become his gracious Lord c. through From such a Lord said Luther good Lord deliver me Vers 27. Wherefore come ye to me Here was his magnanimity and his modesty both in expostulating the wrongs they had done unto him He could not but be sensible of their discourtesies though he dissembled them A sheep feels the bite of a dog as well as a swine though she make no such noise Isaac having now a fit opportunity Job 6. gives them the telling of it and how forcible are right words There is a real confutation of injuries and we should consult whether in such a case it be best to deal with the wrong-doers at all by words Gods way is by works and he must get an Isaac-like temperance and prudence that thinks himself able to convince them by reason and to set them down Vers 28. Let there be now an oath See here saith Chrysostom how great the power of vertue is Quanta virtutis potentia quantum mansuetudinis robur c. Chrysost Hom. quinta Prov. 16.7 and the might of meekness For they that lately drove him out from amongst them now come to him in courtesie though a forlorn forraigner and not onely give him satisfaction but seek his friendship Thus When a mans ways please the Lord he maketh his enemies to be at peace with him Vers 29. Thou art now the blessed of the Lord This they had observed and therefore did him this honour So the King of Babylon sent Ambassadours and a Present to Hezekiah because he had heard of the miracle of the Suns going back for him Now because the Sun which was their god had honoured him so much the King of Babylon would honour him too Abulens in 2 Reg. 20. as Abulensis hath well observed Vers 30. And he made them a feast Not to mischief them thereat as Absalom did Amnon as Alexander did Philotas as the Great Turk doth the Bashaws whom he intends to strangle Turk hist but to shew there was no rancour or purpose of revenge Vers 31. And they rose up betime c. The proverb is De sero convivium de mane consilium It was the Persians barbarous manner in the midst of their cups to advise of their weightiest affairs as Pererius here noteth Ardua negotia praesertim in quibus juramentum intervenit jejuno stomacho suscipi peragique debent saith Piscator Weighty businesses are best dispatched fasting Vers 32. We have found water As crosses so mercies seldom come single but by troops as she said when her son Gad was born A company cometh Vers 33. Je Beershebah to this day So it was before Gen. 21.31 but the name was almost worn out the Well being stopped up Isaac therefore new names it and so preserves it for a monument of Gods mercy to his father and to himself Vers 34. And Esau was fourty yeers old In an apish imitation of his father who married not till that age keeping under his body and bringing it into subjection as Paul being inured by good education to hard labour prayer and pious meditation 1 Cor. 9. But Esau did not so a pleasure-monger he was a profane person and as the Hebrews say a filthy whore-master So much also the Apostle seems to intimate when he sets them together and saith Let there be no fornicator or profane person as Esau Heb. 12.16 He took to wife Not consulting his parents or craving their consent This was abdicationis praeludium Deus quem destruit dementat Vers 35. Which were a grief because idolatresses Rev. 2.2 and untractable because given up by God Hos 4.17 Rom. 1.28 XXVII Vers 1. Isaac was old and his eyes diâ— OLd-age is of it self a disease and the sink of all diseases This Solomon sweetly sets forth Eccles 12. by a continued allegory Vbi quot lumina imò flumina orationis exserit saith One. In general he calls it The evil day Eccles 12.2 3. c. expounded the yeers that have no pleasure in them In particular the Senses all fail the hands tremble the legs buckle the teeth cannot do their office as being either lost or loosened the silver cord that is the marrow of their backs is consumed the golden ewre that is the brain-pan broke the pitcher at the well that is the veins at the liver the wheel at the cistern that is the head which draws the power of life from the heart all these worn weak and wanting to their office So that sleep faileth desire faileth * Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quum â—ppetitum Veuerem irritat neither spring nor summer signified by the almond-tree and grashopper shall affect with pleasure the daughters of musick shall be brought lowe as they were in old Barzillai the sun moon and stars are darkened for any delight they take in their sweet shine yea the clouds return after rain a continual succession of miseries like April-weather as one shower is unburthened another is brewed and the skie is still over-cast with clouds Lo such is old age and is this a fit Present for God wilt thou give him the dregs the bottom the very last sands thy dotage Mal. 1.8 which thy self and friends are weary of Offer it now to thy prince will he be pleased with thee The Circassians a kinde of mongrel-Christians as they baptize not their children till the eighth yeer so they enter not into the Church the Gentlemen especially till the sixtieth yeer Brerewoods Enquires 135. but hear Divine Service standing without the Temple that is to say till through age they grow unable to continue their rapines and robberies to which sin that Nation is exceedingly addicted so dividing their time betwixt sin and devotion dedicating their youth to rapine and their old-age to repentance But God will not be so put off He is a great King and stands upon his seniority Mal. 1.14 In the Levitical Law there were three sorts of first-fruits 1. Of the ears of corn offered about the Passeover 2. Of the loaves offered about Pentecost 3. About the end of the yeer in Autumn Now of the two first God had a part but not of the last to teach us that he will accept of the services of our youth or middle-age but for old-age vix aut ne vix quidem Besides Abraham in the Old Testament and Nicodemus in the New I know not whether we read of any old man ever brought home to God Vers 2. I am old I know not the day of my death No more doth any though never so young There be as many young sculls as old in Golgotha But young men we say may die old men must die To the old Death is projanuis to the young in insidiis Senex quasi seminex Old men have pedcm in cymba Charontis one foot in the grave already Our decrepit age both expects death and sollicites it it goes groveling as groaning for the grave Ter. in Adelph Vel quod
whither they went Instar caeci oculos claufit vo cantemque Deum secuâ—us est Bucholcer But having God by the hand they knew they could not go amiss This was a blessed blinde obedience not to dispute but to dispatch to wink and put themselves into Gods hand to be led about at his pleasure to follow him without sciseitation CHAP. XII Verse 1. Now the Lord had said to Abraham BUt was not this to command him to do that which was against nature No but onely against corrupt nature which must be denyed and mortified or there is no Heaven to be had Father and friends must be hated that is not loved as Esau have I hated where they hang in our light or stand in our way to keep us from Christ Matth. 