceitfulness of sin that at length he looseth all passive power of recovering himself out of the snare of the devill by whom he is taken alive at his pleasure 2 Tim. 2.26 Vers 20. The Lord will not spare him God cannot satisfie himself in threatning this heynous sin as if the very naming of it had inraged his jealousie Yea when he threatneth it he useth here no qualifications as he doth in other cases but is absolute in threatning to shew that he will be resolute in punishing See the like Esay 22.12 13 14. Ezek. 24 1◠It is better therefore to have a sore then a seared conscience as a burning feaver is more hopeful then a lethargy Vers 22. When they see the plagues A presumptuous offender is a traytour to the State and one sinner destroyeth much