ictus ictus vulnera saepe vulnera morâ— consequitur Wrath stirs up strife strife causeth ill words ill words draw on blows bloodshed and losse of life sometimes But hee that is slow to anger appeaseth strife Is as busie to stint strife as the other to stir it brings his buckets to quench this unnatural fire betwixt others and puts up injuries done to himself as Jonathan did when his Father flung a Javelin at him hee rose from Table and walked into the field David also though provoked yet hee as a deaf man heard not and was as one dumb in whose mouth there was â—â— reproof Such peaceable and peace-making men are blessed of God and â—â—ghly esteemed of men when wranglers are to be shunned as perilous persons Make not friendship with an angry man saith Solomon Prov. 22.24 And they are not much to bee regarded that with every little offensive breath or disgraceful word are blown up into rage that will not bee laid down without revenge or reparation to cure their credits Vers 19. The way of a slothful man is as a hedge of thorns Perplexed and let some so that hee gets no ground makes no riddance hee goes as if hee were shackled when hee is to go upon any good course so many perils hee casts and so many excuses hee makes this hee wants and that hee wants when in truth it is a heart onely that hee wants being wofully hampered and inthralled in the invisible chains of the Kingdome of darkness and driven about by the Devil at his pleasure This will bee a bodkin at these mens hearts one day to think I had a price in my hand but no heart to make use of it I foolishly held Germani dicunt Anser est in porta that a little with ease was best and so neglected so great salvation shifting off him that spake to mee from Heaven Heb. 12.25 and pretending some Lion in the way some Goose at the gate when I was to do any thing for my souls health Never any came to Hell saith one but had some pretence for their coming thither Vâ—a strata But the way of the righteous is made plain Or Is cast up as a Causey a Gabbatha John 19.13 a rode raised above the rest There seems to bee an allusion to that bank or causey that went from the Kings house to the Temple 1 Chron. 26.16 18. 1 King 10.5 2 Chron. 9.11 And the sense is that the godly by much practice of piety having gotten an habit dispatch duty with delight and come off with comfort See Isa 40.31 Vers 20. A wise Son maketh a glad Father See the Note on chap. 10.1 Vers 21. Folly is joy to him that is destitute of understanding See the Note on chap. 10.23 But a man of understanding walketh uprightly And hee doth it with delight as the opposition implies Christs burden is no more grievous to him Sinceritas screnitatis mater siâ—e qua tranquillitas omnis tempestas est Isidor than the wing is to the bird Matth. 11.30 1 John 5.3 His sincerity supplies him with a serenity the joy of the Lord as an oyl of gladness makes him lithe and nimble in waies of holiness And this spiritual joy in some is an habitual gladness of heart which constantly after assurance is found in them though they feel not the passions of joy but in others there are felt at sometimes the vehement passions of joy but not any constant gladnesse Vers 22. Without counsel purposes are disappointed The word here rendred Counsel signifies Secret because counsel should bee kept secret which to signifie the old Romans as Servins testifieth built the Temple of Consus their God of Counsel sub tecto in Circo in a publick place but under a covert And it grew to a proverb Romani sedendo vincunt The Romans by sitting in Counsel conquer their enemies But what a strange man was Xerxes and it prospered with him accordingly who in his expedition against Greece called his Princes together but gave them no freedome of speech Val. Max. lib. 9. cap. 5. nor liberty of Counsel Lest said hee to them I should seem to follow mine own counsel I have assembled you And now do you remember that it becomes you rather to obey than to advise Daniels Hist Such another was that James that reigned in Scotland in our Edward the fourths time Hee was too much wedded saith the Historian to his own opinion and would not endure any mans advice how good soever that hee fancied not hee would seldome ask counsel but never follow any See the Note on chap. 11.14 Vers 23. A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth It reflects comfort upon a man when hee hath spoken discreetly to the benefit and good content of others Some degree of comfort follows every good action as heat accompanies fire as beams and influence issue from the Sun which is so true that very Heathens upon the discharge of a good conscience have found comfort and peace answerable A word spoken in due season how good is it One seasonable truth falling on a prepared heart hath oft a strong and sweet operation Galeacius was converted by a similitude used by Peter Martyr reading on 1 Corinth Junius was reduced from Atheism by conference with a country-man of his Luther having heard Staupicius say that that is kinde repentance which begins from the love of God ever after that time the practice of repentance was the sweeter to him Also this speech of his took well with Luther Melch. Adam Doctrina praedestinationis incipit à vulneribus Christi The doctrine of predestination begins at Christs wounds Melancthon tells how that one time when Luther as hee was naturally passionate fell into a great distemper upon some provocation he quickly quieted him by reciting this verse Vince animos iramque tuam qui catera vincis At the hearing hereof Luther curbs in his passion and smiling said Non volumus de his amplius sed de aliis colloqui Joban Manâ— loc com Wee 'l talk no more of these matters Vers 24. The way of life is above to the wise Hee goes an higher way than his neighbour even in his common businesses because they are done in Faith and Obedience Hee hath his feet where other mens heads are and like an heavenly Eagle delights himself in high-flying Busied hee may bee in mean low things but not satisfied in them as adequate Objects A wise man may sport with children but that is not his business Domitian spent his time in catching flyes and Artaxerxes in making hafts for knives but that was the baseness of their spirits Wretched worldlings make it their work to gather wealth as children do to tumble a snow-ball they are scattered abroad throughout all the land as those poor Israelites were Exod. 5.12 to gather stubble not without an utter neglect of their poor souls But what I wonder will these men do when Death
such an affliction Rebecca was weary of her life by reason of the daughters of Heth brought in to her by Esau Gen. 27.45 If they lye lusking at home mothers have the misery of it if they do worse abroad the worst is made of it to the mother at home by fame that loud lyer Vers 2. Treasures of wickedness Our Saviour calls it Mammon of iniquity Luke 16. â— that next odious name to the Devil Most mens care is how to grasp and get wealth for their children rem rem quocunque modo rem Virtus post nummos c. But what saith a grave Author Mr. Bolton Better leave thy childe a Wallet to beg from door to door than a cursed heard of evil-gotten goods There is for most part lucrum in arca damnum in conscientia gain in the purse August but loss in the conscience But righteousness delivereth from death Piety though poor delivereth from the second death and from the first too as to the evil of it For as Christ took away the guilt of sin not sin it self so hee hath taken away not death but the sting of death from all beleevers making it to such of a curse a blessing of a punishment a benefit of a Trap-door to hell a Portal to heaven a Postern to let out temporal life but a Street-door to let in eternal life Vers 3. The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous That refuseth to inrich himself by evil arts and to rise by wicked principles For it might bee objected If I strain not my conscience I may starve for it Ob. Sol. Fear not that saith the Wise-man Faith fears not famine Necessaries thou shalt bee sure of Psal 37.25 26. Psal 34.11 Superfluities thou art not to stand upon 1 Tim. 6.8 The Hebrews by righteousness in the former verse understand Almsdeeds as Dan. 4.24 27. See the Note on Matth. 7.1 and so the sense here may bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The righteous though hee give much to the poor shall â—â—e never the poorer sith not getting but giving is the way to thrive See my Common-place of Alms. But hee casteth away the substance of the wicked For either they lose it or live beside it and are little the better for it Hee that gotteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the middest of his dayes and in his end bee a fool God will make a poor fool of him quickly Quo mihi divitias queis non conceditur â—ti Jer. 17.11 And the like may bee said of the illiberal and tenacious person See the Note on Chap. 3.27 Niggards fear to lose their wealth by giving but fear not to lose their wealth and souls and all by keeping it Ob. Sol. Vers 4. Hee becometh poor Lest any should say If God do all wee need do the less Doing you must bee saith the Wise-man or else the beggar will catch you by the back Labour also you must with your hands working the thing that is good that yee may have to give to him that needeth Ephes 4.28 But the hand of the diligent Or of the nimble that do motitare saith Kimchi are active and agile that will lose nothing for looking after but take care of smallest matters that all go right being frugal and parcimonious of time husbanding the opportunity of thriving and plenty How did Boaz follow the business himself How were his eyes in every corner on the servants and on the Reapers yea on the Gleaners too Hee doth even lodge in the midst of his husbandry Ruth 2. and 3. as knowing well the truth of that proverbial sentence Columel Procul à villa sua dissitus jacturae vicinus Hee that is far from his business is not far from loss Vers 5. Hee that gathereth in Summer A well-chosen season is the greatest advantage of any action which as it is seldome found in haste so it is too often lost in delay The men of Issachar were in great account with David because they had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do and when to do it 1 Chron. 