10.37 Get thee out of thy Countrey This is a hard saying to flesh and blood for Nescio qua natale solum c. But hard or not hard it must be done because God bids it and difficulty in such a case doth but whet on heroick spirits making them the more eager and resolute It pleased David well to be set to fetch a hundred foreskins of the Philistims Gods Kingdom must be taken by violence It is but a delicacy to dream of coming thither in a Feather-bed Too many with Joseph dream of their preferment but not of their imprisonment He that will be Christs Disciple here and coheire hereafter must deny himself that 's an indispensable duty Abraham was old-excellent at it And from thy kinred and fathers house Who set out fair with Abraham as did likewise Orphah with Ruth But setled in Haran which was also in Chaldea not far from Vr and would go no further after the old mans death There they had feathered their nests gathered substance and got souls that is servants vers 4. and therefore there they would set up their staff and afterwards turned again to Idolatry Gen. 31.30 53. Joshua 24.2 Many follow God as Sampson did his parents till be light upon a honycomb or as a dog doth his master till he meet with carrion and then turn him up Demas forsook God and embracing this present world became afterwards a Priest in an Idol-Temple as Dorotheus tells us Vnto a land that I will shew thee Yet told him not whither Dorotheus till he was upon the way but called him to his foot that is to follow him and his direction Isai 41.2 Magnus est animus qui se Deo tradidit saith Seneca Eundum quocunque Deus vocarit saith Another Etiamsi in ea loca migrandum esset Pigris ubi nulla lampas Arbor aestivâ recreatur aurâ Quod latus mundi nebulae malusque Jupiter urget Vers 2. And I will make of thee a great Nation Pareus in Rom. 11.25 See my true Treasure â— 297 Why then should the scornful Jews call us Nations or Gentiles in contempt yea Heathen-bastards Heathen-dogs as they do at this day Surely either themselves are of this great Goi or Nation here mentioned or else they have not Abraham to their father chuse them which I will bless thee As a father his children with all spiritual comforts and earthly contentments Eph. 1.3 Judg. 1. with the blessings of the right hand and of the left with the upper and nether springs as Caleb blessed his daughter Achsah He will give grace and glory and if that be not enough no good thing will he withhold c. Psal 84.11 Hence Moses cryes out Happy art thou O Israel Who is like unto thee c. Deut. 33.29 And make thy name great A great name then is a great blessing So David took it 2 Sam. 7.9 And it was no small comfort to him that whatever he did pleased the people Blessing and praise or good name is expressed by one and the same word in both Testaments Prov. 27.21 Onely as it is in the same Text it then proves a blessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when it is to a man as the fining pot for silver and furnace for gold when it melts us and makes us better when it works in us a care to walk worthy of the praise is given us to purge our selves from all filth that we may be as pure vessels meet for the Masters use fit to be set upon the celestial shelf as that Martyr phrased it Act. Mon. Since thou hast been precious in my sight thou hast been honorable Isai 43.4 Vertue is insteed of a thousand Escucheons And thou shalt be a blessing That is in a high degree blessed Vir bonus est commune bonum or a common blessing to all whereever thou comest who shall fare the better for thee Or a publike pattern of blessing so some Hebrews expound it Those that wish well to themselves or others shall pray God that Abrahams blessedness may befal them The contrary hereunto is now befaln his unhappy posterity for their obstinacy A curse they are become among the Gentiles In execrationibus dicunt Judaeus sim si fallo Sanct. as was foretold them Zach. 8.13 Sanctius upon that text tells us That all over Turkey they have taken it up for a curse I would I might die a Jew then And let me be a Jew if I deceive thee Vers 3. And I will bless them that bless thee Some there are that will curse those whom God blesseth but nothing so many as they that will rise up and call them blessed These are expressed here in the plural number those in the singular onely For who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good 1 Pet. 3.13 But say there be some Balaams that would curse Gods Israel or some Esaus that could wish them unblest again yet God will turn Balaams curse into a blessing Nehâ— 13.2 which is reckoned as a great favor and he will tell Esau if not in his ear yet in his conscience that Jacob is blest and he shall be blest If Isaac Gen. 27.33 drawn aside by natural affection would go about to reverse the blessing God will cause him to tremble very exceedingly and so over-aw him that he shall not be able to do it But see here as in a mirror the wonderful love of God to his children So dear they are unto him that he cannot but love all that love them and bless those that bless them They have a powerful speech in Spain He that wipes the childes nose kisseth the mothers cheek Surely as natural parents take the kindnesses and unkindnesses shewed to their children as done to themselves so doth God And in thee shall all families c. That is In thy seed as it is interpreted Acts 3.25 Gal. 3.9 16. Gen. 22.18 To wit In Christ that shall take flesh of thee as both Peter and Paul expound it Hence Christ is called the gift John 4.10 and the benefit 1 Tim. 6.2 by an excellency and the desire of all Nations Haggai 2.7 sent a purpose to
vengeance Well might K. James say that if God did leave him to kill a man he would think God did not love him David Gods darling falling into that crimson sin carried the bruise of that fall with him to his grave Woe to those Italians Sands his Relation of West Relig. Sect. 13. that blaspheme oftner then swear and murther more then revile or slander Vers 23. They stript Joseph out of his coat For 1. It was an eye-sore to them 2. Therewith they would colour their cruelty And this whiles they were doing Ioseph used many intreaties for himself but they would not hear him Gen. 42.21 Reuben also pleaded hard for the child but all to no purpose Gen. 42.22 their tender mercies were cruelties Vers 24. They cast him into a pit Where they meant he should pine and perish with hunger which is a more cruel death Druso adcò alimenta subducta ut tomentum a culcitra tentaverit mandere Tacit. then to dye by the sword Lam. 4.5 Thus dyed Drusus by the command of Tiberius meat being denyed him he had eaten the stuffings of his bed I have heard of a certain Bishop saith Melancthon who having cast ten men into a dungeon for their religion sake kept them there so long without all manner of meat that they devoured one another Joh. Manl. loc com 124. Vers 25. And they sate down to eat To weep for their wickedness they should have sate down rather But the Devill had drawn a hard hoof over their hearts that either they felt no remorse of what they had done for present or else they sought to ease themselves of it by eating and merry-making They drank wine in bowles but no man was sorry for the affliction of Joseph Nay perhaps Amos 6.8 they had so tyred themselves with making away their brother that they were even spent again and stood in need of some refreshing The good providence of God was in it howsoever that they should there sit down till the Merchants came by from Gilead which was a Mart for Merchants Ier. 8.22 22.6 All things co-operate for good to them that love God Rom. 8.28 Vers 26. What profit is it c. Cui bono said that old Judge in Rome Cic. orat pro C. Rabir. This is a song that most men will listen to As the Jassians in Strabo delighted with the musick of an excellent Harper ran all away when once they heard the Market-bell ring save a deaf old man that could take little delight in the Harpers ditties But it were to be wisht that whenever we are tempted to sin we would ask our selves this question What profit is it c. Vers 27. For he is our brother and our flesh This consideration should be as the Angels call to Abraham to stay our hand from striking another 1. That he is our brother in respect of God for have we not all one father hath not one God created us Mal. 3.10 Next that he is our flesh in regard of our first parents Act. 17.26 Esay 58.7 Vers 28. For twenty peeces of silver A goodly price not all out the price of a slave Exod. 21.32 Here they sold the just one for silver Pirke R. Eliez ch 38. and the poor for a pair of shooes Amos 2.6 The Hebrews tell us that of these twenty shekels every of the ten brethren had two to buy shooes for their feet And they brought Ioseph into Egypt Little knowing what a price they had in their hand even the Jewel of the world and him that should one day be Lord of Egypt The Saints for their worth are called Princes in all lands Many righteous are many Kings Compare Matth. 