be with us in regard of fellow-feeling We should feel others hard cords thorough our soft beds Ver. 12. That Moah is weary on the high place tired out in his superstitious services by all which he is not a button the better but a great deal the worse But he shall not prevail This is every wicked mans case and curse for we know that God heareth not sinners Joh. 9 31. He will never accept of a good motion from a bad mouth Isa 1. The very heathen could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 13. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken And is therefore sure and certain for the word of the Lord cannot be broken Joh. 10.35 Since that time i. e. Since Balaam hired by Balac say the Hebrews cursed not the Israelites as he would have done but the Moabites as he was made to do Ex tunc Ver. 14. Within three years In which time the sins of the Moabites shall be full and themselves ripe and ready for vengeance Three years hence therefore sc in the fourth year of King Hezekiah for then came up Salm inezer against Samaria and t is probable that in his march thither he invaded and subdued these Moabites that he might leave all safe behind him An hundred years after which or more Nebuchadnezzar utterly ruined them according to Jer. 48. As the years of an hireling i. e. praecisè nec citius nec tardius three years precisely This time Moab had to make his peace in but he minded nothing less and therefore deservedly perished So alas shall all such infallibly as repent not within their three years space which perhaps may not be three moneths or three dayes saith Oecolampadius I may add three minutes and yet ex hoc momento pendet aeternitas upon this short inch of time dependeth eternity Up therefore and be doing Stat sua cuique dies c. CHAP. XVII Ver. 1. THe burden of Damascus See chap. 13.1 Of Damascus That is of the Kingdom of Syria the head City wherof was Damascus and it was destroyed by Salmaneser five or six years after this burdenous Prophecy the like whereunto see chap. 49.23 Am. 1.2 Zech. 9.1 It had been taken before by Tiglath-pileser 2 King 1. and hath been rebuilded since Act. 9.2 2 Cor. 11.32 being at this day a noble City of the East civitas laetitiae landabilis as Jeremy calleth it Chap. 49. And it shall be a ruinous heap It was so till re-edified and inhabited by a new people Ver. 2. The cities of Aroer are forsaken i. e. The countrey beyond Jordan Deut. 2.36 is desolated and depopulated the Gadites and the Reubenites being also together with the Syrians carried captive by Tiglath-pileser 1 Chron. 5.26 Ver. 3. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim Heb. shall sabbatizâ— or rest Ephraim or the ten tribes had joyned with Syria in a confederacy against Judah they justly therefore partake with them in their punishment Shall be as the glory of the children of Israel Poor glory now but so their low condition is called Ironically and by way of contempt saith Oecolamp Ver. 4. The glory of Jacob shall be made thin Their multitudes wherein they gloried shall be greatly impaired And the fatness He shall be cast into a deadly consumption Now the consumption of a Kingdom is poverty and the death of it is loss of authority saith Scultetus wickedness being the root of its wretchedness like as the causes of diseases are in the body it self Ver. 5. And it shall be as when the harvest man Their utter captivity is set forth by three lively Similitudes for better assurance a very small remnant only left in the Land This by some Ancients is alledged to shew how few shall be saved surely not one of ten thousand said Simeon And before him Chrysostom How many think you shall be saved in this City of Antioch Hom. 4. ad Pop. Antioch Though there be so many thousands of you yet there cannot be found an hundred that shall enter into Gods Kingdom and I doubt much of those too c. In the valley of Rephaim which was nigh to Jerusalem Jun. Josh 15.8 nam simili tudine populari propheta ulitur Ver. 6. Yeâ— gleaâ—ing grapes c. See on ver 5. Ver. 7. At that day shall a man look to his Maker The Elect among the Isralites shall do so having been whipt home as before There is an Elegancy in the original as there are many in this Prophet that cannot be Englished Here also and in the next Verse we have a description of true Repentance the right fruit of Afflicton sanctified Penitency and Punishment are words of one derivation Ver. 8. And he shall not look to the Altars As having looked before to his Maker with a single eye with an eye of Adamant that will turn only to one point See on Hos 14.8 Ver 9. Which they left for the children of Israel Which the enemy left by a sweet providence of God the like whereto see on Zech. 7.14 Ver. 10. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation Thou hast disloyally departed from him as a Wife doth from her Husband though he were both able and ready to have saved thee Therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants But all to no purpose Hoc patres familias pro regula habeant oeconomica There is a curse upon the wicked though never so industrious all will not do God cannot abide to be forgotten And shalt set it with strange slips i. e. Rare and excellent ones Exotica fere non nisi preciosa afferuntur Jun. but for the enemies use as ver 11. Deut. 28.29 Ver. 11. In the day thou shalt make thy plant to grow So Prov. 22.8 he that soweth inquity shall reap vanity and the more serious and sedulous he is at it the worse shall it be with him Gal. 6.8 But thy harvest shall be an heap This is a Proverb among the Jews to signifie labour in vain In the day of grief and desperate sorrow Heb. aegrae sc plagae for grapes ye shall gather thorns for figs thistles Ver. 12. Wo to the multitude of many people Met to make up Sennacheribs Army Mihi hoc loco admirantis vi etur Oecolamp Or O the multitude c. The Prophet wondereth as it were at the huge multitude of the enemies and their horrible noise Like the rushing of many waters Ob impetum fremitum Ver. 13. The Nations shall rush Or rustle The Assyrians did so when they brake in chap. 36.1 20. But God shall rebuke them i. e. Chide them smite them and so set it on as none shall be able to take it off And they shall flee far off Heb. he shall flee viz. Sennacherib who frighted with the slaughter of his Souldiers by the Angel shall flee his utmost Ver. 14. And behold at even-tide trouble Or terrour sc within Jerusalem besieged by Sennacheribs forces But this mourning lasted but till morning The
for it came up four notable horns i. e. Four potent Princes out of the shipwrack of his Empire which four in processe of time came to two Dan. 11.5 6. Ver. 9. And out of one of them Out of the posterity of Seleucus King of Syria Came forth a little horn This was Antiochus sirnamed Epiphanes Illustrious Polybius called him Epimanes the mad man He is here called a little horn because he was vile and base from the very first to the last of him Indeed he was born a Prince but without a Kingdom a meer Nullatenensis till he became an V surper He was sent for an hostage to Rome by his father Antiochus Magnus whom the Romans had â—ndgeld into a treaty taking away from him the best part of his Kingdom After his fathers death he stole away from Rome and seized upon the Kingdom of Syria casting out of it his nephew Demetrius who was the right heir Afterwards he got into his hands also the Kingdom of Egypt under colour of Protectour to his young nephew Ptâ—lomy Philometor And being therehence discharged by the Romans and made to answer Parebo I will be gone he went thence in a rage and like a mad man recked his teem as we say upon the poor Jews playing the devil amongst them Toward the South i. e. Egypt And toward the East Persia which he also conquered And toward the pleasant land i. e. Judaea called here Decus Capreolus the delectable and desireable Country by reason of its great prerogatives So Ezek. 20.6 Psal 48.2 See there Ver. 10. And it waxed great even to the host of heaven Or against the host of heaven so the Church militant is called The Saints are the worlds great luminaries yea the only earthly Angels although wicked people count and call them the filth and off couring of all things And of the stars Such as shone in the light of holy doctrine Rev. 1.10 Persecutors spite is specially against such Zach. 13.7 Ver. 11. Yea he magnified himself extolled or extended himself such was his insolency Even to or against the Prince of the host Christ the Captain of his peoples sufferings and of their salvation Heb. 2.10 he bare an hostile spirit against the God of the Jews such an hell-bound hardly ever was born casting him out of his place and setting up in his room Jâ—piter Olympius that is the devil he defaced also and burnt up the books of the Law all he could light on 1 Mac. 1.59 Ver. 12. And an host was given him Or the host was given over for the trasgression against the daily sacrifice The Jewes were grown to a great height of profanesse even in Malachies dayes as is to be seen chap. 1 2 3. And by this time doubtlesse they were become much worse God therefore for punishment turned this Tiger loose upon them And it cast down the truth to the ground The doctrine of truth together with the Professors thereof The like whereunto is still done by the Romish Antichrist to whom some apply all this part of the Chapter as the proper and genuine sense of the Text. See the visions and Prophecies of Daniel expounded by Mr. Thomas Parker of Newbery in New-England pag. 43 44 c. And it practised and prospered Wicked practises against Religion may prosper for the time Acts 12.1 2 3. It was therefore no good argument that the Earl of Darby used to George Marsh Martyr telling him that the Dukes of Northumberland and of Suffolk and other of the new perswasion had ill luck Act. Mon. 1421. and were either put to death or in danger so to be And again he rehearsed unto him the good hap of the Queens highnesse and of those that held with her and said that the Duke of Northumberland confessed so plainly Ver. 13. And I heard one Saint speaking i. e. One holy Angel for they are sollicitous of Gods glory and sensible of the Saints sufferings whereof they would have a speedy end and should not we be so too weeping with those that weep and rejoycing with those that rejoyce And another Saint said unto that certain Saint which spake Anonymo illi qui loquebatur so Piscator rendereth it others To the wonderful Numberer who spake i. e. who commanded Gabriel to declare the vision to Daniel ver 16. This was Jesus Christ the Wisdom and Word of God He who knoweth all the secrets of his Father as perfectly as if they were numbred before him How long shall be the vision It appeareth then that Angels know not all secrets but that their knowledge is limited they know not so much but they would know more Ephes 3.10 1 Pet. 1.12 Concerning the daily sacrifice The losse whereof was a just matter of lamentation to godly minds See Zeph. 3.18 And the transgression of desolation Transgression is a land-desolating evil Lam. 1.9 And the host to be trodden under foot i. e. The Professors of the truth were over-turned some by perswasion others by persecution Ver. 14. And he 〈◊〉 unto me Not to the Angel but to me who should have proposed the question the holy Angel did it for me Vnto two thousand and three hundred dayes Heb. to the evening and morning two thousand and three hundred i. e. to so many natural dayes consisting of 24. hours which in all do make up six years three moneths and twenty dayes This point of skil Daniel here learneth of the Wonderful Numberer Christ who hath all secrets in numerato and will put a timely period to his peoples afflictions Not full seven years did they suffer here much lesse Seventy as once in Babylon How he moderateth the matter See on Rev. 2.10 How this Prophecy was fulfilled See 1 Maccab. 1.12 13 14. 2 Maccab. 4.12 c. with 1 Maccab. 4.52 Ver. 15. And it came to passe when I even I Daniel Not another as that black-mouthed Porphyry slanderously affirmed that not the Prophet Daniel saw Porphyr cont Christian l. 12. Hieronym and uttered these Prophecyes so long before they fell out but another who lived after the reign of Antiochus wrot an history of things past and entitled it falsely to Daniel as a prophecy of things to come Oâ—durum Then behold there stood before me They who seriously and sedulously seek after divine knowledge shall finde means to attain unto it Rev. 13.1 Ver. 16. And I heard a mans voice This was the Man Christ Jesus the great Doctour of his Church and Commander of Angels viro similis quia incarnandus Make this man to understand Angels and Ministers make men to understand secrets give the knowledge of salvation to Gods people Luke 1.77 not by infusion but by instruction Ver. 17. So he came near where I stood Let our obedience be like that of the Angels prompt and present I was afraid Through humane frailty and conscience of sin Vnderstand O son of man Ezekeil and Daniel only of all the Prophets are so called haply lest they should be exalted
the Text thus The Lord saies up sound wisdome for the righteous c. when hee is in distress then hee hath such quietness of spirit soundness and presence of mind that in the must of his straits hee is in a sufficiency Not so the wicked Job 20.22 Hee is a buckler to them The body cannot bee wounded but through the buckler if skilfully handled Happy art than O Israel who is like unto thee Deut. 33.29 O people saved by the Lord the shield of thy help c. Vers 8. Hee keepeth the paths of judgement Well may they walk uprightly that are so strongly supported Gods hand is ever under his they cannot fall beneath it Hee keepeth the feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2.9 Vers 9. Then shalt thou understand righteousness Not as cognoscitiva standing in speculation But as directiva vitae a rule of life Knowledge is either Apprehensive onely or Affective also This differs from that as much as the light of the Sun wherein is the influence of an inlivening power from the light of Torches Vers 10. Is pleasant to thy soul Spiritual joy mortifies sin His mouth hankers not after homely provision that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance Pleasure there must bee in the wayes of God because therein men let out their souls into God that is the fountain of all good hence they so infinitely distaste sins tasteless fooleries Crede mihi res severa est verum gandium saith Seneca True joy is a solid business Becman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 11. Discretion Hebr. Thoughtfulness or good advisement Cogito quasi coagito Notat sercitatem such as is that of the wife to please her husband 1 Cor. 7.34 casting this way and that way how to give best content Or that of the good huswife to build her house Prov. 14.1 studying in every business how to set every thing in order As the Carpenter studies how to set every part of the frame in joynt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 12. That speaketh froward things As if his mouth were distorted or the upper-lip stood where the nether should See Act. 20.30 Vers 13. To walk in the wayes of darkness As Theeves Drunkards Dicers and our other Solifugae that abuse even Gospel-light that put not light under a bushel but under a dunghil that when they have walked themselves aweary in these by-wayes high wayes to hell sit down in darkness and in the shadow of death Luke 1.79 which posture imports 1. Continuance there â— Content as well a paid of their scat These hate the light because their wayes are evil Joâ— 3. The light stands in the light of their wicked wayes as the Angel did in Balaams way to his sin Vers 14. Who rejoyce to do evil It is their meat drink sport Prov. 4.27 and 10.23 they cannot bee merry unless the Devil bee their play-fellow This is reckoned as an aggravation of Jerusalems sin Jer. 11.15 Melior est tristitia iniqua patientis quam latitia iniqua facieâ—tis When thou dost evil then thou rejoycest But better is the sorrow of him that suffereth evil than the jollity of him that doth evil saith Austin Vers 15. Whose wayes are crooked How justly may God say to such as the Crab in the Fable did to the Serpent when hee had given him his deaths wound for his crooked conditions and then saw him stretch himself out streight At opoâ—tuit sic vixisse It is too late now you should have lived so And they froward Absurd 2. Thess 3.2 Men made up of meer incongruities solacising in opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speeches actions all Vers 16. From the strange woman Forbidden thee by God as strange fire strange Gods c. Which flattereth with her lips Whose lips are nets whose hands are bands whose words are cords to draw a man in as a Fool to the stocks or an Oxe to the slaughter Vers 17. Which forsaketh the guide of her youth That is Her Husband as Helena Becman Herodias Bernice Act. 25.13 and other odious Harlots Adulterium quasi ad alterum vel ad alterius torum This Wanton never wants one though her Husband bee ever so near And forgetteth the Covenant of her God Marriage is a mixt Covenant partly Religious and partly Civil The parties tye themselves first to God and then to one another The bond is made to God who also will bee ready enough to take the forfeiture For Whores and Adulteresses God will judge Hâ—b 13.3 Vers 18. For her house inclineth unto death Terence calleth Harlots Cruces quia juvenes macerent affligant Venery is deaths best Harbinger Venus ab antiquis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicta Jacob. Reâ—ias Shee provideth saith one not for those that are already born but for those that shall bee born Of Pope Paul the fourth that old Goat it went for a by word Eum per candem partem animam profudisse per quam acceperat Pope John the twelfth being taken with an Adulteress was stabbed to death by her Husband Alexander the Great and Othâ— the third Barns lost their lives by their lusts But how many alas by this means have lost their souls Fleshly lusts by a specialty fight against the soul 1 Pet. 2.12 And nothing hath so much inriched hell saith one as beautiful faces And her paths unto the dead Hebrew El Rhephaim to the Giants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 projecti sunt To that part of hell where those damned monsters are together with those sensual Sodomites who giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are thrown forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude 7. Vers 19. None that go unto her return again Some of the Antients have here hence concluded that Adultery is an unpardonable sin But all manner of sin and blasphemy shall bee forgiven unto men saith our Saviour save onely the sin against the Holy Ghost Matth. 