Lord and against his annointed Wickednesse furiously raging standing vp and taking counsell together Weakenesse Implied in the word why Expressed in the clause Imagine a vaine thing 2. Sets downe Gods Might for their destruction if they will not amend their manners and asswage their malice vers 4.5.6.7.8.9 Mercy for their instruction if they will once be so wise as to learne his law and to loue his sonne vers 10.11.12 Why doe the Heathen By Heathen are meant the Gentiles by people the Iewes by Kings the chiefe Monarches vpon earth and by Rulers their z Bucer Ro. Stephanus Wilcox priuie Counsellors of Estate The Gentiles as not hauing Gods law furiously rage together like a Cassiodorus Placidus Tileman bruit beasts without vnderstanding The Greeke word vsed by Saint Luke Act. 4.25 doth import fiercenesse and pride as of horses that neigh and rush into the battell The Iewes albeit they had Gods holy word imagined a vaine thing b Euthym. because they were cunning rather in the sound then in the sense thereof The Kings as men of might stand vp and the rulers as men of wit and policy take counsell together And so men of all countries as well the Iewes as the Gentiles and of all conditions as wel Princes as people bandy thēselues against the Lord against his anointed Now this may be construed c D. Jncognit Caluin Tremel either of Dauid or of the Messias Of the Lords Christ or of the Lord Christ Dauid is the Lords Christ as his annointed King ouer Israel annointed thrice First in the middest of his brethren 1. Sam. 1.16 afterward in Hebron 2. Sam. 2. lastly before all the tribes of Israel 2. Sam. 5. and he may be called the sonne of God As a Man for all of vs are the d Act. 17.28 generation of God it is be who made vs and not our selues Psal 100.2 Great man or King for Princes are stiled the e Psal 82.6 children of the most high Good man or regenerate for euery one that is new borne is f 1. Ioh. 3.9 borne of God and adopted his sonne and made his heire Rom. 8.15.17 How the Heathen that is the Philistims and other strange nations furiously raged together against him how the people that is the Iewes of Sauls house imagined vainely to dethrone him how the Captains stood vp and states-men tooke counsell together that they might breake his bonds asunder and cast away his cords from them how the Lord that dwelleth in heauen laughed all his enemies to scorne saying yet haue I set my King vpon my holy hill of Sion you may reade in the second booke of Samuel from the 2. to the 10. chapter But the blessed Apostles haue construed this of Christ Act. 4.24 O Lord thou art the God which hast made the heauen and the earth and the sea and all things that are in them Which by the mouth of thy seruant Dauid hast said why did the Gentiles rage and the people imagine vaine things The Kings of the earth assembled and the rulers came together against the Lord and against his Christ. For doubtlesse against thine holy Sonne Iesus whom thou hast annointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and people of Israel gathered themselues together to doe whatsoeuer thy hand and thy counsell had determined before to be done g Bellar. in loc First the Princes did plot and afterward the people did act this insurrection Herod the King sought to destroy Christ in his swadling cloutes he was troubled at the birth of Iesus and all Hierusalem with him Matth. 2.3 And the Rulers opposed Christ in the whole course of his life so the text plainly h Ioh. 7 48. Doth any of the Rulers or of the Pharisies beleeue in him At his death all the Rulers Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill accorded in one The Gentiles i Euthym. that is the Romane souldiers by Pilats instigation furiously raged together and the people that is the Iewes by the counsell of the chiefe Priests Elders imagined a vaine thing Yea but how can it be said plurally that Kings assembled against Christ Answere is made by k Placidus Incognitus Agellius some that the plurall is vsed here for the singular Or by Kings is meant Herod and Pilate for Herod is stiled l Matth. 2.1 King and Pontius Pilate was a m Matth. 27.2 Gouernour vnder the Romane Emperour and these Viceroyes had many petite n Ioh. 4.46 Matth. 9.18 Rulers also subiect to their command Or by Kings is meant Herod senior who stood vp against Christ at his birth Matth. 2. and Herod Iunior who despised and mocked Christ at his death Luk. 23.11 Or as o Jn loc Idem Euthym. Chrysostome with Herod were ioyned the Diuell and Death and Sinne. All which are Kings of the earth The Diuell is a King p Ephes 2.2 ruling in the ayre the q Ioh. 12.31 Prince of this world Luk. 11.18 If Satan be diuided against himselfe how shall his kingdome stand And Death is a King Rom. 5.14 Death raigned from Adam to Moses c. And Sinne is a King too Rom. 6.12 Let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies lest yee should obey the lust of it All these Kings assembled and tooke counsell together against the Lord and against his Christ For as Christ consisted of humane flesh and a reasonable soule so likewise hee had two sorts of enemies one visible which assaulted his bodie another inuisible which assaulted his soule spirituall wickednesses Ephes 6.12 Here wee may behold and bewaile the blindnesse of the Iewes in our time who notwithstanding their most ancient r See Galatin de Arcanis lib. 3. cap. 7. Bellar. in loc Rabbins applie this our text to the true Messias expect him as yet to come Lastly for as much as Christ suffers in his ſ Acts 9.4 members and t 2. Tim. 3.12 al that will liue godly that they may be made u Rom. 8.29 like to his image must of necessitie suffer persecution it may be construed of x Placidus Bucer Strigellius Christians as well as of Christ against whom al the wicked angels y Apoc. 7.1 standing on the foure corners of the earth are combined in a bloody league The Gentiles at this day furiously rage together and the Iewes at this day still imagine vaine things at this day the Kings of the earth stand vp as the Turke the Pope the Spanyard and all their cruell agents In a word all Atheists all Anti-christs all Hypocrites all Worldlings hurtle together against the Lord his annoynted people The true Church is a z Cant. 2.2 lilie among thornes a few harmelesse a Luk. 10.3 lambes in the middest of many rauenous wolues on euery side compassed about with such as say Let vs break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from vs. 1. We may learne from hence b Wilcox not
95.3 great King aboue all gods Who then is like to the Lord our God either among the clods on earth or cloudes in heauen h Esay 40.12 He measures the waters in his fist and meateth out heauen with his spanne and comprehends the dust of the earth in a measure The which i In loc Esai See Bellarm. de ascensione mentis in deum per scal creat Grad 2. cap. 1. Hierome out of Aquila doth interpret after this sort Hee measures the waters with his little finger the earth greater then the waters with three fingers the heauen greater then both with his hand and spanne He filleth all things and nothing is able to comprehend him according to that of k 2. Chron. 6.18 Salomon Heauens and heauens of heauens are not able to containe thee Nay the whole world in respect of his greatnes is but as a drop of the morning dew Wisdom 11.19 This may teach vs in whatsoeuer estate to l Luke 21.19 possesse our soules in patience to be m Ephes 6.10 strong in the Lord and in the power of his might albeit our enemies come about vs like n Psal 118.12 Bees hee which is higher then the highest and greater then all men and all Diuels is our protector stonie rocke tower of defence buckler saluation refuge Psal 18.1 And as God is most able to help vs in trouble so likewise most apt readie for as it followeth in the next clause though hee dwell on high yet hee doth humble himselfe to behold the things that are in heauen and earth o Apud Ambros de officijs lib. 1. cap. 13. Some Philosophers thought it too great a labour for God to gouerne the whole world and other on the contrarie too base But p Ambros in Hexam lib. 5. cap. 2. Diuines answere both of them in one word Deus neque laborat in maximis neque fastidit in minimis Indeed the Poet said Non vacat exiguis rebus adesse loui but the q Matth. 10.30 Scripture telleth vs otherwise that the very haires of our head are numbred and that not so much as a sparrow which is sold for a farthing can fall on the ground without our heauenly Fathers prouidence Disponit membra culicis pulicis as Augustine in Psal 148. For besides his r Caluin Instit lib. 1. cap. 16. Vide Thom. 1. part quaest 22. art 2. Caietan ibid. generall prouidence which is seene in the gouernment of the whole vniuerse he hath a particular also moderating euery singular action and accident He dwelling on high beholdeth vs as Emmots vpō the mole-hils of this earth in him we liue and moue and haue our being He supporteth all things by his mighty word Heb. 1.3 he reacheth from one end to another and ordereth all things sweetly Wisdom 8.1 We reade Mat. 9. that there was a woman diseased with an issue of blood twelue yeeres and Ioh. 5. that a certaine man had been sicke eight and thirtie yeeres and Ioh. the 9. that one was blind from his birth All which happened not by humane chance but by diuine choice that ſ John 9.3 the works of God might be shewed on them t Lipsius de Constant lib. 1. cap. 14. Omnia non permissa solùm à Deo sed etiam immissa The Lord doth not onely suffer and see what is done here below but also disposeth of euery particular euent to the glorie of his name and good of his children He beheld Dauid in his trouble Daniel in his dungeon Peter in his prison and ordered their short affliction to their endlesse consolation And this may comfort vs in all our wants and wrongs He that dwelleth on high humbleth himselfe to behold the things below u Psal 121.4 he that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleepes I x Esay 49.16 haue grauen thee saith the Lord vpon the palmes of my hands and thy walles are euer in my sight He heares the very * Psal 38.9 Iudges 2.18 groanes of his seruants in their closets and y Psal 41.3 makes all their beds in sicknes as S. z Confession lib. 3. cap. 11. Aug. sweetly he cares for all his childrē as if all were but one and for euery particular Christian as if one were all a See Mollerus Strigel in loc Some Diuines apply this vnto Christ Hee which is b Rom. 10.12 Lord ouer all is high aboue al heathen all lands are his inheritance all people his possession Psal 2.8 He triumphed ouer death and hell in his resurrection and his glorie shined aboue the heauens in his ascension A c Acts 1.9 cloude tooke him vp out of this world and hee did ascend farre aboue all heauens Ephes 4.10 Here then obserue the reason why the Church allotted this Hymne for this day because Christ in his d Rom. 1.4 resurrection from the dead is declared mightily to bee the Sonne of God high aboue all heathens and heauens That which is heere said hee humbled himselfe to behold the things that are in heauen and earth is all one with that Esay 61.1 and Luk. 4.18 The spirit of the Lord hath annointed me to preach good tydings vnto the poore to binde vp the broken hearted and to comfort such as mourne in Sion e Marlorat in Luc. 1. See Magnificant epist 3. Sund. after Trinit Almightie God can not looke aboue himselfe as hauing no superiours nor about himselfe as hauing no equals he beholds such as are below him And therfore the lower a man is the neerer vnto God hee resists the proud and giues grace to the humble 1. Pet. 5.5 he puls downe the mightie from their seate and exalteth them of low degree the most high hath a speciall eye to such as are most humble For as it followeth in our text he taketh vp the simple out of the dust and lifteth the poore out of the durt The Poet said Haud facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat res angusta domi that it is an hard thing for a man of low birth and small means to be preferred vnto high places of honour But our Prophet here to demonstrate Gods admirable power and prouidence sheweth how the Lord raiseth the poore man out of the mire that he may set him with the Princes euen with the Princes of his people f Aelian hist lib. 2. Darius was borne of a seruant Archelaus King of Macedonia base begotten Antigonus Themistocles Phocion Epaminondas and other noble worthies issued from ignoble parents g Knolles Turk hist pag. 4. Tangrolipix of an ordinarie Captaine became Sultan of Persia and first erector of the high and huge Turkish Empire Tamberlaine as h Apud Knolles in the life of Baiazet 1. fol. 212. some thinke the sonne of a Sheepheard was in his time the scourge of the great Turke treading vnder his foote insolent Baiazet the first of his violent and fierce nature surnamed
deuils Empire where he holdeth vp his Scepter and ruleth as a Prince Ephes 2.2 Gods kingdome is taken in the Bible two waies especially Generally For that gouernment which is termed u See Ro. Steph. Concord in dictione regnum Bellarm. Catech. cap. 4. Regnum potentiae by which hee ruleth all men and disposeth of all things euen of the deuils themselues according to his good will and pleasure Specially For his administration of the Church and that is Twofold Regnum gratiae the kingdome of grace Regnum gloriae the kingdome of glorie Of that kingdome which is potentiae Regnum it is said by x 1. Chro. 29.11 Dauid Thine is the kingdome O Lord and thou excellest as head ouer all Of that kingdome y Dan. 4.31 Daniel speaketh His kingdome is from generation to generation and his z Dan. 6.26 dominion euerlasting Of that kingdome Christ in the conclusion of his prayer Thine is the kingdome power and glory For albeit peruerse men do mischiefe and obserue not the laws of God yet he raigneth ouer them as an absolute Lord for that when it pleaseth him hee hindereth their designments and when he permits them sometime to haue their desires hee doth afterward punish them according to their owne misdeeds and so a Psal 135.6 Whatsoeuer the Lord pleaseth he doth in heauen and in earth and in the Sea and in all deepe places By his kingdome of grace he gouernes the soules and hearts of good Christians giuing them his spirit and grace to serue him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the daies of their life Christ is the king of this kingdome vpon whome the Father hath conferred b Mat. 28.18 all authority both in heauen and earth The subiects of this kingdome are such as c Psal 110.3 offer vnto him free-will offrings with an holy worship euer ready to giue cheerefull obedience to the rod of his power The lawes of this kingdome are the Scriptures and word of God in this respect called d Mat. 13.11 the kingdome of heauen the e Marke 1.14 Gospell and f Mat. 13.19 word of the kingdome the g Esay 11.4 rod of Christs mouth and h Rom. 1.16 power of his arme to saluation And so consequently the kingdome of grace is a preparation and entrance to the kingdome of glory which is the blessed estate of all Gods elect in that other life where God is to them all in all And in this respect the kingdome of grace many times is termed in the Gospels History the kingdome of heauen as being the way to the kingdome of glory which is in the heauen of heauens This one verse then expounds and exemplifies two prime petitions in the Lords prayer hallowed be thy name thy kingdome come for Iuda was Gods sanctuary because hallowing his name and Israel his dominion as desiring his kingdome to come Let euery man examine himselfe by this patterne whether he be truely the seruant of Iesus his Sauiour or the vassall of Sathan the destroyer If any submit himselfe willingly to the domineering of the diuell and suffer sinne to i Rom. 6.12 reigne in his mortall members obeying the lusts thereof and k Ephes 4.19 working all vncleannesse euen with greedinesse assuredly that man is yet a Chappell of Sathan and a slaue to sinne On the contrary whosoeuer vnfainedly desires that Gods kingdome may come being euer ready to bee ruled according to his holy word acknowledging it a lanthorne to his feet and a guide to his pathes admitting obediently his lawes and submitting himselfe alway to the same what is he but a Citizen of heauen a subiect of God a Saint a Sanctuary Two questions are moued here the first is what antecedent answeres the relatiue his and the second what is meant by Iuda The relatiue eius hath an antecedent l Mollerus implyed howsoeuer not expressed m Genebrard as Psalme 87.1 Fundamenta eius her foundations are vpon the holy hils And God is that antecedent as I haue partly said and it may likewise be fully shewed both out of the text and title The n Euthym. circumstances of the Text leade vs to this antecedent the Lord is the God of Iacob verse 7. Ergo the house of Iacob is Gods Sanctuary the children of Israel Gods dominion Againe the o Bellarmine Title poynts at this antecedent Alleluia praise the Lord as if the Prophet should haue said ye haue good and great cause to praise the Lord because when Israel went out of Egypt and the house of Iacob from among the strange people then Iuda was his Sanctuary c. Lastly though it should be granted that neither Title nor Text here can affoord vs an antecedent yet we need not runne with p In loc Agellius out of this Hymne to fetch one from the last words of the next going before Hee maketh the barren woman to keepe house c. Because his in this verse may be construed of God Catexochen as being hic ille the most high He who turned the hard rocke into a standing water and the flint stone into a springing Well at whose presence the mountaines skip like Rammes and the little hils like yong sheepe yea the Sea fleeth and the earth trembleth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Iacob By Iuda q Placidus Turrecremat Genebrard some vnderstand Iudea for r Psal 76.1 God is knowne in Iurie his name is great in Israel at Salem is his tabernacle and his dwelling in Sion Å¿ Dr. Incognitus Agellius Other haue construed this onely of the tribe of Iuda for that God in Iuda would chuse a Prince 1. Chron. 28.4 or because the Messias of the world which is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings was to be borne of t Gen. 49.10 that tribe Or because the u See Placidus Bucer Genebrard Dr. Incognit in loc Iewes haue a tradition that Iuda was the first tribe that aduentured after Moses and Aaron and entred into the red sea with vndaunted courage So wee finde in the numbring of Israels hoste that the standerd of Iuda was in the first place Numb 10.14 and Nahshon the sonne of Aminadab was their Captaine Numb 2.3 Hence it is said Cant. 6.11 My soule made me like the chariots of Aminadab or my willing people But x Caluine Rob. Stephanus Tremellius Strigellius Bellarmine most Interpretors vnderstand by Iuda not only that tribe but also the rest of the children of Israel It is nothing but a Synecdoche pars pro toto the chiefe tribe for the whole body of Gods people that went out of Egypt into the land of promise called often in holy Scriptures Israel of the fathers name and Iuda of the chiefe sonnes name Bondage was the perill out of which Israel and Iuda were deliuered and that in the y Plautus in Amphit Poets iudgement is worse then any danger or death omni