13.17 with Luk. 10.24 Psal 45. Kings in righteousness though somewhat obscure ones as Melchizedek Heb. 7. They are called the world Joh. 3.16 every creature Mark 16.16 all things Col. 1.20 Gods portion Deut. 32.9 the dearly beloved of his soul Jer. 12.7 a royal Diadem in the hand of Iehovah Esay 62.3 This the cock on the dunghill the Midianitish muck-worms take no notice of They could see no comliness in Christ though the fairest of ten thousand nothing more then a despicable man Joh. 6. How can this man give us his flesh to eat God had hid him in whom all the treasures of worth and wisdom were hid under the Carpenters son Colos 2. This pearl was covered with a shell-fish so are all Gods precious people for most part abjects in the worlds eye their glory is within their life is hid they are great heirs but as yet in their non-age Kings but in a strange country heads destinated to the diadem but this the world knows not 1 Ioh. 3.1 Let it suffice us that God and all that can spiritually discern know it and so shall others as Ioseph's brethren did him in his bravery For when Christ our life shall appear we shall appear with him in glory Vers 30. The child is not and I c In an old Manuscript I met with these words thus pathetically rendred Heu quid agam periit puer ille puer puer ille Reuben was the eldest and therefore thought he should be most blamed Besides he had not forgot how highly his father had been lately offended with him for his detestable incest Vers 32. Know now whether it be thy sons coat One Philip Bishop of Beau-vieu in France in the time of our Richard the first being a martial man and much annoying our borders was by King Richard in a skirmish happily taken and put in prison The Bishop hereupon complained to the Pope who wrote in the behalf of his son as an Ecclesiasticall person c. The King sent to the Pope the armour he was taken in with these words engraven thereon Know whether this be thy sons coat or not Heyl. Geog. pag. 108. Which the Pope viewing sware it was rather the coat of a son of Mars then a son of the Church and so bad the King use his pleasure Vers 33. It is my sons coat c. The Lord may well say as much of hypocrites Their outward from of godliness is the garb of my sons and daughters but some evil spirit hath devoured them who use it only in hypocrisie They are fair professors but foul sinners And when the filthy sinner goes damâ—ed to hell what shall become of the zealous professor As the Churl said to the Bishop of Cullen praying in the Church like a Bishop but as he was a Duke going guarded like a tyrant Whither thinkest thou the Bishop shall go when the Duke shall be damned Vers 34. Mourned for his son many dayes Puerilitas est periculorum pelagus Few live to be old for one evil beast or another that devours them As for one apple that hangs till it falls many are endgel'd down or gathered off the tree We should learn to bury children and friends whiles yet alive by acting their death to our selves aforehand
love of praise or fear of punishment but not without grief for inwardly he is scalded with boyling lust Whereas the chaste man like S. Pauls virgin 1 Cor. 7.34 is holy both in body and in spirit and this with delight out of fear of God and love of vertue Now if upon such a ground we can refuse proferred pleasures and preferments resolving rather to lye in the dust with Ioseph then to rise by wicked principles the triall is as sound as if we had indured the tortures of the rack Heb. 11. As she spake to Ioseph day by day Satan will not be said with a little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor sit down by a light repulse A man must give him a peremptory denial again and again as our Saviour did and yet the tempter departed not but for a season He is called Beelzebub that is the Master-flye because he is impudent as a flye and soon returns to the bait from which he was beaten He will be egging us again and again to the same sin and try every way to overturn us Many times he tempts by extreams Mr. Perkins as he did Mr. Iohn Knox on his death bed first to despair by setting before him his sins and when foyled there afterwards to presumption and challenging of heaven as his due for his many good works and zeal in the Scottish Reformation So he dealt here by Ioseph he first set upon him on the left hand when he sold him for a slave And when this prevailed not he sets here a Dalilah to tickle him on the right side and to tye him with the green withes of youthful pleasures Sed pari successu but he lost his labour Ioseph was semper idem famous for all the four cardinal vertues if ever any were See here in this one temptation his fortitude justice temperance prudence in that he shuns the occasion for he would not only not lye with her but not be with her saith the Text And that a man is indeed that he is in a temptation which is but a tap to give vent to corruption Exod. 23.7 Prov. 5.8 1 Cor. 6.18 To lye by her or to be with her Keep thee far from an evil matter saith Moses Come not nigh the door of the harlots house saith Solomon Flee fornication saith Paul And flye youthful lusts Not abstain from them only 2 Tim. 2.22 but flye them as ye would do a flying Serpent These are Gods commandements and they are to be kept as the sight of the eye Prov. 7.2 The Nazarite might not only not drink wine but not taste a rasin or the husk of a grape The Leper was to shave his hair Numb 7. and pare his nailes 1 Thess 5. The good Christian is taught to abstain from all appearance of evil and to hate the very garment that is spotted by the flesh The Devil counts a fit occasion half a Conquest for he knows that corrupt Nature hath a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a seed-plot of all sin which being drawn forth and watered by the breath of ill company or some other occasion is soon set awork to the producing of death Satan cozens us when he perswades us it s no conquest except we beat away the temptation yet keep the occasion by us God will not remove the temptation till we remove the occasion And in such case to pray Lead us not c. but deliver us from evil is to thrust our finger into the fire and then pray it may not be burnt A bird whiles aloft is safe but she comes not near the snare without danger Solomon thought himself wise enough to convert his wives not be corrupted by them 1 King 11.4 But it came to passe when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart after other gods c. He that can shun or remove the occasion of his own proper motion as Ioseph did hee 's the Man this is grace here 's a victory Vers 10. To do his businesse To look up his bills of account saith the Chaldee Idleness is the Devils opportunity the hour of temptation But let a man be never so busie about his lawfull employments he is to expect assaults As he is not idle so neither is Satan but walks about and spreads his snares for us in all places and businesses speaking a good word also in temptations that come from the flesh which are therefore called his messengers 2 Cor. 12.7 and by giving place to them we give place to the Devil Ephes 4.26 And there was none of the men of the house within Josephus saith that they were all gone forth to a feast and she only left at home as faining her self sick Sick she was as likewise Amnon with the lust of concupiscence which the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a disease 1 Thess 4.5 such as those which the Physitians say are corruptio totius substantiae the body and soul Quod sanitas in corpore sanctitas in corde Bern. are both tainted and rotted by it Other diseases consume only the matter of the body but this the holiness and honour of the body Other sicknesses sanctifie us but this profanes us and lets the divell into our hearts Behemoth lyeth in the fennes Iob 40.21 That is the divill in sensuall hearts Gul. Paris Ezek. 47.11 as Gul. Paris applyeth it And when the waters of the Sanctuary slowed the miry places could not be healed Vers 