times of the Gospel imported the same Notion And the Government shall be upon his shoulders The Power and Majestie of the Kingdom is committed to him by his Father chap. 22.22 with Matth. 28.18 and he hath strength enough to manage it Princeps est hajulus Reip. The Hebrews call a Prince Nassi because Atlas-like he is to bear up the Common-wealth and not to overload his Subjects Christ both as Prince of his Church and as High-Priest also beareth up and beareth out his people helping their infirmities Rom. 8.26 See the Note And his Name shall be called Heb. He shall call his Name 1. God his Father shall or every true Believer shall call him and count him all this And sure it is had we but skill to spell all the Letters in this Name of Christ Prov. 18.10 it would be a strong Tower unto us better then that of David builded for an Armoury and compleatly furnished Cant. 4.4 Compare this Text with 1 Cor. 1.30 and see all our doubts answered Are we perplexed He is our wonderful Counsellour and made unto us of God Wisdom Are we in depths of distress He is the mighty God our Redemption Want we Grace and his Image He is the Everlasting Father our Sanctification Doth the guilt of sin sting us He is the Prince of peace our Righteousness Wonderful Heb. A Miracle or Wonder viz. in all his Counsels and Courses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symmach Ipsa admirabilitas A Lap. especially for his Glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders Exod. 15.11 Counsellour The Septuagint here calleth Him the Angel of the great Counsel Rev. 1.13 He is set forth as cloathed with a garment down to the foot which is the Habit of Counsellors at Law who are therehence called Gentlemen of the long Robe See Rev. 3.17 Prov. 8.14 Jer. 32.19 But because Counsellors are but Subjects it is added in Christs stile The mighty God Able to effect his own Counsels for the behoof of his Subjects Saint Paul calleth him the great God Tit. 2.13 and God above all to be blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 God the Potentate so the Sept. render this Text God the Giant so Oecolampadius The Everlasting Father The Father of Eternity the King Eternal Immortal 1 Tim. 1.17 Ferdinand the Emperour on his death bed would not acknowledge the Title Invictissimus but commanded his Counsellour to call him Ferdinand without more addition Christ is also the Author of Eternity to all his people whom he hath begotten again to an Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for them 1 Pet. 1.3 4. The Prince of peace Pacis omnimodae of all kinds of peace outward inward of countrey and of conscience temporal and eternal Of all these he is the Prince as having full power to bestow them for he is son to the God of peace Rom. 16.20 He was brought from Heaven with that song of peace Luc. 2.14 He himself purged our sins and made our peace Heb. 1.3 Eph. 2.14 Returned up to Heaven with that farewel of peace Joh. 14.27 Left to the world the Gospel of peace Eph. 2.17 Whose Ministers are messengers of peace Rom. 10.15 Whose followers are the children of peace Luk. 10.6 c. Wherefore Christ doth far better deserve then our Hen. 7. did to be stiled the Prince of peace Especially since Ver. 7. Of the increase of his government there shall be no end Here the Mem final in the middle of the word Lemarbeh hath occasioned some to give many guesses at the reason of it yea to conceit many mysteries where wiser men can find no such matter It is a good note which One giveth here viz. that the more Christs government increaseth in the soul the more peace there is See chap. 32.17 Psal 119.136 To establish it Or support it uphold it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A King hath his name in Greek from being the foundation of the people This King of Kings is only worthy of that name he is not maintained and supported by us our Subsidies but we by him and by the supplies of his Spirit Philip. 1.19 All our springs are in him Psal 87.7 Non amat qui non zelat The Zeal of the Lord of hosts i. e. the philanthropy Tit. 3.4 and free grace of God Dilexisti me Domine magis quam te saith a Father Let us reciprocate by being zealous of good works fervent in spirit serving the Lord. And when Satan telleth us of our no merits tell we him that the Zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do it notwithstanding Ver. 8. The Lord fâ—râ— a word into Jacob He sent it as a shaft out of a bow that will be sure to hit God loveth to premonish but woe be to those that will not be warned The Septuagint render it The Lord sent a plague or Death into Jacob and indeed after the white horse followeth the red and the black Revel 6.2 4 5. Like as Tamerlan that warlike Scythian displayed first a white flag in token of mercy and then a red menacing and threatning blood and then lastly a black flag the messenger and ensign of death was hung abroad And it hath lighted upon Israel 1. They were not ignorant of such a word ver 9.2 They could neither avert nor avoid his wrath Ver. 9. And all the people shall know Know it they do already but they shall know it by wofull experience He that trembleth not in hearing shall be crushed to pieces in feeling said Mr. Bradford Martyr