Iohn 10.30.38 and 14.23 2. As having the incommunicable names and attributes of God Iohn 8.58 and 20.28 Eternity Iohn 1.1 and 17.5 Infinitenesse Iohn 3.13 Omniscience Iohn 2.24 and 21.27 3. As doing the works of God such as are Creation Iohn 1.3 Conservation Iohn 5.17.3 miracles c. 4. As taking to himselfe divine Worship Iohn 9.38 and 20.28 and 14.1 This truth men must hold fast as their lives and be rooted in it getting strong reasons for what they beleeve The second ground wanted depth of earth The seed was good and the earth was good but there was not enough of it therefore the heat of the sun scorcht in up Christ is here called the Lord of Hosts and the Lord of glory Isay 6.1 with John 12.41 Jam. 2.1 Yet once it is a little while c. Adhuc unum pusillum This little little while this inch of time was the better part of five hundred years viz. Galatin lib. 4. cap 9 10. till Christ came in the flesh Heb. 12.26 the Jew-Doctours say no lesse A long time to us is but a little while to God A thousand years is but as one day to the Ancient of dayes His Prophets also being lifted up in spirit to the consideration of eternity count and call all times as indeed they are in comparison moments and points of time Punctum est quod vivimus puncto minus could the Poet say D. Hall Peaâ—m What is that to the Infinite said a certain Noble-man of this Land to one discoursing of an incident matter very considerable but was taken off with this quick Interrogation So say we to our selves when under any affliction we begin to think long of Gods coming to deliver us What is this to Eternity of extremity which yet we have deserved Tantillum tantillum adhuc pusillum Yet a very little while and hee that shall come will come and will not tarry as in the Interim the just must live by faith Heb. 10.37 Gods help seems long because we are short We are short-breathed short-sighted apt to antedate the promises in regard of the accomplishment We also oft find it more easie to bear evil then to wait till the promised good be enjoyed Those beleeving Hebrews found by experience that the spoiling of their goods exercised their patience but staying Gods leysure for the good things he had promised them required more then ordinary patience or tarriance Heb. 10.36 Take we heed of prescribing to the Almighty of limiting the Holy One of Israel of setting him a time with those Bethulians and I will shake the heavens Not the earth onely as at the giving of the Law to purchase reverence to the Law-giver but the heavens also viz by the powerfull preaching of the Gospel whereby Satan was seen falling from heaven Luke 10.18 that is from mens hearts and the Saints set together in heavenly places or priviledges in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.6 For he that hath the Son hath life hee hath heaven aforehand 1. In pretio 2. In promisso 3. 1 Joh 5 1â— In primitiis Here then the Prophet encourageth these builders telling them that under this second Temple how mean soever it seemed he would first send Christ called the Desire of all Nations vers 7. and Peace vers 9. with Ephes 2.14 to grace it with his presence Secondly he would cause the Gospel to be preached in a pompous and powerfull manner I will shake c. Shake them to settle them not to ruine them but to refine them shake their hearts with sense of sin and fear of wrath that they may truly seek Christ For the Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 And the end of this universall shake was to shew saith Chrysostome Hom. 14. in Matth. that the old law was to be changed into the New Moses into Messias the Prophets into Evangelists Judaisme and Gentilisme into Christianisme When Christ was born we know how Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him Matt. 2.3 What a quire of Angels was heard in the air at Bethlehem and what wondering there was at those things which were told them by the shepherds Luke 2.18 Eusebius tells of three Suns seen in heaven not long before his birth Orosius tels of many more prodigies The Psalmist foretelling our Saviours coming in the flesh breaks out into this joyfull exclamation Let the heavens rejoyce and let the earth be glad let the sea roar and the fulnesse thereof Let the field be joyfull and all that is therein then shall all the trees of the wood rejoyce before the Lord for he cometh for he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousnesse and the people with truth Psal 96.11 Lib. 18. de C. D. cap. 48. 12 13. and Psal 98.7 8 9. This I know is by some but not so properly understood of Christs second coming to judgement And both Augustin and Rupertus construe this text also the same way But the whole stream of Interpreters old and new carry it against them and some of them tell us of sundry strange and stupendious commotions that fell out even according to the letter in heaven earth and sea about the time of Christs birth death resurrection and soon after his Ascension when he rode about the world upon his white horse the Apostles and their successours with a crown on his head as King of his Church and a bowe in his hand the doctrine of the Gospel whereby the people fall under him Psal 45.4 and he went forth conquering and to conquer Rev. 6.2 Vers 7. And I will shake all Nations First by the civil warres between the Triumviri not long before Christs Incarnation Secondly by the generall taxe Luke 2.3 when all went to be taxed every one into his own city Thirdly by the preaching and miracles of Christ and his Apostles whereby the Nations were shaken out of their sinfull condition and brought to the obedience of faith by effectuall conversion Thus a Lapide I will shake all Nations with wonder at so great a mystery with joy and with newnesse of life saith Sa. The Gospel saith Forbes on Revel 14. hath three degrees of operation in the hearts of men First it falleth to mens ears as the sound of many waters a confused sound which commonly bringeth neither terrour nor joy but yet a wondering and acknowledgement of a strange force and more then humane power Mar. 1.22 23. Luke 4.32 Job 7.46 This may be in the reprobate Act. 13.41 The second effect is the voice of thunder which brings not onely wonder but fear This may also be in a reprobate as Felix The third effect proper to the Elect is the sound of harping while the Gospel not onely ravisheth with admiration and shaketh the conscience with terrour but also filleth it with sweet peace and joy Hitherto He. Certain it is that the Gospel maketh a stirre where it cometh and brings an earthquake
the Angell of Gods presence and that went before the people in the wildernesse Such were those of the blood-royall and that succeeded David in the government but especially such were the Apostles Christs Mighties who should be endued with so many graces in majesty Authority Strength and truth that men should receive them Cornelius like as so many Angels of God yea even as Christ Jesus Gal. 4.14 Verse 9. I will seek to destroy I will make inquisition and diligent scrutiny I will draw them out of their lurking-places to execution as Saâ—l went to seek David upon the rocks of the wild-goats those high steep and craggy rocks 1 Sam. 24.2 which could not but be very tedious both to himself and to his souldiers to march in But he was set upon 't and would leave no place unsearched See his charge to the Ziphites to take knowledge of all the lurking-holes where he hid himself and to bring him word that he might seek him thorough all the thousands of Judah 1 Sam. 23.23 The Lord need not do so to find out his enemies for in him they live move and subsist Col. 1.17 they are everunder his view and within his reach He sitteth upon the circle of the earth Is 40.22 and can easily shake them out of it as by a canvasse Yea he sits in the height of heaven and wherein they deale proudly he is above them Exod. 18.11 disclosing their cabinet-counsels as he did Benhadads and blasting their designes to destroy all nations God stands not upon multitudes he takes not the tenth man but destroyes all nations be they never so many of them that come against Ierusalem that oppose or affront his people either with their virulent tongues or violent hands When a rabble of rebels shall set themselves against the Lord and against his Christ his mysticall Christ the Church he will utterly destroy them Mercer the word signifieth he will destroy them ut nihil reliquum maneat that there shall be no remainder of them Woe therefore to the Churches enemies for their destruction ever goes with the saints salvation Philip. 1.28 29. Esay 8 9. Prov. 11.8 Gods jealousie Zach. 1.14 and justice 2 Thess 1.6 will effect it surely severely suddely Verse 10. And I will pour upon the house of David Pour as by whole paile-fuls God is no penny-father no small gifts sall from so great a hand he gives liberally Iam. 1.15 and is rich to all that call upon his name Rom. 10.12 abundant in kindnesse Exod. 34.6 plenteous in mercy Psal 103.8 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ hath over-abounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath overflowed all the banks 1 Tim. 1.14 indeed it hath neither bank nor bottom Oh pray for that blisse-full sight Eph. 1.18 and 3.18 19. that Spirit of wisdome and revelation of grace and of supplications Or deprecations of that utter destruction that shall befall other nations God will save his people but so as by prayer Psal 32.6 2 Chron. 7.14 Zach. 13.9 he will grace his own ordinance draw many suitours and derive many prayses to himself See Ezek. 36.37 Psal 50.15 and 116.2 Some render it a spirit of grace and of lamentations sc before the Lord when they felt the nailes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where with they had pierced Christ pricking their own hearts Act. 2.37 punctually pricking and piercing them and they shall look upon the whom they haue pierced Dacaru whom they have dâ—ggered or digged as Psal 22.16 him they shall look upon and lament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 1.7 Lam. 3. their eye shall affect their heart for the eye is the instrument both of sight and of sorrow and what the eye never sees the heart never rues The Sun looketh upon the earth draweth up vapours thence and distilleth them down again so doth the Sun of the understanding which till it be convinced the heart cannot be compuncted Sight of sin must precede sorrow for sin The The prodigall came to himself ere he repented of his loose practises men must bethink themselves or bring back to their hearts as the Hebrew hath it 1 King 8.47 ere they will say We have sinned and dealt perversely we have committed wickednesse See Ier. 8.6 Psal 38.18 An infant in the womb cryes not because he sees not but as soon as it comes into the light he sets up his note Get therefore your eyes anointed with eye-salve with this spirit of grace and supplications so shall you soon see saith Mr. Bradford martyr your face foull arrayed and so shamefull saucy mangy pocky and scabbed that you cannot but be sorry at the contemplation thereof It is the spirit that convinceth the world of sin neither can the waters till his wind bloweth Psal 147.18 A sigh is not breathed out for sin till the spirit imbreach the same into us and they shall mourn for him Or for it viz. for their crucifying the Lord of glory in their forefathers and having a great hand in it themselves sith their and our sins were thorns and nails that pierced him the lance that let out his heart-blood c. We bound him with cords we beat him with rods buffetted him with fists reviled him with our mouths nodded at him with our heads c. We were the chief actours and principal causes that set awork Judas Pilat c. Oh stand a while with the devout women and see him bleeding groaning dying by the wounds that we gave him and mourn affectionatly over him as here they shall mourn with such outward pomp and rites as are used at fune ralls as wringing the hands beating the breasts shaking the head and the like externall gestures and expressions of heavinesse and shall be in bitternesse by inwardnesse of extream grief as when Davids heart was leavened with it Psal 73.21 it was sowred with goodly sorrow and sowced in the teares of true repentance So Peter went forth and wept bitterly Mat. 26.15 waters of Marah flowed from Mary Magdalens eyes which were as a fountain for Christs feet here sorrow was deep and down-right producing repentance never to be repented of The sorrow we conceive for an unkindnesse offered to Christ must not be slight and sudden but sad and soaking like that of the Israelites met at Mizpeh when they drew water before the Lord 1 Sam. 7.6 whereunto the Prophet Jeremy seemeth to allude when he seriously wisheth that his head were waters c. Ier. 9.1 and David with his rivers of teares Psa 119.136 His heart was soft and soluble now softnesse of heart discovers sin as the blots run abroad and seem biggest in wet paper and as when the Cockatrice egge is crushed it breakes forth into a viper Isa 59.5 Now to make and keep the heart soft and tender the consideration of Christs dolorous passion must needs be of singular use and efficacy as the sight of Câ—sars bloody robes brought forth greatly affected the people of Rome and edged them to revenge The
he is above them 2 Pet. 3 9. Exod. 18.11 He hath an eye to follow them a goard to look to them and a goaler to bring them forth whensoever he shall call for them In case they should make escape as they cannot he hath armies above them armies below them armies about them armies upon them yea armies within them to bring them back to execution For a wicked person is not safe from his own tongue to peach him from his own hands to dispatch him from his own phantasy to disquiet him from his own conscience to affright him from his own friends to betray him from his own beasts to gore him from his own fire to burn him from his own house to brain him Thus it is with him whiles at home as if he look abroad to every creature he meets he may say as Ahab once said to the Prophet Hast thou found me O mine enemy For as every good souldier will fight for his Generall and as a Noble-mans servants will soon draw if their Lord be set upon so there is not a creature in all the world that is not ready prest to fight Gods battles and revenge his quarrell upon an ungodly person Gen 4.14 What Cain sometimes said he hath good cause to take up and second Job 18.15 Every thing that findeth me shall slay me Brimstone is strawed upn the house of the wicked saith Iob so that if the fire of Gods wrath do but lightly touch upon it Job 9 5 Eccles 6.13 Necesse est ut eum omnibus doctâ—orem agnoscam qui triginta habet legiones Phavorm de Adriano â—mp apud Spartian they are suddenly consumed they walk all day long upon a mine of Gunpowder either by force or stratageme they are sure to be surprised Had Zimri peace that slew his master Hath ever any waxed fierce against God and prospered Oh that these gracelesse men would once learn to meddle with their match and according to the wise-mans counsell beware of contending with one that is mightier then they this Lord of Hosts I mean the Lord mighty in battle Psal 24.8 this man of warr as Moses calls him whose name is Jehovah sabaoth before whose dreadfull presence and unresistible puissance they are no more able to stand then is a glasse-bottle before a cannon-shot SECT IIII. Tremble before this mighty Lord of Hosts THirdly Use 3 Is he the Lord of Hosts with whom we have to deal be we all hence exhorted and excited to the pracise of divers duties And first to tremble before this mighty God who having so many millions at his beck and obedience can with as much ease and in as little time undo us as bid it be done So Caesar once threatened Metellus in a bravado but so God only and easily can do indeed to such as set against him If the breath of God blow men to destruction Iob 4.9 for we are but dust-heaps if he can frown us to death with the rebuke of his countenance Psal 80.16 what is the waight of his hand that mighty hand as James calls it wherewith he spans the heavens Jam 4 1â— Isay 40.22 and weigheth the earth in a ballance He sits upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants are as grashoppers he shakes them out of it at pleasure as it were by a canvass or as out of ones lap so much the Hebrew word imports Iob 38.13 Who would not therefore fear thee O King of Nations Jer. 10.6 7 Mat 22.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for to thee doth it appertain forasmuch as thowart great and thy Name is great in might Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars saith Christ and unto God the things that are Gods Where it is remarkable that the Article in the Originall is twice repeated when he speaks of God more then when he speaks of Caesar to shew saith a Divine that our speciall care should be to give God his due Now shall we fâ—ar to break the penall lawes of a King Prov. 19 12 Prov. 16.14 Prov. 20.2 because his wrath is as the roaring of a lion and as the messengers of death so that whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul And shall we not fear this King of Nations who hath Armies of creatures to do us to death and after that legions of devils to torment us in hell shall we fear fire water lions leopards bulls bears and other common souldiers yea the wrath of a fool because it is heavier then the sand of the sea Prov. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 10.28 Philip. 3. ult 27.3 4. An shall we not fear the great Emperour of all these that hath them all at his beck and obeisance These may kill us but they cannot hurt us as he once told the tyrant destroy they may the body but neither keep the good soul from heavents nor the body from a glorious resurrection But God can do all this yea more then this and shall we not fear his heavy displeasure Especially since according to his fear so is his wrath Psal 90.11 That is according to some as any one doth more or less fear Gods indignation in the same degree and measure shal the feel it as he trembles at it he shall tast of it Or as others and perhaps better Let a man stand in never so great awe of thy wrath yet his fear shall not prove proportionall or ever be able to match it he shall never fear thee so much as thy wrath amounts to let him fear his utmost For there is a fire kindled in his anger and it burns unto the lowest hell Deut. 32.22 Now Bellarmine is of opinion that one glimps of hell were enough to make a man not only turn Christian and sober but Anchorite and Monke to live after the strictest rule that can be I conclude with the Apostle Wherefore let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear For our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.28 29. SECT V. Trust in his power for fulfilling his promises SEcondly is He the Lord of Hosts This should teach us to rest confidently upon his power for the fulfilling of his promises For what should hinder First God is not as Man that he should lie he payes not what he hath promised Plutarch as Sirtorius is said to do with fair words Secondly hee is not off and on with us he doth not say and unsay Mal. 3. he is Jehovah that changeth not Thirdly he is the Lord of Hosts and cannot be resisted or interrupted in his course Nature may be and was when the fire burnt not the water drown'd not the Lions devoured not c. Men may be withstood though never so mighty as the potent Prince of Persia was Daniel 10.20 And as Asa was who although he brought five hundred thousand men into the field yet was he encountred and overmatcht by an Army of a thousand thousand and upward
past imagination and the heavens and the earth shall shake The heavens with thunder the earth with earth-quake to the terror of the wicked but comfort of the godly Hag. 2.6 for the Lord will be the hope or harbour of his people they shall have a good bush on their backs in the greatest tempest they shall not be afraid though the earth be removed and though the mountaines be cast into the middest of the sea Psal 46.2 fractus si illabatur orbis Hora◠Impavidos ferient ruinae O the force of a lively faith and the privy armour of proof that beleevers have about their hearts O the dignity and safety of Gods people in the worst of times Hab. 3.18 19. Happy art thou o Israel who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord the shield of thy help the sword of thine excellency and thine enemies shall be found lyars unto thee and thou shalt tread upon their high places Deut. 33.29 Verse 17. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God you shall experiement that which during your deep afflictions ye made some doubt of and were ready to say as Gideon did to the Angell If the Lord be for us why is it thus with us or as your unbeleeving forefathers in the wildernesse Is God amongst us as if that could not be and they athirst dwelling in Zion Defending my people and dispensing my best blessings to them The Lord that made heaven and earth blesse thee out of Zion Psal 134. ◠The blessings that come out of Zion are farr beyond those that otherwise come out of heaven and earth then shall Ierusalem be holy with a double holinesse Imputed and Imparted the profane being purged out here in part but heareafter in all perfection This our Saviour sweetly sets forth in those 2. parables of the tares and of the draw-net Mat. 13. Or It shall be holy that is deare to God and under his care favour and protection from the dominion direption and possession of profane Heathens and there shall no strangers passe through her any more either to subdue her and prejudice her as the proverb runs of the great Turk that wherever he sets his foot no grasse growes any more such havock he makes or to fasten any filth or contagion upon her See Rev. 21.27 where St. Iohn alludeth to this text as all along that book he borroweth the elegancies and flowers of the old Testament to set out the state of the New in succeeding ages If this promise be not so fully performed to us as we could wish we must lay the blame upon our sins whereby the Reformation is ensnarled and our prosperity hindred Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear But your iniquities have separated betwixt you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear Esay 59.1 2. Nothing intricates our actions more then sin this is that devill in the ayre that hinders our happinesse this is that Make-bate Hell-hag Trouble-town charme this devill and make him fall from his heaven which is to do hurt and we shall inherit the promises The godly man only prospers Psal 1.3 Verse 18. The mountains shall drop down new wine By these hyperbolicall expressions is promised plenty of all things pertayning to life and godlinesse such a golden age as the Poet describeth Flumina jam lactis jam flumina nectaris ibant Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella Ou Metam Where it must be observed that spirituall good things are promised under the notion of temporall as of Must Milk c. Ob populi infantiam by reason of the infancy of that people of that time The mountaines i. e. the most barren places shall drop down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without our labour shall yeild plentifully New wine strong consolations and Scripture-comforts for strong Christians And the hills shall flow with milk that unadulterated sincere milk of Gods word for his babes 1 Cor. 2.2 1 Pet. 2.2 And all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters Sanctuary-waters wholesome doctrines such as have a healing cooling quenching quickning property in them Esay 44 3. and a fountain shall come forth viz. Baptisme that laver of regeneration Tit. 3.5 that fountain opened Zach. 13.1 that pure river of water of life clear as chrystal that washeth away sin Rev. 22.1 Acts 22.16 and shall water the the valley of Shittim That dry valley in the borders of Moab neer to Jordan Num. 25. Josh 2. and not far from the dead Sea Here it was that the Israelites defiled themselves with the daughters of Moab as Jarchi noteth but shall bee purified and sanctified with the washing of water by the word Ephes 5.26 Tarnovius renders the Text Qui irrigabit vallem cedrorum which shall water the valley of cedars those choisest trees planted in the paradise of God Psal 92.13 For saith He as the Tabernacle was built and garnished of old with Shittim-wood for the most part Exod. 25.5 26.15 27.1 30.1 so is the spirituall temple with these spirituall cedars Verse 19. Egypt shall be a desolation By Egypt and Edom are meant all Christs adversaries whether they be professed open enemies as were the Egyptians or false brethren as the Edomites Romists have been both and shall therefore be desolated Rev. 17.16 with 11.8 For the violence against the children of Judah From the very cradle of the Church Exod. 1. yea sooner for Esau in the very womb justled his brother Jacob and offered violence against him that he might lose no time because they have shed innocent blood in the land The Saints blood is called innocent blood 1. Because their sinnes are remitted 2. Because they are causelesly killed And this is a land-desolating sinne The innocent blood spilt by Manasseh brought the captivity the Marian times our late troubles The blood of the Martyrs shed by Turk and Pope whom the Jew-Doctors understand by Egypt and Edom here shall be the ruine of them both Verse 20. But Judah shall dwell for ever Perpetuitas Ecclesiae declaratur saith Mercer The perpetuity of the Church is declared and assured The blood of Martyrs is the seed of the Church Christ is with his to the end of the world and those Roman persecutours who sought to root out Christian Religion and erected pillars in memory of what they had done or rather attempted that way what got they thereby but perpetuall ignominy besides the irrepairable losse of their souls bodies and fortunes Tu vero Beza Herodes sanguinolente time The Church as the Palm-tree spreadeth and springeth up the more it is oppressed as the bottle or bladder Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus Horat. Cur. 4.4 Plin. l. 18. c. 16. that may be dipt not drowned as the oak that taketh heart to grace from the maims and wounds given it and sprouts out thicker as
have been prevented Verse 4. In that day shall one take up a parable c. In that day that dolefull and dismal day of their calamity shall One Any one that is moved at your misery and would work you to a sense of your sin the mother of your misery shall take up a parable tristem querulam sad and sorrowfull and lament with a doleful lamentation Heb. with a lamentation of lamentations or with heigh-ho upon heigh-ho as the word seemes to signify we be uttterly spoiled Plundered to the life laid naked to the very foundation chap. 1.6 put into such a condition as that there is neither hope of better nor place of worse he hath changed the portion of my people that is God or the Assyrian by Gods appointment hath taken away our countrey and given it to strangers The Pope took upon him in Henry the 8. dayes to give England Primo occupaturo to him that could first win it This brutum fulmen came to nothing But when Gods people changed their glory for that which profited not Ier. 2 11. he soon changed their portion he caused that good land to spew them out he turned their weale into woe and brought wrath upon them to the utmost Neither profited it them any more to have been called Gods people then it did Dives in flames that Abraham called him Son or Judas that Christ called him Friend how hath he removed it from me Erah This is Lamentation-like indeed See Lam. 1.1 and 2.1 and 4.1 all beginning with the same word How The speech is concise and abrupt meet for mourners There is an elegancy in the original not to be Englished How uncertaine are all things here God sits upon the circle of the earth and shakes out the inhabitants qt pleasure as by a canvas Esa 40. Persons and things are said to be in heaven but on earth on the outside of it only where they have no firm footing Dionysius was driven out of his kingdome Aelian lib. 2. which yet he thought was tied to him with chaines of adamant saith the Historian turning away from us as a lothsome object being so incorrigibly flagitious he hath divided our fields sc to the enemy for a reward like as he gave Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar for his paines at Tyre Or thus Instead of restoring which now we are hopelesse of he hath divided our fields our fertile and fat countrey to those that will be sure to hold their own in it as the Gaules and Gothes did in Italy after they had once tasted the sweetnesse of it Vatablus rendreth the text thus How hath he taken from me those fields of ours which he seemed ready to restore he hath even divided them sc to others Verse 5. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot Fields were divided with cords of old and inheritances also See Psal 16.5 and 105.11 and 78.55 2 Sam. 8.2 This hope is henceforth cut off from revolted Israel the ten tribes never returned the other two did and some few of the ten amongst them Whether upon their conversion to Christ they shall be restored to the promised land Time the mother of Truth will make manifest In the congregation of the Lord So you were once but now nothing lesse A Congregation ye are still but of malignants a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven A name ye have to live but ye are dead ye cry out Templum Domini The Temple of the Lord are we but in truth ye are no better then those Egyptian temples beautifull without but within nothing to be seen but a cat rat or some such despicable creature Here they are called the Congregation of the Lord by an irony as the Cardinall of Ravenna is so called by way of derision Verse 6. Prophesie ye not say they to them that prophesie Prodigious impudency thus to silence the Prophets or else to prescribe to them according to the other reading of the text Prophesie not as they prophesie for they are too tart therefore Drop not ye who thus drop vineger and nitre who vex our galled consciences no lesse then the cruel Spaniards do the poor Indians naked bodies which Sr. Fr. Drake for a sport they do day by day drop with burning bacon But let these drop that can smooth us up that can utter toothlesse truths that will drop oyle into our eares byssina verba and give us silken words these be Prophets for our turns c. God cannot please some hearers unlesse he speak tinkling and tickling words Now these must get their eares healed as Demosthenes advised his countreymen of Greece ere they can be in case to hear with profit They must learn of Bees to paslâ— by roses and violets and sit upon Time to heed I meane sound rebukes rather then smooth supparasitations There are that note a jeare it the tearm Drop It is well known that the word Preached is oft compared to raine Deut. 32.2 Esay 55.10.11 The Prophets therefore are here in derision called Droppers or Distillers Luk. 16 1â— and forbidden to do their office or at least to drop in that sort Thu their successors in evill the Pharisees who were likewise coverous derided Christ And thus their predecessours also in Esay's time put a scost upon him and his preaching cap. 28.10 where the sound of the words in the Original carries a taunt as scornfull people by the tone of their voice and riming words gibe and jeare at those whom they vilify they shall not prophesie to them q. d. You shall have your wish my droppers shall give over dropping and be no further troublesome nor take shame any more by prophesying to such a perverse people so shamelesly so lawlesly wicked that they shall not take shame Or shall they not take shame q. d. though they will not heare of it that shame shall be their promotion and confusion their portion yea they shall surely feel and find it so Verse 7. O thou that art named the house of Jacob That hast a name to live but art dead Rev. 3.1 that art called a Jew and makest thy boast of God Rom. 2.17 that hast a form of knowledge Rom. 2.20 and a form of godlinesse 2 Tim. 3.5 a semblance of sanctimony Luke 8.18 acting religion playing devotion as if it were a neme onely or as if it were enough to be named the house of Jacob or to have his voice though the hands are the hands of Esau the practise nothing suitable to the profession Thus many amongst us content themselves with the bare name of Christians as if many a ship hath not been called Safe-guard or Goodspeed which yet hath fallen into the hands of Pirates The devil will surely sweep and hell swallow all such Nominalists such shall find that an empty title yeelds but an empty comfort at the last What was Dives the better for this that Abraham called him sonne or Iudas that Christ called him friend or
as not to see God in that they suffered They had learned that out of Psal 78.47 48. Psal 29.3 c. Tully indeed thought that God minds not mildew or hail c. Nee si uredo aut grando quippiam nocuit id Iovi animadvert endum fuit neque enim in regnis reges omnia minima curant c. As kings take not notice of smaller businesses in their kingdoms saith He so neither doth God of these ordinary occurrences But the Jewes for the generality had learned better things And the Apostle tells those Heathens too Acts 14. that God had not left himself without witnesse amongst them in that he did good and gave rain from bâ—aven and fruitfull seasons c. â—Cicero himself likewise another time could say Curiosus est plenus negotii Deus God taketh care of all and is full of businesse And oh that this truth were as fruitfully improved as it is generally acknowledged Oh that men would turn at Gods reproof his recall reproofs his vocall rods Mic. 6.9 and not put him to his old complaint Why should ye be smitten any more Esay 1.5 ye revolt more and more This we may wish but God alone can effect For till he please to thrust his holy hand into mens bosomes and pull off the fore-skin of their hearts Afflictions those hammers of his do but beat cold iron Salvian See Ier. 2.30 31. and 6.29 30. Lev. 26.41 Plectimur à Deo nec flectimur tamen corripimur sed non corrigimur We are put to pain but to no prosit Jer. 12.13 as Abaz that stiffe stigmatick 2 Chron. 28.23 and Ahaziah who sent a third Captain to surprize the Prophet 2 King 1. after two before consumed with fire from heaven as if he would despitefully spit in the face of God and wrestle a fall with the Almighty Verse 18. Consider now from this day and upward And see how punctually the time of benediction answereth to the time of your conversion so that you no sooner begin to build but I begin to blesse It is said of the men of Issachar that they were in great account with David because they had understanding of the times 1 Chron. 12.32 It is certainly a point of spirituall prudence to consider the times and to compare things past with present and future Time is the wisest of all things Laert. lib. 1 said Thales the best counsellour said Plutarch Truth is the daughter of Time In Pericles saith Another Philosopher See the Note on verse 15. Verse 19. Is the seed yet in the barne Hierom rendreth it In germine In the sprouting or spirting as they call it and so farre enough from the harvest and yet further if yet in the barn and not put into the ground Neverthesse for your diligence in building Gods house I assure you in the word of truth that you shall have a very great increase a plentifull harvest From this day will I blesse you And it is the blessing of God that maketh rich as is to be seen in the examples of the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac Iacob Others whose godlinesse was their gain whose piety was profitable to all things as having the promises of both lives 1 Tim. 4.8 Now all that are of faith are blessed with faithfull Abraham Gal. 3.9 are heirs of the world with him Rom. 4.13 and so have right to all things in Christ the heir of all things 1 Cor. 3.22 Heb. 1.2 though these things on earth be detained from them for present by those men of Gods hand Psal 17.14 as Canaan was from Israel by the cursed Amorites till their sinnes were full Gen. 14. yet they shall shortly have power over the Nations and which is better Christ will give them the morning-starre that is himself Rev. 2.26 28 and with himself a Cornucopia of spirituall blessings Ephes 1.3 The Lord that made heaven and earth will blesse them out of Zion that is with better blessings then heaven or earth afforded We read not here of any other blessings but increase of corn wine oil c. because this people was wholly almost affixed to earthly things 1 Cor. 2. The Prophet could not speak wisdom among those that were perfect But better things were implied and assured to the godly as appearâ—th by the ensuing Oracle Verse 20. And again the word of the Lord Again the same day Twice-aday-preaching is no new practise then This Prophet did it so did our Saviour Acts Mon. fâ—l 940. Mat. 13.1 So did Chrysostome as appeareth by his Note on 1 Thes 5.17 So did Luther which because one Nicholas White commended in him he was accused of heresie in the raign of Hen. 8. It is not so long since it was held here practicall Puritanisme The late Arch-prelate being sued unto by a Noble-man to preferre a Chaplain of his whom he commended for an able Divine Socraâ— and a twice-aday-preacher turned away in a great heat saying The more fool he Verse 21. Speak to Zerubbabel governour of Judah Governours are sure to meet with many difficulties and discouragements high-seats are never but uneasie and had need therefore of singular consolation that they may hold on their course like the Sun in the firmament and shew themselves to be of an undaunted resolution We may well say to Governours as that Propheticall Simeon spoke to the pillars which he whipped before the earth-quake Stand fast for yee shall be shaken I will shake the heavens and the earth sc by abrogating and abolishing both Jewish Ceremonies and Heathenish superstitions Heb. 12.27 As also by Nationall commotions and translations of Monarchies The Greeks shall break the power of the Persians the Romans of the Greeks the Goths and other barbarous nations of the Romans But especially by casting the devil out of the heaven of mens hearts Luke 10.18 those strong-holds wherein he had entrenched himself Mat. 24.7 2 Cor. 10.4 5. that the ransomed of the Lord may receive a kingdome which cannot bee moved Heb. 12.28 and partake of those new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse 2 Pet. 3.13 even that world to come as these dayes of the Gospel are called Heb. 2.5 See the Note above on vers 6.7 Verse 22. And I will overthrow the throne of kingdomes sc by pouring contempt upon Princes and causing them to wander in the wildernesse where there is no way Psal 107.40 as he dealt with Darius the last Persian Monarch by putting down the mighty from their seat and exalting them of low degree Luke 1.52 as hee dealt with Bajazet the great Turk and Tamerlan the Scythian shepherd by changing the â—imes and the seasons removing kings and setting up others in their stead Dan. 2.21 All this God will do and all that follows in the Text viz. destroy the strength of kingdoms overthrow the charets and their riders c. rather then his Church shall be unhelped or his kingdome of grace hindered Our help is in
forth or moved forward with an open face and upper parts appearing as not afhamed the shew of her countenance witnessed against her she declared her sin as Sodom Esay 3.9 and as Lots daughters who savoured too much of Sodom when glorying in their shame they called their incestuous brâ—ts Mâ—ab that is the begotten of my father and Benammi which sounds to the same sense This woman is also said to sit as resolved of her course Confer Psal 1.1 and 50.20 the Jewes are still a stubborn and refractary people Antiquâ—m obtinent O that the falvation of Israel were come out of Zion c. Psal 14.7 Deus nos dignabitur clarissimá visione cum reducet Zion saith Jachiades one of their Rabbines I add Fiat Fiat Verse 8. And he said this is Wickednesse viz. this woman a figure of the whole sinfull nation of the Jewes as were Aholah and Aholibah Ezech. 23. and Babylon the great the mother of fornications and abominations Rev. 17.5 to whom I may add that grand-daughter of hers Katherine de Medices Queen-mother who by her wickednesse wonderfully troubled all France for thirty yeers together and he cast it into the midst of the Ephah The Angel as an executioner of divine justice throwes her down who before sat perking and priding her self and claps her upclose prisoner as it were in the Ephah casting the weight of lead into the mouth thereof that is of the Ephah or of the woman according to that Psal 107.42 the righteous shall â—ee it and rejoyce and all iniquity shall stop her mouth Montanus one of the Talmud addeâ—h that this woman is compel'd to take this lead into her mouth that moâ—ten lead was powred down her throat for a punishments of her frauds and thests ver 3. But the wicked shall not be so excused sor upon them God shall raine â—nares fire brimstone and a burning tempest this shall be the portion of their cup Psal 11.6 and this is farr worse then molten lead or burning bell-mettle Compare with this text ler. 51.64 and Rev. 18.21 with 20.1 An Angel a strong Angel for better assurance of Romes irrepairable ruine taketh a stone a great stone which he throweth and with force thrusteth into the bottom of the sea whence it cannot be boyâ—d up whence nothing ordinarily is recovered much lesse a milstone thrust from such a hand with such a force What do ye imagine against the Lord saith Nahum he will make an utter end affliction shall not rise up the second time chap. 1.9 that is the wicked shall be totally and finaily consumed at once neither will God make another doing of it I have overthrown some of you as God over threw Sodom and Gomorrah Am. 4.11 wickednesse is here crushed together as it were in a narrow veslell covered with lead and carried into a strange countrey Verse 9. Behold there came out two women Winged women and carried through the ayre with a pleasant wind to note their ready and speedy obedience prompt and present Women they are said to be to keep proportion with the present vision lest the meeting and mixing together of men and women in the same matter might minister occasion to some impure surmisings But that they were men and not women that are here meant is agreed upon by all These were Ezra and Nehemiah saith Willet on Levit. 11. after Junius and Piscator on the text those great Reformers of the Jewish Church But this stand not with the last verse I rather subscribe to those that expound the text of the Romanes who with great celerity and violence destroyed the Jewes state and so that which they feared befell them â—oh 11.48 The Romanes said they shall come to take away both our place and our nation and within a few yeers it proved accordingly as if God had taken them at their word as he did those murmuring miscreants Num. 14.28 As truly as I live saith the Lord as ye have spoken in mine cares so will I do unto you Hereunto the Chaldee Paraphrast consenteth when by these two women thus described he understandeth populos leves expeditos such Agents and Instâ—uments as God would imploy in the speedy execution of his wrath upon the Jewish Nation such as were Titus Vespasian and Aâ—lius Adrian See my Trite treasure chap. 7. sect 2. Diodate maketh these two women a figure of God two properties namely Mercy towards his Elect and Justice towards his Enemies wherewith he transports upon these last the judgements by which he had punished his own people which is done with admirable celerity Thus He. Danaeus makes those two women to be the Anger and Justice of God which do alwayes follow and waâ—t upon one another and take vengeance on mens wickednesse Judâ—ium sit penes lectorem and the wind was in their wings A masculine Affix reseâ—red to a Feminine Noune to intimate that these women were indeed types of men saith Mr. Pemble â—he Romanes were men every inch of them as the proverh is and therefore of cowards they were wont to say that they had nothing Roman in them and of Brutus that he was the lasi of the Romans and they lift up the Ephah between the Earth and the heaven This betokeneth a deportation and disiection of the Jewish Nation being tossed as a tennis-ball into all nations and scattered into the soure winds as Ier. 48.32 Rupertus hence concludeth them rejected of both carth and heaven Out of the earth they are as it were banished by a common consent of Nations and heaven admitteâ—n them not as those that please not God and are contrary to all men 1 Thess 2.15 And as their guide Judas when they took Jesus was hang'd betwixt heaven and earth being caelo terraeque perosus so fares it with that wretched people and will do till God shall call them a people which were not a people and her beloved which was not beloved Rom. 9.25 Verse 10 Whither do these beare the Ephah that is saith Ribera Quamdiu duratura est populi hujus impietas How long shall this peoples wickednesse last like as Isa 6.10 11. when the Prophet had heard make the heart of thâ— people fat and shut their eyes c. he cryes out How long Lord the answer whereunto is the same in effect with this of the Angel untill the cities be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the land be utterly desolate And the Lord have removed men farr away and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land Verse 11. To build it an house in the land of Shinar That is of Babylon Gen. 10.10 and 11.2 where diverse of the Jews still remained in wilfull exile as loth to leave their houses and gardens which they had builded and planted there Jer. 29 5. preferring captivity before liberty See 1 Chron. 4.22 23. Hence upon their finall dispersion by the Romans diverse of them resorted thither for entertainment There Peter the Apostle of the circumcision
for the attaining thereunto in a diligent use of the means These are among others First Means of getting the fear of God set on serious meditation and first upon your selves Reflect and see 1. your own miserable condition by reason of sin imputed to you sin inherent in you and sin issuing from you together with the deserved punishment all torments here and tortures hereafter which are but the just hire of the least sin f Rom. 6. ult 2. Your utter inability to free your selves either from sin or punishment From the former you can no more free your selves then the blackmore from his skin or the leopard from his spots g Ier. 13 23 And for the later there 's no power wit or any other meanes in our selves or the creature either to abide or avoyd it This meditation made Peters converts cry out for fear Men and brethren what shall we do to be saved h Act. 2 3â— Next busy your thoughts upon God be thinking upon his name with those in the text See him as he stands described 1. in his word 2. in his works The word sets out God for our present purpose 1. as a God of transcendent excellency and surprissing glory and thence inferrs a necessity of his fear Who would not fear thee O king of Nations i Ier. 10 7 c. saith Ieremy And thou art more glorâ—ous and excellent than the mountains of prey that is then the flourishing Assyrians with all their goodly Monarchy therefore as a consectary â—ring presents unto him that ought to be seared k Psa 76.4 11 2. As omnipresent and omniscient one that beholdeth and taketh knowledge of all we doe as much as of any thing in his own heart for all things consists in him l Collos 1.17 And the wayes of a man are before the Lord he ponderâ—th all his paths m Prov. 5 21 And will ye not tremble at my presence saith the Lord n Ier. 5.24 Ioseph did and so kept himself untouchâ— and Iob did and so frighted his conscience from sin by this wholesome consideration o Iob 31 1 2. 3. As armed with infinite power and might to reward us if we fear him and to punish us if we neglect him Shall servants â—ear their masters because the have power over the sleâ—h p Colos 3 23. and shall not we â—ear him that is aâ—le to cast body and sonle to hell q â—at 10 29. No man will puâ— his hand into a fiery crucible to setch gold 〈◊〉 because he knowes it will be râ—e hiâ—â— did we as truly beleeve and fâ—ar the fire of hell c. 4. As infinitely just and singularly carefull to punish sin where ever he finds it be it in the â—earest of his own nay in his onely son who being maâ—e sin for us r 2 Cor. 5.21 and found in the shape and stead of sinfull fleâ—h Å¿ 3 〈◊〉 8 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Liturg. Graec. was made to undergo those dolorous and â—â—concerveable sorrowes that drew clotted blood t Lue. 22.44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his body and were joyn'd with a temporary desertion to his soule yet the very pâ—â—es of hell which he selâ—â—or a season u Ps 22.1 c. Who would not therefore fear before this just and impartial God See that sweet song of the triumphant saints that had overcome the beast by the blood of the lamb Iust and true a e thy wayes c. who shall not feâ—r thee O Lord and gloâ—ifie thy name w Rev. 15 4 c. 5. As abundantly and unâ—peakeably kind and loving to us in Christ This property in God throughly thought upon will inflame our hearts with his love and so make us fearfull to displease him as the dutifull spouse her loving husband or the gratious child his indulgent father This is to fear God and his goodnesse x Hos 3 5 to fear God through delight in his wâ—es y Psal 112.1 to reioyce in fear z Psal 2 11 and therefore to fear to offend him with hope because there is mercy with hâ—m a Psal 130.4 as the psalmist hath it Thus meditate on the attributes of God set forth in the word In the world next you may see God in his workes And first those standing miracles the hanging of the earth upon nothing b Iob 26.7 the bounding of sea that it cannot transgresse his word c Ier. 5.24 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth He gâ—thereth the waters of the sea together as a heâ—p he laveth up the depth in storehouseâ— Let all the earth seâ—â— the Lâ—â—d let all the 〈…〉 of the world stand inâ—awe of him For he spake and it was done he commâ—nded and iâ— stood fast d Psal 33 6 7 8 9 c. Secondly turne your eyes and thoughts upon the judgments of God and first particular executed upon others for our warning and learning The righteous hall see this and fear e Psal 52.6 as David speakes and as Dâ—vâ—d did too as himself testifieth my stâ— harembleth for fear of thee and I am aâ—â—aid of thâ— udg ments f Psl 119 120 When one child is whipt in a schoole the rest will tremble so it should be with us when we see others pun shed which because 〈◊〉 did not g Dan. 5 21 22.27 Dâ—scite justâ—iâ— am monai non temnere c. Pâ—ndit Herodotus suo temnore conspâ—ctam esse in Aegvpto statuam Sâ—na heribâ— cum hac insâ—â—ptinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when his father was turn'd a grasing therefore was he found too light in the ballance and his kingdome given to his neighbour that was better then he 2. Premeditate upon the generall judgment and the unconceivable terrour of that dreadfull day when the heavens shall passe awâ—â— with a greâ—â—nose â—nd the elâ—ments shall mslt with fervent heaâ—â— the earth also and thâ— workes thâ—t are theâ—ein â—halâ— burnt up h 2 pet 3 10 Faelix though a pagan trembled at Pâ—â—ls discourse of this great day i Act 24 25 The devils when they think of it shake and shadder the joynts of their loines are loosed with Belhizzar and their knees smite one against another k Dan 5.6 And can any man think seriously of this last judgment and not be moved with fear Fear God saith Solomon and as a help hereunto consider that God will bring every work into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or evill l Eccles 12.14 And this is the first meanes of getting Gods holy fear viz. Meditation The second is like unto it and that is faithfull and fervent prayer to the father of lights m Jam. 1.17 for it is a supernaturall gift to fear God as a father Thus David goes to God for this gift Vnite my heart which of
Hosts by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Hierome Ornatus for order makes an army beautiful 3. For their obedience which is no lesse admirable then their order amiable No souldier is so obsequious so active so ready prest at the command of his captain as all creatures are at the command of God So well disciplined are they and trained to it not by rules of art but by instinct of nature Psal 119.91 that if he say but to any go he goeth if come he cometh if do this he doeth it Never was any Emperour so observed as he is even to a nod or beck Psal 123.2 Fiftly therefore is he stiled somtimes Lord of Hosts and other times Lord God of Hosts to denote and set forth his infinite and irresistible power and that there is no standing before him thus armed and appointed if his wrath be kindled yea though never so little which is an answer to the third quaere Beza in Rom. 9.29 exauditi sunt domino multo potentiore quam ipsi sitis Ad infinitas ipsius vtres copias explicandas Beza in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sets forth his absolute power and soveraignty over all creatures whence he is called the one or onely Lord. Ephe. 4.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est dissipare perdere quod victori conâ—enit imprimis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoc epitheto summa tribuitur Deo potentia saith a grave and learned interpreter Chiefest power and soveraign authority is given and ascribed to God by this attribute For this it is often used and urged in the old Testament as in the new the very Hebrew word Sabaoth is retained for more Emphasis Iam. 5.4 The cryes of them that have reaped your fields and yet received no wages are entred into the eares of the Lord of sabaoth that is they are graciously heard by a Lord far more mighty then you are any saith the same interpreter And in his larger Annotations this saith he is added to shew his infinite forces and matchlesse might The like may easily be collected from Rev. 4.8 compared with Esay 6.3 Where the holy Ghost rendereth Holy holy holy Lord God of hosts by Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely such a one as hath not the sole command alone but the whole command of all the creatures In heaven he hath good servants in hell bad in earth both The other Apostles call him Lord it is Gorrans observation Iudas calls him not so but Rabbi Mat. 26.22 25. because he had shaken off the yoke of obedience but they that will not bend must break as he did when shortly after he became his own deathsman after that he had delivered up his master and all by the determinate counsel of God the might strong God as he is stiled Esay 9.6 the Al-sufficient God Gen. 17.1 Aben Ezra renders it The conquerour and the Lord Christ is said to go forth riding on his white horse conquering and to conquer Rev. 6.2 The Septuagint render it Self-sufficient able to do all without help of any how much more when having such hosts at command Aquila renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strong lusty valiant Pagnine and Iunius Omnipotent Now dicitur Omnipotens quia omnium tenet potestatem saith Isidore And this David the King acknowledgeth in all ample manner yea Nebuchadnezzar the tyrant Dan. 4.37 Thine O Lord is the greatnesse and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty For all that is in the heaven is thine thine is the kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted as head above all c. 1 Chron. 29.11.12 SECT II. The Pope will needs be Lord of Hosts Vse 1 VVHat meaneth then that man of sin that mouth of blasphemy that I may apply to speak so great things of himself Rev. 13.5 2 Thes 2. Psal 100. Fran. Zabar Bellar. lib. 4. de Poâ—t Roquia in omnibus admirabilis stuper mundi to boast himself so much in mischief Psal 52.1 to lift up himself above all that is called God sitting in Gods temple and shewing himself there as if he were Lord of Hosts For although he hath but some angle and not all the corners of the earth though he is but a fox in a hole yet his discreet doctors say of him that he can do all that Christ can do that God hath put all things in subjection under his feet the beasts of the field that is men living on the earth the fishes in the sea that is souls in purgatory the fouls of the aire that is the souls of the blessed It sufficeth not Mosconius to derive Pape of Papae the interjection of admiring because the Pope is the worlds wonderment Rev. 13 3 Admiratio peperit philosophiam sic et Antichristianismum habens in toto mundo utrunqe gâ—adium c. Dulia adorandus De ministr milit Eccles l. 1. cap. 1. Os papae eâ—t eulus diaboli in eodem sunt praedicamento Jgnatij Con. clavs pag. 139. vide Pareum in Apoc. 13.3 Orâclis vocis mundi moderaris habenas et merito in ter ris diceris esse Deuâ— Super Angelos eleuatier papa adeo ut eos excommunicare possit ait Joh. 23. in extravag Luk. 4.6 Dr. Featly his Transub exploded that beast he should have said in the Revelation that all the world wondered after and Pontifex because he makes men a bridg to blessednesse but he will have him to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords having the power of both swords throughout the world yea command over all reasonable creatures Boniface the 8. wrote to Philip K. of France that he was Lord of all both temporals and spirituals in all countries which is one of the divels titles Math. 4. Valladerius shames not to say of Pope Paul 5. that he was a god lived familiarly with the Godhead heard Predestination it self whispering to him had a place to sit in councel with the most divine Trinitie And another of the same Popes parasites dedicates a book to him thus To Paul the 5. Vice-God the most invincible Monarch of the Christian common-wealth the most mighty defender of the Pontifician omnipotency Our Lord God the Pope saith a certaine Canonist And to thee is given all power in heaven and earth said the Councel of Lateran the very year before Luther stood up against that Romish Antichrist who weares a triple crowne in token that he is Lord of heaven where he may canonize saints of hell where he may free soules out of purgatory of earth where he saith as once the divel did All power is delivered unto me and unto whomsoever I will I give it But how haps it then that he gives no more to many of his best servants To instance in some of our own fugitives Allin had a Cardinals hat but with so thin lining meanes to support his state that he was commonly called the starveling Cardinall Stapleton was made professour