12.32 So are they in great account with God for their wisdome who observe and use the season of well-doing But hee that sleepeth in harvest i. e. That lets slip his opportunity as Plutarch writes of Hannibal that when hee could have taken Rome hee would not when hee would hee could not And as its storied of Charles King of Sicily and Jerusalem that hee was called Carolus Cunctator Charles the Lingerer not in the sense as Fabius because hee stayed till opportunity came but because hee stayed till opportunity was lost Vers 6. Blessings are upon the head Plentifully and conspicuously they shall abound with blessings Prov. 28.20 As the fear of the Lord is not onely in them but upon them 2 Chron. 19.7 so blessings of all sorts a confluence of all spiritual and temporal comforts and contentments shall bee not onely with them but upon them so that nothing shall hinder it See Gal. 6.16 They are blessed and they shall bee blessed Gen. 27.33 Neither shall any roaring or repining Esau bee able to reverse it But violence covereth the mouth of the wicked They shall bee certainly shamed condemned executed as Haman whose face they covered Esth 7.8 and shortly after strangled And as Sir Gervaise Ellowayes Lieutenant of the Tower hanged on Tower-hill for poysoning Sir Thomas Overbury his prisoner This Sir Gervaise being on the Gallows freely confessed that hee had oft in his playing at Cards and Dice wished that hee might bee hang'd if it were not so and so and therefore confessed it was just upon him Vers 7. The memory of the just is blessed Demetrius had a good report of the truth 3 Joh. 12. In the Hebrew tongue the same word signifieth a good name and a blessing This is one of those blessings mentioned vers 6. that shall bee heaped upon holy men Holy and reverend is his Name Psal 111.9 How comes Gods Name to bee reverend but by being holy Bee good and do good so shall thy name bee heir to thy life yea when thou art laid in thy grave thy stock remains goes forward and shall do till the day of Doom But the name of the wicked shall rot and stink as putrified flesh Hypocrites then must bee detected though they carry it never so clearly how else shall they bee detested and stink above ground Simon Magus so handled the matter that Philip mistook him for a Beleever and baptized him but Peter soon smelt him out and laid him open in his colours Hee that perverteth his wayes shall bee known Prov. 10.9 The Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity for all their cunning contrivances Psal 125.5 Vers 8. The wise in heart shall receive Commandement i.e. Submit to Gods holy Word without replies and cavils This is check to the brave gallants of our age which exercise their ripe heads and
9.17 God stands not upon multitudes he buried the old World in one universal grave of waters And turning the Cities of Sodome and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow 2 Pet. 2.6 This is a good sense Howbeit I cannot but incline to those that expound Hand to hand for Father and Childe in regard of the following hemistich But the seed of the righteous shall be delivered As if the Prophet should say The wicked traduce a cursed stock of sin to their Children and shall therefore bee punished in their own person or at least in their posterity Psal 49.11 13 14. This their way is their folly yet their posterity approve their sayings Therefore like sheep they are laid in the grave death shall feed on them c. Vers 22. As a Jewel of gold in a Swines snout It is a small praise saith one to have a good face and an evil nature No one means saith another hath so enriched Hell as beautiful faces Aureliae Orestillae praeter formam nihil unquam bonus laudavit saith Salust In Aurelia Orestilla there was nothing praise-worthy but her beauty Art thou fair saith an Author be not like an Aegyptian Temple or a painted Sepulcher Art thou foul let thy soul bee like a rich pearl in a rude shell Si mihi difficilis formam naturae negavit Sapph ap Ovid. Ingenio formae damna rependo meae So is a fair woman which is without discretion Sic dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in luto saith Salvian Fair and foolish ones abuse their beauty to pride and incontinency and so give occasion to some Diogenes to say O quam bona domus malus hospes O fair house but ill inhabitant Vers 23. The desire of the righteous is onely good i. e. So far as hee is righteous or spiritual hee delights in the Law of God after the inward man willing in all things to live honestly Heb. 13.18 Evil motions haunt his minde otherwhiles but there they inhabit not Lust was a stranger to David as Peter Martyr observes out of Nathans Parable There came a Traveller to this rich man 2 Sam. 12.4 The main stream of his desires the course and current of his heart ran upon God and godliness Psal 119.4 5. And Psal 39.1 3. Hee resolved to do better than hee did The spirit ever lusteth against the flesh howbeit when the flesh gets the wind and hill of the spirit all is not so well carried As the Ferry-man plyes the Oar and eyes the shore home-ward where hee would bee yet there comes a gust of wind that carries him back again so it is oft with a Christian But every man is with God so good as he desires to bee In vita libro scribuntur qui quod possunt faciunt et si quod debent non possunt â—ern They are written in the book of life that do what good they can though they cannot do as they would But the expectation of the wicked is wrath i. e. The good they expect proves to bee indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish Rom. 2.8 9. woful perplexities and convulsions of soul which will bee so great and so grievous as will make them rave and rage with madness and fury especially because they looked for a better state Vers 24. There is that scattereth and yet increaseth Bounty is the most compendious way to plenty neither is getting but giving the best thrift The five loaves in the Gospel by a strange kinde of Arithmetick were multiplied by Division and augmented by Substraction So it will bee in this case But it tendeth to poverty St. Austin descanting upon those words Psal 76.5 They have slept their sleep all the rich men and have found nothing in their hands for so hee reads that Text And why is this saith Hee Nihil invenerunt in manibus suis quia nihil posuerunt in manu Christi They found nothing in their own hands because they feared to lay up any thing in Christs hands Manus pauperum gazophylacium Christi saith another Father The poor mans hand is Christs treasury Vers 25. The liberal soul shall bee made fat See the Note on Matth. 5.7 and my Common-place of Almes Vers 26. The people shall curse him i. e. Complain and cry out of him as the people of Rome did of Pompey in another case Nostrâ miseriâ tu es Magnus In another case I say for in this I must acquit him remembring that speech of his when being by his office to bring in Corn from a far Country for the peoples necessity and wished by his friends to stay for a better wind hee hoysed up sail and said Necesse est ut eam non ut vivam There is a necessity of my going not so of my life If I perish I perish Hence hee was the peoples Corculum or Sweet-heart as it is said of Scipio Nasica Vers 27. Hee that diligently seeketh good Hebr. Hee that is up betime to promote the publike good as Joseph who came not in till noon to eat meat as Nehemiah who willingly brake his sleep and traded every talent for his peoples comfort As Scipio Africanus who usually went before day into the Capitol in cellam Jovis and there stayed a great while quasi consultans de Rep. cum Jove Gell. lib. 7. cap. 1. as consulting with his God about the Weal-publike whence his deeds were pleraque admiranda saith mine Author amiable and admirable the most of them And as Daniel who though sick yet rose up and did the Kings business Chap. 8.27 It shall come to him It shall come certainly suddenly irresistibly and as wee say of foul weather unsent for God will say to such as Aulus Fulvius did to his trayterous son and then slew him Non Catâ—linae te genui sed patriae The Lord shall pour upon him and not spare because hee cruelly oppressed spoiled his brother by violence and did that which is not good among his people therefore hee shall dye in his iniquity Ezek. 18.18 Vers 28. Hee that trusteth to his riches shall fall Riches were never true to any that trusted to them The rich Churl that trusted and boasted that hee had much goods laid up in store for many years when like a Jay hee was pruning himself in his boughes hee came tumbling down with the arrow in his side Luke 12.15 16. c. So did Nebuchadnezzar Belteshazzar Herod c. The righteous also shall see and fear and laugh at such a one saying Loe this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthned himself in his wickedness Psal 52.6 7. But I am like a green Olive tree c. vers 8. Agreeable whereunto is this that follows here But the righteous shall flourish as a branch whiles the wicked Foenea quadam felicitate temporaliter florent Aug. Epist 120. exoriuntur ut exurantur flourish and ruffle for a time but shall