12.31 True it is that a Whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit Prov. 23.27 That Whoredome and Wine and new Wine take away the heart Hos 4.11 That such are said to bee destitute of understanding and to have lost even the light of nature Prov. 6.32 Rom. 1.28 to bee past feeling and given up to a dead and dedolent disposition Eph. 4.18 19. to bee impudent Jer. 2 3. wherefore also they are compared to dogs Deut. 23.18 2 Sam. 3.8 and for most part impenitent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Eccles 7.28 Grace as One well observeth is seated in the powers of Nature Now carnal sins disable nature and so set us in a greater distance from grace as taking away the heart c. Howbeit all things are possible with God Mark 9.26 27. And though few have awakened out of this snare of the Devil yet some have as David and that woman Luke 7.37 50. lest any humbled sinners should despair
as the Popes Canonists call it Divine Justice doth not use to kill Flyes with Beetles Vers 33. A wound and dishonour shall hee get Either from the husband of the Adulteress or from the Magistrate who will put him to death according to the Law of God Levit. 20. Deut. 22. and of divers Nations with whom Adultery is a capital crime And his reproach shall not bee wiped away See the Note in Chap. 5.9 How oft read we of David that hee was upright in all things save only in the matter of Uriah What an indeleble blot is that still upon him Vers 34. For jealousie is the rage Howbeit hee may not kill the Adulterer though taken in the act Custos utriusque tabula but prosecute the Law against him and appeal to the Magistrate who is the Lord-keeper of both Tables But if no Law will releeve a man yet let him know that hee shall do himself no disservice by making God his Chancellor CHAP. VII Vers 1. My Son keep my words ARistotle hath observed and daily experience makes it good that man shews his weakness no way more than about moderating the pleasure of his Tasting and Touching For as much as they belong to him not as a man but as a living creature Turpe est senescere atatem non tamen senescere lascivâ—am Nazianz Now therefore as where the hedge is lowest there the beast leaps over soonest So Satan will bee sure to assault us where wee are least able to withstand him And whereas old men have no cause to bee secure David was old when hee went in to Bathsheba and Lot not young when hee defloured his two daughters Of the Brabants it is said that quo magis senescunt to magis stâ—â—lâ—escunt Contra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senâ—â—c quasi Semintâ—â— the elder the foolisher And the Heathen Sages say Metuendam â—sse senectam quod non veniat sola that old age is to bee feared as that which comes not alone but being it self a diseaseâ— it comes accompained with many diseases both of body and minde young men especially whom the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee hot and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to boyl and who think they have a licence helluari scortari fores effringere to drink and drab which they count and call a trick of youth have but more than need to bee constantly and carefully cautioned and called upon as here they are to fly fornication 1 Cor. 6.8 to fly youthful lusts 2 Tim. 2.22 with post-haste to flee them to abstain from fleshly lusts Tanquam à mellito veneno which war against the soul 1 Pet. 2.11 The body cannot bee so wounded with weapons as the soul is with lusts Holy Timothy so temperate a young man 1 Tim. 5.23 that Saint Paul was fain to prescribe him physick bidding him no longer to drink water but a little wine for his stomacks sake and his often infirmities contracted happily by his too much abstinence for the better keeping under his body and bringing it into subjection is in the same Chapter by the same Apostle exhorted 1 Tim. 5.2 to exhort the younger women with all Purity Whereby is intimated that through the deceit of his heart and the slipperiness of his age even while hee was pressing those young women to purity some impure motion might press in upon him Which though but a stranger to Timothy as Peter Martyr and others observe out of that passage in Nathans parable 2 Sam. 12.5 that lust was to David yet might prove a troublesome inmate if not suddenly ejected It is no marvel therefore that the Wiseman is so exceeding earnest with his Son about the business of abhorring harlotry the hatefulness whereof hee now paints out in a parable setting it forth in liveliest colours Vers 2. Keep my Commandements and live i. e. Live happily Isa 48.17 I am the Lord that teacheth thee to profit therefore keep my Commandements as if God should say it is for thy profit that I command thee and not for mine own In doing thereof there is great reward saith David Psal 19. and present reward saith Solomon here Do it and live In the Courts of earthly Princes there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delaies and changes Men are off and on in their promises they are also slow and slack in their performances But it is otherwise here The very entrance of thy word giveth light Psal 119.130 And the very onset of obedience giveth life It is but Hear and your souls shall live Isa 55.3 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with mee Rev. 22.12 And my Law as the apple of thine eye With all chariness and circumspection The least mote offends the eye and the least deviation violates the Law Sin is homogeneal all of a kind though not all of the same degree as the least pibble is a stone as well as the hugest rock and as the drop of a bucket is water as well as the main Ocean Hence the least sins are in Scripture reproached by the names of the greatest Malice is called man-slaughter Lust Adultery c. concupiscence is condemned by the Law even the first motions of sin though they never come to consent Rom. 7.7 Inward bleeding may kill a man De minutis non curat lex saith the Civilian But the Law of God is Spiritual though wee bee carnal And as the Sunshine shews us atomes and motes that till then wee discerned not so doth the Law discover and censure smallest failings It must therefore bee kept curiously even as the apple of the eye as that little man in the eye that cannot bee touched 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab but hee will bee distempered Careful wee must bee even in the minutula legis the punctilios of duty Men will not lightly lose the least ends of gold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nequa enim auri tantum massas tollâ—nt sed bractcolâ—s Vers 3. Binde them upon thy fingers That thou mayest have them alwaies in sight as God hath his people Isa 49.16 Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before mee The Hebrews here refer fingers to action heart to meditation and retention Men should have the Law of God at their fingers ends Any of us Jews saith Josephus being asked of any point of the Law answereth it as readily as if hee had been asked his own name they should also bee doers of the word and not hearers onely The hand is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the instrument of action Aristot David lifted up both his hands to the word as if hee would pull it to him with both hands as if hee would do the deed in good earnest Psal 119.48 The Heavens are the work of Gods fingers Psal 8.3 The Law should bee of ours Vers 4. Say unto
Father who tells him there that which hee found true by experience Loe children are an heritage of the Lord c. for by all his Wives Salomon had none but one Son and him none of the wisest neither Vers 2. What my son and what the son of my wombe An abrupt speech importing abundance of affection even more than might be uttered There is an Ocean of love in a Parents heart a fathomless depth of desire after the Childes welfare in the mother especially Some of the Hebrew Doctors hold that this was Bathsheba's speech to her son after his fathers death when she partly perceived which way his Genius leaned and lead him that then shee schooled him in this sort q. d. Is it even so my son my most dear son c. O doe not give thy strength to women c. Vers 3. Give not thy strength to women Waste not unworthily the fat and marrow of thy dear and precious time the strength of thy body the vigor of thy spirits in sinful pleasures and sensual delights See chap. 5.9 Nor thy wayes to that which destroyeth Kings Venery is called by one Deaths best Harbinger It was the destruction of Alexander the great of Otho the Emperour called for his good parts otherwise Miraculum mundi of Pope Sextus the fourth qui decessit tabidus voluptate saith the Historian dyed of a wicked waste and of Pope Paul the fourth of whom it passed for a Proverb Eum per candem partem animam profudisse per quam acceperat The Lacedemonian Common-wealth was by the hand of Divine Justice utterly overturned at Leuctra for a rape committed by their Messengers on the two Daughters of Scedosus And what befell the Benjamites on a like occasion is well known out of Judg. 20. that I speak not of the slaughter of the Shechemites Gen. 34. c. Vers 4. It is not for Kings to drink wine i. e. To bee drunk with Wine wherein is excess Ephes 5.18 where the Apostle determines excessive drinking to bee down-right drunkenness viz. when as Swine do their bellies so men break their heads with filthy quaffing This as no man may lawfully doe so least of all Princes for in maxima libertate minima est licentia Men are therefore the worse because they are bound to be better Nor for Princes strong drink Or as some read it where is the strong drink It is not for Princes to ask such a question All heady and intoxicating drinks are by statute here forbidden them Of Bonosus the Emperour it was said that he was born non ut vivat sed ut bibat not to live but to drink and when being overcome by Probus he afterwards hanged himself it was commonly jested that a tankard hung there and not a man But what a Beast was Marcus Antonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strabo Camd. Elis that wrote or rather spued out a book concerning his own strength to bear strong drink And what another was Darius King of Persia who commanded this inscription to bee set upon his Sepulcher I was able to hunt lustily to drink wine soundly and to bear it bravely That Irish Rebel Tiroen Anno 1567. was such a Drunkard that to cool his body when hee was immoderately inflamed with Wine and Uskabagh hee would many times bee buried in the earth up to the chin These were unfit men to bear rule Vers 5 Lest they drink and forget the Law Drunkennesse causeth forgetfulness hence the Ancients feigned Bacchus to bee the sonne of forgetfulness and stands in full opposition to reason and religion when the Wine is in the Wit is out Plutarch in Sympos Seneca saith that for a man to think to be drunk and yet to retain his right reason is to think to drink rank poyson and yet not to dye by it And pervert the judgement c. Pronounce an unrighteous sentence which when Philip King of Macedony once did the poor woman whose cause it was presently appealed from Philip now drunk to Philp when hee should be sober again The Carthaginians made a Law that no Magistrate of theirs should drink wine The Persians permitted their Kings to be drunk one day in a year only Solon made a Law at Athens that drunkenness in a Prince should be punished with death See Eccles 10.16 17. Vers 6. Give strong drink to him c. To those that stand at the barre rather than to them that sit on the bench Wine maketh glad the heart of man Judg. 9.13 Psal 104.15 Plato calls Wine and Musick the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mitigaters of mens miseries Hence that laudable custome among the Jews at Funerals to invite the friends of the deceased to a feast and to give them the cup of consolation Jer. 16.7 And hence that not so laudable of giving Wine Bacchus afflictis requienâ— mortalibus affert Tibul. mingled with Myrrhe to crucified Malefactors to make them dye with lesssense Christ did not like the custom so well and therefore refused the potion People should be most serious and sober when they are to dye sith in Death as in Warre non licet bis errare if a man miss at all he misses for all and for ever Vitellius trepidus dâ—in temâ—lentus Vitellius therefore took a wrong course who looking for the messenger Death made himself drunk to drown the fear of it And Wine unto those that be of heavie hearts Heb. bitter of spirit as Naomi was when she would needs be called Marah Ruth 1.20 as Hannah was when she pleaded that she had neither drunk Wine nor strong drink though at that time she had need enough of it but was a Woman of a sorrowful spirit 1 Sam. 1.15 as David was when his heart was leavened and sowred with the greatness of his grief and he was pricked in his reins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 73.21 This grief was right because according to God 2 Cor. 7.11 so was that bitter mourning Zach. 10.12 and Peters weeping bitterly These waters of Marah that flow from the eyes of repentance are turned into wine they carry comfort in them there is a clear shining after this rain 2 Sam. 23.4 Such April-showers bring on May-flowers Dejicit ut revelet premit ut solatia praestet Enecat ut possit vivificare Deus Vers 7. Let him drink and forget his Poverty And yet let him drink moderately too lest he increase his sorrows as Lot did and not diminish them for drunkennesse leaves a sting behind it worse than that of a Serpent or of a Cockatrice Prov. 23.32 Wine is a prohibited ware among the Turks which makes some drink with scruple others with danger The baser sort when taken drunk are often bastinadoed upon the bare feet And I have seen some saith mine Author after a fit of drunkennesse lye a whole night crying and praying to Mahomet for intercession Bluâ—tâ— voyage p. 105. that I could not sleep neer them so strong is conscience even where
