so doth Pride disable the soule from doing duty and at last breaks forth into odious deeds abominable to God and Man There are that by Excellency or Glory here understand their glorious Temple and other priviledges wherein they so much gloried See Psal 47.5 But Mercer thinks it rather meant of the ten tribes then of the two whose crown of pride is elsewhere taxed Esay 28.1 Hos 7.10 The pride of Israel testifieth to his face it breaketh out in his forehead as a great master-pock therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein Heb. with the fulnesse thereof both persons and things are all forfeited and shall be seized by the enemy be the city of Samaria never so rich a Cargazon so full a Magazine of Men and meanes I will shut them up so the word signifieth after a strait siege into the enemies hand who shall make a spoyle of them Verse 9. And it shall come to passe if there remaine ten men c. that is many as Zech. 8.23 Levit. 26.26 because ten is the utmost of single number q. d. Though a considerable company escape the enemy yet pestilence or some other destruction shall put an end to them they shall dye See this fulfilled 2 King 17.5 In which common calamity what an happynesse had they that belonging to the election of grace could confidently say as Hab. 1 12. Art not thou from everlasting O Lord my God mine holy One Occidere potest non laedere We shall not dye or if we do death may kill us but cannot hurt us O Lord thou hast ordained them for judgement and O mighty God thou hast established them for correction The wicked are killed with death Rev. 2.23 undone by it Hos 2.15 to them it is no other but a trap-dore to hell as to the Saints it is as the valley of Achor a door of hope the very day-break of eternall brightnesse Verse 10. And a mans uncle shall take him up Him that is every one of the ten a fore-mentioned being now dead of the plague shall his uncle or dearest friend take up on his own shoulders for want of the ordinary mercenary officers called by the Latines Vespillones Libitinarii Pollinctores their best friends shall be forced to bury or burn their dead corpses So Seneca in Oedipo portat hunc aeger parens Supremum ad ignem mater hunc amens gerit Properatque ut alium regerat in eundem regum To bring out the bones out of the house for buriall as 1 Sam. 31.15 the flesh being first burnt Bones are a part of a mans body and therefore to be committed to the earth or laid up in a safe place as Iosephs were Exod. 13.19 Iosh 24.32 and with his the rest of the Patriarks doubtlesse Act. 7.16 This is one of the dues of the dead 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In honour of God who made mans body with admirable art Psal 139.5 and as it were by the book verse 14.15 16.2 Next because the dead body was sometime a Temple of the Holy Ghost and an instrument of many holy actions 1 Cor. 3.16 17. and 2 Cor. 6.16 3. because it shall be raised one day and conformed to Christs glorious body the Standard Philip. 2.21 We know saith the same Apostle that when Christ our life shall appeare we shall appeare with him in glory like as in the transfiguration that body of Moses which was hid in the valley of Moab appeared with Christ in the hill of Tabor and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house To him that burneth the dead as afore that assisteth a mans uncle to interr him The Jewes did not usually burn but bury yet sometimes they did Jer. 34. and 1 Kings 31. and at this time they were forced by the raging pestilence to do it as Hierome here noteth for the preventing of stench and further infection Is there yet any with thee sc left alive or hath death made a clean riddance Or thus Are there yet any more dead corpses which I may carry foorth for the buriall and he shall say No Or And he shall say An end a totall consumption they are all dead and gone A sad verdict then shall he say Hold thy tongue sc beare it patiently Has St. fret not murmure not 't is Gods doing Psal 39.9 Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God Zeph. 1.7 for we may not make mention of the Name of the Lord This is vox desperantis the voice of despaire and despondensy and it is as if he had said it is bootlesse to pray for God is set to plague us and will not be pacified Surely there is no hope but we are all Free among the dead like the slaine that lie in the grave whom God remembreth no more Psal 88.5 neither helpeth it us to remember or mention him any more Men under sharp afflictions are apt to think that there is left them neither hope of better nor place of worse as the Church in the Lamentations Others sense it otherwise but to me this seemeth the likeliest Verse 11. For behold the Lord commandeth Calamities and they come the Chaldeans and they are at hand with their battel-axes but it is he that gives them their commission and biddeth them Fall on and he will smite the great house with breaches c i. e. aequo pulsat pede c. he will destroy rich and poor together pale death will knock at both their houses with an even foot as in time of plague earthquake or the like Epidemicall evill The grave is the Congregation house of all living Iob. 30.23 whereinto men chop oft before they think as a man that walks in the snow may into a marle-pit The mortall scyth is master of the royall scepter and it mowes down the lillies of the crown as well as the grass of the field Death is the onely king against whom there is no rising up as Augur phraseth the most absolute predominance Prov. 30.31 it levelleth Lords and Losels and layes all wast breaking down the greater houses and cleaving the lesser with an utter extermination of all Search you therefore search you O nation not desired before the decree come forth c. Zeph. 2.1 2. After-wit here helps not repentance though true may come too late in respect of temporall judgements as in Moses Deut. 1.37 and David 2 Sam. 12.10 Verse 12. Shallhorses runne upon the rock Is it possible they should do so and not first break their hoofs and then their necks will the rider therefore venture there were it not matchlesse madnesse in him will one plow there with oxen Sure he will conceive it too hard a tug and too vain a labour Hierom rendreth it Bubalis with wild-oxen which not accustomed to the yoke are like to make but wilde work where-ever they are plowed with Now as there is no good horse-racing upon a rock nor fit plowing there so neither
well observed by One that the devils particula◠sin is not once mentioned in Genesis because he was not to be restored by repentance But the sin of Man is enlarged in all the circumstances And why this but that he might be sensible ashamed and penitent for his sin They say in philosophy that the foundation of naturall life is feeling no feeling no life And that the more quick and nimble the sense of feeling is in a man the better is his constitution Think the same of life spirituall and of that hidden man of the heart as St. Peter calles him and ye run every man unto his own house Or ye take pleasure every man in his own house q. d. Ye are all self-seekers private-spirited persons ye are all for your own interests like the snaile that seldome stirrs abroad and never without his house upon his back or like the Eagle which when he flies highest hath still an eye downward to the prey that he minds to seize In parabola ovis capras suas querunt Rom. 16. They serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellyes or if they serve Christ it is for gaine as Children will not say their prayers unlesse we promise them their breakfasts In serving him they do but serve themselves upon him as those carnall Capernaites did Ioh. 6. Well might the Apostle complaine as Philip. 2.21 And Another since that it is his Pleasures his Profit and his Preserment that is the naturall mans Trinity and his carnall self that is these in Unity May he be but warm in his own seathers he little regards the dangers of the house He is totus in se wholy drawn up into himself and insensible of either the publike good or common danger though the water-pot and speare be taken from the bolster yet he stirrs not Farr enough from St. Pauls frame of spirit or speech Who is offended and I burn not farr enough from his care and cumber anxiety and solicitude for the house of God and prosperity of his people 2 Cor. 11.