12. And she caught him by the garment By wanton touches and dalliance mentall adultery is oft committed He that toucheth his neighbours wife Prov. 6.29 shall not be innocent saith Solomon This is the offensive right hand that must be cut off Mat. 5.30 The harlot caught the silly simple and kissed him and with an impudent face said unto him Prov. 7.13 till a dart struck through his liver vers 23. cogit amare jecur And he left his garment in her hand This second time is Joseph stript of his garment before in the violence of envy now of lust before of necessity now of choyce before to deceive his father now his master Infamy and other misery he was sure to suffer but that must not drive from duty 2 Cor. 6.8 The Church comes from the wilderness Cant. 8.5 expounded that is through troubles and afflictions leaning on her beloved chusing rather to suffer then to sin The good heart goes in a right line to God and will not fetch a compass but strikes through all troubles and hazards to get to him It will not break the hedg of any commandement to avoid any piece of foul way The primitive Christians chose rather to be thrown to lyons without then left to lusts within Ad leonem magis quam lenonem saith Tertullian I had rather go to hell pure from sin saith Anselme then to Heaven polluted with that filth Mallem purus a peccato innocens gehennam intrare c. Potius in ardentem
Lysimachusses came of this tribe that as Sampson and David first fought with lions and then with their enemies all which were types of that lion of the tribe of Judah Rev. 5.5 The divell is a roaring lion Leo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lyes in wait for the Church but Christ her invincible Champion is ever at hand for her help who is also Leo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Paul hath it the Lion of the tribe of Iâ—dah 2 Thess 1. ult that delivereth us from the wrath to come And when this Lyon roareth all creatures tremble Amos 3.8 Saint Ambrose tells us that when the Lyon puts forth his voyce many creatures that could out-run him are so astonied at the terrour of his roar that they are not able to stir from the place And Isidore writeth that the Lions whelp for the first three dayes after it comes into the world lyeth as it were asleep and is afterwards rouzed and raised by the old Lions roaring which makes the very den to shake Christ at the last day shall come with the voyce of the Archangell and trump of God c. And then shall they that sleep in the dust of death awake some to everlasting life and some to everlasting horrour and amazement Dan 12.2 Vers 10. Till Shiloh come Shiloh is by some expounded Vsque dum venturae erunt secundinae ejus id est Judae ut masculin genua in Heb. ostendit Athemate Shalab unde Shaluab Tranquillitas Unde Lat. Salvere Salvus salvare Amama Sub Augustâ— cuncta atque continua totius generis humani aus pax fuit aut pactio Flor. hist l. 4. the son of his secundines The Hebrew word implyes His son and Her son that is the son of the Virgin that came of the line of Iudah Secundines are proper to women He therefore whom Secundines alone brought forth without help of man is Christ alone the promised seed Others render Shiloh Tranquillator Salvator The Safe-maker The Peace-maker The Prosperer This Prince of Peace was born in a time of peace not long after that Pompey had subdued Iudaea to the Romane Government and reduced it into a Province Then was the Scepter newly departed from Iudah and Herod an Edomite made King of the Country And unto him shall the gathering of the people be As unto the standard-bearer Cant. 5.10 the carkase Matth. 24.28 the desire of all nations Hag. 2.7 with Heb. 12.25 Totus ipse desideria saith the Church Cant. 5.16 and When I am lifted up saith He I will draw all men after me Joh. 12.32 they follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth as the hop and heliotrope do the sun Vers 11. Binding his foal unto the vine Vines shall be so plentiful that as Country-men tye their asses to briars and shrubs so shall Judah to the vines that shall grow thick every where Where Christ is set up in the power and purity of his ordinance there is usually a confluence of all inward and outward comforts and contentments He is the Cornu-copia of both to his Church and chosen Vers 12. His eyes shall be red c. Wine and milk are used to signisie plenty of spiritual blessings in heavenly things Esay 55.1 25.6 Vers 13. Act. 17. Zebulun shall dwell c. It is God that appoints us the bounds of our habitations Be content therefore and although we have not all things to our minds yet having God for our portion let us cry out with David The lines are fallen unto me in a fair place c. Zebulon is placed by the sea-side Now shore men are said to be borridi immanes latrociniâ—â— dediti omnium denique pessimi Hence the Proverb Maritimi mores And hâ—â—ce haply that rash and harsh character that Scalâ—ger gives of us Scal. de re Poet. cap. 16. Heyl. Geog. p. 468. Angli pâ—rfidi inflati feri contemptores stolidi amentes inertes inhâ—â—pitales immanes His bolt you see saith One is soon shâ—t and so you may haply guess at the quality of the Archer Be it that our Ancestors were such yet the Gospel hath civilized us at least whatever the more be Christ left Nazareth and came and dwelt at Capernaum which is upon the sea-coast in the borders of Zabulon and Napbtali Ever since which The people which sate in darkness have seen a great light c. Matth. 4.13 16. And when Gilead abode beyond Jordan and came not to the help of the Lord against the mighty Reuben was busic about his sheep Dan about his ships Asher about his breaches c. Zabulon and Naphtali are much commended Judg. 5.16 17 18. for a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field that studied and promoted the publike more then their own pirticular interests Oh it is a brave thing to be of a pablike spirit and to study Gods ends more then our own Surely if â—od saw us to be such we might have what we would and God even think himself beholden to us Shall a Heathen say Cicero Loel Non nobis solùm nati sumus c. And again Mihi non minoris curae est qualis resp post meam moâ—tem futura sit quam qualis hodiè sit And shall Christians be all for themselves looking only to their own things and not to the things of one another the common good of all â—specially S. Chrysostome upon those words 1 Cor. 10.33 Not seeking mine own profit c. saith that to seek the publike good of the Charch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to prefer the salvation of others before his own safety and commodity is the most perfect Canon of Christianity the â—â—â—ghest pitch of perfection the very toâ—-gallant of Religion And I could not but love the man saith Theodosius the Emperour concerning Ambrose who when he dyed Magis de Ecclesiarum statu quam de suis periculis angebatur was more troubled for the Churches troubles then for his own dangers This made the same good Emperour say that he knew none that deserved to be called a Bishop but Ambrose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paul n. Nolan in vita Amb. He was called the walls of Italy whiles he lived As when he dyed Stilico the Earl said that his death did threaten the destruction of that whole country Vers 14. Issachar is a streng asse c. He so commends his strength that withal he condemns his dulness This Christ can so little abide that he said even to Judas That thou doest do quickly God utterly refused an asse in sacrifice The firstling of an asse must either be redeemed or have his neâ—â— broke Bellarmine gives the reason and it is a very good one quia tardum pigrum animal because it is a slow sluggish creature segnis quasi seignis without fire heavy to action which God who is himself a pure act cannot abide Vers 15. And he saw that rest was good He submitted to any burdens