so here in the event all our wisedom is soon refuted with one black Theta which understanding us not snappeth us unrespectively without distinction and putteth at once a period to our reading and to our being And why was I then more wise This is a peece of peevishnesse a childish folly we are all prone to viz. to repent us of our best pains if not presently paid for it so short spirited are we that unlesse we may sow and reap all in a day unlesse all things may goe with us as well as we could wish wee repent us of our repentance with David Psal 73.13 hit God in the teeth with our obedience as those hypocrites in Esay chap. 58.2 3. and as that elder brother in the Parable that told his father he had never been worth a Kid to him for all his good service But what is God like to break or to dye in our debts that we are so hasty with him This was good Barucks fault and he is soundly chidden for it Jer. 45.1 with chap. 36.1 2. Good men oft find it more easie to bear evil than to wait till the promised good bee enjoyed It was so with those Christian Hebrews chap. 10.34 36. whom therefore the Apostle there tells they had need of patience or tarriance to carry Gods time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It needs not repent the wise of this world much lesse the children of Light of any good they have done or gotten however it prove with them sith some degree of comfort follows every good action as hear accompanies fire as beams and influences issue from the Sun And this is so true that very Heathens upon the discharge of a good Conscience have found comfort and peace answerable Vers 16. For there is no remembrance of the wise viz. unlesse hee bee also wise to salvation for then he shall be had in everlasting remembrance Or otherwise either he shall be utterly forgotten as being not written among the living in Jerusalem Esay 4.3 or else he shall not have the happiness to bee forgotten in the City where he had so done Eccl. 8.10 I mean where he had been either a dogmatical or at least a practical Atheist as the very best of the Philosophers were Rom. 1. 1. Cor. 1. the choysest and the most picked men amongst them 1 Cor. 3.21 And how dyeth the wise man as the fool See the Note on vers 14 15. wise men dye as well as fools Psal 49.10 good men dye as well as bad Ezek. 21.4 yet with this difference that the righteous hath hope in his death which to him is neither total but of the body only nor perpetual but for a time only till the day of refreshing See both these Rom. 8.10 11. Vers 17. Therefore I hated life i. e. I lesse loved it than I had done I saw mortality to be a mercy with Cato I was neither fond of life Vsque adeone mori miserum Virgil. nor afraid of death with Q. Elizabeth I preferred my Coffin before my Cradle my Burial-day before my Birth-day chap. 7.1 A greater than Solomon threatens those that love life with the loss of life Luk. 17.33 and hath purposely set a particular vanity and vexation upon every day of our life that wee may not dote upon it sith we dye daily Sufficient to the day is the evil that is the misery thereof Quicquid boni est in mundo saith Austin what good thing soever we have here is either past present or to come If past it 's nothing if to come it 's uncertain if present yet it is unsufficient unsatisfactory So that whilst I call to mind things past said that incomparable Q. Elizabeth behold things present and expect things to come Camb. Eliz. fol. 325. I hold them happiest that goe hence soonest Vers 18. Yea I hated all my labour i. e. I was sorry to think that I had been so eager and earnest in getting a great estate which now I must leave and to whom I know not sure I am to those that never took any pains for it And herein we see the corruption of our nature discover it self in that we are so wedded to the things of this world especially if gotten by our own art and industry that we think much to bee divorced from them by death and to leave them to others when our selves can enjoy them no longer Henry Beauford that rich and wretched Cardinal Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England in the reign of Henry 6. when hee perceived that hee must dye Act. Mon. fol. 925. and that there was no remedy murmured at death that his riches could not reprieve him till a further time For he asked wherefore should I dye being so rich If the whole Realm would save my life I am able either by policy to get it or by riches to buy it Fye quoth he will not death bee hired will money doe nothing Latimer in a Sermon before King Edward the 6. tells a story of a rich man that when hee lay upon his Sick bed there came one to him and told him that certainly by all reason they can judge by hee was like to be a man for another world a dead man As soon as ever he hears but these words saith Latimer What must I dye said he send for a Physician wounds sides heart must I dye wounds sides heart must I dye and thus he goes on and there could bee nothing got from him but wounds sides heart must I dye Must I dye and goe from these here was all here 's the end of a man that made his portion to bee in this world If this mans heart had been ript up aâ—ter hee was dead there might have been found written in it The God of this present world Serm. on Psal 17.14 April 3. 1643. before the L. Maior Mr. Jeremy Burroughes relates in print of another rich man that had sometime lived neer unto him who when hee heard his sickness was deadly sent for his bags of mony and hugg'd them in his arms saying Oh! must I leave you Oh! must I leave you And of another who when hee lay upon his sick bed called for his bags and laid a bag of gold to his heart and then bad them take it away it will not do it will not do Mr. Rogers in his Treatise of love tels of one that being near death clapt a twenty shillings peece of gold into his own mouth saying Some wiser than some I le take this with mee howsoever Vers 19. And who knoweth whether he shall bee a wise man A friend or an enemy an acquaintance or a meer stranger riches oft change masters How many by a just hand of God dye childless or else leave that they have to ding-thrifts that will spend it as merrily as ever their parents got it miserably scatter with a fork as it were what they have wretchedly raked together Our Henry 2. some few hours before hee
Church and take away you so worthy a workman and labourer in the Lords Vineyard Acts and Mon. 1744. c And who knoweth the interpretation of a thing Wise a man may bee and yet not so apt and able to wise others Those wise ones that can wise others so as to turn them to righteousness shall shine as the brightness of the firmament yea as the Stars Dan. 12.3 they do so whilst upon earth Wisdome makes their very faces to shine Acts 6 15. as St. Stephens did and as Holy Jobs whiles hee was in a prosperous condition Chap. 29.8 9 10. Jobab hee was then the same some think that is mentioned Gen. 36.33 as when in distress his name was contracted into Job And then though himself were otherwise wise hee might want an Interpreter One of a thousand for such are rare every man cannot sell us this precious oyl Matth. 25.9 to shew unto him his uprightness that is the righteousness of his own experience how himself hath been helped and comforted in like case or to clear up to an afflicted Job his spiritual estate and to shew him his Evangelical Righteousness Oh how beautiful are the feet of such an Interpreter I have seen thy face saith the poor soul to such as though I had seen the face of God Gen. 33.10 A mans wisdome maketh his face to shine Godliness is venerable and reverend Holy and Reverend is his name Psal 112. Gods Image is amiable and admirable Natural conscience cannot but stoop and do obeysance to it What a deal of respect did Nebuchadnezzar and Darius put upon Daniel Alexander the Great upon Jaddus the High-Priest Theodosius upon Ambrose Constantine upon Paphnutius kissing that eye of his that was bored out for the cause of Christ c Godly men have a daunting presence as Athanasius had and Basil to whom when Valens the Arrian Emperour came whiles hee was in holy exercises it struck such a terrour into him Greg. Orat. de lande Basilii that hee reeled and had fallen had hee not been upheld by those that were with him Henry the second of France being present at the Martyrdome of a certain Taylor burnt by him for Religion was so terrified by the boldness of his countenance Epit. hist Gall. 82. and the constancy of his sufferings that hee swore at his going away that hee would never any more bee present at such a sight And the boldness of his face shall bee changed Or doubled his conscience bearing him out and making him undaunted as it did David Psal 3. and the Dutch Martyr Colonus who calling to the Judge that had sentenced him to death desired him to lay his hand upon his heart and then asked him whose heart did most beat his or the Judges By this boldness Jonathan and his Armour-bearer set upon the Garrison of the Philistims David upon Goliah their Champion The Black-Prince was so called not of his colour Speed 688. but of his valour and dreaded acts in battel Vers 2. To keep the Kings commandement Heb. Mouth i. e. The express word of command go not here by guess or good intention lest you speed as that Scotch Captain did who not expecting Orders from his Superiours took an advantage offered him of taking a Fort of the Enemies Speed for which good service hee was knighted in the morning but hanged in the after-noon of the same day for acting without order And that in regard of the Oath of God Thine Oath of Allegiance to thy Prince This Papists make nothing of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pascenius scoffs King James for the invention of it They can swear with their mouths and keep their hearts unsworn as shee in the Comedy Mercatorum est stare juramentis say they at Rome They can assoil men of their allegiance at pleasure and slip their solemn Oaths as easily as Monkies do their Collars And I would this were the sin of Papists onely and that there were not those found even amongst us that keep no oaths further than makes for their own turn like as the Jews keep none unless they swear upon their own Torah Weems brought out of their Synagogues Vers 3. Bee not hasty to go out of his sight Turn not thy back discontentedly fling not away in a chase for this will be construed for a contempt As it was in the Earl of Essex Anno 1598. Dissention falling out between the Queen and him about a fit man for Governour of Ireland hee forgetting himself and neglecting his duty uncivilly turned his back with a scornful countenance Shee waxing impatient gave him a cuff on the ear bidding him bee gone with a vengeance Hee laid his hand upon his sword the Lord Admiral interposing himself hee swore a great oath Camd. Elisch fol. 494. that hee neither could nor would swallow so great an indignity nor would have born it at King Henry the Eighths hands and in great discontentment hasted from the Court But within a while after hee became submiss and was received again into favour by the Queen who alwaies thought it more just to offend a man than to hate him Blunts voyage pag. 97. The very Turks are said to receive humiliation with all sweetness but to bee remorseless to those that bear up Vers 4. Where the word of a King is there is power Ibi dominatio Hee hath long hands and can reach thee at a great distance as Mithridates did when with one letter he slew fourscore thousand Citizens of Rome Val. Max. lib. 9 that were scattered up and down his Kingdome for Trading-sake So Selimus the Great Turk Turk hist. fol. 885 in revenge of the loss received at the battel of Lepanto was once in a minde to have put to death all the Christians in his Dominions in number infinite Charls the Ninth of France is reported to have been the death of thirty thousand of his Protestant Subjects in one years space Anno 1572. See Dan. 5.19 And who may say unto him What dost thou viz. Without danger What safety can there bee in taking a Bear by the tooth or a Lion by the beard I dare not dispute said the Philosopher to the Emperour Adrian with him that hath thirty Legions at his command Neque in cum scribere qui potest proscribere Praescus praesentem Pontisicem redarguit Polycraticon conscripsit Jac. Rev. 145. nor write against him that can as easily undo mee as bid it to be done How be it Elias Micaiah John Baptist and other holy Prophets and Ministers have dealt plainly with great Princes and God hath secured them John Bishop of Salisbury reproved the Pope to his face and yet the Canonists say that although the Pope should draw millions of souls to Hell with him none may dare to say unto him What dost thou But Philip the Fair made bold with his Holiness when hee began his letter to him with Sciat Fatuitas Tua c. So did
Epicureans that if any were good amongst them it was meerly from the goodness of their nature for they taught and thought otherwise And as Peter Moulin said of many of the Priests of France that they were for their loyalty not beholding to the Maxims of Italy and yet Bellarmine hath the face to say De notis Eccles l. 4. c. 13 Sunt quidem in Ecclesia Catholica plurimi mali sed ex haeriticis nullus est bonus Among Papists there are many bad men but among Protestants not one good man is to bee found Vers 10. Hee made the pillars thereof i. e. The faithful Ministers called Pillars Gal. 2.9 and that Atlas-like bear up the pillars of it Psalm 75.3 Those that offer violence to such Sampson-like they lay hands upon the pillars to pluck the house upon their own heads Yea they attempt to pull Stars out of Christs hand Revelations 1. which they will finde a work not feisable Of silver For the purity of matter and clearness of sound for their beauty stability and incorruption Let Ministers hereby learn how they ought to behave themselves in the house of God which is the Church of the living God the pillar and ground of truth 1 Tim. 3.15 The bottom thereof of gold Understand it either of Gods Word which is compared to the finest gold or of that precious grace of Faith the root of all the rest whence it is laid by St. Peter as the bottom and basis the foundation and fountain of all the following graces 2 Epist 1.5 Add to your Faith virtue and to virtue knowledge c. they are all in Faith radically every grace is but Faith exercised Hence wee read of the joy of Faith the obedience of Faith the righteousness of Faith c. Shee is the Mother-grace the womb wherein all the graces are conceived Hence the bottom of Christs fruitful bed the pavement of his glorious Bride-chamber the Church is here said to bee of gold that is of Faith which is called gold Rev. 3.17 compared with 1 Pet. 1.7 that the tryal of your Faith or your well-tryed Faith for it seems to bee an Hebraism being much more precious than that of gold c. And here Bern. Melius est pallens aurum quam fulgens aurichalcum gold though paler is better than glittering copper Splendida peccata The Faith of Gods Elect is far more precious than the shining sins of the beautiful abominations of meer Moralists Suppose a simple man should get a stone and strike fire with it and thence conclude it a precious stone Why every flint or ordinary stone will do that So to think one hath this golden grace of Faith because hee can bee sober just chast liberal c. Why ordinary Heathens can do this True gold will comfort the fainting heart which Alchymy gold will not Think the same of Faith The covering of it of Purple I am of their mind that expound it of Christs blood wherewith as with a Canopy or a kinde of Heaven over head the Church is covered and cured Rev. 5.16 7.14 Rom. 6.3 4. Purple was a rich and dear commodity amongst them see Prov. 31.22 7.5 Mark 15.17 Luk. 16.19 The precious blood of Christ is worthily preferred before gold and silver 1 Pet. 1.18 19. The midst thereof being paved with love For Christ loved us and washed us with his blood Rev. 1.5 Hee also fills his faithful people with the sense of his love who therefore cannot but finde a great deal of pleasure in the waies of God because therein they let out their souls into God and taste of his unspeakable sweetness they cannot also but reciprocate and love his love So the bottom the top and the middle of this reposing place are answerable to those three Cardinal graces faith hope and love 1 Cor. 13. For the daughters of Jerusalem This Charret or Bridal-bed hee made for himself hee made it also for the daughters of Jerusalem for all his is theirs Union being the ground of Communion As wee must do all for Christ according to that Quicquid agas propter Deum agas and again Propter te Domine propter te choice and excellent Spirits are more taken up with what they shall do for God than what they shall receive from God so Christ doth all for us and seeks how to seal up his dearest love to us in all his actions and atchievements Christs death and bloodshed saith Mr. Bradford is the great Seal of England yea of all the world for the confirmation of all Patents and Perpetuities of the everlasting life whereunto hee hath called us This death of Christ therefore look on as the very pledge of Gods love toward thee c. See Gods hands are nailed they cannot strike thee Serm. of Repent 63 his feet also hee cannot run from thee His arms are wide open to embrace thee his head hangs down to kiss thee his very heart is open so that therein look nay even spy and thou shalt see nothing therein but love love love to thee Hide thee therefore lay thine head there with the Beloved Disciple joyn thee to Christs Charret as Philip did to the noble Eunuchs This is the cleft of the Rock wherein Elias stood This is for all aking heads a pillow of Down c. Vers 11. Go forth O yee Daughters of Zion i.e. All yee faithful souls which follow the Lord Christ the Lamb that stands upon Mount Zion Rev. 14.1 4. Yee shall not need to go far and yet far yee would go I dare say to see such a gallant sight as King Solomon in his Royalty the Queen of Sheba did behold hee is at hand Tell yee the Daughters of Zion behold thy King cometh c. Mat. 21.5 Go forth therefore forth of your selves forth from your friends means all as Abraham did and the holy Apostles Confessours and Martyrs and as the Church is bid to do Psal 45.10 forget also thine own people and thy Fathers house Good Nazianzen was glad that hee had something of value to wit his Athenian learning to part with for Christ Horreo quicquid de meo est ut meus sim saith Bernard Hee that will come to mee must go utterly out of himself saith our Saviour All Saint Pauls care was that hee might bee sound in Christ but lost in himself Epist ad Gabr. Vydym Ambula in timore contemptu tui ora Christum ut ipse tua omnia faciat tu nihil facias sed sis sabbatum Christi saith Luther walk in the fear and contempt of thy self and rest thy spirit in Christ this is to go forth to see King Solomon crowned yea this is to set the Crown upon Christs head Camd. Elisab Anno 1585. When Queen Elizabeth undertook the protection of the Netherlands against the Spaniard all Princes admired her fortitude and the King of Sweden said that shee had now taken the Diadem from her own Head and set