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothing like they are to Ambrose who was more troubled for the state of the Church then for his own dangers Nothing like Melanethon of whom it is said that the ruines of Gods house and the miseries of his people made him almost neglect the death of his most beloved children True goodnesse is publike-spirited though to private disadvantage as Nature will venture its own particular good for the generall so will grace much more Heavy things will ascend to keep out vacuity and preserve the Universe A stone will fall down to come to its own place though it break it self in twenty pieces It is the ingenuity of saints in all their desires and designes to study Gods ends more then their own to build Gods house with neglect of their own as Solomon did to drown all self-respects in his glory and the publike good as Nehemiah did of whom it might be more truely said then the Heathen Historian did of Cato Di◠Lucan that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over-love the Common-wealth and that he did toti genitum se credere mundo beleeve himself born for the benefit of man-kind Verse 10 11. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from rain c. It 's never well with man whose life is ever in fuga as the Philosopher hath it and must be maintained by meat as the fire is by fuell till God hear the heaven and the heaven hear the earth and the earth hear the corn the wine and the oyl and these hear Jezreel Hos 2.21 22. where we may see the genealogie of these good creatures resolved into God The earth though a kind mother cannot open her bowels and yeeld seed to the sower and bread to the eater if not watered from above The heaven though the store-house of Gods good treasure which he openeth to our profit and nourishment Deut. 28.12 cannot drop down fatnesse upon the earth if God close it up and with-hold the seasonable showres This the very Heathens acknowledged in their fictions of Jupiter and Juno Strabo and the Metapontines having had a good harvest consecrated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an harvest cut in gold to their God in the Temple at Delphos Now when a rabble of Rebels shall conspire against God and fight against him with his own weapons as Jehu did against Jeboram with his own men what can He do lesse then cut them short then make them know the worth of his benefits by the want of them then call for a drought verse 11. and so for a dearth which inevitably followed in those hot countreys and consequently for pestilence and sword the usuall concomitants Pro cherebh legunt cherib the Septuagint for drought here by a mistake of points translate a sword And in the Originall there is an elegancy past Englishing Because my house is chareb that is wast therefore I have called for a choreb a drought or for a chereb a sword which shall in like sort lay your land wast and make your houses desolate according to that is threatened Deut. 28. and Matth. 23.38 And in the very next chap. verse 7. Christ telleth his Apostles that those refractary Jewes and others that rejected Him the true Temple in whom the Godhead dwelt bodily that is Essentially and not in clouds and ceremonies Col. 2.9 as once between the Cherubims which they used to call Shechinah because they loathed the heavenly Manna therefore they should be pined with famine They that would have none of the Gospel of peace should tast deeply of the miseries of warre They that despised the onely medicine of their souls should be visited with pestilence The black horse is ever at the heels of the red and the pale of the black Rev. 6.4 As there hath been a conjuncture of offences so there will be of miseries A conflux of them abideth the neglecters of Gods House the contemners of his Gospel Vrsine tells us that those that fled out of England for Religion in Queen Maries dayes acknowledged that that great inundation of misery came justly upon them for their unprofitablenesse under the means of grace which they had enjoyed in King Edwards dayes Zanchy likewise tells us that when he first came to be Pastour at Clavenna there fell out a grievous pestilence in that Town so that in seven moneths space there died 1200. persons Their former Pastour Mainardus that man of God as he calleth him had often foretold such a calamity Zanch. Miscel ep ad Lantgrav for their profanenesse and Popery But he could never be beleeved till the plague had proved him a true Prophet and then they remembred his words and wisht they had been warned by him Let us also fear Am. 5.12 Peccata ossea i. e. fortia lest for our many and bony sinnes as the Prophets expression is but especially for our hatefull and horrible contempt of his
Church again to wife but having found her formerly so fickle and faithlesse he would for a long time trie her and keep her unmarried as a probationer he would lay her as we do filthy garments a soaking and a frosting for many hundred years to try them and to purge and to make white even to the time of the end because it is yet for a time appointed Dan 11.35 And to presume to prescribe to him in this case is to set the Sun by our Dial. As he never fails his in his own time so he seldome comes at ours Here then our strength is to sit still Esay 30.7 and not to start up and say as that impatient Prince did 2 Kings 6.30 What should I wait for the Lord any longer Shall Christ lose his right in his wife because he takes her not by the day set down in our Calender Possibly the Calender of heaven hath a post-date to ours Sure it is that we are apt to antedate the promises in regard of the accomplishment as those Jer. 8.20 that looked for help that summer at furthest but were deceived See the disease and the remedy put together Hab. 2.2.3 and learn to wait God will surely bring us to it if we belong to him and thereby inure us both to patience and continence as here thou shalt not play the harlot c. thou shalt not hasten after another God and so multiply sorrowes upon thy self Psal 16.4 as he that hath broke prison gets but more irons to be laid upon him and a stricter watch Psal 44.19 the Church though sore broken in the place of dragons and covered with the shadow of death yet she stretched not out her hands to a strange God She knew that was not the way to get off with comfort Is it because there is no God in Israel that thou gaddest to the God of Ekron Isay 20.19 2 King 1. Should not a people seek unto their God from the living to the dead Should they seek to slip out at a back-dore and to help themselves by sorry shifts or sinister practises Is that ever like to do well or will not such be miserable even by their own election Ion. 2.8 Wherefore if God defer to help as he doth usually hold out faith and patience Wait upon him who even waits to be gracious Esay 30.18 for he is a God of judgement and well knoweth how and when to deale forth his favours Cito data cito vilescunt Manna being lightly come by was as lightly set by He therefore suspends us that he may commend his mercies to us and when he comes with them be the better welcome The longer he holds us in request the more will he do for us at length and if we abide for him many dayes we shall be no losers thereby for I also will be for thee He will love those that love him Prov. 8.17 1 Sam. 2.30 and honour those that honour him Yea if any man love me saith Christ my Father will love him and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Joh. 14.21.23 I will gather them sc into my bosome out of all nations that are sorrowfull for the solemn assembly who are of thee to whom the reproach of it was a burthen Behold at that time I will undo all that afflict thee c. Zeph. 5.18.19.20 God esteems highly of those that abide for him in their banishment that stay for him till he minde marriage with them that stick to him in affliction that resolve to reserve themselves for him so as if they cannot have comfort in God they will have none elsewhere The Cherethites and the Pelethites that were with David at Gath and afterwards stuck to him when Absalom was up they were ever neare about him as his guard and dear to him as his favourites God is All in all to those that with the Spouse will be his altogether Jer. 29.13 he will do good to them with his whole heart that seek him with their whole heart c. Verse 4. For the children of Israel shall abide many dayes without a king c. They shall be as it is said of the Brasileans Sine rege sine lege sine fide in a wofull confused estate both for State and Church This they had brought upon themselves by their Idols set up at Dan and Bethel that is in the place of Judgment and in the house of God so Dan and Bethel signify Bethel was become Bethaven and the place of judicature called by Solomon the place of the Holy God Eccle. 