Saint y Jn loc Augustine expounds it an vniust man is full of quarrels like Ishmael z Gen. 16.12 euery mans hand is against him and his hand against euery man but he which is righteous and giueth euery man his due shall haue peace so much as is a Rom. 12.18 possible with all men especially with his own selfe and soule Righteousnes and peace are so neere so deare that thou canst not haue the one without the other Vnam vis alteram non facis happily thou wouldest enioy peace but thou wilt doe no iustice The b Virgil Poet could say Pacem te poscimus omnes interroga quoth c Vbisup Augustine omnes homines vultis pacem vno ore respondet totum genus hominum opto cupio volo amo Well then if thou desire peace do iustice for peace saith I am a friend only to such as loue my friend d Psal 34.12 What man is hee that lusteth to liue and would faine see good daies keep thy tongue from euil and thy lips that they speake no guile eschew euill and doe good seeke peace and ensue it Nay thou need not seeke it for it will of it selfe come to kisse her sister Righteousnesse e Basilius Agellius If men haue truth and righteousnesse God will affoord mercie and peace So the Prophet expressely Keepe innocencie and take heede vnto the thing that is right for that shall bring a man peace at the last Psal 37.38 At the first happily thou maist haue warre with vngodly men of this world for f Bradford apud Fox Martyr fol. 1491. doe well and heare ill is written on heauens doore but hereafter at the last assuredly thou shalt haue peace to thy soule g Tileman Tremellius Or righteousnes and peace meete in euery true beleeuer because being iustified by faith wee haue peace toward God through Iesus Christ our Lord Rom. 5.1 3. Righteousnes and peace meete in Christ God and man for by these two h D. Incognitus in loc some Diuines vnderstand the old Testament and the new The Law doth exact iustice requiring of a malefactor i Exod. 21.24 eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foote for foote but the Gospell is full of mercie and peace saying vnto the sinner who truly repenteth him of his sinnes and vnfainedly beleeues the word of promise k Matth. 9.2.22 Sonne be of good comfort thy sinnes are forgiuen thee Daughter be of good cheere thy faith hath made thee whole l Mark 10.52 Goe thy way thy beleefe hath saued thee m Iohn 5.14 Behold thou art now made whole sin no more These two Testaments meete together in Christ as in their proper center they kissed each other on this day because the Gospell performed what the Law promised n Euthym. Or hee shewed truth in his words and mercie in his workes o Iob. 17.6.17 Hee deliuered the will of God vnto men and his word is truth Hee made the p Matth. 11.5 blinde to see the lame to go the deafe to heare he cleansed the lepers he cured the sicke he raised vp the dead and these without question are workes of mercie Or by these two vertues vnderstand q Euthym. Christs two natures his diuine nature by mercie hauing r Matth. 9.6 power to forgiue sinnes and to heale ſ Matth. 8.16 all manner of sicknesse by truth his humane nature 1. For that hee had true flesh and not as Heretikes imagined a phantasticall bodie 2. For that he was a man after Gods owne image t Ephes 4.24 created in righteousnes and true holinesse he was blamelesse and vndefiled Heb. 7.26 he knew no sinne 1. Cor. 5.21 hee did no wickednesse neither was any deceit in his mouth Esay 53.9 and so truth and mercie met together in the personall vnion of his two natures And this exposition is more probable by the next verse Truth shall florish out of the earth and righteousnes hath looked downe from heauen Christ is truth as he u Joh. 14.6 saith of himselfe I am the way the truth c. and Christ is our righteousnes 1. Corinth 1.30 x Hierome Arnobius Agellius Now Christ as man and borne of the Virgine Mary budded out of the earth and as God hee looked downe from heauen That men might bee iustified by grace from heauen it pleased him on this day to bud out of the earth in the words of S. y Jn loc Augustine Vt iustitia prospiceret de caelo id est vt iustificarentur homines diuinâ gratiâ veritas nata est de Maria Virgine vt possit pro illis iustificandis offerri sacrificium sacrificium passionis sacrificium crucis vnde offerret sacrificium pro peccatis nostris nisi moreretur quomodo autem moreretur nisi carnem indueret quomodo carnem indueret nisi veritas de terra oriretur z Genebrard Other otherwise when righteousnesse that is Gods grace lookes downe from heauen then truth among men florisheth vpon earth a Placidus Parmen Or before Christs comming the whole world was full of vntruths all the Gentiles adored false gods and many Iewes worshipped the true God falsely But the Sunne of righteousnesse appearing in our Horizon b 1. Pet. 2.9 called vs out of darknesse into marueilous light teaching that onely c 1. Kings 18.39 the Lord is God and that an d 1. Cor. 8.4 Idoll is nothing and so truth florisheth out of the earth and righteousnesse hath looked downe from heauen e Augustine Tileman Or truth springs out of the earth and righteousnesse lookes downe from heauen when a sinner humblie confesseth his faults vnto God according to that of Saint f 1. Epist 1.8.9 Iohn If wee say that wee haue no sinne wee deceiue our selues and truth is not in vs if wee acknowledge our sinnes he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs our sinnes and to cleanse vs from all vnrighteousnes g Bellarmine Or the diuine iustice manifested it selfe from heauen in Christs springing out of the earth For hereby we know the h Rom. 1.18 wrath of God is reueiled from heauen against all vngodlinesse and vnrighteousnesse because nothing could expiate the sinnes of men but the death of Gods owne and onely Sonne hee budded out of the earth and was buffeted vpon the earth and buried vnder the earth and all this and more then this he did suffer and doe for our redemption and ransome i Paulinus epist lib. 1. epist 4. Quid illi pro malis meis quae pertulit quid pro bonis suis quae contulit referam quid pro suscepta carne quid pro alapis quid pro flagellis pro cruce obitu sepultura rependam esto reddamus crucem pro cruce funus pro funere numquid poterimus reddere quod ex ipso per ipsum in ipso habemus omnia c. reddamus
witnesseth Psalme 39.6 How can he then that begs his bread but for a day promise to spend his breath in magnifying the Lord for euer Answere is made that the Prophet will not only commend the mercies of the Lord in word but also commit them vnto writing h Eobanus Hessus Vt sciat haec aetas posteritasque legat As the tongue of the Prophet is termed i Psal 45.2 elsewhere the penne of a ready writer so the writing of the Prophet is heere termed his mouth as Euthymius vpon the place Liber Psalmorum * Acts 4.25 os Dauid k Wilcox Hee doth intend to note the mercies of God and to set foorth his truth in a book the which he will leaue behind him as an instrumēt to conuey the same from generation to generation from the generation of l Euthym. Incognit Turrecremat Iewes to the generation of Christians m Hierome Or from the old Testament to the new for the blessed Apostles in their Sermons vsually cite sentences out of the Psalmes S. n 2. Pet. 4.6 Peter telleth vs that the Gospell was preached vnto the dead so may we say that the Gospel is preached by the dead For the most ancient Fathers and other iudicious authors which haue spēt their daies in writing learned expositions godly meditatiōs vpō the holy scriptures although they be dead sleep in the bed of their graue yet they sing alway the mercies of the Lord and shew the truth of his word from one generation vnto another It is reported in our o Malmesbur de gestis Reg. Anglorum lib. 2. cap. 6. Chronicles of Athelstan Parum aetati vixit multum gloriae So many zealous and industrious Doctors haue liued in respect of their age but a little yet in respect of their acts a great while shining still in their works and writings as lights of the world Or the Prophet may be said to sing euer intentionally though not actually p Io. de Combis comp Theolog. lib. 7. cap. 21. For as the wicked if he could liue alway would sinne alway so the good man if God should suffer him alway to breathe on earth would sing alway the mercies of the Lord. Hee will in q 1. Thessal 5.18 all things giue thankes vnto God r Psal 92.2 early telling of his louing kindnes in the morning and of his truth in the night season In the morning ſ Dr. Incognit Turrecremat Glossa that is in a prosperous estate when as the Sunne shineth vpon him he will acknowledge that euery good gift in him is from aboue comming downe from the Father of lights and Father of mercies And in the darke night of aduersitie hee telleth of Gods iustice confessing ingenuously t Luke 23.41 We receiue things worthie of that we haue done Hee giueth thankes vnto the Lord in both in the one highly magnifying Gods fauour in the other humbly vilifying his owne fault u Placidus Jncognitus Or because God hath inspired into man not only the breath of x Gen. 2.17 this present life but of y Iohn 3.16 Apoc. 2.10 that also which is to come the Saints are said to continue their song of Gods praise in the kingdome of glorie which here they begin in the kingdome of grace For so the Spirit Apoc. 19.1 I heard a great voyce of a great multitude in heauen singing Halleluiah saluation and glorie and honour and peace be to the Lord our God It is obiected if the Saints in heauen alway sing the mercies of the Lord then they remember their miseries on earth and if they remember their sinne and sorrow here how can they be perfitly blessed there for the Lord saith z Esay 65.17 I will create new heauens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde a Gregor moral lib. 4. cap 42. Answere is made that as men in perfit health often remember their terrible fits of their former sicknesse with exceeding ioy yea the more they call into mind their danger past the greater is their delight present euen so the Saints in the kingdome of glorie remember happily their misdeeds and mishaps in this valley of teares but it is without any pollution of sinne or touch of sorrow So b Vbi sup Idem Augustin lib. 22 de Ciuit. dei cap. vlt. Gregorie the Great Erit in illa beatitudine culpae memoria non quae mentem polluat sed qua nos arctius laetitiae astringat vt dum doloris sui animus sine dolore reminiscitur debitorem se medico veriùs intelligat eò magis acceptam salutem diligat quò molestiae meminit quam euasit c August apud Io. de Combis comp Theolog. lib. 7. cap. vlt. Heauenly happinesse consisteth in two things in the necessarie possessing of euery thing which is good and in the necessarie remouing of euery thing which is euill Miserie then is not remembred of the Saints as a matter of griefe but as a motiue to ioy because they bee now d Rom. 7.24 deliuered from this bodie of death and enioy the Crowne of euerlasting life where God is to them e 1. Cor. 15.28 all in all a glasse to their sight hony to their taste musicke to their hearing Balsome to their smelling where f 1. Kings 3.12 Salomons wisedome seemes follie g 2. Sam. 2.18 Ahasels agilitie slownesse Samsons strength weaknes h 2. Sam. 14.25 Absoloms comelines deformitie Caesars empire beggerie Methusalems long life shortnes of daies or a speedie death Thus I haue shewed how the Prophet may be said to sing alwaies the mercies of the Lord in this life vnto the worlds end in the next for euer and euer world without end As for al meanes he praises the Lord with his mouth and all that is without him as also with his minde and al that is within him His i Psal 45.1 heart indites a good matter and his tongue is the penne of a ready writer All his members are for the seruice of his Maker as S. k In loc Augustine glosseth our text Obsequantur membra inquit mea domino meo loquor sed tua loquor annunciabo veritatem tuam in ore meo Si non obsequor seruus non sum si à me loquor mendax sum Ergo vt abs to dicam ego dicam duo quaedam sunt vnum tuum vnum meum veritas tua os meum Now let vs according to this copie draw the lines of our liues vsing all meanes to set foorth the louing kindnesse and truth of the Lord. l Psal 105.1 O give thankes vnto the Lord and call vpon his name tell the people what things he hath done O let your songs be of him and praise him and let your talking bee of his wondrous workes O my soule praise the Lord and all that is within me praise his holie name praise the
kingdom by God the Father vers 1. 2. His administration of this kingdom by the scepter of his word vers 2. 3. His subiects obedience to this administration vers 3. g Apud Pet. Galatin de arcanis lib. 8. cap. 24. Some Doctors among the Iewes haue construed this of Dauids Angel appointed by the Lord for his peculiar guard and guide But I say to them out of S. h Heb. 1.13 Paul Vnto which of the Angels said the Lord at any time sit at my right hand vntill I make thine enemies thy footstoole i Apud Hierom. in Mat. 22. D. Incognit Agellium in loc Other Rabbins expound this of Abraham as making it a thanksgiuing vnto the Lord for the victorie which he got against the foure Kings Gen. 14. Other vnderstand this of k Justin Martyr in dialog contra Triphonem Tertullian lib. 5. contra Marcian Ezechiah other of l Vti Chrysost in loc Zorobabel But all these holy Fathers are dead and haue slept long in the dust of their graue whereas the Lord heere mentioned is a Priest for euer and hath a kingdom m Heb. 1.8 without end And so consequently this Psalme cannot aptly be construed either of man or angell or of any other meere creature but of Christ alone the Messias and Mediatour being the sonne of Dauid as man and the Lord of Dauid as God The Iewes vnderstood not this and therefore they could not answere Christs question Mat. 22.45 If Dauid call him Lord how is he then his sonne neither should we haue learned this except Christ and his Apostles had taught it vs. Nunc ergo saith n In loc Augustine quia didicimus dicimus as we haue read so we beleeue that Christ as being o Philip. 2.6.7 equall to God is the Lord of Dauid as found in the forme of a seruant the sonne of Dauid As p Ioh. 1.1.14 in the beginning the Lord of Dauid as made flesh the sonne of Dauid as q Esay 7.14 conceiued and borne of a Virgin the son of Dauid as Emmanuel the Lord of Dauid See Hierom. in Mat. 22. pet galatin de arcanis lib. 3. cap. 17. lib. 8. cap. 24. Chrysostom D. Incognit August Steuchus Caluin Tileman Agellius Bellarmin alios in loc The Lord said then vnto my Lord is as r Turrecremat Tremellius Genebrardus if hee should haue said God the Father said vnto God the Son And therefore Å¿ Galatin de arcanis lib. 8. cap. 24. Steuchus in loc Rabbi Ionathas translateth it in the Chalde dixit dominus verbo suo the Lord said to his Word Here then obserue t Placid parmen the distinction of persons in the Godhead against u Tileman Artemon Sabellius and Seruetus The Father said vnto the Sonne Ergo the Father is distinguished from the Sonne x August de ciuit dei lib. 11. cap. 10. Lombard 1. sent distinct 2. alius howsoeuer not aliud another person albeit not another substance for as the Father is Lord so the Son Lord and the holy Ghost Lord and yet not three Lords but one Lord as Athanasius in his Creed The Lord said But how when and where the words of our mouthes are first as the y Aristotle Perihermin cap. 1. Philosopher truly notions of our mind So God hath a twofold word z Dr. Incognit ad intra conceiued within himselfe and ad extra reuealed vnto men According to both he said this a Melanct. in loc Immensa sapientia decretum fecit id generi humano patâ—fecit First according to his intrinsecall word he said it before the worlds as it is in the second Psalme vers 7. The Lord said vnto me thou art my sonne this day haue I begotten thee Secondly according to his extrinsecall and reuealed word he said it in the world b Tileman to wit in the beginning Gen. 3.15 the seed of the woman c I said the Lord vnto the serpent will put enmity betweene thee and the woman and betweene thy seed and her seed he shall breake thine head and thou shalt bruise his heele Christ is that promised seed of the woman as being c Rom. 1.3 made of the seed of Dauid according to the flesh he shal breake the Serpents head is all one with our text sit thou on my right hand vntill I haue made all thine enemies thy footstoole My Not onely because to bee borne of my seed and posterity d Agellius but mine in regard of mine affection and particular application As his mother Mary called him my Sauiour and his Apostle Thomas my God and Paul Galath 2.20 Christ loued me and gaue himselfe for me Lord Saint e In loc Hierome and f Apud Genebrard in loc Adonai Adoni other learned in the Hebrew note that in the first place the word translated here Lord is proper onely to God but in the second communicable to men And so Christ according to his manhood began to sit at the right hand of God after his ascension into heauen and not before Christ as the sonne of God was euer at Gods right hand equall in might and maiesty for in the Trinity none is afore or after other none is greater or lesse theÌ„ another but all the three persons are coeternall and coequall As the Sonne is said in this verse to sit at the right hand of the Father so the Father on the Sonnes right hand vers 5. The Lord vpon thy right hand shall wound euen Kings in the day of his wrath But Christ as man was not exalted vnto this honour before his glorious ascension as Saint Peter expoundeth our text Act. 2. â—4 Dauid is not ascended vp into heauen but the Lord said vnto my Lord sit thou at my right hand vntill I make thine enemies thy foot-stoole Therefore let all the house of Israel know for a surety that God hath made him both Lord and Christ this Iesus I meane whom ye haue crucified And Paul Philip. 2.8 He humbled himselfe and became obedient vnto the death euen the death of the Crosse wherefore God hath highly exalted him And in g Ephes 1.20 another place God raised him from the dead and set him at his right hand in heauenly places Yet the Lord said not this vnto Christ as vnto a meere man h Esay 42.8 I am the Lord quoth he this is my name and my glory will I not giue to another but to Christ God and man our Messias and Mediator one person in two natures As Christ is our Iesus Emmanuel he hath i Mat. 28.18 all power in heauen and on earth k Phil. 2.10 At the name of Iesus euery knee shal bow both of things in heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth l Chrysost Theophylact. Gorran in loc Pauli Angels and Saints in heauen men on earth and the diuels of hell vnder earth Christ hath