and punishment are linked together with chains of adamant Of sin wee may say as Isidore doth of the Serpent Tot dolores quot colores so many colours so many dolours The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life Rom. 6. ult The same in effect with this sentence of Solomon But to the righteous good shall bee repaid Or hee that is God shall repay good Now hee is a liberal pay-master and all his retributions are more than bountiful Never did any yet do or suffer ought for God that complained of an hard bargain L. Brooks discourse of Episcop God will recompence your losses saith that thrice noble Lord Brook who lost his precious life in this late unhappy wars at Litchfield as the King of Poland did his noble servant Zelislaus having lost his hand in his wars hee sent him a golden hand Caius Agrippa having suffered imprisonment for wishing him Emperor when hee came afterwards to the Empire the first thing hee did was to prefer Agrippa and gave him a chain of gold as heavy as the chain of iron that was upon him in Prison Those that lose any thing for God hee seals them a bill of Exchange of a double return nay an hundred fold here and eternal life hereafter Vers 22. A good man leaveth inheritance to his childe Personal goodness is profitable to Posterity God gives not to his servants some small annuity for life onely as great men use to do but keepeth mercy for thousands of generations of them that fear him Exod. 34.7 Where the Masorites observe Nun. Rabbath a great N in the word Not for keepeth to note the large extent of Gods love to the good mans posterity God left David a Lamp in Jerusalem 1 Kings 15.4 although his house were not so with God 2 Sam. 23.5 And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just as Nabals was for David Hamans for Mordecai the Canaanites for the Israelites Howbeit this holds not perpetually and universally in every wicked person for some of them are full of children and leave the rest of their substance for their babes Psal 17.14 Hereupon their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever c. they call their Lands after their own names as Cain called his new built City after the name of his son Henoch Gen. 8.4 This their way is their folly or is their constant hope for the word signifies both and their Posterity approve their sayings and vote the same way Psal 49.11 13. But together with their lands they bequeath their children their sins and punishments which is far worse than that legacy of Leprosie that Joab left his issue 2 Sam. 3.29 Confer Job 27.16 17. Isa 61.5 Vers 23. Much food is in the tillage of the poor Who have but a little and look well to it That of the Poet is well known Laudato ingentia rura Exiguum colito It is best for a man to have no more than hee can master and make his best of Vigil Geog. lib. â— Lib. 1. cap 3. The ground should bee weaker than hee that tills it saith Columella The earth is a fruitful mother and brings forth meat meet for them by whom it is dressed Heb. 6.7 But there is that is destroyed for want of judgement viz. in plowing and sowing Isa 28.26 or in managing and husbanding what hee hath gotten for the best For non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta tueri Wee must bee good husbands and see that Condus bee fortâ—or Promo our comings in more than our layings out Bonus Servatius facit bonum Bonifacium saith the Dutch man in his blunt Proverb A good saver makes a well-doer Vers 24. Hee that spareth his rod hateth his son It is as if one should bee so tender over a childe as not to suffer the wind to blow upon it and therefore hold the hand before the mouth of it but so hard as hee strangleth the childe It is said of the Ape that shee huggeth her young one to death so do many fond Parents who are therefore peremptores potius quam parentes rather Paricides than Parents Eli would not correct his children God therefore corrected both him and them David would not once cross his Absolom and his Adonijah Bern. and hee was therefore singularly crost in them ere hee dyed The like befell old Andronicus the Greek Emperour in his unhappy Nephew of the same name and Muleasses King of Tunes in his son Amida whom hee cockered so long till Absolom-like hee rose against his father Turk hist 745.747 and possessing himself of the Kingdome put out his father and brethrens eyes slew his Captains polluted his Wives and took the Castle of Tunes But hee that loveth him chasteneth him betimes And this is a God-like love Prov. 3.12 Rev. 3.19 See the Notes there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Ethic. l. 2. Correction is a kinde of cure saith the Philosopher the likeliest way to save the childes soul where yet curam exigeris non curationem saith Bernard it is the care of the childe that is charged upon the Parent not the cure for that is Gods work alone But hee usually worketh by this mean and therefore requires that it bee soundly set on if need so require A fair hand wee say makes a foul wound A weak dose doth but stir bad humours and anger them not purge them out In some diseases the Patient must bee let blood even ad deliquium animae till hee swoon again So here Quintilian tells us of some faults in a childe that deserve not a whipping And Chrysippus is ill spoken of by some because he first brought the use of the rod into the Schools It was hee I trow that first offered that strict and tetrical division to the world Aut mentem aut restim comparandam Either a good heart or a good halter for your self and yours The condemned person comes out of a dark prison and goes to the place of Execution so do children left to themselves and not nurtured come from the womb their prison to the fire of hell their execution Severitas tamen non sit tetra sed tetrica Corrections must bee wisely and moderately dispensed Sidonius Ep. lib. 4. Col. 4.21 Parents provoke not your children to wrath lest they bee dispirited and through despondency grow desperate or heartless Our Henry 2. first crowned his eldest son Henry whilst hee was yet alive and then so curbed him that through discontent hee fell into a Feaver whereof hee dyed before his Father A Prince of excellent parts Daniels hist who was at first cast away by his Fathers indulgence and afterwards by his rigour Vers 25. The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul Have hee more or less hee hath that which satisfies him Nature is content with a little grace with less Cibus potus sunt divitia Christianorum If Jacob may but have bread to eat
him more than ever it delighted him So doth sin At Alvolana in Portugal three miles from Lisbon many of our English Souldiers under the Earl of Essex perished by eating of Honey purposely left in the houses and spiced with poyson as it was thought And how the treacherous Greeks destroyed many of the Western Christians French and English marching toward the Holy-land by selling them meal mingled with Lime is well known out of the Turkish History Vers 18. Every purpose is established by counsel That thy proceedings bee not either unconstant or uncomfortable Deliberandum est diu quod statuendum est semel deliberate long ere thou resolve on any enterprise Advise with God especially who hath said Woe bee to the rebellious children that take counsel but not of me c. Isa 30.1 David had able Counsellours about him but those he most esteemed and made use of were Gods testimonies Psal 119.24 Thy testimonies also are my delight and the men of my counsel Princes had learned men ever with them called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remembrancers Monitors Counsellours as Themistocles had his Anaxagoras Alexander his Aristotle Scipio his Panaetius and Polybius of which latter Pausanias testifieth Pasuan lib. 8. that he was so great a Politician that what he advised never miscarried But that is very remarkable that Gellius reports of Scipio Africanus that it was his custome before day to goe into the Capitol in cellam Jevis and there to stay a great while quasi consultans de Rep. cum Jove as if hee were there advising with his God concerning the Common-wealth Gell. lib. 7. Whence it was that his deeds were pleraque admiranda admirable for the most part saith the Author But we have a better example David in all his streights went to ask counsel of the Lord 1 Cor. 1.30 Isa 9.6 who answered him Doe we so and God will not fail us for he hath made Christ wisedome unto us and a wonderful Counsellour And with good advice make warre Ahab in this might have been a Precedent to good Josiah He would not goe against Ramoth-Gilead till he had first advised with his false Prophets But that other Peerless Prince though the famous Prophet Jeremy was then living and Zephaniah and a whole Colledge of Seers yet he doth not so much as once send out of doors to ask shall I goe up against the King of Aegypt Sometimes both grace and wit are asleep in the holiest and wariest breasts The Souldiers rule among the Romans was Non sequi Vege◠l. 1. c. 17 Lucian non fugere bellum Neither to fly nor to follow after warre The Christian Motto is Nec temorè nec timidê be neither temerarious nor timorous And that 's a very true saying of the Greek Poet Lucian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 19. He that goeth about as a Tale-bearer Therefore make not such of thy counsel For if they can give counsel yet they can keep none See the note on chap. 11.13 Therefore meddle not with him that flattereth Tale-carriers and flatterers are neither of them fit Counsellors These will say as you say bee it right or wrong those will tell abroad all that you say and more too to do you a mischief The good Emperour Aurelius was even bought and sold by such evil Counsellors And Augustus complained when Varus was dead that hee had none now left that would deal plainly and faithfully with him Vers 20. Who so curseth