it that God himself makes a challenge to all the world besides in the behalf of his Israel Deut. 33.29 Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord meaning mdeed that no Nation under heaven how happy so ever was comparable to them And hence it is also that the kings of the earth shall bring their glory to the church as Constantine did and coming to see as Theodosius did an excellency in grace a beauty in holinesse above any outward trappings they shall leave the throne and palace to seek the sweet delights of the faithfull and to sing their songs Psal 138.4 5. Aencas Sylvius relates of Ingo King of Draves and Veneds Chap. 20. that making on a time a stately feast he invited thereunto all his Nobles at that time Pagans together with a multitude of poor christians His Nobles he set in his hall below and those poor Christians with himself in his presence-chamber giving them all royall entertainment and attendance At which when his Nobleswondred and stomacked he told them this he did not as he was King of Draves but as King of another world wherein these poor ragged people should be his compeeres and fellow-Princes These HeathenNobles might haply stumble hereat as the Saracen Prince once did at a like speech of Charles the great His custome was to have ever at his meals a board of beggers feeding not farr from his table This Prince Aigoland for so was the Saracens name coming gallantly accompanied to the French Court pretending that he would be baptized Viri annis pannisque obsiti Melancthon apud Ioh. Manl. loc com pag. 361. and become a Christian and being feasted by King Charles asked what those Lazars and poor people were Answer was returned that these were the friends and servants of our God whom we Christians worship Whereupon he speedily depatted desperately protesting that he would not serve that God which could keep his servants no better This man knew not that God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith to be heirs of his kingdome of glory Smyrna the poorest of the seven Churches hath the richest price set upon it The poor man indeed speaks supplications and the rich man answereth him roughly Prov. 18.23 The world despiseth the poor though never so veâ—tâ—ous as the Prodigalls elder-brother did him This thy son saith he not this my brother he disdains to call him brother because of his poverty So doth not the Lord Christ Of Queen Elisabeth it is said that she hated no less then did Mithridates such as maliciously persecuted vertue forsaken of fortune Camdens Elisa fol. 531. The poorest bondslave if a free-man of Christ when he suffers hard words and ill usage from his master for well-doing doth herein finde acception with God 1 Pet. 2.19 Quales sunt plerique verae Ecclesiae cives Beza 20. Be a man never so poor in estate if withall he be poor in spirit and pure in heart the kingdome of God is his Mat. 5.3 Gods kingdome indeed is not of this world commeth not by observation neither consisteth in meat and drink in pomp and outward splendour but in righteousnes and peace as did that of Melchisedech and joy in the holy Ghost unspeakable and glorious joy Mr. Boltons Disc of true Happ Epist dedicat concerning which hear him that had felt it and spoke by experience Certain it is saith a late Reverend Writer that if a man were crowned with the royall state and imperial command of all the kingdomes upon earth if his heart were enlarged to the utmost of all created capacity and filled with all the exquisite and unmixed pleasures that the reach of mortality and most ambitious curiosity could possibly devise and might without interruption and distast enjoy them the length of the worlds duration they were all nothing to the precious and peerlesse comforts of the kingdome of grace but even for an hour I speak the truth in Christ and use no hyperbole the spirit of all comfort and consciences of all true christians bearing me witnesse Hitherto He and I cannot better conclude this discourse then he doth that with a little alteration Be we all entreated with a proportionable zeal and fervency to encline and enlarge our affections to the pursuite and practise of so excellent and glorious a happinesse that God may guide us with his counsell and afterwards receive us to his glory Psal 73. SECT XIII Let the Saints see their dignity and be thankfull LAstly let Gods Jewels be hereby excited to a double duty Use 1. Let them be joyfull in glory let them sing aloud upon their beds Let the high praises of God be in their mouths Jam. 1.9 10 and a two-edged sword be in their hands Psal 149.5 6. Let the brother of low degree rejoyce in that he is exalted to that Christian parity spoken of Colos 3.11 but the rich in that he is made low that is that he is taken off from that high esteem he once had of outward honour and excellency before his conversion whereas now he seeth they are but fading flowers things not worth the while and is therefore called upon here to rejoyce in that true treasure that fellowes him with his poor brother poor in purse but rich in faith before him haply in the best things though far behinde him in worldly wealth and worship The best is that in Gods kingdome money bears no mastery as that Martyr said neither is there respect of persons with God Act. 10. but in every rank and degree of people he that feareth him and worketh righteousnesse is highly accepted in heaven One such shall stand before him to turne away wrath as Abraham and Lot when ten thousand Sodomites shall not be looked upon And this is that that may stay up the heart of a poor despised christian against all the contempts and oppositions of the ungodly God is his gold and his portion for ever Iob 22.25 Neither doth any covetous person so entirely love his gold his god and so set by his hid treasure as God doth by his dear children He will surely see to his own will not every Infidell do as much and makes up his Jewels safe in the golden Cabinet of his gracious providence as he did Noah in the Ark Jeremy in the prison-court Luther in his Pathmos as he called it c. God will one day right their wrongs and clear thir innocency Psal 37.6 bring forth their righteousnesse as the light and their judgements as the noon-day The Church in the Canticles was wounded by the watch-men as an evill-doer judg'd as a dishonest woman whose feet would not abide in her house no not in the night-season they beat her and took away her vail branding her thereby with a note of infamy and disloialty to her Lord Ez. 23 25 as and husband whom she went to look out Cant. 5.7 All which notwithstanding the daughters
shall stop him If Salomon delight to search out the secrets of wisdom what shall be hid from him If Somson delight in Daliance what will h not dare to do for it if Ahashueroh delight in Esther what may not she have of him If the Lord delight in us saith Caleb then be will bring us into this land of giants and give it us As if he hath no delight in me said David behold here I am let him do to me as seemeth good to him But now the Lord doth delight in every David and will shew him yea seal up unto him the sure mercies of day He delights in mercy saith the Prophet yea such a mercy saith the Apostle he rejoyceth against judgement and glories over it as over his adversary whom he hath subdued Hence it was that he erected himself of old not a judgment-seat but a mercy-seat in the midst of his people as one that settled himself to shew them mercy When the Judge sate him down in the gates of Israel it was to do justice Psal 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. When the scorner sits him down in the chair of pestilence he will scoff to some purpose so now that God sits in his mercy-seat he will surely shew mercy with ease yea a multitude of mercies When a man hath setled himself in his seat it 's supposed he is at ease and a small matter shall not raise him God is never more at ease as I may say and better pleased then when he is in his mercy-seat in his throne of grace Hence he is said to rise out of his place Heb. 4.16 to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity Esay 26.21 and to do his work his strange work when he is to do justice Esay 28.21 It is an act neither so proper to him for it is his strange work nor so pleasant to him for he riseth out of his place to do it which is a kinde of diseasement and a pain to him especially from whom mercie flows as freely and as naturally as light from the sun hony from the comb water from the well-spring He quits himself in it as well apaid thereof he rests in his love and will seek no farther Zeph. 3.17 This mercy-seat was the cover of the Ark where the two tables of the Law lay to note the blessednesse of those that receive mercy their iniquity is forgiven their sin is covered Again from this mercy-seate Psal 32.1 scituate not between the Seraphim those flaming executioners of justice Isa 6. but between the Cherubims as ministers of mercy the Lord shewed himself Act. 7. and gave forth the lively oracles as St. Steven stiles them Once he spake from the burning bush or smoaking mountain so terrible that Moses himself said I exceedingly fear and quake This was mount Sina in Arabia But we are come to mount Sion c. Heb. 12.21.22 and upon all the glory now there is a covering or mercy-seat Isa 4.5 The tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them Rev. 21.3 Jerusalem which is from above is now called the throne of the Lord and all nations flock unto it Jer. 3. God puts them among the children of his love and saith to each of his Thou shalt call me my father and shalt not turn away from me Jer. 17.19 Therefore are they before the throne of God answerable to the ancient mercy-seat serving him day and night in his temple Rev. 7.15 Where the Angel of his presence Jesus Christ offers their services powring in of his incense with the prayer of all Saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne Rev. 8.3 And hence it is that the good Lord pardoneth every one that prepareth his heart to seek God 2 Chr. 30.18 19. though he be not clensed according to the purification of the Sanctuary that he winks at small-faults shall I say and spares them as a man spares his own son that serves him nay that he pardoneth iniquity and passeth by transgression or treason he retaineth not his anger for ever seem he never so much displeased and all because mercy pleaseth him which puts the prophet to his patheticall exclamation by way of wonderment Who is a God like unto thee c. SECT III. ANd that is the rise of our second Reason from God Reas 2 who therefore spares his people as a father his childe that they may 1. praise him for present yea for ever Cretae Jovis est imago auribus carens ait Plutarchus Non enim convenit audiri ab eo quenquam qui omnium dominus sit princeps Plut. Mor. Lucianus fingit cancellos in coelo per quos Jupiter certo tempore homines respiciat quo solummodo tempore petentes exaudiantur Psal 48.10 Tollens iniquitatem peccatuÌ„ scelus sic enim exprimitur magnitudo clementiae quod non levibus tantum delictis det veniam sed graviss quibusque sceleribus Calvin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim 1.14 that he may fill their mouths with laughter and their tongues with triumph that they may say among the heathen The Lord hath done great things for them that they may say among the saints Their Rock is not as our Rock our enemies themselves being judges Oh who is God like unto thee â— The Gods of the Nations are idols And we know that an idol is nothing and that of nothing nothing comes of such dung-hill deities no mercy is to be expected they cannot work beyond the sphere of their activity But our God is in the heavens and as the heavens are high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him He is a great God and a great King above all Gods And as himself is great so is his mercy and so also is his glory For according to thy name O Lord so also is thy praise unto the ends of the earth Now what is Gods name Heare it from his own mouth Iehovah Iehovah God mercifull and gracious c. forgiving iniquity transgression and sin that is all sorts of sins though never so heavy never so heinous Naturall pollution actuall transgression stifneckt presumption all sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven to the sons of men saith our Saviour how much more the involuntary slips of the saints their unavoidable infirmities their sins of daily incuâ—sion for which also there is provided a pardon of course it needs no more but suing out It is the glory of a man to pass by a transgression saith Solomon Prov. 19.11 And it makes no lesse for the glory of God that he pardons the iniquity of his people that he multiplyeth pardons as they multiply sins Esay 55.7 that where grace aboundeth then doth grace superabound or abounds to flowing over as the word there signifieth that they cannot commit more then he will remit Surely hereby the power of our Lord appears to be exceeding great and as true as he liveth
seasonable and sweet as when misery weighs down and nothing but mercy turns the scale therefore Judah shall have mercy when Israel shall have none True it is that Judah was not at this time much better then Israel Aholibah then Aholah they were scarce free from Sodomy and many such like foul abominations But what of that if God come with a non obstante as Psal 106.8 Neverthelesse he saved them for his names sake c. who shall gainstand him If he will shew mercy for his names sake what people is there so wicked whom he may not save See Esay 57.47 Ezek. 20.8.14.22.44 Add hereunto that Israel and Syria were confederate against Judah thought to have made but a breakfast of them Isay 7.5 c. but God here promiseth Judah mercy and lets them know to their comfort that there is more mercy for them in heaven then there can be misery in earth or malice in hell against them True it is that even after this gratious promise made to Judah it went very hard with them See 2. Chron. 28.6 there 120000. of them were slâ—in in one battle and 200000. of them carried captive yea and all this by these Israelites here rejected from that mercy that Judah is promised besides abundance more misery that befell them by Edomites Ver. 17. Philistines 18. Assyrians 20. c. Ecclesia hares Crucis saith Luther The Church as she is heire of the promises so is she of the Cross and the promises are alwayes to be understood with condition of the cross The palsy-man in the Gospel healed by our Saviour heard Son be of good cheere thy sins are forgiven thee and yet he was not presently free'd of his disease till after a dispute held with the Pharises which must needs take up some time and the case cleared Jesus said Arise take up thy bed and walk and so shew thy self a sound man But to go on Judah shall be saved and not Israel that envied Judah and maliciously sought their ruine David looketh upon it as a sweet mercy that God had spred him a table in the presence and maugre the malice of his enemies Psal 23.4 Mat. 8.11 And the children of the kingdome so the Jewes are called shall gnash their teeth and be even ready to eat their nailes at the reception of the Gentiles This was it that put the men of Nazareth into an anger and our Saviour into a danger Luk. 4.25.26 By the Lord their God that i by the Lord Christ by Messiah their Prince by the word of the Lord their God saith the Chaldee here that word essentiall John 1.1 that true Zaphnath Paaneach that is Saviour of the world as Hierome interprets it whereof Joseph was but a type This horn of salvation or mighty Saviour able to save them to the uâ—â—ost that come unto God by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 7.25 God raised up for there unworthy Jews and even thrust him upon them whether they would or no Isay 7.13.14 that all might appear to be of free grace Well might God say 〈◊〉 have mercy upon the house of Judah matchlesse mercy indeed mercy that rejoyced against judgement Mans perversness breaketh not off the course of Gods goodness Judah shall be saved by the Lord their God who is Alius from his Father but not Alâ—â— a distinct person not a distinct thing This Angel of Gods presence saved them in hâ— love and in his pitty he redeemed them c. Isay 63.9 even the Angel that had redeemed their father Jacoh from all evill Gen. 48.16 and that soon after this prophesie destroyed so many thousands in Senacheribs army Not by bow ner by battle c. but by his own bare hand immediatly and miracul usly 2. King 19. where we may see that when Senacherib after the example of his father Salmaneser who had captivated the ten tribes came up against Judah having already devoured Jerusalem in his hopes and thinking to cut them off at a blow as if they had all had but one neck they were saved by Jehovah their God the Virgin daughter of Zion knew well the worth and valour of Christ her champion and that made her so confident Esay 37.22 She knew whom she had trusted not with her outward condition onely but with her inward and everlasting with her precious soul saying with David I am thine save me for I haue sought thy precepts Psal 119.94 I will not trust in my bow neither shall mine arme save me but thy right hand and thine arme Psal 44.3.5 and the light of thy countenance for thou hast a favour unto me See the Note on Zach. 4.6 and on 14.3.5 That 's an excellent passage Psal 21.13 Be thou exalted O Lord in thine own strength so will we sing and praise thy power Vers 9. Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah That is after that the patience of God had waited and long looked for their conversion but all in vaâ—ne he resolved upon their utter rejection And first he sent for his love tokens back againe Esa 66.11 he weanes them and takes them off from those breasts of consolation the holy Ordinances deprived them of those dugs better then wine Cant. 1 4. that they had despised carried them far away from that good land that abounded with milk and hony the men of the East should be sent in upon them to eat their fruit and drink their milk Ezek. 25.4 This nation saith a Divine is sick of a spirituall plurisie we begin to surfet on the bread of life the unadulterated milk of Gods word and to spill it Now when God seeth his mercies lying under table 't is just with him to call to the enemy to take away Say not here with those in the Gospell threatned with this judgment Luk. 20.16 God forbid Think it not a thing impossible that England should be thus visited The Sea is not so calme in summer but it may be troubled with a storme the mountain so fâ—me but may be moved with an earthquake We have seen as fair Suns as ours fall from the midst of heaven for our instance Lege historiam ne fias historia Surely except we repent and reforme a little better then we have done yet a removall of our Candlestick a totall eclipse of our Sun may be as certainly foreseen and foretold as if visions and letters were sent us from heaven as once to the seven Churches of Asia who sinned away their light c. And bare a sonne Not a daughter as before but a sonne because under Hosea the last King of Israel that Kingdom began a little to lift up the head and to stand it out against the Assyrian But this was but extremus nisus regni the last sprunting of that dying State For soon after Samaria the chief City was close besiegeâ— and although it held out three whole yeers with a Masculine resolution yet at length it was sacked and all the people of the land
carried captive young and old naked and barefoot even with their buttocks uncovered c. as it is said of their confederates the Egyptians Esay 20.4 and as it shall be done at length to that purple whore of Rome who shall be stript naked broil'd and eaten Revel 17.16 A cold sweat stands already upon her limbs and for a presage of her future ruine it is observed that Rome since it became Papall was never besieged by any but it was taken As for their late Masculine attempts and atchievements if any it is but as here in the Kingdom of Israel a lightning before death as the blaze of a candle a little afore it goes out the bulging of a wall that 's ready to come down or as it was said of Carthage a little afore it was taken Morientium bestiarum violentiores esse morsus dying beasts bite cruelly Verse 9. Call his name Loammi Nomen extremum deploratum saith Pareus the last and most lamentable name of all containing a most heavy but spiritual and therefore lesse sensible punishment viz. an utter abjection and abdication from the covenant from grace from God from life eternall For ye are not my people But being totally cashiered and discovenanted Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me O children of Israel saith the Lord Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt and the Philistims from Caphtor Amos 9.7 and the Syrians from Kir q. d. True it is I have brought you up out of Egypt and therein you greatly glory but have I not done as much as all this for those profane Nations here mentioned with and amongst whom henceforward I shall reckon you for you are no people of mine but discarded and dispeopled Till the Covenant made with Abraham all Nations were suffered to walk in their own wayes as fishes passe at liberty thorow the paths of the Seas Psal 8.8 One person was no more respected then another But as soon as it was said I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee the Church became as fish cast into a Pond for peculiar use and was divided from other Nations Act. 14.16 no otherwise then light was from darknesse in the first creation or then Goshen was from Egypt in that wonderfull separation But here God seems to rescind his own act to cast off the people of his purchase and utterly to disown them as once before he also did when he fathered them upon Moses saying Thy people which thou hast brought out of Egypt c. Exod. 32.7 But this we must know is no other then mutatio rei non Dei effectus non affectus facti non consilij not a change of Gods will but onely of his works For hath God indeed cast away his people God forbid Rom. 11.1 2. God hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew Thus saith the Lord God If heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done saith the Lord. Jer. 31.37 And albeit by an angry Aposiopesis he say here I will not be your God The word God is not in the Original ab irato omittitur saith Mercer yet to shew that he is Bagnal Chemah One that can rule his wrath as Neb. 1.2 he subjoyneth here verse 10. Verse 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel i. e. of the Israel of God those Jews inwardly the Circumcision indeed which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus putting no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3.3 Bern. but saying each for himself as that good Father did Horreo quicquid de meo est ut sim meus All my care is to be found in Christ sc when sought for by the justice of God not having mine own righteousnesse which is of the law Beza but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Phil. 3.9 Lo to such Israelites indeed and of such it is here promised the Lord in Judgement remembring Mercy that they shall be the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbered This was first promised to Abraham and afterwards confirmed with an oath Gen. 22.16 It began to be fulfilled when by the preaching of the Apostles so many of both Jews and Gentiles came in and were converted to the faith of the true Messiah as S. Paul expoundeth this text Rom. 9.24 25. and he had the mind of Christ It shall have its full accomplishment when the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and all Israel shall be saved Rom. 11.26 Then the Church shall be as the stone that smote the Image it shall become a great mountain and fill the whole earth Though the beginning of it be small yet the later end of it shall greatly increase Job 8.7 for all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Christ he shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth Psal 72.8 11 17 Great is the paucity of Gods people for present but let us by the help of this promise get above that stumbling block Cosmographers tell us that if we divide all the known world into thirty parts the Heathens part is as nineteen of this thirty the Mahometans as six the Christians as five only And of those five more then the one half is held by idolatrous Papists But let not this discourage us it will be otherwise one day for the Scripture cannot be broken And although God may seem utterly to have abandoned his ancient people the Jews the ten Tribes especially yet they as well as the rest shall be vouchsafed this honour to be called to the participation of Christ Ezek. 37.16 19. Jer. 3 12 13 c. Esay 11.12 13. Obad. 20. Zach. 10.6 Rom. 11.26 If God after so dreadful a threatning come in with his non-obstante as he doth likewise Psal 106.8 and elsewhere and say yet the number of the children of Israel shall be c. who shall gain say him Their interpretation is too narrow that understand this text of the increase of this people in all their dispersions until the time of their conversion And that of Rabbi Ezra is pretty though not proper that as the sand keeps the waves of the sea from breaking in and drowning the world so doth Israel preserve man-kind from perishing by the waves of Gods wrath It should have been considered by him and the rest of those refractary Rabbines that at that general conversion of the Jews here plainly foretold there shall be some stubborn spirits that will not even then stoop to Christ but will be filled with envy as those cankered Pharisees their fore-fathers were Acts 13.44 45. to see almost the whole City come together to hear Christ Yea they will be ready to say as John 12.19 perceive ye how ye
or fear of enemies to indulge his sister the Lady Mary Act. Mon. to have Masse said in her house The truth is those Ammi's and Ruhamah's that have found mercy from God they have their hearts so fired up thereby with a holy zeal for him that they cannot endure to see him dishonoured but must appear and plead for him against any in the world Again as any one is more assured of his own salvation by Christ the more he thirsteth after the salvation of others as we see evidently in Saint Paul that vessell of mercy I am perswaded saith He or I am sure that neither life nor death c. shall ever separate me from Gods love in Christ And what followes in the very next words but this I say the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy Ghost Rom. 8.38 39. Rom. 9.1 2 3 4. That I have great heaviness and continuall sorrow in my heart For I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites c. And how effectually and convincingly he pleadeth with them to draw them to Christ and hold them close to him that golden Epistle to the Hebrewes will well witness to the worlds end For she is not my wife For I have put her away by a bill of divorcement Isai 50.1 with a Habe tibi quae tua sunt which was the form of divorce among the Romanes Take thine own things and be gone Now the Jewish Synagogue had nothing she could properly call her own but sin and misery when God first took her she had not a rag to her back Ezek. 16.10 nor any kind of comeliness But what he was pleased to put upon her verse 14. But she foolish woman and unwise Deut. 32.5 trusting in her borrowed beauty plaid the harlot poured out her fornication on every one that passed by his it was verse 15. The Synagogue of Rome is such another meretrix meretricissima quae gremium claudit nemini as her own sons say of her by way of commendation Saint John calleth her the whore the great whore Rev. 17.1.15 and further telleth us that she sitteth upon her paramours in a base manner in an unseemly sort she sitteth upon their very consciences and keepes them under by force whereas Stephen King of Polony one of her sons but not altogether so obsequious was wont to say that God had required three things to himself sc ex nihilo aliquid facere scire futura dominari velle conscientijs that is to make something of nothing to know things to come and to bear rule over mens consciences How she forceth men to commit folly with her by the cruell Inquisition and how she hireth others for preferments Luther was offered a Cardinalship Bessarion of Nice was won over to her by such an offer Val. Max. Christian pag. 289. Thomas Saranzius was of a poor Shoomakers son made Bishop Cardinall and Pope all in one year and called Nicolas the fifth Alsted Chr. Pag. 378. the like might be said of Aeneas Sylvins Canon of Trent afterwards Pope Pius the second and for a price too is notoriously known to the Christian world Stratagem nunc est Pontificium ditare multos ut pijesse desinant John Baptist Gelli Dialog 5. saith a good Author It is one of the Popes Stratagems to enrich men that he may oblige them to himself and bring them into his own vassallage In divers towns of Germany as at Ausburgh c. there was a known allowance by the year for such Lutherans as would become Papists Thus this whore of Rome imitateth Her in the text of whom it is elsewhere complained Ezek. 16.33 They give gifts to all whores and so buy repentance at too dear a rate but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers and hirest them that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom Yea thou hast plaid the harlot with them Nolo tanti poenitentiam emere Dem. and yet couldst not be satisfied vers 28. It was but time therefore that God should cast her off as now no wife of his but an adulteresse of the Devil as she shewed her self notably in the Trent-Conventicle Jer. 3.3 where with a whores forehead that refused to be ashamed she not onely established by a Law their abominable Idolatry but also set forth that Heathenish decree whereby she equalleth at least the Apocrypha to the holy Canon the Vulgar puddle to the Hebrew and Greek fountains unwritten verities and traditions to the sacred Scriptures and further addeth that the holy Ghost himself is not to be hearkened unto speak he never so plainly and expressely D. Prid. Lect. nisi accedat meretricis purpuratae effâ—ons interpretatio unlesse she may have the interpreting of his meaning according to her way O monstruous impudency deserving a divorce True it is that God hateth putting away Mal. 2.16 and Isa 50.1 he tells these Jewes that he had not given their mother a bill of divorcement ut solent morosi et crudeles mariti as cruell and fâ—oâ— and husbands use to do for every light offence But what he had done this way he was meerely compell'd to it as not able to wink any longer at theiâ— flagiâ—ious practises Hear his own words Thus saith the Lord where is the bill of your mothers divorcement whom I have put away or which of my creditours is to whom I have sold you Behold for your iniquities you sold your selves and for your transgressions is your mother put away And yet not so far put away neither but that if she repent she may be received again and that 's no small mercy See Jer. 3.1 They say If a man put away his wife and she go from him and become another mans shall he return unto her again shall not that land be greatly polluted but thou hast plaid the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord. Lo God is above Law and his mercy is matchless he will do that for his people that none else in like case would ever be drawn to do Mic. 7.10 Who is a God like unto thee saith the Prophet by way of admiration David never came near his concubines more after that Absalom had gone in to them and Achitophel judged that act would be such an injury as David would never put up and therefore gave that pernicious counsell But Gods thoughts are not as mans thoughts neither are our wayes his wayes c. Of mercy and multiplied-pardons Isai 55.8.9 But as the heavens are higher then the earth so are his wayes higher then our ways and his thoughts then our thoughts We are not to mature things according to our own modell and to have as low thoughts of God and his goodness as those Miscreants once had of his power when they demanded Can God prepare a table for us in the
people which were such as they could not help Heb. 9.7 but there ignorance being affected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was an high degree of ingratitude and impudence and a very great aggravation of their sin it made it to be sin with an accent wickedness with a witness Israel was herein worse then the Ox and the Asse that knowes his owner and his masters crib Isai 1.3 they fell below the stirrop of reason nay of sense Hence God so stomacketh the matter both there and here Non semel hoc peccatum carpit saith Mercer he cannot satisfie himself in saying how much it troubled him to be thus unkindly ungratefully and unreasonably dealt withall it runneth in his thoughts his heart is grieved at it and he must vent himself And when he hath told his grief and aggravated his wrong yet he hath not done with it but is upon it again and again still convincing upbraiding charging Israel for their foul and inexcusable unfaithfulness and unthankfulness Eandem sententiam quia sancta et necessaria est repetit saith Oecolampadius here he repeates over the same he had said before out of the trouble of his spirit and that they might once lay it to heart and be humbled that I gave her corn and wine and oil c. A great deal more then she reckons upon v. 5 and yet payes her rent there to a wrong Landlord too God is well content that we have the benefit and comfort of his creatures so he may have the praise this is all the rent he lookes for and this he indents with us for Psal 50.15 the Saints also knowing his mind promise it him and bind themselves to it as did Jacob Gen. 28.20 21. David Psal 51.14 For they know that ingratitude forfeits all as in this text She would not know Hieron in locum but I le make her know ut qui ex copia datorem non senserunt sentiant ex penuria for she shall fast another while and go naked c. like as the Merchants non-payment of customs may prove the utter losse of all his commodities Hence their first care to see God in all as Moses often urgeth this people in Deuteronomie to tast the superabundant sweetness of God in the sweetness of the creatures to look upon all as swimming towards them in the blood of Christ as being a piece of his purchase and this exceedingly sweetneth all their comforts God give thee the dew of heaven saith Isaac to his son Jacob Gen. 27.28 Profane Esau likewise had the like but not with a God give thee neither cared he how he had it so he had it any way but it is otherwise with the Saints See but the difference in these two brethren long after this Gen. 33.9.11 Esau as a mere naturall man contenting himself like a bruit beast made and taken to be destroyed with a naturall use of the creature cryes out I have enough my brother keep that thou hast to thy self But mark how Jacob delivers himself in another manner Take I pray thee my blessing that is brought to thee because God hath dealt graciously with me and because I have enough See a like difference between the rich fools Habes multa Thou hast much goods laid up for many years Luke 12.19 and Davids doxology 1 Chron. 29.13.16 O Lord our God all this store cometh of thine hand and is all thine own And to the same purpose speaks Eliezer Gen. 24.35 The Lord hath given my master flocks herds silver gold c. and Job chap. 1.21 The neglect of this observing of God and ascribing all to him is the source of much sin in the world and the mother of much mischief Jer. 2.5 God chargeth his people that they were gone far from him and had made his heritage an abomination vers 7. and why but because they did not say Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the Land of Egypt c. vers 6. Were men but sensible of what God doth for them every day and hour they could not in equity and common ingenuity serve him as they do He preserveth and provideth for us all layes us down and takes us up gives us all things richly to enjoy commanding the best of his creatures to cater for us Hos 2.21 and to bring us in the best of the best for our subsistence Psal 8. Every good gift temporall and perfect giving spirituall and eternall cometh from the Father of lights as naturally and as constantly as light doth from the Sun or water from the Seal Jam. 1.17 Let us therefore imitate those Lights of heaven and rivers of the earth do all the good we can with those good things God hath given us corn wine silver gold c. and then reflect back toward and return all the glory and praise unto the Sun of our righteousness and Sea of our salvation The beams of the Moon and Stars return as far back to glorifie the face of the Sun which gave them their beauty as they can possibly Let us semblably ever send back to Gods own glorious self the honour of all his gifts by a fruitfull improvement of them and fresh songs of praise Let the streams of Gods daily bounty lead us as the water-course doth either upward to the spring or downward to the main Ocean to the source and Fountain whence they flow Let the returns we make be from God of God to God from him as the Efficient of him as the Material and to him as the finall cause David joyneth these three together Psal 86.4 5. And Paul Rom. 11. ult In fine let us labour to be like the full ears of corn that hang down the head toward the earth their originall Or if any be so graciously exalted so freely favoured above his fellowes that his stalk is so stiffe that it beareth him up above the rest of his ridge let him look up to heaven not in thoughts of pride but humble vowes of thankfulness Be not as horse and mule that drink of the brook but never think of the spring or as swine that haunch up the mast but never look up to the tree or as the barren earth that swallowes the seed but returnes nothing to the sower c. which they have prepared for Baal Or wherewith they have made Baal lavishing gold out of the bag and weighing silver in the ballance they hired a gold smith and he made it a God they fall down yea they worship Esay 46 6. This Baal was a special Idol of the Zidonians but first of the Chaldees who called him Bel the Carginians Bal whence those compositions Hannibal Hasdrubal as amongst the Babylonians Belteshazzar Mehetabel c. Varro though a Heathen inveighes much against idols and images and saith Errorem auxerunt metum dempserunt that they that first brought them increased errour and took away fear Plutarch saith it is sacriledge to worship by images c. It is thought they
came first from Babylon For Ninus having made an image of his father Belus this Baal in the text all that came to see it were pardoned for all their offences whence in time that image came to be woâ—shippâ—d A great promoter of this kind of Idolatry in Israel was Ahab in favour of his wife Jezebel and to ingratiate with her kindred 1 King 16.31 and this was the ruine of his house This Baal was by the Zidonians called Jupiter Thalassius or their sea Jupiter and is thought to be their chief God They had their Dij minorum gentium petty gods called in scripture the host of heaven the queen of heaven and a little further in this chapter Baalim the Greeks called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which saith Plato are certain middle-powers or messengers betwixt God and man to carry up prayers and bring down blessings c. Quam autem haec damonum theologia conveniat cum sanctorum et Angelorum cultu apud pseudochristianos res ipsa loquitur Mede in Apoc. pag. 115. saith learned Master Mede How this doctrine of devils or heathen-deities agreeth with Saint-worship Melch. Ad. de Germ. Theol. pag. 815. and Angel-worship among he Papists is easie to be discerned A great stumbling it is to both Jewes and Turkes who know it to be contrary to the first commandment and image-worship to the second Whence the Turkes will not endure any images Lib. 4. no not upon their coynes And Paulus Jovius tells us when Sultan Solyman had taken Buda in Hungary he would not enter into the chief Temple of that city to give praise to Almighty God for the victory till all the images were first down and thrust out of the place We read also of a certain Turkish Embassadour who being demanded why the Turkes did not turn Christians he answered because the Christian Religion is against sense and reason for they worship those things that are of lesse power then themselves and the works of their own hands as these in the text that made them Baal yea as if God had hired them to be wicked they made it of the very gold and silver which he had given them though for a better purpose And this was horrible wickedness hatefull ingratitude This was to sue God with his own mony to fight against him with his own weapons as David did against Goliath as Jehu did against Jehoram and as Benhadad did against Ahab with that life that he had lately given him Zâ—naras in Annal. I read of a monster who that very night that his Prince pardoned and preferred him slew him and raigned in his stead This was Michael Balbus and he is and shall be infamous for it to all posterity Ingratitude is a monster in nature Lycurgus made no law against it quod prodigiosa res esset benesicium non rependere To render good for evil is Divine good for good is humane evil for evil is brutish but evil for good is devilish And yet alasâ—e how ordinary an evil is this amongst us to abuse to Gods great dishonour our health wealth wit prosperity plenty peace friends means day night corn wine silver gold all comforts and creatures our times our talents yea the holy Scriptures the Gospel of grace and our golden opportunities the offers of mercy and motions of the spirit turning our backs upon those blessed and bleeding embracements and pursuing our lusts those idols of our hearts those Baals that is Deut. 32.5 Lords and husbands that have us at their beck and check But is this faire dealing Do we thus requite the Lord foolish and unwise as we are Holy Ezra thinks there is so much unthankfulnesse and dis-ingenuity in such an entertainment of mercy that heaven and earth would be ashamed of it Ezra 9.13 Should we do so saith He oh God forbid us any such wickednesse Others render it which they have sacrificed or dedicated to Baal for Idolaters spare for no cost Dum Deum alienum dotant as some render that text Psal 16.4 whiles they give their goods not to the Saints as David that are on the earth but to another God They lavish gold out of the bag as we read of a certain King of this land who laid out as much as the whole crown revenues came to in a yeare upon one costly crucifix and of another that left by will a very great sum of mony for the transporting of his heart to be buried in the holy land as they called it How profuse papists are in decking their mawmets and monuments of idolatry is better known then that it needeth here to be spoken of Their Lady of Loretto that Queen of heaven as they call her stilo veteri hath her Churches so stuffed with vowed presents and memories Sands his Relat. as they are faine to hang their Cloisters and Churchyards with them Verse 9. Therefore will I returne i. e. I will alter my course change my stand change the way of mine administrations deale otherwise with them then yet I have done they shall bear their iniquities and know my breach of promise as Num. 14.34 they shall know the worth of mine abused mercyes by the want of them another while I will go and returne to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their affliction they will seek me early Hos 5.15 Finally I will cut them short of alimony and hold them to straight allowance Hos 7.14 and then I shall be sure to heare them howling upon their beds for corne and wine as dogs do that are tied up and cannot come at their meat And take away my corn and my wine those precious fruits of the earth as S. James calleth them James 5.7 the product of Gods great care from years end to years end Deut. 11.12 without which the earth could not yield her increase neither would there be a veine for the silver a mine for the gold iron taken out of the earth or brass molten out of the stone Job 28.3 All that we have is his in true account and he is the great Proprietary Mat. 20.15 who onely can say as he in the gospel May not I do what I will with mine own And what should he sooner and rather do then take away meate from his childe that marrs it If fulnesse breed forgetfulnesse as the fed hawk forgets his master and as the full Moon gets furthest off from the Sun so men when they have all things at the full forget God and wickedly depart from him what can he do lesse then forget them that so they may remember themselves and make fat Ieshurun look with leane cheeks that they may leave kicking Deut. 32.15 Isay 26.9 and learne righteousnesse Neither doth God do this till greatly provoked till there is a cause for it Therefore I will returne He may well say as that Roman Emperour did when he was to pronounce sentence of death Non nisi coactus I
horse-leech Give give and may fitly be compared to the ravens of Arabia that full-gorged have a tunable sweet voice but empty they screech horribly Corpus opes animum famam vim lumina Scortum Debilitat perdit necat aufert tripit orbat Idolatry also is no lesse costly witnesse this harlots habit verse 13. and the purple whore of Rome with all her trinckets and those masses of money that she drains out of many parts of Christendome for the support of her state Muscipulata res Otto one of her Mice-catchers as the story calleth him sent hither into England by Gregory the ninth after three years raking together of money for pardons and other palterments at last departing he left not so much money in the whole Kingdome as he either carried with him or sent to Rome before him What will not men part with to purchase heaven Bellarm. Now they perswaded the poor people and still they do that good works and what so good as to gratifie the Pope with great summes were mercatura regni coelestas the price to be given for heaven Idolaters are all Merit-mongers they will have heaven as a purchase they lay claim to it as wages for their work They say with that wretched Monk Redde mihi aeternam vitam quam debes Luke 15. Give me eternal life which thou owest me Give me the portion that belongeth to me God forbid saith another Papist that we should enjoy heaven as of meer alms to us On the other side the godly disclaim their own merits beg hard for mercy expect a recompence of reward from him but all of free-grace accounting all that they can do for God but a little of that much that is due to him and that they could well beteem him they do all righteousnesse but rest in none they know that Gods kingdom is partum non paratum that their reward is the reward of inheritance and not of acquisition and that if they could do any thing this way yet would it be mercy in God to reward every one according to his work Psalm 61.12 and I will make them a forrest See this more fully set forth Isai 5.5 6. Such is the hatred God beareth to sinne that he makes bloody wailes as it were upon the backs of the insensible creatures for mans sake A fruitfull land turneth he into barrennesse for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein Psal 107.34 Thus he dealt by Sodom which was once as Egypt yea as Eden but is now a place of nettles and salt-pits By Iudea that once Lumen totius orbis now laid desolate as Babylon where Strabo saith their Barley yeelded three hundred-fold increase and their Palm-tree three hundred and sixty severall sorts of commodities as bread honey wine vineger c. but what devastation befell it by the Modes see Esay 13.19 c. It were easie to instance in the seven Churches of Asia the Palatinate and other parts of Germany in Ireland and now Scotland and what may England look for Shall we altogether passe unpunished Shall we still sit safe under our vines and fig-trees and not be forrested and by those wilde beasts of the field devoured Sure it is that no beast of the field doth shew it self more raging or ravenous then do the wicked when God suffers or rather sends them to break into his vineyard Witnesse those breathing devils the Irish Rebels more cruel then any Cannibals Cursed be their wrath for it was cruel transcendentâ—y so extending it self both to the living and the dead Vrsi non saeviunt in cadavera but these bears Psal 58.4 boars Psal 80.13 lions leopards c. did rage against dead carcasses and tore them with their teeth Histories tell us that the first founders of Rome were nourished by a Wolf Certain it is that the off-spring of that people have the hearts of Wolves being savage and cruel above measure Their citie was first founded in blood and so was the Papacy for the foundation of that See was laid when Phocas slew his liege Lord and Emperour Mauricius whom he stewed in his own blood Whence the Poet wittily Suffocas Phoca imperium stabilisque Papatum The habit of that harlot is according to her heart purple and scarlet and her diet is the diet of the Cannibals Rev. 17.6 I saw her drunken with the blood of the Saints They are wholly bloody both in their positions and dispositions their plots and practises The Pope is said to be a Leopard or Panther with his feet like a Bear and his head like a Lion Revel 13.2 See the Note there And of their S. Dominick the father of the Dominicans it is reported that when his mother was with childe of him she dreamed that she brought forth a Wolf with a fire-brand in his mouth and he prooved accordingly Ezek. 21.31 Habac. 1.2 3. a bruitish man skilfull to destroy to devour the man more righteous then himself by his bloody inquisitors I pray that God would deliver his turtle from these savage creatures that he would cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land Ezek. 34.25 that the beasts of the land may no more devour them vers 28. Verse 13. And I will visit upon her the dayes of Baalim That is I will punish the sins committed in those dayes wherein they went after those multitudes of Heathenish gods 30000. In Theog In Georg. lib. 1. of them Hesiod reckons up in his days And Servius upon Virgil telles us that for fear of offending any of them they used to close up their petitions with Dijque Deaeque omnes All ye gods goddesses c. Some of the Hebrews by Baalim understand Dominos domuum the Lords of the houses for the planets are said to have thir houses Oecolampadius understands it of those Idols which they worshipped under the name of the Stars called elswhere the Queen of heaven or the heavenly constellations Others by Baal conceive to be meant their chief God called also by them Baal-samen or the Lord of Heaven by Baalim their under-gods mediozuma numina inter mortales caelicolasque vectores This was Plato's Demonogy See the Note above upon verse 8. of this chapter Saint Paul is thought to have been well read in Plato's writings his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1.6 is verbùm Platoineum and to have alluded to him in that passage 1 Cor. 8.5 6. Though there be that are called Baalim signifieth Lords whether in heaven or in earth as there be gods many and lords many but to us there is but one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ that is but one Mediatour betwixt God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who indeed in regard of his humane nature is inferiour to the Father but yet such a Lord by whom are all things and we by him The Papists acknowledge but one God but they have many Baalims many Lords and Mediatours both of intercession and of Redemption too But
Christ and forthwith thou shalt see him play Phineas part And again if Satan should summon us saith he to answer for our sinnes or debts in that the wife is no sutable person but the husband we may well bid him enter his action against our husband Christ and he will make him a sufficient answer Thus Mr. Bradford in a certain letter of his unto a friend In righteousnesse and in judgement in loving kindnesse c. These are the gems of that ring that Christ bestoweth upon his Spouse saith Mercer These are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or love-tokens that Christ the Bridegroom giveth to his Bride the Church saith Tarnonius Here he promiseth to performe to her and to work in her all those offices and requisites due from married couples in that estate the one to the other God will both justifie her by the imputation or Chriâ—â—s righteousnesse and sanctifie her by the spirit of judgement that is or sanctification See John 16.10 11. Matth. 12.20 and the Note there And because the best have their frailties and although they be vessels of honour yet are they but earthen vessels and have their flawes their cracks therefore it is added I have betrothed thee unto me in loving-kindnesse and in mercies q. d. My heart and wayes towards you shall be full of gentlenesse and sweetnesse without moâ—osity or harshnesse My loving-kindnesse shall be great Neh. 9.17 marvellous great Psal 31.21 Excellent Psal 36.7 Everlasting Esay 54.8 Mercifull Psal 117.2 Multitudes of loving-kindnesse Psal 36.5 Esay 63.7 as for my mercies or bowels of compassion towards you they are incomprehensible as having all the dimensions Ephes 3.18 Thy mercy O God reacheth unto the heavens there 's the height of it Great is thy mercy towards me and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowermost hell there is the depth of his mercy Psal 86.13 The earth is full of thy goodnesse there is the breadth of it All the ends of the earth have seen thy salvation there is the length of it O pray to see that blessed sight Ephes 1.18 and 3.18 that beholding as in a glasse this glory of the Lord shining bright in his Attributes you may be transformed into the same image 2 Cor. 3.18 from glory to glory and as in water face answereth to face as lead answereth the mould as tally answereth tally Indenture indenture so may we resemble and expresse the Lord our Husband in righteousnesse holinesse loving-kindnesse tender mercies and faithfulnesse that as the woman is the image and glory of the man so may we be of Christ For our encouragement it must be remembred that the Covenant that Christ maketh with us is a double Covenant to performe his part as well as ours to make us such as he requiretâ— us to be in all holy conversation and godlinesse for which end also we have a â—uplicaâ— of his Law written in our hearts Jer. 31.33 a law in our mind answerable to the law of his mouth Rom. 7.23 In a word he graciously undertaketh 〈…〉 parts therefore is the Covenant everlasting and the fruits of it are sure merâ—â— compassions that fail not In foedere novo nihil potest incidere quo miniss sit â—â—â—raum quum non sit ei adjecta conditio saith Mercer upon this Text that is In the new Covenant there can nothing fall out whereby it should not be everlasting sith there is no condition required on our part That faith or faithfulnosse mentioned in the next verse God requireth not as a mutual restipulation of our part as works were in the old covenant But here it is rather a declaration of his pleasure what he would have us to do and whereto he will enable us It is not a condition to endanger the Covenant but an assurance that he will give us strength to keep it Verse 20. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulnesse Tremellius Drusius and Tarnonius render it in fide in faith and interpret it of de fide vera et salvifica of that true justifying faith whereby we are united to Christ And for this they urge the next words as an Exposition of these And they shall shall know the Lord alledging some other texts of Scripture wherein saving knowledge is put for justifying faith as Esay 53.11 Jer. 31.33 Job 17.3 The Septuagint also render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tarnou in exer cit Biblic See Master Dugards treatise called The change Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the New Testament is oft used for saving and growing faith Tit. 1.1 Col. 2.1 and 3 10. which indeed is the bond of the spirituall marriage and is it self nothing else but a fiduciall assent presupposing knowledge For man is a rationall creature faith a prudent thing comprehending in it self these three acts 1 knowledge in the understanding 2. Assent or rather Consent in the Will 3. Trust or confidence in the heart certainty of Adherence if not of Evidence The Papists fasten faith in the will as in the adaequate subject that they may the mean while do what they will with the understanding and the heart To which purpose they exclude all knowledge detest Trust in Christs promises expunging the very name of it every where by their Indices Expurgatorij A blind belief as the Church beleeves is as much as they require of their misled and muzzled Proselytes Bellarmine saith that faith may far better be defined by ignorance then by knowledge But how shall men beleeve on him of whom they have not heard Let us leave to the Papists their implicit faith and their blind obedience and cry after Christ as that poor man did Lord that mine eyes might be opened and that I may know the Lord yea grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ These things have I written unto you saith Saint John to those that were no Babyes or Zanyes in faith or knowledge that beleeve on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternall life and that ye may yet more beleeve in the Son of God 1 John 5.13 David though he had proceeded further in the discovery of Divine truthes then those before him Psal 119.99 yet he was still to seek of that which might be known ver 96. Even as those great discoverers of the new-found lands in America were wont to confesse at their return that there was still a Plus-ultra more yet to be discovered Vers 21. And it shall come to passe in that day In that time of grace and reconciliation fitly set forth by the name of a day in regard of 1 Revelation 2 Adornation 3 Consolation 4 Distinction 5 Speedy Preterition I will hear saith the Lord of Hosts that is I that have the command of both the upper and nether springs and forces Sun Moon Stars c. Deut. 4.9 those storehouses of Gods good treasure which he openeth to our profit Deut. 28.12 and therehence makes a
scatter of riches upon the earth by their influence I that stop and unstop those bottles of the skie the clouds which there hang and move though waightie with their own burden I that make the earth to bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and meat to the eater Esay 55.10 c. I will hear the heavens Heb. I will answer that is I will so hear as that I will answer so will not great ones sometimes or if they do yet the poor man speakes supplications but the rich answereth him roughly Solyman 2 The grand Signior when many thousands of his poor Christian subjects Prov. 18.23 to be eased of their heavie taxations fell down before him and offered to turn Mahumetans rejected their conversion and doubled their taxations God hath here a great sort of suppliants Blunts voyage 111. Hom. The Poets fam that Litae or Supplications are alwayes about Jupiter the heaven the earth the corn c. and he heareth and speedeth them all Never any humble petitioner went sad out of his presence Never said he to the house of Israel Seek ye me in vain The Heathen-idols may do so but He scorns it Are their any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain or can the heavens give showers Surely they cannot till God have heard and answered them Jer. 14.22 The genealogie of rain of corn and wine is here resolved into Jehovah and he promiseth to endow his beloved Spouse with them as part though the least part of her joynture All are yours for you are Christs 1 Cor. 3.23 In marrying with the heir you have right to All. Here is omnium rerum ubertas ob Deisemen Christum saith Hier. plenty of all things for Christs sake who where ever he comes cometh with a Cornucopia a horn of salvation besides a largesse of outward comforts This was very necessary doctrine at all times to be taught in the Church lest pressed with miseries men should faint in their minds Christ knowes we have need of these things also and therefore not only bids us pray but promiseth to give us our daily bread by a concatenation of causes by a ladder of providences which the Heathens called Destiny but the Saints call it the harmony of the world agallant description whereof we have Ezâ— 1. far different from the Stoikes Fate or the doctrine of Plato and Aristotle and other of the worlds wizzards concerning the divine providence which they either denied or imbased and they shall hear the earth which being chapt and scorcht seemeth to sollicite showers and fattening influences by an elegant Prosopopoeia as if these insensible creatures understood what they did when men are once in covenant with God all the creatures will be serviceable to them yea greedy to do them good they wil even cry for it Vinum pendulum i.e. vuas Verse 22. And the earth shall hear That is shall bear great store of corn wine and oil new and fresh oil the word signifies newly exprest clear and shining such as is called golden oil Deut. 28.14 Zech. 4. Gods dear children shall have the best of the best Esay 55. Even the kidneyes of wheat or whatsoever dainties the earth can afford them They shall suck honey out of the Rock or if it be but water yet it shall be to them as sweet as hony because therein they taste and see the Lords goodnesse and they have meat to eat that the world wots not of and they shall hear Jezreel that is they shall answer the pains and prayers of Gods people who are here called Jezreel still though the Septuagint â—ead it Israel not to upbraid them with their former wickedness and calamities thereby procured which yet was the first reason of that name given them Ch. 1. but rather to set forth the riches of his grace imparted to such a graceless people And withall to shew that nothing could hinder them from partaking of those covenant-mercies and that happy communion with God whereto they were now restored This very name of theirs once their shame should now turn to their glory Oâ— Jezreel scattered by God which is one signification of the name they should become Jezreel a seed of God which is another that they might comfort themselves with the hope of Christ the promised seed and know that their posteritie should not to degenerate into Gentility but that many of them should embrace Christ and inherite the promises as did Araunah the Jebusite who became a samous Proselyte Zack 9.7 see the Note there and as Jether the Ismaelite 1 Chron. 7.17 〈…〉 saith and religion called an Israelite 2 Sam. 17.25 and as Christ â—â—â—â—eth himself 〈◊〉 of Nazareth as a title of honour which was once cast upon him as a reproach Verse 23. And I will sow her unto me in the earth Not in the â—ir as once when they were scattered into the four winds of heaven but in the earth which the heavens should hear verse 21. the inhabitants whereof should â—â— multipâ—â—ed and become as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbred Chap. 1.10 See the Note there and Jer. 31.27 Ezek. 36.37 The Preaching of the Gospel iâ— a kind of sowing of seed Psal 129.7 1 Pet. 1.23 and this seeding is in the earth that they may be gathered into heaven where the mower shall fill his hand and he that bindeth sheaves his bosom And although Gods eâ—ect lie here for a time under the cloâ—s yet at length they shal fructifie and many spring from them by whom the name of Christ shall be so propagated He shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Esay 53.10 and I will have mercy upon her Her unhappy name Lorubamah shall be done away and the contrary come in place Lo this is as it were the collogue of the Sermon and it is very comfortable The Sun of righteousness loves not to set in a cloud Gracious is the Lord and righteous yea our God is mercifull Be it that he is once righteous yet he is both gracious and mercifull for it Psal 116.5 The Jewes for their seventie years captivity in Babylon had seven seventies of yeers set forth by Daniels weeks granted for the enjoying of their own country Gods mercie bear the same proportion to his punishments when he hath to deal with his elect people which seven a complete number hath to an unity This promise here made the Apostle testifieth Rom. 9.25 to be begun to be fulfilled in his time by the conversion of some Jewes and calling of some Gentiles The full accomplishment thereof we daily expect and pray for and I will say to them that is I will make them so as when he said to Lazarus come forth of the grave he brought him forth together with his word there went forth a power and they shall say Dicere nstrum est fides et