That say in pride and sloutness of heart The Poet could say of his Ajax 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His pride undid him so doth it many a man especially when come to that height that it fighteth against God as here When earthen pots will needs be dashing against the Rock of ages and doing this or that al despito di Dio as that profane Pope once said whether God will or no divine vengeance doggs at heels such Desperado's Ver. 10. The bricks are fallen down Not thrown down by Providence but fallen down by Fate or blind fortune God is not so far honoured as once to be owned by these Atheists who think they can make their party good against him and mend what he had marr'd whether he would or not Thus this giantlike generation and the like impiety is in the corrupt nature of us all For as in water face answereth to face so doth the heart of a man to a man saith Solomon Prov. 27.19 The Sycomores are cut down c. Another proverbial speech to the same purpose Sycomores were then very common in that countrey and little set by 1 King 10.27 Now they are not to be found there saith Hierom as neither are Cedars in Lebanon Ver. 11. Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin in whom ye trust He shall shortly be destroyed by the Assyrian 2 King 16.9 and then your hopes
and wretched Cardinal found by woful experience in the reign of Henry the sixth For perceiving death at hand hee asked Wherefore should I dye being so rich If the whole Realm would save my life I am able either by policy to get it or by riches to buy it Fox Martyrol vol. 1. p. 925. Fye quoth hee will not death bee hired will mony do nothing No mony in this case bears no mastery Death as the jealous man will not regard any ransome neither will hee rest content though thou offer many gifts Prov. 6.35 Aug. de civit Dei l. 5. c. 25. And in her left hand riches and honour Bonus Deus Constantinum Magnum tantis terrenis implevit muneribus quantâ— optare nullus auderet The good Lord heaped so much outward happiness upon his faithful Servant Constantine the Great as no man ever durst to have wished more saith Austin If God give his People a Crown hee will not deny them a crust If they have bona throni the good things of a Throne they shall bee sure of bona scabelli the good things of the footstool Vers 17. Her waies are waies of pleasantnesse Such as were those of Adam before his fall strawed with Roses paved with Peace Some degree of comfort follows every good action as heat accompanies fire as beams and influences issue from the Sun Which is so true that very Heathens upon the discharge of a good conscience have found comfort and peace answerable This saith One is praemium ante praemium a fore-reward of well-doing In doing thereof not onely for doing thereof there is great reward Psal 19.11 Vers 18. Shee is a tree of life A tree that giveth life and quickeneth or as one interprets it a moâ—â— assured sign of eternal life whatsoever it is hee alludeth no doubt to the tree mentioned Gen. 2.9 3.22 See the Notes there And happy is every one that retains her Though despised by the world as a poor Sneak a contemptible caytiff We usually call a poor man a poor soul a poor soul may be a rich Christian as Roger sirnamed Paupere censu was Son to Roger Bishop of Salisbury Goodwins Catal p. 338. who made him Chancellour of England Vers 19. The Lord by wisdome By his essential wisdome by his eternal word Prov. 8.30 the Lord Christ who is the beginning of the Creation of God Rev. 3.14 See the Note on John 1.3 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth Gen. 1.1 that is In his Son as some interpret it Heb. 1.2 Col. 1.16 This interpretation is grounded upon the Jerusalimy Targum who translates that Gen. 1.1 bechochmatha in sapientia So doth Augustine and others and for confirmation they bring Joh. 8.25 but that is a mistake as Beza shews in his Annotations there Hee established the Heaven Heb. Hee aptly and trimly framed and formed them in that comeliness that wee now see The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy-work Psal 19.1 Upon the third Heaven hee hath bestowed a great deal of curious skill and cunning workmanship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.10 But of that no natural knowledge can be had nor any help by humane arts Geometry Opticks c. For it neither is aspectable nor moveable The Visible Heavens are for the many varieties therein and the wonderful motion of the several sphears fitly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coelum maximè co nomine intelligunt Graci Mercer The Original word here used ratione conjugationis plus aliquid significat quam paravit vel stabilivit Conen Mirum in modum disposuit Hee hath cunningly contrived And hence haply our antient English word Koning and by contraction King comming of the Verb Con which signifies as Becanus noteth Possum Scio Andeo I can I wot I dare do it Vers 20. The depths are broken up viz. Those great chanels and hollow places made in the earth to hold the waters Gen. 1.9 that they may not overflow the earth and this the very Philosophers are forced to confess to bee a work of divine wisdome Others by depths here understand fountains and floods