how to swallow him vp his soule was among lyons all the daies of his life at the houre of his death especially The diuell in tempting and troubling him had laid a snare for his feet and death in digging a pit for him had thought to deuoure him As Dauid was in the caue so Christ the sonne of Dauid was in the graue But it was n Acts 2.24 impossible that the Lord of life should be holden of Death or that his flesh should see corruption he therfore rose againe from the dead on this day setting himselfe aboue the heauens and his glorie aboue all the earth In his anguish and agonie he did o Heb. 5.7 offer vp prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that was able to saue him from death saying p Matth. 26.39 O my Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me neuerthelesse not as I will but as thou wilt And so Christ here called vpon his Father O God be mercifull vnto me c. But he speakes as man in the person of men q Hierome Vnus homo dicit sed vnus pro multis And S. r In loc Augustine sweetly Qui cum patre miseretur tui in te clamat miserere mei Christ according to his ſ See notes vpon Gospell 10. Sun after Trinit Thelesis and naturall will abhorred and feared death and therefore said O God be mercifull vnto me but according to his boulesis and rationall will he yeelded himselfe voluntarily to his persecutors and said Vnder the shadow of thy wings shall be my refuge till this euill is ouer past And Psalm 16.9 as S. Peter applieth it Acts 2.25 I beheld God alway before me for he is at my right hand that I shall not fall Wherefore such as affirme that hee suffered the pangs of desperation and the very paines of the damned in hell erre foully not vnderstanding the Scriptures He saith here vers 5. according to the vulgar Latine Dormini conturbatus he was indeed grieuously troubled in his soule yet so that he slept t August in loc Consule Lorin in loc tam placatus erat iste turbatus vt quando vellet dormiret He feared his enemies tyrannie secundum propassionem as u Sent. lib. 3. dist 15. Lombard acutely non secundum passionem Or to speake in the words of x Epist 25. Bernard he was turbatus moued but not perturbatus remoued from his trust in God and resolution to worke our good And therefore y Hierom. in loc he said in another Psalme I will lay me downe in peace and take my rest as hauing z Ioh. 10.18 power to lay downe my life and power to take it vp again For as he dyed when he would euen so when he would he did arise from the dead setting himselfe aboue the heauens and his glorie aboue all the earth According to this exposition our Church allotted this Hymne to be read on this holy-day for in Christs resurrection all his enemies tyrannie was ouerpast in his resurrection his a Turrecremat glorie which heretofore was obscure did appeare aboue all the earth in his resurrection he did awake right early so the text in the b Luke 24.1 morning early whē it was c Ioh. 20.1 darke in his resurrection his lute and harpe did awake that is his flesh arose from the bed of his graue d Augustine Hierome Lorinus The strings of an Harpe are touched and sound vpward especially but the strings of a Lute from below Christs humane nature then in working diuine miracles which are from aboue was like the Harpe but in suffering our infirmities here below like a Lute The Harpe did sound when he made the blinde to see the deafe to heare the lame to goe c. but the Lute did sound when he was a thirst hungrie naked whipped when he cryed when he dyed when he was buffeted and when hee was buried After his resurrection all the miracles he did out of his power and all the miseries hee suffered out of his infirmitie were by the blessed Apostles instruments of his glorie preached first among the people then among all nations euery where singing that the greatnes of his mercie reacheth vnto the heauens and his truth vnto the cloudes This also may bee construed of the e Mollerus Strigellius Church and that both in respect of her spirituall enemies and temporall As for her ghostly foes the diuel is a roaring lyon 1. Pet. 5.8 and our sinnes are the f Nyssen apud Lorin in loc whelpes of lyons readie to deuoure vs. And concerning outward enemies the Church in this world is like Daniel in the lions denne or as the sucking childe playing vpon the hole of the Aspe Esay 11.8 she hath here no visible power or outward helpe to flie to for succour all her trust is in the Lord vnder the shadow of his wings is her refuge till this euill is ouer-past In old time Gods people were g Heb. 11.36 tried by mockings and scourgings by bonds and prisonment they were stoned hewen asunder they were tempted they were slaine with the sword they wandred vp and downe in wildernes and mountaines and caues of the earth clothed in sheep-skins and in goates-skinnes being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the world was not worthie Since Christ it is well obserued by h Ser. 33. super Cant. Bernard of the Churches affliction Amara prius in nece martyrum amarior post in conflictu haereticorum amarissima nunc in moribus domesticorum Hot non fugare non fugere potest ita inualüerunt multiplicati sunt super numerum Her oppression in the beginning was great by the persecution of tyrants afterward greater by the conflict of heretikes but now greatest of all by the dangerous positions and practises of Anti-christs in the kingdome of poperie whose very Masses are sometime for massacres and their sacred sacrifices offerings of blood And surely beloued if the Church had not any other enemies but onely these monstrous Anti-christs of Rome yet she might truly complaine with our Prophet here my soule is among lyons Eleuen Popes had that name whereof all excepting two or three were roring lyons in their buls and rauening lyons in seeking after their pray Leo the tenth so pilled and polled the goodly nation of Germany with impardonable Pardons and mercilesse Indulgences as that his insupportable crueltie gaue the first occasion of the reformation of religion in that Countrey The foes of Dauid are said here to lay a net for his feete and to digge a pit before him and what are the Papists intricate distinctions of Schooles and Machiauelismes of State but snares and nets to catch our bodies and soules and so greedily to swallow vs vp as Saul here would haue done to Dauid These Scribes and Pharisies haue so great a swallow that they deuoure not only some few widowes houses as the i
men in the next rewarded amongst Saints and Angels in the kingdome of glory PSALME 113. Praise the Lord ye seruants O praise the name of the Lord. THis Hymne as both Text and Title tell vs in the very beginning is an exhortation to praise the Lord wherein 3. poynts are chiefly regardable quis who ye seruants quomodo how With all praise vers 1. Praise the Lord O praise the name of the Lord. At all times vers 2. from this time forth for euermore In all places vers 3. from the rising vp of the Sunne to the going downe of the same quapropter why for his Infinite power vers 4. Admirable prouidence both in Heauen Earth and that in Publique weales vers 6.7 Priuate families vers 8. The Prophet exhorts c Caluin all people to praise the Lord Young men and maydens old men and Children praise the name of the Lord Psalm 148.12 More specially Gods people which haue tasted of his goodnesse more then other as hauing his d Psal 147.19 statutes and ordinances and couenants and promises and seruice Rom. 9.4 e Wilcox most chiefly the Leuites and Priests as being appointed by the Lord for leaders and guides vnto the rest his seruants after a more special manner as it were in ordinarie All men owe this dutie to God as being the f Psal 95.6 workmanship of his hands Christians aboue other men as being the g Psal 100.2 sheep of his pasture Preachers of the Word aboue other Christians as being h Ephes 4.11 pastors of his sheepe and so consequently paternes in word in conuersation in loue in spirit in faith in purenes 1. Tim. 4.12 Yea but how must almightie God be praised for as not euery one that saith vnto the worlds Sauiour i Matth. 7.21 Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of heauen k Basil Chrysost Euthym. so not euery one that hath in his mouth a bare the Lord be praised is a praiser of the Lord but he which is euer readie to suffer and doe the will of his Master and maker God is to be praised in thought and word and deede 1. Cor. 6.20 Glorifie God in your bodie and in your spirit The Lord as being high aboue all heathens and glorious aboue all heauens is blessed euer in himselfe but that hee may be blessed of other let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your father which is in heauen Matth. 5.16 A leaud life doth occasion enemies of pietie to reuile the Gospell and to blaspheme God Rom. 2.24 but honest behauiour on the contrarie to praise God in the day of visitation 1. Pet. 2.12 In one word l Tileman he doth praise God most who liueth best The Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latin pueri may bee taken for children as well as seruants And therefore the translation of the Psalmes in meter aptly Ye children which doe serue the Lord. There is betweene little children and seruants so great affinitie that in Greeke and Latin seruants are called children and children seruants according to that of m Galat. 4.1 Paul The heire as long as hee is a childe differeth nothing from a seruant And so the translators in vsing the word pueri though aude in Hebrew properly signifieth a seruant n Placidus Bellarmine Dr. Incognitus insinuate that we should be like to little children in seruing of the Lord that is simple meeke pure Praise the Lord O praise the name of the Lord The doubling and tripling of this exhortation is to whet our o Caluine dulnesse and coldnes in executing this office p Placidus to shew that God is to be praised with an earnest affection and zeale For albeit Gods praise be the Christians Alpha and Omega the first and the last thing required at our hands as well in death as life yet such is our negligence that we neede q Esay 28.10 precept vpon precept and line vnto line to put vs in minde of our dutie Or this exhortation is doubled r Wilcox to shew that God alone is worthie al praise the kingdom is his and therfore the glorie frō him is all power therfore to him is due all praise And that not only for a little while but from this time foorth for euermore For the seruants of the Lord are to sing his praises in this life to the worlds end and in the next life world without end See before Psal 89. And as the Lord is to be praised at all times so likewise in all places from the rising vp of the Sunne vnto the going downe of the same ſ Bonauent Mollerus that is in and thorough all the world t Wilcox for he puts the two chiefe parts of the world for the whole world because these two quarters of East and West are most inhabited Many Christian Interpretors and some Doctors of the u Kimchi apud Genebrard in loc Iewes vnderstand this of our Lord Christ whose kingdome is without either limits or end Without limits as hauing x Psal 2.8 the heathen for his inheritance and the vttermost parts of the world for his possession his y Malac. 1.11 name is great among the Gentiles and incense shall be offered vnto him in euery place The which is all one with our text the Lords name be praised from the rising of the Sunne to the going downe of the same Without end for God the Father said vnto God the Sonne z Psal 110.1 sit thou on my right hand vntill I make thine enemies thy footstoole a Psal 89.35 His seate is like as the Sunne he shall stand fast for euermore like the faithfull witnes in heauen Yea though heauen be b Iob. 14.2 no more but perish and waxe old as doth a garment yet he is c Heb. 1.12 euer the same and his yeeres doe not faile The which is answerable to the words of our Prophet here Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time foorth for euermore The Lord is high aboue all heathen The most High deserues to be most honoured but the Lord is high aboue all heathen and his glorie aboue the heauen Ergo worthie to be praised more then all either Princes or people The greatest of all creatures in heauen is an Angell and the greatest of all men on earth is an Emperour but the Lord is greater then both as being their maker d Acts. 17.28 in whom they liue and moue and haue their being Higher then all Heathen infinitly greater then Alexander the Great Pompei the Great Mahumet the Great Higher then all Heauens ayrie where feathered fowles are for he e Psal 18.10 flyeth vpon the wings of the winde and f Psal 68.4 rideth vpon the cloudes as vpon an horse Higher then Heauens glorious where blessed soules are for the heauen of heauens is but his seate where hee reigneth a g Psal
i Knolles vbi sup fol. 203. Gilderun or lightening k Abraham Bucholcer Iud. Chron. Willegis Archbishop of Mentz was the sonne of a Wheele-wright and therefore that he might alway remember how the Lord had exalted him out of the durt to set him with Princes he caused the walles of his priuie Chamber to be hung with instruments of Carpentry to which hee ioyned this Motto Willegis Willegis recole vnde veneris and from hence the Bishoppes of that Sea giue two wheeles in their armes In England also many Prelates haue been lifted out of the mire to the Miter it is the Lords doing that hath his dwelling on high and yet humbleth himselfe to behold the things in heauen and earth Renowned Sir l Camden in Elizabetha pag. 301 Francis Drake the sonne of a poore Vicar in Kent was in our age both a terror to proude Spaine and the mirrour of England in the most vnknowne and vttermost parts of the world The Scriptures affoord manifolde examples in this kinde Moses a m Exod. 2. cast-away childe was afterward a leader and a god as it were to the children of Israell Exodus 4. So Daniel of a poore Captiue Dan. 1.6 became a chiefe ruler Dan. 2.48 So n Psalm 105.17 Ioseph solde for a bond-seruant whose feete were hurt in the stockes and the iron entred into his soule was afterward Gods high and holy prouidence so disposing set free by Pharao the King he made him also Lord of his house and ruler of all his substance that hee might informe his Princes after his will and teach his Senatours wisdome So the Lord o Psalm 78.71 chose Dauid his seruant and tooke him away from the sheepefold as he was following the Ewes great with young-ones that he might feede Iacob his people and Israel his inheritance the Lord did not onely lift him out of the mire but also preferre him he set him with Princes and p Genebrard those not Princes of other nations as Ioseph was exalted in Aegypt and Daniel in Babell but euen with the Princes of his owne people to wit of his owne countrey where men of eminent parts are most q Iohn 4.44 neglected r Mollerus Or his may be referred vnto God as if the Prophet should haue said hee taketh vp the poore man out of the mire that he may set him in authoritie not among the heathen onely but ouer the Church his owne people the which is the greatest honour of all according to that of Dauid ſ Psal 84 11. I would choose rather to sit at the threshold in the house of my God then to dwell in the tents of vngodlinesse and the good Emperour Theodosius to the fame purpose desired rather to bee membrum ecclesiae quà m caput imperij that is a member of the Church then head ouer all vnbeleeuers Now Dauid was aduanced according to both interpretations in that hee ruled his owne people who were Gods people so the text 2. Sam. 12. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel I annointed thee King ouer Israel and deliuered thee out of the hand of Saul and gaue thee thy Lords house and thy Lords wiues into thy bosome and gaue thee the house of Israel and Iuda c. As God in his holy prouidence taketh vp some poore men out of the mire to set them with Princes euen with Princes of his people so many times he puts downe the mightie from their seate and brings them vnto the very dung-hill t Psal 75.8 hee ruleth as a Iudge he puts downe one and sets vp another Examples hereof in holy Scripture u Ester 3.1 Haman a man exalted aboue all the Princes in Assuerus court was vpon the sudden hanged on the tree that he had prepared for his enemie Ester 7.10 Nabuchadnezzer a proude king was driuen from mens societie to conuerse with beasts x Dan. 4.30 Hee did eate grasse as the Oxen and his bodie was wet with the dew of Heauen till his haires were growne as Eagles feathers and his nailes like birds clawes and all for this end that hee might knowe that the most high ruleth ouer the kingdome of men and giueth it vnto whom soeuer he will y Acts 12.12 Herod in the middest of his glorie when the people hearing his oration in the seate of Iustice gaue a shoute saying The voyce of God and not of man was immediatly smitten by the Lords Angell so that hee was eaten vp of wormes and gaue vp the ghost In prophane historie wee finde that z See Sir Walter Raulegh preface to the worlds hist Darius plaied the part of the greatest Emperour and the part of a most miserable begger a begger begging water of an enemie to quench the great drought of death a Knolles in his life Baiazet the first in the morning was the grand Seignior of the Turkes and in the same day the footestoole of Tamberlaine b Procopius de bello Goth. lib. 1 3. idem Simon Schardius in vita Petri de vineis epist eiusdem praefix vbi multa huiusmodi reperias Bellisarius a most victorious captaine by whose valour and policie the Persians were vanquished the Vandals subdued and Africa recouered to the Empire became before his death a distressed blinde begger in exile begging his bread from dore to dore crauing and crying a peny for poore Bellisarius In our owne Chronicles wee reade that c Holinshead in the life of Rich. the 2. Trisilian chiefe Iustice of England in the dayes of King Richard the second was pulled from the bench aboue to the barre below nay hee which had often iudged other to death in fine was damned himselfe to the gallowes d Holinshead in the life of Edw. the 5. Shores wife the merrie minion of Edward the fourth in her flourishing estate was sued vnto more then all the Peeres in the land but afterward so despoyled of all her goods and so despited by her mercilesse foe then vsurper of the Crowne that none durst giue her so much as a crust of bread or a drop of drinke She who whileom had stretched her selfe on beds of downe and was frolike with Princes in iuorie pallaces ended her dayes in open streete euen in a dirtie ditch nomina fecit aquis as some thinke Shorditch is so called as it were Shores-ditch The Seas of examples in this kinde haue no bottome and therfore we should make no other account of this ridiculous world e Sir Walter Rauleigh vbi sup thē to resolue that the change of fortune on the great theater is but as the change of garments on the lesse for when on the one and the other euery man weares but his owne skinne the players are all one God which is on high and humbleth himselfe to behold the things in heauen and in earth appoynts euery man his part and apparell on the worlds stage lifting vp and pulling downe whome he list He therefore that complaines