obedientia nostra saith Pareus here we say thus when we beleeve and obey There shall be restored therefore between God and his people a most sweet harmony and an intimate conjunction such as he had before described to be betwixt himself and all the second causes for his Churches sake And truly it is never will with us indeed till the heavens answer the earth till Christ the Sun of righteousness so shine into our hearts that we melt and comply as here and as Zach. 13 9. See the Note CHAP. III. Verse 1. THen said the Lord unto me Go yet c. This Yet is emphaticall and it is as if he had said Go over the same subject again in a shorter discourse and lay before them the same truthes but in more lively colours that the obstinate may be left without excuse and the penitent may not be left without comfort Iterum abi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go to them once more and be instant with them or stand over them as Saint Paul saith 2 Tim. 4.2 and as Saint Paul doth in crying down the Jewes conceit of being justified by the works of the law and in disgracing the sin of fornication so common at Corinth Chrysostom at Antioch having preached sundry Sermons against swearing was at length asked when he would preach upon another subject He answered when you leave swearing I le leave preaching against swearing Austin would have a preacher so long to pursue and presse the same point De Doct. Christian. Deut. 6.7 Shanan et Shanah repetere sicut in acuende untill by the gesture and countenance of the hearers he perceive thaâ—â—hey understand it and will practise it This is to whet the word of God upon peâ—â—le as Moses his phrase is by going oft over the same thing as the knife doth thâ— whet-stone A like type to the former is here first propounded secondly expounded that at length it might fasten A preacher must not desist though at first he prevail not as some from this second injunction collect that this Prophet would have done but he must turn himself into all shapes and fashions both of speech and of spirit to win people to God with all long suffering and doctrine 2 Tim. 4.2 And this the Lord here teacheth Hosea to do by his own example of patience and tolerance notably set forth in this ensuing type Love a woman beloved of her friend yet an adulteresse This was an harder task then to take her chap. 1.2 in hope she would prove honest But now that she hath plaid the adulteresse and so deserved to be discarded yet to love her yea and that when she is habituated and hardened in her lewd practises as the Hebrew word signifieth Durus est hic sermâ— who can bear it If none else can Nontam actum quam habitum significat Rivet yet God both can and will as appeareth by this whole Parable wherein the Prophet is commanded to represent God as in the former type Chap. 1. and by loving that wife which he had taken before though she had plaid false with him to shew what was the love of God toward Israel She forsaketh me saith He who give her all the good she either hath or hopeth for and followeth after those that put bottles of wine to her mouth she loves those flagons c. Ah sinfull nation a people laden with iniquity c. howbeit I will not relinquish her but will love her freely as if she had never offended me O matchless mercy O concio plena consolationis Mercer O most comfortable Sermon God so loved the world the Mundus immundus that he gave his onely begotten Son c. This was a Sic withouta Sicut there being nothing in nature that can possibly parallel it See Rom. 5.8 God loveth Apostates idolaters adulterers yet not as such but as he intendeth and respecteth their conversion to himself which nothing will sooner effect then the sense of such an undeserved love I am not ignorant that another sense is set upon these words as thus Go yet love a woman not married as yet but espoused unto thee who may hereafter be thy wife but is for her adultery rejected for a long season so God loved the Israelites as an adulterous spouse and therefore for a long while neglected but yet at length to be taken by him to wife according to Chap. 2.15.19 Beloved of her friend sc of some paramour as Jer. 3.1 thou hast played the harlot with many lovers These the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow-friends the whore was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so they flattered their own vices putting gilded names on them as our blades name drunkenness good-fellowship harlots she-sinners c. The Septuagint render it a woman that loveth naughty things or naughty packs But I like the former interpretation better and it is agreeable to the Chaldee Paraphrast Who look to other gods Look and lust ut vidi ut perij the mind lodgeth in the eye and looketh out at that window of wickednesse If I beheld the Sunne when it shined Job 31.26 27. or the Moon walking in brightnesse And my heart hath been secretly enticed or my mouth hath kissed my hand c. Job alludeth to the practise of those old Idolaters which was to kisse their Idols if they could reach them as 1 King 19.18 Cicero tels of the image of Hercules cujus mentum osculis adorantium attritum fuit and the Papists so kisse their pictures that hard Marble is worn with it Spec. Europ saith Sir Edwin Sands an eye-witnesse But when they could not come at the Idol to kisse it they looked up and kissed their hand in token of homage and this was called adoration Quast applicatio manus ados This looking to other gods imports a turning toward them Se Deut. 31.18 20. a loving them a longing after them and an expectation of some good from them No wonder therefore that such whorish hankerings and honings were offensive to the jealous and just God but the unjust knoweth no shame Zeph. 3.5 men are forbidden so much as to lift up their eyes to their Idols Psal 121.1 Ezek. 23.27 And shall I lift up mine eyes unto the hills saith David as some read that Text as if from thence came my help Absit Christs Spouse hath a Doves chast eye and he would have her like that Persian Lady Cant. 4. who being at Cyrus his Wedding and asked how she liked the Bride-groom How saith she I know not I saw no body there but my husband and love flagons of wine See Judg. 9.27 Amos 2.8 Bechive of Rome Luxury is the ordinary companion of Idolatry as Exod. 32.6.1 Cor. 10.7 Rovel 18.13 14. O monachi vestri stomachi c. At Paris and Lovain the beshin vine is called Vinum Theologicum the Divinity-wine it is also called Vinum Cos â—we caloris odoris saporis optims Those Clergy-Locusts lick up
spake right there was trembling and none durst budge against him but when he offended in Baal he died Hos 13.1 then every paltry adversary trampled upon him as a dead man Sanet in Zech. 8.13 Heyl. Georg. 370. then every scurrilous Poet could insult over him and cry Credat Judaeus Appela Non ego then every common Turk could by way of execration say Judaeus sim si fallo and in detestation of a thing I would I might die a Jew then a dispersed and despised people they are none more under the cope of heaven partly for their former Idolatry but principally for their rejecting of Christ crucified whom they cannot but in their consciences know to be the Shiloh that should come sith the scepter is so longe since departed from Judah and a Law-giver from between his feet Gen. 49.10 That for their sins which are many say the Talmudists he yet hides himself in the caverns and secret places of the earth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a simple pretence or rather a subtlety of Satan to hold them still in blindnesse till God unseale their eyes till when things that are never so clere will not be beleeved Verse 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return They shall come out of the furnace more refined then ever By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away her sin when he maketh all the stones of the Altar as chalk-stones that are beaten in sunder the groves and images shall not stand up Esay 27.9 then indeed hath Jacob the right fruit of his sufferings when he makes all the stones of the Alter as chalk-stones crumbling them to crattle when he puls down the groves and images those Balaams-blocks that lay in his way to God and now resolves to return and seek the Lord from whom they had deeply revolted to seek his face and favour to seek his ordinances true worship lastly to seek to know do what is well-pleasing in his sight Their hearts shall rejoyce that thus seek the Lord these are true converts indeed these are those sekers Psal 24.6 yea this is Jacob as there Jsraelites indeed such as cannot be whereever they are cast without God in the world without Christ Jer. 30.9 Ezek. 34.24 1 King 12.6 who is here called David by a Patronymick as also elso where no without allusion to the Apostasy of the ten tribes from the house of David so from the true God which now also they shall bewail as the root of their sin ruine and David their King Call'd by Daniel Messiah the Prince Dan. 9. Act. 3. and by Peter Christ the Lord. See Luk. 1.32 Some think he is here called the goodnesse of God They shall fear the Lord and his goodnesse which also is his glory Pavehunt ad Dominum Exod. 33.19 The Hebrew is they shall feare to the Lord trepidabunt that is trembling they shall make hast to him as frighted doves do to their columbaries See Hos 11.11 they shall kiss the Son with a kiss of homage and with reverentiall feare submit to he kingdome CHAP. IV. Verse 1. Heare the word of the Lord This is the beginning of a new Sermon or judiciall act of God against the ten tribes which are here convented convinced sentenced It begins with an Oyes like that of St. Paul Act. 13.16 Men of Israel and ye that feare God if any such be in so generall a defection give audience Ye have heard Gods mind before parabolically delivered and in types now heare it in plaine tearmes Heb. 12.25 that you may see and understand and be converted and I may heale you Heare and your souls shall live Heare him that speaketh from heaven even that excellent speaker as he is calld Dan. 10. that Arch-prophet whom ye are bound to heare Deut. 18.18 Mat. 17.5 upon paine of death Heb. 12.25 the Lord Christ I mean who speaketh with Authority and is mighty in word and deed Act. 10. He it was whom Isaiah saw upon his throne and heard speaking Job 12.41 And it is a Rule in Divinity that where the old Testament bringeth in God appearing and speaking to the Patriarches Jer. 13.18 Prophets and people it is to be understood of the second person Hear therefore and give ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken it Am. 3.7 The Lion hath roared who will not fear The Lord God hath spoken who can but hear and fear humble and tremble ye children of Israel But oh how altogether unlike your father Even as unlike Ezek. 34.27 as Jehoachim that degenerate plant was to his father Josiah that plant of renown His heart melted when he heard the law 2 Chron. 34. but Jehoiachim cut it with a penknife and cast into the fire Jer. 35.23 These were Israels children and named the house of Jacob as those in Micah chap. 2.7 but an empty title yeelds but an empty comfort at last Is the spirit of the Lord straitened saith the Prophet there were these Jacobs doings Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly were you Israelites indeed I should not thus lose my sweet words upon you but you would incline your ears and come unto me Esay 55.3 1 King 14.6 hear as for life it self especially since I am sent unto you as once Ahâ—jah was to Jeroboams wife with heavy tidings with such a Citation or processe from heaven as may well be unto you as Samuâ—ls message was to Eli that made both his ears to tingle or as the hand writing was to Balthasar that made his knees knock together For the Lord hath a controversie with the inhabitants of the Land The former title children of Israel was too good for them they had disgraced their fathers family and were therefore Reuben-like fallen from their dignity They shall henceforth be called the inhabitants of the Land as the wicked are called Revelation 12.12 in opposition to the heavens and those that dwell therein the Burgesses of the new Jerusalem Abraham had seed of two sorts some were as the dust of the earth Gen. 13.16 others as the Stars of heaven Gen. 15â—5 And all are not Israel that are of Israel Rom. 9.6 Multi sacerdotes et pauci sacerdotes saith Chrysostome There are many Ministers and yet but few many in name but few indeed workmen that need not be ashamed Nomen inane crimen immane It was cold comfort to Dives in flames that Abraham called him Son or to Judas that Christ called him Friend or to these rebellious Jewes that God sometimes called them his people and had rooted out the cursed Canaanites to make room for them when as they lived in Gods good Land but not by Gods good Lawâ—â— for which cause the Lord hath here a controversie with them a suit at law and being himself both plaintiffe and Judge Mals fidei possessores he is sure to cast them yea
gapes for him where he shall rue it among reprobates Well he may flourish a while and feel no hurt as Saul did not of many years after his rejection and as the Pharisees after Christ had said of them Let them alone they are blind leaders of the blind Mat. 15. But they shall pine swelter away in their iniquities Lev. 26.39 which is the last of those dismall plagues there threatened they shall not be purged till Gods wrath hath rested upon them Ezek. 24.13 so that now they may go and serve every one his idols sith they have such a mind to it Ezek. 20.39 and sith they have made a match with mischief they may take their belly-full of it Oh let us feare lest this should be any of our cases that God should say let him alone he is resolved of his way and I of mine he will have his swinge in sin and I am bent to have my full blow at him I am fully perswaded saith a Reverend man now with God that in these dayes of grace the Lord is much more quick and peremptory in rejecting men then heretofore the time is shorter neither will he wait so long as he used to do See for ground of this Heb. 2.3 God is oft quick in the offer of his mercy Go and preach the Gospel saith Christ Go and be quick tell men what to trust to that as fooles they may not be semper victuri ever about to be better but never begin to set seriously to work He that beleeveth shall be saved he that beleeveth not shall be damned I shall not longer dally with him Destruction cometh and they shall seek peace and there shall be none Mischief shall come upon mischief and rumour upon rumour then shall they seek a vision of the Prophet but the law shall perish from the Priest and counsel from the ancient c. Ezek. 7.25.26 when men are even dropping into hell and have an hell afore-hand in their consciences then they 'le send hastily for the minister as they did in the sweating-sicknesse here so long as the ferventnesse of the plague lasted Then the Ministers were sought for in every corner you must come to my Lord you must come to my Lady c. But what if God have said of such a one Let him alone as he reproved Samuel for mourning for Saul and as he forbad Jeremy to pray for the Jewes and his Apostles to take care for the Pharisees Oh how dreadfull is that mans condition and what can a Minister say more then what the king of Israel said to the woman that complained to him of the scarcity of Samaria If the Lord help thee not 2 King 6.27 whence shall I help thee out of the barne-floore or out of the winepresse If any dram of comfort be applied to a wicked man the truth of God is falsified and that Minister will be reckoned amongst the devils dirt-dawbers upholsters Ezek. 13.18 that dawb with untemper'd morter sow pillowes under mens elbowes Let such alone therefore and let God alone to deale with them Verse 18. Their drink is sowre That is they are past grace and it is now past time a day to do them good for thou seest how the matter mends with them even as sowre alemends in summer and how they even stink above ground as Psal 14.2 Vina probantur odore colore sapore c. but their wine hath neither good colour smell nor favour or tast it 's dead and gone and they are as trees twice dead and rotten Jude and therefore pulled up by the roots such as the Latines call vappae that is past the best and now good for nothing See Esay 1.22 what life or sweetnesse can be in Apostates yea how sowre and unsavoury to such are all fleshly comforts They use to drink away their terrours and drive away their melancholy dumps with merry company But will that hold what are such plasters better then the devils Anodynes then his whistle to call men off from better practises there is a cup in the hands of the Lord it is full of mixture but extreme sowre and the very dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them up Psal 75.8 though it be eternity to the bottom they have committed whoredome continually Here they are taxed for whoredome as before for drunkennesse so some carry it and afterwards for covetousnesse This is that flagitiorum triga whereby the Prophet perswadeth Judah to shake off Israel as not fit to be conversed with He had charged them before with fornication of both sorts here he sheweth how unwearied they were in their wickednesse and withall how intense for fornicando fornicati sunt they have done wickedly as they could they have eeked out their idolatries and adulteries and though wearied and even wasted with the multitude of their wickednesses yet they have not given over but are unsatisfiable and would sin in perpetuum as that filthy fornicatour who said he would desire no other heaven but to live for ever on earth and to be carried from one brothel-house to another She hath wearied her self with lies and yet her great scum went not forth out of her Therefore shall it be in the fire Ezek 24.12 Therefore shall gracelesse wretches be tormented for ever because they would sin for ever and therefore suffer all extreamity Mic. 7. because they do wickedly with both hands earnestly wofully wasting the marrow of their time the flower of their age the strength of their bodies the vigour of their spirits in the persuit of their lusts in the froth and filth whereof is bred that worme that never dieth which is nothing else but the furious reflection of the soul upon its own once wilfull folly and now wofull misery her rulers with shame do love Give ye Her shields o shamefull do love Give ye where there is in the originall an elegant Agnomination that cannot be englished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ahabhu hibhu Dilexerunt Afferte not Afferre as the Vulgar corruptly readeth it The Dorick dialect the horsleaches language Give Give they are perfectly skilled in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gift-greedinesse is all their delight like the ravens of Arabia that full gorged have a tuneable sweet record but empty screech horribly Plerique offictarij saith One Very many rulers do as Plutarch reporteth of Stratocles and Dromoclites a couple of corrupt officers Plutarch in politic qui sese mutuo ad messem auream invitare solebant who were wont to invite one another to the golden harvest thereby meaning the Court and the judgment-seate These follow the administration of justice as a trade onely with an unquenchable and unconscionable desire of gaine which iustifieth the common resemblance of the Courts of iustice to the Bush whereunto while the sheep flieth for defence in weather he is sure to lose part of his fleece Now are these Sheilds are they not
for the recovery of his lost wits The Grand Sign Serag pag. 186. he stretcht out his hand with scorners He that is the king forgetting his kingly dignity authority and gravity for there is a decorum to be observed in every calling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but by great ones especially stretcht out his hand as a companion and copesmate as an hail-fellow-well-met as they say prostituting his regal authority to every scoundrel that would pledge him or at least giving them his hand to kisse which Job saith God will not do Chap. 8.20 with scorners Those worst of men Psal 1.1 those Pests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint here render it those incorrigible persons as they translate the word Prov. 20.1 where also it is fitly said that wine is a mocker because it maketh men mockers Hence that of David with hypocriticall mockers at feasts they gnashed upon me with their teeth Psal 35.16 And that holy jealousie of Job for his children lest while they were feasting and merry-making they should curse God or mock at men Tarnou Tales enim evadunt qui strenuè helluantur It is ordinary with such as are full gorged with good chear and throughly heated with wine to set their mouths against heaven and to license their tongues to walk through the earth Psal 73.9 they have a flout to fling and a fooles bolt to shoot at their betters by many degrees yea though they be kings that do it as here if they stretch out their hands with scorners and jear at the power and profession of Godlinesse they are no better then base fellowes as great Antiochus is called Dan. 11.21 and as Kimchi upon this text noteth from his Father that those that at the beginning of the feast or compotation were here called Princes are afterwards when they fell to quaffing and flowting called in contempt scoffers scorners Polanus others by stretching out the hand understand ad aequales haustus potare c. a drinking share and share like with every base companion till drunk they became despicable Nempe vbi neque mens neque pes suumfacit officium The Greeks when they meet at feasts or banquets drink small draughts at first which by degrees they increase till they come to the height of intemperancy Hence Graecari and as merry as a Greek How much better those Spartans of whom the Poet Quinetiam Spartae mos est laudabilis ille Vt bibat arbitrio pocula quisque suo How much better the Persians in Esthers time Chap. 1.8 the drinking was according to the law none did compel c. And what a drunken beast was Domitius the father of Nero Sueton. who slew Liberius an honest Roman because he refused to take up his cups as he commanded him The Carthag inians made a law that none of their Magistrates during their office should drink any wine Romulus being invited to a feast would not drink much Gell. lib. 11. cap. 14. quia postridie negotium haberet because he had publike businesse to dispatch on the morrow Ahashuerosh drinking more freely on the first day of the feast Esth 1.5 10. became so frollick that in his mirth he forgat what was convenient and guided by his passions sent for Vasthi Vers 6. For they have made ready their hearts like an oven As an oven red hot is ready to bake whatsoever is cast into it so are wicked mens hearts heated from hell Ad male cogitandum Pagnin ad pessima facinora Tigur prepared for any evil purpose or practise that the devil shall suggest but especially to lie in wait for blood and to hunt every man his brother with a net Mic. 7.2 David complains of some that lay in wait for his soul Psal 59.3 that satanically hated him Psal 38.20 and 7.13 and 109.4 6 20 29. that sought his soul to destroy it not his life onely but his soul too as that monster of Millain did that made his adversary first forswear Christ in hope of life and then stabbing him to the heart said Bodin de Rep. Now go thy wayes soul and body to the devil and as the Papists dealt by John Husse and Hierome of Prague to whom they denied a confessour which he required after the manner of those times to fit him for heaven and for John Husse Act. Mon. after they had burnt him how despitefully did they beat his heart which was left untoucht by the fire with their staves Besides that the Bishops when they put the tripple crown of paper painted with ugly devils on it on his head they said Now we commit thy soul to the devil Did not these mens hearts burn like an oven with hellish rage and cruelty their baker sleepeth all the night Concoquens illa scilicet corda so Vatablus He that concocteth or worketh their hearts that is the devil as some interpret it or evil-concupiscence as others Tota nocte protrahitur furor eorum so the Chaldee their rage is deferred or drawn out to the length all night long till in the morning i. e. at a convenient season it break out and bestirs it self A metaphor from a baker who casting fire into the oven with good store of lasting fuel lets it burn all night and sleeps securely as knowing that he shall find it through hot in the morning Those scorners in the former verse by being over-familiar with their drunken king come not onely to slight him for his base behaviours but also to conspire against him and to plot his death wherein their heart is the oven ambition the fire treason the flame of that fire Satan that old manslayer the baker who though he make as if he slept all night yet by morning he hath set his agents the traitours awork either by secret treacheries or open seditions to do as in the next verse and as is to be seen 2 Kin. 15. Vers 7. Dedit hac contagio labem Et dabit in plures Juven Sat. 2. They are all hot as an oven That none might post it off to others all are accused of this mad desire to do mischief as all the Sodomites full and whole young and old came cluttering about Lots house Gen. 19.4 and have devoured their Judges all their Kings are fallen c. Scil. being slain with the sword of those that succeeded them in the throne as may be read 2 Kin. 15.8 9 c. and as it was in the Roman State where all or most of the Cesars till Constantine died unnatural deaths Neither was it much better here in England during the difference between the two houses of York and Lancaster wherein were slain fourscore Princes of the blood-royal Dan. hist 249. This is the fruit of sin Prov. 28.2 For the transgression of a land many are the Princes thereof either many at once as once here in the heptarchy or many ejecting and succeeding one another to the great calamity and utter undoing of
the best of the best and that we serve him like himself that is after a godly soâ—t or worthy of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Iohn phraseth it 3 Ioh. 6. Thus if we do we shall be drawn up to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and have cause to rejoyce in our sublimity or in that we are exalted Iam. 1.9 For indeed the most High stoopeth to the true convert who considering his distance repents and abhors himself in dust and ashes he dwelleth in the highest heavens and lowest hearts Job 42.5 Esa 57.17 They are like a deceitful bow a rotten bow though otherwise fair when an arrow is drawn to the head breaks and deceives the archer Or thus when a man shoots with a deceitful bow though he level his eye and his arrow directly to the mark and thinks with himself to hit it yet indeed the arrow by reason of his deceitfull bow goes a clean contrary way yea and sometimes reflects upon the archer himself semblably these false Israelites dealt with God Their hearts were as the bow their purposes and promises to return as arrows the mark they aimed at conversion to the which they in their afflictions looked with so accurate and intent an eye as though they would repent indeed but their hearts deceived them as being unsound hence they started aside like a deceitful bow Psal 78.57 and the arrowes of their fair promises and pretences vanished in the aire as smoak Some take the words in another sense as if punishment and disappointment were here threatned but I best like the former Let us look to the secret warpings of our hearts and seeing we are Gods bow Zach. 9.13 let us not be deceitful c. Their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue and the people with them for princes fall not alone as we have seen in our late wars wherein Lords and Losels fel together not a few at Newbury-fight especially 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sword devoureth one as well as the other 2 Sam. 11.25 God hangs up the heads of the people as it were in gibbets Num. 25.4 their greatnesse cannot bear them out Thrasonicae aulicorum Dej erationes ronchi blasphemiae in Deum Prophetas Rivet Philip of Spain Farnesius Minerius nor their life-guards defend them for the detestation of their tongue so some read this text for the hatred that God beareth to them for their blasphemies and great swelling words of vanity uttered against him his people and his ordinances With our tongue say they we will prevaile our lips are our own who is Lord over us Lo this and worse is the rage of their tongue as his that said he would not leave one Lutheran in his dominions another that he would ride his horse up to the saddle in the blood of the Lutherans a third that he would send them all to dine with the devil c. God will cut off the spirit of such outragious Princes They shall fall by the sword they shall be a portion for foxes Psal 63.10 and a derision to the Egyptians this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt their confederates in whom they trusted and upon whose help bearing themselves over-bold they had spoken loftily setting their mouthes against heaven and their tongues walked thorow the earth Ps 73.9 Lo these should not onely faile them but jear them not onely not succour them but scorn them as the Monarch of Morocco did our King John that sent to him for help in the Barons wars He grew into such dislike of our king saith the story that ever after he abhorred the mention of him Neither met he with better entertainment from the Pope to whom he basely submitted and surrendred his kingdome It is better to trust in the Lord then to put confidence in Princes For Deo confisi nunquam confusi they that trust in the Lord shall never be ashamed CHAP. VIII Vers 1. SEt the trumpet to thy mouth Heb. The trumpet to thy palate A hasty expression an abrupt and imperfect speech common with such as are moved with passions of anger grief or fear as Chap. 5.8 after thee O Benjamin God though not subject to such perturbations Iam. 1.17 yet here and elsewhere utters himself in this sort to set forth the nearnesse of the peoples danger by the enemies approach and the necessity of their return to him by true repentance for the diversion of his displeasure Break off thy sinnes by righteousnesse saith the Prophet to Nebuchadnezzar be abrupt in the work cut the cartropes of vamty if it may be a lengthning of thy tranquillity Dan. 4.27 Take the bark from the tree and the sap can never find the way to the boughes get sin remitted and punishment shall be removed In this sermon of the Prophet which is much sharper then the former and may seem to be one of the last because God is so absolute in threatning as if he meant to be resolute in punishing there is as one saith peccatorum poenarum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an heaping together of sins and punishments of many sorts and the prophet is commanded to give suddain warning of the enemy at hand which is elegantly set forth by a military hypotyposis or lively representation as if it were now a doing The trumpet to thy mouth that is set up thy note and proclaim with a loud and clear voyce as Esay 58.1 crie in the throat so the Chaldee hath it here spare not that none may say he was not warned lift up thy voyce like a trumpet that all may hear and fear Am. 3.6 as people use to do when an ala m is sounded or the bels are rung backward See chap. 5.8 There they had been before alarmed here reminded in brief for the prophet is as it were monosyllabus as one in haste he uttereth amputatas sententias verba ante expectatum cadentia as Seneca somewhere hath it broken sentences concise but pithy periods he shall come as an Egle against the house of the Lord He that is the Assyrian not Nebuchadnezzar though the like is said of him Ezech. 17.3.7 Much lesse the Romans as Lyra interpreteth this text of the last destruction of Jerusalem because the Eagle was their Ensign but Pul Tiglath-Pileser and Salmanaser who came against the ten Tribes as an Eagle to waste spoil and carry captive speedily 2 King 15.19 29. 17.3 c. 18.19 Lam. 4.19 Plin. lib. 10.3 impetuously irresistibly as Ierem. 4.19 The Eagle is the strongest and swiftest of birds and feareth no obstacle either from other fowl or winde or thunderbolt as Plinie affirmeth Nebuchadnezzar is not onely compared to an Eagle as before is noted but to a Lion with Eagles-wings Dan. 7.4 that is with invincible armies that march with incredible swiftnesse And all this was long since forethreatned Deut. 28.49 The Lord shall bring a Nation against thee from farre from the end
51.34 yea Iehojakim himself though a King was no better used Ier. 22.18 and Moab that haughty nation Ier. 48.38 In which sence Moâ—b shall be my washpot saith David Psal 60.10 that is brought into most abject slavery as your scullions or scavengers they shall lie among the pots Psal 68.13 not onely to make pots for the king of Babylons use as those servile souls the base brood of their degenerated forefathers 1 Chron. 4.23 Matulam praebere but also to hold pots or empty pots and vessels of dishonour that they might know a difference betwixt Gods service which is all clean and fair work 2 Tim. 2.21 fit for a vessell of honour an elect vessell elect and precious sanctified and fit for the masters use and the service of their enemies base and beastly such as is beneath the excellency of an ingenuous man such as the Turks at this day put the Jews to and the Spaniards the poor Indians Verse 9. For they are gone up to Assyria a wilde asse alone by himself This was that that most moved the Lord to denounce and determine hard and heavy things against Israel they had suspicious thoughts of God as if he either could not or would not do for them and help them out as the Assyrian though an enemy would This prank of theirs God uttereth here with as great indignation and dislike as old Iacob did his sonne Reubâ—ns incest when he said He went up to my couch The Lord is as jealous of his glory as any man can be of his wife neither will he give it to another Esay 42.8 he admits not of any corrivall in heaven or earth as Potiphars wife was his own peculiar Now God is no way more glorified by us then when we put our trust in his love and faithfulnesse and expect from him safety here and salvation hereafter For in so doing we set him up for our king Iudg. 9.15 and put the crown royall upon his head Cant. 3.11 As in doing otherwise we turn his glory into shame loving vanity seeking after leasing Psal 4.2 Hence that angry expostulation Ier. 2.36 Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way How dost think to mend thy self by running to the creature as if there were no God in Israel thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt as thou wast ashamed of Assyria Yea thou shalt go forth from him and thine hands upon thine head after the manner of mourners 2 Sam. 13.19 for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences and thou shalt not prosper in them a wilde asse alone by himself Foolish and fierce above measure untameable and untractable loving to be alone and so becomes a prey to the lion Lib. 8. cap. 40. as saith Siracides chap. 13. verse 21. Pliny speaketh much of the wilde asse and his properties and Interpreters on this Text bring many reasons why Israel is compared to him Israel is as stupid and as mad as the wilde asse saith Lyra. He is all for himself saith Iunius he casteth off Gods yoak saith Tremellius he is a contemptible creature saith Kimchi he walks where he lists as masterlesse saith the Chaldee hee seeketh water in the wildernesse but hardly findeth it so doth Israel help of the cruell enemies and hath it not saith Oecolampadius he taketh a great deal of pains for his belly saith Mercer he cannot be tamed and made serviceable saith Gesner He is left alone by God to be carried captive by the Assyrian saith Ribera The Scripture describeth the nature of this creature in many places Gen. 16.12 Iob 6.5 11.12 24.5 39.8 Psal 104.11 Esay 32.14 Ier. 2.23 14.6 Dan. 5.21 Ephraim hath hired lovers This is the second similitude taken from a most libidinous harlot See the like basenesse in Judah Ezek. 16.33 They were so mad upon their idols and creature-confidences that they were at no small charge for them they lavished money out of the bag and laid on Jer. 5.38 as if they should never see an end of their wealth They sent great gifts and summes of money to the Assyrians and Egyptians and leaned upon them as their champions they hired loves as the Hebrew here hath it But love as it cannot well be counterfeited a man may paint fire but he cannot paint heat so it cannot at all be hired or purchased Those that go about it shall finde loathing for love and be scorned of those mercenaries which are seldome either satisfied or sure Verse 10. Yea though they have hired among the nations The uncircumcised strangers to the promises and aliens from the common-wealth of Israel that they should so far distrust God and debase themselves as to seek help of such this went neer to the heart of God and was very grievous They brought up an evil report upon Gods house-keeping charged him with unfaithfulnesse to his people whom he now seemed to leave in the lurch to shift for themselves in their straits and hardened his enemies in their wicked but yet more prosperous condition Foelix scelus virtus vocatur Cic. de divin lib. 2. How would these Heathens hugge themselves in the conceit that Israel should do thus who was Gods portion Deut. 32.9 the dearly beloved of his soul Jer. 12.7 of whom it was anciently sund and commonly said among the Heathen The Lord hath done great things for them Psal 126.2 Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord the shield of thy help and who is the sword of thine excellency and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee and thou shalt tread upon their high-places Deut. 33.29 Whosoever was free of the city of Rome might not accept of any freedome in another city for that they counted a dishonour to Rome And will not God take it in ill part from his covenanters to seek or make after correspondency with his enemies and safety by them The help of the wicked Ecclesiae sunt tandem perniciosa semper perfidiosa are the best perfidious and at length pernicious to the Church now will I gather them This the Chaldee and the Vulgar make to be a promise of bringing back their captivity when indeed it is a commination of carrying them into captivity I will gather them that is either the enemies against Israel or else Israel for the enemies ut eos acervatim perdam that I may lay them heaps upon heaps and gather them as dead corps slain in battle are gathered together for buriall Or I will gather them to the end that I may disperse them And they shall sorrow a little And but a little now for the burden of the king of princes for the taxes and tributes exacted from them by the king of Assyria whose Nobles were Princes 2 King 18.24 Esay 10. See 2 King 15.19 29. But all this is but a little it is but the beginning of sorrows it is but small drops fore-running the great storm or as a crack fore-running the
then his Benefactour as 1 Sam. 12.6 the Lord made Moses and Aaron i. e. he advanced them to that honour in his Church So our Saviour is said to have made twelve when he ordained them to the Apostleship Mar. 3.14 And the Apostle saith of Israel that God exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt Acts 13.17 sc to the priviledge of his peculiar people the possession of the promised land the custody of his Oracles and services c. besides the many benefits and deliverances wrought for them All which they are said to have forgotten 1. Because they laid them not to heart see Esay 57.11 they saw not God in them 2. Because their lives were not answerable they walked not worthy of such a God but said in effect We are delivered to do all these abominations Jer. 7.10 God challengeth remembrance and well he may Eccles 12.1 for he hath created us for his glory Esay 43.7 he hath formed us yea he hath made us as it followeth there and all that we might remember him the word made is used for a degree of grace after creation Those that are his workmanship his attificiall facture created in Christ Jesus who is the beginning of this creation of God Rev. 3.14 unto good works Ephes 2.10 if ever they should forget God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the character of a wicked man Psal 50.22 if they should forsake God that made them and lightly esteem the Rock of their salvation as Solomon did the Lord that had appeared unto him twice if they should not prefer him above their chief joy Deut. 32.15 or make him ascent above the head of their joy as the Hebrew hath it Psal 137.6 and set him over all as Pharaoh did Joseph causing Sun moon and starres to do obeysance to him I mean all their naturall morall temporall and spirituall abilities to bee subject and serviceable to him he would have an unanswerable action against them and both heaven and earth would have cause to blush at their disingenuity and unthankfulnesse Let it ever be remembred that of all things God cannot abide to be forgotten and buildeth temples To God no doubt and yet because they worshipped him not in his own way they are said to have forgotten him So do Papists in all their structures vowed presents and memories as they call them In king Stevens time here notwithstanding all the miseries of warre there were more Abbeys built then in an hundred years before But who required those things at their hands Christus opera nostra non tam actibus quam finibus pensat Zanch. Now the end why those Temples and Monasteries were built appears in stories to be pro remissione redemptione peccatorum pro remedio liberatione animae pro amore coelestis patriae in honorem gloriosae Virginis in eleemosynam animae c. for remission of sins Acts Mon. pag. 1077. redemption of souls honour of the Virgin Mary and other superstitious ends and uses and Iudah hath multiplied fenced cities As thinking thereby to fence themselves against Gods wrath to mott themselves up against his fire that had burnt up the ten tribes and threatened them Strong cities and munitions may be lawfully built but then their foundations must not be laid upon fire-works If sin be at the bottom as the voice from heaven is said to have told Phocas though they build as high as heaven Niceph. it will not do Babylons thick wals and large provisions could not secure her from the enemy Samaria held out for two or three yeers but was surprized at last by the Assyrian so was Jerusalem by the Babylonians and then by the Romanes Esay 22.8 9 10 c. great fault is found with this people for their war-like preparations with neglects of God vers 11. and of deep and down-right humiliation vers 12 13 14. The name of the Lord is the strongest tower Prov. 18.10 But cursed is he that maketh flesh his arm that trusteth in men though never so great or means though never so likely Jer. 17.5 those were never true to those that trusted them The Jebusites were beaten out of their fort though they presumed it impregnable The men of Shechem were fired out Judg. 9.49 so shall Judah be for I will send a fire upon his cities and it shall devour the palaces thereof The enemy did this but not without the Lord who cannot bâ—ook it that men should thrust in palaces and strong-holds and as Luthyer well observeth in this whole chapter is fully set forth whence it is that strong Palaces and flourishing kingdoms come to nought it is because men believe not in God but trust to their own strength Deut. 28.52 they fortifie themselves against an enemy but do not parifie God displeasure who is himself a devouring fire and can quickly quash all our forces and confute our confidences CHAP. IX Vers 1. REjoyce not O Israel for joy as other people Not as good people for they have reason to rejoyce and are called to it in both Testaments joy is the just mans portion but thou art naught all over thou hast gone a whoring from thy God who will shortly meet thee as a bear robbed of her whelpes or as the jealous hu band doth his adulteresse Again not as other bad people for they may revel rejoyce indeed they cannot and be merry after a sort rejoyce they may in the face as the Apostle phraseth it and from the teeth outward some kind of frothy and flashy mirth they may have and let them make them merry with it 't is all they are like to have but so mayest not thou because thou hast had warning sufficient and hast known thy masters will but not done it yea thou hast done that abominable thing that other nations never yet did Jer. 2.11.12 thou hast changed thy God for those that are no gods thou hast forsaken the fountain and run to the cistern c. which is such a prodigious wickednesse as the very heavens are astonished at and are horribly afraid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Grac. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to dance a galliard yea desolate mourning and as it were melting at this horrid act Shall the heavens mourn and wilt thou rejoyce yea fetch a frisk or dance a galliard for joy as the word signifies what if other nations do so when they have got the better of their enemies or gathered in their harvest Es 9.4 or otherwise have all things go well with them yet revolted Israel had no such cause unlesse they were upon better tearms with God Say that this were the time when Joash beat Benhadad thrice over and recovered the cities of Israel 2 Kin. 13.15 Or say it was when he took Amaziah and brought all the spoyle of Jerusalem to Samaria Chap. 14.13 2 Chron. 28. or else when Pekah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day and
long with mens evil manners yet he beareth them as a burden whereof he desireth to be eased Esay 1.24 as a servitude whereof he desireth to be freed Esay 43.24 as a pain not inferiour to that of a travelling woman and albeit he bite in his pains as it were for a time yet hear him what he saith Esay 42.14 I have long time holden my peace I have been still and refrained my self now will I cry like a travailing woman I will destroy and devour at once and the people shall be gathered against them God can bring in his armies at his pleasure for all creatures are at his beck and check If he do but look out at the windows of heaven and cry Who is on my side who all creatures in heaven and earth will presently present their service he never need want a weapon to chastise his rebels Câ— Pempei If he but stamp with his foot as that proud Roman said he can have men enough How ready are the Assyrians here to be the rod in his hand When they shall bind themselves in their two furrowes i. e. I will bring their enemies upon them and they shall yoke them like oxen that are yoked to plow yea they shall bring them into such servitude that they shall make them do double work plow in their two furrows be they never so weary of doing one The enemies shall not be moved to pity the poor Israelites when tired with hard labour but shall make them plow like beasts giving them no rest till they have even wearied and worn them out This is Polanus his interpretation who further admonisheth us as oft as we behold or think upon the yoking of oxen for the plow Polan in loc that wee likewise bethink us of the miserable condition of such poor Christians as are slaves to Turks and Tartats and other enemies who binde them indeed in their two furrows It is not so long since here amongst us diverse of Gods dear servants were driven from Ciceter and other places taken by the enemy naked and barefoot as the Egyptians were by the Assyrians Esay 20.4 thorow thick and thin to Oxford-Gaole c. where by the cruelty of their keepers many of them lost their precious lives to the incredible grief of their dear relations Neither can I here passe by Tillies cruelty at Magdeburgh in Germany where after twenty thousand persons at least put to the sword and the Town burned down his souldiers committed all manner of ravages Mr. Clark in the life of the K. of Swed all the countrey over Ladies Gentlewomen and others like beasts they yoaked and coupled together leading them into the woods to ravish them and such as resisted they stripped naked whipt them cropt their ears and so sent them home again The Irish cruelties unnameable might here be instanced O quam duram O quam tristem serviunt illi servitutem See Mr. Clarks relation The words may be read They shall binde them together Verse 11. And Ephraim is an heifer that is taught sc With the Ox-goad which hath its name from teaching Judg. 3.31 because therewith Oxen are taught to plow Malmad saith R. David Ephraim was a bullock unaccustomed to the yoak Jer. 31.18 but God brought her to it and taught her though at first a backsliding heifer chap. 4.16 see the the Note there taught her as Gedeon taught the men of Succoth with briers and thorns of the wildernesse so that they paid dear for their learning Judg. 8.16 But Ephraim though taught it loveth not plowing work because hard and hungry She loveth rather to tread out the corn where she may dance and frisk in the loft straw without either yoak or muzzle Deut. 25.4 As we thresh so it was their manner to tread out their hard corn with the feet of beasts or by them to draw Wains over it and so get it out of the husk Now this was fair and free work and Ephraim delighted in it the rather because she might feed all the while at pleasure whereas those heifers that plowed wrought hard all day and in all weathers without any refreshment It is an ill signe when men must pick and choose their work this they will do for God but not that A dispensatory conscience is a naughty conscience neither doth he Gods will but his own that doth no more or no other then himself will Such holy-day-servants such retainers God careth not for Every one can swim in a warm Bath and every bird will sing in a summers day Iudas will bear the crosse so he may bear the bag And those carnall Capernaites follow Christ whiles he feeds them as children will say their prayers so they may have their breakfast But Abraham will forsake all to follow God though he knew not whither yea though God seemed to go crosse-wayes as when he promised him a land slowing wich milk and honey and yet as soon as he came there he found famine Gen. 12.1 10. So when he promised him seed as the stars yet kept him without child for twenty years after and after that hee must kill him too Gen. 22. So Iob will trust in a killing God Ionah calls upon him out of the deep David keeps his statutes when God had in some degree forsaken him Psal 119.8 and behaved himself wisely in a perfect way though God was not yet come unto him Psal 101.2 This is the triall of a Christian to do difficult duties upon little or no incouragement to wrestle as Jacob did in the night and alone and when God was leaving him and upon one leg c. This is work-man-like The staff-rings were to continue upon the Ark the Kohathites shoulders felt wherefore and so long God helped them to carry it But when they once fell to carting it for their own ease 1 Chro. 15.26 as the Philistines had done 1 Sam. 6. God made a dismall breach upon them 2 Sam. 6. and David was very sensible of it when he came up the second time to fetch the Ark 1 Chron. 15.12 13. but I passed over upon her fair neck God will make her both bear and draw though she were grown delicate and tender with long prosperity her good and fair and fat neck not galled or brawned with the yoak which now she made dainty of yet He would bring her to it though he were by her untractablenesse forced to sit upon her neck and make her more towardly to the yoak as the manner of plowmen was in that case I will make Ephraim to ride Or as the Vulgar hath it I will ride him and rule him though he kick and lay about him never so much though he champ upon the bridle and stamp with his feet c. I le master him and make him more serviceable or at least lesse insolent See this fulfilled Jer. 31.18 19. where Ephraim is brought in seeing his need of mercy in the sense of misery Iudah shall plow and Iacob
amongst them yet God was the holy One in the middest of them Seven thousand he had reserved that Eliah knew not of 1 King 19.18 and a Church there was in Israel when at worst Like as there was in medio Papatu in the darkest midnight of damned popery and at this very day there are said to be thousands of profest Protestants Spec. Eur. even in Italy it self and in Sivil a chief city of Spain there are thought to be no fewer then twenty thousand and I will not enter into the city I will not invade the city as an enemy to wast all with fire and sword as once at Sodom For why there are holy ones in the middest of thee so Rivet expoundeth it by an enallage of the number a considerable company of righteous people for whose sake I will spare thee Jer. 5.1 Verse 10. They shall walk after the Lord powerfully calling them by his Word and Spirit going before them and bringing up the Rere Esay 52.12 their King shall passe before them and the Lord on the head of them Mic. 2.13 Time was when they fled from God Hos 7.13 and said I will go after my lovers c. chap. 2. Now they are of another minde and other manners they shall walk after the Lord non pedibus sed affectibus they shall be carried after him with strength of of desire Rev. 14.4 and delight which he shall work in them they shall follow the Lamb whither soever he goeth Gods people are said in Scritpture to walk before him in godly sincerity to walk with him in an humble familiarity to walk after him in an holy conformity yeelding unto him the obedience of faith As Israel in the wildernesse so must we follow God and the line of his Law though it seem to lead us in and out backward and forward as them as if he were treading a maze he shall roar like a lion By the preaching of the Gospel he shall shake heaven and earth The voice of the Gospel is Repent Aut poenitendum aeut pereundum except ye repent ye shall all perish He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved He that beleeveth not Mar. 16.16 shall be damned was a terrible voice Of the Lion it is reported that he roareth so fiercely that the rest of the creatures stand amazed and that whereas his own whelps come dead into the world he roareth over them and reviveth them Plutar. in lib. de just animal Afterwards when he meeteth with prey he roareth for them to come about him Let this be applied to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah Confer Joâ—l 3.16 then the children shall tremble from the West The children of grace Deut. 14.1 shall joyn themselves in spirit to the communion of the Church from all the ends of the world where they have been scattered they shall serve the Lord with fear rejoyce with trembling The Ancient Hebrews applied this promise to the coming of the Messiah onely they dreamt of an earthly kingdom of his as did also the disciples being sowred with the leaven of the Pharisees Others think it to be a Prophecie of the conversion and calling of the Jewes to be accomplished in the last dayes as also of the generall spreading of the Gospel and gathering of the Elect far and wide from one end of the heavens unto another And this they call the time of the Restitution of all things Vorse 11. They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt Trepidè accurent so Tremellius they shall run tremblingly Fear causeth hast Men delay and trifle till God strikes their hearts with fear then 't is ecce ego mitte me Here I am send me Speak Lord for thy servant heareth What wilt thou have me to do Lord c. timor addidit ulas as the doves when pursued by the hawk scour into their columbaries As birds frighted flie to their nests and other creatures to their holes and harbours so do those that are prickt at heart with the terrours of the law flee to the precious promises of the Gospel hiding themselves in the wounds of Christ crucified and are relieved All St. Pauls care was that when he was sought for by the justice of God he might be found in Christ not having his own righeousnesse Phil. 3.9 but that which is through the faith of Christ and as a dove out of the land of Assyria i. e. out of what countrey soever where they shall be scattered I will recollect them by my Gospel which is therefore called Gods arm because thereby he gathereth his Elect into his bosome Doves flie swiftly Psal 55.6 and by flocks Esay 60.8 so shall the Elect to Christ both of Jewes and Gentiles By the children of the West may be meant these Western Churches and withall the Northern parts By Egypt the whole South By Ashur all the Eastern Tract those large and mighty kingdoms that lie Eastward from Judea even to the Sun-rising Thus many shall come from East and West and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and â—acob in the kingdome of heaven Mat. 8.11 The molten-Sea stood upon twelve Oxen which looked to all the four quarters of the world so did the twelve gates of the new Jerusalem c. and I will place them in their houses Not in strong garisons but in their own-houses where they shall dwell securely under their own vines and fig-trees for they shall have the Gospel of peace and the peace of the Gospel See 2 Sam 7.10 Or thus I will place them in their own houses that is in my Church saith Polanus which hath its houses and places of receipt among all people the whole world thorowout where they may serve God without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all their dayes Thus the Apostles in their travels where ever they came found brethren c. and having nothing yet they possessed all things 2 Cor. 6.10 True tranquillity and sound security is to be found no where but in Christ Mic. 4.4 and 5.5 nor by any but by those that hear him roaring and calling them to the participation of his grace and peace Those that hearken to Christs Oracles shall dwell in his tabernacle Verse 12. Ephraim composseth me about with lies They get about me as if they would do me doubty service Psal 76.11 the saints are called a people that are round about God and Psal 148.14 a people near unto him and that compasseth his altar See Rev. 4.4 but all 's but counterfeit a meer imposture a loud lie Psal 78.36 whereby they would cozen me of heaven if they could putting upon me false coyn silver'd over a little and circumventing me if it lay in their power But what saith Bernard Sapiâ—ns nummularius Deus est Nummum fictum non recipiet God is a wise Mint-man there 's no beguiling him with counterfeit coyn Hypocrisie that reall lie is an odious a complexive evil for it hath in it 1. Guile opposite to