breaking out and as it were flowing from the nethermost parts of the earth even as though the earth did cleave it self in sunder to give them passage And the clouds drop down the dews Clouds the bottles of rain and dew are vessels as thin as the liquor that is contained in them there they hang move though weighty with their burden How they are upheld and why they fall here and now wee know not and wonder Vers 21. Let not them depart Ne effluant haec ab oculis tuis saith the Vulgar Ne haec à tuis oculis deflectant in obliquum huc illuc So Mercer Let thy eyes look right on Chap. 4.25 look wishly and intently on these great works of God and his wisdome therein set forth and conspicuous as on a theatre Eye these things as the Steersman doth the Load-star 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Archer doth the mark hee shoots at 2 Cor. 4.18 or as the Passenger doth his way which hee findes hard to hit and dangerous to miss Yea let them bee the delight of thine eyes with the sight whereof thou canst not bee sated or surfeited Vers 22. So shall they bee life unto thy soul For by these men live and this is the spirit of my life saith Hezekiah Isa 38.16 Even what God hath spoken and done vers 15. A godly man differs from a wicked as much as a living man from a dead carkass The wicked are stark dead and stone cold The Saints also want heat sometimes but they are soon made hot again because there is life of soul in them as Charcoal is quickly kindled because it hath been in the fire And grace unto thy neck Or to thy throat that is to thy words uttered through the throat See the Note on chap. 1.9 Vers 23. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely Fidneialiter saith the Vulgar confidently and securely Every Malvoy shall bee a Salvoy to thee thou shalt ever go under a double guard the Peace of God within thee Phil. 4.7 and the Power of God without thee 1 Pet. 1.5 Thou shalt bee in league also with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field shall bee at peace with thee Job 5.23 Vers 24. Thou shalt not bee afraid See this exemplified in David Psal 3.5 6. Peter Act. 12.6 and Mr. Rogers our late Protomartyr Act. Mon. fol. 1356. who when hee was warned suddenly to prepare for the fire hee then being sound asleep in the prison scarce with much shogging could bee awaked Thy sleep shall bee sweet As knowing that God thy Keeper Psal 121.4 5. doth wake and watch for thee Psal 120.1 Wicked mens sleep is often troublesome through the workings of their evil consciences Danielâ— Hist of Eng. as our Richard the third after the murther of his
and then covers it with her hand as Chirurgions use to do that the world may be never the wiser Vers 10. Lest hee that heareth it put thee to shame Repute thee and report thee an evill-conditioned fellow a back-biter and a tale-bearer one not fit to be trusted with secrets c. True it is that dearest friends are in some cases to be accused and complained of to those that may do good upon them as Joseph brought his brethrens evil report to his father and as the houshold of Chloe told Paul of the Corinthian contentions But this must be done wisely and regularly with due observation of circumstances as Salomon elegantly sets forth in the following Proverb Vers 11. A word fitly spoken Hebrew spoken upon his weels that is rightly ordered and circumstantiated spoken with a grace and in due place It is an excellent skill to be able to time a word Isa 50.4 to set it upon the wheels as here How good are such words Prov. 15.23 how forcible Job 6.25 How pleasant even like apples of gold in pictures or lattices of silver not onely precious for matter Eccles 12.10 but detectable for order as gold put in a case of silver cut-work Vers 12. As an ear-ring of gold c. Ut inauris aurea c. A seasonable word falling upon a tractable ear hath a redoubled grace with it as an ear-ring of gold and as an ornament of fine gold or as a diamond in a diadem It is an hard and happy thing to suffer the words of exhortation to digest a reproof In vit Jo. Gers to say with David Let the righteous smite me c. to be of Gersons disposition of whom it is recorded that he rejoyced in nothing more quam si ab aliquo fraterne charitative redargueretur than if he were friendly and freely reproved by any one Every vice doth now go armed touch it never so gently yet like the nettle it will sting you If you deal with it roughly and roundly it swaggereth as the Hebrew did with Moses who made thee a man of authority c. Exod. 2.14 Ear-rings and ornaments are ill bestowed upon such uncircumcised ears Vers 13. As the cold of snow in the time of harvest Harvest men of all men beat the heat of the day being far from shade or shelter far from springs of water parched and scorched with heat and drought in those hotter countries especially Now as the cold of snow or ice which in those countries they kept under ground all the year about to mix with their wines would be most welcome to such so is a trusty and speedy messenger for by his good news he greatly reviveth the longing and languishing minds of those that sent him who during the time of his absence through fear and doubt were almost half dead This is much more true of Gods faithfull messengers Job 33.23 whose very feet are therefore beautifull and message most comfortable to those that labour and languish under the sense of sin and fear of wrath Vers 14. Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift as Ptolomy sirnamed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his fair promises slack performances As Sertorius the Roman that fed his creditours and clients with fair words but did nothing for them Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest As that Pope and his Nephew of whom it is recorded that the one never spake as he thought the other never performed what he spake Lastly as the Devill who promised Christ excelsa in excelsis Matth. 4. mountains on a mountain and said All this will I give thee when as that All was just nothing more than a shew a representation a semblance or if it had been something yet it was not his to give for the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Physicians call their drugs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gifts and yet we pay dear for them Apothecaries set fair titles upon their boxes and gally-pots but there is oftentimes aliud in titulo aliud in pyxide nothing but a bare title Such are vain boasters pompous Preachers Painted hypocrites Popish priests such as was Tecelius that sold indulgences in Germany and those other Massemongers in Gersons time that preached publiquely to the people that if any man would hear a mass he should not on that day be smitten with blindness nor dye a sudden death nor want sufficient sustenance c. These were clouds without rain that answer not expectation Jude 12. Vers 15. By long forbearing is a Prince perswaded If he be not over-hasty his wrath may be appeased and his mind altered Our Henry the third gave commandment for the apprehending of Hubert de Burgo Earl of Kent who having sudden notice thereof at mid-night got him up and fled into a Church in Essex They to whom the business was committed finding him upon his knees before the high-altar with the Sacrament in one hand and a cross in the other carried him away nevertheless unto the Tower of London Roger Bishop of London taking this to be a great violence and wrong offered unto the holy Church Godw. Catal. pag. 194. would never leave the King untill he had caused the Earl to be carried unto the place whence he was fetcht And this it is thought was a means of saving the Earls life For though order was taken he should not scape thence yet it gave the Kings wrath a time to cool and himself leisure to make his Apology by reason whereof he was afterwards restored to the Kings favour and former places of honour So true is that of the Philosopher Maximum irae remediumest dilatio Sen. de ira And that of the Poet. Ovid. Ut fragilis glacies interit ira morâ There are that read and sense the words thus By meekness a Prince is appeased that is when he seeth that he is not opposed that his Subjects repine not rebell not against him An old Courtier of Nero's being asked how he had escaped that Lions mouth answered Injurias ferendo gratias agendo by taking shrewd turns and being thankfull A soft tongue breaketh the bones Though it be flesh and no bones yet it breaketh the bones that is stout and stern spirits that otherwise would not yeeld Thus Gideon broke the rage of the Ephraimites Judg. 8.1 c. and Abigail Davids by her humble and dutifull oration 1 Sam. 25. See the Note on Prov. 15.1 Vers 16. Hast thou found hony eat so much as is sufficient i. e. Be moderate in the use of all lawful comforts and contentments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Oratour Isac for there is a satiety of all things and by excess the sweetest comforts will be dis-sweetned as Epictetus also observed It is therefore excellent counsel that the holy Apostle giveth 1 Cor. 7.29 that those that have wives be as if they had none c. that we hang loose to all creature comforts and be weanedly affected towards them considering that
they might not hurt them Ver. 7. That ye might provoke me See chap 7.17 18. Ver. 8. Because ye have not heard i. e. Not heeded them as chap. 7 19. Ver. 9. Behold I will send and take By a secret instinct as chap. 1.15 And Nebuchadnezzar my servant i. e. Mine executioner the rod of my wrath Isa 10. and the scourge of the world as Attilâ—s stiled himself And against all these Nations round about Who were so infatuated that they did not combine against Nebuchadnezzar whom the Septuagint called a dove ver 38. of this chapter but he was a vulture rather and these Nations were as so many silly doves which save themselves by flight not fight and sitting in their dovecotes see their nests destroyed and their young ones killed before their eyes never offering to rescue or revenge as other souls do So dealt the old Britons when invaded by the Romans they joyned not their forces against the common enemy sed dum singuli pugnabant Tacitus universi vincebantur Ver. 10 Moreover I will take from them See chap. 7.34 and Rev. 18.22 Ver. 11. And this land shall be a desolation seventy yeares Which commenced at the deportation of Jeconiah 2 King 24.8 See Jer. 29.1 2 3. with Ezek. 4.1 and 33.21 Avignon in France was the residence of the Pope for