8.10 so corrupted that people were ready to say as Themistocles once did that if there were two wayes shew'd him the one leading to hell and the other to the Tribunal he would chuse that which went to hell and forsake the other That corruption caused this confusion The children of Israel shall be without and without here are six withouts that they might be sensible of their abuse of mercies and see bona a tergo formosissima good things fairest behind their worth best appearing by their want The Persian law commanded that at the death of their kings there should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a suspension of lawes Stob. orat 42. a lawlesse liberty for the space of five dayes that subjects might know the necessity of government by being bereft of the benefit of it for a time and the better prize it when they had it The like custome they have now in Turky at the death of the Grand Signor Turk hist. which is no sooner known but every man doth what is good in his own eyes till his successor be sent for and set upon his throne Israel hath neither King nor Prince Ruler nor Civil Magistrate of their own the ten tribes I meane for Judah had both Prince and Priests after the captivity till the last desolation since which they have no forme nor face of Church or common-wealth no not of a corrupt or depraved Church meant here by Image and Teraphim See 2 King 17.10 Judg. 17.5 much less of such an one as God had prescribed meant by sacrifices and Ephod Prospers conceit was that this people were called Judaei because they received jus Dei their law from Gods mouth And Josephus calleth their common wealth a Theocratie or God-government They received their order both for Church and common-wealth from heaven which no other people ever did in the same manner and might truly take up that of the Prophet Esay The Lord is our Judge Esay 33.22 the Lord is our law-giver the Lord is our King he will save us But man being in honour is without understanding c. Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked then he forsook God which made him and sacrificed unto devils not to God to Gods whom they knew not to new Gods that came newly up c. Deut. 32.15.17 When Ephraim spake and
simplicity as intending to beguile God which he cannot and man which he fain would and oft doth to further his worldly and wicked designes as Judas Herod Matth. 2.8 Pharisees Mat. 23.14 2. Falshoud opposite to truth as onely acting religion playing devotion compassiong God with deceit as the house of Israel here deceiving him not by impotency onely and in the event but by imposture and so in purpose contenting themselves with a shew with a semblance Luke 8.18 with a form of knowledge Rom. 2.20 and of godlinesse 2 Tim. 3.5 rather â—eeming to be good then seeking to be so These are hells free-holders and other sinners are said but to have their part with them There are that thus interpret this Text Ephraim compasseth me the Prophet preaching mercy and promising good things they beset me and gather close about me as desirous of my doctrine but it is in mendacio in hatâ—full hypocrysic see Ezek. 33.31 32. and when I crosse them never so little they craftily conspire to prejudice my Ministery to asperse my person c. To preach saith One is nothing else but to derive the rage of the whole world upon a mans self to become the But-mark yea the Center ad quod omnes lineae dolorum tendunt Meisner in loc to which all the lines of lies and falsehoods do tend but Judah yet ruleth with God To serve God is to rule with him as Livia said she ruled her husband Augustus by obeying him It is the greatest liberty Rom. 6.18 22. 1 Pet. 2.16 Abraham was a prince of God Jacob prevailed with God and had power as a Prince Gen. 32.28 Moses as if he had been Chancellour of heaven over-ruled the businesse and God is fain to bespeak his own freedom Exod. 32.10 Judah also is here said to rule with God to be potent with him because God was sincerely served amongst them and they held fast their first integrity the true religion was openly professed and the true worship of God incorruptly maintained in the Temple at Jerusalem This made Abijah though none of the best so boldly to boast and he prevailed so that there fell down of Israel slain four hundred thousand 2 Chron. 14.10 17. and yet the men of Judah that slew them were but four hundred thousand ina ll verse 3. Israels Apostacy is here aggravated by Judah's integrity they were not under the temptation of evil example Judah was the worse for them and not they for Judah and is faithfull with the Saints Or with the most Holy he keepeth the faith to God those Holy Ones the Father Son and Holy Spirit so some sence it as Josh 24.19 Prov. 9.10 he is far from those false and fraudulent dealings wherewith the ten Tribes seek to circumvent and beguile god Or thus Jâ—xlah is faithfull with the saints of former ages he holds to his old principles to the good old way wherein Abraham and the other Ancients went before him He is also faithfull with such as are sanctified the true priests of God consecrated to himself and set apart for holy use In opposition to the ten Tribes who went after those leaden priests made by Ieroboam of the lower sort of the people and well fitted to golden deities Lastly he is faithfull with the people of God those good souls that left the ten Tribes and went to Judah to the true worship of God With these Judah was faithfull courteous and communicative embracing and encouraging them all that might be This was a singular commendaton CHAP. XII Verse 1. EPhraim feedeth on wind Slender feeding unlesse Ephraim were of the Chamaeleon-kind quippe nec cor auro satiatur nec corpus aura Wind fills Esay 55.10 2 Cor. 9.10 but feeds not Ephraim had sowed the wind chap. 8.7 but to what profit Hee that ministreth seed to the sower and bread to the eater would here surely neither give bread for food nor multiply their seed sown but send them to the gods that they had chosen and to their confederates whom they so relied upon from whom they should reap the whirlwind See the Note on chap. 8.7 Wind we know bloweth up storms and tempests so doth idolatry and creature-confidence the tempest of Gods wrath that will never be blown over and followeth after the East-wind Which if he catch a great catch he is like to have of it Eurus est ventus urens exsiccans The East-wind is noted in Scripture for pernicious and hurtfull to fruits and herbs Gen. 41.6 Ezek. 7.10 and 29.17 Hos 13.15 violent it is also and spareth not men Ion. 4.8 The Seventy render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a burning blast as they do the former words Ephraim is an evil spirit by a mistake of the points Iob speaketh of some that fill their bellies with the East-wind they think to do so but it proves otherwise they snuff up the wind with the wild-asse but it tumours them onely and proves pestilentiall It is very dangerous for men to follow after their own conceits and counsels It may be worse to them upon their death-beds when they are lanching into the main of Immortality Euroaquilo then any rough East-wind or then any Euroclydon that wind mentioned Acts 27.14 Vna erusque uotusque ruunt Virg. that hath its name from stirring up stormes and is by Pliny called Navigantium