his father c. See the Notes on Exod. 21.17 and on Mat. 15.4 Parents usually give their children sweet and savoury counsel but they for want of grace listen rather to flatterers and whisperers vilipending their Parents advice and vilifying them for the same as Elies sons did His lamp shall bee put out in obscure darkness Heb. In blackness of darkness These are those raging waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever Jude 13. An exquisite torment such are sure of in hell whom the Holy Ghost curseth in such emphatical manner in such exquisite termes Besides the extream misery they are likely here to meet with who when they ought to bee a lamp to their parents 1 King 15.4 as Abner was or by his name should have been do seek to put out their lamp to cast a slur upon them and to quench their coal that is left as shee said 2 Sam. 14.7 It may very well bee that the temporal judgement here threatned is that such a graceless childe shall dye childless and that there shall bee Nullus cui lampada tradat Vers 21. An inheritance may bee gotten hastily c. By wishing and working the death of Parents or by any other evil arts whatsoever See an instance hereof in Achan Achab Gehezi Adonijah his leaping into the Throne without his Fathers leave Jehoahaz also the younger son of Josiah would needs bee King after his Father putting by his eldest brother Jehoiakim but hee was soon put down again and put into bands by Pharaoh Necho 2 King 23. Hee pourtrayed the Ambitionist to the life that pictured him snatching at a Crown and falling with this Motto Sic mea fata sequor Vers 22. Say not thou I will recompence evil Much less swear it as some miscreants do to whom Est vindicta bonum vitâ dulcius ipsâ In reason tallying of injuries is but justice It is the first office of justice saith Tully to hurt no body unless first provoked by injury Whereupon Lactantius O quà m simplicem veramque sententiam saith hee duorum verborum adjectione corrupit O what a dainty sentence marred the Oratour by adding those two last words How much better Seneca immane verbum est ultio Non minus mali est injuriam referre quam inferre La et Instit l. 6. c. 20. Revenge is a base word but a worse deed it being no less an offence to requite an injury than to offer it as Lactantius hath it The mild and milken man as his name speaks him was such an enemy to revenge that hee dislikes the waging either of law or of war with any that have wronged us Wherein though I cannot bee of his minde yet I am clearly of opinion that not revenge but right should bee sought in both Neither can I hold it valour but rashness in our Richard the first who being told as hee sate at supper that the French King had besiedged his Town of Vernoil in Normandy protested that hee would not turn his back untill hee had confronted the French and thereupon hee caused the wall of his palace that was before him to bee broken down toward the South and poasted to the Sea-coast immediately into Normandy But wait on the Lord Who claims vengeance as his Deut. 32.35 Rom. 12.19 See the Notes there and will strike in for the patient as hee did Num. 12.2 While Moses is dumb God speaks deaf God hears
skill of those good words that do ingratiate with God and man Gen. 49.21 compared with Deut. 33.23 Hee is fit to make a Courtier a Favourite such as was Joseph Mordecai Daniel who though hee used not alwayes verbis byssinis soft and silken words but delivered heavy messages from God to Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar yet God so wrought their hearts though Tyrants that they greatly honoured him and highly preferred him And when out of his love to pureness of heart hee chose rather affliction than sin to bee cast to the Lions than to bear a Lion in his own bosome by offending his conscience God made the Kings heart yearn towards him c. So that this plain-dealing Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian Dan. 6.28 Vers 12. The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge That is knowing persons Those in the former verse that love truth in the inward parts and hold this a rule Truth must bee spoken however it bee taken these howsoever they may suffer for a season as Daniel in the den Micaiah in the stock-house yet the watchful providence of God will preserve them and provide for them Hee will clear their innocency and so plead for them in the hearts of greatest Princes that they shall find the truth of this divine Proverb and the falsity of that other so common amongst men Obsequium amicos veritas odium parit Flattery gets friends but truth hatred And hee overthroweth the words or matters of the transgressors That is of the Court-parasites who speak onely pleasing things saepe leonum laudibus murem obruunt flatter abominably as those Acts 12. did Herod as the false Prophets did Ahab God will confute and convince their soothing words 2 King 21.13 of singular vanity he will also overthrow their matters attempts practices as a man wipeth a dish turning it upside down See in that claw-back Amalekite 2 Sam. 1.4 5 6. c. in Ahitophel Haman Scianus c. Vers 13. The sloathful man saith There is a Lion c. The Lion is not so fiere as is painted saith the Spanish Proverb much less this sluggards Lion a meer fiction of his own brain to cover and colour over his idleness Hee pretends two Lions for failing first Leo est Foris There is a Lion abroad or in the field where his work lyes Psal 104.23 and another in the streets A likely matter Lions haunt not in streets but in Woods and Wildernesses Here is no talk of Satan that roaring Lion that lyes couchant in the sluggards bed with him and prompts him to these senseless excuses Not yet of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who will one day send out summons for sleepers and tearing the very caul of their hearts in sunder send them packing to their place in hell Matth. 10. But to hell never came any yet that had not some pretence for their coming thither The flesh never wants excuses Corrupt nature needs not bee taught to tell her own tale Sin and shifting came into the world together and as there is no wool so coarse but will take some colour so no sin so gross but admits of a defence Sin and Satan are alike in this they cannot abide to appear in their own likeness Some deal with their souls as others deal with their bodies when their beauty is decayed they desire to hide it from themselves by false glasses and from others by painting so their sins from themselves by false glosses and from others by idle excuses Vers 14. The mouth of a strange woman Diabolus capite blanditur venire oblectat caudâ ligat saith Rupertus These shee-sinners as their stallions call them are most dangerous See the Notes on Chap. 2.16 and 5.3 Solomon had the woful experience of it Eccles 7.26 and Sampson Judg. 16. who Lenam non potuit potuit superare leaenam Quem fera non potuit vincere vicit hera How did David moyl himself in this deep pit Psal 57. and there might have stuck in the mire had not God drawn him out by a merciful violenc and pureged him with hyssop from that abhorred filth Hee that in abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein As the Jesuits those odious Connubisanchfugae Commeretricitegae too often do though they boast that they can talk and dally with the fairest women without danger and the people must beleeve no otherwise but that when they are kissing a woman they are giving her good counsel David George that execrable Heretick was so far from accounting Adulteries Fornications Incests c. for being any sins Hist David Georgii that hee did recommend them to his most perfect Scholars as acts of grace and mortification and was confident that the whole world would submit to his doctrine Peccatum peccatum trabit as the Hebrew Proverb hath it One sin draws on another and the latter is oft a punishment of the former God by a peculiar kinde of revenge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delivering up such to a reprobate sense or a minde disallowed or abhorred of God as the Apostles word Rom. 1.28 signifies Vers 15. Foolishness is bound in the heart c. As a pack or fardle is bound to an horses back Errour and folly bee the knots of Satan wherewith hee tyes children to the stake to bee burnt in hell Better see their brains dashed out against the stones saith one than suffer the ignorance of God to abide in their heads Therefore that wee may loose the bands of death and works of the Devil Parents must bring their sons in their arms and their daughters upon their shoulders to the house of God that they may learn to know him Isa 49.22 They must also see to their profiting and exact of them a daily growth nurturing as well as nourishing them Eph. 6.4 the one being as needful as the other and using the rod where words will not do so to chase away that evil by chastisement seasoned with admonition and seconded with prayer that else will prove pernicious to their souls Eli brought up his sons to bring down his house Davids sons were undone by their Fathers fondness A fair hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee say makes a foul wound Correction is a kinde of cure saith Aristotle and God usually blesseth it to that purpose Corrections of instructions are the way of life Prov. 6.23 Vers 16. Hee that oppresseth the poor c. By fraud or force or any indirect means This man layes his foundation in fire-work Job 20. hee walks upon a Mine of Gun-powder brimstone is scattered upon his habitation Job 18.15 if but a flash of Gods lightning light upon it all will bee on fire all blown up and brought to nothing And hee that giveth to the rich Either to ingratiate and curry favour for countenancing their oppressive practices or with a mind to get more than they give for so saith one that clause To increase their riches must here