behold the saluation of the Lord which he will shew to you this day for the Egyptians whom yee haue seene this day yee shall neuer see them againe How then are these two seeming contrarie places in one chapter accorded Israel shall neuer see the Egyptians againe yet afterward Israel saw the Egyptians Answere is made by S. x Quast 51. sup Exod. Augustine yee shall neuer see them againe liuing as to day but yee shall see them dead Ye shall neuer see them againe fighing against you but yee shall see them at your feete drowned in the waters and cast vp at the sea bank Ye shall see thē again to your comfort but ye shal neuer see thē againe to your terror How Iordan was driuen backe you may reade in the third and fourth chapter of Iosua How the mountaines skipped like rammes and the little hils like young sheepe Exod. 19.18 Habacuc 3.6.10 How the hard rocke was turned into standing water and the flint stone to a springing well Exod. 17.6 Numb 20.11 Psal 78.16 and Psal 105.40 The summe whereof is in briefe that all the creatures at the commandement of the Creator are y See Wisd 19.18 turned vpside downe readie to doe or not to doe to shew foorth or keepe in their ordinarie courses according to his good will and pleasure The sea flowing forward at the word of God turned backward the mountaines so called à non mouendo because they doe not moue skippe like rammes and the little hils like young sheepe the hard rocke the flint stone both exceeding drie made standing waters and springing welles It is the nature of z Psal 22.13 ramping and roaring lions to be a Psal 17.12 greedie of their pray yet the Lord b Dan. 6.22 shut the lions mouthes that they could not hurt Daniel in their denne It is the nature of water to drowne and deuoure men in the deepe for the wicked Egyptians sanke to the bottom saith c Exod. 15.5 Moses as a stone yet d Ionas 1.17 Ionas by Gods appointment being throwne into the middest of the sea and swallowed vp in a Whales bellie three daies and three nights was afterward cast out again vpon the dry land safe sound Ionas 2.10 It is the nature of fire to burne and consume yet Shadrach Meshach and Abednego put into a fierie fornace made seuen times more hot then ordinary walked in the middest of the flame without any danger e Dan. 3.27 The fire had no power of their bodies not one haire of their head scorched neither were their coates changed nor any smell of fire came vpon them The blessed man and Martyr of God Saint Bilney for so Father f Serm. 7. before King Edw. 6. Latymer is bold to call him often g Fox Martyr fol. 923. comforted himselfe and his acquaintance with the words of our Lord Esay 43.1 Feare not Israel for I haue redeemed thee I haue called thee by thy name thou art mine when thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee and thorow the floods that they doe not ouerflow thee when thou walkest thorow the very fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle vpon thee So h Fox vbi sup fol. 939. Iames Baynham another holy Martyr being at the stake in the middest of furious and outragious flames cried out Behold ye Papists ye looke for miracles and here now yee may see a miracle for in this fire I feele no more paine then if I were in a bed of downe yea it is to me like a bed of roses So i Jo. Crispin in Catalog martyr ex epist Poggij Florentini quae est ad Leonardū Aretinum Hierome of Prage when the deaths man at his burning would haue kindled the fire behinde at his backe left it might otherwise seeme too terrible presently called vnto him and said Come hither and let me see the fire before me for if I had feared the fire I needed not to haue come hither In all things behold then how good and ioyfull a thing it is to serue the Lord to be subiect to his kingdome to march vnder his colours and to fight his battailes For God is a k Exod. 15.3 man of warre yea the Lord of hostes hauing all creatures in heauen on earth and vnder earth at his absolute command to protect such as follow him and to fight against such as fight against him At his word the l Wisd 19.17 elements are changed among themselues as one tune is changed vpon an instrument of musicke and the melodie still remaineth At his word the waues are calme the fire cold the mountaines mouing at his word the valleys m Psal 65.14 sing and the hils dance O n Psal 8.1 Lord our gouernour how excellent is thy name in all the world so o Exod. 15.11 glorious in holinesse fearfull in praises doing wonders able to doe whatsoeuer thou wilt and willing to doe whatsoeuer is best for Iuda thy sanctuarie for Israel thy dominion Mystically the temporall Exodus of Israel out of Egypts bondage p Augustine Hierome Arnobius Iacob de Valentia prefigureth our spirituall deliuerance by Christ from the tyrannous oppression of Satan and sinne Here then according to the methode propounded I am to treate first of the parties deliuered secondly of the perill and place from which all holy Christians are set free thirdly of the manner and meanes of our redemption Concerning the first all true beleeuers as q Galat. 3.29 Paul teacheth are the seed of Abraham and the house of Iacob And the reason hereof is very plaine they be the sons of Abraham that doe the workes of Abraham Iohn 8.59 but Abrahams chiefe worke was faith as the r Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.3 text expressely Abraham beleeued God and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse Ergo they which are of faith are the children of Abraham Galat. 3.7 Christian people saith ſ In loc Augustine are not aliants from the Common-wealth of God and strangers from the couenants of promise Sed magis Israel as it were more Israel then Israel it selfe t Luther in Galat 3.7 For vnbeleeuing Iewes are the Sonnes of begetting Abraham after the flesh onely but all the faithfull among the u Gen. 12.3 Galat. 3.8 Gentiles are the Sonnes of beleeuing Abraham after the spirit The Lord said to blessed Abraham a Father of many Nations haue I made thee Genes 17.5 that is as Saint Paul expoundeth it Rom. 4.11 The Father of them that beleeue whether they be Iewes or Gentiles as Saint Peter Acts 10.35 In euery Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousnesse is an Israel accepted of him adopted his Sanctuary wherein hee will bee serued and his Seigniory wherein he will as a King raigne by his holy word and Spirit Now for the second obseruable poynt of our redemption Israels bondage in Egipt liuely represents our miserable thraldome vnder Satan and
were good and not ioyfull it would be tedious if ioyful and not good it might be vicious but good ioyfull together is excellent good omne tulit punctum it is a double sweete when as profit and pleasure meet it is good there is the profit it is ioyfull there is the pleasure It is like the precious oyntment of Aaron there is the sweet of pleasure it is like the dew of Hermon there is the sweete of profit As sweet perfumes are pleasant not only to such as vse thē but also to the whole cōpany so concord is not only profitable to good men which are the peace-makers but euen vnto all other in the same Common-wealth of whatsoeuer function or faction And therefore Dauid being now quietly seated in his kingdome free from warres abroad and iarres at home calleth vpon all his people to confesse that the Lord is gracious and that his mercie endureth for euer But in more particular hee calleth vpon the house of Aaron i Numb 18. that is the Priests and Leuites and that for two reasons especially First because such as trouble Israel hate most of all the Priests and Preachers of the word Secondly k Dr. Jncognit Mollerus because the Priests are the Prouosts of the people Heb. 13.7 the salt of the earth to season other Matth. 5.13 and therefore seeing they be Precentors in Gods quire it is their office to sing first that other may sing after In respect of danger and dutie the house of Aaron haue good cause to praise God more then other and to confesse that his mercies endure for euer Now for as much as m Rom. 2.28 all are not Iewes which are Iewes outward and all are not n Rom. 9.6 Israel which are of Israel I say for as much as there be many o Mollerus Caluin hypocrites as well among Priests and people therfore Dauid in the fourth verse chiefly calleth vpon such as truly feare the Lord Yea let them now that feare the Lord confesse that his mercie endureth for euer For hereby such enioy not only a ciuill and outward peace which is common to the whole State but further a religious and inward peace of conscience which is proper to themselues For when there is p Psal 122. peace within the walles of Hierusalem and plenteousnes within her palaces euery one may goe into the house of the Lord and stand in the gates of the beautifull Temple Then all the Tribes ascend to giue thankes vnto the name of the Lord to q Psal 95.6 worship and fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker entring into his r Psal 100.3 courts with praise Then as it is in this Psalme they binde the sacrifice with cords euen vnto the hornes of the altar exercising all acts of religion and powring out their whole soule before the God of heauen On the contrarie in time of warre the Gentiles and other who know not God enter into the inheritance of God and defile his holy Temple they doe not only crie Downe with it downe with it vnto the ground as it is in the 137. Psalme but as wee finde in the 79. Psalme they pull it downe in deede and make Hierusalem an heape of stones giuing the bodies of Gods deare seruants to be meate vnto the fowles of the aire and the flesh of his Saints vnto the beasts of the field Ye therefore that doe truly professe haue greatest occasion duly to confesse Gods exceeding mercie for enioying the sweet benefit of peace For if once ye should a little while want the comfort ye reape by publike prayers and preaching in Gods house ye would complaine grieuously ſ Psal 84. Lord how amiable are thy dwellings my soule hath a longing desire to enter into thy courts How blessed are the t Who make their nests in houses and trees neere thy Tabernacle Hen. Mollerus in loc Or mystically whether I lead an actiue life like the Sparrow or a cōtemplatiue like the Turtle thy altars are the best nests to rest in Bellarmine sparow and swallow who may come to thy altars and set vpon thy Temple For one day in thy courts is better then a thousand I had rather be a doore-keeper in the house of my God then to commaund in the tents of vngodlines The reasons of this exhortation are manifold expressed by Dauid here particularly from the 5. verse to 21. but they be generally these Two Gods mercies toward his childrē In generall He is gracious and his mercie endureth for euer In particular to Dauid I called vpon the Lord in trouble and hee heard mee at large c. Gods iudgements vpon his enemies in whose name alone they be destroyed and become extinct as fire among the thornes c. The mercies of the Lord are so rich and abundant that our Prophet u Psal 145.9 else where saith his mercie is ouer all his workes And it is seene in two things chiefly 1. In giuing euery thing which is good 2. In taking away whatsoeuer is euill Now we may the better vnderstand the greatnes of his goodnes in both if wee will examine the breadth and length and depth and height thereof as S. Paul intimates Ephes 3.18 First for the breadth of his mercie whatsoeuer is good is originally from God x Iames 1.17 euery good and perfit gift is from aboue descending from the Father of lights euen the very minnoms and minutes are mercies holden as it were by Franck-almoigne And as hee bestoweth on his euery thing which is good so likewise he takes from them euery kinde of euill Bread taketh away hunger and drinke taketh away thirst and apparell taketh away nakednesse and fire taketh away coldnesse and other things deliuer vs from other miseries in this world But all these creatures are the Lords and they cannot helpe vs except hee blesse them Againe there bee many miseries vnknowne vnto the creatures as the subtile tentations of the diuell and the manifolde blindnesse of our vnderstanding and erroneous conscience from which onely God is able to deliuer vs as being the Phisitian of our soule so well as the protector of our body Moreouer as the creatures take not away all miseries but a few so they take them away not from all but from a few God alone is able to deliuer all men from all miseries and though hee doe not this vnto all yet there bee none but haue tasted of some yea of many of his mercies which occasioned our Prophet to say y Psalm 33.5 the earth is full of the goodnesse of the Lord and our Church to pray O God whose nature and propertie is euer to haue mercy and to forgiue But ye will obiect if the Lord can deliuer from all euill why doth hee not as being the z 2. Cor. 1.3 Father of mercies Answere is made that God our Father in Heauen knowes what is best for vs his children on earth hee therefore doth afflict vs
true heaven and earth shall perish and wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture thou shalt fold them vp and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy yeeres shall not faile Psal 102.27 Heb. 1.12 Thou sweet Iesus art a Priest for euer and a Prince for euer And surely God would haue Dauids earthly kingdom to determine in Iehoiachim and Zedechia that his people might g Hoc admonet vox intellectus in titulo posita Bellar. argum huius Psalmi vnderstand the holy couenant made with Dauid of Christ and that they might pray Lord where are thy old louing kindnesses which thou swarest vnto Dauid in thy truth See S. August de ciuit dei lib. 17. cap. 9.10.11.12.13 Now the Prophet in processe of his hymne describes the natures and vertues of Christ as well inherent in his owne person as infused into his people His Humane nature because the seed of Dauid a perfect man in soule and body against h Bellarmin de Christo lib. 2. cap. 2. Eutycheans i Epiphan haeres 77. Apollinarists k August haeres 11. Valentinians l Alphons de haeres lib. 4. fol. 70. Nestorians m Idem ibid. fol. 73. Monothelites c. His Diuine nature First for that the Church inuocates him as God vers 5. O Lord the very heauens shall praise thy wondrous works and thy truth in the congregation of the Saints By heauen is meant the n Euthym. Tileman Church and the o Augustin Hierom. Preachers of Christ in the Church Secondly Ethan proues Christ to be God by comparison in the 6.7.8.9 verses Who is he among the cloudes that shall bee compared vnto the Lord or what is hee among the gods that shall be like vnto him as if he should say there is neither Monarch on earth nor Angel in heauen his peere Thirdly from the preseruation of all things v. 10.11 Thou rulest the raging of the sea thou rulest the waues thereof when they arise c. Fourthly for that he created the world ver 12.13.14 The heauens are thine the earth also is thine thou hast laid the foundation of the round world c. Hauing thus expressed his natures and shewed him to be p Alphons de haeresibus lib. 1. fol. 25. verus homo verusque Deus tamen vnus vterque He begins in the 15. verse to sing of his vertues as well in his owne person as people For himselfe righteousnes and equity is the habitation of thy seat mercy and truth shall goe before thy face For his people blessed are they that can reioyce in thee they shall walke in the light of thy countenance their delight shall be daily in thy name c. These things affoord manifold instructions according to the prefixed title a Psalme for instruction of Ethan the Ezrarite But the point aimed at most is vndoubtedly q Vatablus Caluin that in all our tentations and tempests of conscience we should flie to the sure mercies and holy promises of God in Christ If once we stay our soules on this anchor hold wee shall escape shipw-rack of faith Ethan who was either penner or singer of this hymne is by r Augustin interpretation robustus one which is strong now no man is strong in this world but hee who relieth vpon the sure promises of God The consideration of our owne merits is able to make vs faint and feeble but our trust in the Lords euerlasting mercies maketh vs like mount Sion which cannot bee remoued but abideth fast firme for euer Psal 125.1 And therefore ſ Galat. de arcan lib. 6. cap. 12. some Diuines haue construed this Scripture by that Ierem. 9.23 Thus saith the Lord let not the wise man glory in his wisdome nor the strong man glory in his strength neither the rich man glory in his riches but let him that glorieth glory in this that he vnderstands and knowes me to bee the Lord which shew mercy iudgement and righteousnesse And as the Fathers vnder and before the law comforted themselues in all afflictions and misery with the consideration of Christs first comming so let vs in the middest of our tentations and troubles bee stedfast and immoueable because we look for his second comming He deferred his first comming a great while yet in the t Galat. 4.4 fulnes of time he dealt with his seruants u Luke 2.29 according to his word So the Saints expecting his second comming crie with a loud voyce x Apocal. 6.10 How long Lord holy and true doest not thou iudge and auenge our bloud on them that dwell on earth And mockers in the last daies also say y 2. Pet. 3.4 Where is the promise of his comming for since the fathers died all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation And yet the Lord saith Saint Peter is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slacknes but is patient toward vs and would haue all men come to repentance z Heb. 10.37 Yet a very little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarrie Behold saith he who neuer vttered vntruth a Apoc. 22.12 I come shortly and my reward is with me to giue euery man according as his workes are The life present is so full of diseases and disasters that our happinesse is b Coloss 3.4 hid with Christ in God but whē he which is our life shall appeare then we shall also appeare with him in glorie for hee shall c Philip. 3.21 change our vile body that it may be like his glorious body d Martialis ad Burdegal epist. 8 Non euacuabitur veritas corporis sed non erit pondus fragilitas corruptionis Wherefore let vs alway be rich in the work of the Lord for as much as wee know that our labour is not in vaine in the Lord 1. Cor. 15.58 Hitherto concerning the dittie of the song I come now to the dutie of the singer I will alway sing thy mercies with my mouth I will euer be shewing thy truth from one generation to another I know e Bellarmine some ioyne in aeternum to the nowne misericordias and not to the verbe cantabo making the sense to bee this I will alway sing thy mercies which endure for euer But alwaies is referred as well if not better vnto the verbe I will sing as who would say Lord thy mercies are so manifest and so manifold so great in their number and so good in their nature that I will alway so f Psal 146.1 long as I haue any being sing praises vnto thee Happily some will obiect All flesh is grasse and the grace thereof as the flower of the field the grasse withereth and the flower fadeth away Dauid being persecuted by Saul said g 1. Sam. 20.3 there is but a step between death and me Nay Dauid thy life is shorter then a stride but a spanne long as thy selfe
all power in heauen m Dr. Incognit as hauing the godly subiect to him out of their deuotion and all power on earth as hauing the wicked made subiect to his foot-stoole will they nill they For there is a n Euthym. Placid parmen in loc idem Aquin. in Philip 2. lect 3. twofold subiection one voluntarie another extorted All glorious Angels all blessed spirits all good men of their owne accord yeeld obedience to Iesus fully cheerfully but the wicked men on earth and the damned fiends in hell in despite of their teeth are blockes at his foot-stoole o August in loc Quaere ergo quem locum habeas sub pedibus domini dei tui nam necesse est vt habeas aut gratiae aut poenae for as euery knee should bow so euery knee shall bow saith p Esay 45.23 Esay that knee that will not out of faith shall out of feare so Dauid here the Lord said vnto my Lord sit at my right hand vntill I make thine enemies thy foot-stoole Vntill This word q Gregor moral lib. 8. cap. 40. Chrysost Incognit Agellius in loc notes here not a piece of time but a perpetuitie For Christ after all his enemies are made his foot-stoole shall euer sit at the right hand of God his throne is for euer and euer Heb. 1.8 And power is vnto him that sitteth vpon the Throne for euermore Apocal 5.13 So donec is vsed Deut. 7.23 The Lord thy God shall destroy them with a mighty destruction vntill they be brought to nought heereby meaning that they shall vtterly bee consumed because they cannot any more resist after once they be brought to nothing And Psalm 112. vers 8. The good mans heart is established and will not shrinke vntill he see his desire vpon his enemies If his heart were not afraid for any euill tidings when his enemies stood vp against him how shall hee shrinke when he sees their neckes giuen vnto him And Matth. 1.25 hee knew her not vntill shee had brought foorth her first borne sonne c. Vntill in that place doth not import as the r Hierom. Chrysost Theophylact. Euthym. Doctors haue well obserued against Heluidius that Ioseph afterward carnally knew Mary for she was a perpetuall virgin as well after as before the birth of her sonne Iesus See 2. Sam. 6.23 Mat. 5.18 and 28.20 It is obiected against this interpretation out of Saint Paul 1. Cor. 15.24 that Christ after he hath put downe all things vnder his feet shall in fine deliuer vp the kingdome to God Answere is made by Chrysostome vpon our text out of Ioh. 16.15 Al things that the Father hath are mine And. Ioh. 17.10 All mine are thine and thine are mine Å¿ Marlorat in 1. Cor. 15.24 As then God the Father was not without his kingdome when as God the Sonne said t Mat. 11.27 Iohn 3.35 all things are giuen vnto me of my Father no more shall God the Son be de-thrond when he shall deliuer vp his kingdome to his Father u See Luther Anselm Lombard in 1. Cor. 15.24 Hee now raignes in secret but when all his enemies once shall be made his foot-stoole then he shall openly rule much more sitting at his Fathers right hand for euermore I make Christ is x Philip. 