sure to finde it as in hony-pots the deeper the sweeter Such as so eat are called Christs friends by a specialty and such as so drink his beloved as Gregory here well observeth and they onely do thus that hear the Word with delight turn it in succum sanguinem concoct it incorporate it as it were into their souls and are so deeply affected with it that like drunken men they forget and let go all things else that they may retain and practice it These are not drunk with wine wherein is excess but filled with the Holy Ghost Ephes 5.16 Vers 2. I sleep but my heart waketh It was no sound sleep that she took Shee did not short aloud in the Cradle of security as those do whom the Devil hath cast into a deep Lethargy but napped and nodded a little and that by candle-light too as those wise Virgins did Matth. 25.5 Shee slept with open eyes as the Lion doth shee slept but half-sleep the Spirit was willing to wake but the flesh was weak and overwayed it as it fared with those sleepy Disciples Matth. 26.41 Fain would this flesh make strange of that which the Spirit doth embrace O Lord how loth is this loitering sluggard to pass forth into Gods path said Mr. Sanders in a letter to his wife Act. Mon. fol. 1359. a little afore his death with much more to like purpose As in the state of Nature men cared not for grace but thought themselves well enough and wise enough without so in the state of Grace they are not so carefull as they should Heaven must bee brought to them they will scarce go seek it 1 Pet. 1.13 And as the seven tribes are justly taxed by Joshua for their negligence and sloth in not seeking speedily to possess the Land God had offered them Josh 18.2 So may the most of Gods people be justly rebuked for grievous security about the heavenly Canaan They content themselves with a bare title or hang in suspense and strive not to full assurance they follow Christ but it is as the people followed Saul trembling they are still troubled with this doubt or that fear and all because they are loth to be at the pains of working out their salvation Phil. 2.12 Something is left undone and their conscience tells them so Either they are lazy and let fall the watch of the Lord neglecting duty or else they lose themselves in a wilderness of duties by resting in them and by making the means their Mediatours or by pleasing themselves with the Church here in unlawful liberties after that they have pleased the Lord in lawful duties The flesh must bee gratified and such a lust fulfilled A little more sleep a little more slumber in Jezabels bed as Mr. Bradford was wont to phrase it Solomon must have his wine Act. Mon. and yet think to retain his wisdome Eccles 2.3 Samson must fetch a nap on Dalilahs knees till God by his Philistims send our summons for sleepers wake them in a fright cure security by sorrow as Physicians use to cure a Lethargy by casting the Patient into a Burning Feaver Cold diseases must have hot and sharp remedies The Church here found it so And did not David when hee had sinned away his inward peace and wiped off as it were Psal 51. all his comfortables It is the voyce of my beloved that knocketh Shee was not so fast asleep but that the hidden man of the heart as St. Peter calls him 1 Ep. 3.4 was awake and his ears arrect and attent so that shee soon heard the first call or knock of Christ whose care was to arrouse her that though shee slept a while through infirmity of the flesh yet shee might not sleep the sleep of death Psal 13.3 dye in her sins as those Jews did John 8.21 In the sweating sickness that reigned for many years together in this Kingdome those that were suffered to sleep as all in that case were apt to do they died within a few hours The best office therefore that any one could do them was To keep them waking though against their wills Sembably our Saviour solicitous of his Churches welfare and knowing her present danger comes calling and clapping at the door other heart and sweetly wooes admission and entertainment but misseth of it Hee knocketh and bounceth by the hammer of his Word and by the hand of his Spirit see Revel 3.20 with 2 Pet. 1.13 and if the Word work not on his people they shall hear the rod and who hath appointed it Mic. 6.9 that they may by some means bee brought to summon the sobriety of their senses before their own judgements and seeing their danger to go forth and shake themselves as Sampson did Judg. 16. Open to mee my Sister my Love c. What irresistible Rhetorick is here what passionate and most pithy perswasions Ipsa Suada credo si loqui posset non potuisset 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ubi quot verba tot tela quae sponsae animum percellant fodicent lancinent shee was not so dead asleep but that shee could hear at first and tell every tittle that he said And this she doth here very finely and to the full that shee may aggravate against her self the foulness of her fact in refusing so sweet an offer in turning her back upon so blessed and so bleeding an embracement the tearms and titles hee here giveth her are expounded before Vndefiled or perfect hee calleth her for her Dove-like simplicity purity and integrity For mine head is filled with dew i. e. I have suffered much for thy sake and waited thy leisure a long while and must I now go look my lodging Doest thou thus requite repulse thy Lord O thou foolish woman and unwise Is this thy kindness to thy friend Jer. 13.27 Wo unto thee O Jerusalem wilt thou not bee made clean when shall it once bee It is the ingratitude that makes the Saints sinnes so hainous which otherwise would bee far less than other mens sith his temptations are stronger and his resistance is greater Oh when Gods grace shall come suing to us nay kneeling to us when Christ shall come with Hat in hand and stand bare-headed as here and that in foul weather too begging acceptance and beseeching us to be reconciled and we will not what an inexcusible fault is this Vers 3. I have put off my Coat Thus the flesh shews itself not onely weak but wayward treacherous and tyrannical rebell it doth in the best and reign it would if it might bee suffered This bramble would fain bee playing Rex and doth so other-whiles till hee be well buffeted as St. Paul served it 1 Cor. 9.27 and brought it into subjection But what a silly excuse maketh the Church here for her self Trouble mee not for I am in bed as hee said to his friend Luk. 11.7 My cloathes are off my feet are washed and I am composed to a settled rest But are you so might
shall hop headless and make you ashamed And joyn his enemies together Heb. mingle them viz. in confederacy and agreement against him though otherwise at ods amongst themselves Ver. 12. The Syrians before Under the conduct of the Assyrian who hath slain their King Rezin and made them his vassals And the Philistins behind Or from the West westward And they shall devour Israel with open mouth The enemies of Gods people are more savage and ravenous then wild beasts Hence they are called in Scripture Boars Bears Lions Leopards Vnicorns Tigers Wolves c. Let us therefore bless us out of their bloody jawes which having escaped let us sing Blessed be God who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth Psal 124.6 The poor Jndians cryed out that it had been better their countrey had been given to the Devils of Hell then to those cruel Spaniards For all this his wrath is not turned away He still frowneth and hath his hand up to smite as angry people use to do Ver. 13. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them This were the onely way to escape God viz. to run in to him there is no standing before a Lion no bearing up sail in a storm no stouting it out with God Almighty See the Notes on Am. 4.6 11. Ver. 14. Head and tail i. e. high and low as ver 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Parvi properemus ampli Here he compareth Israel non sine morsu to a beast with a long tail for the perverseness of their practices Or else to the Serpent Amphisbaena which stingeth both with head and tail Branch and rush strong and feeble A branch or bough hath some tack in it a rush is a spungy unsubstantial substance Ver. 15. The ancient and honourable is the head Thus the Scripture frequently expoundeth it self In a general calamity all fare alike Lords and Losels And the Prophet that teacheth lies he is the tail Such like Dogs do caudâ adblandiri sooth and smooth men up in their sins and are the vilest of men Quid enim contemptius abjectius animo fingi potest quam assentari divitibus linguamque venalem habere Such also as Serpents glide smoothly over the body but sting with their tails Ver. 16. For the leaders of this people cause them to erre by their ill counsel and example Exempla enim non ibi consistunt ubi caeperunt The Ancients placed the Statues of their Princes and Patriots near the fountains to shew that they were the springheads of good or evil to the publike Some read the words thus Those that bless this people viz. the false Prophets have been misleaders ductores fuerunt seductores Pope Pius 2. hath this memorable saying Nihil excellenter malum in Ecclesia In Hist Auster Catholica patratur cujus prima origo à sacerdotibus non dependeat ni forte occulto quodam Dei consilio fiat And they that are led of them Or blessed by them Obiecti Tremel Are destroyed Or swallowed up or blindfolded Ver. 17. Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their yong men Nay he shall laugh at their destruction Prov. 1. Neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widdows They are deceived therefore that being unregenerate hope to find favour with God merely for their adversity and because they have their Hell as they call it here think to have Heaven hereafter Because every one is an hypocrite and an evil-doer That facies hypocritica of our nation is facies Hippocratica saith One a mortal complexion a sad Prognostick And every mouth speaketh folly Or villany sapless worthless rotten and stinking stuffe Eph. 4.29 Ver. 18. For wickedness burneth as a fire God will burn up these wicked Israelits as once he did those sinfull Sodomits for unregenerate Israel is to him as Ethiopia Am. 9.7 when once scelera abierunt in mores and there is a general defection of all sorts and States God will make an utter riddance of them he will fire the whole forrest Ver. 19. Through the wrath of the Lord of hostes is the Land darkened viz. by that pride of smoke or vast pillar of smoke mentioned ver 18. Tristem miseram rerum faciem designat No man shall spare his brother Wickedness is cruel and a man had as good deal with a Cannibal as with a truly covetous caytiffe Ver. 20. And he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry Inexplebilem illorum avaritiam rapacitatem notat They shall rape and scrape by right or wrong and yet as sick of a bulimy or under the curse of unsatisfiableness they shall never have enough Eccles 5.10 See the Note there They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm that is they shall make a prey of they nearest allyes Some understand the text of civil wars which indeed are most unnatural Imbelles damae quid nisi praeda sumus and concerning which One saith well Dissidia nostra sunt amicorum dispendia hostium compendia publica irae divinae incendia Ver. 21. Manasseh Ephraim and Ephraim Manasseh Snarling at and intertearing one another as dogs about the kingly dignity or some other reasonless reason Thus the Prophet exemplifieth what he had spoken And they together shall be against Judah So Herod and Pilate could unite against Christ Luk. 23.7 8 9 and those that were at greatest enmity amongst themselves against the Church Psal 83.5 8. So in Julian the Apostates time Jews and Gentiles combined against Christians and in our dayes Papists and Lutherans against Calvinists In Syngram How unworthily and impotently do the Lutherans of Suevia rail upon that holy man Oecolampadius whose note it is upon this text that these last dangerous times were foretold by St. Paul 2 Tim. 3.1 2. Annon eosdem describunt Paulus Jesaias saith He Do not Paul and Isaiah describe the same men Bullinger observeth concerning the Anabaptists of Germany that as they are at great odds among themselves so they all agree against godly Ministers of the truth to despise and disparage them to the utmost CHAP. X. Ver. 1. VVOe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees Having denounced Woe to wicked of all sorts the Prophet here threatneth wicked Princes in particular as the chief causes of Gods judgements by their misgovernment Periculosissimum Prophetae factum Sculter cui seditionis dica scribi poterat This was boldly done of the Prophet and there wanted not those doubtless that would say it was sedition Luther for like cause was called the Trumpet of rebellion sc for declaring against the Popes decrees and decretals though never so unrighteous and vexatious not much short of that made by Nero Whosoever confesseth himself a Christian so a Protestant let him without further defence of himself be put to death as a convicted enemy of mankind And that write grievousness Or and to the writers that write grievous things viz. the publike Notaries registers
Priestly office had been spoken chap. 53. here of his Prophetical and Princely These were frequently set forth even in the Old Testament by the Crown or golden plate on the high-Priests head was signified Christs Kingly office by the breast plate his Priestly and by the bells his Prophetical Ver. 5. Behold thou shalt call a Nation Yea all Nations that yet dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death being utterly ignorant of God and his will of themselves and their duties But now when they shall know God or rather be known of him they shall run to Christ and yea flye as a cloud and flock into the Church as doves scour into their columbaries rushing into the windows chap. 66.8 Because of the Lord thy God Through the mighty operation of his Spirit by the preaching of his Word The Philosophers though never so able could hardly perswade some few to embrace their Tenents Plato went thrice into Sicily to convert Dionysius but could not do it Socrates could not work upon Alcibiades nor Cicero upon his own son because God was not with them nor was willing to glorify his Son Christ by them as he did afterwards by his holy Apostles Ver. 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found Seek not his Omnipresence for that ye need not do sith he is not far from any one of us Acts 17.27 but his gracious presence his face and favour seek to be in the fear of the Lord and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost in communion with him and conformity unto him and give not over till you find it Seek him seriously seek him seasonably There is a time when men shall seek the Lord with their flocks and heards and yet not find him when once he hath withdrawn himself from them Hos 5.6 Call ye upon him while he is near In a time of acceptance Psal 32.6 before he hath sworn that he will not be spoken with Psal â—5 11 God is but a while with men in the opportunities of grace Prov. 1.24 28. Ver. 7. Let the wicked forsake his wayes Or else never think of finding favour with God or of calling upon him to any purpose The Leapers lips should be covered according to the Law A good motion from an ill mouth will never take with God Pura Deus mens est purâ vult mente vocari Et puras jussit pondus habere preces And the unrighteous man his thoughts See Jam. 4.8 with the Note A Pilat may wash his hands a Pharisee clense the outside of the platter Castae manus sunt sed mens habet piacula said an Heathen who saw by the light of nature that clean hands and foul hearts did not suit well And let him return unto the Lord See the Notes on Zach. 1.2 Joel 2.12 13. For he will abundantly pardon Heb. he will multiply to pardon as we multiply sins Epist 7. ad Venant he will multiply pardons God in Christ mollis est misericors not an austere man implacable inexorable but multus ad ignoscendum as the Vulgar here rendereth it and Fulgentius thus descanteth upon it In hoc multo nihil deest in quo est omnipotens misericordia omnipotentia misericors c. In this much nothing is wanting how can there say sith there is in it omnipotent mercy and merciful omnipotence A pardon of course He giveth us for involuntary and unavoidable infirmities this we have included in that general pardon which we have upon our general repentance And for other sins be they blasphemies Matth. 