Sun whom he worshipped as his God The King of Bohemia when beaten out of Prague was encouraged by some great Commanders about him that he had many Princes his friends and allyes that would readily assist him to which he made no answer but wrot the word Deus in great letters But some thought he meant Denmark in D England in E Hungary in U and the Swedes in S. God knows what his meaning was but he will make all the Churches to know that he searcheth the hearts and reines and that he will kill with death all such as had rather seem to be good then seek to be so If Jeremy had been one of those he durst never have said Ver. 3. But thou Lord knowest me c. q. d. I can safely appeal unto thee and take thee for a witnesse of mine innocency and integrity that I have thee not in my mouth only as they but in my heart also which is wholly devoted to thy fear ut sit tecum hanging toward thee and â—ankering after thee continually Trem. Pull them out as sheep Punish some of them presently for an example of thy Providence and reserve others of them till hereafter for an instance of thy Patience See chap. 11.20 Prepare them Heb. Sanctifie them as Isa 13.3 chap. 6.4 Fatted ware is but fitted for the shambles Ver. 4. How long shall the land mourn For the sake of those wicked wretches aforementioned The beasts are consumed and the birds See chap. 4.25 26. Because they said He shall not see our last end God shall not and so they deny his providence and prescience Or the Prophet shall not though now he thunder out our punishment with so great vehemence Confer chap. 11 23. Ver. 5. If thou hast run with the footmen Here God returneth an answer to the Prophets foregoing complaint saith the Chaldee partly checking him for his discontentednesse and partly exciting him to an humble submission and a well knit resolution Then how wilt thou contend with horses If thy countrymen of Anathoth over-match and overmaster thee how wilt thou deal with those of Hierusalem who are a fair deale worse And if in a land of peace These are proverbial speeches both to one purpose Ferre minor a velis ut graviora feras How would'st thou endure wounds for Christ that canst not endure words saith one and how wilt thou fry a faggot that startlest at a reproach for the truth Whilest William Cobberly Martyr was in durance his wife also called Alice being apprehended was in the Keepers house the same time detained where the keepers wife had secretly heated a key fire-hot and laid it in the grasse on the back-side so speaking to Alice Cobberly to fetch her the key in all haste Act. Mon. fol. 1719. she went with speed to bring the key and taking it up in haste did piteously burn her hand whereupon she cryed out Ah thou drabbe quoth the other thou that canst not abide the burning of thy hand how wilt thou be able to abide the burning of thy whole body And so she afterward revoked Ver. 6. For even thy brethren Let this comfort us in like case Abel and John Diazius were butchered by their own unnatural brethren Paul suffered most of all from his own country-men Yea they have called a multitude after thee Or with full mouth Clamant post te pleno gutture as those did against Christ who cryed crucifie him crucifie him and those against Paul Away with such a fellow from the earth and those against the Primitive Christians Christianos ad leones to the Lyons with them In Rhodanum in Rhodanum cryed many at Geneva against Farellus their faithful Preacher into the River with him but God preserved him from their fury for the good of many other Cities after that converted by him Believe them not though they speak fair words to thee Fair words make fools fain we say but be not light of belief the worlds naught Mel in ore verba lactis Fel in corde fraus in factis Ver. 7. I have forsaken my house A mans house is dear to him dearer his heritage dearest his well-beloved wife Jerusalem had been all this to God but now for sin abandoned by him I have given the dearly beloved of my soul Or my dearly beloved my soul i. e. My self my second-self Heb. the love of my soul Gr. and Vulg. My beloved soul God is jealous and the Lord revengeth Nah. 1.2 Ver. 8. Mine heritage is unto me as a Lyon in the forrest Roaring against me and revelling in the ruine of my messengers Vbi affectus augetur in Antithesi verborum Haereditas mea contra me Sheep they were wont to be now they are become Lyons Ver. 9. Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird As an owle say some that soveth not the light as a Peacock say others proud and inconstant all in changeable colours as oft changed as moved God that could not endure Miscellane seed nor linsy-woolsy in Israel can lesse endure that his people should be as a speckled bird here of one colour and there of another or as a cake not turned Hos 6.4 c. Ver. 10. Many Pastours have destroyed my vine-yard Those who before were called Beast ver 9. are here called Pastours viz. Nebuchadnezzars Captains See chap. 6.3 Ver. 11. Because no man layeth it to heart Heb. there is not a man putting it upon heart that is duely and deeply affected with my menaces so as to take a timely course for prevention and their own preservation Ver. 12. For the sword of the Lord i. e. Of the enemy set on by the Lord for whencesoever the sword cometh it is bathed in heaven Isa 34.5 See Ezek. 14.17 Ver. 13. They have sown wheat The Prophets have say some but to no profit Vatab. They shall put themselves to pain Or they are sick sc for the affliction of Joseph as Am. 6 6. See the Note there Others interpret it of the Jews who sought to help themselves by this means that but lost their labours and their hopes together Because of the fierce anger of the Lord Quo laeso nihil est illaesum tutum fidum hominibus Ver. 14. Thus saith the Lord against all mine evil neighbours These were the Syrians Moabites Ammonites Edomites c. God also hath his evil neighbours and this may be a comfort to us in like case Behold I will pluck them out c. And pluck out the house of Judah This was a different plucking Ver. 15. After that I have plucked them out sc In both senses ver 14. I will return In the midst of judgement I will remember mercy And bring again every man to his heritage To the Church for in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousnesse shall be accepted with him and have a childs part even the reward of inheritance Ver. 16. If they will diligently learn Heb. learning learn the wayes of my people chalked
Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 See the Notes on chap. 4.14 6.11 Neither can she be long kept under by any pressure of persecution or heavy affliction Premi potest opprimi non potest As Paul when stoned started up with Sic petitur coelum Sic Sic oportet intrare Tyrants might curse the Saints as hee did that cryed out to those ancient Confessours O miseri num vobis desunt restes rupes O wretches cannot you hang or drown your selves but that I must bee thus troubled with you to put you to death but crush them they never could The valour of the patients the savageness of the persecutors have striven together till both exceeding nature and belief bred wonder and astonishment in beholders and readers Hence Trajan forbade Pliny to seek after Christians But if any were brought to him to punish them Antoninus Pius set forth an Edict in Asia that no Christian should bee persecuted For said hee it is their joy to dye they are conquerours and do overcome you c. Trucidabantur multiplicabantur saith Augustine of the ancient Martyrs they were Martyred and yet they were multiplied Plures efficimur quoties metimur saith Tertullian the more we are cropt the more we are increased as the Lilly is increased by its own juyce that flows from it Plin. Hence Rev. 7.9 the Saints that by their victorious faith overcame the world are brought in with palm-branches in their hands in token of victory Plutarch tells us that the Babylonians made three hundred and sixty commodities of the palm-tree and did therefore very highly honour it The world hath a great deal of benefit by the Church could they but see it For Absque stationibus non staret mandus were it not for the Saints a short work would the Lord make upon the earth and cut it short in righteousness Rom. 9.28 And great is the gain of godliness even an hundred fold here and life eternal hereafter Who would not then turn spiritual merchant who would not pass from strength to strength and flourish in Gods house like a palm-tree Psal 29.12 till hee attain to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4.13 And thy breasts to clusters of grapes Not well-fashioned onely as Ezek. 16.7 but full-strutting with milk yea with wine plenty and dainty to lay hunger and slake thirst to nourish and cherish her children even as the Lord doth the Church Eph. 5.29 See the Note on chap. 4.5 Vers 8. I said I will go up to the palm-tree c. I said it and I will do it for Christi dicere est facere together with Christs word there goes forth a power as it did Luk. 5.17 David said hee would confess his sins and take heed to his waies Psal 32.5 39.1 and accordingly hee did it Shall Christ purpose and promise mercy to his people and not perform it Is hee yea and nay 2 Cor. 1.19 can hee say and unsay doth not the constant