to come out of the filth of his sins or to be washed from his wickednesse Rather then be regenerated without which there is no heaven to be had Ioh. 3.5 or freedom from deadly dangers upon earth he will venture to stay a while at least as the Text here hath it in the mouth of the matrix though it cost him a choaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such Ephraims we have not a few that proceed no further then to conviction debarring themselves of the benefit of a thorow conversion These go as far as Kadesh-barnea they are nigh to Gods kingdom they are almost perswaded to be true Christians they are come as far as the place of the breaking forth of children but there they stick and are stifled they are never brought forth from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive remission of sinnes and inheritance among the saints and sonnes of God Acts 26.18 Oh make much of the least beginnings of grace saith a Reverend man even those called repressing since they prepare the heart for conversion There is a faith in the true convert of no better perfection then that in the Temporary though he stay not there as the other being an unwise sot doth c. And although we bring forth good things saith Another as Sarah's dead womb brought forth a child it was not a child of natures but of the meer promise yet it cannot be denied that a naturall man though he be Theologically dead yet he is Ethically alive being to be wrought upon by arguments and that grace doth for the most part prepare naturals before it bring in supernaturals and if we hide our talent we are not allowed to expect the spirit of Regeneration As if we die in the wildernesse of preparatory antecedaneous works we never get to Canaan Verse 14. I will ransom them from the power of the grave c. Some read it thus Calvin Tigurin Isid Clar. Danaeus Drusius I would have ransomed them c. I would have redeemed them c. had they been wise or oughts as we say had not their incurable hardnesse and obstinacy hindered had they put forth into my hands as unto a midwife c. But alas it is no such matter therefore that that will die let it die repentance shall be hid from mine eyes I am unchangeably resolved to ruine them Or repentance should have been hid from mine eyes my goodnesse toward them should never have altered c. But let us rather look upon the words as a most sweet and comfortable promise of a mighty redemption and glorious resurrection to the Remnant according to the election of grace whom God would not have to want comfort I will ransom them Here therefore he telleth his Heirs of the promises that he will bring them back out of captivity wherein they â—ay for dead as it were and that this their deliverance should be an evident argument and sure pledge of their resurrection to life eternall To which purpose the Apostle doth aptly and properly alledge it 1 Cor. 15. and thereupon rings in Deaths ears out of this Text and Esay 25.8 the shrillest and sharpest Note the boldest and bravest challenge that ever was heard from the mouth of a mortall Death where is thy sting Hell where 's thy victory c Oh thanks be to God who hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ and thereby hath made us more then conquerours that is Triumphers 2 Cor. 2.14 But to return to the Text. Be it saith the Prophet that the Common-wealth of Israel both mother and child must perish for want of wisdom as was threatned in the foregoing verse yet let not the penitent among them despair for I the Lord Christ will ransom them by laying down a valuable price so the word signifieth from the power Ephdem Heb. hand of the grave or of hell that though hell had laid hands on them yea closed her mouth upon them as once the Whale had upon Jonas yet I would open the doors of that Leviathan and fetch them thence with a strong hand I will redeem them from death by becoming their near kinsman according to the flesh whereby I shall have the next right of redemption But how shall all this be done After a wonderfull manner O death I will be thy plagues Not one but many plagues even so many as shall certainly do thee to death The Vulgar rendreth it Ero mors tua O mors morsus tuus O inferne The Apostle for plagues hath sting for the plague hath a deadly sting and so hath sinne much more the guilt thereof is by Solomon said to bite like a serpent and sting like a cockatrice Prov. 23.32 Now Christ by dying put sinne to death Rom. 1.25 Ephes 1.7 Heb. 2.14 We read of a certain Cappadocean Sphinx Phil. pag. 750. whom when a Viper had bitten and suckt his blood the Viper her self died by the venemous blood that she had suckt But Christ being life essential prevailed over death and swallowed it up in victory as Moses his serpent swallowed up the sorcerers serpents or as Fire swalloweth up the fuell that is cast upon it yea by death he destroyed him that had the power of death the devil whose practise it was to kill men with death Rev. 2.23 this is the second death O grave or O hell I will be thy destruction thy deadly stinging disease joyned with the pestilence Psal 91.6 Death to a beleever is neither totall nor perpetuall Rom. 8.10 11. Christ hath made it to him of a curse a blessing of an enemy a friend of a punishment an emolument of the gate of hell the portall of heaven a postern to let out temporall but a street-door to let in eternall life And to assure all this Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes i. e. there shall be no such thing as repentance in me for all things that are at all are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 The meaning is I will never change my minde for this matter my covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Psal 89.34 Confer Psal 110.4 Rom. 11.29 Some render it but not so well Consolation is hid from mine eyes and so make them to be the words of the Church q. d. I see not this promise with mine eyes but I receive it and accept of it by my faith Verse 15. Though he be fruitfull among his brethren In allusion to his name Ephraim which signifieth fruitfull and flourishing Gen. 41.52 Confer Gen. 48.16 19 20 c. 49.22 See the like allusions Am. 5.5 Mic. 1.10 An East-winde shall come which is violent and hurtfull to the fruits of the earth the winde of the Lord a mighty strong winde meaning that most mercilesse and impetuous enemy the Assyrian sent by the Lord to avenge the quarrell of his
of Victory and Triumph they shall ruâ— upon the 〈◊〉 After they have scaled it as afore they shall walk or run upon it as Conquerors without feare of an enemy Alexander the great would do so they shall climb up upon the houses No longer now the owners castles for they shall be ferrited out of their retiring roomes or forced to do as Sardanapalus the Assyrian Monarch did who straighted by the enemy sacrificed himself with his wealth and wenches to Vulcan in a wood-pile as One phraseth it in his royall pallace they shall enter in at the windowes as a theef whose property is 1. to climb up some other way and not to enter in by the dore Ioh. 10.1 death also getteth in by the windowes and that way entreth into palaces Ier. 9.21 so doth Satan that theef of the truth as Basil calleth him wind himself into the soul by the eyes those windowes of wickednesse and loop-holes of lust 2. to rifle and ransack and leave little enough behind him What clean-work these insets made see before chap. 1.4 and take notice what great matters God Almighty can do by the most contemptible creatures Quid ciniphe vilius saith Philo the Jew what can be baser then a louse and yet all the strength of Egypt was brought down by that despicable vermine Pliny in his eight book and twenty fourth chapter tel's us out of Mr. Varro that a great town in Spain was undermined and overturned by conyes Clara exitii documenta sunt ex contemnendis animalibus Plin. Munster Cosmogr An. Dom. 969. another in Thessaly by Moles a third in France undone by Froggs a fourth in Africa by Locusts a fift in Italy by Serpents c. Who hath not heard of Hatto that mercilesse Archbishop of Ments devoured by Mice though he had motted up himself against their invasion in an Iland God cannot possibly want a weapon wherewith to beat his Rebels Verse 10 The earth shall quake before them c. Tragicis figuris calamitatem amplificat saith Luther here By such tragical tearmes the Prophets use to set forth an horrible desolation such as first the Assyrians and afterwards the Romanes brought upon the Jewes the Turks and Saracens upon the Christian churches whether there were any such earthquake or stupendious concussions of the heavenly bodies as is here described is uncertain Strange forerunners there were both in heaven and earth of the last destruction of Ierusalem as Christ also had foretold In the dayes of Iustinian the Emperour Mr. Clark in the life of Justinian pag. 67. the Sun for the greatest part of an yeare gave so little light that it was but equall to the light of the Moon the sky being clear without clouds or any thing to shadow it after which there followed a great famine and much war and bloodshed the Sun and the moon shall be dark Wondrous expressions to meet with their wondrous stupidity The Hebrew Doctors and Oecolampadius much disliketh it not allegorize the text and by the earth understand the common people by the heavens the Grandees by the Sun and Moon the king and kingdome as by the Starres those of indifferent rank all which are woe begone as they say by reason of the present calamities as when upon the death of Prince Henry Great Brittain was said to be all in black and as Demades was wont to say of the Achenians nunquam eos sapere nisi pullis vestibus indutos that they were never so wise Pluâ—arch as when they were in mourning weeds Verse 11 And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army In the head of his army as Generals use to do for incouraging the souldiers A General should be like Quintilians Orator Vir bonus dicendi peritus both valiant and eloquent as was Cato Censorius Si actu ejus penitus ignorasses per linguam tamen militem esse diceres ut quidam de Caesare Optimus Orator Optimus etiam Imperator saith Pliny and Julius Caesar and Hunniades who were Masters of speech as well as men of their hands So was Joab Davids General of whose speech to the army 2 Sam 10.12 Pellican saith Non potuit vox Duce dignior cogitari A braver speech could not have been uttered by the mouth of a mortal But here God himself uttereth his voyce before his army for the Lord is a man of war Exod. 15.3 a Victor of warres as the Chalde there hath it and what wonder sith the voice of the Lord is powerfull the voyce of the Lord is full of Majesty Psal 29.4 he sets on and gives the signal of the battel to these Locusts he puts spirit into them and cryes Courage my hearts and thence it is that they are so valorous and victorious for his camp is very great His camp these Locusts are called though they knew it not He hisseth for the Flie of Egypt and for the Bee that is in the land of Assyria And they shall come and rest all of them in the desolate vallyes c. Esa 7.18 19. The Assyrian is the rod of Gods anger and the staf in his hand I will send him saith the Lord against an hypocriticall nation to avenge the quarrel of my covenant Howbeit he meaneth not so neither doth his heart think so c. Esay 10.5 6 7. But it is here as when in applying of horse-leeches the Physician seeketh the health of his patient the leech only the filling of his gorge Almighty God as he disposeth and ordereth membra culicis pulicis as Austin hath it the members of the meanest creatures so by the same power and providence he over-ruleth all their motions to his own glory for he is strong that executeth his word Or that thing is strong that weak Locust set a work by God shall do his will vigorously and not faintly as Jer. 48.10 shall go through stitch with it and none shall hinder it for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible Tremble therefore and humble under this mighty hand of God let this earthquake worke in you an heart-quake these horrible commotions and calamities draw from you a shower of teares or at least a storm of sighs for your sins unlesse ye hold it better to be carnally secured then soundly comforted who can abide it Or else avoid it otherwise then by repentance Am. 8.12 Fly Dr. Reinolds saith a Reverend man from Gods anger to Gods grace Blood-letting is a cure of bleeding and a burn a cure against a burn Running to God is the way to escape him as to close and get in with him that would strike you doth avoid the blow Verse 12 Therefore also now saith the Lord Now though it be late first and as you may think Nunquam sero si serio too late Now though the dreadfull day of the Lord be very neer at hand yea though the Locusts be already come as Kimchi senseth it Oh that ye would know at the last in this
we are dayly and hourly delivered It is good to keep a catalogue of Gods providences and to transmit them to posteritie such as was that of the Gun-powder-plot and before that of the Reformation begun by Henry the eight and carried on by his son to the ridding of the land of those popish Locusts Which Reformation how imperfect soever to be done by so weak and simple meanes yea by casual and cross meanes against the force of so puissant and politick and adversary is that miracle which we are in these times to look for An out-lander speaketh thus of it Ecclesiae Anglicanae reformationem desperasset aetas praeterita admiratur praesens obstupescet futura This was the Lords own work Sculiet det 2. d Ep. dediâ— and it is marvelous in our eyes Oh that the same Lord would be both Author and Fmisher and as he hath in good part cut off the names of the idols out of the land so that they shall be no more remembred so he would cause the Prophets and the unclean spirit to passe out of the land that he would send all false doctrine and heresy packing to hell from whence they came Fiat Fiat and will drive him into a land barren and desolate Or dry and forlorn where he shall perish for want of food The body of this Army shall be driven into the wildernesse the vantagard into the lake of Sodom toward the East and the rereward into the Mediterranean Sea toward the West for the Western Ocean was hardly known to the Hebrewes as neither was it to the Romanes till the dayes of Julius Cesar and his stink shall come up and his ill savour c. sc by reason of their dead carcasses covering the earth and infecting the ayre The old Hebrewes understood this text concerning the destruction of the devill in the dayes of the Messias Oh that God would once destroy that first-born of the devill that King of Locusts Abaddon the Pope and dung his vineyard with the dead carcasses of his incurable complices that their stink might ascend and their ill savour come up into all mens nostrills Matthew Paris an ingenuous Papift speaking of the court of Rome long since said Hujus faetor usque an nubes fumum teterrimum exhalabat Her filthinesse hath sent up a most noysome stench to the very clouds of heaven as Sodoms did And Theodorcus Vrias another of her good sons in Germany complained Anno 1414. that the Church of Rome was become ex aurea argenteuÌ„ ex argentea ferream ex ferrea terream superesse ut in stercus abiret of gold silver of silver iron of iron earth and that she would next become of earth dung c. She is so already and stinks alive worse then any carrion rotting in its slime Oh that God would once put into the hearts of the kings of the earth to loath her and burn her for an old stinking baud as is prophecyed they shall Rev. 17.16 because he hath done great things Heb. he hath magnified to do he hath made great spoil and havock he hath revelled in the ruines of Gods poor people and so hath hastened his own destruction and their deliverance The Saints are many times more beholden to their enemies outrages then to their own deserts or duties for deliverance Some Interpreters as Castalio Leveley c. understand the Text of God and render it Quia magnisicè aget for the Lord shall do great things as it is also in the following verse there being here the same anomaly or change of person as is Esay 22.19 And I will drive thee from thy station from thy state shall he pull thee down Verse 21. â— tellus culta Fear not O land O red earth or O tilled land that hast layen bedridden as it were under the heavy curse of God ever since the fall of Adam and wast never beautifull or cheerfull since that time Gen. 3.17 Thou that hast lately been under that great and very terrible day of the Lord Ioel 2.11 who hath made bloody wails upon thy back and laid thee as a desolate wildernesse verse 3. to thy great grief and terrour Cheer up now and fear not Thine inhabitants are Poenitents and Repentance hath turned their crosses into comforts as scarlet pulls out the teeth of a serpent as wine draweth a nourishing vertue from the flesh of vipers as the Philosophers-stone they say turns all into gold See 1 Pet. 1.7 God will turn all thy sadnesse into gladnesse neither shalt thou any more lye to those that manure thee as the Scripture phrase is Habak 3.17 that is disappoint and frustrate their expectation but thine enemies shall be found liaers unto thee Deut. 33.29 for the Lord will do great things Spem mentita seges Virg. Victum seges aegra negabat Horat. Magnificentiùs aget Deus far greater things God will do for thee then the Locust hath done against thee so that thou shalt gain by thy losses and say Periissem nisi periissem I had been undone if I had not been undone Wherefore be glad and rejoyce with inward and outward joy And because Fear is a passion opposite to Joy for fear hath torment 1 Joh. 4.18 and that was a rare mixture in those good women that returned from our Saviours sepulchre with fear and great joy Mat. 28.8 See Psal 2.11 therefore Fear not O land quit thine heart of that cowardly passion and be as merry as mirth can make thee for the Lord hath done great things for thee whereof thou hast good cause to be glad Faith in Gods Power quelleth and killeth distrustfull fears filling the heart with unspeakable joyes 1 Pct. 1.8 and full of glory Verse 22. Be not afraid ye beasts of the field q. d. Ye shall have no cause to fear for the future though hitherto ye have suffered hardship Chap. 1.18 Beasts and birds do in diem vivere as Quintilian saith of them and take no further thought then for present sustenance But by a prosopopoeia as before the land so here the beasts that till it are forbidden to fear want for God the great House-keeper of the world will provide them their meat in due season Psal 104.27.28 and severall meats according to their severall appetites He will hear the heaven the heaven shall hear the earth the earth shall hear all kinde of fruits both naturall as herbs of the field and grasse of the wildernesse and such as are sowen and planted as wine oyl figs so that neither man nor beast shall want any thing ad esum vel ad usum but have plenty without penury c. It shall be said of Judea as Solinus saith of Spain In Hispania nihil infructuosâ—m nibil sterile that there is no unfruitfulnesse in any part of it or as it is said of Campania in Italy that it is the most fruitfull Plat of earth that is in the Universe the fig-tree and the vine that before had been barked and wasted chap. 1.7
by one Ralph Lurdain and burnt at Chelmsford where afterwards the same Lurdain was hang'd for stealing an horse blood and fire c. Signes terrifying and testifying the wrath and displeasure of God for the sinns of men and such a face of the whole Fabrick of the Vniverse as that all the parts thereof may seem to have conspired for the destruction of mankind Before the wart betwixt Pompey and Caesar the sea seemed to be bloody Superique minaces Prodiglis terras implerant ethera Lucan lib. 1. monstra enumerans quae bellum civila praecesserunt pontum Ignota obscurae viderunt sydera noctes Ardentemque polum flammis coeloque volantes Obliquas per inane faces Fulgura fallaci micuerunt crebra sereno Et varias ignis denso dedit aere formas Before Caesars death not only drops of blood fell from heaven but also pits and pooles flowed with blood puteique cruore Mutati In the year of grace 874. Claudian lib. 1. in Eutrop. Funcc chron at Brixia in the enterance of Italy rained blood for three dayes and three nights together In the yeare 1505. there appeared in Germany upon peoples garments and womens rocks as they were spinning diverse prints and tokens of the nailes of the spunge of the spear of the Lords coate and of bloody crosses c. Maximilian the Emperour had and shewed the same to Francis Mirandula who wrot thereupon his book called Staurostichon wherein are these verses Nonignota cano Act. Mon. fol. 769. Caesar monstravit ipsi Videmus innumeros prompsit Germania testes It is not many yeares since a showre of blood fell about Glocester if our intelligence deceived us not Such prodigies are usually sad presages nec inania terriculamenta haec esse In lsc. res ipsa testatur saith Gualther here and event proveth that these are no vaine fray-bugs By fire here understand those terrible flaming apparitions in the ayre lightenings comets c. portending lamentable calamities Such there were to be seen as I have heard from eye-witnesses on that very night wherein the Powder-plot was detected and defeated in a very terrible manner And such were those Meteors in the likenesse of fiery serpents that fell here Anno 788. before the Invasion of the Danes whereunto we may adde the new-starre that appeared in Cassiopeja in November 1572. Camd. Elisah and continued sixteen moneths soon after which Charles the 9 of France Author of the Parisian Massacre died of exceeding bleeding at severall parts of his body inter horribilium blasphemiarum diras saith the Historian cursing and swearing And lastly that prodigious Comet Anno. 1618. forerunner of the German warres and our late troubles whatever is yet behind to be suffered by us Certainly if the sorcerors of Egypt were amongst us they would wonder at mens stupendious stupidity and tell them that these extraordinary occurrents in heaven and earth were the very finger of God for their warning and pillars of smoke Heb. palmes of smoke so Cant. 3.6 by similitude because tall and straight as palme-trees which also lift up themselves under their burthen and will not be held down Smoaky vapours mounting upright are fitly compared thereunto Elationes fumi so Tremellius Verse 31. The Sun shall be turned into darknesse and the Moon into blood by strange and stupendious Eclipses such as was that of the Moon for 12. nights together a little before the last destruction of Jerusalem and that of the Sun this present 29 day of March 1652. wherein I writ these things but could scarce see to write or forbeare to behold for though busy enough to bring this work to an end if God please yet I cannot say as the Duke of Alva did to the king of France who asked him whether he had observed the late great Eclipse No said he I have so much to do upon earth that I have no leisure to look toward heaven Of this dayes Eclipse I may well say as Lucan doth of another Ipse caput medio Titan cum ferret Olympo Condidit ardentes atra caligine currus Involvitque Lucan lib. 1. orbem tenebris gentesque coegit Desperare diem I heartily pray it do not presage a dreafull eclipse of the Sun of Christs glorious gospell amongst us that this bright Sun should go down at noon over our heades and our earth be darkened in the clear day Amos 8.9 And let every good soul pray that that dismall day may never arise unto us wherein it shall be said that this glory is departed from our English Israel nobiscum Christe maneto Extingui lucem nec patiare tuam and the moon into blood that is into rednesse as it was likewise on the 15. day of this instant March in the morning Two such Eclipses so neer together having seldome been seen I fear we may have cause ere the yeer come about to sing sadly with the Poet Signa dabant luctus superi haud incerta futuri Ovid. Metam lib. 15. Saepe faces visae solis quoque tristis imago Caerulus vultum ferrugine Lucifer atrâ Sparsus erat sparsi lunares sanguine currus Before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come i.e. the great day of generall judgement called here the great day because the great God will on that day do great things and determine of great matters and the terrible day because it is a day of anger and of wrath Rom. 2.5 Rev. 6.17 yea the day of the declaration of the just judgement of God according to the Gospel Rom. 2.5 16. It is elsewhere called That day by an appellative proper Mar. 13.32 Luk. 21.34 Mat. 7.22 That day of note wherein God will break filence execute judgement upon all and convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Jude 15. Enoch foretold this great day before Noah did the deluge this day is longer before it comes but shall be more terrible when it is come Whether it shall come in the yeer of our Lord 1657. Alsted Chronol p 494. as some have gathered out of the numerall letters of these two words Mundi Conflagratio and because the yeer of the World 1657. was the yeer of the Flood let time determine I have nothing to say to it Verse 32. And it shall come to passe that whosoeveer c. Lest any good soul hearing the former heavy menaces should say with the disciples Mark 10.26 Who then can be saved Or with these Despondents in Jeremy chap. 2.25 There is no hope the Prophet concludeth with this comfortable Coroliary Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord yea that but nameth the name of Christ in faithfull prayer desiring and endeavouring to depart from iniquity 2 Tim 2.19 the same shall be delivered He shall have safety here and salvation hereafter Rom 10.13 Watch ye therefore
of the truth will make hard shift but they will bear armes against Christ and though feeble Scito quia ab ascensore sun dâ—mone perurgetur Sern yet will say I am strong a Satana impulsi armati saith Mercer here as being pricked on armed and agitated by the devill that old manslayer according to that of Bernard Seest thou thy persccutor outragious marvel not but know that the devil rides him makes him run Verse 11. Assemble your selves and come all ye heathen Come and fetch your bane whereof by your forwardnesse to come uncalled ye may seem to be ambitious Judgments need not go to find you out for you associate your selves that ye may be broken in peeces Isa 8.9 as at Armageddon Rev. 16.16 Come on therefore sith you will needes be so mad and take what befalles you Who would set the briars and thorncs against me in battel I would go thorough them I would burn them together Esay 27.4 See Zech. 14.2 3. with the Notes Ezech. 38.4 Gnushu pro chushu 16 17. c. Rev. 19.17 18. The word here Englished Assemble is by Iarchi rendred Festinate Hasten by others conglobamini cluster together that ye may be the sooner cut off that the mouth of Gods sword may have its full bit that he may make an utter end and your affliction may not rise up the second time Nah. 19. thither cause thy mighty ones to come down i. e. Vel Angelos vel alios saith Mercer either thine Angels called Gods mighties Psal 103.20 Esay 10.34 Psal 68.17 where these Mighty Ones are said to make Sion as dreadfull to all her enemies as those Angels made Sinai at the delivery of the law or other thine officers and executioners that by thy command they may fall on and destroy these Heathen-armies see verse 13. the answer to this prayer of the Prophet and the power of prayers which Luther fitly calleth bombardas instrumenta bellica Christianorum the great ordnance and warlike weapons of Christians Vers 12. Let the heathen be wakened Here begins Gods answer to the Prophets prayer The heathen though at ease Zach. 1.11 and fast asleep must be arrowsed and assembled to the valley of Jehosaphat where God the righteous Judge at the Prophets request reminding him of his promise I am come for thy words saith He to Daniel chap. 11.12 gets up to the Tribunall and there sits to judge all the heathen round about Let not us doubt of the like successe of our suites but when wronged run to the Judg of heaven and earth who will do us right so we pray over the promises as here and not faint though he heare long with us This our Saviour hath taught us by that famous parable of the unjust Judge and the importunate widdow Luk. 18.2 3. c. wherein we may take notice of many excellent encouragements to pray down our enemies 1. He was a Judge onely but God is our Father also 2. He was an unrighteous Judge But is there unrighteousnesse with God Rom. 9.14 3. He as he feared not God so he cared not for man but God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly and peculiarly loving to man above other creatures Tit. 3.4.4 He avenged the widdow as wearied out with her and meerly to be rid of her And shall not God do as much for us out of his love to righteousnesse and hatred of wickednesse Psal 45.7 5. It was troublesome to him to be sued unto but God is displeased with us for nothing more then for our backwardnesse and bashfulnesse Ioh. 16.24 Quid est cur nihil petis what meanest thou to ask me nothing said Se verus to his favourite 6. the unjust Judge had no care of his credit but God is most tender of his glory and delights much in that title of his O thou that hearest prayers Verse 13. Put ye in the sickle for the harvest is ripe It even hangs for mowing as we say the enemies are ready ripe for ruine down with them therefore that they may not shed in the field and seed again let this vally of decision be unto them a vally of excision let it be as a wine-presse to those bunches and branches of the grapes lopt off the vine Lacus iste locus coedis See Rev. 14.18 19. Mat. 13.39 There is a stint set to mens sins Gen. 15.16 Zech. 5.8 11. Mat. 23.32 with the Note there What more beautifull to behold then a field afore harvest then a vineyeard afore the vintage and yet how sudden an alteration when workmen once take it in hand for the wickednesse is great Here is that plainely that before was expressed parabolically The scripture oft expounds it self in the same text and is every where it s own best Interpreter Verse 14. Multitudes Multitudes in the vally of decision Or Concision as Hierom and Tremellius or of threshing as Piscator in reference to Iehosaphat who once threshed the Moabites and Ammonites there These multitudes are thither summoned Turbae Turbae adeste or are there lay'd dead even heapes upon heapes with those Philistines Judg. 15.16 So Aben-Ezra senseth it and thence the name of the valley of Concision or decision to shew that there God having passed a definitive sentence upon the Churches enemies and a very severe one too such as was that kind of punishment to put men under harrowes of iron c. 2 Sam. 12.31 Am. 1.3 would now finish the work and cut it short in righteousnesse Rom. 9.28 idque citò certò as sure and as soon as if that day of slaughter were at next doore by for the day of the Lord is neere Lyra understands it of the last day which cannot be far off And Diodate was of the same mind For upon the next words Verse 15. The Sun and the Moon shall be darkened he sets this note Signes which shall goe before the last judgement Mat. 24.29 Luk. 21.25 See the Note above on chap. 2.13 The Prophets by such formes of speech use to decipher greatest calamities when all things look dark as it fareth also with them that are under spiritual desertion Esay 50.10 who yet are exhorted there to trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon their God to cast the anchour of hope as Paul and his company did in the shipwrack Act. 27.20 when they saw neither Sun nor moon for many dayes together and no small tempest lay upon them all hope that they should be saved being taken away Verse 16. The Lord also shall roare out of Zion Out of his church he shall terrify his enemies as the Lion doth the rest of the creatures by his dreadfull roare so that they are amazed thereat and have no power to stirr from the place Lyra interpreteth it of that terrible Discedite Goe ye cursed that shall be uttered by Christ at the last day A sentence that breatheth out nothing better then fire and brimstone stings and sorrowes woe and alass torments without end and
off from them The former sense is the better Verse 9. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them It is not usuall with God to hit men in the teeth with what he hath done for them Jam. 1.5 unlesse in case of unthankfulnesse as here Then indeed people shall hear of what they have had and be taught the worth of good turns by the want of them Good turns aggravate unkindnesses and our offences are not a little increased by our obligations Hence this approbation and it is as if God should say This people hath not only done the evills afore-mentioned but also after the receipt of mercies without measure and many miraculous deliverances as if I had even hired them to be wicked and as if that were to pass for truth which the snake in the fable said to the country man that had shewed it kindness Summum praemium pro summo beneficio est Ingratitudo Speed 622. ex Parisien In the yeere 1245. the Pope was denied entrance into England it being said that the Pope was but like a mouse in a fachell or a snake in ones bosome who did but ill repay their hostess for their lodging God had done exceeding much for this perverse people and this they now heare of with stomack enough as well they deserved At Athens if a servant proved ungratefull for his manumission his master had an action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against him Val. Max. lib. 2. cap. 1 and might recover him again into bondage Lycurgus the Lacedemonian law-giver would not make a law against Ingratitude as holding it monstrous not to requite a kindness not to acknowledge a good turn The old Romanes decreed that such as were found guilty of this fault should be cast alive to the Cormorant to be pulled in peeces and devoured Our Saviour fâ—â—ly yokes together the evill and the unthankfull Luk. 6.35 and God here summs up all this peoples sins in this One as the Epitome of all the rest yet I destroyed the Amorite when once his iniquity was full Gen. 15. when he had filled the land from corner to corner with his uncleannesse Ezrh. 9.11 then sent I my hornets before them which drove them out before them But not with their sword nor with their bow Iosh 24.12 See this thankfully acknowledged by this Church after she had payed for her learning Psal 44.2 3. with 9.10 whose height was like the height of the Cedars c. For stature and strength they seemed insuperable Num. 13.28 c. But God soon topt them and tamed them he took them a link lower and made them know themselves to bee but men Psal 9.20 or if trees cedars oakes as Plato saith of man that he is but arbor inversa yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his root from beneath I left him little enough to be proud of lesse then Nebuchadnezzar who had a stump left and was reserved for royall State againe Dan. 4.15 God cut off these Amorites that is all the seven nations head and tayle root and branch old and young together Deut. 7.2 Iosh 6.21 Behold the severity of God as if he had forgotten that forepart of his back-parts Jehovah Jehovah gracious mercifull c. and had taken up that Emperours Motto Fiat justitia pereat mundus Let Justice be done though never so many be undone Verse 10. Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt which lies lower then Judaea as doth also mysticall Egypt then Ierusalem which is above which is the mother of us all To what great preferments and priviledges Gods people are now brought up by Christ See Heb. 12.22 23 24. and cry out with that noble Athenian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from how great miseries to what great mercies are we advanced Act. 26.18 Even from darknesse to light from the power of Satan to God that we may receive forgivenesse of sins and inheritance among the Saints c. And shall we then againe break Gods commandements Ezra 9.14 Or say We are delivered to do all these abominations Ier. 7.10 Would not the heaven sweat over us and the earth cleave under us yea hell gape for us upon such an entertainement of divine bounty and led you forty yeares through the wildernesse led you all along in my hand as an horse in the wildernesse that ye should not stumble Isay 63.13 Led you and fed you dayly and daintily sending you in Angels food and then setting the flint abroach that you might not pine and perish in that vast howling wildernesse Deut. 32.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Besides that I there bore with your evill manners Act. 13.18 as a mother beares with her childs frowardness or as an husband beares with his wives crossenesse which he knowes he must either tollere or tolerare cure or cover to possesse the land of the Amorite to fit you for such a mercy to humble you to prove you and to do you good at the latter end Deut. 8.16 God knowes the height of our spirits and the naughtinesse of our natures c. how ill able mens braines are to beare a cup of prosperity and how soon their hearts are lifted up with their estates as a boat that riseth with the rising of the water God therefore usually brings his people into the wildernesse and there speaketh to their hearts he holds them first to hard meate Hos 2.14 and then puts them into full possession Verse 11. And I raised up your sons for Prophets The Ministery is worthily instanced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a singular mercy Psal 147.19 20. Other nations had their Prophets such as they were Tit. 1.12 Tragedians and Comedians were said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to labour in teaching the people and were highly esteemed of the Athenians insomuch as that after their discomfit in Sicily they were relieved out of the publike stock Rous his Archaen 90. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1.21 who could repeate somewhat of Euripides But what were these to Israels Prophets those holy men of God who spake as they were moved acted and as it were carried out of themselves by the holy Ghost to say and to do what God would have them yea those holy children such as Samuel and Jeremy for of them especially the Rabbines understand this text who devoted themselves to the work betimes being more forwardly then either Athanasius the boybishop or Cornelius Mus who if we may beleeve Sixtus Senensis was a Preacher at twelve yeare old and such one an as with whome all Italy was in admiration and of your young men for Nazarites The Chalde hath it Doctours or Teachers it being the office of these holy Votaries to teach the people Heathens also had a kind of Nazarites as Lucian setteth forth in his Dea Syria Habent vespae favos simiae imitaâ—tur homines and the Turks at this day have their Dermislars Turk hist fol. 473. and their Imailers whom they call the religious
these all serve them as Absoloms mule did her master hanging betwixt heaven and earth but rejected of both Let a man be as swift as Asahel God can easily overtake him Life of Edw. 6. by St. Ioh. Heyw. his sin will find him out and he shall but in running from his deâ—â—â— run to it as the Historian speaketh of those Scots defeated by the English at Muscleburough fled that they so strained themselves in running for their lives that they fell down breathlesse and dead Surely as the coney that flies to the holes in the rocks doth easily avoyd the dogs that persue her when the hare that trusts in the swiftnesse of her legs is at length overtaken and torne in peeces So those that trust in God shall be secured whereas those that confide in themselves or the creature shall be surprized and come to an ill end David ran to God in distresse and was releeved Saul goes to the witch and from thence to the swords-point Judas to the Pharisees and thence to the halter the strong shall not strengthen his force but be made weake as water None of the men of might have found their hands Psal 76.5 their hands are palsied their sinews crackt and cripled It is God that both strengtheneth and weakneth the armes in the day of battle Ezek. 30.24 Verse 15. Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow Arcitenens though he can do it never so dexterously yet if he trust in his bow Psal 44 6. God will break it Ier. 49 35. Herodot Aug. de civ Dei l. 5. c. 26. or otherwise render it unusefull as it befell the army of Senacherib in Egypt of Maximus against Theodosius and the French in the battle between our Edward the third and their king Philip who being enraged with a defeat Daniels hist 237. resolved presently to revenge it being elevated with an assured hope of triumphant victory But it fell out otherwise for there fell at the instant of the battle a piercing showre of raine which dissolved their strings and made their bowes unusefull c. neither shall he that rideth the horse though it be as good an one as Cain is fained by Dubertas to have mannaged or as Alexanders Bucephalus or Julius Caesars great horse serviceable and full of terrour A horse is so swift that Iob saith he eateth up the ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pansan and the Persians dedicated him to their God the Sun as the swiftest creature to the swiftest power-divine But as the sun in heaven can neither be out-run nor stopt in his race so neither by men nor meanes can God be frustrated or his anger avoyded the Canaanites had both horses and charrets the Israelites had neither and yet they found an horse a vaine thing for victory c. Psal 33.17 and 147.10 Verse 16. And he that is couragious Heb. strong of his heart a Cucurdelion as one of our kings was called Egregie cordatus homo one of a Roman resolution to vanquish or die they were wont to say of cowards in Rome that there was nothing Romane in them But let a man be as bold as Brutus whom One pronounced Romanorum ultimum the last of the Romanes as if after Rome had brought forth no couragious man and worthy of her self Let him be couragious among the mighty such as were those Lion-like chieftaines among Davids worthies Scanderbeg Zisca Huniades who was in that unhappy battle at Varna by a just hand of God upon him for joyning with that perjured Popish king Ladisâ—aus beaten out of the field and forced to flee away naked in that day escaped narrowly with his life as he did also another time when after a slaughter of 34000. Turks he was compelled to save himself by flight and all alone by uncouth wayes to travell three dayes and nights without meat or drink and afterwards being on foot and disarmed which is here meant by naked confer Esay 20.3 Mich. 1.8 1 Sam. 19.14 Turk hist 310. Mr. Clarks Life of Hunniad pag. 98. he fell into the hands of two notable theeves who despoiled him of his apparrel c. and on the next day he light upon a shephard of whom he for Gods sake craved something to eat and obtained bread and water and a few onions as the Turkish history hath it CHAP. III. Verse 1. HEare this word that the Lord hath spoken c. Here beginneth the second sermon tending to confirme what had been affirmed in the former and evincing the equity of the judgements there threatened for their hatefull ingratitude and other horrible offences condemned and cryed out upon by the very Heathens heare this word Verbum hoc decretorium this notable word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Mat. 22.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there are three articles in the Originall and there is not the least tittle in the text upon which there hangeth not a mountaine of sense say the Rabbies this neck-verse that the Lord hath spoken And shall he not do it who ever waxed fierce against God and prospered Ioh. 9.4 against you O children of Israel By his word Christ many times secretly smites the earth Es 11.4 that is the consciences of carnall men glued to the earth He sets a continuall edge upon the word and consumes them by his rebukes till he have wearied them with his secret buffets and terrours and then in the end casts them into a reprobate sense as he did the Pharisees who were toties puncti repuncti minime tamen ad resipiscentiam compuncti against the whole family The Dodecaphylon all the twelve tribes Malcolâ—n in Act. Apost the whole house of Jacob which are called by the name of Israel and are come forth out of the waters of Judah Isay 48.1 God stands not upon multitudes Psal 9.17 nor matters whether it be against a nation that he speaketh and acteth or against a man only Iob 34.29 which I brought up from the land of Egypt This they oft heare of by way of exprobation as chap. 2.10 God seeming to repent him for their detestable unthankfulnesse as David did of the kindnesse he had shewed unworthy Nabal in safegarding his substance 1 Sam. 25. and to complaine as Frederick the third Emperour of Germany did that of those courtiers whom he had advanced Valer. Max. Christian Camd. Elis he found scarce any that proved faithfull to him but the worse for his courtesy or as Q. Elisabeth that in trust she had found treason Verse 2. You only have I known That is owned and honoured culled and called chosen and accepted to be my people when I had all the world afore me to chuse in Deut. 10.14 15. and nothing to move me thereto but mine own meer grace even the good pleasure of my will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities Not passing by the least without a sensible check the least I say that is allowed and wallowed in
but is justly angry that they remained so irreformable That dearth in Elias his dayes lasted above three yeers and might likely be as extreme as that here in England about the yeer 700. of three yeers continuance and so violent it was that not onely many died daily for hunger but great numbers joyning hand in hand fourty or fifty in a company Godw. Catal. p. 465. threw themselves headlong into the Sea A like three-yeers famine also wee read to have been in Bohemia and Polonia Anno 1312. so great that children devoured their parents and parents their children some fed upon the dead carcasses that hang'd in gibbets Balth. Exner. Val. Max. 135 c. Wolves also were so famished that they fell upon all they met and fed upon them yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord. Ye have lost the fruit of your afflictions and all mine hammers hitherto have but beat cold iron Perdidistis sructum afflictionis Aug. The bellows are burnt the lead is consumed the Founder melteth in vain for the wicked are not plucke away sc from their wickednesse his drosse is yet with him his great scum still in him Ezek. 24.6 12 13. it is woven into the very texture of his heart and cannot be separated Reprobate silver shall men call him because he returneth not to God that smiteth him Jer. 6.29 30. Esay 9.12 13. Verse 7. And also I have with-holden the rain from you c. And so have punished you with thirst and drought as well as with dearth and famine and because I have found you wells without the water of piety 2 Pet. 2.17 therefore I have refused to rain upon you as I threatned Deut. 28.23 24. En quia jam vobis sunt ferrea pectora Bill Anthol lib. 2. reddit Coelum etiam vobis durius aere Deus When there were yet three moneths c. When you could worst of all want it see Joel 2.23 with the Note for the watering of the seed and opening of the earth And I caused it to rain upon one city It rains not then by hap-hazard neither are the seasons of the yeer whether barren or fruitfull ruled by the course of nature or influence of the stars but by God Act. 14.17 It is he that giveth rain from heaven and fruitfull seasons He covereth the heaven with clouds he prepareth rain for the earth he maketh grasse to grow upon the mountains and standing corn in the fields Psal 147.8 He weighes these waters by measure so that not a drop falls in vain or in a wrong place but by Divine decree Job 28.26 for the fatning of the earth allaying the heat nourishing the herb and tree Deut. 32.2 Esay 44 14. producing unto us the appointed weeks of harvest Jer. 5.24 that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater Esay 55.10 This the poor Pagans ascribed to their god Jupiter whom they therefore stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Him they confessed the greatest of all calling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Overseer of their trading hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the keeper of their houses hence Jupiter Herceus c. Of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wall or hedge this they did to the great shame of many Atheists amongst us who hold that all things come either by benigne nature or blinde adventure One peece sc of the same field was rained upon and fructified this was neer to a miracle as when Gideons fleece was wet and no place else and again every place else and not Gideons fleece Judg. 6.37 and the peece whereupon it rained not It that is the cloud but by Gods appointment for He it is that filleth those bottles of the skie and emptieth them again where and when he pleaseth either in mercy as Joel 2.23 Zach. 10.1 Lev. 26.4 or for a judgement as Joel 1.17 Gen. 17.11 12. 1 Sam. 12.18 19. In the yeer of grace 1551. a great multitude of men and cattle in Germany were drowned and destroyed decidentibus subitò nubibus ac effusis certatim aquis saith Bartholinus by excessive showres and immoderate waters pouring down upon people as by spoutes This was the very finger of God who will one day rain upon the wicked snares fire and brimstone Barthol lib. 2. de Meteor c. 2. Psal 11.6 and an horrible tempest Heb. a burning tempest like as now out of those very clouds where-hence he raineth he doth oftsoons scatter sudden fires unto all parts of the earth astonishing the world with the fearfull noyse of that eruption withered It must needs do so and so must Gods own Vineyard the Church when he shall command the clouds that they raine no raine upon it Esay 5.6 that is his ministers that they drop no doctrine upon it Deut. 32.2 Ezek. 21.2 Am. 7.16 fitly resembled to raine in regard 1. of cooling heat 2. quenching thirst 3. clensing the ayre 4. allaying the windes 5. mollifying and mellowing the parched and heat-hardened earth 6. causing all things to grow and fructify This raine of righteousnesse goes sometimes by coasts as here God tying up the tongues of his faithfullest labourers and witholding their showres though they be clouds thick and full and likely enough to drop down in abundance See Ezek. 3.26 27. Hos 9.7 Prov. 16.1 Pray therefore oh pray earnestly both ministers for ability and liberty to drop their word toward the holy places and prophesie Ezek. 21.2 and People that he would fill their ministers as full of good matter as ever Elihu was Iob. 32.18 and then be with their mouths Exod. 4.12 yea stretch out his holy hand and touch them Ier. 1.9 performing that peece of midwifery Prov. 16.1 that they may freely utter their conceptions and come to their hearts in the fulnesse of the blessing of the Gospel of peace Rom 15.29 In the Island of St. Thomas on the back-side of Africa in the middest of it is an hill and over that Abbots Geog 251. a continuall cloud wherewith the whole Island is watered This is our happynesse for present Oh that we knew but this gift of God and were answerably thankfull and fruitfull Joh. 4. Oh how cursed a generation are those that repine at it saying Never was merry world since so much preaching c. How shall such miscreants one day wish to have but one drop fall from these full clouds to coole the heat and horrours of their consciences but shall not obtaine it Verse 8. So two or three cities wandred Necessity is an hard weapon and want of water will make men wander far and part with any thing for it as Lysimachus did with his kingdome sacrificing his estate to the service of his life Oh that we were as solicitous for our soules c. Those good soules Psal 84.7 went from strength to strength travelled many a mile to see Gods face though but in that dark glasse of the ceremonies The good Sunamite went every sabbath and new-moon to
Fiat without toole or toyle Esay 40.28 This the blind Heathens saw Plutarch de Iside Oâ—yr and thus hieroglyphically set forth In Thebe a town of Egypt they worshipped a God whom they acknowledged to be immortall And how painted they him In the likenesse of a man blowing an egge out of his mouth to signify that he made the round world by his word and createth the wind The worlds beesome as Rupertus calleth it wherewith God sweepeth his great house and whereby he setteth forth his inexpressible power See for this Psal 18.11 and 148.8 Iob. 28.25 Ier. 10.12 Senec lib. 5. Nat quaest cap. 18. And although we cannot tell whence it commeth or whither it goeth Iob. 3.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet can we with Cruciger contemplate the footsteps of God in this and other creatures saying with Paul that God is so neer unto us that he may be almost felt with our hands and declareth unto man what is his thought what language he hath in his heart quid sermocinetur quidve cogitet Drus what he talketh within himself as the rich fool did Luk. 12.17 Jesus knew the Pharisees thoughts yea thou understandest my thoughts afarr off saith David Psal 139.2 even before I conceive them Hierom and Theodotion referre the affix to God Eloquium suum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Seventy reade thus Who declareth unto man his Christ sensu pio et egregio saith Mercer sed alieno for Ma-sicho they reade Meshichio perperam that maketh the morning darknesse As he did at Sodome whereon the Sun shon bright in the morning but ere night there was a dismall change So in Egypt Exod. 10.22 so in Jury at Christs death Mat. 27.45 Let this learne us to blesse God for the light both naturall Gen. 1.4 and supernaturall 2 Cor. 4.4.5 and to pray that our Gospell-sun may not set at noon-tide nor our light be put out in obscure darknesse but rather that he would make our darknesse morning for so the words may be read here by clearing up those truthes to us that yet lye in part undiscovered Oh cry after Christ as the poor man in the Gospell Lord that mine eyes might be opened Oh that thou wouldest give me sight and light Sun of righteousness shine upon my dark soule and treadeth upon the high places of the earth As being Higher then the highest Excelsus super Excelsos Eccles 5.8 terrible to all the kings of the 〈◊〉 those dread soveraignes Psal 76.12 the most high God Gen. 14.18 and 22. that hath heaven for his throne and earth for his foot-stoole yea those highest places of the earth the tops of mountains and rocks inaccessible But who is this King of glory The Lord the God of Hosts is his name Give therefore unto the Lord O yee mighty give unto the Lord Psal 29.1 glory and strength Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse c. Exalt yee the Lord our God Psal 99.5 and worship at his footstool for he is holy CHAP. V. Verse 1. HEar ye this word A new sermon as appeareth by this new Oyer not unlike that of S. Paul Act. 13.16 Men of Israel and ye that fear God give audience or rather that of Diogenes who cried out at Athens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hear O ye men And when as thereupon a great sort of people resorted to him expecting some great matter he looked about him and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I called men and not varlets They were no better surely that our Prophet had to deal with Isai 1.4 Ah sinfull nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of evil-doers children that were corrupters they had forsaken the Lord provoked the Holy One of Israel they had increased revolt Hence this onerosa prophetia this word this weighty word this burdensome prophecy which I take up against you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hinc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onus Heb. lift up being scarce able to stand under the burden of it See the Note on Mal. 1.1 And it is against you not for you but that 's your own fault for do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly Mic. 2.7 Excellently Austin Adversarius est nobis quandiu sumus ipsi nobis c. The word of God is adversary to none but such as are adversaries to themselves neither doth it condemne any but those that shall be assuredly condemned by the Lord except they repent But we have in a readinesse to revenge all disobedience saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 10.6 and if any man will hurt Gods faithfull witnesses for discharging their duties fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies and if any man will hurt them he must in this manner be killed Rev 11.5 for Elisha hath his sword as well as Jehu and Hazael 1 King 19.17 And when Elisha unsheatheth and brandisheth his sword it is a fair warning that the sword of Jehu and Hazael are at hand See Hos 6.5 Jer. 1.18 even a lamentation Heb. a very bitter lamentation Ezek. 19.14 like those of Jeremy for Judah or of the mourners in Jerusalem Ezech. 9.4 or of Christ weeping over that city Luke 19.41 42. Or of Paul bewailing his wretched countreymen Rom. 9.3 and 10.1 or of the two witnesses clothed in sackloth Rev. 11.3 the habit of mourners or of Athanasius who by his tears as by the bleeding of a chast vine sought to cure the leprosie and prevent the misery of that tainted age Heu heu Domine Deus was the cry of the ancient Christians Flete nefas magnum nam toto flebitis orbe Their books are like that in Ezekiel written on both sides Cardan and there was written therein lamentations and mourning and wo Ezek. 2.10 This of Amos was a sad song a dolefull ditty a lamentable prophesie of Israels utter destruction as it followeth in the second verse where Prophet-like hee speaketh of it as already done notwithstanding their present prosperity and tranquillity And have not Englands Turtles groaned out for a great while the sad and lamentable tunes of wo and misery to this sinfull nation and plainly foretold what we have felt already and have yet cause enough to fear Ah! great be the plagues that hang over England Act. Mon. 1667. said Mr. Philpot Martyr long since Happy shall that person be whom the Lord shall take out of this world not to see them c. And the like said Rogers our prâ—to-martyr Bradford Ridley Lever c. besides the concurrent predictions of Gods faithfull servants a-late whose hearts and tongues he hath so guided as that they all as one man have denounced heavie judgements and taken up loud lamentations against us Now as before great stormes cocks crow loud and thick so is it here and so it should be Exod. 32.31 32. Jer. 18.20 Ioel 2.17 else God will be displeased Ezech. 13.5
he will freely bestow on all that so seek him as not to be satisfied without him as Moses who would not be put off with an Angel but said If thy presence go not with me carry us not up hence Exod. 33.15 and as Luther who when great gifts were sent him refused them and said Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic satiari à Dâ—o I deeply protested that I would not be satisfied with these low things Melch. Ad. but that I would have God or nothing This was one of those brave Apophthegmes of his concerning which One well saith A man would fetch them upon his knees from Rome or Jerusalem rather then be without them Verse 5. But seek not Bethel c. Make not lies your refuge idols your Oracles they that observe lying vanities do by their own election forsake their own mercies Jon. 2.8 Verse 9. But I saith the Prophet who had now paid for his learning and was yet under the lash will sacrifice to thee alone will seek thy face and favour not at Bethel or Gilgal but in the place where thine honour dwelleth not at Hull Sichem or Loretto but in the true Reformed Churches in the beauties of holinesse in the midst of those seven golden candlesticks in the hearts and houses of his faithfull people concerning whom He hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them c 2 Cor. 6.16 and when they walk within their houses with a perfect heart I will come unto them Psal 101.2 I will there command my blessing even life for evermore Psal 133.3 See chap. 4.4 and Hos 4.15 with the Notes For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity An elegant agnomination in the Original Hagilgal galloh ijgleh such as the Prophets are full of and this plain Prophet among the rest See chap. 8.2 Ministers may sometimes rhetoricate and it had need to be an elaborate speech that shall work upon the conscience and Bethel shall come to nought Heb. shall be Aven as elsewhere it is called Beth-aven Hos 4.11 and 10.5 Against Beersheba he saith nothing because that name afforded him not the like elegancy as Mercer thinketh or because that city belonged to Judah 1 King 19.3 and so was not destroyed with the ten tribes as Hierâ—m holdeth Seek not these places saith the Prophet for help and succour in distresse but say as Jer. 3.23 Truely in vain is salvation hoped for from these hills truely in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel Verse 6 Seek ye the Lord and ye shall live Mercer See verse 4. Sic eadem saepe surdis obstinatis inculcantur The oft pressing of a duty imports 1. The excellency 2. Vlpian P. The necessity 3. The difficulty of doing it else what need so many words Perquam durum est sed ita lex scripta est saith the Civilian Hard or not hard it must be done or men are undone lest he breake out like fire Lest he go through you and burn you together Esay 27.4 lest ye be utterly burnt with fire in the same place 2 Sam. 23.7 that is in hell as some expound it which the Prophet calleth tormenting Tophet Esay 30,33 and Plato calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fierylake so terrible saith Bellarmine that one glimpse of it were enough to make a man not onely turn Christian and sober but Anchorite and Monk to live after the strictest rule that may be Verse 7. Ye who turn judgement to wormwood Ye Grandees and governours of the people that turne the sweetest thing into the sowrest as corruptie optimi pessima right into wrong-dealing that follow the administration of Justice as a trade only with an unquenchable and unconscionable desire of gaine not caring what becomes of righteousnesse but leaving it off in the earth or rather not leaving it at all upon earth Terras Astraea reliquit but chasing it out of the world as much as in you lyeth whiles you cast it down to the ground and tread it under foot Dan. 8.12 whilest you oppresse the just crush the needy c. chap. 4.1 See the Note there Some read the text by way of exclamation thus O ye that turn judgement c. q. d. What strange creatures are you what monsters of men what publike scourges what scabs Esay 5.7 God looked for judgement Judices instar scabrei mâ—lesti sunt oppressis Piscater in loc but behold oppression In the Originall it is behold a scab for righteousnesse but behold a cry such a cry as entreth into the eares of the Lord of sabbath Verse 8. Seek him that maketh the seven starres Once againe seek him that is Returne to him by true repentance and by faith take hold of his strength that ye may make peace and ye shall make peace with him Esay 27.5 To stand out it bootes not sith it is He that made Bootes and Orion c. that is of infinite power and doth whatsoever he will in heaven and earth who only doth wondrous things Psal 72.18 See chap. 4.12.13 Chimah and Chesil that is Pleiades and Orion are twice mentioned together in Iob. Noted starrs they are and known to shepheards and such like Amâ—s likely was but such an Astronomer as heardsmen use to be Those that writ of these starrs tell us that Chimah comes of Chamah to love ardently because of the fellowship and working together that appeares in them They be seven starres that have all one name because they all help one another in their work which is to bring the spring and like seven sisters or lovers so are they joyned together in one constellation and in one company We see saith One that God will have the sweetest works in nature to be performed by mutuall help The best time of the yeare commeth with these seven starrs hence we read of their sweet influence Iob. 38.11 and the best time of our life commeth when we enter into true love and fellowship As for Orion it is the starr saith the same Author that brings winter and his bonds cannot be loosed It binds the earth with frost and cold that the fruits thereof might be seasoned and made kindly against the Spring neither can the Spring come till Orion have prepared the way God will have us suffer before we raigne The word Chesil here used signifies in the Chaldee to perfect because by suffering and offering violence to our selves we enter into perfection Luk. 13.32 If we would have a pleasant Spring of graces in our hearts we must first have a nipping winter the spirit of mortification must be like the cold starr Orion to nip our quick motions in the head and to bind all our uncleane desires and burning lusts that they stirr not in us and unlesse we do thus the seven starrs of Comfort shall never appeare to us and turneth the shadow of death tenebras ferales letales Psal 23.4 that is the thickest darknesse into the morning into the shining light