best children as being the fruit of their faith and the product of their prayers The Vulgar renders it Os vulva and Mercer Orificium matricis referring it not to barren but to incontinent women such as was Messala and other insariate punks quarum libido non expletur virili semine vel coitu The earth that is not filled with water That can never have enough at one time to serve at all times That is a strange earth or country that Pliny speaks of ub siccit as dat lutum imbres pulverem where drought makes dirt and rain causeth dust And yet so it is with us saith a Divine The plentiful showers of Gods blessings rained down upon us are answered with the dusty barrenness of our lives The sweet dews of Hermon have made the hill of Sion more barren Oh I how inexcusable shall we be c. And the fire that saith not It is enough Fire is known to be a great devourer turning all combustibles into the same nature with it self How many stately Cities hath this untamable element turned into ashes It is an excellent observation of Herodotus that the sparks and cinders of Troy are purposely set before the eyes of all men that they might be an example of this Rule That great sinnes bring great punishments from God upon the sonnes of men Scipio having set Carthage on fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and beholding the burning foresaw and bewailed the destiny of Rome which as it hath been often burnt already so it shall be shortly to purpose the Kings mariners and merchants standing aloof and beholding the smoke of her burning Rev. 17.16 and 18.8 9. God will cast this rod of his wrath into the fire burn this old whore that hath so long burnt the Saints for Hereticks and refused to be purged by any other nitre or means whatsoever therefore all her dross and trash shall pass the fire This is so plain a truth that even the Papists themselves subscribe to it Hear what Ribera a learned Jesuite saith Riâ— in loc Romaâ— non solum oâ— pristinam impietatem c. That Rome as well for its ancient impiety as for its late iniquity shall be destroyed with an horrible fire it is so plain and evident that he must needs be a fool that doth but go about to deny it Vers 17. The eye that mocketh at his Father As Ham did at Noah And despiseth to obey his mother or despiseth the wrinkles of his mother as some read it that looks upon her with disdain as an old withered fool The Ravens of the valley shall pick it out God takes notice of the offending member and appoints punishments for it Horat. pascere in cruce corvoâ— pro suspendi possuit Ep 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the Law such a childe was to be put to death and here is set down what kind of death hanging upon a tree which the Greeks also call a being cast to the crows or ravens Thus the Scripture is both Text and gloss one place opens another the Prophets explain the Law they unfold and draw out that Arras that was folded together before The ravens of the valleys or brooks are said to be most ravenous Corvi fluviatiles and the young Eagles or Vultures smell out carcases and the first thing they do to them is to pick out their eyes Effossos oculos voret atro guiture corvus Willâ—t on Levis They are cursed with a witness whom the holy Ghost thus curseth in such emphatical manner in such exquisite terms Let wicked children look to it and know that Vultu saepe laeditur pietas as the very Heathens observed that a proud or paltry look cast upon a parent is a breach of piety punishable with death yea with a shameful and ignominious death Let them also think of those infernal ravens and vultures c. Vers 18. There be three things which are too wonderful The wisest man that is cannot give a reason of all things as of the ebbing and flowing of the sea of the colours in the rain-bow of the strength of the nether chappe and of the heat in the stomack which consumeth all other things and yet not the parts about it Agur here confesseth himself gravelled in four things at least and benighted Vers 19. And the way of a man with a maid That is either with a close and chast virgin that is kept close from the access of strangers and goes covered with a veyl or else with a maid that though defloured yet would pass for a pure virgin and is so taken to be till her lewdness is discovered It is expresly noted of Rebecca to her commendation that though fair to look upon yet shee was a virgin neither had any man known her Gen. 24.16 there are that pass for virgins and yet it cannot be said of them that man never knew them The saurum cum virgo tuum vas fictile servet Vt fugias quae sunt noxia tuta time Vers 20. So is the way of an adulterous woman The strumpet when she hath eaten stolen bread hath such dexterity in wiping her lips that not the least crumme shall stick to them for discovery So that Agur here shews it to be as hard to find it out as the way of an Eagle in the air the way of a serpent on a rock c. Unless taken in the manner she stoutly denyes the action And if so taken yet nihil est audacins illis Juvenal Satyâ— 6. Deprensis iram atque animos a crimine sumunt Vers 21. For three things the earth is disquieted Such trouble-towns are odious creatures the places where they live long for a vomit to spâ—e them out As they live wickedly so they dye wishedly there is a good worlds-riddance of them as there was of Nabai and of those in Job 27.23 with 15. who were buried before half-dead being hissed and kickt off the stage of the world as Phocas was by Heraclius And for four which it cannot bear The very axle-tree of the world is even ready to crack under them the earth to open and swallow them up Vers 22. For a servant when he reigneth As Jeroboam Saul Zimri Herod Heliogabalus Phocas See the Note on chap. 19.10 Vespasian only of all the Emperours is said to have been better for his advancement For a fool when he is filled with meat When his belly is filled with Gods hid treasure Psal 17.14 when he prospers and hath what he will Prosperity is hard meat to fools Luxuriant animi rebus plerunque secundis Ovid. they cannot digest it They grow giddy as weak heads doe after a cup of generous wine and lay about them like mad-men the folly of these rich fools is foolishnesse with a witnesse Prov. 14.24 See the Note there 1 Sam. 1.6 Vers 23. For an odious woman when she is married Such an one was Peninnah who vexed good Hannah to make her to thunder as the Original hath
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
Away then with all such mock-stays See the fruit of creature-confidence Job 6.17 8.15 and know that no man trusts Christ at all that trusts him not alone Hee that stands with one foot on a rock and another foot on a quick-sand will sink and perish as certainly as hee that standeth with both feet on a quick-sand See Psal 6.2.2.5 6. I raised thee up under the Apple-tree c. Here the Bride answereth to the Bridegrooms question Who is this or What woman is this that cometh up from the Wilderness c that goes in a right line to God leaning on her Beloved that will not break the hedge of any commandment to avoid any peece of foul way I am shee saith the Church even the very same that raised thee up under the apple-tree c. viz. by mine earnest prayers When thou wast asleep under the apple-tree and I had straightly charged the Damosels of Jerusalem not to disquiet thee by their sins yet I took the boldness to arouse thee and say as Psal 44.23 Awake why sleepest thou O Lord arise cast us not off for ever and with those drowning Disciples Master earest thou not that wee perish Sometimes saith one God seems to lose his mercy and then wee must finde it for him as Isa 63.10 sometimes to sleep and then wee must waken him quicken him Psal 40.17 Isa 62.7 God will come but he will have his peoples prayers lead him Dan. 10.12 I come for thy Word Christ himself is the apple-tree here mentioned as Cant. 2.3 Though there are that interpret it of the Cross that tree whereon hee bare our sins in his own body 1 Pet. 2.24 Others better of the tree of offence the forbidden fruit Gen. 2. And that when Eve tasted of that fruit which they here-hence conclude to have been an apple though the word bee more general Nux enim pomum dicitur then as Christs mother shee brought him forth by believing the promise there made unto her that Messiah of her seed should break the Serpents head Look how the Virgin Mary conceived Christ when shee yielded her assent When the Angel spake to her what said shee presently Be it as thou hast said Let it bee even so shee yielded her assent to the promise that shee should conceive a son and shee did conceive him So Eve believed the promise of pardon and salvation shee saw it afar off was perswaded of it and embraced it Heb. 11.13 and is therefore said here to bear and bring forth Christ yea to travell of him with sorrow as the word signifies for as there is no other birth without pain so neither is the new birth Those that have passed through the narrow womb of repentance and been born again will say as much See Isa 26.17 If God brake Davids bones and the Angels back saith one hee will break thy heart too if ever hee save thee No sound heart ever went to heaven as in another sense none but sound could ever come thither Cor integrum cor scissum Rent your hearts c. Vers 6. Set mee as a seal upon thine heart i. e. Bee thou as a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God Heb. 2.17 with Exod. 28.21 29. Remember mee for good and make mention of mee to thy Father Have mee also in pretious esteem as great men have the signets upon their right hands and as whatsoever is sealed with a seal that is excellent in its own kinde as Isa 28.25 