pestis the Mariners misery An empty body meeting with tempests will have much ado to bear up If Ephraim first seed upon wind and then fall under the East-wind it must needs go hard with him The godly man who is filled with all the fulnesse of God Ephes 3.19 shall have him for a refuge from the storme a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storme against the wall Esay 25.4 His prayer is that of Ieremy chap. 17. vers 17. Be not thou a terrour unto me O Lord thou art my hope in the day of evil If the wind be not got into the earth and stir not there storms and tempests abroad cannot make an earthquake no more can afflictions or death an heart-quake where there is peace with God Such a mans mind immota manet is as mount Zion which cannot be removed He daily increaseth lies and desolation This being the fruit and consequent of those for flagitium flagellum sicut acus filum sinne and punishment are inseparable companions Wo unto them for they have fled from me destruction unto them because they have transgressed against me Hos 7.13 See the Note there To heap up lies is to hasten desolation A false witnesse shall not be unpunished and he that speaketh lies shall perish Prov. 19.9 They tell us of a threefold lie i. e. A merry lie an officious lie and a pernicious lie But the truth is every lie is pernicious and a man should rather die then lie He that lieth in jest may go to hell for it in earnest Iacob told his father an officious three-foldlie
Church out of which went the law that is the Gospâ—l ver 2. See Esa 40.9 and 52.7 Heb. 12 22. There shall Christ raigne and so he did ever but now he shall declare himself to be Messiah the Prinâ—e Dan. 9.25 Lord and hâ—â—st Act. 2.36 Saviour and Soveraigne As king he 1. of rebels makes them sâ—â—jects willing to be ruled by him 2. He preserves them in that priviledge by his spirit 3. He gives them lawes far better then those of the twelve tables â—â— Rome which yet far exceeded saith Cicero all the learned libraries of the Philosâ—phâ—rs in worth and weight 4. He sweetly inclineth their wilâ— to yeâ—â—d universal obedience thereunto and to crosse themselves so they may please 〈◊〉 5 He rewards them with comfort and peace here and with life eternall hereafter 6. He destroyes all the enemies of his Church and then at last delivers up the kingdome to his Father 1 Cor. 15.24 not his essentiall kingdome as God but his oecâ—â—omical kingdome as Mediatour Verse 8. And thou O tower of the flock that is O Church of Christ who is oft compared to a shepherdesse in the Canticles here to a Migdal-â—der or tower of the flock that flock of Christ which hath golden fleeces precious souse in reference either to that tower Gen. 35.21 built for the safety and seâ—vice of shepherds or else to the sheep-gate in Ierusalem whereof read Nâ—h 3.1 and 12.39 so called from the sheep-market which for the conveniency of the Temple was neare to it as was also the sheep-pool called Bethesda Ioh 5.2 where the sacrifices were washed The world is a field the Church a fold in that field and a strong fold strong as a tower yea a strong-hold Ophel as it is stiled in the next words and that of the daughter of Zion that is of the Christian Church the inviolable security whereof is here noted unto thee shall it come even the first dominion such as was in Davidâ— dayes and Solomons laâ—ge rich peaceable prosperous terrible to other nations c. This was carnally understood by the Jewes who therefore drâ—ame to thiâ— day of an earthly kingdome and have in their â—ynagogues a crown ready to set upon the head of their Messiah whensoever he shall come neither were Christs disciples without a tincture of this Pharisaicall leaven whence their often-enquiries when the kingdome of God shall come and their frivolâ—us contests among themselves who should be the greatest in Christs kingdome who should sit at his right hand and at his left c. as if there should have been in Christs kingdome as in Solomons a distribution here of honours and offices And this groundlesse conceit hung as bullets of lead at their eye-lids that they could not look up to see that Christs kingdome was spirituall and not of this present world the kingdome shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem This the Jewes mistaking it as before pray earnestly that it may come citò Baxtor Syn Jud. citiùs citissimè bimherah bejamenâ—s with speed and even in our dayes oft throwing open their windowes to behold their King and to receive their long-looked-for preferment in his earthly monarchy Ver. 9. Now why doest thou cry out aloud Hout and houle q.d. hast thou any such cause to be so unreasonably and out ragiously impatient so long as Christ is thy king and counsellour What if there now be no king in thâ—e What if thy counsellour be perished A wo-case I confesse and great confusion most needes be the issue of it as it fell out in Ierusalem after Iosiah was slaine Confer Hos 3.4 with the Note there But yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing neither need the Saints be so excessively dejected with outward crosses so long as Christ is with them and for them If Seneca could say to his friend Polybius Fas tibi non est salvo Caesare de fortuna tua queri Be thy case never so miserable Sen. ad â—olyb Consol thou hast no cause to complaine so long as Caesar is in safety How much lesse ground of mourning or murmuring have Christs subjects so long as He liveth and raigneth Gaudeo quod Christus Dominus est Calvin Epist alioqui totus desperassem writeth Miconius to Calvin of the Churches enemies I am glad that Christ is Lord of all for otherwise I should have had no hope of help at all David in deep distress comforteth himself in the Lord his God 1 Sam. 30.6 and Psal 119.94 I am thine save me saith He q. d. my professed subjection to thee calleth for thy care and protection of me and here he stayes himself Kings and Councellours are great stayes to a state but Christ is not tied to them These are but particular good things as is health against sicknesse wealth against poverty c. but Christ is an Vniversall good all sufficient and satisfactory every way proportionable and fitting to our soules and severall necessities Why then do we cry aloud as utterly undone why sing we not rather with David when at greatest under The Lord liveth and blessed be the God of my salvation Psal 18.46 It is God that avengeth me and delivereth me from the violent man c He is King of all the earth He is wonderfull in counsel and excellent in working c. It was a learned mans Motto Blessed be God that he is God and blessed be Christ that he reignes for ever that Counsel is his and sound wisdome that he hath understanding he hath strength Prov. 8.14 for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travel They have but they needed not hadst thou but turned into thy counting-house and considered thy manifold priviledges in Christ thy King and Counsellour We oft punish our selves by our passions as the lion that beates himself with his own taile Sed ô benè saith an Interpreter here quod sint hidolores saltem similes parturientium It is yet an happinesse that the Churches pangs though bitter Tarnou yet are no worse then as those of a woman in travell For 1. The paines of travell seldome bring death but life both to mother and child so do afflictions to the Saints 2 Cor. 4.17 Heb. 12.9 2. Travell comes not by chance nor for long continuance neither doth affliction Ioh. 7.30 Luk. 22.53 3. Travell is unavoidable and must be patiently born so must affliction or else we lose the fruit of it Act. 14.22 2 Tim. 3.12 4. Sharp though it be yet it is short so mourning lasteth but till morning Psal 30.6 and 73.24 and 135.14 Ioh. 16.15 Ier. 10.23 5. As the travelling woman hath the help of other women so hath the afflicted of God Angels and men 6. Lastly as she remembreth the sorrow no more for joy of a manchild born into the world so is it here Ioh. 16.20 Rom. 8.17 18. Verse 10. Be in pain and labour to bring forth c. Be sensible of thine ensuing captivity and take on but yet with hope