12.13 God hath all plaisters and pardons at hand and ready made and sealed for else we might dye in our sins while the pardon is in providing He hath also hanged out his tables as I may say in the holy Scriptures shewing what great sinners he hath pardoned Act. Mon. 109. as Adam that Arch-rebel Manasseh who was all manner of naughts David Peter Paul Magdalen c. The Lord Hungerford of Hatesby was beheaded for buggery in Henry the eights time The Lord Thomas Cromwel a better man but executed together with him cheared him up and bad him be of good comfort for said he If your repent and be heartily sorry for that you have done there is for you also mercy with the Lord who for Christs sake will forgive you therefore be not dismaid God seemeth to say to sinners as once the French King Francis the first did to one that begged pardon for some ill words spoken against his Majesty Do thou learn to speak little so to sin no more and I will not fail to pardon much I can remit whatsoever you can commit never doubt it Ver. 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts q. d. You may think it impossible likely that such great and grievous sinners as you have been should ever be received to mercy but what talk you of your thoughts mine are infinitely above them neither may you measure my mercies by your own models Bring broken and bleeding hearts to my Mercy-seat and I shall soon think all the meritorious sufferings of my Son all the promises in my Book all the comforts of my Spirit all the pleasures of my kingdom but enough for you Ver. 9. For as the heavens are higher then the earth And that 's no small deal see the Note on Psal 103.11 12. Lo such is the proportion that my mercy beareth to your mercy even the very best of you that the heaven doth to the earth i. e. That a most vast circumference doth to one little point or center Ver. 10. For as the rain cometh down Simile omnium elegantissimum pariter notissimum Of the use and efficacy of fit similitudes See the Note on Hos 12.10 Ver. 11. So shall the word be that goeth out of my mouth The word in general but specially the word of Promise it shall surely give seed to the sower and bread to the eater comforts of all sorts both for the present and for the future Onely we must see that we be good ground and then pray that the heaven may hear the earth as Hos 2.21 But it shall accomplish that which I please It shall produce the sweet fruits of righteousnesse Rom. 8.13 14. There is saith a good Author a certan shell-fish that lyeth alwaies open towards Heaven as it were looking upward and begging one fruitful drop of dew which being fallen it shutteth presently and keepeth the door close against all outward things till it hath made a pearl of it In reading or hearing the Promises if we open our shells our souls the Heaven will drop the fruitful dew of grace to be employed worthily in making pearles of good works and solid virtues Who is she that commeth out of the wildernesse to joyn her self to her well-beloved Cant. 6.9 Ver. 12. For ye shall go out with joy sc Out of your spiritual bondage worse then that of Babylon The mountains and the hills The mute and brute creatures as they
my glory i. e. In Christ who is the brightness of his Fathers glory and in sending of whom the glory of his truth wisdom power justice and goodness shone forth as the Sun at noon Ver. 19. And I will set a sign among them This sign may very well be that visible pouring out of the gifts of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost under the symbol of wind and fire Scultet Act. 2. together with the signes and wonders whereby the Apostles doctrine was confirmed Others make this signe to be the Profession of the Christian faith Some also the Doctrine of the Gospel and especially the Sacraments And I will send those that escape of them i. e. The Apostles and their fellow-helpers such as were Barnabas Silas Lucas c. To Tarshish Pul To all parts of the Word East West North and South That draw the bow The Mosches or Moscovites say the Septuagint the Turkes saith one of the Rabbines See the Notes on Rev. 9.15 16 17. Ver. 20. And they shall bring all your brethren Now become all your brethren in Christ Sanctior est copula cordis quam corporis Religion is the strongest eye Vpon horses and in charets and in litters i. e. With much swiftnesse and sweetnesse though sick weakly and unfit for travel yet rather in litters than not at all The Apostles became all things to all men that they might gain them to Christ Ver. 21. And I will also take of them for Priests and for Levites For Evangelical Pastors and Teachers who have a distinct function and employment in the Church of the New Testament as the Priests and Levites had in that of the Old to teach instruct and edifie Gods people Ver. 22. For as the new heaven So shall there be a true Church and a Ministry for the good of my people to the worlds end It shall not be taken away as is the Jewish Polity and Hierarchy Ver. 23. And it shall come to passe that from one new-Moon to another God shall be served with all diligence and delight In the Kingdom of Christ here but especially in heaven it shall be holy-day all the week as we say a constant solemnity a perpetual Sabbath Act. Mon. King Edgar ordained that the Lords day should be kept here in England from Saturday nine of the clock till Munday morning The Ebionites kept the Saturday with the Jews and the Sunday with the Christians But here it is foretold and we see it fulfilled that all flesh i. e. all the faithful whether Jews or Gentiles shall not only keep every day holy-day 1 Cor. 5.8 by resting from sin and rejoycing in God but shall also both in season and out of season have their Church-meetings for holy services worshipping God from day to day and from month to month as the phrase is Esth 3.7 in spirit and in truth and having the continual feast of a good conscience Ver. 24. And they shall go forth and look upon the carkasses Rhetoricians tell us that in the introduction to a discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 milder affections suit best to insinuate but in the conclusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passionate passages such as may leave a sting behind them and stick by the hearers This Art the Prophet here useth for being now to period his Prophecy he giveth all sorts to know what they shall trust to The godly shall go forth i. e. salvi evadent liberi abibunt they shall have safety here and salvation hereafter They shall also look upon the carkasses c. they shall be eye-witnesses of Gods exemplary judgements executed on the wicked that would not have Christ to reign over them Rev. 19.21 who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord and from the presence of his power 2 Thes 1.9 This the righteous shall see and fear and laugh at them Psal 52.6 giving God the glory of his justice and goodness Some think they shall have at last day a real sight of hell and the damned there Rev. 14.10 and this may very well be Oh that wicked men would in their dayly meditations take a turn or two in hell and so be forewarned to fly from the wrath to come Is it nothing to have the worm of conscience ever grubbing upon their entrails and the fire of Gods vengeance feeding upon their souls and flesh throughout all eternity Oh that eternity of extremity Think of it seasonably and seriously that ye never suffer it The Jewish Masters have in some copies wholly left out this last verse as in other copies they repeat both here and in the end of Ecclesiastes Lamentations and Malachy the last verse save one which is more sweet and fuller of comfort and that for this reason that the Reader may not be sent away sad Amama in Antibarb and so fall into desperation But of that there is no such danger sith most people are over slight in their thoughts of hell-torments regarding them no more than they do a fire painted on the wall or a serpent wrought in Arras And besides Non sinit in Gehennam incidere Gehennae meminisse saith Chysostom to remember hell is a good means to preserve us from it This verse hath sufficient authority from our Saviours citing of it Mar. 9.44 See the Note there Plato also if that be any thing in his description of hell which he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fiery lake saith the same as here In Phaed. pag. 400. Inde dictus est Moses Atticus that their worm dyeth not neither is their fire quenched He might possibly have read Isaiah as he had done Moses T is thought Laertius telleth us that he travelled into Egypt where he conversed with some Hebrews and learned much of them And they shall be an abhorring to all flesh i. e. All good men abominate them now as so many living Ghosts walking carkases Eph. 2.2 Prov. 29. ult and shall much more at the last day when they shall arise again to everlasting shame and contempt Dan. 12. Scribendo haec studui bene de pietate mereri Sed quicquid potui Gratia Christs tua est A Commentary or Exposition upon The BOOK of the Prophet IEREMIAH CHAP. I. Ver. 1. THe words of Jeremiah Piscator rendereth it Acta Jeremiae The Acts of Jeremy Verba sive Res. as we say The Acts of the Apostles which Book also saith One might have been called in some sense The Passions of the Apostles who were for the testimony of Jesus in deaths often And the same we may safely say of Jeremy Serm. 4. contra A â—â—nos who although he were not omnis criminis per totam vitam expers which yet great Athanaesius affirmeth of him that is free from all fault for he had his out-bursts and himself relateth them yet he was Judaeorum integerrimus as of Phocion it is said that he was Atheniensum integerrimus a man of singular sanctimony and
fitly applyeth to Preachers such as prove vile and vitious Ver. 25. And I will give thee into the hand No sooner was he pluckt off Gods hand but he fell into his enemies hands So Sauls doleful complaint was God hath forsaken me and the Philistines are upon me 1 Sam. 28.15 Ver. 26. And I will cast thee out Heb. I will hurle thee out To be held captive by Idolaters in a strange country is no small misery Poor Zegedine found it so among the Turkes Ver. 27. But to the land that they desire to return Heb. which they lift up their soul to quam avent totaque anima expetunt ad quam summe anhelant they shall dye in banishment So they that are once shut out of heaven must for ever abide in hell would they never so fain get out with dragons and devils Ver. 28. Is this Coniah a despised broken Idol Is he not Interrogatio pathetica who would ever have thought to have seen a King of Judah so little set by like some old picture or inglorious trunk A vessel in which is no pleasure that is by a modest Periphrasis a close-stool or pispot so Hos 8.8 He and his seed If any he had or shall have in his captivity Ver. 29. O earth earth earth hear the Word of the Lord Hear this irrevocable decree of mine and this ensuing dreadful denunciation which I cannot get this stupid and incredulous people to beleeve His trebbling of the word is as Ezek. 21. 27. for more assurance Some sense it thus O Coniah thou who art earth by creation earth by generation and earth by resolution hear and give ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken it as chap. 13.15 Ver. 30. Write ye this man childlesse As to succession in the royal dignity as well as to successe in his raign The Septuagint render it a man abdicâ—ted or prescribed This God would have to be written that is to be put upon publick record for the use of Posterity Ariri i. e. orbus vol solus sicut in deserto myrica Fuller Our Chronicles tell us of John Dudley that great Duke of Northumberland in King Edward the sixths dayes who endeavoured by all means to engrand his posterity reaching at the Crown also which cost him his head that though he had six sons all men all married yet none of them left any issue behind them Be wise now therefore O ye Kings c. Serve the Lord with fear c. CHAP. XXIII Ver. 1. VVOe to the Pastors i. e. To the Rulers and chieftaines whether in the State or Church woe to the wicked of both sorts and why They destroy and scatter the sheep of my Pasture So he calleth the people how bad soever because of the covenant with their fathers Ver. 2. Against the Pastors Impostors rather That feed my people Or that feed upon my people rather attonsioni gregis potius quam attentioni consulentes more minding gain then godliness Ye have scattered my flock And worried them as so many evening wolves Zeph. 3.3 grievous or fat wolves Act. 20.29 See the Notes there Behold I will visit upon you Ludit in voce visitare I will visit you in another sense for your not visiting my people according to your duty Ezek. 34.4 6 8. Ver. 3. And I will gather the remnant of my flock I will bring them back from Babylon but especially from out of this present evil world into the bosome of my Church by Christ the Archshepherd and by such undershepherds as he shall make use of to that purpose Eph. 4.11 And they shall be fruitful and encrease Gignendo gentes by begetting the Gentiles unto Christ through the preaching of the Gospel Ver. 4. And I will set up Shepherds over them Pastors after mine own heart such as were Zorobabel Ezra Nehemiah Jehoshua the High Priest Haggeâ— Zachary Malachy c. Christian Princes and Pastors under the Gospel but especially Christ the chief Shepherd and Bishop of our souls who is therefore here promised ver 5 6. for the comfort of Gods Elect who might well be troubled at that former dreadful denunciation chap. 22.29 30. And they shall fear no more But enjoy spiritual security and be of an invincible courage Bern. Neither shall they be lacking Christ the good shepherd will see to that Joh. 10.28 29. his undershepherds also whose Motto is Praesis ut prosis will have a care Ver. 5. I will raise to David a righteous branch Who shall raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof Am. 9.11 who shall also sit upon the throne of his Father David and of his Kingdome there shall be no end Luk. 1.32 33. Annon hoc probe sarcitur c. Is not this a good amends for that which is to befall Coniah and his posterity put beside the Kingdome Of Christ the righteous branch see Isa 11.1 and chap. 4.2 Zach. 3.8 See the Notes Vocat Scriptura nomen Messiae Jehova Tsidkenu quia erit Medâ—ator Deus per cujus manuâ— câ—nsecuturi sumus justitiam à Deo ipso inquit Rabbâ—nus quidam in lib. Ikharim Ver. 6. This is the name whereby he shall be called The Lord Our righteousnesse Jehovah Tsidkenu This is a most mellifluous and sweet name of our Lord Jesus Christ importing his Godhead as the righteous Branch of David ver 5. did his manhood and besides assuring us that as he hath for us fulfilled all righteousnesse Mat. 3.15 so he is by God made unto us righteousnesse 1 Cor. 1.30 and that we are become the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 This one Name of Christ is a strong tower Prov. 18.10 it is such as will answer all our doubts and objections were they never so many had we but skill to spell all the letters in it Cyprian was wont to comfort his friends thus Veniet Antichristus sed superveniet Christus Antichrist will come but then Christ will be at the heels of him We may well comfort our selves against all evils and enemies with this consideration Christ is Jehovah our righteousnesse God hath laid help on one that is mighty and he came to bring in everlasting righteousness Dan. 9.24 Why then should we fear in the dayes of evil when the iniquities of our heeles shall compasse us about Psal 49.5 Domine Satan saith Luther somewhere nihil me movent minae terrores tui Luth. Tom. 4. fol. 55. A. est enim unus qui vocatur Jehovah justitia nostra in quem credo Is legem abrogavit peccatum damnavit mortem abolevit infernum destruxit estque O Satan Satan tuus that is You Sir Satan your menaces and terrours trouble me not For why there is one whose name is called The Lord our Righteousness on whom I beleeve He it is who hath abrogated the Law condemned sin abolished death destroyed hell and is a Satan to thee O Satan Surely this brave saying of Luther may