say It was a merry world before there was so much preaching and teaching In terris manducant quod apud inferos digerant Aug. And ye shall eat Flesh with a vengeance which ye shall eat on earth but disgest in hell Vers 20. But even a whole moneth Deus saepè dat iratus quod negat propitius Patientia Dei quo diuturnior eò minacior Poena venit gravior quò magis sera venit Gods forbearance is no quittance fatted beasts are but fitted for the slaughter wicked men are killed with kindnesses Ease slayeth the foolish Prov. 1.32 Vers 21. Six hundred thousand foot-men In the conquest of Canaan there is no mention of horsemen The adversaries both Egyptians and Canaanites had horses and chariots not so this people of Israel See Psal 33.17 Vers 22. Or shall all the fish of the Sea Moses forgat belike the fowls of the ayr but God sent them such a drift of quailes as Moses dream't not of he fed them with meat of Kings bread of Angels Vers 23. And the Lord said unto Moses God bears with Moses here which afterwards he did not Num. 20.12 because then he shewed his distrust before the people God will not pass by the scandalous practices of his own people without a sensible check Vers 24. And set them round about the Tabernacle That the fear of the Lord might be upon them c. 2 Chron. 19.6 7. and that they might carry themselves worthy of God who had set them in place of Judicature To the company of the Areopagites Judges in Athens none were admitted but wise wealthy and noble men famous for good life and innocency Nay men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose behaviour was intolerable after they were chosen into the Colledg of the Areopagites abhorring and blushing at their former disposition changed their natures and embraced vertue Vers 25. Took of the spirit See the Note on vers 17. They prophesied Nec praedicendo nec praedicando but by uttering grave and wise sentences Apophthegmes or counsels as Moses did concerning the publike affairs of Israel by politicall and prudential speaking of things appertaining to government Vers 26. But there remained two of the men Being stayed by some lawful occasion as 1 Sam. 20.26 Jer. 36.5 or haply out of sense of their own insufficiency as 1 Sam. 10.22 Howsoever hereby it appeared to all the people that these seventy Seniours were set apart by God for the service Vers 27. And there ran a young man Three manner of persons said Mr. Latimer can make no credible information 1. Adversaries and enemies 2. Ignorant persons and without judgment 3. Whisperers and blowers in mens ears that will utter in hugger-mugger more then they dare avow openly Vers 18. My Lord Moses forbid Thus the spirit that is in us lusteth to envy Jam. 4.5 Nero omnium erat aemulus qui quoquo modo animum vulgi moverint Nero envyed every man that excelled Vers 29. That all the Lords people This is not meant of a salvificall teaching others but a political discoursing unto others See the Note on ver 25. Vers 32. And they spread them They fed without fear Jude 12. though foretold they should pay dear for these murthering morsels ver 20. that which they eat being saweed and that which they drank being spiced with the bitter wrath of God Job 20.23 Vers 34. They buried the people Who by a hasty testament bequeathed this new name to the place they lay buried in CHAP. XII Vers 1. ANd Miriam and Aaron spake She is set first because chief in the transgression Her discontent might arise from this that being a Prophetess she was not one of those seventy that were chosen to be helps in government Chap. 11. According to her name Miriam would be exalted Ambition rides without reins Because of the Ethiopian woman Zipporah the Midianitesse see Habac. 3.7 to whom he had been married many years before but they were resolved to pick a hole in Moses's coat An ungodly man diggeth up evil Prov. 16.27 but for Moses to be thus used by his own brother and sister was some triall of his patience To be derided by Egyptians is threatned as a misery Hos 7.16 but to be reproached by professors is very grievous Zedekiah feared more to be mocked by the Jews then by the Chaldees Jer. 38.19 For he had married an Ethiopian That was an old fault if any and should have been buried in oblivion Luther married a wife unseasonably when all Germany was now embroyled and embrewed in the blood of the Bores and when all Saxony was in heaviness for the death of their good Prince Elector Frederick This his best friends disliked and bewailed Mel. Epist ad Camerar As for Melancthon Quoniam vero inquit ipsum Lutherum quâ—dammodò tristiorem esse cerno perturbatum ob vitae mutationem omni studio benevolentia consolari eum conor Because I see him somewhat cast down saith He at the late change of his condition I strive all I can to comfort him Vers 2. Hath the Lord spoken only by Moses Every man would be something at home and many care not to raise themselves upon other mens ruines Self-love teacheth such to turn the glass to see themselves bigger others lesser then they are That man hath true light that can be content to be a candle before the Sun of others And the Lord heard it Without any delation of Moses But while Moses is dumb God speaks while he is deaf God hears and stirres The more silent the patient is the more shrill his wrong will be Vers 3. Now the man Moses was very meek So free from passions if Josephus may be believed that he knew no such thing in his own soul he only knew the names of such things and saw them in others rather then in himself Of Beza it is said quòd sine felle vixerit that he was without gall or guile and he lived to a great age as Moses did and as Mr. Dod did their meekness preserved them Above all the men And yet Moses could be angry enough when there was cause Exod. 11.8 16.20 Levit. 1â— 16 Numb 16.15 c. Yea how blessedly blown up was he with a zeal for God Exod. 32.19 and what a stomack shews he in that case Nazianzen saith of Athanasius that he was Magnes Adamas a Load-stone in his sweet gentle drawing nature and yet an Adamant in his resolute stout carriage against those that were evil Vers 4. And the Lord spake suddenly God takes his part ever that fights not for himself Christ that said I seek not mine own glory adds But there is one that seeks is and judgeth Here he appears as a swift witness Mal. 3.5 c. a sharp revenger of his servants injuries The rule is Injuria illata legato redundat in legantem Wrong done to a messenger reflects on him that sent him Vers 7. My servant Moses is not so God had never so
strain vade tibi Get thee gone Gen. 12.1 Gen. 22.2 Here God led Abraham into temptation but delivered him from evill Have you not been tempted saith a Holy man in this or that kinde It is because God in mercy would not lead you into temptation Baines Letters Yea this is in some sort more to be acknowledged then victory when you are tempted For not to be tempted is more immediately from God and less in mans power then to prevail against temptation Sith nothing doth overcome us against our will but without our will God doth lead us into triall for he knoweth we would taste little of these if we might be our own carvers Vers 3. And Abraham rose up early c. To shew his prompt and present obedience He neither consulted with his wife nor with his own reason Exod. 4. She might have haply hung upon him and hindered him as Zipporah did Moses to the hazarding of his life He captivates all the powers of the soul to his Creator goes after him without sciscitation and so shews himself to be renewed in the spirit of his minde that is in his naturall reason for that like an old Beldam is the mother and nurse of all our distempers and outstrayes Cassianus tells us of a young man that had given himself up to a Christian life And his parents Cassianus misliking that way wrote letters to disswade him from it which when he knew he would not once open them but threw them in the fire Let us do so by the suggestions of flesh and blood and the counsell of carnall friends or we shall never rest and feast in Abrahams bosome I know not by what reason said Borthwick the Scotch Martyr they so called them my friends Act Mon. fol. 1157. which so greatly laboured to convert me as they