seventy years Heyl Cosm fol. 188. which time the Romans yet remember till this day by the name of the Babylonian captivity Luther when he first began to stir against the Pope wrote a book bearing title De captivitate Babylonica which when Bugenhagius a Pomeranian Divine first read he pronounced it to be the most heretical piece that ever was written Scult Annal. but afterwards having better considered the contents of it he retracted his former censure he told his colleagues that all the world besides was in deep darkness and that Luther alone was in the light and in the right and him he would follow So he did and drew many more with hâ—m Ver. 12. I will punish the King of Babylon As had been forethreatned Isa 13 14 21 47. and was accomplished Dan. 5. Ver. 13. And I will bring upon that Lâ—nd sc By Cyrus and his Successours who out of the ruines of Babylon built two Cities Câ—esiphon and Seleucia Ver. 14. For many Nations The Medes and Persians together with the rest that served under them And great Kings Cyrus and Darius especially Vtitur demonstratione seu ostentâ— divino Ver. 15. Take the wine cup of this fury Or take this smoaking wine-cup A cup is oft put for affliction and wine for extream confusion and wrath Poison in wine works more furiously then in water See on Psal 75.8 And cause all the Nations According to that power which I have put into thine hands chap. 1.10 Vengeance is still in readiness for the disobedient 2 Cor. 10.6 as ready every whit in Gods hand as in the Ministers mouth who threatneth it Ver. 16. And be moved and be mad As men that are overcome by some hot and heady liquour are mad-drunk Because of the sword that I shall send For it is God who puts the sword in commission Jer. 47.6 7. and there it many times rideth circuit as a Judge in Scarlet There are certain seasons wherein as the Angel troubled the poole so doth God the Nations and commonly when he doth it to one he doth it to more as here and 2 Chron. 15.5 6. and as at this day in Europe Ver. 17. And made all drink viz. In vision and by denunciation Ver. 18. To wit in Jerusalem Judgement beginneth at Gods house 1 Pet. 4.17 See the Note there and on Mat. 25.41 Sed si in Hierosolymis maneat scrutinium quid fiet in Babylone saith an Ancient Ver. 19. Pharaoh King of Egypt Pharaoh Hophra chap. 44.30 of whom Herodotus writeth that he perswaded himself and boasted that his Kingdom was so strong that no god or man could take it from him Lib. 2. He was afterwards hanged by his own subjects The mixed people That lay scattered in the deserts and had no certain abode Scenitae and Hamaxobii And all the Kings of the land of Vz Jobs country called by the Greeks Ausitis Ver. 21. Edom and Moab c. By the destruction of all these Nations we may make a conjecture at the destruction of all the wicked when Christ shall come to judgement All that befalleth them in this world is but as drops of wrath foreruning the great storm or as a crack foretokening the fall of the whole house Here the leaves only fall upon them as it were but then the body of the tree in its full weight to crush them for ever Ver. 22. And all the Kings of the Isles As Cyprus Rhodes and the Cyclades subdued also by the Babylonian saith Hierom Rabanus and Vatablus Ver 23. Dedan and Temae and Buz The Hagarens or Saracens chap. 49. And all that are in the utmost corners Qui attonsi sunt in comam Roundheads See chap. 9.26 Ver. 24. And all the Kings of Arabia Petraea That dwell in the desert In Arabia deserta Ver. 25. And all the Kings of Zimri i. e. Of Arabia falix Lib. 6. cap. 28. Zamarens Pliny calleth them Ver. 26. And all the Kingdomes See on ver 16. And the King of Sheshac i. e. Baltasar that bezelling kink of Babylon whilest he is quaffing in the vessels of Gods house to the honour of Shac the Babylonian goddess whence those feast dayes were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shesac id est poculum laetitiae aut vanitatâ— vel sericum tuum being like the Roman Saturnalia Antichrist also who hath troubled all the Kingdomes of the earth shall himself perish together with his Babylon the great which hath made the Nations drunk with the wine of her fornications Ver. 27. Drink ye and be drunk and spew and fall Eckius or Eccius otherwise by some called Jeccius from his casting or spewing being nonplus't by Melancthon Manlii loc com 89. and well nigh madded fell to drinking for his own solace and drunk himself to death so should these do of the cup of Gods wrath not only till they were mad-drunk as ver 16. dut dead drunk Ver. 28. Ye shall certainly drink See on ver 15. Ver. 29. The City that is called by my Name Periphrasis Hierosolymae argumentosa And should ye be utterly unpunished See on ver 18. Ye shall not be unpunished But suffer as surely and as sorely Ver. 30. The Lord shall roar from on high As a lusty Lyon having discovered his prey runneth upon it roaring so horribly that he astonisheth the creatures and sets them at a stand He will mightily roar upon his habitation Pliny reporteth of the Lioness that she bringeth forth her whelps dead and so they remain for the space of three dayes until the Lyon coming near to the den where they lye lifteth up his voyce and roareth so fiercely