that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 14.18 This severing of night from day and day from night this mutuall and orderly succession and course of the night after the day and the day after the night the lengthening and shortening of the dayes in summer and winter the wonderfull eclipses and other occurrents of that nature are works of Gods power and providence not to be slighted but improved to true repentance We are to mark the countenance of the skie and to discerne the face of heaven that every day and night winketh at us and beckneth to us to remember the wisdome power justice and mercy of God lined out unto us in the browes of the firmament The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy-work Psal 19.1 The creatures are Regij professores saith One Catholike preachers saith Another real Postills of the Divinity saith a third Clemens Alexandrinus saith that the World is Dei scriptura the first Bible that God made for the instruction of man Antonius Eremita told a Philosopher who objected to him his want of bookes that the Universe was to him instead of a well-furnisht library Aug. de doct christ l. 1. Niceph. l. 8. cap. 40. Lib. 2. de Arca cap. 3. every where ready at hand Hugo affirmeth that every thing uttereth these three words Accipe Redde Fuge Receive mercy Return duty Shun sin together with that hell that it hales at the heeles of it Much a man may learn out of the book of Nature with its three leaves Heaven Earth and Sea but there he must not rest For as where the Naturalist ends the Physician begins so where Nature failes and can go no further there Scripture succeeds and gives more grace Iam. 4.6 Psal 19.1 2 7 8. The Caldee Paraphrast takes this text allegorically as if the sense were God changeth his hand towards the sons of men at his pleasure prospering them one while crossing them another so that they walk in darknesse and have no light Esay 50.10 yea they walk through the vale of the shadow of death Psal 23.4 Not through a dark entry or church-yard in the night time but a vally a large long vast place not of darknesse onely but of death and not bare death but the shadow of death that is the darkest and most dismall side of death in its most hideous and horrid representations And yet if God be with his Davids in this sad condition no hurt shall befall them butmuch good Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur That calleth for the waters of the sea that is for great armyes saith the Chaldee But better take it litterally of the generation of raine the chief author whereof is God the materiall cause is the sea sending up vapours The Instrumentall cause is the Sun by the beames whereof God drawes the vapours upwards sends for them as it were into the middle region of the ayre there thickeneth them into clouds and then resolveth them into raine This Kimchi illustrateth by the simile of a boyling pot whereout vapours and fumes ascending to the colder pot-lid are turned into drops of water See Gen. 2.6 The waters of the sea 1 King 18.44 A little cloud arose out of the sea like a mans hand And presently the Prophet said to Ahab Prepare thy charet and get thee down that the raine stop thee not And it came to passe in the meane while that the heaven was black with cloudes c. Humorem magnâ— tollunt aequore ponti Nubes qui in toto terrarum spargitur orbe Lucret. lib. 6. Cum pluit in terris The Naturalists observe that it snowes not in the sea because it sends up hot vapours which presently dissolve the snow the Lord is his name His memoriall Hos 12.5 See the Note there He is not an idol to be dallied with and deluded Verse 9. That strengtheneth the spoyled against the strong Victorem à victo superari saepe videmus God can quickly change the scene turn the scales Ier. 37.10 though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans and there remained but wounded men among them yet should they rise up every man in his tent and burn this city with fire In a bloody fight between Amurath the third King of Turks and Lazarus Despot of Servia many thousands fell on both sides In conclusion the Turks had the victory and Lazarus was slaine Amurath after that great victory with some few of his chief captaines taking view of the dead bodyes which without number lay on heapes in the field like mountaines a Christian souldier sore wounded and all blood seeing him in staggering manner arose as if it had been from death out of an heape of slaine men and making toward him for want of strength fell down diverse times by the way as he came as if he had been a drunken man At length drawing nigh unto him when they which guarded the kings person would have stayed him he was by Amurath himself commanded to come neerer supposing that he would have craved his life of him Thus this half-dead Christian pressing neerer unto him as if he would for honour sake have kissed his feet suddenly stabbed him in the bottome of his belly with a short dagger which he had under his coat of which wound that great king and conqueror presently died The name of this man was Miles Cobelite who Turk hist fol. 200. before sore wounded was shortly after in the presence of Bajazet Amuraths son cut into small peeces So in that memorable fight between the Swissers and the Dolphâ—n neare to Basile when Burcardus monk a noble-man and a great souldier Lavat in Prov. 27.14 grew proud of the victory and put up his helmet that he might behold what a â—laughter they had made one of the half-dead Swissers rising up upon his knees threw a stone at him which hitting right gave him his deaths-wound At the battle of Agincourt where our Henry 5. won the day Speed 795. ex hypod Nerstr the French were so confident of a victory that they sent to king Henry to know what ransome he would give and c. Henry comforting his army with a speech resolved to open his way over the enemies bosome or else to die After which such was the courage of the English notwithstanding their great wants as he that ere while could scarcely bend his bow is able now to draw his yard-long arrow to the very head so that the spoyled or spoyle shall come against the fortresse And take it by assault Deus loca quantumvis valida vasta facit Prov. 21.30 There is no strength against the Lord. Verse 10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate In domo judicij saith the Chalde for the gate was the place of judgement verse 12.15 Deut. 17.5 12 15. Those then that did not approve and applaud the oppressions and wrong-dealings of the Judges and rich bribers but cryed out
must you ever hope to escape unpunished or to keep up your Common-wealth unshattered so long as ye deal thus preposterously perversly and absurdly Prov. 14.14 That of Virgil is not much unlike Atque idem jungat vulpes Eclog. 3. mulgeat hircos for ye have turned judgement into gall c. Or into poyson the Chaldee rendreth it into the head of hurtfull serpents The word seemeth to signifie the poyson of serpents which is in the head See Hos 10.4 with the Note and the fruit of righteousnesse into hemlock Or Wormwood as if ye were a kin to that Starre in the Revelation that is stiled Wormwood Revel 8.11 Bellarm lib. 4. de Pontif. Romam that great Antichrist who would make the world beleeve that he hath power de injustitia facere justitiam ex nihilo aliquid ex virtute vitium that is of injustice to make justice of nothing to make something of vertue vice to dispence with any of the ten Commandements In Extrav to make new articles of the Creed to dispose of all kingdoms at his pleasure and what not Pope John 23 saith that he may grant a dispensation against the law of Nature and of Nations Caranza Sum. Conc sess 13. against St. Paul and St. Peter against the four Gospels c. The Councel of Constance comes in with a Non-obstante against Christs own institution with-holding the cup from the Sacrament and the like for priests marriages prayers in a known tongue singing of Psalms c. When the Cardinalls meet to chuse a Pope they make a vow whosoever is chosen he shall swear to such Articles as they make And Sleydan telleth us that the Pope is no sooner chosen but he breaks them all and checks their insolencies as if they went about to limit his power to whom all power is given both in heaven and earth both in spirituals and temporals And indeed he is called the Beast in respect of his civil power and the false-prophet in respect of his spiritual and the Starre Wormwood because being himself in the gall of bitternesse and bond of perdition he turneth all judgement into gall and the fruit of righteousnesse into wormwood See Chap. 5.7 Verse 13. Ye which rejoyce in a thing of nought In the creature saith à Lapide which is a meer Nothing in your wealth and strength called hornes in the next clause which are an uncertainty an obscurity as the Apostle deemed them 1 Tim. 6.17 and have no solid subsistence saith Solomon Prov. 23.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though the foolish world call them substance and goods Indeed it is onely opinion that sets the price upon them as when gold is raised from twenty shillings to two and twenty the gold is the same estimation only raiseth it It is said of the people of the East-Indies in the Isle Zeiilon that having an apes tooth got from them which was a consecrated thing by them they offered an incredible masse of treasure to recover it Such things of nought are highly prized and pursued by the worlds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by worthlesse persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 25.23 such as Anthiocus was in all his state Dan. 11.21 and Agrippa in all his pomp or as the Greek hath it in all his phantasy or vaine shew and as these voluptuaries in the text who had their wine and their musick fat calves and choycest oyntments wherein they held themselves happy verse 4.5 6. but the Prophet telleth them that in rejoycing in these low things they rejoyced in a thing of nought they fed altogether upon ashes a deceived heart had turned them aside so that they could not deliver themselves from these empty vanities nor say as wise men would have done Is there not a lie in my right hand Esay 44.20 Which say Have we not taken to us horns yet no doubt but such as God by his Carpenters can soon cut off Zech. 1.20 21 or without them by his own bare hand Psal 75.11 But what an arrogant brag is here Have we not taken and to us and horns and by our own strength Hic Deus nihil fecit Here God did nothing they were all the doers so small a winde blowes up bubble Sic levè sic parvum est animum quod laudis avarum Subruit aut reficit It is a notable witty expression of Luther By mens boasting of what they have done saith He Hac ego feci haec ego feci This and that I have done Luth. in Psal 127. they become nothing else but faeces that is dregs if themselves were any thing they would not thus rejoyce in a thing of nothing they would not crack in this sort Verse 14. But behold I will raise up against you a nation c. which shall be a cooler to your courage a rebater to your swelth a meanes to take you a link lower and to stain the glory of your pride I tell you not what a nation it is that you may imagine the worst but you will finde their quiver is an open sepulchre they are all mighty men and no lesse mercilesse Jer. 5.16 17. and they shall afflict you or crush you from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of the wildernesse from one end of your land to the other that as ye have filled it from corner to corner with your uncleannesses Ezra 9.11 so there may passe over it an overflowing scourge to wash the foul face of it as once the old world Hamath was before noted to be Antiochia which was one of the bounds of the land of Israel to the North-East the river of the wildernesse is else where called the river of Egypt as some will have it See Num. 34.5 8. Deut. 3.17 Iosh 13.3 and 15.47 1 Chron. 13.35 where the wildernesse was Joel 1.20 I cannot but concurr with Kimchi who by the river of the valleys here understandeth the dead sea comparing this text with 2 King 14.25 Deut. 3.17 It being common in Scripture to call lakes and great rivers by the name of Seas Luke 5.1 with Num. 34.11 Josephus Galenus The dead sea also is in Humane Authours called the lake Asphaltites the lake of Palestina of Sodom c. It lieth to the South-west and is elsewhere made the bound of the Promised land Num. 34.3 Josh 15.2 CHAP. VII Verse 1. THus hath the Lord God shewed unto me sc in a Propheticall vision this being the first of those five that follow to the end of the Prophesie all foretelling the evils that should befall this people to whom Amos is again sent as Ahijah was to Jeroboams wife with heavie tidings and as Ezekiel was afterwards to his rebellious countreymen with a roul written full of lamentations and mourning and woe Ezech. 2.10 and behold he formed grashoppers Or locusts fore-runners of famine Joel 1.4 See the Note there or as some will of the Assyrians whom the divine justice made a scorpion to Israel as
Israel had been a scourge to Judah When the Israelites were in their flourish as the grasse or wheat is in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter groweth they had been first mowed by Benhadad king of Syria but growing up again under Jeroboam their king they were devoured by Pul and his Army as by so many greedy locusts In the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth For in those fat and fertile countreys they used Luxuriem segetum tener â depascere in herba Virg. Georg. 1. Now if the latter growth were eaten up too what else could follow but extreme famine It was the latter growth after the kings mowings Or sheep-shearings as some read it but the former is better and Diodate here noteth that it is thought that the kings did take the first crop in esum usum jumentorum to keep their warre horses and for other services leaving the latter mowings for other cattle who were taught to say After your Majestie is good manners Verse 2. When they had made an end of eating Not the corn onely but the grasse to the very roots besides a pestilent stench left behinde them when I say they had done their worst Prayer is the best lever at a dead lift as is to bee seen Jam. 5.18 upon the prayer of Elias the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit after three years and a halfs drought when it might well have been thought that root and fruits and all had been dried up and that prayer had come too late But that 's seldome seen as all Gods people can say experimentally But what shall we think of Jamblicus Lib. 5. cap. 27. a Heathen Authour who hath such a commendation of prayer which might well beseem an experienced Christian He calleth it Rerum divinarum ducem lucem copulam quâ homines cum Deo conjunguntur the guide and light of divine duties the band whereby men are united to God Nay he proceedeth and saith that prayer is clavis instar qua Dei penetralia aperiuntur instead of a key wherewith Gods cabinet is opened and much more to the same purpose All this the Prophet knew full well and therefore sets to work in good earnest and as when a cart is in a quagmire if the horses feel it coming they 'le pull the harder till they have it out so He. Then I said O Lord God forgive I beseech thee Sin he knew was their greatest enemy the mother of all their misery Of that therefore hee prayes for pardon and then hee knew all should be well as when the sore is healed the plaister falleth off Of Christ it is said that He shall save his people from their sinnes Mat. 1.21 as the greatest of evils and the Church in Hosea chap. 14.2 cries Take away all iniquity Feri Domine feri saith Luther nam à peccatis absalutus sum Smite me as much as thou pleasest now that thou hast forgiven my sins By whom shall Jacob arise for he is small Here is much in few It is Jacob thy confederate and he is down upon all four and he is but small low and little and as some render it Quis stabit Jacobo Behold He whom thou lovest is sick Ioh. 11.3 They that are thine by covenant are at a very great under trodden on by the buls of Basan as a poor shrub of the wildernesse so the Psalmists word imports Psal 102.17 Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied that knowes not whether he had best help or not or as a mighty man that cannot save Jer. 14.9 Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy Name leave us not Thus the Prophets indeed prayed for their unkind countreymen so did Paul Athanasius Luther I have obtained of God said He that never whilest I live shall the Pope prevail against my countrey when I am gone let those pray that can pray And indeed he was no sooner gone but all Germany was on a flame Act. Mon. as when Austins head was laid Hippo was soon surprized by the enemy and when Pareus's Heidelberg Verse 3. The Lord repented for this it shall not be saith the Lord. Here was mutatio rei non Dei facti non consilij a change not of Gods will but of his work therefore by way of explication it followeth it shall not bee saith the Lord. To speak properly there can be no repentance in God 1 Sam. 15.20 but this is spoken after the manner of men and it notably setteth forth the power of faithfull prayer able after a sort to alter Gods minde and to transfuse a dead Palsie into the hands of Omnipotencie Exod. 32.10 where God is fain to be-speak his own freedom and Moses is represented as the great Chancellour of heaven Verse 4. And behold the Lord God whose Asterisk or starry Note this behold is saith Tarnovius stirring up to attention Another compareth it to an hand in the margent of a book pointing to some notable thing Another to the sounding of a trumpet before some proclamation or to the ringing of a bell before the sermon of some famous Preacher the Lord God called to contend by fire that is by parching heat and drought causing dearth as Joel 1.19 For which purpose God called his Angels those ministring spirits that execute his judgements upon the wicked as they did once upon Sodom to contend for him a metaphor from civil courts to plead for him by fire to destroy the perverse Israelites by fire and brimstone Esay 66.16 Ezech. 38.22 as they had done Sodom and Gomorrah so some interpret it according to the letter or by the woe of warre compared to fire 2 King 14.26 Esay 26.11 as being a misery which all words how wide soever want compasse to expresse Or by immoderate heat and drought as afore so great that it devoured the great deep as that fire of the Lord in Eliah's time licked up the water that was in the treuch 1 King 18.38 See Esay 51.10 and did eat up a part Or it devoured also the field Not onely the waters in and under the earth that serve to make it fruitfull but a part of the earth it self which was altogether above and against the common course of nature Kimchi Some render it and did eat up that part or that field sc that mentioned verse 1. the Kings field that as the King had chiefly offended so he should be principally punished Drusius Other interpret it by chap. 4.7 One piece was rained upon and the piece whereon it rained not withered Verse 5. Then said I O Lord God cease I beseech thee See verse 2. and persevering in prayer for the publike remember to plead not merit but misery Psal 79.8 9. and with all humility to acknowledge that it is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not Lam. 3.22 Verse 6. The Lord repented for this
Philosophers say that before a snow the weather will be warmish when the wind lies the great raine falles and the faire weather made before him till the instant that he was drowned in the sea Nebuchadnezzar Herod and other tyrants were smitten in the height of their pride and ruffe of their iollity Jerusalem had three yeares great plenty before her last destruction of which some interpret this Text. Those seven once flourishing Churches of Asia how glorious and resplendent were they till they had sinned away their light The same might be said of many others and who knowes how soon it may be said also of us who knowes whether we be not even now upon the very Tropikes and turning-points of time Surely Gods patience towards us quò diuturnior eò minacior the longer it lasteth the more evill is toward us if we abuse it If in a land of light we love darknesse better then light we may soon have enough of it Solem in Britannia non occidere nec resurgere retulii Tacitus In vit Agricol Tacitus telleth us that at some time of the yeare the Sun seemeth neither to rise nor fall in this country but so lightly to pass from us in the night that you can scarce discern day from night Of England for this many yeares it may be said as Solinus doth of the Rhodes Polyhistor that it is semper in Sole sita ever in the Sun How long it shall be so He alone knowes that knowes all Walk whiles ye have the light and pray that God would discloud these gloomy dayes with the beames of his mercy and not cause our Sun to go down at noon nor our land to be darkened in the clear day Oh stop this Sun of righteousnesse posting as it may seem from us when the blind man cried lustily Jesus though journying stood still stay him by your importunities as those two did at Emaus and say Vespera jam venit nobiscum Christe maneto Extingui lucem nec patiare tuam Verse 10. And I will turn your feasts into mourning Whether your idolatrous feasts and temple-musick whereby you vainely conceit to be secured from danger saying Is not the Lord amongst us what evill can come unto us Or your common feasts whereat you have songs to cheer you up and so to put sorrow from your hearts and evill from your flesh nourishing your selves as in a day of slaughter or good cheer Jam. 5.5 All shall be turned into mourning funerall mourning see ver 3. and I will bring up sack-cloth upon all loynes for a token of your great grief as the custome then was and is still for mourning-weedes The Hebew word sack is the same in almost all languages which sheweth that the Hebrew is the mother of all the rest saith Mercer and baldnesse upon every head you shall pull off your haire for grief Or because they had learned of the Heathens their neighbours in token of lamentation to shave their heades Ezech. 7.18 Jer. 48.37 and beards too Isa 15.2 which yet was forbidden them to do Lev. 19.27 and 21 9. unlesse it were to shew their sorrow for sin Esa 22.12 and I will make it as the mourning of an only son which was very bitter Jer. 6.26 Zech. 12.10 The losse of a loving yoke fellow is more grievous then that of a son but to father and mother together nothing more bitter then luctuosa foecunditas Laeta's case in Hierome to bury many children and especially to bury all in One and the end thereof as a bitter day Thereof that is either of that land or of that lamentation there shall be bitternesse in the end So the Poet Nunc amara dies noctis amarior umbra est Tioul lib 2. Omnia jam tristi tempora felle madent How could it be otherwise then extream bitter with this people when heaven and earth conspired to punish them neither had they the good word of God called the word of his patience Rev. 3.10 written on purpose that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 that out of those breasts of consolation we might suck and be satisfied Esa 66.11 to succour them and keep from swooning Psal 119.92 And this was the greatest plague of all the rest and is therefore reserved to the last place deterrima tanquam colophon as a most sad catastrophe Verse 11. Behold the dayes come Behold it for it is a just wonder the Lord createth a new thing in the earth when Israel should want the word Israel to whom were committed the oracles of God Israel to whom God had spoken by the mouth of his holy Prophets which had been since the world began Luc. 1.70 in a sweet succession See my True treasure pag. 3.4 He made known his wayes to Moses his acts and monuments to the children of Israel Psal 103.7 Yet even these who had the cornu-copia of Gods word shall now suffer a famine of it they shall have cause to â—ry out We see not our signes there is no more any Prophet neither is there amongst us any that knoweth how long Psal 74.9 the word of God shall be pretious 1 Sam. 3. and they shall be hard put to 't to come by it Amaziah and his complices shall not need to pack away the Prophets as chap. 7.12 and to bid them go preach elsewhere the law shall be no more the Prophets also shall find no vision from the Lord Lam. 2.9 that I will send a famine in the land Heb. I will let it out sc out of my treasury of plagues where I have it ready and desirous to be a broad and turn it loose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuag which before I kept up as a wild beast that it might not hurt nor destroy in all mine holy mountaine now it shall out amongst you and the devill with it Rev. 12.12 with hell at the heeles of it not a famine of bread though that 's very grievous Lam. 1.11 19. and 2.12 20. and 4.4 9. and 5.16 and puts people to many hard straits and extremities as were easie to instance even to the eating of one another nor a thirst for water a torment more intolerable then the former Lysimachus to save his life parted with his kingdom for a draught of water But of hearing the word of the Lord which is pabulum animae the souls proper food such as she cannot live without but when God seeth his oracles vilipended and lying under the table 't is just with him to call to the enemy to take away It was so with those seven churches of Asia among many others as also with those of Africa that vast Continent thrice as large as Europe in all which there is not any region intirely possessed by Christians but the kingdom of Habassia for as for the large region of Nubia which had from the Apostles time as 't is thought professed the Christian faith it hath again
choice young men best able to endure thirst a long season shall faint for thirst Heb. shall be over-covered with grief shall be troubled and perplexed shall faint and swoon shall find by experience that all flesh is grasse and the glory thereof as the flower of the field that even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint Esa 40.30 31. Verse 14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria i. e. by the calfe set up at Bethel not farre from Samaria This calfe is called the sin or guilt of Samaria Esa 40.6 7. to shew the abomination of it for which cause also Paul cals it sinful sin Rom. 7.13 as not finding for it a worse Epithite and Antichrist for like cause he calleth That man of sin 2 Thess 2 3. to note him Merum scelus saith Beza meerly made up of sin Now to swear by this of Samaria was to deifie it to swear by any thing besides the true God is to forsake him Jer. 5.7 which is an hateful wickednesse Jer. 2.12 13. as in Papists who familiarly swear by their Hee-Saints and She-Saints and so sacrilegiously transferre upon the creature that which pertaineth to God alone and say Thy god O Dan liveth God onely liveth to speak properly 1 Tim. 6.17 but to say that Dan's Deunculus lived being no better then a dumb and dead idol and to sweat by the life of it Spec. Eurâ—p as the Spaniards do now in the pride of their Monarchy by the life of their king this is horrible impiety As for that of Abigail to David 1 Sam. 25.26 Now therefore my Lord as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth the former was an oath the latter was not an oath but an asseveration or obtestation onely conjoyned with an oath and the manner of Beersheba liveth that is the formes and rites of worshipping in Beersheba another nest of idolatry Chap. 5.5 and Hos 10.13 as the Chaldee paraphraseth it Durandus hath written the Romish Ritual the way of worship used in that Synagogue of Satan Mercer rendreth it Vivet peregrinatio Beerseba the way or passage of Beerseba liveth Beerseba had an idol and was the way to Dan and Bethel hence this superstitious oath drawn out to the full length By the sin of Samaria by the god of Dan and by the manner of Beersheba like as the great Turk Mahomet promising his souldiers the spoyle of Constantinople for three dayes together if they could win it for confirmation of his oath solemnly swore by the immortal God and by the four hundred Prophets by Mahomet by his fathers soul by his own children Turk hist 345. and by the sword wherewith he was girt faithfully to perform whatsoever he had to them in his proclamation promised even they shall fall and never rise up again Fall fatally ferally irrecoverably as old Eli did when his neck was broken but first his heart The ten tribes for their idolatry and contempt of the word never returned out of captivity From the famine foretold what could follow but irreparable ruine though for a time they might flourish See Prov. 29.1 with the note Of that spiritual famine let us be most impatient and say as Luther did I would not live in Paradise without the word but with it I could make a shift to live in hell it self CHAP. IX Verse 1. I saw the Lord This Seer Chap. 7.12 saw the Lord in a vision for otherwise God is too subtile for sinew or sight to seize upon him We cannot look upon the body of the Sun neither can we see at all without the beams of it so here standing upon the Altar Or firmly set sc to do execution upon that Altar sc that idolatrous Altar at Bethel fore-mentioned and formerly threatned by another Prophet 1 Kin. 13.1.2 The Rabbines say God was seen standing upon that Altar as ready to sacrifice and slay the men of that age whose idolatries and other impieties he could no longer bear with And hence it is haply that he is brought in standing like as Act. 7.55 Jesus at Stevens death was seen standing at the right hand of God where he is usually said to sit Stat ut vindex sedet ut judex And he said sc to the Angel that stood by Zeck 3.7 or to the enemy commissionated by him or to some other creature for they are all his servants Psal 119.91 neither can he want a weapon to tame his rebels with smite the lintel of the door that the posts may shake Smite with a courage as Ezeck 9. Angels give no light blowes Behold the Lord the Lord of Hosts shall lop the bough with terrour and the high ones of stature shall be hewen down and the haughty shall be humbled Esa 10.33 34. And he shal cut down the thickest of the forrests with iron and Lebanon shal fal by a Mighty one that is by an Angel shall he smite to the ground that mighty army which was like a thick wood see Esai 37.36 Psal 78.25 and 89.6 So at our Saviours Resurrection an Angel in despite of the souldiers set to watch rolled away the grave-stone and sat upon it And as a mighty man when he sitteth down shaketh the bench under him so did He shake the earth and for fear of him the Keepers did shake and became as dead men Mat. 28.2 4. Down with this Idol-Temple down with it saith God here even to the ground and cut them in the head al of them cleave them down the middle so that every post may be sure to fall being divided from the top to the bottom and let this act be a signe to them all of what I intend to do to their persons as many of them as by this gate have entred into this Idol-Temple and Altar A deep cut in the head is dangerous and deadly Gen. 3.15 Psal 68.22 and I wil slay the last of them I by mine agents and instruments as afore for it is but one hand and many executioners that God slayes men with Job could discern Gods arrowes in Satans hand and Gods hand on the armes of the Sabaean robbers The sword is bathed in heaven before it is embrewed in mens blood Isai 34.5 The Lord killeth and maketh alive saith holy Hannah 1 Sam. 2.6 He that fleeth of them shall not flee away See chap. 2.14 with the Note and say Behold the severity of God Rom. 11.12 Verse 2. Though they dig into hell c. No starting-hole shall secure them from the wrath of God and rage of the creature set a work by him Hell and destruction are before the Lord Prov 15.11 yea hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering Job 25.6 He hath a sharp eye and a long hand to pull men out of their
Jer. 5.22 saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence which have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall decree that it cannot passe it and though the waves thereof tosse themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar Lib. de mirabil yet can they not passe over it This Aristotle admires and David celebrates in his Physicks as One calleth that 104 Psalm verse 6.9 and all men should improve to affright their consciences from provoking to anger so great a God Verse 6. It is he that buildeth his stories or spheres in the heaven Surgit hic oratio The Prophet here riseth in his discourse and as Chrysostom said of St. Paul Tricubitalis est coelos transcendit Low though he were and little yet he gat up into the third heaven so may we of Amos though but a plain-spoken and illiterate heardsman yet in setting forth the power of God hee mounts from earth to heaven and shews himself to bee Virum bonum dicendi peritum an exquisite Oratour according to Quintilians character God this Great Architect and publike-workman as the Apostle after Plato whom he seemeth to have read calleth Him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.10 hath without tool or toil Esay 40.28 builded his stories in the heaven which is three stories high 2 Cor. 12.2 wherein as in a theatre or molten looking-glasse Job 37.18 his Majesty most clearly shineth chap. 4.13 and 5.8 See Psal 104.3 every sphere and starre twinckling at us and as it were beekning to us to remember his omnipotency whereof that rare Fabrick is a notable work and witnesse and not to think to escape his judgements if we go on in sinne For although he be higher then the heavens Job 8.11 yet his eyes behold his eye-lids try the children of men Psal 11.4 and verse 6. Upon the wicked He shall rain down snares fire and brimstone c. and hath founded his troop or bundle in the earth that is the other three elements say some the Sea which together with the earth maketh one Globe say others the Vniverse saith Mr. Diodate which is like the fabrick of a building of which the earth being the lower part and onely unmoveable hath some resemblance of a foundation He that calleth for the waters of the Sea and poureth them out c. See the Note on chap. 5.8 Verse 7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me The emphasis lieth in this last word Vnto me who am no respecter of persons but in every nation Act. 10.3.4 he that feareth God and worketh righteousnesse is accepted with him Unto your selves indeed you seem some great businesse because Israelites to whom pertaineth the Adoption and the glory and the covenants c. Rom 9.4 To others also you seem a great nation yea a wise and understanding people as having God so nigh unto you and so set for you Deut. 4.6 7. and 33.29 But tell me Quis te discrevit Who made you to differ and what have ye more then others that ye have not me to thank for You look upon the Ethiopians with scorn as an ignoble and servile people as likewise upon the uncircumcised Philistines and unhallowed Syrians But wherein are you beyond them if you look back to your Original and consider my dealings with them and you It is nothing else but self-love that maketh you thus insolent and teacheth you to turn the glasse to see your selves bigger Others lesser then they are You foolishly set up your Counter for a thousand pound and are in some sence like those Ethiopians or Negroes Heyl. Geogr. so much slighted by you of whom it is said that they paint the devill white as being a colour contrary to their own But much more to blame are you that being Gods peculiar people and partakers of so great priviledges you do no more change your evill manners then the Ethiopians do their black-hue Jer. 13.23 you are no where white but in your teeth as they good a little from the teeth outward I am neer in your mouthes but farr from your reines Jer. 12.2 Such an one was that stigmaticall Cush the son of Iemini mentioned in the title of the seventh Psalme perhaps Saul the son of Kish the Beniamite is intended non tam cute quà m corde Aethiopicus of black and ill conditions and therefore to God no better then an Ethiopian or any other Pagan people have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt q. d. I grant I have and you glory very much in it whereas you should rather glorify me much for it and walk worthy of such a deliverance for every blessing is a binder and every new deliverance a new tie to obedience But what singular thing have I herein done for you more then for Philistines and Syrians whom yet you look upon as dogs and out-casts have not I also brought up the Philistines from Caphtor i. e. from Cappadocia called an Island Ier. 47. because it bordered upon the sea or Turk hist 843. as some will have it from Cyprus a rich Island called therefore Macariah that is Blessed and the Syrians from Kir Syros è Kiro from Cyrene a countrey of Asia as Beroaldus thinketh It is mentioned Esa 22.6 Chron. lib. 4. cap. 6. as subject to the king of Assyria and thither the Syrians were translated by Tiglath-Pileser 2 King 16.9 but when either these or the Philistines were brought back againe to their own countreys we read not in scripture or elsewhere at this day 1 Chron 4.22 These are ancient things as it is said in another case and are here alledged as well known to the Israelites who are nipt on the crown as they say and pulled from that perilous pinacle of self-exaltation whereupon they had unhappily peirked themselves Verse 8. Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinfull kingdome Be it Ethiopia Palestina Syria or Israel but especially Israel Amos 3.2 not his eye only his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his jealous eye as ver 4. for evill and not for good but both his eyes yea his seven eyes for he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All eye to look through and through the sinfull kingdome to judge and punish to inflict tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evill of the Jew first because of his priviledges and also of the Gentile Rom. 2.9 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron with the point of a diamond Jer. 17.1 and Israel is therefore worse then others because he ought to have been better His whole kingdome is a kingdome of sin a merum scelus a very Poneropolis as that place in Thracia was called Theopomp whither Philip had assembled all the infamous persons and men of evill demeanour What is the transgression of Jacob Is it not Samaria Mic. 1.5 their capitall sins were most in their capitall cities and thence overflowed the whole kingdome called
too The Branch grew out of the root of Jesse when that goodly family was sunk so low as from David the king to Joseph the carpenter Besides all was out of order both in Church and State when Christ came and close up the breaches thereof Heb. wall up by unwalling as the Hebrew hath it Num. 24.17 all the children of Seth by subduing the sons of men the godly seed to the obedience of faith by bringing into captivity every haughty thought c. 2 Cor. 10.4 5. that at the name of Jesus every knee may bow Philip. 2.10 and getting a full conquest by the preaching of the gospell which shall quickly close up all ruptures and raise up all ruines by chasing away terrours and false-worships doctrines of devils and traditions of men whereby the Scribes and Pharisees had made the commandement of God of none effect and I will build it as in the dayes of old in those purer times of David and the other holy Patriarches who made up but one and the same Church with us and were saved by the same faith in Christ Jesus that Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world Rev 13.8 Mine antiquity is Jesus Christ said Ignatius the Martyr As we preferr the newest Philosophy so the ancient'st Divinity saith Another Verse 12. That they may possesse the remnant of Edom That they which are called by my name which are called Christians viz. the Apostles and their successours to the end of the world may possesse together with Christ to whom the Father hath given the Heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession the remnant of Edom those few of them that receive the faith who are but as a remnant to the whole peece an handful to a houseful Psal 2. â— And not of the Edomites onely those inveterate and hereditary enemies to the Israel of God but of all the heathen which are called by name who beseech and are baptized into Christs name being content to receive his mark and to professe his Religion which formerly they were perfect strangers to These and those first Preachers of the Gospel and Planters of Churches being Israelites by birth are said to possesse by inheritance because Christ was pleased to make use of their ministery and upon these his white horses to ride abroad the world conquering and to conquer Rev. 6.1 2. In a like sense it is promised Esa 14.2 that the house of Israel shall possesse their proselytes in the land of the Lord for servants and for handmaids and take them captives whose captives they were and rule over their oppressours Such a change shall the Gospel make saith the Lord that doth this For indeed none else could have done it Effectual conversion is his work alone God perswade Japhet c. Noah may speak perswasively but God onely can perswade Rebecca may cook the venison but Isaac onely can give the blessing Paul may plant c. Deus potest facere nec solet fallere Verse 13. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that the plowman c. The Gospel of peace brings with it the peace of the Gospel and with peace plenty with the horn of salvation the horn of plenty a confluence of outward comforts and contentments Boâ—us Deus Constâ—nâ— tantis terrenâ— implevit muâ—â—â—bus qâ—anta â—pâ—â—re nullus â—uderet Dâ— C D. l. 5.25 Elizabetha gloriâ—sissima foeliciss soemina Thuan. Hist lib. 124. as in Solomons dayes and Constantines whom God prospered and blessed beyond all that he could have wished saith Austin and Q. Elizabeths whom for her care to propagate the Gospel He made to be the happiest woman that ever swayed scepter as her very enemies were forced to acknowledge so liberal a paymaster is the Lord that all his retributions are more then bountiful and this his servants have not ex largitate sed ex promisso out of his generall providences but by vertue of a promise which is farre sweeter The Masorites have observed that in this verse are found all the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet as also in 26 more verses of the Old Testament to note say the Calvinists that in the kingdome of the Messiah there shall be great abundance of all things plenum copiae cornu or if that should fail yet plenty of all spiritual benedictions in heavenly things In instauratione casulae Davidicae coâ—apsae Merc. Amama Eph. 1.3 and contented godlinesse 1 Tim. 6.6 which hath an autarkie a self-sufficiency so that having nothing a man possesseth all things 2 Cor. 6.10 This the Prophet expresseth in the following words by many excellent hyperbole's though to say sooth Christus regnum ejus non patiuntur hyperbolen All words are too weak to set forth the worth of Christ and his kingdom the plowman shall overtake the reaper In signis hyperbole saith Mercer no sooner shall harvest be ended but seeding shall succeed and that promise fulfilled Levit. 26.5 all businesses belonging to the tillage of the ground and the inning of the fruit shall have their fit and sutable seasons where under the name of corporal blessings spiritual also are to be understood and indeed those blessings out of Zion are farre beyond any other that come out of heaven and earth Ps 134.3 and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed precious seed Ps 126.5 sowing-seed as one englisheth it drawn out of the seed basket and cast all along upon the land the meaning is that the vintage shall last so long that the seeds-man shall scarce have time to do his businesse for waiting upon the wine-presse and the mountains shall drop sweet wine Or juice of pomegranates more delicious liquor then that which the Italians profanely call Lachrymae Christi or that which at Paris and Lovaine is called Vinum Theologicum or Vinum Cos that is â—oloris odoris saporis optimi the best in the countrey for colour savour and taste to please the palate and al the hils shal melt sc with milk honey oyl as Joel 3.18 the same almost with this And the heathen Poet hath the like Subitis messor gaudebit aristis Claudian lib. 1. in Ruffin Rorabunt querceta favis stagnantia passim Vina fluent oleique laeus Ver. 14. And I will bring againe the captivity of my people There is an elegancy in the original that cannot be englished and God seemes delighted with such Agnominations as hath been before observed to shew the lawfull use of Rhetorike in divine discourses Act. 26.18 so it be not affected abused Idolized This promise is fulfilled when beleevers are by the gospel brought from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgivenesse of sins and be set free from the tyranny of corruption and terrour of death Heb. 2.14.15 Colos 1.13 Luk. 1.74 Zach. 9.11 Psa 68.19 and they shall build the wast cities Restore the sincere service of God as those noble Reformers did
of prayer This therefore Jonah having prayed and perceiving that he was heard and by the goodnesse of God preserved safe in body and sound in mind he growes strong in faith Rom. 4. giving glory to God and being fully perswaded that he should yet walk before him againe in the land of the living out of the fishes belly where though he might seem buried alive and free among the dead yet he enjoyed Gods gracious presence and those strong consolations that made him live in the very mouth of death and say in effect as blessed Bradford did Act Mon. fol. 1476. I thank God more of this prison and of this dark dungeon then of any parlour yea then of any pleasure that ever I had For in it I find God my most sweet God alwayes Verse 2. And said I cried by reason of mine affliction His lips did not move in affliction like a creaking doore or a new cart-wheele with murmuring and mutinying against God and men Psal 73.9 he set not his mouth against heaven as the howling wolf when hunger-bit neither did his tongue walk through the earth cursing the day of his birth Lam. 3.29 and cutting deep into the sides of such as were meanes of his misery But putting his mouth in the dust if so bee there might be hope he cried by reason of his affliction The time of affliction is the time of supplication no time like that for granting of suites Zech. 13.9 Gods afflicted may have what they will of him then such are his fatherly compassions to his sick children he reserveth his best comforts for the worst times and then speaketh to the hearts of his people when he hath brought them into the wildernesse Hos 2.13 This Jonah experimented and therefore said I cried out of mine affliction unto the Lord. Ad Dominum asslicto de pectore suspirando And he heard me How else am I alive amidst so many deaths here 's a visible answer a reall return Oh blessed be God who hath not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me Psal 66.20 Surely as the cloud which riseth out of the earth many times in them and insensible vapours falleth down in great and abundant showers so our prayers which ascend weak and narrow return with a full and enlarged answer This was but a pittifull poore prayer that Ionas here made as appeares ver 4. and so was that of David Psal 31.22 For I said in mine hast I am cut off from before thine eyes Neverthelesse thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee It would be wide with us if God should answer the best of us according to our prayers yea though well watered with teares sith Ipsae lacrymae sixt lacrymabiles c. we had need to weep over our teares sigh over our sobs mourne over our griefs c. Jonah was so taken with this kindnesse from the Lord his God that he repeates it and celebrates it a second time out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardest my voice The whales belly he calleth hels-belly because horrid and hideous deep and dismall Thence he cried as David did De profundis and was heard and delivered Yea had hell it self closed her mouth upon a praying Jonah it could not long have held him but must have vomited him up A Mandamus from God will do it at any time Psa 44.4 and what cannot faithfull Praier have of God there is a certaine omnipotency in it said Luther Verse 3. For thou hadst cast me into the deep A graphicall description of his wofull condition which yet he remembreth now as waters that are past and is thankfull to his Almighty Deliverer See the like in David Psa 116.3 and learn of these and other Saints to acknowledge the uttermost extremity of a calamity after we are delivered out of it For hereby thy judgement will be the better instructed and the more convinced thine heart also will be the more inlarged to admire and thy mouth the wider opened to celebrate the power wisdome and mercy of God in thy deliverance As if this be not done God will be provoked either to inflict heavier judgements or else to cease to smite thee any more with the stripes of a father and to give thee up for a lost child for thou had'st cast me into the deep Not the mariners but Thou didst it and therefore there was no averting or avoyding it Thou had'st cast me with a force as a stone out of a sling or as that mighty Angel Rev. 18.21 that took up a stone like a great milstone and cast it into the sea saying Thus with violence c. In the middest of the seas Heb in the heart of the sea 's so Mat. 12.40 So shall the Son of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth And Deut. 4.11 we read of the heart of heaven that is the middle of it as the heart sitteth in the middest of the body as king of that Isle of Man Now if it were so grievous to be cast into the main Sea what shall it be to be hurled into hell by such an hand and with such a force into that bottomelesse gulf whence nothing was ever yet boyed up againe and the floods compassed me about Aquarum confluges The Sea whence all floods or rivers issue and whereto they return Homer calleth the Ocean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a river by the figure Miôsis Danaeus here noteth that out of that gulf of the Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which of Plato is called Tartarus that is hell the waters do flow into the veines of the earth as it is Eccles 1.7 losing their saltnesse in the passage Here Jonah cried out as Psa 69.1.2 Save me O God for the waters are come in unto my soule I fink in deep mire where there is no standing I am come into the deep waters where the floods overflow me It was onely his faith that held him up by the chin and like blown bleathers bore him alost all waters all thy billowes and thy waves passed over me All so it seemed to Jonah that God had powred out all his displeasure upon him but he sufâ—ereth not his whole wrath to arise against his people neither remembreth iniquity for ever Thy billowes or surges not the seas but thine God seemed to fight against Jonah with his own hand David likewise in a desertion complaines that all Gods waves and floods were gone over him Ps 42.7 In this case for it may be any ones case let us do as Paul and his company did in that dismall tempest Act. 27. when they saw neither sun nor star for diverse dayes and nights together cast anchor of hope even beyond hope and then wait and wish for day God will appeare at length and all shall clear up he will deliver our soules from the nethermost hell Vers 4. Then I said I am cast
out of thy sight Thus those straits brought him to these disputes of despair as they did likewise David Psal 31.22 the Church in the Lamentations Chap. 4.22 and others apt enough in affliction to have hard conceits of God and heavy conceits of themselves Whiles men look at things present whiles they live by sense onely it must needs be with them as with an house without pillars tottering with every blast or as a ship without anchor tossed with every wave They must therefore thrust Hagar out of doors and set up Sarah silence their reason and exalt Faith as did Jonas here Then I said I am cast out of thy sight Here you may take him up for a dead man here he inclineth somewhat to that of Cain Gen. 4.13 14. and surely they that go down to this pit of despair as Hezechiah speaketh of the grave cannot hope for Gods truth Esa 38. as long as there they stay yet I wil look again toward thine holy Temple Here he recollects and recovers himself as the same soul may successively doubt and believe not simultaneously and faith where it is right will at length outwrastle diffidence and make a man more then a conquerour even a Triumpher When sense saith such a thing will not be Reason saith It cannot be Faith gets above and saith Yea but it shall be what talk you to me of Impossibilities I shall yet as low as I am and as forlorn look again towards Gods holy Temple of heaven yea that here on earth where God is sincerely served and whereto the precious are annexed Faith is by one fitly compared to the cork upon the net though the lead on the one sinks it down yet the cork on the other keeps it up in the water The faithful soon check themselves for their doubtings and despondency as Jonah here as David chides David Psal 43.5 and as Paul saith of himself and his fellowes that they were staggering but not wholly sticking 2 Cor. 4.8 Vers 5. The waters compassed me about even to the soul that is usque ad animae deliquium till I laboured for life and was as good as gone The depth closed me round about see the Note on vers 3. and further observe that Gods dear children may fall into desperate and deadly dangers see Psal 18.3 and 88.3 116.3 And this for 1. prevention 2. purgation 3. probation 4. preparations to further both mercies and duties Let us not therefore censure our selves or others as hated of God because greatly distressed but incourage our selves in them as did David at Ziklag 1 Sach 30.6 The right of the Lord shall change all this Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur The weeds were wrapt about mine head Alga as Alligando The weeds which the fish had devoured or whereunto the fish wherein I was had dived and lain down amongst them Or this might befal Jonah in the bottom of the sea before the fish had swallowed him for weeds easily wrap about those that swim or are drowned Vers 6. I went down to the bottomes of the montains that is of the promontories or rocks of the sea where the waters are deepest Thus Mercer after Kimchi The channels of waters were seen and the foundations of the world were discovered Psal 18.15 The mountains are said to be under water Prov. 8.25 because their foundations are there placed the earth with her barres was about me for over As if resolved there to keep me close prisoner that though the fish had disgorged me yet I should never have got to land The shores are set by God as barres to keep the sea within his bounds Job 38.8 10 11. Jer. 5.22 Here then all the creatures seemed to set against poor Jonas and which was more then all the Creatour too so that he might sigh and say as in the Poet In me omnis terraeque aviumque marisque rapina est Martial Forsitan coeli Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption i. e. from the place where I was likely to have laine and rotted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses when things are at the worst God appeareth as it were out of an engine In the mount will the Lord be seen Ezek. 37.11 c. 2 King 19.3 he stayes so long sometimes that he hardly findes faith on earth Luk. 18. and yet comes at last to the relief of his poor people viz. when they are ripe and ready for it He is a God of judgement he knowes how and when to deale forth his favours and even waiteth to be gracious Esay 30.22 See Esa 28.24 25 27 28. O Lord my God sc by the meane and merit of thy son in whom alone it is that thou Lord art my God and that I can call thee Abba Father It is well observed by an Interpreter that in this short history of Jonah are all things contained which may make to the sound and saving knowledge of God and his will of our selves also and our duties Verse 7. When my soul fainted within me I remembred the Lord And could say as the Church in Esay when at lowest Esa 63.16 Doubtlesse thou art our Father our Redeemer thy Name is from everlasting As there is in the creatures an instinct of nature to do their kind so there is of grace in the Saints to run to God Yea in the way of thy judgements O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soule is to thy Name and to the remembrance of thee with my soule have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early c. Esa 26.8 9. Oh Lord saith Habacuc art not thou from everlasting my God and mine holy One It was a bold question but God approves and assents to it in a gracious answer ere they went further Hab. 1.12 We shall not die say they obruptly O Lord thou hast ordained them the Caldeans for judgement but us onely for chastisement Here was the triumph of their faith and this was that which held up Jonas his hope though with wonderfull difficulty held head above water He remembred the yeeres of the right hand of the most High Psal 77.10 he called to mind his songs in the night season ver 6. his former experience a just ground of his present confidence He remembred the Lord his Power and Goodnesse those two pillars the Jachin and the Boaz that support Faith and this fetcht him againe when ready to faint I had even fainted unlesse I had beleeved to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living Psal 27.13 and my prayer came in unto thee q. d. Though I was so faint I could scarce utter a prayer yet thou harknedst and heardest as Mal. 3.16 thou madest hard shift to hear as I may say thine ears were in my prayers as S. Peter hath it 1 Pet. 3.12 thou felst my breathing when no voice could bee heard Lam.