then with any thing that befell himself It is said of Melanâ—thon that the miseries of the Church made him almost neglect the death of his dearest children and put him upon many prayers and tears which Idem in vita Melanch like musick upon the water made a most melodious noise in the ears of God When Luther in a certain Epistle checked him and chod him for his exceeding great care of the Churches welfare calling him pertinacissimam curarum hirudinem c. he meekly replied Si nihil curarem nihil orarem If I should not care so I should not pray so God seemeth sometimes to have lost his mercy as here How long wilt thou be unmercifull to Jerusalem and then we must find it for him He seems to have forgot his people we must remind him He seems to sleep delay we must waken quicken him with How long Lord Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come saith Daniel Psal 102.13 14 who is probably held to be the Pen man of that excellent Psal 102. Confer Dan. 9.2 and he speaks it with as much confidence as if he had been in Gods blessed bosom the while This also he spake not now by a spirit of prophecy or speciall revelation but by way of argumentation or necessary demonstration For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof They pity her and melt over her therefore thou Lord much more sith all their tendernesse is but a spark of thy flame a drop of thine Ocean against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten yeers There is much ado among Interpreters about Jeremies 70 and Zacharies 70 whether one and the same or different one from another That of Scaliger is most unlikely who reckoneth these yeers of the captivity from the first year of Xerxes with his father Darius unto the fourth year of Darius Nothus Lib. 6. de Emend Temp. How much better our countreyman Lydiat whom yet Scaliger so much scorned saying Quis est ille ex ultima Britannia Canis qui Ios Scaligerum audeat allatrare who concludes it to be 70 years from the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldees Lyd. Emend Temp. Anno M. 3485. to this second year of Darius Hystaspes wherein Zachariah prophecyed That of A Lapide upon this Text I cannot passe by Moraliter idipsum dicamus idipsum oremus obsecremus pro Anglia c. Let us say the same pray the same for England Scotland c. that the Angel here doth for Jerusalem How long Lord wilt thou not have mercy upon England where Heresie hath prevailed now these hundred years and upwards The English fugitives beyond-seas write upon their Colledge and Church-doors in great golden letters Jesu Jesu converte Angliam Fiat Fiat Jesu convert England Amen Amen Why yet this is somewhat better then that of Pererius the Jesuite upon Genes 15.16 If any man marvell saith He why England continueth to flourish notwithstanding the over-flow of heresie and cruel persecution of Catholikes just execution of Catholikes he should have said wee answer because their iniquity is not yet full God grant it Ier. 28.6 Sed veniet tandem iniquitat is complementum But the time is not far off and forbearance is no quittance c. Vers 13. And the Lord answered the Angel How should God do otherwise then answer his welbeloved Son with good and comfortable words sith he is all in all with the Father and can do any thing with him Father saith he Joh. 12. I know thou hearest me alwayes Did God hear Abraham for Ismael nay for Sodom Did David hear Ioab interceding for Absolom Acts 12.20 Did Herod hearken to Blastus making request for those of Tyre and Sidon with whom he was highly displeased And shall not God give ear to his Son praying for his people that are as dear to him as the apple of his eye Good and comfortable words he doth surely answer him such as were once those Joh. 12.27 28. when Christ had thus prayed Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I to this hour Father glorifie thy Name Then came there a voice from heaven Bath-chol the Rabbins call it saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again So when he shall say in his daily intercession for he ever liveth to make request for us at the right hand of the Majesty on high It irketh me that the whole earth is at rest and my Church at so much unrest Return O Lord Psal 90.13 how long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants Save now I beseech thee O Lord Psal 118.25 O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperity How can God do less then answer as Isa 33.10 Now will I arise now will I be exalted now will I lift up my self Or as in the words next following here which indeed are all along good words and comfortable words I am jealous for Jerusalem c. The Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet chuse Jerusalem Yet for all the sorrow he shall do it Ier. 30.17 and for all that Others called her an outcast saying This is Zion whom no man seketh after and she her self concludeth her dolefull ditty with Thou hast utterly rejected us thou art very wroth against us Lam. 4.22 Verse 14. So the Angell that communed with me See the Note on ver 10. cry thou saying q. d. Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God Speake ye comfortably to Jerusalem speake ye to her heart and cry unto her saying that her appointed time is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned and so the quarrell is ended for she hath received of the Lords hands double for her sins Nothing so much as I have deserved saith she Ezra 9.13 twice so much as she hath deserved saith He. O sweet contradiction O beautifull contention The same Hebrew word signifieth to repent and to comfort 1 Sam. 15.35 Esay 40.1 Gods care is to comfort those that are cast down His command to his Prophet is to cry comfort to the penitent with an extraordiny earnestnesse from the God of all consolation I am jealous for Ierusalem and for Zion with a great jealousie Love is strong as death zeal or jealousie for the same word signifieth both is hard as hell Cant. 8.6 Non amat qui non zelat saith Augustine He loves not that zeales not And Basil venturing himself very farr for his friend and by some blamed for it answered Ego aliter amare non didici I cannot love a man but I must do mine utmost for him When one desired to know what manner of man Basil was it is said there was presented in a dreame to him a pillar of fire with this motto Talis est Basilius Lo such an one is Basil It is certaine that our
reserved unto judgement 2 Pet. 2. â—4 Iob felt but his little finger as it were and yet cryes out for help Have pitty upon me have pitty upon me O ye my friends for the hand of God hath touched me Iob 19.21 It had but lightly tonched him and yet he was hardly able to endure it Oh the bloody wails that Gods hand hath left upon the backs of his best children Wo then to his enemies when he comes forth to fight against them Their flesh shall consume away whiles they stand upon their feet They shall pine away in their iniquities Levit. 26.30 their beauty shall consume away like a moth Psal 39.11 they shall melt as wax before the sun or as the fat of lambs before the fire God if he be not unto them as a lion to tear the kell of their hearts in sunder yet he will be as a moth and as a worm insensibly to consume them Hos 5.12 14. If he break not their teeth in their mouths by smiting them upon the cheek-bone yet he will make them to melt away as waters which run continually as a snail which melteth and as the untimely birth of a woman that never seeth the sun Psa 58.6 7 8. God hath secret wayes to wast his enemies and to bring them on their knees when they are best under-set He can trip up their heels when they are standing upon their feet and lay them low enough in the slimy valley where are many already like them and more shal come after them Iob 21.31 32. God hath a Marasmus an evil messenger for a malicious persecutor as he had for Antiochus Epiphanes for both the Herods for Maximinus the Tyrant 1 Machab. 