hordeum signatum excellent barly Christ wears his people as a signet or as great men wear their jewels to make him glorious in the eyes of men neither will hee bee plundered of them by the Churches enemies to touch them Zech. 2.8 is to touch the apple of his eye that tenderest piece of the tenderest part The Proverb is Oculus fama non patiuntur jocos The eye and the good name can bear with no jests As the Saints are in Christs heart ad commoriendum convivendum so they are also upon his arm so that if they do but come and say in any danger or difficulty Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord awake as in the ancient days c. Isa 51.9 hee will redeem his people with his arm Psal 77.15 yea with his out-stretcht arm Exod. 6.6 that is with might and open manifestation of his love hee will awake as one out of sleep and like a man that shouteth by reason of wine Psal 78.65 For love is strong as death And yet death is so strong that it passeth over all men Rom. 5.12 and devoureth them as sheep Psal 49.14 as a rot it over-runneth the whole flock having for its Motto Nulli cedo I yield to none Onely love is strong as death nay stronger Jonathan would have died for the love of David David of Absolom Arsinoe interposed her self between the Murtherers weapons sent by Ptolomy her brother to kill her children Priscilla and Aquila for St. Pauls life laid down their own necks Rom. 16.4 Paul was in deaths often for Jesus sake Those primitive Martyrs loved not their lives unto the death Rev. 12.11 Certatim gloriosa in certamina ruebatur saith Sulpitius they were prodigal of their dearest lives and even ambitious of Martyrdome that thereby they might seal up their entire love to the Lord Jesus If every hair of mine head were a man Act. Mon. fol. 1438. I would suffer death in the opinion and faith that I am now in said John Ardley Martyr to Bishop Bonner Ignis crux bestiarum conflictationes ossium distractiones c. Let mee suffer fire cross breaking of my bones quartering of my members crushing of my body and all the torments that men or devils can devise so I may enjoy my Lord Jesus Christ said holy Ignatius whose Motto was Amor meus crucifixus my love was crucified Love is it self a passion and delights to shew it self in suffering for the party beloved yea though it were to pass through a thousand deaths for his sake And this is here yielded as a reason why the Spouse first awakened Christ and now desires to bee so nearly knit unto him to bee set as a seal upon his hand yea upon his heart the love of Christ constrained her and lay so hard upon her that she could do no less than beg such a boon of him than covet such a courtesie as a compensation of her dearest love to him And surely to account Christ precious as a tree of life although wee bee fastned to him as to a stake to bee burned this is love and this our labour of love cannot be in vain in the Lord. Jealousie is cruel as the grave Or zeal is hard as hell This follows well upon the former Contra Adamant c. 13. for Non amat qui non zelâ—t saith Augustine Zeal is the extream heat of love and other affections for and toward any whom wee esteem burning in our love to him desire
so in an apish imitation did the heathens before their Idols Judg. 9.27 Ezek. 18.6 7. 1 Cor. 8.10 and of them these superstitious Jews had learned to do the like in the dayes of Ahaz and Manasseh who degenerated into his Grand-Father Ahaz as if there had been no intervention of an Hezekiah For that troop So the Prophet speaketh as pointing to their Idols whereof they had great store Gad here used and Menni rendered Number here likewise some interpret Fortune and Fate others Jupiter and Mercury The Septuagint for to that Number hath to the Devil Oecolampadius thinks the Prophet alludeth to the Pythagorean numbers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and especially to the number of four which they superstitiously observed Others say the Jews symbolized with the Heathens in drinking to their Idols by number to such an Idol they would drink so many cups and that was called a Drink-offering to that Number Hence Antiphanes in Athenaeus saith Lib. 10. Adusque tria pocula venerandos esse deos Ver. 12. Therefore I will number you to the sword Est elegans Paronomasia I will give you up to the sword by number and tale to the end that none of you may escape God usually retaliateth and proportioneth number to number so choice to choice chap. 66.3 4. jealousy to jealousy provocation to provocation Deut. 32.21 device to device Mic. 2.1 3. frowardness to frowadrness Psal 18.26 And ye shall all bow down to the slaughter As you used to bow down to your Idols Because when I called ye did not answer See on Prov. 1.24 But did evil before mine eyes Did evil things as you could Jer. 3.5 with both hands earnestly Mic. 7.3 Ver. 13. Behold my servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry Lepidas antitheses ponit You have spent your meat and drink upon Idols therefore ye shall fast another while yea you shall feed upon the fierce wrath of God in hell and drink deep of that cup of his that hath eternity to the bottom But ye shall be ashamed Your hopes and hearts failing you together ye shall pine away in your iniquities Ezek. 24.23 Ver. 14. Behold my servants shall sing In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare or a cord to strangle his joys with but the righteous doth sing and rejoyce Prov. 29.6 See the Note there And shall howl When ye come to Hell especially where is wailing and yelling and gnashing of teeth Ver. 15. And ye shall leave your name for a curse So that when mine Elect shal denounce my curse against any one they shall say God make thee such another as was such a cursed caytiff See Jer. 24.9 29.22 34.9 See Zach. 8.13 with the Note Judaeus sim si fallo say the Turks at this day As hard-hearted and unhappy as a Jew say we And call his servants by another name Jews inwardly Israelites indeed Christians a chosen Generation a royal Priest-hood an holy Nation a peculiar People 1 Pet. 2.9 The wicked when they dye go out in a snuff leave a stench behind them as they say the Devil doth when he goeth out of a room but when the Saints depart they leave a sweet smell behind them as those lamps do that are fed with aromatical oyle Yea it is more then probable that in the next world we shall look upon Bradford and such with thoughts of extraordinary love and sweetness through all eternity as Bonner and such with execration and everlasting detestation Ver. 16. That he who blesseth himself in the earth c. Or that blesseth either himself or any other Shall bless himself in the God of truth Heb. shall bless in the God of Amen that is say some in Christ who is Amen the faithful and true witness Rev. 3.14 in whom all the Promises are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 and who was wont often to say Amen Amen Others render it thus Benedicat sibi per Deum firmi shall bless himself by the God of the firm or faithful people founded and rooted in God so as that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against them Shall swear by the God of truth Or by the God of the firm and faithful people as before Because the former troubles are forgotten Rememberd no otherwise then as waters that are past See Zach. 10.6 with the Note Ver. 17. For behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth I am making of a new world that is Gospel-times called a new Creation 2 Cor. 5.17 and the world to come Heb. 2.5 Heaven aforehand Matth. 3.2 The consummation hereof we are to expect at the last day 2 Pet. 3.13 Rev. 21.1 5. when the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind because the Lord who made Heaven and Earth shall bless his people out of Zion Psal 134.3 Ver. 18. But be glad and rejoyce for ever what can ye be less then everlastingly merry when you consider your Gospel-priviledges which are such as may well swallow up all discontents and make you more then Conquerours and that is Triumphers For behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing Creo talem Jerusalem ut sit ei nomen Tripudium populus ejus vocetur Gaudium Oecol Hence it appeareth that these things are not to be taken according to the letter but of Jerusalem which is above that mother of us all Ver. 19. And I will rejoyce in Jerusalem Well may Jerusalem then rejoyce in in God who as in all her afflictions he is afflicted so he taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his people And the voice of weeping See chap. 35.11 51.12 Rev. 21.4 Ver. 20. There shall be no more thence an infant of dayes This verse as some others had been easie had not Commentatours made it so knotty There shall be no more thence that is from Jerusalem ver 19. an infant of dayes or a childe for dayes viz. that shall so dye by an untimely death for longevity is the blessing here promised Nor an old man that hath not filled his daies That hath not lived his utmost satur dierum as Abraham For the child shall dye an hundred years old i. e. He that is now a childe shall live till he be so many year old Note this against those that otherwise understand the words and have therehence fished out many frivolous crotchets too long here to be related Hinc proverb Puer centum annorum But the sinner being an hundred year old shall be accursed And the more accursed because so long-lived and yet dyeth in his sin going down to the grave with his bones full of the sins of his youth See Eccles 8.12 13. with the Notes Ver. 21. And they shall build houses and inhabit them The contrary whereunto is threatned against the wicked Deut. 28.30 c. Gods people are freed from the curse of the Law from the hurt if not from the smart of afflictions Ver. 22. They shall not build and another inhabit They shall not provide