they might not hurt them Ver. 7. That ye might provoke me See chap 7.17 18. Ver. 8. Because ye have not heard i. e. Not heeded them as chap. 7 19. Ver. 9. Behold I will send and take By a secret instinct as chap. 1.15 And Nebuchadnezzar my servant i. e. Mine executioner the rod of my wrath Isa 10. and the scourge of the world as Attilâ—s stiled himself And against all these Nations round about Who were so infatuated that they did not combine against Nebuchadnezzar whom the Septuagint called a dove ver 38. of this chapter but he was a vulture rather and these Nations were as so many silly doves which save themselves by flight not fight and sitting in their dovecotes see their nests destroyed and their young ones killed before their eyes never offering to rescue or revenge as other souls do So dealt the old Britons when invaded by the Romans they joyned not their forces against the common enemy sed dum singuli pugnabant Tacitus universi vincebantur Ver. 10 Moreover I will take from them See chap. 7.34 and Rev. 18.22 Ver. 11. And this land shall be a desolation seventy yeares Which commenced at the deportation of Jeconiah 2 King 24.8 See Jer. 29.1 2 3. with Ezek. 4.1 and 33.21 Avignon in France was the residence of the Pope for seventy years Heyl Cosm fol. 188. which time the Romans yet remember till this day by the name of the Babylonian captivity Luther when he first began to stir against the Pope wrote a book bearing title De captivitate Babylonica which when Bugenhagius a Pomeranian Divine first read he pronounced it to be the most heretical piece that ever was written Scult Annal. but afterwards having better considered the contents of it he retracted his former censure he told his colleagues that all the world besides was in deep darkness and that Luther alone was in the light and in the right and him he would follow So he did and drew many more with hâ—m Ver. 12. I will punish the King of Babylon As had been forethreatned Isa 13 14 21 47. and was accomplished Dan. 5. Ver. 13. And I will bring upon that Lâ—nd sc By Cyrus and his Successours who out of the ruines of Babylon built two Cities Câ—esiphon and Seleucia Ver. 14. For many Nations The Medes and Persians together with the rest that served under them And great Kings Cyrus and Darius especially Vtitur demonstratione seu ostentâ— divino Ver. 15. Take the wine cup of this fury Or take this smoaking wine-cup A cup is oft put for affliction and wine for extream confusion and wrath Poison in wine works more furiously then in water See on Psal 75.8 And cause all the Nations According to that power which I have put into thine hands chap. 1.10 Vengeance is still in readiness for the disobedient 2 Cor. 10.6 as ready every whit in Gods hand as in the Ministers mouth who threatneth it Ver. 16. And be moved and be mad As men that are overcome by some hot and heady liquour are mad-drunk Because of the sword that I shall send For it is God who puts the sword in commission Jer. 47.6 7. and there it many times rideth circuit as a Judge in Scarlet There are certain seasons wherein as the Angel troubled the poole so doth God the Nations and commonly when he doth it to one he doth it to more as here and 2 Chron. 15.5 6. and as at this day in Europe Ver. 17. And made all drink viz. In vision and by denunciation Ver. 18. To wit in Jerusalem Judgement beginneth at Gods house 1 Pet. 4.17 See the Note there and on Mat. 25.41 Sed si in Hierosolymis maneat scrutinium quid fiet in Babylone saith an Ancient Ver. 19. Pharaoh King of Egypt Pharaoh Hophra chap. 44.30 of whom Herodotus writeth that he perswaded himself and boasted that his Kingdom was so strong that no god or man could take it from him Lib. 2. He was afterwards hanged by his own subjects The mixed people That lay scattered in the deserts and had no certain abode Scenitae and Hamaxobii And all the Kings of the land of Vz Jobs country called by the Greeks Ausitis Ver. 21. Edom and Moab c. By the destruction of all these Nations we may make a conjecture at the destruction of all the wicked when Christ shall come to judgement All that befalleth them in this world is but as drops of wrath foreruning the great storm or as a crack foretokening the fall of the whole house Here the leaves only fall upon them as it were but then the body of the tree in its full weight to crush them for ever Ver. 22. And all the Kings of the Isles As Cyprus Rhodes and the Cyclades subdued also by the Babylonian saith Hierom Rabanus and Vatablus Ver 23. Dedan and Temae and Buz The Hagarens or Saracens chap. 49. And all that are in the utmost corners Qui attonsi sunt in comam Roundheads See chap. 9.26 Ver. 24. And all the Kings of Arabia Petraea That dwell in the desert In Arabia deserta Ver. 25. And all the Kings of Zimri i. e. Of Arabia falix Lib. 6. cap. 28. Zamarens Pliny calleth them Ver. 26. And all the Kingdomes See on ver 16. And the King of Sheshac i. e. Baltasar that bezelling kink of Babylon whilest he is quaffing in the vessels of Gods house to the honour of Shac the Babylonian goddess whence those feast dayes were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shesac id est poculum laetitiae aut vanitatâ— vel sericum tuum being like the Roman Saturnalia Antichrist also who hath troubled all the Kingdomes of the earth shall himself perish together with his Babylon the great which hath made the Nations drunk with the wine of her fornications Ver. 27. Drink ye and be drunk and spew and fall Eckius or Eccius otherwise by some called Jeccius from his casting or spewing being nonplus't by Melancthon Manlii loc com 89. and well nigh madded fell to drinking for his own solace and drunk himself to death so should these do of the cup of Gods wrath not only till they were mad-drunk as ver 16. dut dead drunk Ver. 28. Ye shall certainly drink See on ver 15. Ver. 29. The City that is called by my Name Periphrasis Hierosolymae argumentosa And should ye be utterly unpunished See on ver 18. Ye shall not be unpunished But suffer as surely and as sorely Ver. 30. The Lord shall roar from on high As a lusty Lyon having discovered his prey runneth upon it roaring so horribly that he astonisheth the creatures and sets them at a stand He will mightily roar upon his habitation Pliny reporteth of the Lioness that she bringeth forth her whelps dead and so they remain for the space of three dayes until the Lyon coming near to the den where they lye lifteth up his voyce and roareth so fiercely
of their solitary and forlorn condition Jam jacet in viduo squallida facta toro And her teares are on her cheeks Haerent perennant seldom or never are they off As hinds by calving so she by weeping cast out her sorrows Job 39.3 Among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her Optimum solatium sodalitium saith one And Affert solatium lugentibus suspiriorum societas saith another Father It was no small aggravation of Jerusalems misery that her confederates proved miserable comforters and her allyes kept aloof off so that she had none to compassionate her This is also none of the smallest torments of the damned Ghosts that they are unpittied of their best friends and nearest relations All her friends have dealt treacherously with her The Edomites and Moabites Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and Johanan the son of Kareah c. Every sinner shall one day take up this Lamentation And why they have forsaken the fountain of living waters and hewed them out broken cisterns that can hold no water Jer. 2.13 Ver. 3. Judah is gone into captivity But with no good will God hath driven them out for their cruel oppressions and hard usage of their poor brethren that served them Thus the Chaldee Paraphrast and not amisse Others thus Judah i. e. the inhabitants of the Kingdom goeth away i. e. willingly leave their country goods and dwelling sc before the desolation of Jerusalem because of affliction Jun. Udal i. e. extremity of trouble and great slavery c. She dwelleth among the heathen Where she can get nothing better then guilt or grief She findeth no rest No more then did the dove in the deluge Gen. 8.9 All her persecutors took her in the straits i. e. At the most advantage to mischief her a term taken from hunters or high-way-men The Chaldees took the City when it had been first distressed with famine and then the Jews that went down to Egypt for succour and shelter after Gedaliahs death they caught there as mice in a trap as this Prophet had foretold them chap. 42.43 and 46. but they would not be warned Mâ—tsraim proved to be their Meâ—sarim i. e. Egypt their pound or prison Ver. 4. The wayes of Zion do mourn So they seem to do because unfrequented overgrown with grasse and out of their kindly order Her Priests sigh For want of employment The virgins were afflicted Or discomfited those that are usually set upon the merry pin and were wont to make mirth at those festivities And she is in bitternesse Zion is but for nothing so much Cultus Dei desertus est omnia luctifica Jun. as for the decay of religion and the losse of holy exercises when this befalleth all things else are mere Ichabods to good people See Zeph. 3.18 Ver. 5. Her adversaries are the chief Heb. are for the head This was threatned Deut. 28.13 14 43 44 This when it falleth out is a great grief to the godly Therefore the Prophet Nahum for the comfort of Gods Israel is wholly in setting forth the destruction of their enemies the Assyrians Her enemyes prosper See Jer. 12.1 they prevaile and do what they list so that there seemeth to be neither hope of better nor place of worse For the Lord hath afflicted her Not so much her adversaries and enemies Cavet scriptura ne haec potestas detur adversariis Oecolamp or her oppressours and haters as the words properly signifie that is those that oppresse them in action and hate them in affection Her children are gone into captivity Those that were able to go for the rest were slain chap. 4. Before the enemy Driven before them as cattle Ver. 6. And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed Her glory as Esa 5.14 that is chiefly the Temple and the service of God in it It is now Ichabod with her The beauty and bulwark of a Nation are Gods holy ordinances Her Princes are become like harts i. e. Heartlesse bereft of courage they dare not make head against an enemy Before the pursuer R. Solomon here observeth that the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is written at full so as it is scarce anywhere else to note the fulnesse of the persecution Ver. 7. Jerusalem remembred in the dayes of her afflâ—ction Misery is the best art of Memory Then those priviledges we prized not in prosperity we recount with regret Bona à tergo formosissima Magis carendo quam fruendo the worth of good things is best known by the want of them and as we see things best at a distance so here Afflictions are pillulae lucis that do notably clear the eye-sight The adversaries saw her sc With a spiteful and scornful eye And did mock at her Sabbaths Calling the Jews in contempt Sabbatarians and jearing them as those that lost more then a seventh part of their time that way and telling them in scorn that now they might well awhile to keep a long Sabbath as having little else to doe Juvenal thus describeth a Jew cui septima quaeque fuit lux Satyr 5. Ignava partem vitae non attigit ullam Paulus Phagius telleth likewise of a black-mouthed Egyptian who said that Christians were a colluvies of most loathsom lecherous people that had a foul disease upon them and were therefore fain to rest every seventh day Perpetuo assidue graviter peccavit Ver. 8. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned Heb. hath sinned sin hath sinned sinningly doing wickedly as she could Jer. 3.4 and having many transgressions wrapped up in her sins and their circumstances Levit. 16.21 And this is here acknowledged as the true cause of her calamity Prophane persons lay all the blame in this case upon God as He in the Poet O patria O divûm domus Ilium inclyta bello Maenia Dardanidum ferus omnia Jupiter Argos Virg. Aeneid 2. Transtulit Postquam res Asiae Priamique evertere gentem Immeritam visum superis c. Therefore she is removed Heb. therefore is she unto removing or wandering as Cain was Ad modum Cain fraetricidae Figuier when he went to live in the land of Nod or as a menstruous woman is separated from the society of others Nidah for Niddah All that honoured her When her wayes pleased the Lord. Because they have seen her nakednesse Her infamous wickednesses for which she hath done pennance as it were and is therefore despised Or else it is a term taken from a naked captive woman Yea she sigheth and turneth backward sc To hide her nakednesse from publick view Or going into captivity she looked her last look toward her dear country and fetcht a sigh Ver. 9. Her filthinesse is in her skirts Taxat impudextiam insignem She rather glorieth in her wickednesse Paschasius then is any whit abashed of it a Metaphor from a menstrous woman that is immodest Oh quam vulgare hoc hodiè malum See Isa 3.9 But whence this
and sith they think us not worthy to breath in the common aire whom thou hast made heires of the world together with faithful Abraham our Progenitour destroy them from under these heavens of thine in the compass and cope whereof thou raignest and rulest all From under the heavens of the Lord Do thou O Christ to whom the Father hath committed all judgment root them out from under the heavens of thy heavenly Father Thus some Paraphrase the words and observe therehence the mystery of the Trinity like as they do from Gen. 19.24 CHAP. IV. Pet. à Figueir Ver. 1. HOw is the gold become dim How by way of wonderment again as chap. 1.2 q. d. Quo tanto scelere hominum qua tanta indignatione Dei What have men done and how hath God been provoked that there are such strange alterations here all on the sudden By gold and fine gold here understand the Temple overlaid by Solomon with choice gold or Gods people his spiritual Temple who had now lost their lustre and dignity The stones of the Sanctuary are poured out Come tumbling down from the demolished Temple Ver. 2. The precious sons of Zion Those Porphyrogeniti as the Greek Emperours children were called Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because born and bred up in a room made up of precious stones Understand it of the Jews in general Gods peculiar people precious in his sight and therefore honourable Isa 43.4 of Zedekiahs sons in particular who as did also the rest of the Jewish Nobility if Josephus may be beleeved poudered their hair with gold dust Antiq. l. 8. c. 7. to the end that they might glister and sparkle against the beams of the Sun The precious children of the Church are all glorious within by means of the graces of the Spirit that golden oyle Zach. 4.12 and the blessings of God out of Zion Psal 134.3 which are far beyond all other the blessings of heaven and of earth As earthen pitchers Weak and worthlesse Ver. 3. Even the sea-monsters Heb. Whales or Seales which being Amphibii have both a willingnesse Vulg. Lamiae and a place convenient to suckle their whelps The daughter of my people is become cruel She is so perforce being destitute of milk for want of food but much more by feeding upon them ver 10. and chap. 2.20 Oh what a mercy is it to have meat and how inexcusable are those unnatural mothers that neglect to nurse their children not out of want but wantonnesse Surely as there is a blessing of the womb to bring forth so of the brests to give suck Gen. 49.25 and the dry breasts and barren womb have been taken for a curse Hos 9.14 as some interpret that text Ver. 4. The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth For want of suck That was a miracle which is recorded of the old woman of Bolton in Lancashire who took up a poor child that lay crying at the breasts of her dead mother slain among many others by Prince Ruperts party and laying it to her own dry breasts that had not yeelded suck for above twenty years before on purpose to still it had milk came to nourish it to the admiration and astonishment of all beholders This and another like example of Gods good providence for the releif of little ones whom their mothers could not relieve may be read of in Mr. Clarks Mirror for Saints and Sinners Edit 3. fol. 495 507. And no man breaketh it unto them The parents either not having it for them or not having an heart to part with it to them Ver. 5. They that did feed delicately Such uncertainty there is of outward affluence Our Richad the second was famished to death Speed Lib. 3. c. 4. Henry Holland Duke of Excester grand-child to John of Gaunt was seen to run on foot bare-legged after the Duke of Burgundy's train begging his bread for Gods sake This I saw saith Philip de Comines This Henry was brother in law to King Edward the fourth from whom he fled They that were brought up in scarlet Qui nutriebantur in croceis sen cocceis In fimetis victum quaeritant prae inopia Jun. that were gorgeously arrayed or that rolling on their rich beds wrapped themselves in costly coverlets Embrace dunghils There take up their lodgings and there also are glad to find any thing to feed on though never so course and homely The Lapwing is made an Hieroglyphick of infelicity because he hath as a coronet upon the head and yet feedeth upon the worst of excrements It is pitty that any child of God washt in Christ's blood should bedabble his scarlet robe in the stinking guzzle of the worlds dunghill that any one who hath heretofore soared as an Eagle should now creep on the ground as a bettle or wallow as a swine in the mire of sensuality Ver. 6. For the punishment of the iniquity of Zion is greater For Sodom was destroyed by Angels Zion by malicious men The enemies were not enriched by Sodom as they were by Zion Sodom was destroyed in an instant not so Zion for she had her punishment piecemeal first a long seige and then the loss of all after a world of miseries sustained in the seige Julius Caesar was wont to say It is better once to fall then alwaies to hang in suspence Augustus wished that he might dye suddenly His life he called a Comedy and said that he thought he had acted his part therein pretty handsomly Now if he might soon passe through death he would hold it an happinesse Souldiers wish is thus set forth by the Poet quid enim concurritur horae Momento aut cita mors venit aut victoria laeta It is the ancient and manful fashion of the English who are naturally most impatient of lingering mischiefs to put their quarrels to the trial of the sword Speed 963. as the Chronicler observeth Ver. 7. Her Nazarites Who served God in a singular way of abstinence above other men These had their rules given them Num. 6. which whiles they observed They were purer then snow whiter then milk Temperance is the mother of beauty as luxury is of deformity This is nothing to the Popish Votaryes those Epicures and Abby-lubbers Quorum luxuriae totus non sufficit orbis Some by Nazarites here understand their Nobles and such as wore coronets on their heads Nezar is a crown 2 Sam. 1.10 2 Kings 11.12 thus Joseph was a Nazarite Gen. 49.26 So Daniel and his three Associates in whom that was verified Gratior est pulchro veniens in corpore virtus Ver. 8. Their visage is blacker then a coal Heb. their visage is more darkned then blacknesse sc With famine fear grief and car those vultures have so fed upon them that all sightlinesse and lovelinesse is lost Think the same of Apostates God may complain of such as Mic. 2.8 Ver. 9. They that be slain with the sword are better They suffer lesse pain in dying