called it neither will I more esteem them then the Madianites which in time past called the children of Israel to do sacrifice to their Idols Vers 4. Then on the third day A great while for him to be plodding ere he came to the place But we must conceive that his brains were better busied then many of ours would have been therewhile We must not weigh the cross for then it will prove heavy we must not chew the pill but swallow it whole else it will prove bitter We must not plod too much but ply the Throne of Grace for a good use and a good issue of all our trialls and tribulations Vers 5. Abide you here with the Asse This the Hebrews use for a proverb against such as are dull and uncapable Zophar saith That man is born as a wild-asses-colt As an Asses foal for rudeness and a wild-asses for unruliness Job 11.11 It imports that he is untamed and untractable till a new heart be put into him Agur had not the understanding of a man till he spake to Ithiel and Vcall for it Prov. 30.1 2. He wants the totum hominis that doth not fear God and keep his Commandements Eccles 12.13 Tu Asinus unum estote Alex. Cook his Abatement of Popish brags Epist will not do it which was the counsell given to a young Novice entring a Monastery And come again to you Nesciens formam rei futurae prophetavit sciens de eventu prophetavit quod ignoravit saith Amb. Vers 6. And laid it upon Isaac his son Who was herein a lively type of Christ bearing the cross whereon he was offered up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Plutarch speaking of the Roman fashion of crucifying malefactors And surely it was by a wonderfull providence of God that the Jews brought our Saviour to Pilate to be put to death sith they hated nothing more then to confirm or countenance the Roman tyranny among them by any means Hence Gamaliel gave counsell to dismiss the Apostles Act. 5.38 And hence the chiefe Priests and Rulers took it so exceeding haynously that Paul was taken out of their hands by the chiefe Captain Act. 23. But God had a hand in it that this and other types and Scriptures might be fulfilled that foretold the very manner of his death on a tree Let the Jews stumble now at the cross and fall backward Let the Gentiles jear us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 borreo dicere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In vita peregr Omnis homâ— aut est cum Christo regnaturus aut cum Diabolo cruciandus Aug. Justin l. 18. as Luciâ—n doth for that we deny the multitude of their gods and yet believe in a crucified God Let us desire to know nothing but Christ and him crucified and if ever we desire to be Kings in heaven and every man must be aut Caesar aut nullus a King or a caytiffe Let us seek by the eye of faith to see the Sun of righteousness in the West as Stratoes servant taught him Let us look upon Christ hanging on the cross dying on that Altar and we shall live for ever Vers 7. Where is the Lamb for a burnt offering Isaac was not to be told now what belonged to a sacrifice He had been long since taught by his father what was to be done in the service of God When I was young my father taught me saith Solomon Prov. 4.4 so did his mother also Primas in Philip Greg. Moral l. 27. c. 14. Prov. 31. in her Lemuels lesson Plantas tenellas frequentius adaquare proderit saith Primasius Vers 8. God will provide himself a Lamb A pious and precious Proverb much to be mused on and made use of Qui finxit alas papilioni is curabit omma when we are in an exigent and see not whither to turn us Then say Deus viderit God will with the temptation also give an issue 1 Cor. 10.13 Necesse est adesse divinum ubi humanum cessat auxilium saith Philo. Sciat etiam Celsitudo vestra saith Luther in a letter to the Prince Elector of Saxony Sâ—uâ—tet Ann. I would your Highness should well know that businesses are far otherwise carried and concluded in heaven then at the Diet at Norinberg c. And to Phillip Melancthon he writes thus Si nos ruemus ruet Christus unà ille regnator mundi esto ruat c. Sed scribo haec frustrà quia tu Scuâ—tet Annal secundùm philosophiam vestram has res ratione regere hoc est ut ait ille cum ratione insanire pergis occidis teipsum nec vides prorsus extra manum tuam consilium positam esse causam etiam extra curam tuam velle agi Vers 9. And they came to the place Mount Moriah where the Temple was afterwards built This was a little from Salem 2 Chron. 3.1 as Mount Calvary also was a little from Jerusalem And bound Isaac his son Who strugled not neither resisted though able for his age being twenty five year old as Josephus makes him others thirty three to have overmastered his old father He was
acquainted with Gods counsell saith Luther wherein he rested Yet he was bound 1. For that the rite of sacrifices so required â—ee 2 King 10.12 2. Lest any involuntary motion by pangs of death should be procured Whence divers of the Martyrs as Ridley Rawlins c. desired to be bound fast to the stake lest the flesh should play its part Râ—â—â—ins when the Smith cast a chain about him at the stake I pray you good friend said he Knock in the chain fast for it may be Act. Mon. â—ol 1415. that the flesh would strive mightily But God of thy great mercy give me strength and patience to abide the extremity Nâ—ture at death will have a bout with the best whether he dye as Elisâ—a slowly or as Eliah suddenly Vers 10. And Abraham stretched forth his hand c. What Painter in the world can possibly express the affection of Abraham when thus he bound his son and bent his sword Surely that Painter that set forth the sacrificing of Iphigenia Aspiâ—â— vulius ecce meos utiâ—amque â—culos in pectora po es Inserâ—re Sol Phetonti apud Ovid 1 Cor. 3. would here also have drawn Abraham as he did Agamemnon with his face veyled as not able to delineate his unconceivable grief But a man in Christ is more then a man and can do that that other men cannot reach unto It was a matter of blame to the carnall Corinthians that they walked as men And our Saviour looks for some singular thing to be done by those that pretend to him Matth. 6.47 Abraham had denyed himself in his beloved Isaac and therefore went an end with his work hard though it were Another that hath not done so shall finde a heavy business of it an unsupportable burden Sozomen tells of a certain Merchant whose two sons being taken captives Sozom l. c. 14. and adjudged to dye he offered himself to dye for them and withall promised to give the Souldiers all the gold he had They pitying the poor mans calamity admitted of his request for one of his sons which he would but let them both scape they could not because such a number must be put to death The miserable man therefore looking at and lamenting both his sons could not finde in his heart to make choice of either as overcome with an equall love to them both but stood doubting and deliberating till they were both slain At the siege of Buda in Hungary there was among the German Captains a Noble-man called Erkius Raschachius whose son a valiant young Gentleman being got out of the Army without his fathers knowledge bore himself so gallantly in fight against the enemy in the sight of his father and the Army that he was highly commended of all men and especially of his father that knew him not at all Yet before he could clear himself he was compassed in with the Enemy and valiantly fighting slain Raschachius exceedingly moved with the death of so brave a man ignorant how near he touched himself turning about to the other Captains said This noble Gentleman whatsoever he be is worthy of eternall commendation and to be most honourably buried by the whole Army As the rest of the Captains were with like compassion approving his speech the dead body of the unfortunate son rescued was presented to the most miserable father which caused all them that were there present Tuâ—kish hist to shed tears But such a sudden and inward grief surprized the aged father and struck so to his heart that after he had stood a while speechless with his eyes set