experience of all ages fully confute any such fond conceit of him The Saints will not lye Isa 63.8 Christ cannot Tit. 1.2 Hee will not suffer his faithfulness to fail nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 89.33 All his sayings are the issue of a most faithful and right will void of all insincerity and falshood Now when Christ promiseth to climb his palm-tree and to take hold of the boughes thereof hee meaneth that hee will dwell most familiarly with his Church even in the branches thereof pruning and trimming it and accepting the fruits of his Spirit in his Spouse Or thus Hee will so joyn himself unto his Church as hee may cause her to bee fruitful hee will lay hold on her boughes which are very fit and apt to climb so covertly and elegantly noting the work of spiritual generation The effect follows Now also thy breasts shall bee as clusters of the vine Whatsoever they have been heretofore now at this time and for ever hereafter they shall be delightful to mee and nourishable to thy children who shall suck and be satisfied Isa 66.11 Albeit some Interpreters of good note conceive that all this is nothing else but a figurative description of Christs perfect conjunction with his Church in the Kingdom of heaven and of the unspeakable pleasure which Christ will take in her for ever And the smell of thy nose like apples i. e. The breath that comes out of thy nostrils is sweet as spice-apples The breath that the Church draweth into her lungs and sends out again is the spirit of grace without which shee can as little live as wee can without ayr This sweet Spirit is the joy of her heart and the breath of her nostrils and thereby shee draws many into her company If that bee true that one here noteth that the fruit of the palm partaketh of the nature both of the grape having a sweet and pleasant juyce and of the apple for pleasant meat it may well signifie that the Word of God is both meat and drink to the soul Vers 9. And the roof of thy mouth like the best vine Her word and doctrine for the palate is an instrument of speech often before commended by Christ Instrumenta novem c. and here again like as shee comes over it in him the second time chap. 3.13.16 See the Note there This hee resembleth to the best and most generous wine Such the Word of Gods grace is to those that have Spiritual palates that do not carry fel in aure their galles in their ears as some creatures are said to do that have their ears healed as Demosthenes said of his Athenians and their inward senses habitually exercised to discern good and evill The doctrine of the Church seems to some bitter and grievous it goeth down like the waters of Marah Pausanias Aristot or that water that caused the curse in case of jealousie Numb 5. It becomes a savour of death unto him as the viper is killed with palm-branches and vultures with oyl of roses But this is meerly their own fault For doth not my Word do good to them that are good saith the Lord Micah 2.6 Excellently St. Austin Adversarius est nobis quamdin sumus ipsi nobis quamdiu tu tibi inimicus es inimicum habebis sermonem Dei Gods Word is an enemy to none but to such as are enemies to themselves and sinners against their own souls This holy word in the mouths of Gods Ministers is like Moses his rod which while held in his hand flourished and brought forth almonds but being cast to the ground it became a serpent The application is easie See the Note on chap. 1.2 For my Beloved These are Christs words but hee speaks as if the Church spake to shew her great affection that had dedicated all her good things to him Some read it thus which goeth straight to my
will not hearken unto them See Prov. 1.28 Zech. 7.13 with the Notes Ver. 12. Then shall the Cities of Judah go and cry unto the Gods Or Let them go and cry unto them q. d. Let them for me This is one of those bitter answers that God giveth to wicked suitors Ezek. 14. See Judg. 10.14 Or if he give them better at any time it is in wrath and for a mischief to them Ver. 13. For according to the number of thy Cities See chap. 2.28 And according to the number of thy streets See Ezek. 16.31 Ver. 14. Therefore pray not thou for this people See on chap. 7.16 When they cry unto me for their trouble It is not the cry of the spirit for grace but of the flesh only for ease it is but the fruit of sinful self-love In thee indeed it proceedeth from a better principle but I am at a point Ver. 15. What hath my beloved to do in mine house i. e. Mine once-beloved people which had the liberty of mine house and was welcome thither Vatab. but is now discarded and discovenanted as if an husband should