a potent enemy that comes to dethrone thee then a ceiling of Cedar What if thy Cedar putrify not can it secure thee that thou perish not Ah never think it Did not thy father eate and drink Live chearfully and comfortably enjoying peace and prosperity through his righteousnesse and piety And then it was well with him Heb. then was good to him though he did not flaunt it out in sumptuous buildings But you have great thoughts and will not take it as your father did Ver. 16. He judged the cause of the poor and needy And so took a right course a thriving way Prov. 29.4 Was not this to know me saith the Lord i. e. To shew that he knew me soundly and savingly whilest he exercised his general calling in his particular and observed the first Table of the Decalogue in the second Ver. 17. But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousnesse That 's all thou mindest and lookest after oculis atque animo intentus ad rem Hearts they have saith Peter of such exercised with covetous practices cursed children 2 Pet. 2.14 William Rufus is in story noted for such another Ver. 18. They shall not lament for him By his exactions he had so far lost his peoples affections that none were found either of his Allyes or others that bewailed his death but Jehorâ—m-like as he had lived undesired so he dyed unlamented Edwin-like Daniel Hist Turk Hist as he lived wickedly so he dyed wishedly Mahomet-like he lived feared of all men and dyed bewailed of none See the contrary promised to his brother Zedekiah for his curtesie to Jeremy chap. 34.5 Ver. 19. He shall be buried with the burial of an asse His corps shall be cast out like carryon into some by-corner A just hand of God upon this wicked one that he who had made so many to weep should have none to weep over him he who had such a stately house in Jerusalem should not have a grave to house his carcasse in sed insepulta sepultura elatus Philippic 1. as Tully phraseth it but without the ordinary honour of burial should be cast out or thrown into a ditch or a dunghil to be devoured by the beasts of the earth and fouls of heaven Our Richard the second for his exactions to maintain a great Court and Favourites lost his Kingdome was starved to death at Pomfret-Castle and scarce afforded common burial King Stephen was enterred in Feversham-Monastery but since his body for the gain of the lead wherein it was coffined was cast into the River Let great ones so live as that they meet not in the end with the death of a dog the burial of an asse and the Epitaph of an Ox such as Aristotle calleth that of Sardanapalus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Or that of Pope Alexander the sixth and his Lucrece Hospes abi jacet hic scelus vitium Ver. 20. Go up to Lebanon and cry Johoiakim hath had his doom and his destiny read him Sub icit fata tristissima Jechonia followeth now Jehoiakims part and what for his obstinacy he shall trust to The Prophet beginneth this part of his discourse with a sarcasmae or scoffe at their carnal security and creature confidence Get up saith he into those high mountaines here mentioned Lebanon Bashan Abarim that look all toward Egypt and see if thence by crying and calling for help thou mayst be saved from the Chaldees who are coming upon thee but all shall be to small purpose But thy lovers are all destroyed The Egyptians to whom thou bearest a blind affection contrary to Gods Covenant Ver. 21. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity Heb. in thy prosperities or tranquillities Prosperity rendreth men refractory Demetrius called a peaceable and prosperous life a dead sea because being not tossed with any considerable troubles it slayeth the simple as Solomon hath it Prov. 1.32 Men are usually best when worst and worst when best like the snake which when frozen lyeth quiet and still but waxing warm stirreth and stingeth The parable of the sun and the wind is known Anglica gens est optimae fleus pessima ridens Some of those who in Queen Maries dayes kept their garments close about them wore them afterwards more loosly It is as hard to bear prosperity as to drink much wine and not be giddy It is at least as strong waters to a weak stomack which however they do not intoxicate yet they weaken the brain plus deceptionis semper habet quam delectationis able it is to entice and ready to kill the intangled In rest we contract rust neither are mens eares opened to hear instruction but by correction Job 33.16 God holdeth us to hard meat that he may be true to our souls Psal 119.75 This hath been thy manner from thy youth Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked is an old complaint Deut. 32.15 To have been an old sinner habituated and hardened in iniquity is no small aggravation of it Ezek. 20 13. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wildernesse c. there they murmured against God and Moses ten times forty years was he there grieved with that perverse generation They began as soon as ever they were moulded into a state like as Esau began to persecute Jacob in the very womb that no time might be lost Ver. 22. The wind shall eat all thy Pastors i. e. Vento vanitatis ut chamaleontes aere pascuntur The vain hope that thy Governours have in forreign helps shall deceive them for God will make the strongest sinew in the arm of flesh to crack and break Surely then shalt thou be ashamed When thou shalt see thy self so shamefully disappointed of humane helps which were never true to those that trusted them Ver. 23. O inhabitant of Lebanon Heb. O inhahitresse that is O Jerusalem who hast peirked thy self aloft and pridest thy self in thy strength and stateliness How gratious shalt thou be i. e. How ridiculous when thy lofty and stately roomes wherein thou art roosted shall be to thee but as groaning rooms to women in travel Ver. 24. At I live saith the Lord An oath which none may lawfully take but God himself who is Life it self It is therefore sinful for any one to say Aâ— I live such a thing is so or so That it is Gods oath see Num. 14.21 with Psal 95. ult Though Coniah So Jechoniah or Jehoiakin by an Apheresis is called in scorn and contempt Prepared he was of the Lord as his name signifieth for misery and yet he was now but eighten years old 2 King 24.8 Youth excuseth not those that are wicked This young King was scarce warm in his throne when carryed captive to Babylon Were the signet on my right hand Which is very carefully kept and carryed about See Cant. 8.6 Hag. 2.23 where good Zorobabel the nephew of this Jechoniah is called Gods signet Yet would I pluck thee thence This Nazianzen
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
Hos 4.13 Neither hath lift up his eyes to the idols As every Papist doth daily and is therefore no righteous person such as is here described Neither helpeth it that they are the idols of the house of Israel and not the idols of the Nations Neither hath come near to a menstruous woman Though his own wife Levit. 18.19 20.18 Adulter enim est uxoris propriae ardentior amator said an Heathen There is a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing Eccles 3.5 Ver. 7. And hath not oppressed any Either by force or fraud Hath given his bread to the hungry Negative goodnesse alone is little worth Men must not only not rob the hospital as we say spoil the poor by violence but draw forth their souls and their sheaves both to the hungry and cloth the naked with a garment or they cannot have the comfort and credit of just men Ver. 8. He that hath not given forth upon usury Of this sin see what I have said elsewhere Exod. 22.25 Psal 15.5 Neh. 5.10 Nihil interest inter funus funus nihil inter mortem distat sortem Ambros Neither hath taken any increase Interest we call it now after the French who first helped us to that fine word But let the Patrones of usury consider that what distinctions soever they bring for it God alloweth here of no usury but condemneth both Neshec the biting and Tarbith the toothlesse usury as equally naught That hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity Whether it be injury to another revenge raking together riches of unrighteousnesse reaching after honours c. Hath executed true judgement Without partiality or passion whether he be a Judge or an Arbitrator Ver. 9. Hath walked in my statutes Quilâ—ges juraque servat It is as if the Prophet had said There are many more characters of a righteous man but I shall shut up all with this He that is right in his obedience for matter manner motive and end he 's the man I meane he shall suerly live Effractor Ver. 10. If he beget a son As he may for grace is not hereditarty Heroum filii noxae That is a robber A breach-maker whether upon the Laws of God or of men one that is a postilent son as the Sept. here have it a plague to his Parents and to his Country And that doth the like to any one of these things Or that doth to his brother besides any of these as there are mille artes nocendi Ver. 11. And that doth not any of these duties Bare omissions may undo a man Not robbing only but the not relieving of the poor was the rich mans ruine Ver. 12. Hath committed abomination Such is every of the sins here instanced whatsoever some can say in defence of them Hath given forth upon usury and all Ver. 13. He hath done all these abominations Or if he have done but one of them and undo it not again by true repentance He shall surely dye Neither shall his fathers righteousnesse priviledge him or prevail at all for him His blood shall be upon him He is felo de se his own deaths man and his mends he hath in his own hands as they say Ver. 14. Now loe if he beget a son that seeth And withal sigheth his eye affecting his heart with grief and