in his head he suddenly fell down dead Anno Dom. 1541. Heb. 11. And took the knife to slay his son The Apostle saith He did offer him up a slain sacrifice God took it in as good part as if indeed he had done it because he would have done it Every man is so good before God are he truely desires to be Bernard In vitae libro scribuntur omnes qui quod possunt faciunt etsi quod debent non possunt saith one Father And another Augustin Basil Tota vita boni Christiani sanctum desiderium est Ambulas siamas Non enim passibus and Deum sed affectibus currimus Tantùm velis Deus tibi praeoccurret saith a Third Vers 11. And said Abraham Abraham Twice for hastesake yet not at all till the very instant When the knife was up the Lord came God delights to bring his people to the Mount yea to the very brow of the hill till their feet slip and then delivers them He reserves his holy hand for a dead lift Onely be sure you look to your calling for it was otherwise with Jepthta Judg. 11. whom St. Augustin calls facinorosum improbum a lewd and naughty man in his questions upon the Old Testament What then would he have said to Thomas the Anabaptist Stumpf. l. 5. who beheaded his brother Leonard in the sight of his parents at Sangall in France Anno 1526. pretending the example of Abraham As did likewise those odious Idolaters of old that offered their children in sacrifice to Moloch in the valley of Hinnom which was so called because the poor child put into the arms of the red-hot image was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nohem that is roaring or because the Priests comforting the parents said Condimeâ—tum crit tibi Jalkut â—n Jerem. Jeheunâ—h Lach. It shall be profitable or pleasant to thee as Kimchi hath it So because Abraham planted a grove to serve God in Gen. 21.33 the Devil Gods Ape set the blind Heathens a work to plant a thicket near the altar of their god ' Priapus whereinto his worshippers stepped when the sacrifice was ended and there like bruit beasts promiscuously satisfied their lusts thereby as they conceived best pleasing their God which was the true cause as it seems that the true God commanded that no Groves should be planted near the place of his worship and if any were they should be cut down Vers 12. Lay not thine hand upon the Lad As he was about to do having armed his pious hand not onely with the knife but with faith that works by love as had likewise David when going against the Giant he slyes upon him Bucholcer perinde ac si fundae suae tunicis non lapillum sed Deum ipsum induisset aâ— implicuisset Now I know that thou fearest me With a fear of love Hos 3.5 Fulgentius And here that of Fulgentius is true and taketh place Deum siquis parùm metuit valdè contemnit hujus qui non memorat beneficentiam auget injuriam God knew Abrahams fear before but now he made experience of it Nunc expertus sum saith Junius Nune omnibus declarasti saith Chrysost Vers 13. Behold behind him a Ram Belike the Angell called behinde him which when he turned to listen to he spied the Ram caught in a thicket Heb. Sabâ—ech which signifies the perplexity winding or
he might be put to death instead of his father This he obtained after much suite and most gladly dyed for him At Gaunt in Flanders when a father and his son were condemned to dye together the Earl desirous to make trial whether of the two were more loving granted that he should live that would cut off the others head And after much adoe between them the father Philip. Cameâ—ar Cent. 1. cap. 92. by many arguments perswaded his son to be his executioner CHAP. XLV Vers 1. Then Joseph could not refrain NO more can Jesus in the extream afflictions of his brethren Esay 42.14 he must cry like a travelling woman which though she bite in her pain for a while cannot long contain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herodot As Croesus his dumb son burst forth into Kill not King Croesus so when the Church is over-laid by Satan or his instruments his bowels work he can hold no longer but cryes Save my child Do the young man Absolom no hurt I was but a little displeased and they have helped forward the affliction Zach. 1.15 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies or bowels Their groans and moans as every word of Judah's pathetical speech to Joseph are as so many darts and daggers at his heart he must take course for their relief and rescue For he is a very tender-hearted Ioseph said that Martyr and though he speak roughly to his brethren and handle them hardly M. Sanders Act. and Mon. 1â—64 yea and threaten grievous bondage to his best beloved Benjamin yet can he not contain himself from weeping with us and upon us with falling on our necks and sweetly kissing us c. as he sweetly goes on in a letter to his wife pray pray for us every body we be shortly to be dispatched hence to our good Christ Amen Amen Cause every man to go out from me That he might weep his fill and not discover his brethrens faults to strangers It is wisdome in plaistering the wounds of others to clap our hand on the place that the world may be never the wiser Mercer thinks that Ioseph concealed from his very father the hard dealings of his brethren with him for if he had known he would likely have set some note upon them for their cruelty as he did upon Simeon and Levi for their bloody butchering of the Shechemites Vers 3. I am Joseph What a word was that At the hearing thereof what a strange conflict of contrary passions fell out in the hearts of the Patriarchs Wonder doubt reverence fear hope guiltiness joy grief struck them at once Shall it not be so with the Jews at their glorious conversion when they shall hear I am Jesus of Nazareth Zach. 12.10 Rev. 1.7 whom ye have persecuted and pierced See the Notes on Chap. 38. ver 27. Vers 4. I am Ioseph your brother Therefore you are to expect no hard sentence from a brothers mouth Christ is not ashamed nor will be at last day to call us brethren Pattern of Piety He that was willingly judg'd for me said that good woman will surely give no hard sentence against me We may say boldly to him as Ruth did to Boaz Spread thy skirt over me for thou art a neer kinsman Ruth 3.9 Vers 5. Now therefore be not grieved c. See here a lively image of Christs love toward his enemies for whom he prayed and dyed to give them repentance and remission Act. 5.31 This Angel of the Covenant first troubles the waters and then cures those cripples that step in This Sun of righteousness first draws up vapours of godly grief and then dispells them A bruised reed shall he not break and smoaking wick shall he not quench Mat. 12.20 till he bring forth judgment to victory that is weak grace to perfection To preserve life Animant is cujusque vita in fugaest saith the Philosopher and must be maintained by means Isai 57.10 Hence it is called the life of our hands because upheld by the labour of our hands Vers 7. God sent me before you He it is that by a powerfull providence orders all the disorders of the world by a certain counsell to his own ends and at length to his own glory The hands that nailed Christ to the cross were wicked hands Act. 2. 