6. Joseph Antiq. l. 12. c. 11. for Philip the second of Spain Charles the ninth of France Queen Mary of England Steven Gardiner Arch-Bishop Arundel Nestorius Arrius and other odious Hereticks and enemies of the Church amongst whom à Lapide the Iesuit reckons here Calvin and saith That like another Hered he died a lowsie lothsom death and for his authority thinks it enough to say uti refert Bolsecus in ejus vita But it must be understood that the lives of Calvin and Beza were spitefully written by this Bolsecus their sworn enemy that twice banished and thrice runnagate Friar liar I might have said and Physician for those names his often changes and hard chances have given him This man being requested by the popish side and it s likely hired by them to write thus Spec. Eur is in all their writings alledged as Canonical And their eyes shal consume away in their holes Physicians tell us of two thousand diseases that annoy mans body two hundred whereof affect the eyes All these are part of Gods hosts which are as much at Gods command as the Centurions servants and souldiers were at his when he said but Go or come and they did accordingly He can make mens eyes drop and cease not without any intermission as Lam. 3.49 till they melt out Mat. 8.9 as the Hebrew here hath it even the very same word as before he can smite men with sudden blindness as he did the sinful Sodomites that had eyes full of adultery such as tormented their eyes as if they had been pricked with thorns as the Hebrew word signifieth Gen. 19.11 Failing of eyes and sorrow of minde is threatned as a judgement Deut. 28.65 yea thou shalt be mad for the fight of thine eyes which thou shalt see is another piece of the curse verse 34. See 1 Sam. 2.33 And their tongue shal consume away in their mouth As did the tongue of Nestorius the Heresiarch eaten out of his mouth with worms Tho. Arundel and Steven Gardiner two bloody persecutors died of a like disease Diodate understands all this to be a description of hel-torments Their flesh shall consume yet never be consumed for they still stand upon their feet or subsist that they may still suffer having no end that their pain may be endless Their eyes shal consume c that is saith he though they be alive and can see yet shall they be deprived of light in infernal darknesse having neither eyes nor understanding but onely to see and judge of their extream misery Their tongue shal consume away c. as did the rich gluttons Luke 16.24 M. Calvin observeth here that all is delivered in the singular number his flesh shal consume his eyes shal melt his tongue c. for so runs the Original to note that every of Ierusalems enemies shal taste of Gods wrath though some of them may haply hold themselves out of the reach of his rod. And Secondly that God can as easily destroy them all as if he had to do but with one fingle man Verse 13. A great tumult from the Lord shal be among them He shall fright them as he did the Philistines by a sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees 2 Sam. 5.24 and the Syrians by a hurry noise in the air causing a Pannick terror 2 King 7.6 Therefore some render it Erit strepitus vel fragor Domini magnus in eis ut 1 Sam. 7.10 with 1 Sam. 2.10 Or he shall exasperate and imbitter them one against another as he did Abimelech and the men of Shechem by sending an evil spirit between them Judg. 9.23 that is by letting loose Satan upon them that old man-slayer that kindle-coal and make-bate of the world and this in a way of just revenge for their treacherous conspiracy against the house of Gideon Thus God first divided and then destroyed the Midianites by setting every ones sword against his fellow Judg. 7.23 So he dealt by the Philistims 1 Sam. 14.15 20. So the Kings of Syria and Egypt that succeeded Alexander and were enemies to the Jews destroyed one another So did the Primitive Persecutors the Turk and the Persian the Spaniard and the French In the year 1526. Charles the fifth Emperour of Germany set at liberty his prisoner Francis King of France Scultet Annal. Dec. 2. pag. 2 upon this condition among others that they should joyne their forces and do their utmost to suppresse and root out the Lutheran Heresie that is the truth of the Gospell out of both their Dominions But soon after they fell at variance amongst themselves the Pope blowing the bellowes whereby the Church had her Halcyons sic canes lingunt ulcera Lazari shall take the hand of his neighbour as those yonkers of Helcath-hazzurim did that sheathed their swords in their fellows bowels 2 Sam. 2.16 Verse 14. And Iudah also shall fight at Ierusalem Shall fight like a lion and do great exploits for his countrey as Judas Maccabeus did as Hunniades that Maul of the Turks and Scanderbeg who killed 800. Turks with his own hand and fought so earnestly sometimes that the very blood burst out at his lips So did Zisea and the rest of Christs worthy warriours who by faith and yet by force of arms too waxed
then to the observation of the ceremoniall and judiciall Law But it is ordinary with those Jew-Doctours to corrupt the Text for their own purpose adding and altering at their pleasure The judiciall law was fitted to the jews and was the best that they could suffer as Solon said of the Athenian Lawes The ceremoniall law was their Gospel pointing them to Christ and therefore abolished by him as having no use in the Church after his death but by accident As for the Morall law called here by an excellency the Law of Moses it is established for ever in heaven Psal 119.89 and albeit some duties of certain commandements shall cease when we come to heaven yet the substance of every one remaineth This perpetuity of the morall law was noted by engraving of it in stone Exod. 34.27 2 Cor. 3.7 The Jewshave a saying That God hath more respect to the letters of the Law then to the stars of heaven Mat. 5. And Christ either alludes to or confirms it in that saying of his Heaven and earth shall passe before one jot or tittle of the Law passe Think not that I am come to destroy the Law viz. the Morall Law or the Prophets who presse Morall duties as explainers of the law they do as it were unfold and draw out that Arras which was folded together before These therefore together with the Law of Moses must be daily and duely read and remembred Lege Melachim meum meum inquam meum quicquid enim didicimus tenemus nostrum est rolog in lib. Reg. Scripturas sanctas memoriter tenebat His rom calls the books of Kings his own because by the frequent use and reading of them he had got them by heart and as it were made them his own Of Paula he testifieth that she had most of the Scriptures by heart Of Nepotian likewise that with daily reading and continuall meditation he had made his heart Bibliothecam Christi the Library of Christ See my True Treasure pag. 315. Verse 5. Behold I will send you Elijab the Prophet Not Elijah the Thishite as the Septuagint corruptly read and the Popish Expositours make no smail use of it to prove that the Pope is not Antichrist because Enoch and Elias are not yet come and yet are to come in his time before the day of judgement as they sondly fable to preserve the Elect in the faith of Christ and to convert the Jews But we have better Interpreters of this Text. 1. An Angel who applies it to Iohn Baptist Luk. 1.17 2. Christ that Angel of the Covenant Mat. 17.10 11 and 11.14 Hear ye him against all Antichrists Agitatours Saint Mark begins his Gospel with these very words of Malachy to let us know that this Elias is the Baptist who is called Eliah the Prophet because of the like gifts calling and ministery office of reforming habit people with whom they dealt c. The like almost may be said of Lather a third Elias for boldnesse courage zeal knowledge successe c. But yet we see no footing in this Text for Lucas Osianders conceit viz. that the Prophet here pointed at Luther as well as at John Baptist and that men must receive his Doctrine or else look to be smitten with a curse Howbeit this is more passable and possible then that of the Jesuites who presume to controul Christs own Exposition and give out that as the Devil stirred up Luther to call the Pope Antichrist so God raised up them to resist Luther But what a mad fellow was that Spaniard of whom Severus Sulpitius writeth that professed himself first to be the Prophet Eliah and afterward when he had gained authority Lib. 1 de