say to his adulterous wife What maketh this strumpet in my bed sith she hath so many paramouts And the holy flesh The sacrifices sanctified by the Altar Is passed from thee Shall be wholly taken away from you together with the Temple When thou doest evil then thou rejoycest Thou revellest in thine impurities and sensualities as dreading no danger but slighting all admonition Ver. 16. The Lord called thy name a green Olive-tree Green all the year long fair and fruitful this was thy prosperous and flourishing condition but now thy best dayes are over For With the noise of a great tumult Barritu militari such as souldiers make when they storm a City Ver. 17. For the evil of the house of Israel That evil by a specialty that land-desolating sin of Idolatry Ver. 18. And the Lord hath given me knowledge of it i. e. Of the treacherous plot of my country-men of Anathoth against me who should never have dreamt of any such danger Dius pro suis excubat Ver. 19. But I was like a lamb or an Ox Harmlesse and blamelesse busied in my function and not in the least suspecting any such evil designe against me Mâ—t. 10. I send you forth as lambs amongst wolves saith Christ who himself being the Lamb of God was slain from the beginning of the world his servants also are slain all the day long and counted as sheep to the slaughter Rom. 8. Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof Let us poison his food so the Chaldee senseth it Ponamus lignum taxi in sorbitiunculam Others let us destroy the Prophet and his prophecyes together Others let us make an end of him either by sword or by famine as the punishment threatned ver 22. pointeth us to That his name may be no more remembred Sic veritas odium peperit So the Papists have given order that wheresoever Calvins name is found it shall be blotted out and by a most malicious Anagram they have turned Calvin into Lucian One of them lately took a long journey to Rome only to have his name changed from Calvin to some other and that out of devilish hatred of that most learned and holy man Ipsa à quo virtus virtutem discere posset Ver. 20. But O Lord of hosts Thou who art potentissimus liberrimus a most powerful and free Agent That tryest the reines and the heart And so knowest with what mind I make this complaint and request Let me see thy vengeance upon them A prophetical imprecation guided by Gods Spirit and not lightly to be imitated So the Church prayed against Julian the Apostate whom they knew to be a desperate enemy and to have committed that sin unto death So perhaps had these men of Anathoth Ver. 21. Of the men of Anathoth that seek thy life Where shall a man find worse friends then at home A Prophet is nowhere so little set by as in his own countrey Epist famil lib. 7. ep 6. Mat. 13.57 Probatissimus optimus quisque peregrè vivit saith Ennius in Tully Saying Prophecy not in the Name of the Lord A desperate speech proceeding from an height of hatred and coasting upon the unpardonable sin Ver. 22. Behold I will punish them Sic tandem bona causa triumphat The visible vengeance of God followeth close at the heels the persecutors of his faithful messengers Ver. 23. And there shall be no remnant Behold the severity of God their bloody design was to destroy Jeremies stock and fruit stalk and grain together ver 19. God meteth unto them the self-same measure leaveth them not a remnant This is not ordinary justice chap. 4.27 Isa 1. and 10. A remnant shall be left saith he here not so Let Rome that shambles of the Saints and Prophets especially look to it God is now coming to make inquisition for blood c. CHAP. XII Ver. 1. RIghteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee Or though I should contend with thee Est elegans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This the Prophet fitly premiseth to the ensuing disceptation that he might not be mistaken Thy judgements saith he are sometimes secret alwayes just this I am well assured of though I thus argue Yet let me talk with thee of thy judgements Let me take the humble boldnesse so to do that I may be further cleared and instructed by thee Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper Viz. Whil'st better men suffer as now the wicked Anathothites do whil'st I go in danger of my life by them This is that noble question which hath exercised the wits and molested the minds of many wise men both within and without the Church See Job 21.7 13. Psal 37.1 and 73.1 2 12. Hab. 1.4 5. Plato Cicero Seneca Epictetus Claudian against Ruffin c. Wherefore are they all happy Heb. at ease Not all neither for some wicked have their payment here their hell