prayer of his chap. 6.8 9. See also Jer. 20.7 8. I pray thee O Lord was not this my saying c. that is my thought for whether he worded it thus with God till now it appeareth not but God heareth the language of mens hearts and their silence to him is a speaking evidence when I was yet in my countrey And had Jonah so soon forgotten what God had done for him since he came thence Oh what a grave is oblivion and what a strange passage is that and yet how common Then beleeved they his words they sang his praise They soon forgat his works they waited not for his counsel Psal 106.12 13. Jonah did not surely wait for Gods counsel but anteverted it Idcirco anteverti saith he in the next words Therefore I fled before and thought hee had said well spoke very good reason It is the property of lust and passion so to blear the understanding of a man that he shall think he hath reason to be mad and that there is great sence in sinning Dogs in a chafe bark at their owne masters so do people in their passions let flie at their best friends They set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walketh thorow the earth Psal 73.9 Ionah in his heat here justifieth his former flight which he had so sorely smarted for Et quasi quidam Aristarchus he taketh upon him to censure God for his superabundant goodnesse which is above all praise For I knew that thou art a gracious God and mercifull c. This He knew to be Gods name Exod. 34.6 7. but withall he should have remembred what was the last letter in that Name viz. that he will by no means clear the guilty See Nahum 1.2 3. The same fire hath burning heat and chearfull light Gracious is the Lord but yet righteous saith David Psal 116.5 his mercy goes ever bounded by his truth This Jonah should have considered and therefore trembled thus to have upbraided God with that mercy by which himself subsisted and but for which he had been long since in hell for his tergiversation and peevishnesse But mercy rejoyceth against judgement and runneth as a spring without ceasing Jam. 2. It is not like those pools about Jerusalem that might be dried up with the tramplings of horse and horse-men The grace of God was exceeding abundant 1 Tim. 1.14 It hath abounded to flowing-over as the Sea doth above the hugest rocks See this in the present instance Jonah addeth sinne to sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and doth enough to undo himself for ever so that a man would wonder how God could forbear killing him as hee had like to have done Moses when he met him in the Inne But He is God and not man he contents himself to admonish Jonah of his fault as a friend and familiar velut cum eo colludens jesting with him as it were and by an outward signe shewing him how grievously he had offended Mercer Concerning these Attributes of God here recited see the Note on Joel 2.13 and say with Austin Laudent alij pietatem Dei ego misericordium Let no spider suck poison out of this sweetest flower nor out of a blind zeal make ill use of it as Jonah doth for a cloke of his rebellion lest abused mercy turn into fury Verse 3. Threfore now O Lord take I beseech thee my life from me A pitifull peevish prayer such as was that of Job and that of Jeremy above noted to which may be added Sarah's hasty wish for God to arbitrate betwixt her and her husband Moses his quibling with God till at length he was angry Exod. 4.10 14. Eliah's desire to die out of discontent c. What a deal of filth and of flesh clogs and cleaves to our best performances Hence David so prayes for his prayers and Nehemiah for pardon of his reformations Anger is ever an evil counsellour but when it creeps into our prayes it corrupts them worse then vinegar doth the vessel wherin it standeth Submit your selves therefore to God as Ionah should have done resist this devil of pride and passion and he will flee from you Jam. 4.7 as by giving place to impatiency ye give place to the Devil Eph. 4.26 who else by his vile injections or at least by his vain impertinencies will so flie-blow and marre our duties that we may well wonder they are not cast back as dirt into our faces Sure it is that if the holy Ghost had not his hand in our prayers there would not be the least goodnesse in them no not uprightnesse and truth without which Christ would never present them or the Father accept them for it is better for me to die then to live sc in that disgrace that I shall now undergo of being a false prophet not henceforth to be believed Lo this was it that troubled the man so much as it did likewise Moses Exod. 4.1 They will not believe me for they will say The Lord hath not appeared unto thee But God should have been trusted by them for that and his call obeyed howsoever without consults or disputes carelesse of their own credit so that God might be exalted True it is that a man had better die with honour then live in disgrace truly so called It were better for me to die 1 Cor. 9.15 saith holy Paul then that any man should make my glorying void Provident we must be but not over-tender to preserve our reputation learning of the unjust steward by lawfull though he did by unlawfull means to do it for our Saviour noted this defect in the children of light that herein they were not oft so wise as they should be Luke 16.8 But Ionah was too heady and hasty in this wish of his death because his credit as he thought was crackt and he shoulld be lookt upon as a lyar But was the Euge of a good conscience nothing to him was Gods approbation of no value nor the good esteem of his faithful people It was enough for Demetrius that he had a good report of the truth 3 Iohn 12. what ever the world held or said of him What is the honour of the world but a puffe of stinking breath and why should any Jonah be so ambitious of it as that without it he cannot find in his heart to live Life is better then honour Joseph is yet alive saith Jacob. To have heard that Joseph lived a servant would have joyed him D. Hall Cont. more then to heare that he died honourably The greater blessing obscureth the less He is not worthy of honour that is not thankfull for life St. Pauls desire to be dissolved that he might be with Christ which is farr farr the better Phil. 1.3 was much different from this of Jonah Vers 4. Doest thou do well to be angry Or what art thou very angry Nunquid rectè Summon the sobriety of thy senses before thine own judgement and see whether there be a cause
neighbourhood Jerusalem would take it in high scorn likely to be matched with Samaria so much slighted and shunned by her Ion. 4.9 as Papists now do to be set by Protestants Turks by Christians the word of a mussulman beares down all other testimony amongst them But this Prophet is very bold as it is said of Isay his coaetaneus Rom. 10.20 binds them both up in one bundle and spareth not to shew Judah their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins Verse 2. Heare all ye people He beginneth as Esay in a lofty and stately stile powring himself out in a golden flood of words as Tully speaketh of Aristotles Politicks and calling for utmost attention and affection as knowing that he had to do with men more deaf then sea-monsters and more dull then the very earth they trod on which is therefore here commanded to hearken sith men that habitable part of Gods earth Pro. 8.31 will not heare and give eare wherein they are worse then the insensible creatures Psal 119.91 and let the Lord God be witnesse against you Here he turneth his speech to the refractary Jewes speaking to God as a righteous judge and swift witnesse Judex Judex vindex against them if they hearkened not to his message nisi pareant ideoque pereant the Lord from his holy temple that is let him testifie from heaven Psal 11.4 that he is displeased with you and that I have carefully sought your soules-health Or from his temple at Ierusalem wherein ye glory and where ye think ye have him as fast bound to you as the Tyrians had their idol Apollo whom they chained and nailed to a post that he might not forsake them when Alexander besieged their town and took it The Heathens had a trick when they besieged a city Macrob. lib. 3. cap. 9. Virg. Aeâ— 2. to call the Tutelar gods out of it by a certain charme as beleeving that it could not otherwise be taken In a like sense whereunto some have interpreted the following verses here Verse 3. For behold the Lord commeth out of his place that is say they out of Iudaea and his temple there leaving it to the Chaldaeans and Assyrians See Ezech. 3.12 and chapters 9.10 and 11. where God makes divers removes from the Cherubins to the threshold from thence to the East-gate from thence to mount Olivet quite out of the city chap. 11.23 and when God was gone then followed the fatall calamity in the ruine of the city But by Gods comming forth out of his place here I conceive is meant his descending from heaven to do justice on this hypocriticall nation Esay 26.21 and because hypocritis nihil stupidius hypocrites resting on their externall performances and priviledges will hardly be perswaded of any evill toward them Mic. 3.11 Is not the Lord say they amongst us none evill can come upon us therefore we have heare an emphaticall Ecce Behold the Lord commeth he is even upon the way already and will be here with the first He will come down as once at Sodom when their sin was very grievous Gen. 18.20 when they were overcharged with the superfluity of naughtinesse God came from heaven to give their land a vomit And so he would do here for Unregenerate Israel was to God as Ethiopia Am. 9.7 as the Rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah Esay 1.10 and tread upon the high-places of the earth the High and mighty Ones that having gotten on the top of their hillocks as so many Ants think themselves so much the better and safer repose confidence in their high places and strong-holds as Nebuchadnezzar did in his Babel Edom in his clifts of the rocks munitions of rocks Obad. 3. the rich fool in his heapes and hoards Luk. 12. these with their false confidences God will tread down in his anger and trample them in his fury as the mire of the streets he will bring down their strength to the earth and lay their honour in the dust Isa 63.3 6. Verse 4. And the mountaines shall be molten under him This is to the self-same sense Though men swell in their own eyes to the hugenesse of so many mountains and though gotten upon their hill of ice they think they shall never be moved Psal 30.6 7. yet when God with his devouring fire and everlasting burnings comes in presence these craggie mountains shall soon dissolve and melt as wax they shall be as waters poured down a descent they shall flow as a land-flood c. By which similitudes and familiar comparisons is notably set forth the irresistible wrath of God for the affrighting of hard-hearted sinners that they may take hold of his strength and make peace with him Esay 27.5 The valleys also shall be cleft The poorer sort also shall have their share in the common calamity God will neither spare the high for their might nor the base for their meannesse but Lords and losels together shall be as wax before the fire c. Wax is a poor fence against fire sticks and stubble against a strong torrent so humane force against divine judgements Verse 5. For the transgression of Iacob is all this Lest they should think either that these things were threatned in terrorem onely and would never be inflicted or else that they had not deserved such severity but that God should pour out his wrath rather upon the Heathen that knew him not and upon the families that called not on his name The Prophet here sheweth that Jacob was become a just object of Gods indignation by his transgressions or rebellions and the whole house of Israel by their sinnes there was a generall defection and therefore they must expect a generall destruction I or why the just Lord is in the middest thereof he will not do iniquity he will not acquit the guilty morning by morning doth he bring his judgements to light he faileth not but the unjust knoweth no shame will take no warning which is a just both presage and desert of his ruine What is the transgression of Iacob say they in a chatting way like these miscreants in Malachy that so worded it with God chap. 1. and 3. Is it not Samaria saith the Prophet in answer to that daring demand of theirs So what are the high-places of Iudah viz. the superstitions and carnall confidences thereof Is it not Jerusalem saith the Prophet Are not their capitall cities become their capitall sinnes Read we not of the calf of Samaria Hos 8.5 and did not her kings set up idols at Dan and Bethel and Gilgal and Beersheba As for Jerusalem had she not turned the very Temple into an high-place by resting in her ceremoniall services and sacrifices Did not some of her best kings wink at the high-places And Ahaz that stigmaticall Beliâ—list shut up Gods Temple and set up strange worships How then could these frontlesse fellowes ask What is the transgression c and What are the high-places c The Prophet goes not behind the door
could not outlast the Temple as may be gathered from Mat. 24.3 But they some of them lived to see themselves confuted and our Saviours words verified There shal not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down Vers 2. and the mountain of the house that famous house that was worthily reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world and stood upon mount Moriah As the high places of the forrest As wooddy and desert places fit onely for wild beasts Lege Luge saith one speaking of Jerusalems desolation CHAP. IV. Vers 1. BVt in the last dayes it shall come to passe God reserveth his best comforts till the last as that Ruler of the feast did his best wine Ioh. 2.10 and as the sweetest of the honey lieth at the bottome These last dayes are Gospel-dayes Heb. 1.2 times of Reformation Heb. 9.19 of Restitution Act. 3.21 called the World to come Heb. 2.5 that new heaven and earth wherein dwelleth Righteousnesse 2 Pet. 3.13 that new Jerusalem that is all of gold Rev. 2.1 Ezekiels new Temple bigger then all the old Jerusalem and his new Ierusalem bigger then all the land of Canaan chap. 40.41.42 c. Let Popish buzzars blaspheme that description of the Temple and City Sanct. Argum. cap. 40. calling it as Sanctius doth once and again insulsam descriptionem a senselesse description so speaking evil of the things that they know not Jude 10. We beleeve and are sure Joh. 6.69 that God hath provided some better thing for us then for those under the law Heb. 11.40 viz. that great mystery of godlinesse God manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 who should again restore the kingdom to Israel the spiritual kingdom to the Israel of God as is here foretold in the self-same words with those of Esay chap. 2.1 2. whence he is not ashamed to take it That the mountain of the house of the Lord The Church 1 Tim. 3.15 called elsewhere the mountain of the Lord and his holy hill Psal 15.1 and 24.3 and 48.2 Esay 30.17 both for its sublimity Gal. 4.26 and firmnesse Psal 46.3 and 125.1 winde and stormes move it not no more can all the power and policy of hell combin'd prevail against the Church Mat. 16.18 She is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kingdom that cannot be shaken and may better then the city of Venice take for her Posie Immota manet Shall be established in the top of the mountains Constituetur firmiter shall bee strongly set upon a sure bottom upon munitions of Rocks yea upon the Rock of Ages Mat. 16.18 Jer 31.35 Esay 33.20 Some by the house of the Lord here understand the Church and by the mountain of this house Christ whereon it is built and whom Daniel describeth by that great mountain that filled the whole earth Chap. 2.35 that stone cut out without hands that smot in pieces the four Monarchies ibid. And hence it is that this mountain of the Lords house is exalted above the hils the Church must needs be above all earthly eminencies whatsoever because founded upon Christ who therefore cannot be exalted but shee must be lifted up aloft together with him God who is rich in mercy saith that great Apostle hath quickened us together with Christ and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.5 6. The Church is mysticall Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 she is his wife and wheresoever hee is Caius she is Caia she shineth with his beams and partaketh of his honours union being the ground of communion and people shall flow unto it As waters roul and run toward the Sea but that these waters should flow upward flow to the mountain as here is as wonderfull as that the Sun should send his beams downward to the earth when as it is the property of all fire to aspire and flie upwards This is the Lords own work and it is marvellous in our eyes Chrysost Hom 8. ad Hop Antioch The metaphor of flowing importeth the coming of people to Christ by the preaching of the Gospel 1. Freely Psal 110.3 2. Swiftly as the waters of the river Tigris swift as an arrow out of a bowe See Esay 60.8 3. Plentifully by whole Nations turned to the faith and giving up their names to Christ 4. Joyntly as verse 2. and Zach. 8.21 5. Zealously bearing down all obstacles that would damme up their way 6. Constantly and continually as rivers run perpetually by reason of the perennity of their fountains and are never dried up though sometimes fuller then some quin ut fluvij repentinis imbribus augentur saith Gualther as rivers swell oft with sudden showres and overflow the banks so beyond all expectation many times doth God take away tyrants and propagates his truth enlarging the bounds of his Church with new confluxes of Converts Verse 2. And many nations shall come and say The conversion of the Gentiles is here foretold a piece of that mystery of godlinesse 1 Tim. 3.16 The Jews usually call Christians in contempt Gozin the word here used and Mamzer Goi Bastard-Gentiles But either they must come under this name themselves or deny that they are the posterity of Abraham Gen. 12.2 Where God saith I will make of thee a great Nation Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord The wicked have their Come Prov. 1.11 and would not go to hell alone Should not the Saints have theirs should they not get what company they can toward heaven The Greeks call goodnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it doth as it were invite and call others to it and every man is willingly to run after it and to the house of the God of Jacob to the publike ordinances where wee may hear and beleeve and be sealed with that holy spirit of promise as those Ephesians were chap. 1.13 We read that Marcellinus Secundanus and some others were converted to Christianity by reading Sibylla's oracles of Christs birth and that by Chaucers Book some were brought to the knowledge of the truth But either this was not so or not ordinary for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word preached which therefore the people of God do so prize as Luther did who said Acts Mon. 767. He would not take all the world for one leaf of the Bible and that without the preaching of the word he could not live comfortably in Paradise as with it hee could live and enjoy himself though it were in hell and he will teach us of his wayes Cathedram in coelis habet qui corda docet saith Austin All true Converts are taught of God Joh. 6. and then quà m citò discitur quod docetur saith the same Father how soon are men discipled how soon learn they the wayes of God whereby to serve him here and be saved by him hereafter For it
so when he dies he can call his soul to rest and sing old Simeons Nunc dimittas Lord now let thy servant depart in peace c. for the mouth of the Lord of hosts And what better assurance can we desire sith God can neither die lie nor denie himself Sith secondly he is the Lord of Hosts and so armed with power to make good what he hath spoken Peter had a will to deliver Christ from the Jews but wanted power Pilate had power to have done it but wanted will God wanteth neither of these to do for his people and to deliver them out of danger Courage therefore Verse 5. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god They will do so they are resolved not to alter their religion as Tully said Me ex ea opinione quam à majoribus accepi de cultu deorum nullius unquam movebit oratio I will never be disswaded by any one from that way of divine worship which I have received from my forefathers How wilfull at this day are Jews Papists Pagans Heretikes And how much easier a matter do we finde it to deal with twenty mens reasons then with one mans will A wilfull man stands as a stake in the middest of a stream le ts all passe by him but hee stands where he was Nay but wee will have a king say they when they had nothing else to say Nay but I will curse howsoever though against my conscience said Balaam and do not the Popish Balaamites as much as this many of them As for the Vulgar sort of them they are headlong and headstrong resolved to retaine contra gentes the senselesse superstitions transmitted unto them by their Progenitours But what saith the Oracle Rev. 14.7 Feare God and give glory to him for the houre of his judgement is come and what ever your ancestours did worship you him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountaines of waters and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God This was well resolved and is as well practised by all Christs faithfull people who dare not follow a multitude to do evill Exod. 23.2 dare not walk by their fathers practise Iosh 24.2 14 15. for they consider that no commandement doth so expresly threaten Gods judgements upon posterity as the second They therefore resolve to walk in the name that is by the lawes and under the view of the Lord their God who is God of Gods and Lord of Lords a great God a mighty and a terrible as Moses describeth him in opposition to all other deities whether so reputed or deputed Deut. 10.17 for ever and ever We will not only take a turn or two in his wayes as temporaries who are hot at hand but soon tire and give in but we will hold on a constant course of holinesse and not faile to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Psal 1.2 Ioh. 8.12 and 10.4.14 Rev. 7.17 As for those Apostates that change their God that change their glory for that which doth not profit as they therein commit an horrible wickednesse such as the heavens have cause to be astonished at Ier. 2.11 12 13. so they could not chuse out for themselves a worse condition Heb. 10.37 38. for why they put the son of God to an open shame chap. 6.6 like as those that are carted amongst us are held out as a scorn and do in effect say that they have not found him such as they took him for Verse 6. In that day sc of grace and of the Gospel It is called a day and that day by an excellency in regard of Revelation Adornation Consolation Distinction speedy Preterition saith the Lord Whose word cannot be broken Ioh. 10.35 and is therefore the best security 2 Cor. 1.20 will I assemble her that halteth Heb. that goeth sideling that is maimed disioynted lamed Esa 35.3 torn Psal 35.15 and tired out with long journeys into captivity as the Jewes were by the Babylonians Greeks and Romanes before Christs comming that they might breath after those dayes of refreshing from the presence of the Lord Mal. 3.1 and I will gather her that is driven out Or rejected thrust away with a force that is the Gentles suffered to walk in their own wayes Act. 14.16 and carried away unto dumb idols even as they were led 1 Cor. 12.2 and her that I have afflicted Both Jewes and Gentiles the whole community of people for God shooke all nations then when the desire of all nations Christ Heb. 12.25 was to come Hag. 2.7 See verses 22 23. Junius after the Septuagint rendrâ—th it ut veniant desiderati omnium gentium that the Saints those desirable ones out of all nations may come for unto Shiloh in a most afflicted time when the scepter was departed from Judah c. was the gathering of all people to be Gen. 49.10 Esa 26.8 9. See Esay 66.20 rather in litters as lame people are carried should they come then not at all rather on one leg with Jacob should they wrestle then not prevaile Verse 7. And I will make her that halted a remnant Yea a renowned remnant Zeph. 3.19 Not many Jewes were converted in comparison of the Gentiles hence they are called a remnant They both killed the Lord Iesus and their own Prophets they have also persecuted us saith the Apostle or cast us out as by an Ostracisme and they please not God and are contrary to all men 1 Thess 2.15 16. forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles c. Thus the generality of them then and so to this day they continue crosse and cursing Christ and his followers thrice a day in their synagogues Hieron in Esai l. 12. c. 49. l 14. c. 42. Buxtorf Synag Howbeit at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace Rom. 11.5 and that remnant became the seminary of the Christian Church and her that was cast far off a strong nation Numerous and valorous Vide fidem passionem martyrum de gente robusta non ambiges saith Hierome here Consider the faith and patience of the Martyrs and you will easily yeeld them to be a strong nation indeed Christians have shewed as glorious power in the faith of Martyrdome as in the faith of miracles They can do that which others cannot turn their hands to they can suffer wrongs best of any Compell them to go a mile they 'le be content to go two yea as far as the shooes of the preparation of the Gospel of peace will carry them There is nothing that they date not undertake and undergo for the glory of their God Thi courage in Christians Heathens counted obstinacy Tertull. in Apologet. but they knew not the power of the spirit nor the privy armour of proof that the Saints have about their heart which maketh them insuperable more then Conquerours and the Lord shall raigne over them in mount Zion i. e. In the Christian
10.4 5. and bringing in not the heads but hearts of those whom they had subdued as Paul did of Sergius Paulus the Proconsul Acts 13.9 where also he is first called Paul in memory belike of those first spoils hee brought into the Church By shepherds here are meant saith Gualther the Ministers and Preachers of the word who feed defend and watch over the flock By principal men Magistrates endued with that free or as the Chaldee hath it kingly spirit Psal 51.12 to decree and act for the good of the Church Such shepherds in the time of the Assyrian warre were Esay Micha Joel c. such principall men were Hezekias and Eliakim Isa 22. c. Such after the captivity were Ezra Haggee Zachariah Malachi Zorobabel Nehemiah Judas Macchabeus c. Qui nutantem remp Ecclesiam suis consilijs fortibus gestis fulserunt who under-propped and kept up the tottering Church and Common-wealth by their prayers counsels and valiant atchievements both before and since the dayes of Christ upon earth Verse 6. And they shall wast the land of Assyria Heb. They shall eat it down as shepherds do pastures with their flocks Pascere is put for perdere saith Calvin they shall leave nothing there safe or sound but either bend or break the Churches enemies bring them to Christ by the sword of Gods word or utterly ruine them by temporall slaughters Aut poenitendum aut pereundum Thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian It is Christ that delivereth his what instruments soever he please to make use of Luke 1.71 1 Cor. 15.24 anâ— he must have the praise of it The Grecians thankfully acknowledged to Jupiter their deliverance from the Persians wrought by Themistocles and therehence called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Romans for like cause Sospâ—tator presenting a Palme to him and sacrificing a white Ox Liv. lib. 6. d. 3. â—o acknowledging it was his power whereby the conquest was atchieved Our Edw. 3. after his victory at Poâ—â—â—ers where hee took the French king Anno 1356. took speedy order by Sâ—mon Archbishop of Canterbury that eight dayes together should be spent in giving God the thanks and glory How much more should wee praise him for spiritual deliverances Polyd. Virg. lib. 19. from sinne Satan the world c. and consecrate our selves wholly to his service sith Servati simus ut serviamus Luke 1.74 deliverance commands obedience Ezra 9.14 Verse 7. And the remnant of Jacob The remnant according to the election of grace Rom. 11.5 these are but a few in comparison as a remnant to the whole peece or an hand-full to an house-full but they shall increase and multiply by Gods blessing upon them as is here set forth by two similitudes First for their propagation and multiplication the Prophet compareth them to the dew which is ingendred and distilled from heaven immediatly Therefore also Psal 110.3 new converts are compared to dew and Gods begetting them to the womb of the morning See M. Tho. Goodw. fastserm Apr. 27. 1642. when over-night the earth was dry Secondly for their growth and increase he compareth it to the sprouting up of herbs and grasse in the wildernesses where man cometh not and so their springing tarrieth not for man nor waiteth for the sonnes of men for them to come with their watering-pots to nourish them as herbs in gardens do but these have showers from heaven that give the increase I the Lord do keep my vineyard I will water it every moment Esay 27.3 There is an honour due to Gods Ministers 1 Thess 5 13. but the word onely must be â—â—â—â—fied Act. 13.48 and Christ earnestly intreated that as of old the Manna â—â—me down with the dew which covered the Manna whence that expression hidden Manna Rev. 2.17 so He himself who is the bread of life would descend into us by the word of his grace and fill us with the fruits of righteousnesse that he would rigare recreare refresh and cherish our hearts as the dew from heaven doth the dry and fady fields Vers 8. And the remnant of Jacob as a Lion among the beasts of the forrest The saints shall prosper and do great exploits as being indued with an invincible force of the spirit making them as so many Cuer-de-lions or as Chrysostom saith of Peter that he was like a man made all of fire walking among stubble What Lion-like men were all the Apostles those white horses upon which the Lord Christ rode about the world conquering and to conquer Rev. 6.2 That lion of the tribe of Judah Rev. 5.5 had put upon them of his own spirit Ioh. 1.16 and of his fulnesse bestowed upon them grace for grace hence their transcendent zeale and courage for the truth Steven was amongst his country-men the Jewes as a Lion among the beasts of the forrest So were in their severall generations Athanasius Basil Ambrose Luther Latimer Farel c. that noble army of Martyrs One of them told the Persecutours that they might pluck the heart out of his body but never pluck the truth out of his heart Another Act. Mon. 1430. 1438. that the heavens should sooner fall then he would turn A third that if every haire of his head were a man he would suffer death in the opinion and faith that he was now in A fourth said Can I die but once for Christ And generally the valour of the patient and the savagenesse of the persecutours strove together till both exceeding nature and beleefe bred wonder and astonishment in beholders and readers and in some effectual conversion as in Justin Martyr in Calberius in those 400. said to be converted at the Martyrdome of Cecilia and lastly in Silvester the executioner at the martyrdome of Simon Laloe at Dyion in France where seeing the great faith and constancy of that heavenly Martyr he was so compuncted with repentance Act. Mon. fol. 829. and fell into such despair of himself that after much adoe being comforted and converted he removed with all his family to the church of Geneva But what a silly conceit is that of the â—ewes at this day that when Messias comes they shall be these Lions among the Gentiles in the middest of all other people to tread them down and to teare in peeces without rescue and what a true character hath a late writer given of them that they are a light aeriall S. H. Blount and fanaticall-brain'd people and easily apt to work themselves into the fooles paradise of a sublime dotage Verse 9. Thine hand shall be lift up upon thine adversaries q. d. Adversaries thou shalt be sure of O my Church but thou shalt have the better of them Thou shalt keep footing still under the stanâ—ard of the crosse and prevaile Sub militia crucis Calv. The mountaine of the house of the Lord shall overtop all other mountaines of worldly power chap. 4.1 It shall be as that mountain not far from Arbela
countrey-men of Athens to get their ears healed and Diogenes used to tell his tale to the statues and images that he might inure himself to lose his labour as he had so often done in speaking to the people Pag. 18. Let us to the wearing of our tongues to the stumps preach and pray never so much men will on in sinne said blessed Bradford in that excellent Sermon of his of Repentance We cry till we are hoarse saith another rare Preacher we speak till we spit forth our lungs but all to as little purpose as Bede did when he preached to an heap of stones Asine quispiam narrabat fabulam at ille movebat aures But shall people thus carry it away and God lose his sweet words Never think it Those that will not hear the word shall hear the rod verse 9. of this chapter and if they could but see their misery they would do as the Prophet requires cut their hair and cast it away under the sense of the horror of Gods indignation Jer. 7.27 29. they would beg of God a hearing ear which is as an ear-ring of gold Prov. 25.12 and beseech him to make the bore bigger that his word might enter yea to draw up the ears of their souls to the ears of their bodies that one saving sound might pierce both at once Let him that hath an ear to hear hear or if yet any think good to forbear let him forbear Ezek. 3.27 but he will certainly repent it He that now gives God occasion to call to the hills c. shall one day tire the deaf mountains saying Fall on me hide me dash and quash me in a thousand peeces O that I might trot directly to hell and not stay to hear that dreadfull Discedite Go ye cursed Verse 2. Hear O ye mountains the Lords controversie Although the people would neither hear nor obey God the Prophet doth and according to command he summoneth the mountains to hear and testifie the Lord seeming to say unto him as once he did to Ezekiel But thou sonne of man be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house but hear what I say unto thee and do it It might seem to him a senselesse thing to cite the mountains c. But hee knew that if God command a thing to argue or debate upon it were bold presumption to search the reason of it proud curiosity to detrect or disobey it flat rebellion To the mountains and foundations of the earth he applies himself happly with like minde and in like manner as the Host of Nola did to the Church-yard and there called at the graves of the dead Oh ye good men of Nola come away Anton. de Guevara for the Roman Censor calls for your appearance for he knew not where to call for a good man alive and ye strong foundations of the earth Those roots of the mountains Jon. 2.7 yet not so strong but God can shake them Job 9.5 6. Nah. 1.5 6. and that by so weak a creature as air gotten under ground and seeking a vent Hee can lift them off their foundations Deut. 32.22 and carry them to another place to hear his controversie as he did the hill in Herefordshire Anno 1571. Camden de Bâ—â—tan fol. 473. Polan synt and that other in the territories of Bern that removing out of his place in an earth-quake covered a whole village that had 90 families in it See the Note on Amos 1.1 for the Lord hath a controversie with his people See the Note on Hos 4.1 and learn to tremble before this great God who sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grashoppers Esay 40.22 which he can shake out of their place at pleasure and send them packing to hell O consider what a fearfull thing it is to be at controversie with God and to have him both our Accuser witnesse and Judge O the terrour of the Lord at that great and last day of the world Vtinam ubique de hoc judiâ—io disseretur Then shall they begin to say to the mountains Fall on us but they shall reply Luke 23 30. we are witnesses against you for your detestable unthankfulnesse and to the hills Cover us but they shall eccho out Cover us for who can dwell with this devouring fire who can abide these everlasting burnings and he will plead with Israel At which time they shall find that an empty title hath but an empty comfort and that tribulation and anguish shall be on every soul of man that doth evil but of the Jew first because of his priviledge Rom. 2.9 and then of the Gentile None so deep in utter darknesse as those that once were Angels of light Let us all pray with holy David Enter not into judgement with thy servant O Lord c. And with Job If thou shouldst contend with me Psal 143.2 Joh 9.2 3. Dan. 9.7 8. I could not answer thee one of a thousand And with Daniel O Lord righteousnesse belongs unto thee but to us confusion of face because we have sinned against thee Verse 3. O my people what have I done unto thee Or rather what have I not done to do thee good O generation see yee the word of the Lord Jer. 2.31 and not hear it onely was ever any thing more evidencing and evincing then what I now alledge Have I been a wildernesse unto Israel a land of darknesse May I not well say unto you as He did to his ungratefull countreymen What Are ye weary of receiving so many benefits from one man But say What hurt have I ever done you Themistocles and wherein have I wearied you or been troublesome to you unlesse it be by daily loading you with loving-kindnesses Psal 68.19 and bearing with your provocations Forgive me that injury 2 Cor. 12.13 Testifie against me Put me in remembrance let us plead together declare thou against me that thou mayest be justified Esay 43.26 See here first with what meeknesse and mildnesse God proceedeth against sinners so Esay 5.3 Judicate quaeso See next that God is content for our better conviction to submit his courses unto scanning and to bring his proceedings with us to a triall before hee passe sentence that he might be justified when he speaketh and cleared when hee judgeth Psal 51.4 Here hee wills them to plead the cause with him as it were at even hand offering to make answer to whatsoever they could object or lay to his charge Seipsum quasi reum sistit He maketh himself the Defendant Gualther and bids them put in their Bill of complaint against him freely and without fear This is Stupenda sanè dignatio a wonderfull condescention indeed Should he use martiall law against us M. Neh. Rog. and assoon as ever we offend like Draco write his lawes in blood upon us as One well saith it were but just and right But for him to reason and plead with us about the justice of his
was it here Balack consulted and Balaam answered him that is he was as willing to curse as the other would have had him but might not for God would not harken unto him but blessed his people still and delivered them out of his hand Iosh 24.10 Yea though at length he was resolved to curse howsoever and therefore went not forth as at other times to seek for inchantments but set his face toward the wildernesse as if he would do the deed whatever came of it Num. 24.1 Yet his indevour was fruitlesse and frustrate So shall the malicious attempts of Rome and Hell be against the Reformed religion and the Professors thereof whom the Romish Balaam banns and curses with bell book and candle at the instigation of the Spanish Balak with his factours the Jesuits so long as they adhere to him and pray as Psal 109.26 27 28 29. Help me O Lord my God O save me according to thy mercy That they may know that this is thy hand that thou Lord hast done it Let them curse but blesse thou When they arise let them be ashamed but let thy servants rejoyce c. Salvation is of the Lord his blessing is upon his people from Shittim unto Gilgal Oratio elliptica q. d. Remember what I did for you at Shittim in the wildernesse and so all the way untill you came into the promised land even to Gilgal where you first pitched tent Iosh 5.8 9 10. At Shittim it was where by the pestilent counsel of Balaam the devils spelman the Midianites out-witted them by setting faire women before them as a stumbling-block Num. 25.1 18. to draw them to those two sister-sins adultery and idoaltry Then and there Digni qui fuâ—ditus delerentur Gualth the heades of the people were hanged up before the Lord against the Sun and some others when as God might justly have cut them all off and cast them away from being a people before him Nonne illic refulsit admirabilis Dei gratia saith Calvin was not this a miracle of Gods mercy that ye may know the righteousnesse of the Lord i. e. the faithfulnesse and goodnesse of God in keeping promise with your fathers notwithstanding your provocations Or my righteous dealings with those fornicatours and adulterers whom I there judged preserving the innocent or penitent till they came to Gilgal and onwards Or that thou maist know how just my complaint is of thee and mine action against thee So Vatablus expounds it Verse 6. Wherewith shall I came before the Lord This is vox populi the voice of the people now convinced in part or at least of some one for them Praestat herbam dare quà m turpiter pugnare Better yeeld then disgracefully hold out the contest God say they hath the better of us neither need he now call upon heaven and earth to arbitrate nor on the mountaines and strong foundations to heare the quarrell for we are self-condemned Tit. 3.11 Our own consciences reade the sentence against us we have deserved to be destroyed but oh what may we do to avert and avoid his wrath what shall we do that we might work the works of God Ioh. 6.28 Loe this is the guise of gracelesse men faine they would pacifie God and work themselves into his grace and favour by ceremonies and frivolous businesses yea they offer largely for a dispensation to live in their sins which they had as liefe be knockt o' th' head as part with Intere à per flexuosos circuitus fing unt se ad Deum accedere In loc à quo tamen semper cupiant esse remoti saith Calvin they fetch a compasse about God but care not to come near him Heaven they would either steale if they could or buy at any hand if they might faine they would passe è coeno ad coelum à deliciis ad delicias from Dalilab's lap to Abrahams bosome faine they would as One saith dance with the devill all day and then sup with Christ at night They seem here very inquisitive and solicitous about their soules health they give the half-turn sed ad Deum usque non revertuntur but they return not even to God like a horse in a mill they move much but remove not at all like those silly women 2 Tim. 3.6 7. or as ants that run to and fro about a mole-hill but grow not greater and how my self before the high God Or shall I bow my self c. will that or any like bodily exercise please him or pacisy him if cringing or crouching will do it if sack-cloth and ashes if hanging down the head and going softly if pennances and pilgrimagts c. hypocrites do usually herein out-do the upright Doth the Publican look with his eyes on the ground the hypocriticall Jewes will hang down their heads like bulrushes Doth Timothy weaken his constitution by abstinence the Pharisees will never give over till his complexion be wholy withered and wanzed Doth Paul correct his body with milder correction as it were a blow on the cheek the Jesuite will martyr his sides with the severe discipline of scorpions But although God must be glorified with our bodies also 1 Cor. 6.20 and externall service is required what ever the Swenkfeldians say to the contrary yet Bodily exercise of it self profiteth little 1 Tim. 4.8 and let those that brag off or bind upon their outward worship of Christ consider that the devill himself in the demoniack of Gadara fell down and worshipped him What comfort can there be in that which is common to us with devils who as they beleeve and tremble so they tremble and worship The outward bowing is the body of the action the disposition of the soule is the soule of it shall I come before him with burnt-offerings c. shall I prevent him and propiciate him with holocausts shall I meet him marching against me and thus make my peace with him The Jewes were much in sacrifices till they wearied Gods soule therewith and all his senses Esay 1.13 14 15. but they were sacrificing Sodomites ver 10. they stuck in the bark they pleased themselves in the work done not attending the manner which either makes or marres every action and is mainely eyed by God their devotions were placed more in the massy materiality then inward purity and hence rejected David could tell through these Questionists could not that God desired not sacrifice further then as thereby men were led to Christ and that the sacrifices of God are a contrite spirit Psal 51.16.17 that no burnt offering is acceptable not calf of a yeare old unlesse laid on the low altar of a broken heat which sanctifieth the sacrifice Verse 7. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of ramms It was taken for a maxime among all nations that no man was to come before God empty-handed nor to serve him of free-cost And although Lycurgus the Lacedemonian made a law that no man should be at very great charge for a sacrifice lest he
Is there yet unto every man an house of the wicked and treasures of wickednesse so some read it see chap. 2.2 with the Note The Vulgar reads it and Gualther disliketh it not Is there yet fire in the house of the wicked sc the fire of Gods wrath and treasures of wickednesse as fuell cast upon it to consume all See Jam. 5.1 2 3. Treasures of wickednesse profit not Prov. 10.2 sith to heap up sinne is to heap up wrath Rom. 2. and to rake together ill-gotten goods is to carry home a fardle of plaguy-clothes and death with them Ephraim said yet I am become rich I have found me out substance Hos 12.8 But in so doing Ephraim fed upon the wind ver 1. yea upon pestilentiall ayre he daily increased lies and desolation that is such lying vanities as bring desolation and not consolation Desolationem potius quam consolationem Aug. Epist 121. ad Probam as hale hell at the heeles of them as we see in the parable of that wretched rich man Luk. 16. Animam ipsam incendio gehennae mancipant the fire that is in them shall feed upon their soules and flesh thoroughout all eternity Out of dores therefore with these treasures of wickednesse by restoring them to the right owners as Zacheus did and as Justinian the Emperour who would not put the vessels of the Temple taken by Titus and recovered from Gensericus into the treasury but restored them and the scant measure that is abominable Heb the Ephah of leaxenesse so called Modius macilentus both because it wante of its due proportion and makes men leane full of wrath q. d. you scant it to those you trade with but God fills it up with his fierce wrath and indignation See Am. 8.5 with the Note Verse 11. Shall I count them pure with the wicked ballances Shall I cleare and acquit such I that am the righteous Judge of heaven and earth I abhorr all injustice Exod 34.7 Iob. 8. I that have named my self a God that will by no meanes cleare the guilty nor take the wicked by the hand Doe they think to draw me in as a party or that I will beare with their false and fraudulent dealings which I have so oftdeclared against and doomed both in the law and by my servants Solomon Amos and others No assure your selves your sins shall find you out and I will curse you smite you plague you and so set it on as no creature shall be able to take it off Let earthly Judges warp as they will and wink at sin I neither can nor will but as men have sowed so they shall reape as they have sowed in hardnesse of heart so they shall reape in horrour of conscience quorum eculos culpa clausit poena aperiet as they have lived unconscionably so they shall die uncomfortably at which times their treasures of wickednesse shall leave them in the lurch as the devill leaves witches when they come to prison Verse 12. For the rich men thereof are full of violence After that they have once enriched themselves by fraud and false-dealing they take the boldnesse openly to oppresse and to exercise regiment without righteousnesse which is no better then robbery with authority of which before chap. 2. and 3. Thus wicked men wax worse and worse 2 Tim. 3.13 till wrath come upon them to the utmost 2 Thess 2. and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies Not the rich men only are in fault but as the Cretians so these are alwayes liars loud and lewd liars their tongue is deceitfull in their mouth so that they no sooner open their mouthes but swarmes of lies issue out they are mendacierum loquacissimi they have taught their tongues to speak lies Ier. 9.5 they are now become artists at it Yea they take fast hold of deceit Ier. 8.5 so that they cannot be got off without striving This is lamentable and yet common especially in trading and traffiquing But oh when shall that golden age return that the argument may againe proceed Sacerdos est non fallet Christianus est non mentietur He is a minister and will not deceive you He is a Christian and will not lie See Esa 63.8 Verse 13. Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee This is one twig of that rod Vers 9. that now they shall heare and feel too that would not harken to Gods word Bernard telleth us concerning a brother of his that when he gave him many good instructions and he being a souldier minded them not he put his finger to his sides and said One day a speare shall make way to this heart of thine for instructions and admonitions to enter God can and where he intendeth mercy will make way for his his word by his rod and seale up instructions by chastening men with paine upon their beds and the multitude of their bones with strong paine Iob 33.16 19. He can fasten them to their beds as he did Abimelech David Hezekiah and thereby tame them and take them a link lower Iob 33.17 He can smite them with sicknesse and make them desolate as it is here with such sicknesse as shall make their best friends afraid of them and that none dare look at them but as through a grate and all this with a sting too in the taile of it Because of thy sins Fooles because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted Their soule abhorreth all manner of meate so sick they are and stomackelesse that nothing will down with them and they draw neare to the gates of death Psal 107.17 18. This was the case of that rich and wretched Cardinall Henry Beauford Bish of Winchester and Chancellour of England Fox Martyr fol. 925. in the raigne of Henry 6. who tossing upon his sick-bed and perceiving he must die murmured at sicknesse and death that his riches could neither relieve him under the one nor reprieve him from the other This was also the case of that great Emperour Charles 5. of whom Du-plessy reporteth that when he was old and crazy he cursed his honours his victories trophies riches saying Abite hinc abite longe Away be gone miserable comforters are ye all Mention is made before of a great man that wrot this a little before his death Spes fortuna Valete And surely there are not a few rich Cormorants who may well say to their wealth when they are sick as Cornelius Agrippa did to his familiar spirit Abi perdita bestia quae me predididsti Be gone thou wicked beast that hast been mine undoing c. A promise contrary to this threatening in the text is that Esai 33.24 And the inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity Verse 14. Thou shalt eat but not be satisfied Either as not having enough to satisfy but prisoners pittance so much only as will keep life and soule together Or else troubled with a