3.21 able to subdue all things vnto himselfe and according to his power hee shall also put all things vnder his feet 1. Cor 15.27 How then is it true that God the Father saith vntill I make thine enemies thy foot-stoole Answere is made that y Ioh. 5.19 whatsoeuer things the Father doth the same things also doth the Sonne z Euthym. for this action is common to the Sonne with the Father I say common to the Son a Bellarmin in loc in respect of his eternal generation as God and in respect of the hypostaticall vnion as man Yet this worke is ascribed especially to the Father as being a worke of might according to that orthodoxall axiome Works of power are ascribed to the father of wisdome to the Sonne of loue to the holy Ghost Thine enemies b Tileman Heere note that the Church is not a kingdome liuing alwaies in pompe and peace but as c Cant. 6.3 Salomon speakes as an armie with banners exposed to great danger as being opposed by cruel and cunning enemies If any man will take the Churches portraiture let him saith d Loc. Com. tit de persecut verae Eccles Luther paint a seely poore maid sitting in a forlorne wood or wildernesse compassed about on euery side with hungry Lions Woolues Boares Beares in one word with al hateful hurtfull beasts and in the mid'st of a great many furious men assaulting her euery minute as they did here Christ with e Mat. 26.47 swords staues and that which is more terrible threatening fire and water fire to consume her flesh and bones into ashes water to consume her ashes into nothing if it were possible To speake more distinctly Christ and his Church haue f Tileman two sorts of enemies secular and spirituall Secular as idolatrous Gentiles blasphemous Turkes and other barbarous Infidels out of the Church as also violent Tyrants virulent Hereticks fraudulent Antichrists in the bosome of the Church For as g Vbi sup Luther notes out of Augustine the Church hath had a threefold oppression The first violent by persecuting Emperours the second fraudulent by subtill heretickes the third both violent and fraudulent by pestilent Anti-christs in the kingdome of Poperie where the temporall power and spirituall are ioyned together against all that is called God Now Christ is a ruler in the middest of all these h Psal 99.1 the Lord is King be the people neuer so impatient hee sits betweene the Cherubims be the earth neuer so vnquiet Howsoeuer the i Psalm 2. Gentiles furiously rage together and vngodly Princes take counsell together against his annointed he that dwelleth in heauen shall laugh them to scorne hee shall haue them in derision hee shall bruise them with a rod of iron and breake them in pieces like a potters vessell Albeit k Apoc. 7.1 foure wicked Angels stand on the foure corners of the earth holding the foure winds that the wind should not blow on the earth neither on the sea neither on any tree yet l See epist on Al-Saints day Christ hauing the seale of the liuing God cries with a loud voice to the foure angels to whom power was giuen to hurt the earth and the sea Hurt ye not the earth neither the sea neither the trees vntill we haue sealed the seruants of our God in their foreheads He sits at Gods right hand till his enemies are made his foot-stoole m Vatablus in loc that is vntill he say to tyrants and Hypocrites and Heretickes and Anti-christs and to the whole rabble of the reprobate depart from mee yee cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the diuell
the daughter of Sion in his wrath and cast downe from heauen vnto the earth Israels glory Lam. 2.1 that the barbarous ſ Apocal. 20.8 Gog and Magog are now lords of that somtime holy land Hierusalem in old time the City of God is now being possessed by the Turkes nothing else but a den of theeues Ergo Christ is that promised Messias it is t Mat. 11.3 he that should come neither need wee looke for another Be thou ruler in the midst among thine enemies By u Agellius Bellarmin rod is meant Christs scepter because strong rods are for the scepters of them that beare rule Ezech. 19.11 and Ier. 48.17 How is the strong staffe broken and the beautifull rod And by his scepter is meant his power and the word is that his power by which he rules in the middest of all his enemies conuerting such enemies as appertain to Gods election and confounding such enemies as are the sonnes of perdition his Gospell is vnto the one the sauour of life vnto life and to the other the sauour of death vnto death 2. Cor. 2.16 The blessed Apostles preached the Gospell in the middest of their enemies x Chrysost Euthym. as being sheepe in the middest of woolues Mat. 10.16 And y Lib. 1. cap. 2. 3. Irenaeus who liued in the next age witnesseth also that the Church encreased in Egypt Lybia France Spaine Germanie comparing the light of the Gospell vnto the Sun illuminating all men excepting such as are lost hauing their mindes blinded by the Prince of this world 2. Cor. 4.4 In all after times vnto this present day Christ ruled and his kingdome florished in despite of all his enemies in the middest of Atheists in the middest of Infidels in the middest of Heretikes in the middest of Hypocrits in the middest of Tyrants in the middest of Turkes in the middest of Anti-christs At the worlds end when our blessed Sauiour sitting at his Fathers right hand shall vtterly z 1. Cor. 15.19 put downe all things vnder his feete the good shall be separated from the bad as a shepheard separates the sheepe from the goates Matth. 25.32 But so long as the world that a 1. Iohn 5.19 lieth in wickednesse continueth the b Matth. 13.30 wheate groweth among tares and the Church is euer as a lilie among c Cant. 2.2 thornes assaulted on the one side by vnbeleeuers and on the other side by mis-beleeuers On the left hand by the blasphemous propositions of Heretikes on the right hand by the contentious oppositions of Schismatikes openly wronged by cut-throate tyrants and secretly wringed by backbyting hypocrites d Lib. de re rustica Varro writes that the Romanes in old time did ouercome their enemies sedendo but the Romanists in our time think to make their enemies as it were their footstoole caedendo by dagge and dagger by powder-plots and powder-shots by fire force furie Yet notwithstanding Christ is a Ruler and his subiects are e Rom. 8.37 more then Conquerours in the very middest of Anti-christianisme For the beheadding of Martyrs is like the f Iustin Mart. in dialog cum Tryphon cutting of vines the more they bee cut the more they prosper and fructifie The g Baro ius praefat tom 8. annal Church faith as Paul 2. Cor. 12.10 When I am weake then am I strong h Loc com tit de Luthero Martin Luther assisted doubtlesse by Gods owne spirit so little regarded the bloodie Papists in the quarrel of Christs Gospel as that he said peremptorily Contemptus est à me Romanus furor feruor And therfore being aduised by some good friends that he would not aduenture himselfe to be present at the meeting of the Germane Princes at Wormes he did answere them in this wise For as much as I am sent-for I am resolued and certainly determined to enter Wormes in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ although I knew there were so many diuels to resist me as there are tyles to couer all the houses in Wormes Fox Martyr fol. 776. And B. i Mr. Fox in his martyrdome Latymer being brought to the stake was so wel assured that Christ euen by his weakenesse should rule in the middest of his enemies as that vpon the kindling of the first fagot hee said to his fellow martyr Bishop Ridley Courage brother Ridley we shal by Gods grace this day light such a candle in England as I hope shall neuer be put out againe In the day of thy power shall the people offer thee freewill offrings Christ by the preaching of his word subdueth vnto himselfe a good and a great people Good They shall offer thee free-will offerings with an holie worship Great The dew of thy birth is of the wombe of the morning In the daies of thy power k Caluin that is in the daies of thy solemne assemblies in the daies of thy l Tremellius Gospell vntill thou shalt ouercome thine enemies with the m 2. Thess 2.8 spirit of thy mouth and abolish thē with the brightnes of thy cōming thy people shall offer free-will offerings vnto thee n Melanct. Mollerus Tileman not enforced by law but cōming out of loue not out of fashion or factiō but in pure deuotion and cheerefull obedience They shall appeare before thee with an holy worship or as our new translation in the beauties of holinesse that is in thy o Tremel Wilcox Temple which is a glorious Sanctuary Psal 29.2 p Agellius Or in a holinesse equalling the holinesse of thy Sanctuary for good Christians are the temples of God 1. Cor. 3.16 Or by beauties of holinesse he meaneth happily the q Tileman Melancthon Mollerus Priests garment insinuating that Christs elect people should be named r Esay 61.6 the Priests of the Lord a chosen generation a royall Priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people shewing foorth the vertues of him that hath called them out of darknesse into marueilous light 1. Pet. 2.9 The summe of all is that the subiects of his kingdome shall appeare before him in ſ Genebrard all kinde of sanctitie t Bellarm. resplendent in holinesse and shining in good workes as lights in the world Philip. 2.15 If all Christs people then offer him free-will offerings with an holy worship hee will not abide such as are hypocrites who serue the truth only to serue their turne u Psal 50.16 taking his couenant in their mouth yet hate to be reformed x Bradford in a letter to the City of London To the petition let thy kingdome come wee must adioyne thy will be done done on earth as it is in heauen Hee will as S. y Apoc. 3.16 Iohn telleth vs spue such out of his mouth as are neither hot nor cold mungrils in religion z 1. Kings 18.21 halting betweene God and Baal hauing as the a Hosea 10.2 Prophet speaks a diuided heart an heart and an
heart like the b Aul. Gellius Noct. attic lib. 16. cap 15. Hares in Bisaltia or the Partridges in Paphlagonia c Bradford in a letter to Dr. Hill Physitian The way of Christ is so straite that it will suffer no reeling to this side or that side if any halt in it hee is like to fall off the bridge into the pit of eternall perdition The Lord for our example hath inflicted heauie iudgements in all ages vpon such as haue not vprightly walked but halted before him I will onely remember one which happened vpon d Fox Mart. fol. 1911. Castellanus who hauing first inriched himselfe by the Gospell and afterward forsaking the pure doctrine thereof and turning againe to his popish vomite so that hee persecuted the Christians in Orleance by the hand of God was strickē in his body with a grieuous sicknesse vnknowne to the Physitians the one halfe of his bodie burning as hot as fire and the other being so cold as Ice and so miserably crying and lamenting ended his life The dew of thy birth is of the wombe of the morning A very difficult place diuersly construed either of Christ himselfe or of his gifts or of his people First of Christ himselfe and that in respect of his Godhead and of his Manhood Of his e Chrysost Hierome Augustine Euthym. in loc Idem Ambrose de fide lib. 1. cap. 6. Euseb hist lib. 1. cap. 4. Godhead that the Father saith vnto him of the wombe that is of mine owne essence before the early morning that is before the world was thou hast the dew of thy youth or birth noting his eternal generation before all worlds as is shewed Prou. 8.22.23.24.25 And according to this sense the Septuagint Interpretors haue translated of the wombe before the morning starre begat I thee If it bee meant of his Manhood it may bee f See Tertull. lib. 5. cont Mar. Iustin dialog cum Tryphon Galat de arcanis lib. 3. cap. 17. Melanct. in loc thus expounded of the wombe of the darke morning or Virgine thou hast the dew of thy birth If we will vnderstand it of his g See Steuchus Mollerus in loc gifts and grace the plentifull and abundant dew of thy gifts and gladnesse aboue thy fellowes was in thee from the very wombe But because Dauid in this verse speakes neither of the person nor of the gifts of the Messias but of his subiects I side with h Bucer Caluine Mollerus Tileman Geneua gloss Strigellius Tremellius our Diuines who reade and interpret it after this sort thy youth or new-borne people shal be to thee at the morning By the preaching of thy word thou shalt bring forth a people not only good but also great whose increase shall be so plentifull and wonderfull as the drops of the morning dew For as the dew that secretly falles from heauen abundantly couereth and refresheth all the earth so thy word by the secret operation of the holy spirit i Deut. 32.2 stilling as the dew and as the showre vpon the herbes is that k 1. Pet. 1.23 immortall seede by which an incredible number of children are begotten vnto God ouer-spreading the face of the whole world according to that of S. l Iohn 1.12 Iohn To them hee gaue power to be the sonnes of God euen to them that beleeue in his name which are borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God This exposition I take to bee most agreeable to the drift of our text and to the words of our translation m Buchanan Paraphras in loc Non roris imber ante lucem argenteis tot vest it arua gemmulis Quà m multa cunctis gentium de finibus ad te propago confluet The Lord sware and will not repent Men as Paul teacheth Heb. 6. sweare by him that is greater then themselues but almightie God as hauing none greater to sweare by sware by himselfe to father Abraham Genes 22.16 By my selfe haue I sworne saith the Lord because thou hast done this thing and hast not spared thine onely sonne therfore will I surely blesse thee will greatly multiplie thy seede as the starres of the heauen and as the sand which is vpon the sea shore and thy seede shall possesse the gate of his enemies and in thy seede all the nations of the earth shall be blessed This oath is repeated and renewed againe vnto Isaac Genes 26.3 The Lord appeared vnto him and said I will performe the oath which I sware vnto Abraham thy father And the seruants and Saints of God euer highly reuerenced and esteemed this oath He saith our n Psal 105 8. Prophet is the Lord our God he hath alway been mindfull of his couenant and promise that hee made to a thousand generations euen the couenant that hee made with Abraham and the oath that he sware to Isaac And Ierem. 11.4 Thus saith the Lord ye shall be my people and I will be your God that I may confirme the oath which I haue sworne vnto your fathers And Zacharias in his hymne Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people c. As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets euer since the world began c. performing that oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham It was in the Lord great mercy to giue his word that hee would in the fulnes of time send his Sonne for the redemption of the world saying The seede of the woman shall breake the Serpents head but it was assuredly greater mercie to sweare by his o Psal 89.34 holinesse that he would performe this promise God is truth and we haue good cause to beleeue him vpon his word who made vs and all things else by his p Psal 33.9 word but yet for our better assurance being desirous more abundantly to shew vnto the heires of promise the stablenes of his counsell bound himselfe with an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for him to lye we might haue strong consolation Heb. 6.18 These two things are his word and oath His word is true Psal 33.4 I quoth the Lord q Ezech. 37.14 haue spoken it and I will performe it r Numb 23.19 God is not as man that he should lye neither as the sonne of man that hee should repent hath hee said and shall hee not doe it and hath hee spoken and shall he not accomplish it ſ Luk. 21.33 Mat. 5.18 Heauen and earth shall passe away but not one iot of his word shall passe away till all things bee fulfilled And if his bare word be thus immutable then his * Quoad nos oath much more which among men is an end of all strife Heb. 6.16 Behold then here the goodnesse of the Father of mercies and God of comfort who for our sake did not onely say but also sweare
that Christ is our Priest for euer Happie men are they who beleeue this promise for that is t Ioh. 17.3 eternall life but accursed are such as u Heb. 2.3 neglect so great saluation Hee that beleeues not God maketh him a lyar saith Saint x 1. Epist 5.10 Iohn Nay seeing God hath bound his word with an oath hee that beleeues not this record concerning his Son doth accuse God of periurie This ought to comfort vs in all our tentations at the houre of death and in the day of iudgment For albeit we haue sinned against heauen and against earth against God in heauen against our brethren on earth although our sinnes are great for their number and grieuous for their nature yet let vs go y Heb. 4.16 boldly to the throne of grace that we may receiue mercy For as much as wee haue such an high Priest as is touched with a feeling of our infirmities and saith z Mat. 9.13 I am not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners and sweareth a Ezech. 33.11 as I liue I desire not the death of a sinner let not any despaire b Ferus postil ser 5. in Dom. septuages though he haue denied Christ as Peter and betrayed Christ as Iudas and crucified Christ as Pilate And will not repent The passions of men are ascribed to God secundum effectum as c 1. part quaest 21. art 3. Aquine speakes but not secundum affectum And so the Scripture speaking d Rom. 6.19 grossely to mans vnderstanding saith that the spirit is e Ephes 4.30 grieued that the Lord f Gen. 6.6 repented he had made man and g 1. Sam. 15.11 Saul King and Ionah 3.10 God repented of the euil that he had said that he would doe to Nineueh The Lord in his secret counsell is yesterday and to day and the same also for euer Heb. 13.8 But vnto vs men in his reuealed word hee seemes to put on affections of anger and griefe h Placid parmen behauing himselfe as one who repents and grieues Againe God speakes in his reuealed word somtimes conditionally somtimes absolutely His sentence concerning the destruction of Nineueh was only conditionall if they did not repent according to that of the i Psal 7.13 Psalmist If a man will not turne then hee will whet his sword And therefore when the Lord saw the workes of the men of Nineueh that they turned from their euill waies he turned away his wrath from them Et sic Deus as one pithily non vertitur sed auertitur orationibus nostris But when Almighty God speakes absolutely thou are my sonne and as in our text categorically thou art a Priest for euer c. he will not repent nor k Psal 89.34 alter the thing which is gone out of his mouth See S. Augustine de diuersis quast ad Simplicium lib. 2. quaest 2. Rupert Caluin in caput 3. Ionae Augustin D. Incognit Bellarmin alios in loc Thou art a Priest for euer The Lord teacheth vs how wee should sweare by precept and paterne By precept Ierem. 4.2 Thou shalt sweare in truth in iudgment and in righteousnesse Where l Hierom. in loc Thomas 22â— quaest 89. art 3. Diuines obserue that these three vertues ought to bee the companions of all our oathes Iudgment forbids all rash idle swearing truth all lying and false swearing righteousnesse all blasphemous and vngodly swearing by the creatures God according to this precept sweareth himselfe heere hee sweares in righteousnesse as swearing by himselfe being both omnipotent and omni-scient in truth for that hee will not repent in iudgement saying to his Sonne thou art a Priest for euer m Agelsius in loc When he spake before of Christs kingdome he said onely sit thou at my right hand but now treating of Christs Priesthood hee sweares n Caluin in loc insinuating that the priesthood of Christ is of exceeding great consequence for the Lord instructing vs how we may sweare by his owne example sweares not in any trifling case but for the confirmation of a serious and necessarie truth of a most high nature Let vs examine therefore how Christ is a Priest for ouer An high Priest as the o Heb. 5.1 Scripture defineth is a person called of God from among men that hee may offer both gifts and sacrifices vnto God for the sins of men Such an high Priest is Christ immediately called of God in that he said thou art a Priest and hee gaue himselfe for vs to be both an p See epist 3. Sund in Lent offering and a sacrifice of a sweet smelling sauour to God Ephes 5.2 q 1. Ioh. 2.2 He is the reconcillation for our sins and as an aduocate with the Father in the Court of heauen euer pleading the merit of his oblation and obedience the sole mediator betweene God and man 1. Tim. 2.5 and he is a Priest for euer because with one offering hee consecrated for euer them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 The powerfull operation of his passion endureth for euer being the r Apoc. 13.8 Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world and bleeding as it were to the worlds end Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrewes hath vnfolded this part of our text so fully that as Å¿ Jn loc Hierome speaks it is superfluous to bring an after or other interpretation I will here rest onely in his Commentatarie consisting of two points especially the 1. Shewing the difference betweene the Priesthood of Aaron and Christ 2. Describing the resemblance betweene the Priesthod of Christ and Melchisedech 1. The Priesthood of Aaron with all the sacrifices and ceremonies belonging thereunto was nothing else but a type of things to come the t Heb. 9. tabernacles and holy places were figures of the true Sanctuarie the diuers washings and other carnall rites were similitudes of heauenly things In a word the whole Law had the shadow of good things to come but not the very substance of the things Hebr. 10.1 But Christ is the u Coloss 2.17 body of the shadow and his Priesthood the truth of Aarons type Ioh. 1.17 The Law was giuen by Moses but grace and truth came by Iesus Christ as being our onely Priest appeasing the wrath of God and taking away the sinnes of the world for x Act. 4.12 among men there is giuen no other name vnder heauen whereby wee must bee saued And therefore the holy Fathers in their killing of beasts and sprinkling of blood had euer an eye to the sheadding of Christs blood on the Crosse beleeuing that his blood should y 1. Ioh. 1.7 cleanse them from all their sinnes and z Heb. 9.12.13 not the blood of goates and calues and buls And the Prophets in their Sermons vsually taxe their hypocrisie who neglecting spirituall deuotions and faith in Christ onely rested and trusted in outward oblations a Esay 1.11