vita S. Martini fere in calce to be The Christ carrying himself so cunningly in his collusion that Bishop Ruffus was led away with the errour beleeving in him and adoring him as God for which he was justly deprived of his dignity Had we not need receive the truth in the love of it lest God give us up to the efficacy of errour 2 Thess 2.10 lest being first infatuated we be seduced and then being seduced we be damned as Austin glosseth on that Text before the coming of the great and dreadfull day of the Lord Great in respect of the good and dreadfull or horrible in respect of the wicked as Montanus interprets it paralelling it with Mat. 3.12 Or great because it shall be a beginning of great changes both to the godly and the ungodly and dreadfull to the bad yea and to the best also at first till they have recollected and better bethought themselves as Another senceth it as taking it of the last day which is the generall mistake of Popish Expositours and that upon this ground because Christs first coming was an acceptable time and a day of salvation But though it be so to Gods people yet to others it was terrible as hath been shewed in the Note on Chip 3. verse 2. and is so described Luke 2.34 and 3.9 17. and 19.44 Mat. 21.44 Esay 11.4 He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with his two-edged sword he shall slay the wicked See the like Râ—v 2.16 And by his Ministers he doth it still 2 Thes 2.8 2 Cor. 2.15 16. 2 Cor. 10.6 Vengeance is as ready in Christs hand as in the Ministers mouth for the disobedient Some read the words thus Before the day of the great and dreadfull Lord come like as others read that Jam. 2.1 Have not the glorious faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons Both readings are good and the Text will bear both Verse 6. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children c. John Baptists office and efficacie is here described He shall as a powerfull instrument by preaching repentance Mat. 3.2 and prevailing as he did with all sorts even to admiration so that all men mused in their hearts whether he were the Christ or not Luke 3.10 12 14 15. convert sinners from the errours of their way reduce them to the faith of the old Patriarches make them unanimous in the love of God and of one another and tye them up together as it were by his Baptisme For the multitude of beleevers were of one heart and one soul Act. 4.32 animo animaque inter se miscebantur as Tertullian phraseth it neither was there any controversie at all amongst them as One ancient Greek copy subjoyneth there Controversies there were great store among the Jews when the Baptist came As Joseph found his brethren in Dothan which signifieth Defection so did he They were all gone out of the way and being led aside by the errour of the wicked they were fallen from their own stedfastnesse Many strange opinions and dotages they had taken up and were wofully divided specially by those three different Sects Pharisees Sadduces and Essenes which the Prophet Zachary calleth three shepherds that were to be destroyed in one moneth
if in a whole lottery of thoughts he stumble haply upon God and his Name yet his heart is merely passive in it as was Sauls and Balaams it is only as a thorough-fair for such thoughts they give him a joy and away they salute him as he in the Comaedy did his fellow with good-morrow and farewell both in a breath Salve Vale. He is soon sated nay jaded and tired out at a sermon or so where he hath occasion of better thoughts then ordinary He savours not these things of God d Rom. 8 he finds no more relish in them then in the white of an egge or a dry chip Hence it comes that they soon pass away from him like Nebchadnezzars dream which himself could not remember by morning Nothing settles or ' bides with him of this nature They consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickednesse e Hos 7.2 Some transient thoughts they may have that way in cold blood other whiles but to little or no purpose They turn not short again upon themselves with the prodigall f Luc. 15.17 they sit not alone g Lam. 3 28 with the Church in the Lamentations to entertain and nourish good motions they cal not themselves to a domesticall audit 't is death to them to do any thing that way they do not commune with their own hearts upon their beds h Psal 4.4 They summon not the sobriety of their senses before their own judgements to set themselves down by right reason to argue the case with their own consciences and to say every man to himself what have I done i Ier. 8.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythag. what do I mean what doth God think of me what will he do with me what 's my case here and what will be my condition a thousand yeers hence These savoury thoughts these wholesome considerations seldome or never enter into the confines of their hearts Or if they do as sometimes they do upon some sudden unexpected evill accident as the death of a dear friend some more remarkable losse in their estates the hearing of a powerfull sermon or the like oh what shift will these men make to rid their hearts of such unwelcome guests that they may be no longer rackt and diseased by them how do they bring their buckets to quench such a spark of the spirit kindled in their breasts how do they choak and throttle before it it draw breath such a motion made them by the holy ghost desperately saying to God Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes k Iob 21.14 Casting Gods word behind them l Math. 24 39 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the old world did Noahs preaching it was even more then spilt upon them whiles they would know nothing of all that was foretold them till the flood came and swept them away as vermine hating to be healed resusing to be reformed m Ps 50.17 drowning the noise of their clamorous consciences with the hurry and clutter of worldly businesses and imployments as the old Italians in time of thunder used to shoot off their greatest ordnances to ring their biggest bells Sigon and to make all the fragour they could to drown as far as they might the noyse of the heavens that it might not affright them And for that other faculty commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make all safe there they lay fast hold upon all the principles in their heads and imprison them n Rom. 1.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaketh tearing out their soules as much as may be those common notions * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of truth and falshood right and wrong good and evill whether left in mans nature at the fall or superinducted since I will not dispute There I am sure they are by a good providence of God for the conversation of civill society till razed and rooted out or lockt up at least in restraint by such as would sin securely without disturbance till at length they arive at that dead and dedolent disposition o Eph. 4.