beaten with 300. stripes and cast a pair of fetters into it to make it his prisoner But to how small purpose all this together with his digging through Isthmus his drinking up rivers with his army and the like it well appeared when he was forced to fly back out of Greece in a poor fishers boat which being overburdened had sunk all if the Persians by the casting away themselves had not saved the life of their king The story of Canutus the Dane somtimes king of England is well known He was told by a Court-Parasite that all things in his dominions were at his beck and command Canutus to confute him caused a chair to be set on the sea-shore wherein being set he said to the sea flowing fast toward him Thou belongest to me and the land upon which I now sit is mine own neither is there any whosoever that obeyes me not shall escape unpunished I command thee therefore thou sea that thou come up no higher into my land nor presumest once to wet thy masters legs or garments But the Sea keeping his ordinary course without duty or reverence washed both his legs and gown He then leaping back said Let alâ— the inhabitants of the world know â—en Huntington that the power of kings is frivolous and vaine neither is there any mortall man worthy the name of a king but he to whose beck heaven earth and sea by his lawes eternally are obedient Neither did Canutus after this time weare a crown but set it upon the Crucifix according to the superstition of those times thereby acknowledging it to be a royalty proper to Christ alone to rebuke the surges of the sea and to say unto them Peace and be still Luk. 4.24 Mar. 4.39 and drieth up all the rivers As he did Jordan Ios 4 2 King 2. Chereth 1 King 17.7 the great river Euphrates Rev. 16.12 See the Note there See also Plin. nat hist l. 2. cap. 85. and 103. Bashan languisheth and Carmel and the flower of Lebanon languisheth all the beauty of those fertile and pleasant places fadeth When the earth beareth fruit and flowers she is said to yeeld her strength to bring forth her increase as when through drought or otherwise she doth not she is said to languish and hang the head See Ioe 1.10.12 If the Eclipse of the Sun cause a drooping in the whole frame of nature how much more the wrath and vengeance of God Ver. 5. The mountaines quake at him and the hills melt Though vallies and low places are also liable to earthquakes as Antioch often Ferrara in Italy An. Dom. 1514. and 1573. yet hill-countreys much more because there are more holes and cavernes Alsâ—ed Chronol See Psal 29.6 and 144.4 Zach. 14.4 5. In the yeere 1618. Aug. 25. Pleurs a town in Rhetia was overwhelmed by a hill which with a most swift motion opprest 1500. men So that village aforementioned in the country of Bern that was over-covered by a hill in an earthquake to the destruction of 50. Polan synt families All this and that which followeth is alledged here to shew how easily God can overturn the Assyrian greatnesse and the earth is burnt at his presence Viz. by his fire from heaven as Sodom and by other his land-desolating judgments such as Judea that once fertile now barren country Greece Asia once so flourishing Germany Ireland c. do at this day grone under God turneth a fruitful land into barrennesse for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein Psal 107.34 yea the world and all that dwell therein Quae quidem sunt mira sed tamen vera divinae potentiae effecta Wicked men besides what they here suffer Tarnou shall one day give an account of what they have done in the body with the world all on a light fire about their eares The triall of their workes shall be by fire 1 Cor. 3.13 the tribunall of fire Ezek. 1.27 the Judge a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 His attendants Seraphins flaming creatures Isai 6.2 his pleading with sinners in flames of fire 2 Thess 1.7 the place of punishment a lake of fire fed with tormenting temper Isai 30.33 Sodoms fire and brimstone was but a toy to it And shall the Ninivites think to mott up themselves against this formidable fire which the most solid parts of the world cannot avoid or abide Ver. 6. What can stand before his indignation A glasse bottle may as well stand before a cannon-shot There 's no standing before a lion much lesse before a devouring fire least of all before an angry God When our Saviour did but put forth a beame of his Deity and said I am he the stout souldiers fell to the ground Ioh. 18.6 and there they had lame if he had not licensed them to rise againe Augustin Quid autem judicaturus faciet qui judicandus hoc fecit The wicked shall not stand in judgment saith David Psal 1.7 who can abide in the fiercenesse of his anger Heb Collectumque premeus volviâ— sub naribus ignem in the inflammation of his nostrils Thus the Prophet describeth Gods terrible executions of justice on the Churches enemies pulcherrimis metaphoris hypotypôsi evidentissima distributionis artisicio insignissimo by most elegant Metaphors evident demonstrations and artificiall distributions Crocius in loc his fury is powred out like fire A metaphor either from metalls melted or from showâ—es of raine such as God powred down upon Sodom whereunto probably the Prophet here alludeth as verse 8. to Noahs flood flaming showers Jer. 7.20 and 44.6 and the rocks are thrown down by him that is by his fierce wrath when it is at the full height as the fire which at first burns a little within upon a few boards and rasters but when it prevaileth bursteth out in a most terrible flame as thunder which we heare at first a little roaâ—ing noise afarr off but stay awhile and it is a dreadfull crack cleaving the very rocks See Ier. 4.23 24. Mat. 27.51 Verse 7. The Lord is good To Israel though terrible to the Assyrians as hath been plainly and plentifully set forth to the pure in heart Psal 73.1 and he doth good Psal 119.68 to those that are good that are upright in their hearts Psal 125.4 These shall tast and see that the Lord is good these shall feelingly fay ' Oh blessed is the man that trusteth in him Psal 34.8 Oh praise the Lord for he is good c. a strong hold in the day of trouble Praesidium aut fortalitium A strong fort or fortification better then aâ—â—wer of brasse or town of warr the righteous run thereunto and are safe Prov. 18.10 Hezekiah for whose sake this is spoken had the experience of it He had a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy the children were come to the birth and there was not strength to bring forth Esai 37.3 To God therefore he runs in this dolefull day of his and had present help
shall avoyd if ye carefully flie from such flagitious practises and agreat number of carkasses Heb. the heavinesse of dead carkasses which lie so thick that the earth seemeth to groane under the burthen of them there is none end of their corpses that lie on heapes like so many mountaines as they did after the fight betweene Amurath king of Turks and Lazarus Despot of Servia Turk hist 200 which whiles Amurath took a view of he was suddenly stabbed to daath by a half-dead souldier starting up from among the carkasles they stumble upon their corpses And afterwards perhaps use them instead of stooles and tables Lanquet Chro. as the Suissers did the Thuricâ—nses their adversaries Anâ— 1443. banquetting in the place where they won the victory Verse 4. Because of the multitude of the whoredomes of the well-favored harlot Specious and therefore gracious with her paramours of a faire countenance but foule condition like Aurelia Orestilla that had beauty but no good property Chrysippus cailed beauty the flower of vertue Cujus praeter formam nihil unquam bonus laudauit Saluft but that is not generally true Diogenes saw cause to say to some faire women in his time O quam bona domus sed malus hospes Here 's a faire hcuse but an ill inhabitant Niniveh is the well-favored harlot here spoken of her very name signifieth a faire habitation Hierome and others interpret it she was indeed Vrbs formosa et famosâ— faire and famous but foolish and filthy Meretrix meretricissima she multiplied her whoredomes both corporall and spir ituall for these are seldome fundred as we see in that once well-favored but now withered whore of Rome Rev. 17.1 Roma inverted is Amor prepostrerous love unnaturall filthinesse is there as commonly practised as Idolatry And as a common harlot paints and deckes herself to please her lovers so did Niniveh so doth Rome in her pompous and men-pleasing worships I have read of a Lady in Paris that when she saw the bravery of a Proceslion to a Saint she cried out Oh how fine is our religion bepond that of the Huguenots And Sir Walter Rawleigh was wont say that were he to chuse a religion for fleshly liberty and lasciviousnesse he would chuse Popery which is indeed an alluring tempting bewitching religion none like it the mistresse of witch-crafts Harlots are many of them enchantresses and have their philtra their love potions wherewith to ensnare men and to draw them on to lewdnesse and to take away their hearts Hos 4.11 Athenaeus brings in Plato bewailing himself that he was taken so much with a filthy harlot And Elian telles of a whore that boasted to Socrates that she could easily get followers from him not he from her Of Sampson and Hercules whom some think to have been the same those two verses verified Nam potuit lenam potuit superare leaenam Quem fera non potuit vincere vicit hera Think the same of idolatry also and if those forceries whereby the purple whore hath deceived all nations as St. John in allusion to this place saith of her Rev. 18.23 For in that book of the Revelation the holy Ghost borrowes all the elegancies and flowers in the story of the old Testament thereby to set out the story of the New in succeeding ages That selleth nations through her whordoms maketh prize of them as those impostours did 2 Tim. 3.6 and then make sale of them as her slaves 2 Peâ— 2.3 or otherwise use them at her pleasure as homely as the whore of Babylon now doth those her slaves and soules of men Rev. 18.13 whom she sits upon even upon peoples nations multitudes and tongues Rev. 17.15 tyrannizing over their consciences and appointing them to very meane offices as that posture of hers in sitting upon them seemeth to import Verse 5. Behold I am against thee saith the Lord And I need say no more wert thou but sensible of thy misery herein Be not thou a terrour to me O Lord saith Jeremiah and then let what will else befall me I shall the better beare it Doe not you fall upon me your selves said Sampson to his country men Judg. 15.12 that came to bind him and then for the Philistines I shall order them well enough so faith the good soul Let not God set against me c. Tyrants and Oppressours shal be sure to have him thei enemy and this he telles them here againe and againe to beat downe their vaine considence in their greatnesse whereby they think to beare down all before them And I will discover thy skirts upon thy face i.e. I will turne up thy clothes about thy eares and so shew all to thine utter disgrace a fit punishment for so filthy a harlot Esa 47.3 Ier. 13 22. Eze. 16.37 And I will shew the nations thy nakednesse which nature teacheth to cover therefore when a man hath committed a sinne he blusheth Acts Mon. Honos sit auri-bus the bloud as it were would cover the sinne that mother of shame Rev. 3.18 that the shame of thy nakednesse may not appeare The whore of Babylon is and more and more shall be served on this sort Rev. 17.16 Asore God ye are all bare-toul'd said Mr. Philpot Martyr to the Popish Synod before whom he was convented The kings of the earth shall make Rome desolate and naked Luther and many other Protestant writers have done it already by laying her open in her colours to the world taking the the same boldnesse and liberty to discover her lewdnesse that she did to commit it And the kingdoms thy shamo who shall therehence slight thee and hate thee together with all thy policies and superstitions wherby thou hast enslaved them Verse 6. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee As they do chamber-pots and worse upon harlots that are carted I have read of a heathen people that put the adniterers and adulteresses heads into the paunch of a beast where all the fâ—â—th lieth and so stifled them to death And make thee vile Conspurcabo deturpabo to I will bespattle thee and make thee stink above ground as lothsome carrion doth so the word signifieth It was long since complained of by one of her own sonnes that the stench of the Church of Rome was gone up to heaven And by another Mat. Paris that of gold she was become silver of silver iron of iron earth superesse ut in stercus abiret and now there remained no more but that she should be looked upon as dung Theodoricus Vrias Augustinianus Accordingly it followeth And I willset thee as a gazing-stock The Septuagint renders it for an example others a looking-glasse but Calvin after R. Salomon and Aber. -Ezra ponam tâ— quasi stercus I will set thee as dung which men gladly look beside 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luther rendereth it Ponam te in terriculamentum I will make thee a bug-beare All this was done to Niniveh that great city and all was
him and his when we list to be deceived when we covet to be in errour when we desire to offend God truth and honesty c. behold it is laid over with gold and silver q. d. Come and see beleeve your own eyes at least behold the matter form workmanship of this new-made god Ibid. 1084. and grow wiser The Rood of Grace with all its trinkets the blood of Hales that notable impostor was laid open at Pauls crosse by Cromwell and there viewed and torn in peeces by the people there is no breath at all in the middest of it No soule Aesop not so much as that of a beast O pulchrum caput sed cerebrum non inest said the ape in the fable comming once into a caâ—vers shop The best thing that an image can teach a man is that it self is dumb and dead and that the maker thereof cannot give life and breath to it much lesse a deity Verse 20. But the Lord is in his holy Temple It is not enough to condemne superstitions but we must know and serve the true God in a true manner Tully wished that he could as easily find out the true religion as disprove the false ones De nat deos Cambyses destroyed the Egyptian idols rather in scorne of all religion then hatred of idolatry Lucian ieared the heathen-gods and yet was an enemy to Christianity Erasmus was no Papist nor yet good Protestant Henry the 8. despised the old religion and yet envied the new There are many said He in Paâ—liament that are too busy with their new Sumpsimus and others that dote too much upon their old Mumpsimus c. Hence it is that the Prophet here to those dunghill-deities of the heathens those dead idols opposeth the living and onely true God Jehovah saith he is in his holy Temple that Essentiator who hath his being of himself and gives beeing to all things else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Paul elegantly expresseth it Act. 17.25 He is in his holy Temple sc in heaven by his power and glory and in his Church on earth by his grace and goodnesse The use of which doctrine followeth let all the earth keep silence before him Heb. sc or be still all the earth c. Reverentiae cause silete Tremble at his judgements trust in his promises wait upon him in his ordinances walk before him in obedience speake not of him or to him but as knowing your distance your infancie In speaking of God our best eloquence is silence saith Mr. Hooker In speaking to him quanta cum reverentia quanto timore quanta humilitate Bern. de divers 25. accedere debet è palude sua procedens repens vilis ranuncula saith Bernard with what reverence and godly feare with what humility should a poor small frog creeping out of his mud draw neer unto this great God before whom Angels appeare with greatest self-abasements what abhorrency then and self-annihilation can be sufficient to accompany our approaches to this great God of heaven And how should the enemies of the Church stand in aw and even quake before him wriggling into their holes as wormes do when it thundreth and beeing all husht as sheep are before the wolfe birds before the hawk all the beasts of the field before the lion when he roareth CHAP. III. Verse 1. A prayer of Habbakkuk the Prophet Habakkuk signifieth a Wrastler that by closing striveth to get the better as hath been before noted on chap. 1.1 To close with the adversary is the best way to supplant him or to avoid the blow so is running in to God the way to escape him The Prophet had heard Gods speech and was afraid verse 2. He saw his wrath ready to break forth and therefore gets in with him by this prayer He knew that Flectitur irat us voce rogante Deus Ovid. God suffereth himself oft to be overcome by the prayers of his people and yeeldeth much unto them when most bitterly bent Mat. 24.20 he therefore sers shoulders and sides to work and wrestle lustily in this chapter He knew it was a Prophets work to pray as well as preach and between these two to divide his time God forbid saith Samuei who is reckoned the first of Prophets that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you I will also teach you the good and right way 1 Sam. Act. 3.24 12.23 So doth this Prophet he both preferreth a prayer the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say some signifieth such a prayer as is made by a Mediatour before a judge we have an advocate with the Father 1 Ioh. 2.1 and dedicated the same to the people to be used by them in the time of the captivity which yet they shamefully neglected to do as Daniel acknowledgeth chap. 9.13 or if they did any thing towards it they merely sought themselves in it and so lost their labour Zech. 7.5 whereas had they prayed as here is prescribed confessing their sins Lam. 3. and beseeching God not to deale with them after their deserts but according to his ancient loving kindnesses that never faile they might have found mercy The Altar of incense stood against the Mercy-seat and Rev. 9.13 the prayers of the Saints from the foure corners of the earth sound and do great things in the world make it ring It was the speech of a learned man If there be but one sigh come from a gracious heart it fills the eares of God so that God hears nothing else upon Sigionoth Vocabulum Musicum est cujus ratio Hebraeis ignota saith Buxtorf it is a Musical terme the reason whereof is unknown to the Hebrew-Doctours at this day Yet Rabbi Salomon and with him the most Interpreters rendreth it pro ignorantiis for ignorances or as touching his own and his peoples errours which the prophet here convinced by Gods former answer to his expostulation confesseth with confusion of face Ignorance surely is a blushfull sin especially if affected and delighted in as the Hebrew word seemeth to imply confer Prov. 5.19 and 20.1 Privative ignorance though it do somwhat excuse a man sc à tanto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not à toto Luk 12.47 yet is it a sin to be confessed and bewailed for Christ died for the not-knowing of the people Heb. 9.7 and destruction is threatened prâ— non-scientia or lack of knowledge Hos 4.7 But Calvin well observeth here that the Prophet by begging pardon for iâ—norances doth not omit his own and the peoples more grievous sins but sheweth that men must also be sensible of their lesser lapses and cry out with David after whose example this whole song is framed Who can understand his errours or ignorances unwitting and inconsiderate sins O clense thou me from secret faults Psal 19.12 Verse 2. O Lard I have heard thy speech and was afraid Audivi auditionem tuam I have heard not thy fume or thy report as some render it unlesse it
be in the Prophet Esays sense chap. 53.1 but thy preceding discourse in answer to my disceptation I have heard that the Babylonians will come and that my people must into captivity This was no pleasant hearing for we all naturally shrink in the shoulder when call'd to carry the crosse but those that do what they should not must look to hear and feel too what they would not and was afraid Fear is constrictio cordis exsensu mali instantis a passion of the soule shrinking in it self from some imminent evill The wicked heare and jeere or their feare driveth them from God as it did guilty Adam Contrarily the godly tremble at Gods judgements whiles they hang in the threatenings and draw nigh to him with intreaties of peace In this feare of the Lord is strong confidence and his children have a place of refuge Prov. 14.26 O Lord reviue thy work in the middest of the yeares i. e. Preserve alive thine Israel that work of thine hands Esay 45.11 together with thy work of grace in their hearts keep that spark alive upon the sea of tribulations and temptations The Angels saith a Reverend man are kept with much lesse care charge and power then we because they have no biasse no weights of sin hung upon them c. There is not so much of the glory of God saith Another in all his works of Creation and Providence as in one gracious action that a Christian performeth in the middest of the yeares make known sc thy power in perfecting thy glory and not forsaking the work of thine own hands Psal 138.8 It was Luthers usuall prayer Act. Mon. Confirm O God in us that thou hast wrought and perfect the work that thou hast begun in us to thy glory So be it So Q. Elisabeth when prisoner at Woodstock pray'd thus Look Lord upon the wounds of thine hands and despise not the work of thine hands Thou hast written me down in thy book of preservation with thine own hand O read thine own hand-writing Engl. Elis pag. 134. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and save me c. But what meant the Seventy here to translate In the middest of two beasts which whiles Ribera striveth to defend he tells us a tale of the babe of Bethlehem born in a stable and laid in a manger betwixt two beasts an oxe and an asse It may very well be that the Church here prayeth for Gods grace and favour during the time of her captivity In wrath remember mercy In commotione irae when thou art most moved against us and hast as much adoe to forbear killing of us as thou hadst to forbear Moses when thou mettest him in the Inne then remember to shew mercy call to mind thy compassions which fail not Look then upon us and be mercifull unto us as thou usest to doe unto those that love thy name Psal 119.132 The wicked are threatned with an evill an onely evil without any mixture of mercy Ezek. 7.5 this the Prophet here deprecateth and beggeth mercy Per miserere mei tollitur iradei Verse 3. God came from Teman The Prophet alludeth to that of Moses in his Swan-like song Deut. 33.2 and alledgeth Gods benefits of old for his own and their present confirmation of faith without which prayer would be to no purpose hence effectuall prayer is called the prayer of faith Jam. 5.15 Faith is the foundation of prayer and prayer is the fervency of faith Whatsoever ye ask beleeving Mar. 7. Psal 55. yee shall receive saith our Saviour Cast thy burthen or thy request upon the Lord saith David To help us so to doe it is of singular use to consider what God hath done heretofore for thou hast thou wilt is an ordinary medium of Scripture Logick see Psal 85.1 2 3 4. There be six Hasts drawing in the next Turn us again c. ver 4. See also 2 Cor. 1.10 Gods Majesty might when he gave the Law in Sinai is here set forth to shew how easily he can if he please Psal 126.4 turn again the captivity of his people as the Streams in the south And the holy One from mount Paran Selah He that is Holinesse it self a title farre too good for that man of sinne that Merum Scelus the Pope Philip the Faire of France did him right in writing to him thus Sciat tua maxima Fatuitas c. Be it known to your Foolishnesse not to your Holinesse and that must be sanctified in righteousnesse Esay 5.16 mount Paran was contiguous to the mountains Sinai and Teman otherwise called Seir for its roughnesse Deut. 33.2 Selah This the Seventy make to be a musical notion rendring it Diapsalma It seemeth to import an asseveration of a thing so to be and an admiration thereat The Iews at this day use it in their prayers for Legnolam i. e. For ever or Amen It is probable that the Singers of the Temple came to a Selah which word is used 92 times in Scripture and onely in Psalmes and Songs they made a pause that the hearers might stay their thoughts awhile upon the preceding matter worthy of more then ordinary observation Hence Tremellius and Iunius expresse Selah by the adverbs Summe Maximè Vehementissimè Excellenter It was doubtlesse a singular mercy of God to his people of Israel that he came from Teman c. to speak with them from heaven and there to give them right Iudgements and true Lawes good Statutes and Commandements Neh. 9.13.14 This when he did His glory covered the Heavens and the Earth was full of his praise The Law was given in a most majestick manner see Exod. 19. partly to procure reverence to the doctrine of it partly to set forth the nature and office of it which is to terrify Offenders and to drive them to Christ and partly also to shew that God hath power and weapons enow to defend those that keep his Law and to punish such as would draw them off from their obedience thereunto That 's a pious meditation of a Reverend Writer if the Law were thus given how shall it be required Dr. Hall If such were the Proclamation of Gods Statutes what shall the Sessions bee I see and tremble at the resemblance c. Verse 4. And his brightnesse was as the light The glory of the Lord was as a devouring fire on the top of the mountain Exod. 24.17 the noon-day light the Sun in his strength was nothing to this incomparable brightnesse which was as the light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as the Sun sâ—e Iob 31.26 and 37.20 Hence the Heathens called Apollo or the Sun Orus which is the word here used Hence also the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to see He had 〈◊〉 coming out of his hand Or bright beams out of his side as the Sun hath The 〈◊〉 the Lord are in every place Prov. 15.3 Rev. 4.6 and every man before him is all 〈◊〉 Iob 34.22 the whole world is
birds and fishes not by way of Hyperbole as the Rabbines dreams but because in common calamities in warlike tumults and when God will destroy a people indeed the beasts also are killed up the foules hunted away the fish-pooles wasted c. Let those that will not beleeve this look into Illyricum Thracia Macedonia Greece and divers parts of Turky laid utterly desolate and empty both of men and other creatures Hierome upon this text and likewise upon Hos 4. affirmeth the same of his native countrey wasted so with Warre ut praeter coelum coenum crescentes vipres condensa sylvarum cuncta perierint that besides ayre and earth and briars and forrests all was destroyed And that we may not wonder at this severitie of God hear what the same Father saith elswhere of his ungracious countrymen In mea patria de us Ven er est in dâ—em vivitur sanctior est ille qui ditior In my countrey their belly is their god Epis ad Chremat their glory is in their shame they minde earthly things and so their end hath been destruction and utter desolation as Phil. 3.19 Gualthers Note here is very good herein we may observe saith he the judgement of God and his wonderfull providence that whereas we see in populous places rivers and pooles to abound with fish woods and fields with birds and beasts though they bee continually caught and carried away yet where there want men to make use of them there are few or none to be found For as they were all made for man so when men are consumed they also are consumed as is here threatned Non ita temerè fieri putemus c. Let Gods hand herein be acknowledged and his anger appeased by faith in Christ Jesus and repentance from dead works that our land may be sowed with the seed of men and of beasts And the stumbling-blocks with the wicked Those Balaams blocks In lib. Reg. those moments and monuments of idolatry that so much offend God and cause offence and ruine to those that worship them as Eucherius interpreteth it who are here called wicked with an accent and by a specialty And I will cut off man from off the land Even the better sort of men too who shall be wrapt up together with the wicked in the common calamity The good figges as well as the bad are packt to Babylon but with this difference that God will there set his eyes upon the good for good Ier. 24.6 as the corne is cut down as well as the weeds but for better purpose Saith the Lord who hath spoke it twice that you may once well observe it and lay it to heart Verse 4. I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah To whom I have so long stretcht out my hand in vain to reclaime them Esay 65.2 Prov. 1.25 If God do but put forth his hand to afflict as Satan sollicited him to doe against Job chap. 1.11 and 2.5 who can abide it but if he stretch it out as here woe be to those that must feele the waight of it His hand is a mighty hand 1. Pet. 1.6 the same that spannes the heavens and holds the earth as a very little thing Esay 40. Lord saith David who had felt it in part who knoweth the power of thine anger Even according to thy fear so is thy wrath q. d. Let a man fear thee never so much he is sure to feele thee much more who falleth under the stroke of thine heavy hand Oh keep out of his fingers who can crush us to death before the moth Job 4.19 And upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who are therefore worse then others because they should be better and shall fare the worse for their external priviledges wherein they glory And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place That which remained since Josia's reformation 2 King 23.3.4.5 saith Diodate shall a Nation be born at once Esay 66.8 And the name of the Chemarims Baals chimney-chaplaines They are translated idolatrous priests 1 Chron. 23.5 But because we find them here mentioned as distinct from the Priests therefore many Expositores hold that they were certain Ministers of their idolatry different from the priests such as the Monks are among the Papists The vulgar rendereth it Aedituos Underlings to the other Priests Elias in Tijby saith they were such as were shut up in cloisters Chemarim Atrati thy are called either from their black garments or because they were smutched with burning incense or from the brand-markes they had superstitiously set upon their bodies or because of their pretended fiery zeal and fervency in their religion such as are the Saorisici Seraphici among the Papists who falsly and foolishly call them the Lights of the World sc to light them into utter darknesse Verse 5. And them that worship the host of heaven upon the house tops Called elsewhere the Queen of heaven the constellations and heavenly bodies whom they thought to worship so much the more acceptably if in an open place and on high in the very sight of the starres Observent ista qui hodie Astrologiam judiciariam prositentur saith Gualther Let those amongst us observe this who professe judiciary Astrologie for these worship the starres no lesse then did the heathens of old and doe openly bring in Heathenisme again whiles first they call the starres by the names of those heathenish deities that ought to be abolished and next they subject to those starres all events of things yea man himselfe as touching all his manners and fortunes which the Scripture affirmeth to depend upon the eternal providence of God alone This is intolerable impiety and they that fall into it shall not escape the just judgement of God And them that worship and that swear by the Lord or to the Lord consecrating themselves as by oath to his service and that swear by Malcham that is by their King Epec. Eur. as the Egyptians did of old Gen. 42.15 The Spaniards at this day in the pride of their Monarchy are grown also to swear by the life of their King There are a sort of mongrell Christians in the East called Melchites Niceph. as one would say Of the Kings Religion because they resolved to doe as Melech the King commanded them though it were to make a mixture of religions as these in the text would and as our late Modelatours Sancta Clara and others of whom one said well that they had made a pretty shew had there been no Bible to tell us that the jealous and just God hateth and plagueth halting betwixt two lukewarmnesse and neutrality in religion all dow-baked duties speckled birds plowing with an Oxe and an Asse mingled seeds linsey-wolsey garments Lev. 19.19 Upon which text the Doway Doctours note is Here all participation with heretiks and schismatiks is forbidden But by Malchâ—â— most understaud here an Idoll of the Ammonites otherwise called Mosecâ— served in Tophet near
Bragadochios Verse 9. Therefore as I live This is Gods oath so As true as I live Num. 14.21 with Psal 95.10 therefore they are to blame that use it in their common talk Surely Moab shal be as Sodom c. Whereas they think that I either hear not their revilings or regard them not I shall make Moab and Ammon smart and smoak for them even the breeding of nettles and salt pits They shall not indeed be consumed with fire from heaven but their land shall lie waste for a long season Nettles grow in barren places and are good for nothing unlesse it be the buds at first coming Pliny writeth Hist Nat. l. 31. c. 7. that where salt is digg'd little good else groweth See Judg. 9.45 Psal 107.34 for a perpetuall desolation Certain it is that those nations carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar were never restored but that in after-times a mixt multitude of vagrants out of many nations met there taking upon them the old title of Arabians and living by rapine and robbery Out of these came Mahomet founder of the Turkish Empire and Superstition who overturned the Christian Churches there planted by the Apostles as was here fore-prophecied The residne of my people shall spoil them c. See verse 7. Confer Gal. 1.17 and soon over-run all the East and South as Popery did all the West and North at the same time Verse 10. This shall they have for their pride Moabites were as much noted for their pride as now the Spaniards are and are therefore here devoted to destruction Pride goeth before a fall c. A bulging wall stands not long a joynt luxated and swelled till that be down cannot be set God resisteth the proud 1 Pet. 5.5 he bringeth those ungodly down to the ground Psal 147.6 because they have reproached c. And all this out of the pride of their hearts which breaketh out as a master-pock in their carriage so that the pride of Moab testifieth to his face and it shall be to him an abomination of desolation Verse 11. The Lord will be terrible unto them For he shall march forth in battle-array against proud persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 5.5 and stain the pride of all their glory he will pull them down from their pinacle of self-exaltation and make them know themselves to be but men Attilas king of the Hunnes proudly gave out that the starres fell before him the earth trembled at his presence and that hee would bee the scourge of all nations But what became of him He died suddenly by a flux of blood P. Jovius breaking out at his mouth and choking him on his wedding-day at night It were easie to instance further in Pharaoh Nebuchadnezzar Antiochus Herod the king of Tyre Psal 76.12 c. With God is terrible Majesty Job 37.22 he is terrible to the kings of the earth whiles he cutteth off their spirits Heb. he slippeth them off as one should slip off a flower betwixt ones fingers or a bunch of grapes off the vine so soon is the businesse done For he will famish all the gods of the earth He will cast them into an atrophy into a consumption This was fulfilled partly when Nebuc◠adnezzar destroyed the Nations Dan. 4. and proclaimed the true God to be the onely God but principally when Christ came in the flesh and sent out his Apostles to decry those Heathen deities and to preach the everlasting Gospel saying with a loud voice Fear God and give glory to him c and worship him that made heaven earth sea and fountains of waters Rev. 14.7 Now it was that Satan fell like lightening from heaven the oracles were silenced the Heathen Emperours amazed at the prevailing power of the Gospel in despite of them the very names of most of the gods of the earth were abolished the Temple of Apollo at Delphos fired from heaven and at that very time when Julians embassadours were there to enquire what should be the issue of the Persian warr Thus the Heathen superstition fell flat to the ground their gods were famished for want of worshippers and sacrifices c. And the same we hope and wait for to befall the Antichristian rout and religion That Idol is grown very leane and hath lost a collop as we say Bellarmine is very sensible Lib. 3. de Pont. Rom. cap. 21. and bewailes the businesse that ever since we began to count and call the Pope Antichrist he hath suffered no small decayes and losses in the christian churches He hath indeed and more and more shall do till he be left as leane as a rake and all his plumes pulled his credit crackt his honour laid in the dust and men shall worship him Heb. bow down to him He is thy Lord and bow thou down unto him Psal 45.11 Body and soule both must stoop to God Zanchy and both at once 2 Cor. 6.20 Swenck feldians Stinkfeldians Luther called them from their ill savour take away all externall service so do the Nicodemites Hypocrites draw nigh to God with their lipps only when their hearts are elsewhere their bodies are in sacellis their hearts in sacculis as Ezek. 33.31 But the true Israelites give God both inward and outward worship he doth ponere dextram in pectore as Persius phraseth it being shod with the preparation of the Gospel he treads it not awry neither too much outward as the formalist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor too much inward as the Swenckfeldian He looks upon our late worship-scorners our high-attainers as the last brood of Beelzebub and reckons that to cast off ordinances is to cast away the remedy 2 Chron. 36.15 16. Prov. 29.1 every one from his place Not at Jerusalem only as once Ioh. 4.21 but in all places pure hands and hearts shall be lift up without wrath without doubting 1 Tim. 2.8 both in church and chamber any place whatsoever shall be a sufficient oratory so that God be worshipped in spirit and in truth and the publike not neglected even all the Isles of the Heathen that is all countries though not encompassed with the sea for the Jews called all lands Islands which they could not come at but by water That God shall be worshipped in the foure corners of the earth see the Note on Deut. 6.4 It was the last speech of dying Chrysostom Glory be to God from all creatures Let the Jesuites at the end of their books subscribe Laus Deo beatae Virgini Let this be the badge of the Beast let us cry To God alone be glory all the world ever Verse 12. Ye Ethiopians also ye shall be slaine by my sword which is long enough to reach you though far remote The Poets faine that Jupiter was wont to be feasted by the Ethiopians but that shall not save them from Gods sore and great strong sword Nebuchadnezzar to whom God had given Ethiopia and Egypt and Saba as a ransome for his people
well observed by One that the devils particula◠sin is not once mentioned in Genesis because he was not to be restored by repentance But the sin of Man is enlarged in all the circumstances And why this but that he might be sensible ashamed and penitent for his sin They say in philosophy that the foundation of naturall life is feeling no feeling no life And that the more quick and nimble the sense of feeling is in a man the better is his constitution Think the same of life spirituall and of that hidden man of the heart as St. Peter calles him and ye run every man unto his own house Or ye take pleasure every man in his own house q. d. Ye are all self-seekers private-spirited persons ye are all for your own interests like the snaile that seldome stirrs abroad and never without his house upon his back or like the Eagle which when he flies highest hath still an eye downward to the prey that he minds to seize In parabola ovis capras suas querunt Rom. 16. They serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellyes or if they serve Christ it is for gaine as Children will not say their prayers unlesse we promise them their breakfasts In serving him they do but serve themselves upon him as those carnall Capernaites did Ioh. 6. Well might the Apostle complaine as Philip. 2.21 And Another since that it is his Pleasures his Profit and his Preserment that is the naturall mans Trinity and his carnall self that is these in Unity May he be but warm in his own seathers he little regards the dangers of the house He is totus in se wholy drawn up into himself and insensible of either the publike good or common danger though the water-pot and speare be taken from the bolster yet he stirrs not Farr enough from St. Pauls frame of spirit or speech Who is offended and I burn not farr enough from his care and cumber anxiety and solicitude for the house of God and prosperity of his people 2 Cor. 11.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothing like they are to Ambrose who was more troubled for the state of the Church then for his own dangers Nothing like Melanethon of whom it is said that the ruines of Gods house and the miseries of his people made him almost neglect the death of his most beloved children True goodnesse is publike-spirited though to private disadvantage as Nature will venture its own particular good for the generall so will grace much more Heavy things will ascend to keep out vacuity and preserve the Universe A stone will fall down to come to its own place though it break it self in twenty pieces It is the ingenuity of saints in all their desires and designes to study Gods ends more then their own to build Gods house with neglect of their own as Solomon did to drown all self-respects in his glory and the publike good as Nehemiah did of whom it might be more truely said then the Heathen Historian did of Cato Di◠Lucan that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over-love the Common-wealth and that he did toti genitum se credere mundo beleeve himself born for the benefit of man-kind Verse 10 11. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from rain c. It 's never well with man whose life is ever in fuga as the Philosopher hath it and must be maintained by meat as the fire is by fuell till God hear the heaven and the heaven hear the earth and the earth hear the corn the wine and the oyl and these hear Jezreel Hos 2.21 22. where we may see the genealogie of these good creatures resolved into God The earth though a kind mother cannot open her bowels and yeeld seed to the sower and bread to the eater if not watered from above The heaven though the store-house of Gods good treasure which he openeth to our profit and nourishment Deut. 28.12 cannot drop down fatnesse upon the earth if God close it up and with-hold the seasonable showres This the very Heathens acknowledged in their fictions of Jupiter and Juno Strabo and the Metapontines having had a good harvest consecrated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an harvest cut in gold to their God in the Temple at Delphos Now when a rabble of Rebels shall conspire against God and fight against him with his own weapons as Jehu did against Jeboram with his own men what can He do lesse then cut them short then make them know the worth of his benefits by the want of them then call for a drought verse 11. and so for a dearth which inevitably followed in those hot countreys and consequently for pestilence and sword the usuall concomitants Pro cherebh legunt cherib the Septuagint for drought here by a mistake of points translate a sword And in the Originall there is an elegancy past Englishing Because my house is chareb that is wast therefore I have called for a choreb a drought or for a chereb a sword which shall in like sort lay your land wast and make your houses desolate according to that is threatened Deut. 28. and Matth. 23.38 And in the very next chap. verse 7. Christ telleth his Apostles that those refractary Jewes and others that rejected Him the true Temple in whom the Godhead dwelt bodily that is Essentially and not in clouds and ceremonies Col. 2.9 as once between the Cherubims which they used to call Shechinah because they loathed the heavenly Manna therefore they should be pined with famine They that would have none of the Gospel of peace should tast deeply of the miseries of warre They that despised the onely medicine of their souls should be visited with pestilence The black horse is ever at the heels of the red and the pale of the black Rev. 6.4 As there hath been a conjuncture of offences so there will be of miseries A conflux of them abideth the neglecters of Gods House the contemners of his Gospel Vrsine tells us that those that fled out of England for Religion in Queen Maries dayes acknowledged that that great inundation of misery came justly upon them for their unprofitablenesse under the means of grace which they had enjoyed in King Edwards dayes Zanchy likewise tells us that when he first came to be Pastour at Clavenna there fell out a grievous pestilence in that Town so that in seven moneths space there died 1200. persons Their former Pastour Mainardus that man of God as he calleth him had often foretold such a calamity Zanch. Miscel ep ad Lantgrav for their profanenesse and Popery But he could never be beleeved till the plague had proved him a true Prophet and then they remembred his words and wisht they had been warned by him Let us also fear Am. 5.12 Peccata ossea i. e. fortia lest for our many and bony sinnes as the Prophets expression is but especially for our hatefull and horrible contempt of his
the Name of the Lord who made heaven and earth and will rather unmake all again then we shall be unrelieved Psal 124.8 Yet have I set my king upon mine holy hill of Zion Psal 2.6 Yet for all the sorrow for all the malicious machinations and attempts of his enemies to the contrary who are therehence admonished to be wise for themselves and to kisse the sonne for he must raigne and all his foes must bee his foot-stool There is a Councill in heaven will dash the mould of all contrary counsels upon earth The stone cut out of the mountains without hands which is Christ the Conquerour will break in pieces the iron the brasse the clay the silver and the gold And in the dayes of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdome which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdomes and it shall stand for ever Dan. 2.44 45. So Dan. 7. after that the Prophet had described the greatnesse and glory of all the four Monarchies at length he comes to speak of a kingdome which is the greatest and mightiest under the whole heaven and that is the kingdome of the Saints of the most High Dan. 7.27 whose kingdome is an everlasting kingdome and all Rulers shall serve and obey him Verse 23. I will take thee O Zerubbabel That is O Christ of whom Zerubbabel was both a father and a figure Luke 3.27 Zach. 4.10 I will take thee that is I will advance and exalt thee See this expounded and applied by that great Apostle Philip. 2.5 to the 12. and will make thee as a signet that is I will highly esteem thee inviolably keep thee and entirely love thee Cant. 8.6 Jer. 22.24 and all my people in thee and for thee Esay 49.16 for I have chosen thee as Esay 42.1 Quoniam in te mihi complacui saith the Chaldee For in thee I am well pleased as Mat. 3.17 See the Note there Saith the Lord of hosts This is three severall times set down in this one verse for our greater assurance and confirmation of our faith I shall close up all with that observation of Divines that all the Prophets except Jonah and Nahum expressely end in some prophecy concerning Christ He being their mark at which all of them chiefly aimed Indeed he is both mark and matter of both old and new Testament And therefore if we will profit in teaching hearing reading we must have the eye of our minde turned toward Christ as the faces of the Cherubims were toward the Mercy seat Do this if ever you will do well A COMMENT OR EXPOSITION Upon the Prophesie of ZACHARIAH CHAP. I. Verse 1. IN the eighth moneth in the second year of Darius Two moneths after Haggai began to prophesie See the Note on Hagg. 1.1 These two Prophets did jointly together reprove the Jews for their sloth in reedifying the Temple and incite them to set forward the work Ezra 5.1 contributing their utmost help thereunto vers 2. They were also a singular help the one to the other in the execution of their office For two are better then one and why see Eccles 4.9 with the Note For which cause also Christ sent out first the twelve and then the seventy by two and two Mar. 6.7 Luk. 10.1 So Paul and Barnabas were sent abroad the two faithfull witnesses Revel 11.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Poet speaks of Vlysses and Diomedes sent to fetch in the Palladium Acts Mon Exod. 4.16 One good man may be an Angel to another as Bradford was to his fellow-Martyr Dr. Taylour nay a God to another as Moses was to Aaron And for others in the mouth of two or three witnesses a truth is better beleeved by them and a twisted cord not easily broken Haggai layes down the mind of God to the people more plainly in direct and down-right termes Zachary flies an higher pitch abounding with types and visions and is therefore worthily reckoned among the abstrusest and profoundest Pen-men of holy Scripture Praecaeteris obscurus est profundus varius prolixus aeigmaticus Cor. a Lapid For it must be understood and let it here be prefaced that albeit all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is prositable to instruct 2 Tim. 3.16 pure precious and profitable every leaf line and letter of it Psal 12.6 Prov. 30.5 Yet between scripture and scripture there is no small difference some pieces of Gods Book for their antiquity and some other for their obscurity do justly challenge our greater attention and industry Of the former sort famous for their antiquity are the five Books of Moses whom Theodoret fitly calleth the great Ocean of divinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fountaine of the following scriptures Of the second sort noted for their difficulty and that will not be acquainted with us but upon further suit some are hard through their fulnesse of matter in fewnesse of words as the Poeticall bookes wherein no doubt the verse also hath caused some cloud And others againe by the sublimity of the subject they handle such as are the bookes of Ezechiel and Daniel and this of Zachary who is totus ferè symbolicus and is much followed by St. Iohn in his Revelation Hence Hierome in his prologue to this Prophet saith Hieron Ab obscuris ad obscuriora transimus cum Mose ingredimâ—r ad nubem caliginem Abyssus abyssum invocat c. We passe from dark prophecyes to that which is much more dark and with Moses we are entring into the cloud and thick darknesse Here one deep calleth upon another and being in a Labyrinth we hope to get out by Christs golden clue concerning whose Passion Resurrection and glory he speaketh more like an Evangelist then a Prophet and may therefore be rightly stiled The Evangelicall Prophet came the word of the Lord unto Zachariah the son of Barachiah Therefore the same that our Saviour speaketh of Mat. 23.35 Luk 11.51 though I once thought otherwise after Hierome Luther Calvin Beza Glassius Grotius c. But 1. the name of his Father Berechiah 2. the manner of Christs account reckoning from Abel the first Martyr to this penultimus Prophetarum last save one of the Prophets and last of all that was slaine by the Jewes after the reedifying of the Temple Zach. 11.1 13 whither being assaulted he ran for sanctuary easily perswades me to alter mine opinion As for those that hold that our Saviour there spcaketh of Zachary the Father of Iohn Baptist Luk 1. slaine by the Jewes because he preached Virginis partum Christi ortum Christ born of a Virgin Baronius Tolet and others as they affirme it without reason so they may be dismissed without refutation Hoc quia de scripturis non habet authoritatem eâdem facilitate contemnitur quâ probatur saith Hierome the son of Iddo the Prophet Whether the
then with any thing that befell himself It is said of Melanâ—thon that the miseries of the Church made him almost neglect the death of his dearest children and put him upon many prayers and tears which Idem in vita Melanch like musick upon the water made a most melodious noise in the ears of God When Luther in a certain Epistle checked him and chod him for his exceeding great care of the Churches welfare calling him pertinacissimam curarum hirudinem c. he meekly replied Si nihil curarem nihil orarem If I should not care so I should not pray so God seemeth sometimes to have lost his mercy as here How long wilt thou be unmercifull to Jerusalem and then we must find it for him He seems to have forgot his people we must remind him He seems to sleep delay we must waken quicken him with How long Lord Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come saith Daniel Psal 102.13 14 who is probably held to be the Pen man of that excellent Psal 102. Confer Dan. 9.2 and he speaks it with as much confidence as if he had been in Gods blessed bosom the while This also he spake not now by a spirit of prophecy or speciall revelation but by way of argumentation or necessary demonstration For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof They pity her and melt over her therefore thou Lord much more sith all their tendernesse is but a spark of thy flame a drop of thine Ocean against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten yeers There is much ado among Interpreters about Jeremies 70 and Zacharies 70 whether one and the same or different one from another That of Scaliger is most unlikely who reckoneth these yeers of the captivity from the first year of Xerxes with his father Darius unto the fourth year of Darius Nothus Lib. 6. de Emend Temp. How much better our countreyman Lydiat whom yet Scaliger so much scorned saying Quis est ille ex ultima Britannia Canis qui Ios Scaligerum audeat allatrare who concludes it to be 70 years from the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldees Lyd. Emend Temp. Anno M. 3485. to this second year of Darius Hystaspes wherein Zachariah prophecyed That of A Lapide upon this Text I cannot passe by Moraliter idipsum dicamus idipsum oremus obsecremus pro Anglia c. Let us say the same pray the same for England Scotland c. that the Angel here doth for Jerusalem How long Lord wilt thou not have mercy upon England where Heresie hath prevailed now these hundred years and upwards The English fugitives beyond-seas write upon their Colledge and Church-doors in great golden letters Jesu Jesu converte Angliam Fiat Fiat Jesu convert England Amen Amen Why yet this is somewhat better then that of Pererius the Jesuite upon Genes 15.16 If any man marvell saith He why England continueth to flourish notwithstanding the over-flow of heresie and cruel persecution of Catholikes just execution of Catholikes he should have said wee answer because their iniquity is not yet full God grant it Ier. 28.6 Sed veniet tandem iniquitat is complementum But the time is not far off and forbearance is no quittance c. Vers 13. And the Lord answered the Angel How should God do otherwise then answer his welbeloved Son with good and comfortable words sith he is all in all with the Father and can do any thing with him Father saith he Joh. 12. I know thou hearest me alwayes Did God hear Abraham for Ismael nay for Sodom Did David hear Ioab interceding for Absolom Acts 12.20 Did Herod hearken to Blastus making request for those of Tyre and Sidon with whom he was highly displeased And shall not God give ear to his Son praying for his people that are as dear to him as the apple of his eye Good and comfortable words he doth surely answer him such as were once those Joh. 12.27 28. when Christ had thus prayed Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I to this hour Father glorifie thy Name Then came there a voice from heaven Bath-chol the Rabbins call it saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again So when he shall say in his daily intercession for he ever liveth to make request for us at the right hand of the Majesty on high It irketh me that the whole earth is at rest and my Church at so much unrest Return O Lord Psal 90.13 how long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants Save now I beseech thee O Lord Psal 118.25 O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperity How can God do less then answer as Isa 33.10 Now will I arise now will I be exalted now will I lift up my self Or as in the words next following here which indeed are all along good words and comfortable words I am jealous for Jerusalem c. The Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet chuse Jerusalem Yet for all the sorrow he shall do it Ier. 30.17 and for all that Others called her an outcast saying This is Zion whom no man seketh after and she her self concludeth her dolefull ditty with Thou hast utterly rejected us thou art very wroth against us Lam. 4.22 Verse 14. So the Angell that communed with me See the Note on ver 10. cry thou saying q. d. Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God Speake ye comfortably to Jerusalem speake ye to her heart and cry unto her saying that her appointed time is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned and so the quarrell is ended for she hath received of the Lords hands double for her sins Nothing so much as I have deserved saith she Ezra 9.13 twice so much as she hath deserved saith He. O sweet contradiction O beautifull contention The same Hebrew word signifieth to repent and to comfort 1 Sam. 15.35 Esay 40.1 Gods care is to comfort those that are cast down His command to his Prophet is to cry comfort to the penitent with an extraordiny earnestnesse from the God of all consolation I am jealous for Ierusalem and for Zion with a great jealousie Love is strong as death zeal or jealousie for the same word signifieth both is hard as hell Cant. 8.6 Non amat qui non zelat saith Augustine He loves not that zeales not And Basil venturing himself very farr for his friend and by some blamed for it answered Ego aliter amare non didici I cannot love a man but I must do mine utmost for him When one desired to know what manner of man Basil was it is said there was presented in a dreame to him a pillar of fire with this motto Talis est Basilius Lo such an one is Basil It is certaine that our