dislike And considereth Viz. Of the ill consequents of those courses cavet pavet Ver. 15. That hath not eaten See on ver 6. Ver. 16. See on ver 7. Ver. 17. See on ver 8 9. Ver. 18. Spoiled his brother by violence A man had as good deal with a Cossack or a Cannibal as with a truly covetous caytiffe They hunt every man his brother with a net Mic. 7.2 And did that which is not good among his people It should be every mans care to be some way serviceable to God and profitable to Men. Let no man turn himself into a cipher nay into an excrement that lives in the world to no purpose yea to bad purpose Oh its good to do something whereby the world may be the better and not to come hither meerly as rats and mice only to devour victuals and to run squeaking up and down Ver. 19. Yet say ye Why doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father Thus these unreasonable refractaries will not be said but continue chatting against God quasi dicant certè tu non potes negare c. Some are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Piscat 2 Thes 3.2 they have no Topicks there 's no talking to them they will not be set down with right reason When the son hath done that is lawful and right What a meek sweet and satisfactory answer doth God make to these importunate complainers against him Here we have their Replication and his Duplication as ver 25. we have their Triplication and His Quadruplication Oh the infinete Patience of our good God! Ver. 20. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father The innocent son shall not unlesse it be in temporals only and that in some cases Turk Hist Deut. 24.16 2 Kings 14.6 2 Chron. 15.4 It was the cruel manner of Vladus Prince of Valachia together with the offender to execute the whole family Act. Mon. yea sometimes the whole kindred A like cruelty was used in Scotland by the Popes appointment upon the kindred of those that had slain David Beton in revenge of the death of that butcherly Bishop Lavater telleth us here out of the Annals of the Suitzers his Country-men Lav. in Loc. that when Albertus the son of Rodolphus Caesar was slain by his nephew John Habsparg and some other Nobles his children Duke Leopold and Agnes Queen of Hungary put to death not the murtherers only but their children and kinsfolk also not a few and utterly overturned diverse strong-holds in Suisser-land But this was not the way of God nor did it prosper in their hand Cruelty calleth aloud for vengeance The righteousnesse i. e. It shall be well with the righteous and woe with the wicked Isa 3.10 11. Ver. 21. But if the wicked will turn c. That is saith Theodoret so far am I from punishing one for the sins of another that I am ready to receive a returning sinner how far or how fast soever he hath run out And keep all my statutes For the best and rightest repentance is a new life saith Luther Ver. 22. All his transgressions So true is that of an Ancient Quem poenitet peccasse poenè est innocens Penitence is near as good as innocence Piscat In his righteousnesse Or for his righteousnesse tanquam ob causum sine quae non ob promissionem Dei not of merit but mercy and free grace Ver. 23. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should dye No verily for then he should do nothing but do and undo make a world and unmake it again sith we provoke him continually but he
shall come with a Writ of Habeas corpus and the Devil with a Writ of Habeas animam when the cold grave shall have their bodies and hot hell hold their souls O that they that have their hands elbow deep in the earth that are rooting and digging in it as if they would that way dig themselves a new and a nearer way to hell O that these greedy moles these insatiate muck-worms would be warned to flye from the wrath to come to take heed of hell beneath and not sell their souls to the Devil for a little pelf as they say Pope Silvester did for seven years enjoyment of the Popedome Oh that they would meditate every day a quarter of an hour as Francis Xaverius counselled John 3. King of Portugal on that divine sentence What shall it profit a man to win the whole world and lose his own soul Hee should bee a loser by the sale of his soul hee should bee that which hee so much feared to bee a beggar begging in vain though but for a drop of cold water to cool his tongue Vers 25. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud Where hee thinks himself most safe God will pull him as it were by the ears out of his Tabernacle hee will surely unroost him unnest him yea though hee hath set his nest among the stars as hee did proud Lucifer who kept not his first estate but left his habitation Jude 6. which indeed hee could hold no longer for it spued him out into hell that Infernus ab inferendo dictus See the Note on Chap. 12.7 14.11 But hee will establish the border of the widow Not the rest of her goods onely but the very utmost borders of her small possession Shee hath commonly no great matters to bee proud of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor any Patrons to stick to her and stickle for her Shee hath her name in Hebrew of Dumbness because either shee cannot speak for her self death having cut off her head her husband who was wont to speak for her or if shee do speak her tale cannot bee heard Luke 18.4 God therefore will speak for her in the hearts of her greatest opposites and oppressours Hee also will do for her and defend her borders as hee did for the Shunamite and for the Sareptan and for the poor Prophets widow whose debts hee paid for her and for the widow of Naim whose son hee raised unrequested Luke 7.13 Especially if shee bee a widow indeed 1 Tim. 5. such as Anna was Luke 2. A vine whose root is uncovered thrives not a widow whose covering of eyes is taken away joyes not But in God the fatherless findeth mercy Hos 14.3 and hee will cause the widows heart to sing for joy Job 29.13 Vers 26. The thoughts of the wicked are abomination Let him not think to think at liberty Thought is not free as some fools would have it To such God saith Hearken O earth Behold I bring evil upon this people even the fruit of their thoughts Jer. 6.19 The very Heathen could say Fecit quisque quantum voluit what evil a man wills hee doth And Incesta est sine stupro quae stuprum cupit Hee that lusteth after a woman hath lain with her in his heart If I regard iniquity in mine heart saith David shall not God finde this out and for it reject my prayer Psal 66.18 Kimchi being sowred with Pharisaical leven makes this strange sense of that Text If I regard iniquity onely in my heart so that it break not forth into outward act the Lord will not hear mee that is hee will not hear so as to impute it or account it a sin But was not this coedem Scripturaerum facere as Tertullian hath it to murder the Scripture or at least to set it on the rack so to make it speak what it never intended to force it to go two miles when it would go but one But the words of the pure are pleasant words Such as God books up Mal. 3.16 and makes hard shift to hear as I may so say for hee hearkens and hears ibid. The rather because these pleasant words are the fruits and products of that law of grace within that good treasure that habit of heavenly mindedness they have acquired For though the heart of the wicked bee little worth and as little set by Yet the tongue of the just is as choice silver Prov. 10.20 See the Note there Hee mints his words and God layes them up as his riches yea looks upon them as apples of gold in pictures of silver Prov. 25.11 as gold put in a case of cut-work of silver which is no less precious than pleasant See Eccles 12.10 with the Note there Vers 47. Hee that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house Fires his own nest while hee thinks to feather it fingers that that will burn in his purse will prove lucrum in arca damnum in conscientia gain to his purse Augustin but loss to his conscience Adde hereunto that the covetous mans house is continually on a tumult of haste and hurry Up up up saith hee to bed to bed quick at meat quick at work c. what with labour and what with passion and contention hee and his houshold never live at hearts-ease and rest Thus it was in the houses of Laban and Nabal But hee that hateth gifts shall live Viz. Gifts given to pervert or buy justice The fire of God shall devour the Tabernacles of such corrupt Judges Job 15. So for those that are bribed out of their Religion Joh. Egnat Gelli dâ—al 5. Stratagema nunc est Pontificium ditare multos ut pii esse desinant The Papists propose rewards to such as shall relinquish the Protestant Religion and turn to them as in Ausburgh where they say there is a known price for it of ten Florens a year In France where the Clergy have made contributions for the maintenance of Renegado Ministers Thus they tempted Luther Specul Europ Hem. Germana ills bestia non curat aurum but hee would not bee hired to go to hell and thus they tempted that noble Marquess of Vicum Nephew to Pope Paul the fifth who left all for Christ and fled to Geneva but hee cryed out Let their money perish with them that prefer all the worlds wealth before one dayes communion with Jesus Christ and his despised people Vers 28. The heart of the righteous studieth to answer His tongue runs not before his wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but hee weighs his words before hee utters them as carrying a pair of ballance betwixt his lips and dips his words in his minde ere men see what colour they are of as Plutarch saith Phocion did Hee hath his heart not at his mouth but at his right hand saith Solomon to make use of when hee sees his time Melancthon when some hard question was proposed to him would take three dayes deliberation to answer it