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the debauched Heathens little differing from that of the very devils and so wrath come upon them to the utmost p 1 Thes 2.16 SECT IV. Of those that think base and bald thoughts of God BUT secondly if the bare not thinking upon God and goodnesse shew a man to bee unsanctified what shall we say of such as think of God indeed but think basely of him and unworthily cast him as it were into a dishonourable mould by those bald conceits they take up of God They become vain in their imaginations q Bon. 1 23 Ann 403. quaestio quamvis stulta ridicula videatur An Deus corporeus sit id est An divina essentia sit corpus quoddam manus habens c tamen mazimas inter Monachos Aegypti turbas excitavit Rudiores enum ex ijs aliter non semiebant Func ius Chronol Alccranus trad ◠Deum habere essentiam corpoream c. Alsted Chron. about him as those Philosophers spoken of by the Apostle that changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to a corruptible man So do many ignorant people now-adayes conceive of God and will not be beaten out of it as of an old man sitting in heaven with a crown on his head and a scepter in his hand administring his kingdome as an earthly Prince c. Others that are not altogether so grosle-witted but yeeld you that God is a spirit and not a bodily substance yet they set him not up for such a spirit as he stands desert bed in the holy Scriptures Holy pure just jealous omnipresent omniscient omnipotent recompencing the righteous and repaying the wicked to his face r Deut. 7.10 c. Of this sort of sinners were these above text that denied Gods speciall providence and care of his people c. And such amongst us are found not a few that conceive God either to be wicked altogether such an one themselves because he keeps silence at their sinnes ſ Psal 50.21 or else so made up of mercy that he will save them howsoever and not destroy the work of his own hands or lastly so ignorant and wretchlesse that although he reckon with them for other misdemeanours yet thought shall go free By beleeving and pleading of which most false proverb and pestilent principle what do they else but profane Gods spirituall nature making a meer mock and an idol of the Almighty as if he knew not mens thoughts and had no soveraignty over them But they shall find to their sorrow that God searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins t Jer. 11.20 17.10 those seats of lusts and most retired parts in all mans body Yea and kills men with death because they will not beleeve it u Rev. 2.23 That he knowes as the meaning of
three-hours darknesse especially but he delivering himself as a mighty Conquerour their horns stick fast as it were in his crosse as Abrahams ramme by his horns stuck fast in the brier c. and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom Myrrhe-trees some render it Here Christ that horseman and head of his Church keepeth himself as touched with the feeling of our infiunities Heb. 4.15 as suffering and sorrowing with his people who are fitly compared to myrtles that grow in a shady grove in vallies and bottoms and by waters sides amantes littorae myrtos Virg. Georg. Blessed are ye that sowe beside all waters Esay 32.20 Myrtles also are odoriferous and precious Esay 41.19 and 55.13 so are the Saints Esay 43.4 Colos 4.6 they cast a good scent where-ever they go by the grace of God that is in them as Alexander the Great is said to do by the excellent temperament of his body Lastly Levit. 23.40 with Neh 8.15 the Jews at their joyfull feast of Tabernacles used myrtle-branches among others to testifie their thankfulnesse for a settlement in the promised land after so long wandring in the wildernesse The Gentiles also in their solemn feasts enterludes and cingebant tempora myrto wore garlands made of Myrtle Virg. Georg Let us keep the feast Let us keep holy-day saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 5.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who himself did over-abound exceedingly with joy had an exuberancy of it at that constant feast of a good conscience Diogenes could say that a good man keeps holy-day 2 Cor 7.4 all the yeer about Christ crowneth the Kalendar of his peoples lives with continuall festivals here how much more in heaven Pliny tells us Plin. lib. 15. cap. 29. that ex myrto facta est ovantium corona subinde triumphantium of Myrtle was made among the Romans the crown or garland of those that did shout for victory or ride in triumph and behind him were there red horses i. e. horse-men Nam nimis crassum est illud commentum fuisse locutos equos saith Calvin here These horse men are Angels as verse 10. deputed to severall offices and executions for judgement foâ—mercy or both shadowed by the divers colours of their horses Verse 9. â—alvin Then said I O my Lord what are these Thus the Prophets enquired and searched diligently as saith Saint Peter 11 Epist 1.11 for the truth of things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hunters seek for game and as men seek for gold in the very mines of the earth who not content with the first oar that offereth it self to their view dig deeper and deeper till they are owners of the whole treasure See Prov. 2.4 and rest not till ye see that blissefull sight Ephes 1.18 19. and the Angel that talked with me Or in me as the Vulgar rendreth it This was some created Angel who might reveal things to the Prophet by working on the phantasie and spirit by way of information and instruction as Dan. 9.21 Luk. 1.11 Apoc. 1.1 I will shew thee what these be How ready are the holy Angels to serve the Saints Heb. 1.14 rejoycing more in their names of office then of honour of employment then preferment to be called Angels that is Messengers or Internuntio's then Principalities Thrones Dominions Ephes 1.20 accounting it better to do good then to be great to dispense Gods benefits then to enjoy them Hence they are with and about the Saints as their companions guides protectours monitours and rulers of their actions as here Verse 10. And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees The man Christ Jesus that is ever with his Church and in the midst of his people that feedeth among the lillâ—es and walketh in the middest of the seven golden candlesticks He being asked by the foresaid Angel answered him in Zacharies hearing for he is Palmoni hammedabber that excellent Speaker as Daniel calleth him and therefore asketh him of the vision Dan. 8.13 These are they whom the Lord hath sent As his Epoptai or Overseers and Intelligencers Not that God needeth them as Princes need the counsell and aid of their subjects The holy Angels receive möre from God then they performe or bring to him But he maketh use of their service about us 1. For the honour of his Majesty and comfort of our infirmity 2. To make out his love unto us by employing such noble creatures for our good 3. To make and maintain love and correspondency between us and Angels till we come to walk arm in arm with Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Zach. 3.7 and to be like unto them yea their equals Luke 20.36 if not more Ephes 1.23 Verse 11. We have walked to and fro thorow the earth Itavimus we have coursed up and down with incredible swiftnesse Hence they are called the charrets of God Psal 68.17 Heb. Gods-charret to note out their joynt-service as of one as here his horsemen ready prest to do his pleasure and behold all the earth sitteth still and is at rest excepting the Church alone which like Noah's Ark is ever tossed up and down till it rest at last on the everlasting mountain then she shall have her happy Halcyons then she shall see her enemies afar off as Lazarus did Dives or as the Israelites at the red-sea did their persecutours dead upon the shore Mean-while she must not expect to be calm and quiet for any continuance Joh. 16.33 Joh. 16.20 Esth 3.15 Esay 21.10 1 Cor. 3.9 In the world ye shall have trouble And ye shall weep and lament but the world shall rejoyce they shall revel and laugh themselves fat The king and Haman sat down to drink but the city Shushan was perplexed The Church is called Gods threshing-floor because threshed with continuall crosses and Gods-husbandry because he will be sure to plow his own ground and to make long furrows upon their backs whatsoever become of the waste and to weed his own garden though the rest of the world be let alone and grow wild Moab is not poured from vessell to vessell Jer. 48. Job 10.10 â— but setleth upon the lees when the Israel of God is poured out as milk and crudled like cheese as Job speaketh in another case Verse 12. Then the Angel of the Lord That Advocate with the Father Jesus the Juft One 1 John 2.2 who appeareth for his afflicted people and feelingly pleads for them as being afflicted in all their afflictions even the Angel of his presence that saveth them Esay 63.9 It much moved him to hear that Gods enemies were in better case then his people and this put him upon the following passionate expostulation O Lord of Hosts How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem c. Vsquequo Domine Calvin had these words much in his mouth thereby breathing out his holy desires in the behalf of the afflicted Churches Melch. Adam in vita with whose sufferings hee was more affected