they are soon dispatcht See on ver 6. But Famine is an hard weapon Triste genus mortis miseris mortalibus omne Est tamen imprimis triste perire fame For these pine away By a lingering death as Drusus the Roman to whom meat being denied Speed 766. he had eaten the stuffings of his bed saith Suetonius and our Richard the second who was Tantalized and starved to death at Pomfret Castle where his diet being served in and set before him in the wonted Princely manner he was not suffered either to taste or touch thereof Jam. 5. Stricken through for want of the fruits of the field Those precious fruits of the earth as James the Apostle calleth them These as a sword defend us from death and the want of them as a sword runneth us thorough In the time of Otho the Emperour there was so great a scarcity of bread corn in Germany for three years together that many thousands dyed of hunger Melancth In remembrance of which great dearth there is yearly baked at Erphord a little loaf such as was then sold for much money Ver. 10. The hands of the pittiful women have sodden Sodden them rather then roasted them lest they should be discovered by the smell and so in danger to be despoiled of them as it sell out at the last seige by the Romans Lege Luge They were their meat In eadem viscera ex quibus exierant retrusi sunt they returned into the same bowels whence they came forth Ver. 11. The Lord hath accomplished his fury Which he had long deferred but now hath paid it home Cave ne ira delata fiat duplicata He hath poured out his fierce anger As it were by whole buckets or paile-fulls Gods anger may be set out in minums as there may be much poison in little drops But woe be those on whom it is poured He hath kindled a fire in Zion His wrath is like fire that furious Element which at first burneth a little upon a few bords but when it prevaileth it bursteth forth into a terrible flame Ver. 12. The Kings of the earth c. These knowing how impregnable a piece Jerusalem was how the Jebusites of old held out the Tower of Zion against David how long it had kept out Nebuchadnezzar viz. for two years space almost how it had been preserved by God against Sennacherib c. looked upon it as in a sort insuperable and could not but see a divine vengeance in the destruction of it Ver. 13. For the sins of her Prophets These these were the right cause of her ruine Not that the People were not faulty for they loved to have it so Jer. 5. ult but those were the ring-leaders in that general defection Ver. 14. They have wandred as blind men in the streets Well might a certain Expositour say Hic versus cum sequentibus varie exponitur The sense in short is this saith One that the Jewes misled by their Prophets and Priests were so blind in knowledge that every example of sin led to evil which for want of grace they could not refrain from Ver. 15. They cryed unto them The enemies in a mockery said aloud unto the Jewes Depart ye it is unclean depart depart Mimesis q. d. You that are so pure and as people say profanely amongst us so Pope-holy that none must come anear you but get away as far and as fast as they can as if they were Lepers c. They said among the Heathen The blind Ethnikes beholding the Jews wickednesse have judged that it was impossible God should suffer them any longer to live in his good land sith they would not live by his good Laws Ver. 16. The anger of the Lord hath divided them Say the Heathen still concerning the wicked Jews continuatur enim hic instituta Mimesis He will no more regard them Heb. look after them sc facie blandâ ac benevolâ in mercy Sacerdotes apud omnes gentes sunt venerabiles ob ministerium he hath utterly rejected them For why They respected not the persons of the Priests But vilely intreated them See Chron. 36.16 Ver. 17. As for us our eyes as yet failed With long and vain looking as Psal 119.82 123. For As for us some render Cum adhuc essemus while as yet we were sc a Nation for now we are none Fuimus Troes In our watching we have watched for a Nation sc for the Egyptians Jer. 2.18 36. 37.7 8. Ver. 18. They hunt our steps There is an elegancy in the Original as if we should say They hunt our haunts That we cannot go in our streets Because of their forts from whence they shoot at us Satan doth so much more cui nomina mille Mille nocendi artes Our end is come We are an undone people Ver. 19. Our persecutours are swifter then the Eagles Those swiftest of al foul whom Pindarus therefore calleth the Queen of Birds as the Dolphin is of fishes for like swiftnesse The Egyptians their pretended helpers were slow as snailes the Chaldees swifter then Eagles They pursued us Or they chased us or traced us like blood-hounds They laid wait for us in the Wildernesse They met us at every turn and left us no means of escape Ver. 20. The breath of our nostriles King Zedekiah in whose downfal we drew as it were our last breath The Chaldee Paraphrast understandeth it of Josiah with whom indeed dyed all the prosperity of the Jews as with Epaminondas did that of the Thebans and with Theodosius that of the Western Empire The Annointed of the Lord Who yet for his perfidy was vilely cast away like Saul as though he had not been annointed with oyle 2 Sam. 1.21 Was taken in their pits A term taken from hunters Ezek. 12.13 See ver 20. Jer. 52.8 Vnder his shadow As the chickens do under the hens Ver. 21. Rejoyce and be glad This is spoken to Edom by a certain Ironical and bitter concession q. d. Do so if thou hast any mind to it but thou shalt soon be made to change thy chear Thy flearing at us shall be soon turned into fearing for thy self thy mirth into mourning That dwellest in the land of Vz Job's country called also Siria saith R. Solomon and haply from Seir. Evil is at next door by to those who rejoyce at the evils of others The cup shall passe through unto thee The quassing cup of Gods Wrath Jer. 25.18 29. And shalt make thy self naked To the scorn of all Vt ebria omotae mentis as drunkards who are void of shame and common honesty baring those parts that nature would have covered See Jer. 49.10 Ver. 22. The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished O daughter of Zion A word of comfort in the close of this doleful ditty The Sun of Righteousnesse loveth not to set in a cloud See Isa 40.1 Profane Elegies have no comfort in them as this hath He will no more carry thee away into Captivity i.
sit Gen. 34.20 to judge between party and party The young men from their musick From their ordinary and honest recreations and disports Ver. 15. The joy of our heart is ceased Heb. keepeth Sabbath i. e. is vanished and that because we made not Gods Sabbath our delight as Isa 58.13 Ver. 16. The crown is fallen from our head i. e. All our glory both of Church and State because we refused to serve God which indeed is to reign in righteousnesse Now neither is all this nor any of this spoken to exasperate or exulcerate peoples hearts to fret against God or to faint under their pressures but to put them upon the practice of true humiliation that so they may not lose the fruit of their Afflictions whence the following passage Woe unto us that we have sinned Which as it runneth sweetly and rythmically in the Original so it pointeth us to that savory and soveraign practice of lamenting our sins more then our miseries and humbling our selves to the utmost under the mighty hand of God that he may lift up in due season Ver. 17. For this our heart is faine Ponit symbolum vere contritionis we are sin-sick even at heart our sins are as so many daggers at our hearts or bearded arrows in our flesh For these things our eyes are dim we have well-nigh wept them out whereby neverthelesse out minds have been illightened Lachrymae sunt succus cordis contriti seu liquores animae patientis Ver. 18. Because of the mountain of Zion which is desolate q. d. Next unto our sins which are our greatest sorrow nothing troubleth us more then this that the publike exercises of Piety are put down Sion the seat of Gods Sanctuary is desolate Ver. 19. Thou O Lord remainest for ever Alioqui totus totus desperassem as that good man said once in like case Otherwise I should have but small joy of my life But thou art everlasting and invariable in essence truth will and promises This is mine Anchor-hold Thy throne from generation to generation i. e. Thy most equal and righteous ordering of all things utut nobis quaedam confusiusculè currere videantur though some things may seem to us to be somewhat confusedly carried and even to run on wheels yet it shall one day appear that there was a wheel within a wheel Ezek. 1. that is an over ruling and all-disposing Providence Ver. 20. Wherefore dost thou forget us Sith thy Covenant runs otherwise 2 Sam. 7.14 See on ver 1. And forsakest us so long time Heb. to length of dayes as Psal 23 6. Not for Seventy years only but to the end of the world till wrath is come upon us to the utmost as 2 Thes 2. Ver. 21. Turn thou us unto thee That thou maist turn thee to us as Zach. 1.3 Let there be a through-reformation wrought in us and then a gracious restauration wrought for us Est Aposiopesis ad pathos Ver. 22. But thou hast utterly rejected us This is a sad Catastrophe or close of this doleful ditty Sometimes Gods suppliants are put hard to it in the course of their Prayers the last grain of their faith and patience seemeth to be put into the scale When the Son of man cometh with deliverance to his praying people shall he find faith in the earth Hard and scarce And yet he comes oft when they have even done looking for him he is seen in the Mount he helpeth those that are forsaken of their hopes Hallelujah Sure it is that God cannot utterly reject his people whom he hath chosen Rom. 11. Tremellius rendreth it and so the Margin of our Bibles hath it and I think better For wilt thou utterly reject us or be extreamly wrath with us sc supra modulum nostrum according to thine infinite power and above all that we are able to bear I cannot think it neither doth it consist with thy Covenant Here as also at the end of Ecclesiastes Isaiah and Malachy many of the Hebrew Bibles repeat the foregoing verse Turn thou us unto thee O Lord c. yet without pricks left any thing should seem added thereby to the holy Scriptures The reason here of read in the end of the Prophecy of Isa This is also here observed by the most renowned Mr. Thomas Gataker whom for honour sake I name and to whose most accurate and elaborate Annotations upon Isaiah and Jeremy I have been not a little beholden all along These he finished not long before his death to the great glory of God and good of his Church Fretum Magellanicum And of him and this worthy Work of his I may fitly say as a learned man doth of Magellanus the Portingal that great Navigator that the Strait or Sea now called by his name unâ navigatione simul immortalem gloriam mortem ei attulerit Boxhorn histor universal was both his death and his never-dying Monument 1 Sam. 7.12 Hitherto hath the Lord helped us A COMMENTARY OR EXPOSITION ON THE BOOK of the Prophet EZEKIEL CHAP. I. THe Book of the Prophet Ezekiel The Book of Ezekiel so the Hebrews call it and forbid any to read the beginning and ending of it till he be thirty years of age because it is so abstruse and mysterious Nazianzen calleth this Prophet The Beholder of great things In Apolog. and the Interpreter of visions and mysteries Another calleth him the Hieroglyphical Prophet A third Jeremy vailed a hand shut up A lap Ezâ—chiel scripturarum Oceanâ—â— et mysteriorum Dei labyrinthus Hieron Many both waters and readers have passed over this Prophet as dark difficult and lâ—ssâ— useful Greenhil praef Orat. 47. and you know not what is in it c. Contemporary he was to Jeremy though in another Country and a great confirmer of what he had foretold but could not be credited To him therefore as to many others Ezekiel became according to the import of his name The strength of God who mightily enabled him as Lavater well noteth with a stout and undaunted spirit to reprove both people and Princes and to threaten them more terribly and vehemently then Jeremy had done before him But in the substance of their Prophecies there is no small conformity Ferunt Ezechielem servum Jeremiae prius extitisse saith Nazianzen Some have affirmed that Ezekiel had sometimes been Jeremiah's servant as was afterwards Baruch Ver. 1. Now it came to passe in the thirtieth year sc Since the Book of the Law found and that famous Passeover kept in King Josiah's dayes 2 King 22. 23. since the eighteenth year of his reign ver 33 So elsewhere they began their account from some memorable mercy or remarkable accident as from the promise made to Abraham the birth of Isaac the departure out of Egypt the division of the Kingdom into that of Israel and the other of Judah c. In the fifth day of the month Which was the Sabbath-day say some confer chap. 3.16 Then was
for cutting the combs of the self-conceited Jews and convincing theâ—m of their wickednesse and wretchednesse thereby The Chapter consisteth of Law and Gospel ver 60 and is a lively type animae peccatricis poenitentis of an offending and repenting soul Ver. 2. Cause Jerusalem to know her abominations Which as yet she taketh no knowledge of Rebuke her therefore sharply that she may be found in the faith if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth Ver. 3. Thy birth Heb. thy cutting out Confer Isa 51.1 And thy Nativity Vide insignem gentalogiam vide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pudendum Mutato nomine de te Fabula narratur De nat deor Tully saith the old Britons were as barbarous as the Scythians duris genuit te cautibus horrens Caucasus Virg. Thy father was an Amorite An Amorite thou mayest seem to be rather then an Abramite for thou hast filled the land as they did Ezr. 9.11 from end to end with thine uncleanesse And thy mother an Hittite Those worst of women Gen. 27.46 Ver. 4. Thy navel was not cut None was so courteous as to do any of these necessary good offices for thee Plut. lib. de amore prol a poor forlorn helplesse wretch No creature is so shiftlesse as a new born babe which cast out and left to the wide world must needsly perish Ver. 5. None eye pittied thee No not thy mother in whose heart God had planted natural affection for that purpose Neither would thy Lucina become thy Levana two heathen deities to take thee up from the ground where thou layest alasse weltring in thy gore and more like to a slain then a live child Ver. 6. And when I passed by thee Not by chance as Luke 10.31 but of free choice and accorging to mine eternal purpose And saw thee in thy blood In this deplorable condition blood is in this verse thrice mentioned to set forth the greatnesse of mans misery in his pure or rather impure naturals and the freenesse of Gods Grace toward him all along Matth. 