afore-hand To this question the Lord who knoweth our frame Psal 103. being content to condescend where he might have judged calmly maketh answer ver 5. like as Christ in like case did to Peter Joh. 21.21 22. Ver. 2. Thou hast planted them and they have taken root All goes haile with them they have more then heart can wish Psal 73.7 And in lieu of Gods goodnesse to them they professe largely and pretend to great devotion but that 's all Thou art near in their mouth and far from their reines That is from their affections Tit. 1.16 Hypocrites are like that heap of heads 2 King 10.8 that had never a heart among them they have vocem in chorâ— mentem in foro virtutem non colunt sed colorant That Persian Embassadour of whom before when conversing with Christians he had so oft in his moth Soli Deo Gloria made believe that he gave glory to the only true God when as he meant the
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
the earth His wrath is like Elijah's cloud which was at first but a smal matter to see to or as thunder which we hear at first a little roaring noise afar off but stay a while it is a dreadful crack or as fire that at first burneth a little upon a few boards but when it prevaileth bursteth out in a most terrible flame Ver. 20. Shall shake at my presence And wriggle into their holes as worms do in time of thunder And the mountains shall be thrown down Hyperbolical threats to set forth the dreadfulnesse of Gods fierce wrath which burns as low as hell it self Ver. 21. And I will call for a sword Against Antiochus by the Maccabees against the Turk and Pope by the Christian Princes Hunniades Scanderbeg Queen Elizabeth the late and present Kings of Sweden the English and French forces in Flanders now before Gravelin after Dunkirk and Bergen taken from the Spaniard Certain it is that ere long the Beast and the false Prophet shall be taken and all the fouls of the heaven filled with the flesh of those Kings and Captains that fight against the Gospel Rev. 19.19 20 21. Ver. 22. An overflowing rain and great hail-stones As once at the general deluge destruction of Sodom discomfiture of the Kings of Canaan in Joshua's dayes chap. 10.11 Some think that these Judgements here threatened shall towards the end of the world be executed upon Antichrist and his adherents according to the letter See Rev 16.21 See the Note there Ver. 23. Thus will I magnify my self This end God proposeth to himself in all his works and well he may sith he hath none higher then himself to whom to have respect And let all this that hath been said comfort us against the rage and good successe if any such yet be of the Antichristian rout sith these are but as he said once of decaying Carthage the last sprunts and bites of dying wild beastes CHAP. XXXIX Ver. 1. PRophecy against Gog Prophecy again against him for my peoples greater comfort The Jews noted ever to have been a light aerial and fanatical nation apt to work themselves into the fools paradise of a sublime dotage they expounding this Prophecy according to the letter conclude that Christ is not yet come because these things here foretold are not yet fulfilled When he doth come they say he shall set up his kingdom at Jerusalem gather all Israel out of all coasts unto himself there send each one to his own Tribe and that most certainly by the operation of his holy Spirit There they shall be no sooner setled and the kingdom not yet fully stablished In frusta vel scintillas redigam te Pintus Sextabo te but Gog and Magog shall bring a huge army against Jerusalem where they shall fall by the sword lye unburied c. Ver. 2. And I will turn thee back Convertam vel Conteram te See ch 38.3 And leave but the sixth part of thee Or strike thee with six plagues or draw thee back with an hook of six teeth as chap. 38.4 And will cause thee to come This is much and oft inculcated that it is God who brings in and drives out the Churches enemies This is a quieting consideration Ver. 3. And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand I will disarm thee Lib. 2. as Herodotus reporteth of Sennacherib and his Assyrians in Egypt that their quivers bow-strings and targets were gnawn to pieces by Mice and Rats in one night so that they were forced to flye for their lives And as our Chroniclers tell us that in the battle between Edward the third of England and Philip of France their fell such a piercing shower of rain as dissolved their strings and made their bowes unseful Dan. 237. Ver. 4. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel Thither thou shalt come indeed as Antiochus did into the Temple Antichrist into the Church of God 2 Thess 2. but there thou shalt take thy end Ver. 5. Thou shalt fall upon the open field Heb. the face of the field which thou shalt dung with thy dead carkasse Ver. 6. And I will send a fire on Magog So God will one day on Rome that Radix omnium malorum Rev. 18. And among them that dwell carelesly in the Isles Who must not think there to mott up themselves against my fire Ver. 7. I will not let them pollute my holy Name As if I were less able to deliver my people or less mindful of my Promises Ver. 8. Behold it is come and it is done It is as good as done So Babylon is fallen i. e. it will fall certainly quickly utterly This is the day O dieculam illam when shall it once be O mora Christe veni Ver. 9. And they that dwell Hyperbolical expressions though the Jews hold otherwise See on ver 1. Shall set on fire and burn the weapons Do not the Churches Champions so at this day ever since they proclaimed and proved the Pope to be that Antichrist burning up his weapons his false doctrines and heresies by the fire of Gods Word and giving their bodyes to be burned for the testimony of Jesus And they shall burn them with fire seven years i. e. Diutissime saepissime This seven years is not yet out The Jesuites say Satan sent Luther and God sent them to withstand him But there is a succession of Luthers to find them work enough still and to burn up their weapons that the Churches may be at rest Ver. 10. So that they shall take no wood This must needs be Hyperbolical as are also sundry other passages in holy Scripture When Luther burnt the Popes decrees and decretals at Wittenberg it was a fair fire doubtless as Solon once said of the fire he caused to be made at Athens of the bills and bonds of the Athenian usurers Ver. 11. I will give unto Gog a place there of graves That 's all the portion or possession he gets in the holy land On the East of the sea The dead sea or the lake of Sodom a fit place for Antichrist to be buried in he shall at last be cast alive into a worse lake Rev. 19.20 And it shall stop the noses of passengers By reason of stench or the mouthes of passengers from speaking evil of Gods people And they shall call it For a lasting monument of Gods great mercy in ridding the country of such Pests Ver. 12. And seven moneths shall the house of Israel be burying of them That is a long while like as the Reformed Churches were in â—ooting out Popery those damnable doctrines ceremonies images reliques bulls and books Here in England the Romish Religion stood a whole month and more after the death of Queen Mary as afore December 27. it was permitted that the Epistles Gospels ten Commandements Lords Prayer Creed and Letany should be used in the Vulgar tongue March 22. when the estates of the Realm were assembled by renewing of a law of
and palm-trees Viz. Upon the partition-walls This was to teach Christians who are the Temples of God 1. To live like Angels for holinesse 2. To suffer as Palm-trees any pressures or pains for his sake with invincible patience By their piety in their lives and patience at their death the Primitive Christians won much upon their their Persecutors Ver. 19. So that the face of a man See chap. 1.10 And the face of a young Lion towards the Palm-tree The Palm-tree as it grew best in Judaea so it is probable that from the Temple at Jerusalem it came at first that the Heathens put the Palm for a sign of victory and that the picture of Victory amongst them had in the one hand a Palm and in the other an Olive branch Wisdom the praise of a man and courage the property of a Lion zeal and discretion as they make a good mixture so they conquer and carry it Ver. 20. And on the wall of the Temple Yet this is no warrant for the use of Pictures in our Churches whether for worship as Papists or for ornaments only as Lutherans Mr. Burr on Hos vol. 1. pag. 465. At a consultation held not many years since at Hamborough by Lutheran Ministers concerning the cause and cure of Germanies calamities they concluded it was because their images were not adorned enough which therefore they would procure done A sad businesse Ver. 21. The Posts of the Temple i. e. Of the doors of the Temple were not round or arched but square as are at this day the doors of the Pantheon in Rome saith Vilalpandus built of old in honour of all Gods and now consecrated by the Pope to the honour of all Saints with like superstition The largeness of this Altar above that of old sheweth that the Saints under the Gospel would make much more improvement of the Lord Jesus in prayer and make use of his mediation and intercession by Faith in their heavenly sublimated supplications then the Saints of old were ordinarily wont to do Cobbet of Prayer pag. 235. Ver. 22. The Altar sc That for incense whereof see Exod. 30.6 but here of a much larger size See on chap. 40.1 This altar of wood and foursquare was a Type of Christ not of the Crosse as Vilalpand doteth in whom our prayers come before God as incense and He is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2.2 See Exod. 30 1. Psal 141.2 Rev. 5.8 This is the Table One and the same Christ is All in All to his people an Altar to sanctify them and their offerings a Table also to feed and feast them with the most precious provisions See Psal 23.5 6. 