z Mat. 28.18 all power in heauen and earth he shall sit vpon the Throne of Dauid for euer and of his kingdome there is no end Luk. 1.33 2. Other Kings haue power onely ouer our bodies and goods but Christs authority reacheth vnto the soule Their sword is materiall able onely to kill the body but his sword is spirituall proceeding out of his a Apoc. 1.16 mouth able to destroy b Mat. 10.28 both soule and body in hell entring thorow euen vnto the diuiding asunder of the spirit and of the ioynts and the marrow a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4.12 3. Other Kings deriue their authority from him Prouerb 8.15 By me Kings raigne by me Princes rule and stand accountable to him he standeth in the congregation of Princes and iudgeth among gods Psalm 82.1.2 But who shall say to the Lord of Lords Why doest thou so 4. Other Kings reward their fauourites and followers onely with a few titles of honour or with a few parcels of land which are holden of them in fee-farme frank-almoign Knights-seruice c. They make not their vassals heires apparant to their kingdomes but Christ our Lord maketh all his faithfull seruants no lesse then c Apoc. 1.6 Kings and d Rom. 8.17 heires of God euen heires annexed with himselfe If thy children will keepe my couenant Literally this may be construed of Dauids owne children according to the flesh e Mollerus who succeeded him in his Throne 1072. yeeres vntill the Messias borne of his posterity constituted an euerlasting kingdom without end f Caluin According to this sense the Lord saith Ezech. 21.26 I will take away the Diademe and take off the Crowne this shall be no more the same I will ouerturne ouerturne ouerturne it and it shall be no more vntill he come whose right it is and I will giue it him His promise here concerning Christ is absolute but his promise touching other of Dauids house conditionall If thy Children keepe my couenant and my testimonies that I shall learne them g 1. Chron. 28.9 If thou seeke the Lord said Dauid to his sonne Salomon he will bee found of thee but if thou forsake him hee will cast thee off for euer And therefore because Dauids posterity did not obserue his law but follow their owne inuentions hee made them as we reade in the Bibles history captiues of Captaines and gaue their kingdome to another people first vnto the bloodie Romans and now to the barbarous Turkes and so Hierusalem heretofore h Lament 1.1 great among the Nations and Princesse among the Prouinces is made tributarie shee dwelleth among the Heathen and findeth no rest among all her louers shee hath none to comfort her all her friends haue dealt vnfaithfully with her and are made her enemies Mystically the i Arnobius Cassiodorus Hugo Doctors applie this vnto the Children of Christ according to the spirit I will set vpon thy seate that is ordaine Pastors and teachers who shall sit in thy chaire k So that kind of Speech is vsed Mat. 23.2 that is preach thy word and doctrine for the l Ephes 4.11 gathering together of the Saints and edification of the Church euermore This was verified in the blessed Apostles as being made Princes in all lands Psalm 45.17 In one word m Hierome all true beleeuers in Christ are the sons of God and babes in Christ and hee hath as n Ephes 2.6 Paul speakes raised vs vp together and made vs sit together in heauenly places His Charter is faire Matth. 19.28 Verily I say vnto you that when the sonne of man shall sit in the Throne of his Maiesty ye which haue followed me in the regeneration shall also sit vpon twelue Thrones and iudge the twelue tribes of Israel And Apocal. 3.21 To him that ouercommeth will I grant to sit with mee in my Throne euen as I ouercome and sit with my Father in his Throne The o Luther in loc wicked abuse the promises of God applying them vnto themselues which onely belong to the true Church the seed of Dauid according to the spirit So the Papists abuse Christs promise for establishing of the Popes tyrannie p Matth. 16.18 the gates of hell shall not ouercome it and q Mat. 28.20 I will be with you alway till the worlds end Whence they conclude that Peters boat though it may be somtimes in danger shall neuer bee drowned and that the Pope being the Churches head cannot erre r Dr. Fulke in Matth. 16.18 Whereas these promises concerne onely that Church which is built vpon the Rocke Christ and continueth in Saint Peters faith obseruing all things our blessed Sauiour commanded as it is in our text If thy children will keepe my couenant and testimonies that I shall learne them But if the Bishop and Church of Rome dispense with Gods holy word and despise his truth and testimony teaching in stead of his infallible law ſ Mat. 15.9 precepts of men and doctrines of t 1. Tim. 4.1 diuels how shall this or any the like promise belong to them So the wicked in a reprobate sense who make their bellie their god and commit all vncleannesse euen with greedinesse abuse these sweet texts at what time soeuer a sinner c. and Come to me all ye that are wearie and laden and I will ease you c. For this promise concernes only such as are laden and feele the burthen of their iniquitie hauing both a sight and a sense thereof acknowledging that sinne is a u Euthym. in Matth. 11. labour in accomplishing and a load when it is accomplished It appertaineth onely to such as repent and that of all their sinne and that from the heart and bottome of the heart So the carnall Gospellers in comming irreuerently to the Lords Table without any deuotion or due respect to that holy Sacrament abuse the words of our blessed Sauiour This is my body For as the godly Martyr x In his last exam apud Fox fol. 1463. Iohn Bradford well obserued the clause take eate is a precept and the clause this is my body a promise the bread and wine then are not vnto any the body and blood of Christ except they first eate and take and none can take and eate but by y Confess Anglican art 28. faith A worthie receiuer therefore beggeth of God both a pardon of his faults and an encrease of his faith To conclude this point in the law the condition is do this and liue in the Gospell beleeue this and thou shalt be saued He that neglects the precept and yet will chalenge the promise deceiueth himselfe hee shall not rest on Gods holy hil and sit on his happie seat for euermore PSALM 2. Why doe the Heathen so furiously rage together c. This Ode may be diuided into 2. parts the 1. Describes the wickednesse and weaknes of such as bandie thēselues against the
to depend vpon the multitude for their number because the people mutinously rage together and imagine vaine things in their conuenticles nor vpon the mightie for their countenance because many Kings of the earth stand vp and Rulers take counsell together against the Lord and his Christ 2. We may know from hence c Bucer whether wee are the Lords annointed or no. The d John 15.19 world loueth his owne if then it hate Christ in vs it is an infallible signe that we are good e 2. Tim. 2.3 souldiers of the Lord and not seruants of the world f Bradford apud Fox Mart. fol. 1490. The way to heauen is to saile by hell if you will embrace Christ in his robes you must not thinke scorne of him in his ragges if you will sit at his table in his kingdome you must first abide with him in his tentations if you will drinke of his cup of glorie forsake not his cup of ignominie Can the head corner stone be reiected and the other more base stones in Gods building be set by You are one of Gods liuely stones and therefore be content to be hewen and snagged that you may be made more meete to be ioyned to your fellowes suffering the snatches of Satan and wounds of the world 3. From hence wee may be well assured that the sincere profession of the Gospell in reformed Churches is the most incorrupt and pure religion as being most opposite to the children of this world The Masse said holy g In a letter to his mother Bradford doth not bite them or make thē to blush as preaching And therefore the h Apoc. 17.2 Kings of the earth are drunken with the wine of the Babylonish whore's abominable fornication In i Relation of religion §. 13. Rome the humour of euery worldling is fitted and each appetite may finde what to feede on The mother of whoredomes is content to tolerate Iewes and other vngodly wretches of diuers and aduerse faiths in her Countrey but shee will not endure Lutherans All things are lawfull in great Babylon excepting this only to professe the Gospell after the manner of Protestants It is reported by reuerend k Martyr fol. 860. Fox that certain Lawyers and Aduocates in Prouince maintained openly that in a case of Lutheranisme the Iudges are not bound to obserue either right or reason order or ordinance for they cannot erre whatsoeuer iudgement they doe giue so that it tend to the ruine and extirpation of such as are suspected Lutherans Hitherto concerning the wickednesse of such as oppose themselues against the Lord and his annointed I am now to speake of their weakenesse implied in the word Why l Steuchus Genebrard for by this interrogation he doth admire their follie non enim tam interrogantis quà m deridentis as a learned m Agellius expositor vpon the place n Chrysost Placidus If they be derided as vnwise who shoote arrowes at the Sunne and barke at the Moone what errant fooles are they who fight against God dwelling in the heauen of heauens aboue Sunne and Moone o Acts 4.24 who made the heauen and earth and Sea and all things that are therein Alas all flesh is as the p Esay 40 7. grasse that withereth and God is a q Heb. 12.29 consuming fire readie to burne this stubble r Psal 144.4 Man is like a thing of nought but God is almightie measuring the waters in his fist and meating heauē with his spanne and weighing the mountaines in skales and the hils in a ballance Esay 40.12 Man is in the hāds of God his maker as the clay in the hands of the potter Ierem. 18.6 Now shall the thing formed saith ſ Rom. 11.20 S. Paul dispute with him who formed it or man imagine so vaine a thing as to stand vp and take counsell against his Creatour So that the Prophet here speakes as the t Virgil. Aenead lib. 10. Poet Quò moriture ruis maioraque viribus audes Quid tantum insano iuuat indulgere labori Or as u Epod. 7. Horace begins an Epod Quò quò scelestiruitis aut cur dexteris aptantur enses conditi He that dwelleth in heauen shall laugh them to scorne Note here the great oddes and difference between God and his enemies 1. He dwelleth in heauen x Caluin but his greatest opposites are Kings vpon earth vnsetled y 1. Pet. 2.11 pilgrimes in z 2. Cor. 5.1 earthly tabernacles and houses of a Iob. 4.19 clay 2. Whereas b Psal 39.7 man disquieteth himselfe in vaine raging running standing vp against the Lord and his annointed almightie God is said heere to sit in heauen at c Bucer rest and ease 3. Whereas men imagine vainly to breake his bonds and cast away his cords God in a moment is able to bruse them with a rod of iron and breake them in peeces like a potters vessell Albeit they fret and fume neuer so much he shall laugh them to scorne and haue them in derision As it is said of the monster d Job 41.18 Leuiathan He esteemeth iron as straw and brasse as rotten wood the archer cannot make him flee the stones of the sling are turned to stubble before him and hee laugheth at the shaking of the speare Now these things are said grossely for our capacitie because the Lord in deede can neither laugh nor crie yet the Scripture speaking after the manner of men affirmes plainly that God is grieued at our faults and that hee laugheth at our follies non secundum affectum as the Schoole distinguisheth aptly sed secundum effectum in that he carrieth himselfe toward his enemies as one that hath them in derision And this he doth in e Caluin two respects especially 1. For that he can at any time when he will as it were sportingly pull downe such as stand vp against him hee doth easily descrie their follie suppresse their furie 2. For that he suffereth his enemies in their rebelling and reuelling against his annointed only to play with his baite he hath as he told f 2. King 19.28 Esay 17.29 Senachorib an hooke in their nostrils and a bridle in their mouthes he can and he will at his good pleasure bring them back againe the same way they came g Psal 121.4 He that keepeth Israel howsoeuer hee seeme for a while to neglect his Church and kingdome of his Sonne shall neither slumber nor sleepe He will in his due time speake with al such as combine themselues against his annointed he will talke with them indeede h Bellarmine non verbis sed verberibus as it is in the text hee shall speake to them in his wrath and vexe them in his sore displeasure he shall bruse them with a rod of iron and breake them in peeces like a potters vessell and so shall hee make them a scorne to men and Angels hee derides them in that he sheweth
all their plots and practises to be worthie i Hierome derision For first if we construe this of Dauid he laughed all his enemies to scorne saying k 2. Sam. 12.7 I annointed thee King euer Israel and deliuered thee out of the hand of Saul and gaue thee thy Lords house and his wiues into thy bosome c. and would moreouer if that had been too little giue thee such and such things c. The which is in effect all one with our text at the sixth verse I haue set my King vpon mine holy hill of Sion If we construe this of the Church hee laugheth all her enemies to scorne saying l Esay 49.16 I haue grauen thee in the palmes of mine hands and thy walles are euer in my sight m Esay 41.10 Feare thou not for I am with thee be not afraid thou worme Iacob for I the Lord thy God will strengthen thee and helpe thee and sustaine thee with the right hand of my iustice Behold all they that prouoke thee shall be confounded and ashamed they shall be as nothing and they that striue with thee shall perish for n Matth. 16.18 hell gates shall not ouercome thee If we construe this of Christ he that dwelleth in heauen had all his enemies in derision hee did vse these bad instruments for the effecting of his good ends so the text Act. 13.27 in putting to death the Lord of life they fulfilled all things that were written of him in the Prophets and Acts 4.28 they did whatsoeuer Gods holy hand and counsell had determined before to be done All his enemies as well spirituall as temporall imagined vainly The Diuell and Death and Sinne furiously raged against him on the Crosse but hee did o Coloss 2.15 openly triumph ouer them in the same Crosse By death he did ouercome death and open vnto vs the gate of life for if death could not on this day keepe him fettered in the graue his prison it is euident that his power is vanquished and if death bee conquered it followes necessarily that sin which is the sting of death is also destroyed If death and sinne be discomfited then assuredly the kingdome of Satan is subdued who had the power of death and is author of sinne and ruler of hell As for his temporall enemies the Gentiles madly raged against him and the Iewes imagined a vaine thing in p Matth. 27.60 rolling a great stone to the doore of the sepulchre sealing it and making it sure with a watch For it was q Acts 2.24.31 impossible that the Lord of life should bee holden of death his soule could not bee left in graue nor his flesh see corruption and therefore the stone being rolled away by an Herauld of heauen Matth. 28.2 God raised him againe from the dead and made him a King ouer his holy hill of Sion r Hierome Augustin that is head of his Church giuing him all the heathen for his inheritance and the vttermost parts of the earth for his possession And the Rulers held an idle counsell against him in commanding the souldiers who guarded his tombe to say ſ Matth. 28.13 that his Disciples came by night and stole him away while they slept for as t Hom. 36. Austin and u Greg. Nyssen orat 2. de resurrect Christi Idem annotat inter neotericos Caietan in Matth. 28. other of the most ancient Doctors haue well obserued it is a very senselesse lye because the souldiers either were asleepe or awake if asleepe how did they know that his Disciples had taken him away by night if awake why did they not guard the tombe lapidem vt lapides seruabant as Chrysostome vpon this Psalme See Gospell on Easter day Thus he that dwelleth in heauen raising his annointed on this day from the dead had all his enemies in derision He said to Christ on Easter day Thou art my sonne this day haue I begotten thee As if he should haue said Thou wert euer my sonne before to day before there was any day x Caluin Rob. Stephanus in loc See Suarez tom 2. in 3. Thom. disput 45. sect 1. but yet in this day of thy resurrection I haue most especially manifested vnto the world that thou art my sonne whom I haue begotten See this expounded more fully Epist on Tuesday in Easter weeke Be wise therefore O ye Kings In this admonition obserue foure points Especially 1. Who Kings and Iudges 2. When Now. 3. What 1. To y Basil Bellarmine know their dutie Be wise be learned 2. To doe their dutie Serue the Lord kisse the Sonne 4. Why Because z Tremellius hereby Gods Heauie wrath is escaped implied in the word therfore hauing reference to the iudgements of God verse 5.9 and expressed vers 12. lest he be angrie and so yee perish from the right way Happie blessing is obtained Blessed are they that put their trust in him He doth exhort Kings especially a Caluin because their greatnes vsually makes them insolent and rebellious against God b Steuchus Or lest happily the subiect should bee punished for the Soueraignes follie Quic quid delirant reges plectuntur Achiui Or because like Prince like people Ieroboam made Israel to sinne c Herodianus lib. 1. for the most part euerie man emulates the manners of his Prince d Claudianus Mobile mutatur semper cum principe vulgus Or he speakes to Kings and Iudges more particularly e Tileman for that it belongs vnto their office to see the people well instructed it appertaines to their charge being Custodes vtriusque tabulae that euery subiect liue toward himselfe soberly toward his neighbour righteously toward God religiously For although a King may not administer the Sacraments or preach the word or execute the Ministers office de facto yet as our ſ Confess Anglican art 37. and in the admonition to simple men annexed to Queene Elizab Iniunctions Diuines haue determined it belongs to the Kings cure de Iure to see that all things concerning Gods holy seruice should be done in the Church orderly The Prophet therefore calleth vpon Kings and Iudges earnestly to serue the Lord as the chiefe knowing that the great wheele mouing in deuotion is able to carry with it all the lesser wheeles Here then obserue what a great charge Princes and Prelates haue for God saith vnto them of euery one which is vnder their iurisdiction and cure g 1. King 20.39 keepe this man if he be lost and want thy life shall goe for his life h Petitur à te non curatio sed cura Bernard The conuerting of the wicked howsoeuer it be Gods cure yet it is thy care the Lord only giueth i 1. Cor. 3.6 encrease yet Paul is to plant and Apollos to water and therefore k Fox Mart. fol. 1003. Iohn Longland B. of Lincolme preaching before King Henrie 8. wondred at the Popes blind