11.26 I said unto thee live God speaketh spiritual life to his poor people Isa 55.3 and oft repeateth to them his precious promises whereby they come to partake of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 Ver. 7. As the bud of the field He prosecuteth the Allegory of a miserable maiden with whom the matter beginneth to mend Jam enim menses patiebatur ubera creverant pili circa pubem so that now she was marriageable And thou art come to excellent ornaments Heb to ornaments of ornaments such as virgo nobilis cum jam est nubilis habet young Ladies have when grown up especially Whereas thou wast naked and bare Heb. nakednesse and rejection God looked upon us and loved us when as yet we had not a rag to our backs Cum tu nuda esses atque nudissima Ver. 8. Behold thy time was the time of love When thou wast both fit for marriage and desirous of it For as the man misseth his rib so the woman would be in her old place again under the mans arm or wing See Ruth 3.1 9. And I spred my skirt over thee See Ruth 3.9 with the Note I covered thy nakednesse and took thee into my care and company as a wife A marriage-rite is imported by this expression Yea I sware unto thee c. So much adoe God hath with us to make us believe The Apostle mentioneth the work of faith She hath somewhat to do before she can fasten Ver. 9. Then washed I thee with water I cleansed thee from all thy pollutions by the Merit and Spirit of my dear Son See 1 Cor. 6.11 And I annointed thee with oyl New-married wives were usually washed anointed and richly arrayed The dead also were washed as Dorcas and embalmed as Jacob and Prov. 31.8 they are called bene chaloph which signifieth change of raiment Death strips us all but happy are they whom Christ hath spred his skirt over See 2 Cor. 5.2 3 4. Ver. 10. I clothed thee also with broidred work Phrygionicâ veste variegatâ With variety of precious graces whereby thou didst outshine Solomon in all his bravery for one grain of faith is better worth then all the gold of Ophir and one remnant of Hope beyond all the gay cloathing in the world And girded thee about with fine linnen The Church hath a rich wardrobe for woollens and linnens Gods plenty of both Ver. 11. I decked thee also with ornaments See ver 7. such as render thee amiable and admirable Christ himself who was not moved at all with the offer of all the worlds good Matth. 4.10 confesseth himself ravished with them Cant. 4.9 Ver. 12. And I put a jewel on thy forehead Heb. on thy nose See on Gen. 24.47 Ver. 13. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver Yea with far better abiliments for what is gold and silver but the guts and garbage of the earth It was observed of Queen Elizabeth as of her father before her King Rich. 2. had one coat of gold and stone valued at 30000. maâ—kes that she loved to go very richly arrayed Hir sister Queen Mary had at her Coronation her head so laden with Jewels that she could hardly hold it up This was much but nothing to the Churches beauty and bravery which yet was all but borrowed as is said in the next Verse Thou didst eat fine flower and hony i. e. The very best of the best thou didst eat of the fat and drink of the sweet of my holy Ordinances Ver. 14. And thy renown went forth Pliny saith of Jerusalem that it was the most famous of all the Cities of the East of the World he might have said all things considered Through the comlinesse which I had put upon thoe As Abraham's servant put the jewels upon Rebecca See on ver 13. That 's a famous Canon of the second Araâ—sican Council Tales nos amat Deus quales futuri sumus ipsius done Can. 12. non quales sumus nostro merito God loveth us such as we shall be by his free-gift and not such as we are by our own merit Ver. 15. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty Thou grewest proud of it and thoughtest there was none such when as thou mightest well have said of it as he in the holy history did of his hatchet Alas Master it was but borrowed And plaidst the harlot Being fair and foolish Lis est cum forma magna pudicitiae Because of thy renown Being puft up with the greatnesse of thy name and fame which should have made thee more morigerous Prov. 27.21 See the Note there And pouredst out thy fornications Indifferently and impudently like a filthy strumpet His is was Quicunque vult come as come would so detestably insatiate wast thou The Papists boast of their Church that she is a pious Mother
proud man inspectante toto mundo in the view of all the world And his body was wet with the due of heaven Beside the brutish change of his mind his body was much changed by the inclemency of the ayre and by his feeding and living among wild beasts Yet was he not in truth changed into a beast as Bodin thinketh so as that upward he was like an Ox and in his hinder parts like a Lion as others have fabled The substance of his body was not changed but only the quality of his substance and of his shape Rupertus well concludeth that this was the greatest change that is mentioned in Scripture excepting only that of Lots wife who was changed into a pillar of salt Till his haires were grown like Eagles feathers Thick and black And his nailes like birds claws Long and sharp so that in his shape he came nearer to a wild beast then to a man Ver. 34. And at the end of the dayes When my pride was now subdued but hardly to sound conversion I Nebuchadnezzar lift up mine eyes Happy he if with Simeon his eyes had seen Gods salvation Many are humbled but not humble low but not lowly And mine understanding returned The use of his reason whereof he had been bereft and an opinion put into him that he was a beast Mad men are apt to think themselves Kings horses or other creatures then they are Whose dominion is everlasting A natural man will sooner confesse God to be true just powerful wise c. then merciful and all because the love of God is not shed abroad in his heart by the holy Ghost Rom. 5.5 Disce hominis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut ita dicam nihilitatem Ver. 35. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing He who hath seen any part of Gods greatnesse will soon see his own vilenesse and the worlds nothingnesse Ver. 36. At the same time When God had hid pride from me which could not be soon nor easily done as when some vital part is corrupted the cure is difficult and long in doing And my Counsellours and my Lords Who had ruled the Kingdom in the Interim among whom Daniel haply was chief Ver. 37. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise God as he is the first Author of all so to him as to the utmost end quasi circulo quodam confecto all honour ought to return All whose works are truth i. e. Right and righteous And those that walk in pride he is able to abase See ver 33. Claudian Ingentes quercus annosas fulminat ornos CHAP. V. Ver. 1. Belshazzar the King Son to Evilmerodach grandson to Nebuchadnezzar whose line failed in this King according to Jer. 27.7 Of Evilmerodach Daniel saith nothing because nothing remarkable fell out in his time but what was before related 2 King 25.27 See there Made a great feast Of this feast see Jer. 25.26 Herodos l. 1. Xenoph. lib. 7. It was made say some upon occasion of a yearly solemnity which continued five dayes together wherein the servants bare sway in every family having a master of misrule over them Cyrus took this opportunity saith Xenophon and made himself master of the City Nota hic Baltasaris miram vecordiam saith one that is take notice of Belshazzars strange stupidity and security that having such a formidable enemy before the City he should thus revel and bezel but he did it perhaps to shew his valour and how little he cared for the Persians who shewed themselves soon after to be no contemptible persons Certain it is that he minded nothing less at his feast then the deliverance of Gods poor people which now he was in working Now were the seventy years exactly ended now therefore was Israel to be dismissed and it was done The Rabbines have a tradition that Belshazzar seeing the seventy years spoken of by Jeremy expired and the Jews Lyra. by the coming on of another Monarch not delivered kept this feast in contempt of that prophecy and people To a thousand of his Lords Who 't is like were all drunk for company what wonder then that a land so sick of drink spewed them all out Lords and losels were grown desperate drunkards ripe for ruine Here were a thousand Princes but not one faithful Counsellor to better advise this festival King as he is called wholly given over to dissolute lusts Who can tell whether it were not now with him as afterwards with Vitellius the Emperour when his enemy was at hand Tacitu◠Vitellius trepidus dein temulentus to put away the fear of death he made himself drunk Ver. 2. Belshazzar whilest he tasted the wine And was mastered by it Jam temulentus Vulg. being now in his cups as they say and well whittled swallowed up of wine as the Prophet expresseth it Esay 28.7 Aben-Ezra rendreth it in consilio vini doing as the wine advised him Commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels Being intoxicate he casteth off all care of God and man and falleth into the sins of sacriledge and blasphemy Which his Father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Temple And should have restored them thither again We read that when Gensericus had spoiled and plundered Rome he took the vessels of gold and silver which Titus had brought from the Temple in Jerusalem and carried them with him to Carthage The life of Justin by Mr. the Clark 79. and carried them to Constantinople But the good Emperor Justinian would not receive them into his treasury but sent them again to Jerusalem to be disposed of for the good of the Church according to the discretion of the Christian Bishops who lived there Ver. 3. Then they brought the golden vessels Made and appointed for a better use as were likewise much of our Church-lands vessels and utensils concerning wich a learned man thus complaineth Possidebant Papistae possident jam Rapistae Luther cryed out earnestly against this abuse in Germany Knox in Scotland Calvin at Genevah I see said he to the Senat there in a Sermon that we have taken the purse from Judas and given it to the devil neither can I endure such sacriledge which I know God in the end will punish most severely Belshazzar paid dear for his bowsing in the boules of the Sanctuary And the King and his Princes drank in them As if they had been swine-troughs This was to out-sin his father and grandfather who yet were none of the best Ver. 4 They drank wine To the honour of their goddesse Shac for so these feast-dayes were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being like the Roman Saturnalia And praised the gods of silver and of gold As if these their dunghill-deities had mastered and spoiled the God of Israel who either would not or could not defend his temple and people from falling into the power of their invincible conquerour This was blasphemy in an high degree and therefore presently punished by God Ver. 5. In the
of one learned Gentleman who ran out of his wits after many years study upon it The Doctours are much divided about the beginning and ending of these seventy weeks I chuse rather thus to compute then to dispute From the outgoing of the word ver 25. seemeth to me to fix the beginning of these weeks on Cyrus his decree concerning the holy City and the Temple to be reedified The end and period of them must be at the death of Christ though some will have it at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans It is well observed by the learned that the Jews after their seventy years captivity have seven seventies of years granted for the enjoying of their own country Gods mercies bear the same proportion to his punishments which seven a complete number have to an unit besides the mercy of mercies the grace of the Messiah Vpon thy people Of whose welfare thou art so sollicitous and inquisitive To finish the transgression Transgressionem illam that great tranâ—gression of our first Parents in Paradise that whereby sin entred into the world and death by sin Rom. 5.12 Now Christ by his death took away the power and destroyed the dominion of all sin Rom. 6.11 12. And to make an end of sins Heb. To seal up sins that they come not into Gods sight against us ever to be charged upon us A Metaphor say some from the Jews manner of writing in Rolles which being wrapped up and sealed on the backside all the writing was covered And to make reconciliation for iniquity viz. By the expiatory and propitiatory sacrifice of himself for his Elect whereby the divine Justice is fully satisfied And to bring in everlasting righteousnesse Those righteousnesses of the Saints Rev. 19 8. both Imputed and Imparted Righteousnesse called here everlasting as that which shall make the Saints accepted of God for ever never can be lost as Adams was And to seal up the vision and prophecy i. e. To fulfill all the Prophetical predictions concerning the life and death of the Lord Christ And to anoint the most holy This was done when Christ was baptized say some but others better when he ascended into heaven consecrating it to the service of God therein to be performed by the Elect throughout all eternity like as Moses once consecrated the most holy place to the ceremonial service there to be performed by the High-Priest Ver. 25. Know therefore and understand See on ver 24. Here the Angel brancheth the whole seventy sevens into three heads or into three distinct periods of time Shall be seven weeks Which make forty nine years these the Angel purposely speaketh of a part because they chiefly concerned the reparation of the City made under the Persian Monarchy Within this first seven weeks or forty nine years the street of Jerusalem was rebuilt and the wall with trench though the times proved troublous and full of straits And threescore and two weeks Which make four hundred thirty four years the events of which are mentioned ver 26. as those of the seven years following ver 27. out of which it might easily be supplyed and is therefore here omitted by the Angel Ver. 26. And after threescore and two weeks See on ver 25. within these threescore and two weeks befel the Jews many memorable things as may be seen chap. 8 11. Shall Messiah be cut off Excindetur not abscindetur cut off that is by wicked hands crucified and slain Act. 2.23 not only cast out of the synagogue and excommunicated as that malicious Rabbine read and sensed this text Others of the Jew Doctours by the evidence of these words have been compelled to confesse that Messiah is already come and that he was that Jesus whom their forefathers crucified See for this R. Samuels Epistle to R. Isâ—ak set down at large by Dionys Carthus in his Commentary on this text See also R. Osea his lamentation for this inexpiable guilt of the Jewish Nation recorded by Galatinus lib. 4. c. 18. Polanus reporteth that he living sometime in Moravia where he used the help of some Rabbines for the understanding of the Hebrew tongue heard them say that for this ninth chapters sake they acknowledged not Daniel to be authentical and therefore read it not amongst the people lest hereby they should be turned to Christ finding out how they had been by them deceived But not for himself i. e. Not for any fault of his nor yet for any good to himself but to mankind whence some render these words There being nothing therein for him Et non sibi vel nihil ei others when he shall have nothing i. e. nothing more to do at Jerusalem but shall utterly relinquish it and call his people out of it to Pella c. And the people of the Prince that shall come i. e. Titus his souldiers whose rage he himself could not repress Joseph but they would needs burn down the Temple which he would fain have preserved as one of the worlds wonders Messiah the Prince had a hand in it doubtless whence also those Roman forces are called his armyes Mat. 22.7 Shall destroy the City That slaughterhouse of the Saints And the Sanctuary That den of thieves And the end thereof shall be with a flood i. e. Their extirpation shall be suddain universal irresistible as was Noah's flood How this was fulfilled see Josephus Hegesippus Eusebius c. And unto the end of the war c. The Romans shall have somewhat to do but after tedious wars they shall effect it Ver. 27. And he Messiah shall confirm the Covenant See ver 24. with many Heb. with his Rabbines that is with his Elect. Confer Esa 53.11 Job 32.9 Jer. 41.2 For one week i. e. In the last seven years of the seventy And in the midst of the week i. e. In three years and a half he shall by his passion disannul the Jewish sacrifices and services And for the overspreading or wing or abominations i. e. For the abominable outrages committed by the seditious Jews those zelots as they called themselves who filled the Temple with dead bodyes Others from Mat. 24.15.16 with Luk. 20.20 21. think the Romans to be meant who set up their Eagles their ensignes in the Temple together with the images first of Caligula and then of Titus their Emperours Perpetuâ consummatiss consumptione urgentur Even untill the consummation Until the end and to the utmost The Jews have oft attempted but could never yet recover their country nor are like to do Shall be poured As if the windows of heaven were opened as once they were at the flood See ver 26. CHAP. X. Ver. 1. IN the third year of Cyrus King of Persia This whole chapter is but a Preface to the ensuing Prophecy or visional prediction recorded in the two following chapters It beginneth at the third year of Cyrus his Empire and reacheth till the time of the Jews rising from the dust of their