23. And Iudas was sent to his place for being guide to them that took Iesus And yet they did no more Act. 1.16 then what Gods hand and counsell determined before to be done Act. 4.28 for his glory and the salvation of his elect This Pliny derides as a strange doctrine but Plato hammers at it when he saith Irridendum verâ— curam agere rerum humanarum illuâ— quicquid est summum Plin. lib. 2. cap. 7. that God doth always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indeed he doth all in number weight and measure as the wise-man saith He alters the property of his peoples afflictions and by an Almighty Alchymy turns dross to gold c. As a skilfull Apothecary he makes of a poisonfull viper a wholesome triacle Vers 8. It was not you that sent me Ioseph makes the best of an ill matter that they may not be over-whelmed with grief Ier. 31.19 Postquam osten sum fuerit mihi Tremell and so made a prey to the divell 2 Cor. 2.11 After I was made known to my self saith Ephrahim I repented Get thee saith Mr. Bradford Gods Law as a glass to look in so shalt thou see thy face foul-arraieâ— and so shamefull saucy mangy pocky and scabbed that thou canst not but be sorry at the contemplation thereof c. Especially if thou look to the tag M. Bradf Serm. of Repent pag. 26.27 tied to Gods Law the malediction which is such as cannot but make us to cast our currish tailes betwixt our legs if we believe it But here to cleer our eye-sight and keep us upright we must annoynt our eyes with Christs eye-salve Rev. 3.17 We read of a sensible eye-salve made of Christs spittle and clay Ioh. 9.6 As it were Bright in loc of the knowledg of Christ by his word which proceedeth out of his mouth as also of the knowledg of our selves who being made of earth do savour nothing else but earth Both of these two knowledges are to be joyned and beaten together in a lumpe else they help not For our misery acknowledged without Christ breedeth desperation and Christ without sence of our vileness presumption Vers 9. Come down unto me tarry not Christ seems to send from Heaven and say unto us in like sort God hath made me Lord of all come up unto me tarry not Should the King call us to court upon no other condition then to have and enjoy the pleasures and treasures there to be had old Iacob never went so willingly into Egypt as we should gladly accept and imbrace such a motion Vers 10. Thou shalt be neer unto me So sweet
a comfort to friends Cyprian epist that death it self is called but a departure This the heathen persecutours knew and therefore banished the Christian Confessours far asunder One man may be by his counsell an Angell to another Ezra 10.3 As Bradford was to D. Taylour in prison communion with such 1 Sam. 25. is the being bound up in the bundle of life which was the blessing of Abigail upon David St. Iohn trusted to come unto the Elect Lady 2 Ioh. 12. and speak face to face that their joy might be full When one desired to see Alexanders treasure he bid one of his servants shew him not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liban Progyn Chria 1. Ioh 15.14 not his wealth but his friends What an honour is that that Christ should say to us ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you And should say to his Father Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me Ioh. 17.24 1 Tim. 5.4 A thenis capitale suit parentibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non persolvere Melancth Not. in Hesiod Plin. I 10. c. 23. Propriam matrem crudeliter deverat currucam silicat Melancth Mures genitores fuos alunt infigal pietate Sphinx Philos p. 230. Macrob. lib. 1. Satur. cap. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ariston de Mundo cap. 6. be with me were I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me what could Ioseph say more for his father and brethren Vers 11. And there will I nourish thee To requite parents is good and acceptable before God At Athens it was death not to be kinde to parents and cherish them The Stork nourisheth her old sire and damme with admirable piety saith Pliny and is therefore called by the Hebrews Chasidah or Mercifull and by the Latines Pietati-cultrix The cuckooe on the other side is worthily hated for that she cruelly devoureth her own damme the hedge-sparrow saith Melancthon Mice are said to nonrish their old ones that cannot shift for themselves insigni pietate Cornelius among the Romans got the name of Scipio by his kindness to his blind father to whom he was the staff of his old age as Macrobius relateth And Aristotle tels a strange story how that when from the hill Aetna there ran down a torrent of fire that consumed all the houses thereabouts in the midst of those fearfull stames Gods speciall care of the godly shined most brightly For the river of fire parted it self and made a kinde of lane for those who ventured to rescue their aged parents and pluck them out of the jawes of death Our Saviour much distasted and detested that damnable doctrine of the Pharisees teaching children to starve their parents Matth. 15. under pretence of devotion And what would he have said to the Popish Pharisees that say that a Monk may not leave his cloister to relievo his father but rather let him dye for hunger in the streets Christ upon his Cross though as full of sorrow as heart could cold commâ—â—ded his mother to be kept by the Disciple whom he loved with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 19.27 Agreeable whereunto was that speech of the Samians I give thee this woman for a mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when to the richer of the Citizens the Mothers of those who dyed in the wars were given to be maintained by them Vers 13. And you shall tell my father So the Lord Christ bad Mary Magdalen tell his Disciples and Peter because he was most dejected for denying his Master and in his dumps he must know with the first I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God Vers 14. And he fell upon his brother c. Gods people are not senseless Stoicks or flinty Nabals but have natural affections in them as others yea above others that have banished good nature and can weep as little as witches The enemy hath stopt the Wells and staid the water-courses as Holophernes what should hinder him now from taking the town Vers 16. It pleased Pharaoh well and his servants And therefore his servants because Pharaoh For Aulici sunt instar speculi saith Pareus Courtiers are their Princes looking-glasses If he laugh so do they where he loves they love in pretence at least Cic. de Divinatione lib. 2. for all 's but counterfeit And here Potest Augur Augurem videre non ridere saith Cato in Tully The Senate gave publike thanks to the gods for all that Nero did even when he had killed his mother though they never so much abhor'd it When he sang at any time though it were never so ill for he had a small harsh voyce his Courtiers would sooth him up with Quam pulcher Caesar Apollo Augustus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio in Norone c. And because he hated the Senate notwithstanding all their flatteries Vatinius was greatly in favour with him for saying Odi te Caesar quòd Senator es Parasiti principum sputa instar canum lingunt Vers 17. And Pharaoh said unto Ioseph Pharaoh is good to Jacob and his house for Ioseph's sake so is God to us and ours for Jesus sake As any man was intimate with Sejanus so he found favour with Tiberius Ut quisque Sâ—jano lâ—timus it a ad Caesaris amicitiam valiâ—usâ— contra quibus inseâ—sus esset metu ac sordidus conflictabantur Tacit. Matth. 11. As if any were at odds with him they lived in continual danger and durance saith Tacitus so here O miserabilis humana conditio sine Christo vanum omne quod vivimus saith S. Hierome Epitaph Nep. tom 1. p. 25. O the misery of those that be without Christ in the world Vers 8. Come unto me and I will give you c. So saith Christ Come unto me and ye shall find rest to your souls health to your bones all the blessings of this life and a better Say you meet with some trouble by the way as haply Iacob had foul weather erc he came down to Egypt Non sunt condignae passiones ad praeteritam culpam quae remittitur ad praesentis consolationis gratiam quae immittitur ad futuram gloriam quae promittitur saith Bernard sweetly What is a drop of vineger put into an Occan of wine No country hath more venemous creatures then Egypt none more Antidotes So godliness saith One hath many troubles and as many helps against trouble Vers 19. Take you wagons out of the land of Egypt Christ also will send his wagons for us his Cherubims and clouds to fetch us up to him to heaven at the last day 1 Thess 4.15 as they did Moses and Elias Matth. 17. This David foresaw and therefore envied not the pomp and state of those men of Gods hand that are whirled here up and down in wagons and chariots c. Psal 17.14 15. Vers 20. Also regard not your stuff The same saith God to