the world that he gaue his only begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue euerlasting life is another sweete kisse of his mouth It is q Strigellius in loc verè suauiolum as being sweeter then hony Psal 19.10 better then wine Cant. 1.1 As r Concordia duorum cordium osculum duorum corporum coniunctio Io. a Iesu-Maria in Cant. 1. concord is the coniunction of two soules euen so kissing which is a token of concord is the coniunction of two bodies Our blessed Sauiour daily proffers and offers to kisse vs if we then vnmannerly despise the ſ Rom. 2.4 riches of his goodnesse and obstinately perish from the right way he shall one day speake to vs in his wrath and if his wrath be kindled yea but a little what a t Heb. 10.31 fearefull thing will it be to fall into the hands of the liuing God which is a consuming fire If any shall aske how shall I which am a poore pilgrime on earth ascend and kisse my Sauiour who dwelleth in heauen Answere is made by Dauid in the very next clause Blessed are all they that put their trust in him as if hee should haue said To u Strigellius Tileman beleeue in him and to put our whole trust in him is to kisse him In this proposition as in all other three points are to be considered especially the Subiect all that trust in him Praedicate blessed Copula are x Hierome Not they who trust in themselues and their owne merits or in Princes and their meanes or in Saints and their mediations or in Angels or in any thing else beside y Acts. 4.12 Christ only such are free from the tyrannous oppression of Satan and sin who put their trust in him He saith not al they that beleeue him assent barely to his promise z See Placidus Melancthon Bucer in loc but omnes qui confidunt all they who confidently place their affiance in his mercies and beleeue in him according to that of S. a Ioh. 3.18 Iohn the Baptist He that beleeueth in him shall not be condemned but he that beleeueth not is condemned alreadie because hee beleeueth not in the name of the only begotten sonne of God I finde that some Doctors among the b D. Kimchi apud Bucerum in loc Iewes by him vnderstand God the Father but c Placidus Caluin Genebrard Io. Ganeius in loc Idem Bellarm de verbo dei lib. 2. cap. 11 Christian interpretors vsually referre this vnto God the Sonne making the coherence thus O kisse the Sonne for blessed are all they that put their trust in him Heere then is a pregnant place to proue that iustification is by faith in Christ See Melancthon Bucer Tileman in loc There be three kinds of blessing Externall as the gifts of the world Internall as the gifts of grace Eternall as the gifts of glorie Now bonorum omnium cumulus summa saith d In loc Augustine belongeth vnto such as put their trust in the Lord. They haue the promises of the life present and of that which is to come 1. Tim. 4.8 Mercie doth embrace them on euery side Psal 32.11 Blessed in euery kinde of blessing as reuerend Beza paraphrastically omnibus ô modis beatos illos qui domino deoque fidunt 1. They be blessed in things of this world blessed in e Deut. 28.3 their field blessed in their fold blessed in the fruit of their cattell and encrease of corne blessed in their wiues and blessed in their children blessed in their going out and blessed in their comming home loe thus shall they be blessed who feare the Lord Psal 128.5 Or if God denie these blessings vnto them it is for their f Rom. 8.28 good and so they be blessed in their crosse hauing as Paul said nothing and yet possessing all things 2. Cor. 6.10 2. Blessed in the gifts of grace both illuminating and sauing blessed with g Ephes 1.3 all spirituall blessing in heauenlie things in Christ blessed in respect of Their Vocation h Matth. 13.16 Luke 10.23 Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see and the eares which heare the things that you heare Blessed are they which are called to the Lambes Supper Apocal 19.9 Iustification Blessed are they i Psal 32.1 Rom. 4.7 whose wickednes is forgiuen and whose sinnes are couered Sanctification k Psal 1.1 Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsell of the vngodly c. Blessed is the seruant l Matth. 24.46 whom his master when he commeth shall finde doing his dutie Blessed are the poore in spirit blessed are the meeke blessed are the mercifull Matth. 5. 3. Blessed in the gifts of glorie m Matth. 25.34 Come ye blessed inherit ye the kingdome c. n Matth. 5.3 theirs is the kingdome of heauen It is now theirs in hope hereafter it shall be theirs in hold See notes vpon the Gospell on all Saints day PSALME 57. Be mercifull vnto me O God be mercifull vnto me c. DAuid in this hymne o Melanct. Caluine Tileman prayeth and praiseth the Lord. First he prayeth vnto God from the 1. verse to the 8 for deliuerāce from his enemies tyrannie Then as conceiuing vndoubted hope thereof he prepares himselfe to praise God in the rest O God my heart is fixed my heart is fixed I will sing and giue praise In his praier 2. poynts are remarkable to wit a Petition Be mercifull c. enforced by his Duty for my soule trusteth in thee c. Danger as being persecuted By Cruel enemics my soule is among Lyons vers 4.5 Cunning enemies they haue laid a net for my feete v. 7. Repetition in the 6. and 12. verses as the p Tremellius burthen of the song Set vp thy selfe O God aboue the heauens and thy glorie aboue all the earth Be mercifull vnto me O God The title sheweth vs that Dauid made this Psalme when he fled from Saul into the Caue The storie whereof is reported at large 1. Sam. 24. and it is in briefe this Saul persecuting Dauid sought him in the wildernes of Engedi vpon the rocks among the wilde goates and being there in a Caue to couer his feete Dauid hauing him at his mercie would not kil the Lords annointed but only cut off the lap of his coate to shew that he could haue touched his skinne so well as his skirt and that he could haue made him as it is in the prouerbe shorter by the head so well as curtall his robe Which when Saul after perceiued his heart relented for Dauids great kindnes and he wept acknowledging his fault and taking an oath of Dauid that hee should not destroy his seede he ceased his persecuting for a time Dauid in this distresse composed his hymne the which is grounded vpon his faith and his faith is grounded vpon Gods mercie and might Gods mercie Be mercifull
the night is darke the doore fast and the curtaine close findeth out his foule follie To conclude this poynt euery kinde of wickednesse is a weaknesse and euery fault a folly But on the contrarie euery poynt of religion is a part of wisedome as conducting to blessednesse the end of wisedome To serue the Lord in feare and to cast all our care vpon him is wisedome for ſ Psal 112.1 Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord blessed are they that pitt their trust in t Psal 2.12 him To loue thy neighbour as thy selfe is a part of wisedome for Blessed is the man u Psal 41.1 that considereth the poore and needie blessed are the meeke blessed are the mercifull c. To liue soberly toward thy selfe is a part of wisedome for blessed are the poore in spirit Matth. 5.3 Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest hee walke naked and men see his filthinesse Apoc. 16.15 The blindlings of the world cannot in this life see this and therefore they will not say this but one day to wit at the last day they change their mindes and sighing acknowledge within themselues x Wisdom 5.3 This is hee whom wee sometime had in derision and in a parable of reproch wee fooles thought his life madnesse and his end without honor how is he counted among the children of God and his portion is among the Saints therefore wee haue erred from the way of truth and the light of righteousnesse hath not shined vnto vs and the Sunne of vnderstanding rose not vpon vs. A good vnderstanding haue all they that doe thereafter In Philosophie wisedome is defined by knowing but in Diuinity wisedome is prized by doing They bee wise men in deed y Aeneas Syluius comment in Panormit lib. 3. Non qui facienda dicunt sed qui dicenda faciunt heretickes reade so much and hypocrites vsually cite so much and the deuill himselfe knoweth so much of the Gospell as any yet all these notwithstanding haue bad vnderstanding z Chrysost in loc onely such haue good vnderstanding in Gods feare that do therafter a Melanct. Mollerus that is in all their actions passions altogether rely vpō his sure promises euer ready to be ruled according to his word and will so Dauid expounds himselfe in the b Verse 99. so Moses Deut. 4.6 Jerem. 8.9 Psal 119. I haue more vnderstanding then my teachers for thy testimonies are my studie I am wiser then the aged because I keepe thy commandements Here then is condemned as folly the c Coloss 2.23 will-worship or voluntary religion of all hypocrites especially d Mollerus Papists honouring God not according to his feare but according to their owne fancie e See Respon Elien ad apol Bellar pag. 207. 208 et Mort. Appeal lib. 1. ca. 2. §. 13. Purgatory being a figment of idle Poets and not the iudgement of holy Prophets is a parcell of foolery wherein the Pope sheweth himselfe most vncharitable for that f Bulla Clemen 6 apud Anto. Florent part 3. tit 22. cap. 6. hauing power to fetch all soules out of this hell and to purge whole Purgatory suffers notwithstanding this fire to burne still onely because it warmeth his owne kitchen Praying to the dead is another parcell of foolery the which in the Booke of Gods feare hath neither precept nor patterne nor promise for our calling vpon God we find g Esay 28.10 precept vpon precept and promise vpon promise Call vpon me saith the h Psal 50.15 Lord in the time of trouble so will I heare thee c. whome haue I in heauen but thee Psalme 73.25 So Christ openly Come vnto mee all yee that are weary and heauy laden and I will ease you Come vnto me that is a precept I will ease you that is a promise Come i See Gospell on S. Matthias day not to mine but to me not to my Saints or Angels or Martyrs or mother but to my selfe send not other it is my pleasure that yee come seeke not for helpe from other I will ease you There bee likewise so many patternes of this deuotion as there be godly prayers recorded in holy Bible but on the contrary neuer a leafe neuer a line neuer a letter in the Booke of Wisedome that fauoureth inuocation of Saints and therefore we may well apply that vnto the Church of Rome which k 2. Kings 1.3 Elia said vnto the messengers of Ahaziah Is it not because there is no God in Israel that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the God of Ekron is it not because there is no liuing God in heauen that ye pray to stocks on earth and seeke to l See Sermon on Gunpowder treason day page 6. 7. such Sauiours as are worthily thought to reside with Belzebub in hell Is it not an idle thing to sue to the man if the master alwaies bee present and euer ready to grant thy request and is it not a greater folly to call vpon Saints in our trouble when our blessed Sauiour hath openly not onely sayd but also sworne m Iohn 16.23 Verily verily I say vnto you whatsoeuey you aske the Father in my name he will giue it you c. Their prophaning of the blessed Sacraments is another parcell of foolery for is not I pray you their christening of n Durant de ritibus eccles li. 1. ca. 22. num 6. see Respon Elien ad apolog Bellarm. Fox Martyr fol. 786. Pet. Moulin defence of our faith against Coeffetua art 16 Bels an impudent mocking of holy Baptisme and the denying of the Cup vnto Lay-men a notorious lurching at the Lords Table contrary to Christs o Mat. 26.27 expresse word Drinke ye all of this in giuing the bread he said onely Take eate indefinitely p Calu. Marlorat in loc Mat. but when hee tooke the Cup as fore-seeing this innouation of Papists he did adde an vniuersall note bibite omnes drinke ye drinke all ye so they make mariage a Sacrament and yet affirme that holy Priest-hoode is prophaned by this holy ordinance that it is q Bellar. orat in schol habit tom 3. controuer in fine sacriledge forsooth and not a Sacrament And r Dr. Fulke in Heb. 13.4 so they honour it as the Iewes honoured Christ in clothing him with a purple robe What should I speake of their Masse which is a notorious enemie to Christ in respect of his oblation and office the Lord hath sworne and will not repent that Christ is a Priest for ſ See Chemnit examp par 2. page 170. 171. euer Psalme 110.4 offering himselfe once for all Heb. 9.26.28 Are the Masse-Priests then any better then idle fooles t Con. Triden Bellar. lib. 1. de missa per totum ferè librum in offering him often vnto God the Father vnder the formes of bread and wine really and properly for the sinnes of the quicke and the
of wants or wrongs is either a foole or vngratefull to God or both that doth not acknowledge how meane soeuer his estate be that the same is yet farre greater then that which God oweth him or doth not acknowledge how sharpe soeuer his afflictions be that the same are yet farre lesse then those which are due vnto him howsoeuer it be with him it is the Lords doing he giueth and taketh away blessed bee his name for euermore f Chrysostom Arnobius Iacob de valent Bellarmin This also may be so well applied vnto Christ as the rest of the Psalme for in taking our vile nature vpon him he raised the poore out of the dust and the begger out of the dunghill He said to Adam g Gen. 3.19 Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne but Christ in his resurrection and ascension hath h Ephes 2.6 raised vs vp together and made vs sit together in the heauenly places euen with the Princes of his people that is Angels and Apostles and other his holy Saints raigning in his kingdome of glorie He lifteth our soules out of the dust durt in this life when our i Coloss 3.2 affectiōs are by his grace set on things aboue and not on things which are on earth Our flesh is an house of k Iob. 4.19 clay but our l Luk. 1.47 spirit reioyceth in God and hath her conuersation in m Philip. 3.20 heauen A man is where his mind is if then wee minde heauenly things our soules are raised out of the mire n Dr. Jucognit so Christ in calling Matthew from the receite of custome to make him an Apostle lifted him out of the dunghill and o Iacobus de Valent. in calling the rest of his Apostles from their durtie courses in the world to the preaching of his word hee raised them out of the dust and made them as it is in the 45. Psalme verse 17. Princes in all lands and in raising Mary Magdalene from her olde vomit and filthinesse of sinne what did he but lift her out of the dunghill To be briefe p See Gospell Dom. 13. after Triuit man is like the trauellour who went from Hierusalem to Iericho Luke 10. hee falleth among theeues into manifolde tentations and noysome lusts and they rob him of his rayment of his righteousnesse and holinesse wherewith Almightie God adorned him in his Creation and they wounded him and departed for sinne wounding the conscience leaueth a man in a desperate case But Christ is the true Samaritane who takes compassion on man Hee bindeth vp his wounds and powreth in oyle and wine hee puts him on his owne beast and makes prouision for him at an Inne thus he taketh vp the distressed out of the dust and the beggar out of the dung At our death hee lifteth our soules out of the mire when his glorious q Luk. 16.22 Angels attend to conuey them out of this earthly tabernacle to his heauenly kingdome which is immortall and cannot be shaken At the last day hee will also lift our bodies out of the durt and mire Man that is borne of a woman is full of troubles and of short continuance such a sacke of dung that the r Ierem. 22.29 Prophet calleth him thrice earth at one breath O earth earth earth heare the word of the Lord c. After man hath in this world ſ Wisdome 5.7 wearied himself he goeth to bedde and sleepeth in the dust of the graue neither shall he be raised or awake from his sleepe till heauen be no more saith t Job 14.12 Iob. But in the ende when as the u 2. Pet. 3.10 heauens shall passe away with a noyse and the elements shall melt with heate and the earth with the workes that are therein shall be burnt then our blessed Sauiour shall rouse vs out of the dust and raise vs out of the mire x Philip. 3.21 changing this our vile body that it may be like his glorious bodie then this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortall immortalitie then both our soules and bodies shall haue their perfit consummation in his kingdome of glorie He maketh the barren woman to keepe house y Tileman As basenesse in men so barrennesse in women is accounted a great vnhappinesse But as God lifteth vp the begger out of the mire to sethim with Princes euen so doth he make the barren woman a ioyfull mother of children Hee gouernes all things in the priuate familie so well as in publike weale Children and the fruite of the wombe are a gift and heritage that commeth of the Lord Psalme 127.4 and therefore the y Tileman Papists in praying to S. Anne for children and the Gentiles in calling vpon Diana Iuno Latona are both in error It is God onely who makes the barren woman a mother and that a ioyfull mother Euery mother is ioyfull at the first according to that of z Iohn 16.21 Christ A woman when she trauaileth hath sorrow because her houre is come but as soone as she is deliuered of the childe she remembreth no more the anguish for ioy that a man is borne into the world But when babes are growne vp and come to their proofe a Prouerb 10.1 Salomon saith A foolish sonne is an heauinesse to his mother And our Salomon in his kingly gift I protest before that great God I had rather be no Father and Childlesse then a Father of wicked Children Now God makes the barren wife not onely fruitfull but also ioyfull b Beza Paraphras Et nuper steriles repentè matres longa beat propagine Hee made barren olde c Gen. 17. Sara fruitfull in bearing a sonne and ioyfull in that her sonne was Isaac in whose seede all the nations of the world are blessed He made d Judges 13. Manoahs wife both a mother and a ioyfull mother in that shee bare Samson the strong who saued Israell out of the hands of the Philistines Hee made e 1. Sam. 1. Hannah both a mother and a ioyfull mother in that shee bare faithfull Samuel the Lords Prophet hee made Anne both a mother and a ioyfull mother in bearing blessed Marie the f Luke 1.43 mother of our Lord he made Elizabeth a mother and a ioyfull mother in bearing Iohn the Baptist a Prophet yea more then a Prophet for among them which are borne of women arose there not a greater then Iohn Baptist Matth. 11.11 g Chrysost Hierom. Arnobius Diuines apply this also mystically to Christ affirming that hee made the Church of the Gentiles heretofore barren a ioyfull mother of many children according to that of the h Esay 54.1 Prophet Reioyce O barren that diddest not beare breake forth into ioy and reioyce thou that diddest not trauell with childe for the desolate hath more children then the married wife saith the Lord. See Epistle 4. Sund. in Lent Or it may be construed of