36.9 65.5 Prov. 9.1 2. Isa 25.6 7 8. Ver. 23. Had two doors Understand hereby the Means of Grace and Ministers dispensing the same whereby souls are brough home to Christ Ver. 24. Two leaves There are variety of Ordinances Ver. 25. Cherubimes and Palm trees Let Ministers resemble Angels and they shall be victorious and well rewarded The Palm is a symbol of constancy and of a crown Ver. 26. And thick Planks i. e. The heads or ends of thick beam◠or joyses supporting the rafters We see what use there is of Architecture among other Arts in expounding Scripture Vilalpand saith he bestowed two and twenty years study upon this fabrike of the Temple here described CHAP. XLII Ver. 1. THen he brought me forth into the utter Court sc Of the Temple at both ends and on either side whereof there were spacious places in manner of our Church-yards saith One. Sequitur locus valdè confusus muliò impeditissimus saith Castalio this is a very dark and difficult Chapter the sense whereof I would fain learn of some other for I know not what to make of it Thus He. Oecolampadius also to like purpose after R. Solomon and thus prayeth Suggerat Dominus conanti quae ad gloriam illius certè quae non officiant precor c. i. e. The Lord help our honest endeavours that we may do what may be for his glory and not for the hurt of any Reader That was an holy prayer of his Colleague Zuinglius in like case and may it be ours also Deum Opt. Max. precor ut vias nostras dirigat c. I beseech Almighty God to direct our wayes and if at any time Zuing. Epist l. 3. Balaam-like we shall obstinately resist the truth let him set his Angel against us who with the terrour of his sword may so dash this asse our ignorance I mean and presumptuous boldnesse against the wall that we may feel our feet that is our carnal sense and reason crusht and broken that we no longer dishonour the name of our Lord God Ver. 2. Before the length of an hundred cubits The measure mentioned in this Chapter The calling of the Jew by Finch and whatsoever followeth touching the division of the land the seats of the Tribes the portions allotted to the Prince Priests and Levites the manner of their sacrifices and oblations are all new varying from that which is in Moses though for their weaknesse by those outward things he shadoweth heavenly to shew both the abrogating of the legal ceremonies and the establishing of a spiritual Christian Church the magnificence whereof is here set forth to the Prophet by the Lord Christ qui Mystagogus noster est who is our God and will be our Guide even unto death Ver. 3. Which were for the inner Court Viz. Of the Temple this was a figure of the Church invisible as the outward Court described in this Chapter was of the visible and external The pavement which was for the utter Court Which might signify that those who would enter into heaven must keep themselves unspotted of the world undefiled in the way Psal 15. 24. Ver. 4. A way of one cubit A narrow way but such as led them into spacious walkes of ten cubits bredth inward Strait is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth unto life eternal Mat. 7.14 but they that hit it hold it shall once walk arm in arm with Angels Zach. 3.7 See the Note there Through many tribulations we must enter into Gods Kingdom Acts 14.22 but there God shall set our feet in a large room as Psal 31.8 we shall walk at liberty on the everlasting mountains Let it be remembred that this narrow way is but short it is but of one cubit c. Ver. 5. Now the upper chambers were shorter As being a kind of cock-lofts and not so fit for habitation Ver. 6. Therefore the building was straitned As the rules of Architecture direct and as right reason required Ne structura pondere dissiliret left the building should shrink under its own burden Ver. 7 8 9 c. Here the Rabbines call again for the help of their Elias See on chap. 40.6 Ver. 13. They be holy chambers Or cells of the Sanctuary belonging to those that serve in the Sanctuary God