and Aaron as well Priests as people being assembled together gaue publike thanks vnto the Lord for that their good king Dauid was now fully deliuered from all his enemies and quietly setled in his princely throne So this text 〈◊〉 a very fit theame for the Coronation dayes of our late blessed blessed Queene and present gracious King as also for the Commemoration of our happie deliuerance from the Spanish Inuasion anno 88. and from the bloody Gunpowder plot on the fifth of Nouember 1605. ſ Augustin Arnobius Melancthon But mysticallie this day is the time of grace beholde now is the accepted time now the day of Saluation 2. Cor. 6.2 and this day is tearmed here Catexochen The day t Mollerus Dr. Jncognitus because the whole time wherein a man liues without Christ is called in holy Scripture The night and darkenesse as being full of terrours and errors of blindnesse and ignorance So Saint Paul Rom. 13.12 The night is past and the day is come And Ephes 5.8 Once yee were darkenesse but now light in the Lord your selues u Iohn 12.36 Children of light and your workes x Rom. 13.12 Armour of light y Bonauēt in loc Dominus est Dies Christ is the day or rather indeed the z Iohn 1.9 light of the world and a Mal. 4.2 Sunne of the day b Luke 1.78 springing on high to giue light to such as sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death This day did appeare to the world in some measure c Tileman from the beginning For the manifestation of Christ Iesus the supernaturall Sunne of righteousnesse arising with health vnder his wings to them that feare the Lord resembling a great deale the rising of the naturall sunne in our Horizon First the sunne being ready to rise sendeth forth a little glimpse of his brightnesse whereunto wee may compare the mystery of that Aphorisme The seede of the woman shal breake the serpents head Gen. 3.15 Then it doth inlarge the same brightnes with more splendour to which happily Noahs prophecie may bee likened Blessed bee the Lord God of Sem Gē 9.26 Afterward ascending higher approaching neerer vnto vs it putteth forth his glittering beames of clearer light whereto we may resemble the plainer promises concerning Christ communicated to the latter ages of Abraham Gen. 12.2 of Isaac Gen. 26.3.4 of Iacob Gen. 28.14 of Dauid 2. Sam. 7.12 At length it discouereth it selfe and appeareth openly whereunto Christs incarnation and liuing in the world answereth 1. Ioh. 1. That which was from the beginning which we haue heard which we haue seen with our eyes which we haue looked vpon and our hands haue handled c. Last of all it gloriously mounteth vp aboue the earth and d Psal 19.6 nothing is hid from the heat therof and to this accordeth our Sauiours resurrection and ascension whereby himselfe was glorified and hee drew other men vnto him Ioh. 12.32 and gaue them power beleeuing in his name to bee the sonnes of God Ioh. 1.12 Wherefore seeing the Messias of the world is now dead for our sinnes and risen againe for our iustification and sitteth at the right hand of God in heauen euer making intercession for vs and seeing the e Rom. 10.18 sound of his Gospell is gone through all the earth and the words of his Apostles vnto the ends of the world we haue good cause to sing and say this is the most acceptable time the day of saluation and grace f Ephes 3.5 which in other ages was not opened vnto the sonnes of men as it is now reuealed and therefore let vs reioyce and be glad in it Now for as much as the resurrection of Christ is the g Mollerus complement of all the promises concerning the Messias and as it were the h Church Hō for Easter day locke and key of faith on which all other Articles depend the Church of England and i Chrysost Euthym. Melanch Bucer other Diuines auncient and orthodoxe haue made this Hymne proper on Easter day for on this day Christ arising from the dead was heard at large on this day hee saw his desire vpon his enemies on this day hee did openly triumph ouer the diuell and death and hell albeit they compassed him round about and kept him in on euery side yet in the name of the Lord hee destroyed them On this day hee did not dye but liue to declare the workes of the Lord. On this day the same stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner it is the Lords doing and it is maruellous in our eyes and therefore let vs heartily sing This is the day which the Lord hath made we will be glad and reioyce therein God made the k Gen. 1.5 morning and euening the light and the darknesse are his How then is he said heere to make this day more then other dayes the l Chrysost Euthym. Placidus Doctours vpon the place answere that albeit all dayes are good in respect of themselues and God yet some be ioyfull and other dolefull in respect of the good and euill that happeneth in them vnto vs. For m Melancthon Mollerus the day wherein Adam fel and in him all his posteritie was an euil and a blacke day made so doubtlesse by the diuell and not by the Lord but this day wherin the second Adam arose from the dead and in him n 1. Cor. 15.22 all men are made aliue is a good day wherein the faithfull are ioyfull It is the Lords doing and therefore the Lords day The Lords doing that the same stone which the builders refused is now become the head and corner stone in the building that he who was a despicable man a worme rather then a man Psalme 22.6 should now triumphing ouer the diuell and death hell and the graue become the o Psalme 24.7 king of glory that p Phil. 2.10 at the name of Iesus euery knee should bow both of things in heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth Now the Lord is said to make this day more then other as q Agellius honouring it aboue other exalting it and making it r Caluin memorable to posterity So the word making sometime signifieth as 1. Sam. 12.6 It is the Lord that made Moses and Aaron s that is exalted Moses and ſ Vatablus Aaron and so we say that a man aduanced in honour or riches is a made man in this sense the making of a day is the sanctifying and obseruing of a day Deut. 5.15 Exod. 34.22 how then is Easter day more magnified and hallowed then other dayes in the yeere to this obiection answere may bee that all Christians heerein imitating the patterne of the blessed t Acts 20.7 1. Cor. 16.2 Apoc. 1.10 Apostles in honour of Christs resurrection obserue their Sabbath vpon the eight day which is the first day of the weeke whereas the
ergo amorem pro debito charitatem pro munere animum affectum Domino impendamus soluimus PSALM 89. My song shall be alway of the louing kindnesse of the Lord c. THis one short verse containes the summarie pith and k Bellarmin argument of the whole long Psalme wherein obserue the Songs dittie the louing kindnesse and truth of the Lord manifested vnto the whole world generally to Dauids house that is the Church especially Singers duty magnifying the mercies of God alwaies euen from one generation to another And by all meanes with his mouth for that is expressed in this vers with his mind for that is implied in the next I haue said c. l Geneua glosse Wilcox that is beleeued it in my heart and therefore spake it with my tongue Psalm 116.10 For out of the harts abundance the mouth speaketh Mat. 12.34 My song shall be alwaies of the louing kindnesse Or as other translations I will sing the mercies of the Lord his m Vatablus manifold and sundrie mercies as if he should say wee haue tasted of more then of one yea wee haue felt all his mercies I will therefore praise the same for euer I will sing his mercy for creating this vniuerse which is n Io. de combis compend theolog lib. 2. cap. 2. Macrocosmus a great world and for making man which is Microcosmus a little world 1. My song shall set forth his kindnesse for that he gaue me being 2. For adding to my being life which he denieth vnto stones 3. To life sense which hee denieth vnto plants 4. To sense speech and vnderstanding which he denieth vnto bruit beasts I haue great cause to praise the Lord for that I am a man and yet greater for that I am a sound man hauing a due portion of wit and a true proportion of limbs and lineaments maimed neither in the powers of my soule nor in the parts of my body Some men are like the carued images of Pagans and Papists o Psal 135.16 hauing mouthes and speak not eyes and see not eares and heare not feete and walke not hands and handle not I will therfore sing of thy mercies O Lord for giuing vnto me perfect limbes and perfect vse therof eyes to see tongue to speake eares to heare feet to walke I do not want so much as the left hand or the little finger of that hand or the least ioynt of that finger Againe some men are maimed in their minds as being either borne starke fooles O heauie punishment or else for abusing their good wits in bad workes are by Gods secret and seuere iudgement bereft of their intellectuals Some which haue heretofore worshipped Christ at Bethlem haue preached also Christ vnto the King and his Court in Bethel are now lunaticke bound hand and foote in Bedlem p Fatius de mortificatione cap. 2 In nature the middle participates euer with his extreames as the spring which is the middle betweene winter and summer hath as you know part of the winters cold and part of the summers heate and the morning which is the middle betweene night and day hath a little darknesse of the night and a little light of the day so man is created by God tanquam medius inter angelum brutū a middling betweene an Angell and a brute being a good deale better then a beast and a little q Psalm 8.5 lower then an Angell Hauing in respect of his body somthing of a bruit being sensuall and mortall and in respect of his soule somthing of an Angell as being intellectuall and immortall Now then if the spring haue not any heate of summer it is so cold as winter and if the morning haue no light of the Sunne it is so darke as night so man if he want angelicall abilities of the soule is little better then a beast as r Psalm 32.10 horse and mule without vnderstanding for as ſ Orat. de Dione Synesius said A wise man excels a foole more then a foole doth excel a beast As God is principium effectiuum in creatione so refectiuum in redemptione I am exceeding much bound vnto God for creating me when I was not and for preseruing me vnder his wings euer since I was yet I am more bound to his mercy for redeeming me for blessing mee with all spirituall blessings in heauenly things in Christ his Sonne Ephes 1.3 for his electing of me for his calling of me for his iustifying of me for his sanctifying of me These graces are the t Ephes 2.4 3.16 riches of his goodnesse and glory u Bellarmin misericordiae in aeternum euerlasting mercies as reaching from x Bernard ser 2. in ascen Dom. euerlasting predestination to euerlasting glorification O Lord I will alway sing thy mercies in promising and euer shew thy truth in performing thy promise made to Dauid thy chosen seruant concerning thy sonne my Sauiour saying thy seed will I stablish for euer So the y Hierom. Turrecremat Fathers expound our text I will euer sing thy mercies in vouchsafing to send thy sonne to visit thy seruants sicke to death in sinne First I will euer sing of thy mercifulnesse and then I will euer bee shewing thy faithfulnesse z Augustin Neque enim exhiberetur veritas in impletione promissorum nisi praecederet misericordia in remissione peccatorum And what is Gods mercy set vp for euer and his truth established in the heauens but that which a Esay 55.3 Esay termes the sure mercies of Dauid that is as b Act. 13.34 Paul construeth Esay the holy promises made to Dauid and the promise made to Dauid is briefly this thy seed will I stablish for euer and set vp thy throne from generation to generation For the Prophet Ethan here doth c August de ciuit dei lib. 17. cap. 9. Idem Euthym. Tileman in loc allude to the Prophet Nathan 2. Sam. 7. I will saith he from the Lord vnto Dauid set vp thy seed after thee and I will stablish the throne of his kingdome for euer Now this holy promise was not fulfilled in the temporall kingdome of Dauid as Gods people complaine in this Psalme from the 37. to the 45. verse It is therefore to bee construed of Christ and his spirituall kingdome Christ according to the flesh is the d Rom. 1.3 seed of Dauid and the e Mat. 1.1 sonne of Dauid of him it is true which is said heere by the Lord My couenant will I not breake nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips I haue sworne once by my holinesse that I will not faile Dauid His seed shall endure for euer and his seat is like as the Sunne before me He shal stand fast for euermore as the Moone and as the faithfull witnesse in heauen Of him it is true f Psal 45.7 Heb. 1.8 thy throne is for euer and euer Of him it is
and his angels The spirituall enemies of Christ and his Church are Satan and all his complices sinne torment of conscience malediction of the law death hell ouer all which our blessed Sauiour n Coloss 2.15 triumphed openly For in dying hee did ouercome death and in rising againe from the dead hee made the graue his foot-stoole saying o Hos 13.14 O death I will be thy death O graue I will be thy destruction Now beloued his conquest is our victory for hee did ouercome the world for vs and the diuell for vs and death for vs. Hee was wounded for our p Esay 53.5 transgressions and broken for our iniquities his name is q Ier. 23.6 the Lord our righteousnesse he therefore died for our sinnes and rose againe for our Iustification Hee deliuered vs out of the hands of all our enemies that we might serue him all the daies of our life without feare As for our sins hee saith Esa 43.25 I euen I am he that putteth away thine iniquities for mine owne sake and will not remember thy faults r Esay 1.18 Alebeit they were like Crimosin they shall be made white as snow though they were red as Scarlet they shall be like wooll the blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth vs from all sinne 1. Ioh. 1.7 Hee redeemed vs from the curse of the law when he was made a curse for vs Galath 3.13 He put out that hand-writing of ordinances against vs he cancelled that obligation and tooke it out of the way fastening it vpon his Crosse Coloss 2.14 Concerning torment of conscience being iustified by faith we haue peace toward God through Iesus Christ our Lord Rom. 5.1 Lastly touching death and hell he Å¿ Esay 25.8 destroyes death for euer and wipes away the teares from the faces of all his people that they may triumph in the words of t 1. Cor. 15.55 Paul O death where is thy sting O graue where is thy victory the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sin is the law but thankes be to God that hath giuen vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ He that beleeueth in the Lord Iesus hath u Ioh. 17.3 eternall life neither shall he taste of the x Apocal. 20.6 second death If God then be with vs who can bee against vs If the Lord haue said vnto my Lord sit on my right hand vntill I haue made thine enemies thy foot-stoole What need I feare what either man or Angell or diuell is able to doe against me My Iesus is a y Esay 25.4 refuge against the tempest and a shadow against the heate a z Psalm 46.1 present help in al my tribulation trouble a Rom. 8.33 Who shal lay any thing to my charge seeing it is God that iustifieth and who shall condemne seeing Christ which is dead yea rather which is risen againe sitteth at the right hand of God and maketh intercession for vs daily b Mat. 28.20 Hee saith I am with you till the end and then hee will say vnto vs in the end Come ye blessed of my Father inherit ye the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world The Lord shall send the rod of thy power out of Sion A c Plutarch in the life of Caesar Captaine sent from Caesar vnto the Senators of Rome to sue for the prolonging of his gouernment abroad vnderstanding as hee stood at the Counsell-chamber doore that they would not condescend to his desire clapping his hand vpon the pummell of his sword Well said he seeing you will not grant it him this shall giue it him So when the Citizens of Messana despising Pompei's iuris-diction alleaged ancient orders and priuiledges of the Romans in old time granted vnto their town Pompei did answere them in choller as Plutarch relates in his life What do you prattle to vs of your law that haue our swords by our sides So d Caluino turcis lib. 1. cap. 4. Mahumet dissolueth all arguments by the sword in e Vbertas solieta tract de causis magnitud imperij Turcici his kingdome no man is aduanced vnto places of any great worth or worship but the souldior the f Augerius Busbequius legat Turcic epist 1. left hand among the Turks is accounted most honourable because the sword hangs on that side So Tyrants and Potentates of the world end all their quarrels and make their enemies their footstoole by the sword But the scepter of Christs kingdome is not a sword of steele but a sword of the spirit hee ruleth in the middest of his enemies and subdueth a people to himselfe not by the sword but by the g Melancthon Tileman Vatablus Agellius word for the Gospell is the power of his arme to saluation Rom. 1.16 casting downe holds and imaginations and euery high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing into captiuitie euery thought vnto the obedience of Christ 2. Cor. 10.5 And the Lord is said here to send the rod of his power out of Sion according to the prophecies of h Cap. 2. vers 3. Isaiah and i Cap. 4. vers 2. Micah the law shall goe forth of Sion and the word of the Lord from Hierusalem The blessed Apostles as wee reade Act. 2. receiued the gifts of the holy Ghost at Hierusalem and exercised also these gifts of vtterance first in Hierusalem It is true that their k Rom. 10.18 sound went out through all the earth and their words vnto the ends of the world and that they did execute their commission in preaching vnto l Mark 16.15 euery creature but yet according to their masters iniunction Luk. 24.47 they began at Hierusalem So Paul and Barnabas told the Iewes Act. 13.46 It was necessary that the word of God should first haue been spoken vnto you but seeing yee put it from you and iudge your selues vnworthie of euerlasting life loe wee turne to the Gentiles Heere then is a pregnant text to proue that the Gospel is not the word of m 1. Thess 2.13 man but the wisdome of n 1. Cor. 2.7 God and o Ephes 6.17 sword of his spirit for that it is agreeable to the predictions of all his holy Prophets euer since the world began Againe p Tileman in loc this euidence confutes the Iewes obstinately denying that the promised Messias is come His word commeth out of Sion hee must according to this prophecie begin his spirituall kingdome in Hierusalem euen while the Iewes Common-wealth and religion is standing for the scepter shall not depart from Iuda nor a law-giuer betweene his feet vntill Shilo come the people shall be gathered vnto him Gen. 49.10 But alas Hierusalem hath a long time been made leuell with the q Luk. 19.44 ground r Lament 1.1 she that was great among the Nations and Princesse among the Prouinces is now made tributarie Barbarus has segetes the Lord hath so darkened