that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his own eye that is he very grievously hurteth himself as procuring and pullingdown upon his own head the sharp wrath and vengeance of God But the former is the better Verse 9. For behold I will shake mine hand upon them Kings they say have long hands and can easily reach those that are farre distant This is much more true of the King immertall who can quickly crumble to crackle the mightiest monarchs he cuts off the spirit of Princes Psal 76.12 he slips them off so the Hebrew there imports as one would slip off a floure between ones fingers or as one should flip off a bunch of grapes If the Lord do no more but arise his enemies shalt be scattered Psal 68.1 If he do but shew himself in the field as Xerxes used to pitch bis Tent on high and stand looking on his Army when in fight the Philistines will be heard to cry out God is come into the camp Wo unto us who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty Gods c 1 Sam. 4.8 But if he once shake his hand that mighty hand as Saint James calleth it that spanneth the heavens and shaketh the foundations of the earth how much more if he smite with the hand Ezek. 6.11 and stamp with the foot as the Prophet in another case and as Pompey vainly vaunted that with a stamp on the ground of Italy he could raise an Army the sinners against Zion are soon afraid Esay 33.14 Jer. 4.13 fearfulnesse surprizeth the hypocrites Wo unto us say they for we are spoiled The very shaking of his hand at them shall make their hearts ake shake and fall asunder in their bosomes as drops of water and they shall be a spoil to their servants i.e. To the Jews whom they lately spoiled and enslaved This was fulfilled in Esthers dayes and afterwards in the time of the Maccabees Besides what is yet expected to be done by the nation of the Jews when at their glorious conversion Christ shall dwell among them vers 10. and the multitude of Nations shall joyn themselves to Christ ver 11. the Jewes inhabiting in their own land vers 12. to the silencing amusing and amazing of all flesh vers 13. whilest the enemies of the Church by them subdued Zach. 10.11 and possessed Esay 14.2 Obad. 17 19. shall willingly or perforce come under Christs obedience The conversion of the Gentiles saith a learned Authour is many times intimated by the Israelites mastering of them spoiling them The calling of the Jews by Sir H. Finch possessing them for servants and for hand-maids as Esay 14.2 Am. 9.11 Obad. 19. and here which is not meant so much of a temporall subduing as of a spirituall joyning with them in seeking of the Lord yet so as the chief soeveraignty and stroke of keeping men within the lists of their subjection and obedience unto Christ shall remain among the Jews And so Saint James teacheth us to expound those phrases Act. 15.17 where that which Amos saith that they the Israelites may possesse the remnant of Edom James rendreth that the residue of men may seek after the Lord. The enemy whom indeed the Jews shall spoil root out and destroy after they have groaned long under his hard yoke and bondage is Gog and Magog that is to say the Turk Ezech. 38. and 39 with whom they shall have a marvellous conflict as it may seem in their own countrey Ezech. 39.2 4. Dan. 11.44 45. and over whom they shall obtain a noble victory God from heaven miraculously fighting for them Ezech. 38.18 19 c. Zach. 14.3 4 5. at or near Jerusalem Joel 3.2 Ezech. 39.16 This enemy is not alwayes represented by one and the same name but sometimes he is called Moab Edom Rabbah Ashur Javan haply because those that inhabit the seat of these people shall joyne hands with the Turk and fall in the same destruction Sometimes he is called Leviathan Esay 27.1 Ezek. 38.2 Dan. 11.40 from his quality sometimes Gog and Magog from his countrey sometimes the king of the North from his territory But by all these names one and the same enemy is understood which marvellously cleareth the place in Ezekiel chap. 38.17 where the Lord by his Prophet speaketh to Gog in this wise Art thou he of whom I have spoken in ancient time by my servants the Prophets of Israel which prophecied in these dayes and years He cannot mean Himself nor Daniel which was but his contemporary much lesse Zachary that came after but he meaneth the ancient Prophets long before who spake of the same person though not by the same name and ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me You shall subscribe to the truth of these promises which now you can very hardly be brought to beleeve when God shall have fulfilled with his hand that which he had spoken with his mouth as Solomons phrase is 1 King 8.15 Verse 10. Sing and rejoyce O daughter of Zion for lo I come After a long absence as it may seem and great expectation I come not to lodge for a night but to dwell and make mine abode in the midst of thee partly in my new-built temple but principally in the Temple of my body Ioh. 2.21 For the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us Joh. 1.14 Lo here 's habitatie Dei cum carne God dwelling with men which the Magicians held impossible Dan. 2.11 And for this the Church here though at a great under is commanded to sing and shout notwithstanding her present pressures This might seem to her an unseasonable discourse which saith Siracides is as musick in mourning But when is physick more seasonable Ecclus. 22.6 then in time of sicknesse And when had the Saints more need of chearing up then when they are pressed down with heaviest crosses And what greater comfort to a good soul then Christ Jesus our joy Christus tecythus habet in malu his comforts are such as the world can neither give nor take away such as no good thing can match no evill thing overmatch Verse 11. And many nations shall be joyned to the Lord in that day c. See the Note on ver 9. And further observe that albeit the thorough comming in of the Gentiles for all Nations with one consent to receive Christ be put off till the Jews famous conversion yet that nothing hindereth but that this and such like places that speak of the same may well serve to warrant the first inceptions of their calling And so doth St. James cite them Act. 15.16 17. out of Amos 9.11 12. and Paul Rom. 9.25 26. out of Hos 1.10 and I will dwell in the middest of thee See the Note on ver 10. and thou shalt know c. See the Note on ver 9. Verse 12. And the Lord shall inherit Iudah his portion Or his enclosure his severall divided from the rest of the world by a wonderfull separation
as the Hebrew word signifieth Exod. 33.16 And though there were some interruption in shewing favour for a time yet was there no imercision and utter breach of covenant nor is to this time as the Apostle sheweth Rom. 11.28 29. About the time when the Turkish tyranny shall have lasted 350. yeeres saith my former Authour out of Dan. 7.25 and 12.7 11. Rev. 9.15 the Jews shall repaire toward their own countrey Esay 11.15 16. and 51.10 11. Ier. 3.18 Hos 1.11 where they shall have a great conflict with the Turk Ezech. 38. and be in great distresse for a time Dan. 12.1 but at length prevaile to the utter ruine of the Grand Signior himself and the overthrow of his Army perhaps not far from the sea of Gennezaret otherwise called the lake of Tiberias Ezek. 39.11 After which they shall dwell in their own countrey Ier. 3.18 and 23.8 Ezech. 37.21 22. Am. 9.14 15. They shall inhabit all the parts of the land as before Obad 15.19 20. Ier. 31.38 39 40. Esay 27.12 and 65.10 The land shall be more fertile then ever it was Ezech. 35. Hos 2 21 22. Ioel 3.18 Am. 9.13 Zach. 14.10 The countrey more populous then before Esay 49.19 20 21. Ezech. 34.31 and 36.37 38. There shall be no separation of the ten tribes from the other two but all make one entire kingdome Ezech. 37.22 24. Hos 1.11 and a most flourishing Commonwealth Dan. 7.27 together with a Church most glorious both for outward beauty Zech. 14.6 7. Esay 60.20 and 62.1 2 3. and inward purity in doctrine Ezech. 37.23 Zacb. 13.2 3. in discipline all prophane purged out Ioel. 3.17 Zach. 14.8 abundance of spirituall graces Esay 25.6 c. safety Zach. 10.12 and 14.11 prosperity Esa 25.8 and 51.13 and stability Esay 26.1 and 33.16 Ier. 30.20 c. perpetuity Esay 60.21 Ioel. 3.20 Verse 13. Be silent O all flesh before the Lord Heb. Hus St. Peace and be still as our Saviour once said to the raging Sea Mar. 4.39 whereupon the wind ceased which before had blowed and blustered till it was weary againe as the Greek word there importeth and there was a great calme all was suddenly husht 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and silent the enemies of the Church are no lesse brutish and boisterous then the fierce winds and waves Psal 107.25 26 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But God who sets a bound to the mighty waters which they may not passe Psal 104.9 he also resraineth the remainder of mans wrath Psal 76.10 If he do but as the Roman Tribune was wont to do interpose his Veto If he do but say st Be silent O all flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plot not prate not practise not against my people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who dare quatch in his presence or gainest and his commands Who art thou O man that chattest against God saith Paul Who is this that darkeneth counsell by words without wisdom Rom. ◠20 Iob 38.2 saith God to Iob how now Let all flesh be silent Let God be justified and every mouth stopped Talk no more so exceeding proudly let not arrogancy come out of your mouth for the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed He will keep the feet of his Saints and the wicked whether they will or no shall be silent in darknesse for by strength shall no man prevaile The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to peeces out of heaven shall he thunder upon them saith holy Hannah And then they shall be glad to be quiet 1 Sam. 2.3 9 10. and to save themselves as they can like as the wormes when it thunders wriggle into the comers of the earth and as Caligula that bold miscreant that dared his Jove to a duel when it thundered covered his eyes with his cap Sueton. running under the bed or any bench-hole O all flesh fraile and foolish weak and worthlesse men who may not compare their wisdome or oppose their strength to Gods before whom they can no more stand then a glass-bottle can before a Cannon-shot They should therefore do well to meddle with their match and not contend with him that is Mightier then they Eccles 6.10 The Church is called Jehovah shammah or the Lord is there Ezek. 48.35 and although she be but a Virgin yet she hath a thrice-puissant Champion Es 37.22 23. even the Holy One of Israel who is now also already raised up Or arroused awaked as a man out of sleep Psal 44.23 or as a giant that shouteth by reason of wine Psal 78.65 out of his holy habitation That is out of Heaven Deut. 26.15 where he hath bathed his sword Isa 34.5 and bent his bow and made it ready Psal 1.12 Or out of his Temple which was likewise Gods habitation 1 Sam. 2.20 and thence God would help his people as they once said to David at Mahanaim 2 Sam. 18.3 Therefore now it is better that thou help us or cause us to be helped out of the city Remarkable is that of the Psalmist In Salem is Gods Tahernacle and his dwelling place in Zion Psal 76.2 3. There brake he the arrowes of the bow the shield and the sword and the battel Selah There where In the Tabernacle in the Assemblies of Gods Saints By all flesh here may also be meant the unbeleeving Jews who are enjoyned silence and submission they are stiled here as the Levites stiled the people saying Neh. 8.11 Hold your peace dispute not doubt not distrust not Gods promises seem they never so improbable or impossible to be effected harken not to the murmurings of your own misgiving hearts but silence your reason exalt your faith c. CHAP. III. Verse 1. ANd he shewed me Jehoshuah the High-Priest In a vision doubtlesse and that for this end that both the Prophet and by him the people also might be advertised that they wrestled not against flesh and blood men like themselves but against spirituall wickednesses or wicked spirits who did act them and agitate them against the Church ride them and spur them to do mischief as he did that bloody Farnesius one of the Popes Champions Scito persecutorem tuum ab ascensore daemone perurgeri Bern. who coming with an army into Germany swore that he would ride his horse up to the spurrs in the blood of Protestants It was the devill that stirred up the spirit of Tatnai Shether-Boznai Sanballat c. to hinder the good work now in hand like as he did Eckius Cajetan Cochlaus Catharinus and many other great schollars besides the two kings of England and Hungary to write against the Reformation begun by Luther and Charles the fifth with all the strength of the Empire to withstand and hinder it But all in vaine Here he bends his acculation chiefly against the chief Priest but thorough his sides he strikes at the welfare of the whole Church Ministers are the maine object of his malice a speciall
spite he beares to such singling them out and sifting them to the bran as he desired to do Peter stirring up unreasonable and wicked men against them as he dealt by Paul when he fought with beasts at Ephesus with breathing divels where ever he came being in deaths often When the viper hung upon his hand Act. 28. the devill doubtlesse thought to have dispatcht him but he was deceived So he is ever when he attempts as an Accuser of the Brethren he is sure to be non-suted and his plea to be cast out of the court by our Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who appears for us as he did here for Jehoshua to put away sin Heb. 9.24 26. and to take away the iniquities of their most holy things standing before the Angel of the Lord i. e. before Christ his best friend and doing his office as an High-Priest Such is Satans malice and impudency saith an Interpreter here to hurt and hinder us most in our best imployments and to accuse the Saints even to their best Friend Christ Jesus He knowes well that as Sampsons strength lay in his hair so doth a Christians strength lie in his holy performonces perfumed and presented by Christ Hence his restlesnesse in seeking to set a difference and to breed bate Hence also as the foules seised upon Abrahams sacrifice and as the Pythonisse interrupted Paul and his company when they were praying and well-doing Act. 16.16 17. so deales he still by Gods best servants and that sometimes so that if after duty they should put that question to their own heart as God did to Satan Vnde venis whence comest thou it would return Satans answer â—â—om compassing the earth and Satan That Adversary the devill as St. Peter calleth him the Accuser of the brethren Rev. 12.9 that trots betwixt heaven and earth as a teaser and makes a trade of it Once this name Satan is applyed to an holy Angel going forth as an adversary to wicked Balaam Satans spelman as One calleth him standing at his right hand why there Because say some the Accusation was as true as vehement and so Satan had the upper hand For Ioshua was cloathed with filthy garments verse 3. and there was cause enough why his own cloaths should abhorr him as Iob hath it chap. 9.31 what his particular sin objected to him by Satan was is hard to say Some will have it to be one thing some another It is plain by Ezra 10.18 the some of his sons and allies had taken strange wives which he might have hindered but that himself had taken a harlot to wite Dialog com Tryphon as Justin Martyr affirmeth is no way likely I should sooner beleeve with Thedoret and Sanchez that the sins here alledged by Satan against Ioshuah and laid to his charge were not so much his own personall sins as the sins of the whole people quodammodo enim totus populus est in sacerdote in sacerdote peccat for the whole people is after a sort in the Priest c. to resist him Heb. To Satan yet against him to do his kind by frustrating his prayers and intercessions for the people by laying his and their sins in his dish and by laying claime to them for his Carried on still by like hellish hatred of God and his people he sins that sin against the holy Ghost every moment As Pliny speaks of the scorpion that there is not one minute wherein it doth not put forth the sting Our comfort is that 1. We have an Advocate with the Father c. and he is the propitiation for our sins the Patron as well as Judge of his Saints 2. that as Satan stands at our right hand to molest us in holy duties so do the holy Angels stand there to withstand him Luke 1.11 whence it was that the Curtains of the Tabernacle were wrought full of Cherubins within and without 3. That if we resist the devill steadfast in the faith and strong in the Lord he will fly from us Iam. 4.7 For this old serpent having his head already bruised and crushed by Christ cannot so easily thrust in his mortall sting unlesse we dally with him and so lay open our selves unto him He shall in vaine strike fire if we deny tinder He may knock at the dore but if we answer him not at the window he cannot get in Verse 2. And the Lord said unto Satan The Lord Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen againe who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Who then shall condemne us who shall lay ought to our chaâ—ge Rom. 8.33.34 35. who shall separate us from the love of Christ Satan may attempt it but can never effect it We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not sc unto death but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself sc in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life Ind 21. 1 Ioh. 5.18 and that Wicked one or that Troubler of the Saints toucheth him not viz. with a deadly touch so as to poyson him and undoe him Christus nobiscum state The Prince of Persia cannot stand before Michael the King of Saints Dan. 10.13 21. the Lord rebuke thee O Satan even the Lord Christ argueth not the case with Satan but cuts him off short with a vehement check and reproof turns him over to his father to give him his due Inhonestum enim est saith Cyrysostom honestam matronam cum meretrice litigare It is not fit for a matrone to scold with a strumpet Admit the accusation wiâ—â— true yet it was maliciously and unreasonably urged Doeg spoke nothing but truth against David and Abimalech yet he heareth What shall be given upto thee or what shall be done unto thee thou salse tongue Sharp arrowes of the mighty that pierce deep wound deadly Psal 120.3 4. with coales of Juniper that shall burn fierce in respect of thy self and sweet in regard of others for men are wondrous well pleased when such ill members are punished even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem He chose her for his loves and now loves her for his choise He loveth her and washeth her with his blood that he may present her to himself holy and without blemish Eph. 5.26 27. The Persian maids were first purified and perfumed before Ahâ—suerus made his choise Esth 2 Not so here A fountain of free grace is opened for sin and for uncleannesse to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem Zach. 13.1 And Uranople or the new Jerusalem hath its foundation garnished with all manner of precious stones Reu. 21. Now the fundation of God standeth sure so that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it Satan must know that God hath chosen Ierusalem and will not cast away his people which he foreknew Rom. 11.2 is not this a brand pluckt out of the fire Titio ex
him We read in our own Chronicles that Edmund furnamed Ironside in whom England was lost and Knute the first Danish King after many incounters and equal fights at length imbraced a present agreement Daniels hist lib. 1. which was made by parting England between them two and confirmed by oath and Sacrament putting on each others apparel and Arms as a ceremony to expresse the Atonement of their minds as if they had made transaction of their persons each to other Knute became Edmund and Edmund Knute Even such an exchange I may say of apparrel is betwixt Christ and the pardoned sinner c. Christ puts upon his Church his own comlinesse decks his spouse with his own jewels as Isaac did Rebecca cloath her with needle-work and makes her more glorious within then Esther ever was in all her beauty and bravery rejoyceth over her as the bridegroom over his bride yea is ravisht in his love to her with one of her eyes lifted up to him in prayer or meditation with one chain of her neck that chain of his own graces in her Cant. 4. Verse 5. And I said let them set a fair mitre upon his head Who said this The Prophet grounding his speech on the last gracious words of the Angel taketh the boldnesse to enterpose this his request for the bestowing of the priestly ornaments upon Joshua and accordingly it is done This the prophet knew would be a comfort to the whole people and a confirmation to Ioshuas faith for the pardon of his sins like as it was to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Mat. 28.19 Joh. 20.21 that Christ after his resurrection restored them to their office after they had all shamefully forsaken him let them set a fair mitre upon his head Not a diadem as the old Translation hath it that 's for a kings head much lesse a triple crown with the word Mystery Babylons motto Rev. 17.5 engraven in it as Brocard and many other eye-witnesses affirm of the Popes crown but a Mitre or tiar It hath its name from compassing about be cause it invironed the High-priests head It had a holy crown with it Exod. 29.6 signifying the Deity and dignity of Christ It had also upon the fore-front of it a plate of pure gold with this caelature Holinesse to the Lord. Hence it was not lawful for the High priest say the Jews to put off his mitre to whomsoever he met were he never so great a man lest the name and glory of God whose person he sustained should seem to submit to any living With this Mysterious mitre upon his head with other priestly Ornaments and vestments it was that Alexander the greatmet the High-priest Iaddus Nephew and successour to Ichoshuah in the text as he was maâ—ching against Jerusalem with hostile intent and adoring that God whose name was seen written on the golden plate of his Mitre he entered the city peaceably offered sacrifice in the Temple as the Priests directed him Dan. 8.7 20 21. 11 13. and having seen there the prophesie of Daniel concerning himself he granted the Jews many immunities and priviledges and so departed Parmenio one of his favorites asked him the reason of his friendly dealing with the Jews â—seph lib. 11. Cap. vlt. who by denying him help and tribute had highly displeased him He answered that while he was yet in Macedonia and but thinking of the conquest of Asia a certain man appeared unto him in the habit of that High-priest encouraging him to set upon the work and assuring him of good successe therein and the Angel of the Lord that is Christ the Master of these Ceremenies the effect of this Levitical office Verse 6. And the Angel of the Lord protested Either with an oath or some deep asseveration or both as 1 Sam. 25.26 As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth c. The former is an oath the latter an asseveration or obtestation only conjoyned with that oath Among the Heathens Ex animi seu sententia was instead of an oath And rather then swear or say more in a matter of no great moment Chinius the Pythagorean would undergoe a mulct of three talents Others render it Testified or called witnesse upon his words the Angels and the prophet there present for the more assurance Thus though Christs word be sufficient for he is Amen the faithful and true witnesse yet for his servants better settlement Rev. 3.14 he hath bound his promises to them with an oath and taken heaven and earth to witnesse which is dignatio stupenda a wonderful Condescension Verse 7. If thou wilt walk in my wayes and keep my charge That is if thou wilt walk in all the Commandements moral and ordinances Levitical blamelesse as holy Luk. 1 6. Act 20.28 Zachary did and so approve thy self righteous before God by taking heed to thy self first and then to all thy flock which is thy charge the Holy Ghosts depositum and the purchase of Christ's own blood God linesse is the high-way to happinesse the good old way that hath been ever beaten by all those saints that now finde rest to their souls The very first steps in this way are Repentance from dead works and Faith toward God in Christ Jesus By these men return to God from whom they have departed are brought neare to him and set in the way of his steps Psal 85.13 We are his workmanship saith the Apostle created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them Eph. 2.10 not without good advice and due direction Eph. 5.15 Walk circumspectly walk by rule and by line Gal. 6.16 Lift not up one foot till you finde sure footing for the other as those Psal 35.6 Christians and especially Ministers are funambulones saith Tertullian if they tread but one step awry they are gone and may draw many with them then thou shalt judge mine house and shalt also keep my courts i. e. Thou shalt rule in my Temple and wait at mine altar The Pope and his Prelates catch at the former but let go the later where Christ saith Feed my sheep Bellarmine saith the meaning is Rule like a king Baronius Take to thy self the supream government of the Church But a preaching Bishop is a just wonder among them a Vir portenti as those priests in the next verse are called and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by i.e. Among the Seraphims as the Chaldee here interprets it thou shalt walk arm in arm as it were with Angels Mat. 22.30 Heb. 12.22 He seems to allude to the walks and Galleries that were about the Temple Heaven is the reward of walking in the way that is called Holy the end of mens faith the salvation of their souls Christ tells us that in his Fathers house are many mansions for us Joh. 14.2 such as have farre better gardens and Galleries then Mahomet fondly promiseth his sword-men in his fools-paradise
seen the afflictions of my people in Egypt c. Behold I will engrave the graving thereof Hae coelaturae dona stigmata Christirepraesentant saith A Lapide These gravings represent the gifts and wounds of Christ Lib. 4. in allusion to the polished corners of the Temple Coelum dictum est quod coelatum id est signatum sideribus saith Varro Heaven hath its name in Latine from its being enameled and bespangled with glistering starres as with curious workmanship or costly furniture Of the third heaven the habitation of Saints and Angels Heb. 11.10 God is said to be by a specialty the builder and maker or as the Greek hath it the cunning Artificer and publike Architect A great deal of skill and workmanship he laid out upon it but nothing so much as upon the Humane nature of Christ wherein as in a Temple dwelt all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily Col 2.9 that is personally by vertue of the Hypostaticall Union For the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father full of grace and truth John 1.14 full full to the very brimme full with a double fulnesse Vasis Fontis of the Vessell and of the Fountain Hence He was fairer much fairer double fairer as the Originall importeth then the sonnes of men sc with the beauty of wisdome and holinesse grace was poured into his lips God had anointed him with the oil of gladnesse above his fellows Ezek. 28.7 Psal 45.2 7. The Priests in the Law were consecrated first with oil compounded and confected of diverse precious spices so was Christ with gifts and graces of the Spirit Act. 10.38 and 4.27 Esay 61.1 not by measure as we are Ephes 4.7 but without measure as much as a finite nature was capable of particularly he was furnished and polished with wisdome as a Prophet against our ignorance with holinesse as a Priest against our guilt and with power as a King against our corruptions These and all other endowments he had well heapt pressed down and running over poured into his bosome Next as the Priests under the Law were also consecrated with blood so was the Lord Christ with his own blood when his Father engraved him with graving or as the Hebrew hath it here opened him with opening in his bloody passion baptized him in his own blood stewed him in his own broth as it were when in a cold winters-night hee sweat great clods of blood which thorow clothes and all fell to the very ground When after this they digged his hands and his feet Psal 22.16 and made his heart melt in the middest of his bowels verse 14. Wounded he was in the head to cure our vile imaginations In the hands to expiate our evil actions in the heart and feet for our base affections and unworthy walkings Tormented he was for our transgressions bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him tanquam pulcherrima corporis caelatura and by his stripes or bloody wails we were healed Adam signifieth Man red-earth or Bloody Esay 53. â— Christ was Man in his Incarnation and bloody all over in his passion This death of Christ therefore look on saith Master Bradford Martyr as the very pledge of Gods dear love towards thee see the very bowels of it as in an Anatomie See Gods hands are nailed they cannot strike theo his feet also he cannot runne from thee his arms are wide open to embrace thee his head hangs down to kisse thee his very heart is open so that therein look nay even spie and thou shalt see nothing therein but love love love to thee c. Cernis ut in toto corpore sculptus amor and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day I will remove i. e. remit and pardon the iniquity both guilt and punishment Of that land i. e. Of the Church that pleasant land more dear to God then all the earth besides In one day i. e. together and at once suddenly and in an instant See Esay 66.8 Verse 10. In that day saith the Lord of hosts shall yee call c. i. e. Yee shall have peace Regionis Religionis of countrey and of conscience Christus auferet iniquitatem afferet pacem Christ as he saveth his people from their sinnes so from the hands of them that hate them When this Prince of peace was born in the dayes of Augustus Vniversa gentium erat aut pax aut pactio Luc. â—lor l. â— there was a generall either peace or truce among all Nations And this man shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into the land thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian c. Mic. 5.5 6. But behold a better thing This Shiloh this Tranquillator Pacificator by removing iniquity createth peace of conscience like as after Jonah was cast over-board the sea became calme Of the encrease of his government and peace there shall be no end Esay 9.7 Where Christ ruleth there is peace peace Esay 26.3 that is perfect sheer pure peace with God our selves and others and the more Christs government increaseth in the soul the more is peace renued continued multiplied Psal 119 16â— Great peace have all they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them saith David And thou hast been a strength to the poor a refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat c. Esay 25.4 better then that of the broad-leaved Vine and fig-tree very cooling and comfortable in those hot countreys See this in righteous Noah who being justified by faith had peace with God and therefore was medijs tranquillus in undis How securely doth he ride out that uproar of heaven earth and waters He hears the pouring down of rain above his head the shrieking of men the bellowing of beasts on both sides him the raging and threats of the waves under him He saw the miserable shifts of distressed unbeleevers in the mean time sits quietly in his dry cabbin not feeling nor fearing evil How happy a thing is pardon of sinne and peace with God! what a quiet safety what an heavenly calme doth it lodge in the soul what earnest pantings and strong affections to the salvation of others Ye shall call c. CHAP. IIII. Verse 1. ANd the Angell that talked with me See the Note on chap. 1. ver 9. came again After some absence as it may seem and a new vision or revelation received from God to be imparted to the Prophet and waked me as a man that is wakened c. It fared with the Prophet notwithstanding the former visions as with a drowsie person who though awakened and set to work is ready to fall asleep at it So Peter James and Iohn those pillars as they are called Gal. 2. fell asleep at their very prayers Mat. 26.40 such dull metal are the best men made of and so weak is the
empty businesse an airy Nothing as words of the lips onely whereas counsel and strength are for the war thus some read that text Esay 36.5 Thirdly when the the Church is at lowest and all seems lost and desperate when the enemy is above fear and the Church below hope when she is talking of her grave like Israel at the red sea then is Gods season to set in it is his glory to help at a dead lift to begin where we have given over to relieve those that are forsaken of their hopes to come when we can scarce finde faith upon the earth God sees when the mercy will be in season When his people are low enough and the enemy high enough then usually appears the Churches morning-star then Christ came leaping and skipping over the mountains of Bether all impediments that might seem to hinder as sins of his people oppositions of his enemies and make the Churches mountain to be exalted above all mountains mole-hils in comparison of her Verse 7. Who art thou O great mountain So the enemies seemed to themselves set aloft and overtopping the low and poor estate of those feeble Jews as they called them Neh. 4.2 But the Virgin daughter of Zion despiseth them here Esay 37.22 and laugheth them to scorn she shaketh her head at them and saith whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed c It is good for thee to meddle with thy match and not to exalt thy self against the holy One of Israel Psal 76.4 5. Jer. 51.25 Babylon is called a destroying mountain sated upon a rock yet Gob will level and lay it low nough 26. Melch. Ad. who is more gloririous and excellent then those mountains of prey The stout-hearted are spoiled they have slept their sleep such as Sisera did and none of the men of might have found their hands when once they fell into the punishing hands of the living God He will soon level these lofty mountains they shall become a plain A champiagne that before seemed unpossible inaccessible Christs enemies shall be in that place that is fittest for them the lowest that is the footstool of Christ when the Church as it is the highest in Gods love and favour so shall it be highest in it self Gaudeo quòd Christus Dominus est alioqui totus desperassem writes Miconius to Calvm upon the view of the Churchs enemies Glad I am that Christ reignes for else I had been utterly hopelesse O pray pray saith another Saint for the Pope of Rome and his Conventicle of Trent are hatching strange businesses The comfort is that he that sitteth in heaven seeth them the Lord above hath them in derision For in the thing wherein they deal proudly God is above them and his will shall stand when they shall dung the earth with their dead carcasses Sciat Celsitudo Tua c. Let your Highnesse know saith Luther in a letter to the Duke of Saxony that things are otherwise ordered in heaven then they are at Ausborough where the Emperour Charls the fiâ—t had madea decree to root out the Reformed religion out of Germany But soon after the Turk broke into Hungary and the borders of Germany so that Cesar had somewhat else to do then to persecute the Protestants So the primitive persecutours fondly inscribed upon the publike pillars Deleto Christianorum nomine c. that they had blotted out the name of Christ and his religion from under heaven but this they could never effect with all the power of the whole Empire They found and complained that the Church might be shaken and not shivered concuti non excuti as 2 Cor. 4.8 9. Faecundi sunt Martyrum cineres the very ashes of the Martyrs were fruitful and their blood prolifical The Church conquers even when she is conquered as Christ overcame as well by patience as by power The people of Rome saith One saepè praelio victus nun juam bello they lost many battels but were never overcome in a set war at the long run they crushed all their enemies Bellarmine somewhat boasteth the like of the Church of Rome that she was never worsted in any set battel by the Protestants But if he had lived till these late yeers he would have known it otherwise And indeed he could not be ignorant of that famouss Bellum Hussiticum as they called it in Germany and the many fields fought and won by the Huguenots in France c. And if at any time the Church lose the day Victa tamen vincet Christ hath his stratagems as Joshuah had at Ai he seems sometimes to retire that he may return with greater advantage Certain it is he will thresh the mountains and beat them smal before his Zorobabels he will make the hills as chaff Esay 41.15 and he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings saying Grace Grace unto it i. e. He shall hold out to lay the very last stone of this new building with joy and with general acclamations and wel-wishes There was a promise for it long before Esay 44.28 This Zorobabel was not ignorant of as neither of that which followeth Chap. 45.1 2. that for the effecting of that promise God would go before him to make the crooked place streight to break in pieces the gates of brasse and cut in sunder the bars of iron i.e. to take away all rubs and impediments There it the like promise in the New Testament and it may be a singular incouragement to those that go on to build the tower of Godlinesse to prepare a tabernacle intheir hearts for the holy One of Israel that he may dwell in them and walk in them c. the gates of hell shall never prevail against them sith Christ as another Sampson hath flung them off their hinges hath destroyed the Devils works and laid the top-stone of his spiritual temple with shouting saying Grace grace unto it The meaning is saith an interpreter that the Angels the faithful and all creatures rejoycing at Christs kingdom established in the world shall desire God the Father to heape all manner of blessing and happinesse upon it Diodat See Psal 118.26 Or they shall acknowledge and preach that the Father hath laid up in him all the treasures of his grace and gifts of his spirit It is the observation of another Reverend man preaching upon this text that when we preach of humane wisdom and foresight we should fall down and cry as we are here taught Grace Grace unto it Mr. Tho. Goodwin Fast-serm before Parl. Apr. 27.1642 we are not to cry up Zerubbabel Zerubbabel any man or means whatever but to exalt the free grace of God the work of which alone it is and hath been Zerubbabel should bring forth the head-stone as master-builders used to do the first and last stone and the people should magnifie Gods meer free-grace and acknowledge that he was marvellous in their eyes Thus that learned Preacher who also by the lighted Candlestick here understandeth
full perfecting and finishing of the Temple and restoring the worship of God within it unto its full perfection of beauty and brightnesse By the two Olive-trees Zerubb abel with the elders and Ioshua High-priest with the other priests that sat before him as Chap. 3.8 wite Ezra 6.14 confer Psal 52.8 These are said to empty golden oyl that is their estates and pains for the finishing of costly work and likewise because it was done in fincerity of heart therefore it is called golden or pure cyl Further these eminent ranks and sorts of persons that should give their affistance to this work are called sons of oyl verse 15. As being fruit ful and affording plenty of it Thus Esay 5 1. a fruitful hill and fertile soyl is in the Original as here called a son of oyl c. Verse 8. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me saying This is a conformation of the former comfort and a feal of the former promise all which was but little enough by reason of the peoples distrust and iufidelity Against which the prophet here produceth his warrant Gods own word q. d. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation This is a pillar and ground of truth See the Note od 1 Tim. 3.15 Verse 9. The hands of â—erubbabel have laid the soundation of this house his hands c. Here the scope of this stately vision iâ— plainly held forth and without a parable What the scripture speaketh darkly in one place it speaks plainly in another The Rabbins have a saying that there is a mountain of sense hanging upon every Apcx of the word of God They have also another saying Nulla â—st obâ—ctio in lege quae non haber solutionem in latere i. e. There is not any doubt in the law Pemble of the Persian Monarchy but may be resolved out of the law Zorobalâ—cl is both founder and finisher of the Temple those that will have it not to be finished till about the sixth yeer of Darius Nothus make him to be very long-lived and tell us that God granteth to one a longer life then ordinary because he hath something to be done by them The distrustful Jews began to despise those small beginnings of a building and to despair of ever seeing it perfected by reason of those mountains of opposition they met with and thought they should never dig down or get over The work shall the done saith God and Zerubbabel how unlikely soever shall do it Beleeve the Prophets and ye shall prosper It shall never be faid of Zorobabel as of the foolish huilder This mâ—n began but could not sinish Or as an out-lander seeing Christ-church in Oxford said of it Egregium opus Cardinalis iste instituit Collegium Luke 14.30 Rod. Gualthe abâ—â—boit culmam A pretty piece of Work A colledge begun and a kitchin finished It was God that set Zerubbabel awork and He doth not use do things to halves He is Alpha and Omega the Beginner and Ender the Author and Finisher Heb. 12.1 I am consident of this very thing faith Paul that he that hath begun a good work in you wil perform it Psal 1.6 And faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it 1 Thes 5.24 And the Lord will persect that which concerneth me saith David sorsake not the work of thine own hands Psal 138.8 Look upon the wounds of thine hands and despite not the works of thine hands said Queen Elizabeth Thus if men pray in the holy Ghost keep themselves in the love of God and look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ umo câ—ernal life they shall be builded up in their most holy saith Jude 20.21 where by Christ shall dwell in their hearts as in his holy Temple and thou shth know Thou Zachary shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me His Angel as his Internuncio See Luk. 1.19 Or thou Zerubbabel shalt know that I Zaâ—hary come not to thee of mine own minde but on Gods message and am therefore to be beleeved When Ehud told Egion he had a message from God though he were an heathen and a fat unweildy man he stood up to receive it Judg. 3.20 though that message was a messenger of death a ponyard in his bowels Should not we harken to the Father of spirits and live Heb. 12. should the Consolations of God be sinall with us Job 15.11 Should we instead of wrestling with God by prayer so putting his promises in suit wrangle with him by cavelling objections lâ—se dixit among Pythagoras his schollers went currant if their master said it 't was enough And shall we that are taught of God not give the like credit to our Master in heaven shall we not yeeld him the obedrence of faith Verse 10. Tor who hath dâ—spised the day of small things Nay who had not The generality of the Iews were clearly guilty Ezra 3.13 and are therefore here justly reproved As Naaman once looked on Gods Iordan with Syrian eyes and so sllghted the motion of washing therein so these distrusiful Jews despised the small beginnings of this great work and the little likelyhood of ever bringing it to any good upshot Is it not in your eyes as nothing-saith Haggâ—e hap 2.3 They seemed onely to grieve at it but God construeth it for a downright contem pt for he judgeth otherwise of our carnall affections then we our selves and will have us to know that his thoughts are not our thoughts neither are his wayes our wayes Esay 55.8 Out of meancst principles he many times raiseth matters of greatest moment that his own immediate hand may the more appear The kingdom of heaven was at first but as a grain of mustaâ—d-seed Mat. 13.32 The stone cut out of the mountain without hands as if it had dropt out or been blown down thnece became a mountain and silled the whole earth Dan. 1.34 35. The cloud that rose as little as a mans hand soon after muffled the whole heaven God put little thoughts into the heart of Ahashuerosh concerning Mordecai but for great purposes Who would ever have thought that out of Abraham now as good as dead should have come the Messiah or that out of the dry root of Jesse should come the Branch spoken of in the former Chapter who would have imagined that going forth onely with his bow Rev. 6.2 and arrows Psal 45.5 the foolishnesse of preaching he could conquer in three hundred yeers the whole Roman Empire that by Hus a goose and Luther a swan such strange things should have been done in Bohemia and Germany that by a scruple cast into Hen. the 8. his minde about his marriage with Katharine of Spain by the Trench Embassador who came to consult with him of a marriage between the Lady Mary and the Duke of Orleans second son to the King of France whether Mary were legitimate c the Pope should be cast off here and reformation wrought by so weak and
they read the predictions of an Almanack for wind and weather which they think may come to passe and it may be not but be confident of this very thing that God who hath denounced it will surely do it and that he will execute the judgement written in this roll Psal 149.9 yea every sicknesse and every plague which is not written in the book of this Law them will the Lord cause to descend upon the disobedient untill they be destroyed Deut. 28.61 Verse 3. This is the curse Or oath with execration and cursing Num. 5.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut Aâ— Graecè juramentum et execrationem significat Mercer Cursing men are cursed men and God hath sworn that swearers shall not enter into his rest that goeth forth yea flyeth verse 2. more swift then an eagle an arrow a flash of lightening Or if not yet Poena venit gravior quo magè sera venit over the face of the whole earth Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil but of the Jew sirst Ingentia beneficia flagitia supplicia who is therefore the worse because he ought 'to have been better and then Rom. 2.9 of the Gentile also Theodoret Lyra and Vatablus think that Iudaea is hinted in the measure of the book twenty cubites long and ten broad as being twice so long and somewhat more as it is broad witnesse Hierom in his Epistle to Dardanus Epist 129. But let the whole earth here be taken in its utmost latitude sith the Gentiles that sinne without the Law are yet liable to the punishments of the Law And some of them by the light of Nature saw the evil of swearing but all generally of stealing but especially of perjury and sacriledge here principally meant Confer Mal. 3.8 Neh. 13.10 for every one that stealeth shall be cut off By stealing understand all sins against the second Table as by swearing all against the first and so the sense is the same with that of the Apostle Every transgression and disobedience receiveth a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 And cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them Gal. 3.10 Howbeit because these two sins were more frequently and more impudently committed in those dayes therefore are they by a specialty instanced The Jewes comming poor out of Babylon held it no great sin to steal for supply of their necessities and then to forswear themselves for the better hiding of their theft Give me not poverty said holy Agur lest being poore I steale and as one sin drawes on another I take the name of my God in vaine Prov. 30.9 See the Note there Hunger is an evill counsellour necessity an hard weapon a sore temptation when it comes to this Either I must steale or starve But then to this must be opposed that of the law Thou shalt in no case steals Thou must rather dye then do wickedly Aut faciendum aut patiendum Either obey the law or suffer the curse as on this side according to it i. e. According to the curse described in the rowle the thees shall be cut off as well as the swearer they shall speed alike The tares shall be bound up in bundles theeves with theeves and swearers with swearers and burnt in the fire Mat. 13.30 40. According to the prediction shall be the execution Whether on this side that is in Judea so some sense it or on that side in other parts of the world such persons appeare they shall have their payment and every one that sweareth Not only falsely as verse 4. but lightly vainely causelesly in jest and not in judgement whether by God or by creatures and qualities Judaeis Pharisaeis vulgare vitium saith Paraeus on Iam. 5.12 a common fault among the Jewes and Pharisees Mat. 5.34 35. and 23.16.18 See the Notes there Among the Christians in Chrysostomes time as appeares by his many sermons against it at Antioch And in these dayes if ever because of oaths the land mourneth God hath a controversie Hos 4.1 2. We have lived to see iniquity in the fulnesse of oaths and blasphemies unparaleled darted with hellish mouths against God and our Saviour so ordinarily and openly that some of them are become very interjections of speech to the vulgar and other some meer phrases of gallantry to the braver I knew a great swearer saith a great Divine who comming to his death-bed Satan so filled his heart with a madded and enraged greedinesse after that most gainelesse Bolâ—on and pleasurelesse sin that though himself swore as fast and as furiously as he could yet as though he had bin already among the bannings and blasphemies of hell he desperatly desired the standers by to help him with oaths and to swear for him Verse 4. I will bring it forth sc out of my treasuries or store-houses of plagues and punishments Deut. 32.34 Or That which thou hast seen in vision I will put in action I will produce it into the open light into the theatre of the world their faults shall be written in their foreheads their sins shall go before to judgement my visible vengeance shall overtake them and it shall enter into the house of the theef which he calleth his castle and where he thinks himself most secure as out of the reach of Gods rod as iâ— he could mot up himself against Gods fire But what faith Bildad His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle and it shall bring him to the king of terrours It shall dwell in his tabernacle because it is none of his brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation Iob 18.14 15. so that if the fire of Gods wrath do but touch it all 's on a light flame A. Gell. He will unkennel these foxes and drag acus out of his denn to his deserved punishment Dioclesian the Persecutour one of those Latrones publici Eusub de vit Const lib. 5. as Cato called them giving over his Empire after that he had sufficiently feathered his nest decreed to lead the rest of his life quietly But he escaped not so for after that his house was wholy consumed with lightening and a flame of fire that fell from heaven he hiding himself for fear of the lightening died within a while after and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name Hence Ribera gathereth that by the whole earth in the former verse is meant Judaea only because none but Jewes swore by the name of the true God who is indeed the proper object of an oath Esay 65.16 Ier. 12.6 Howbeit in lawfull contracts with an Infidel or Idolater oaths by false gods may be admitted and are binding As for perjury it is a provoking sin as containing three great evils 1. The uttering or upholding of a lie 2. The calling upon God to testifie and justifie a lie 3. The praying for a curse upon a mans self and beseeching God
had collected an elected Church 1 Epist 5.13 and thence he writeth his Epistle to the sojourning Jews scattered thorow those Eastern parts chap. 1.10 from whence also those kings of the East Rev. 16.12 the converted Jews as some expound it are expected And who can tell whether this land of Shinar be not the same with that land of Sinim Esay 49.12 Confer Esay 11.16 Zach. 10.11 Or by the land of Shinar here may be meant exilium totius orbis their generall rejection by all nations the whole world being to them a Shinar that is a land of excussion and it shall be established c. This denoteth the diuturnity or perpetuity of their punishment CHAP. VI. Verse 1. ANd I turned and lift up mine eyes i. e. I passed on to another vision and 1 lifted up the eyes of my mind higher to heaven saith Hierom to receive a further revelation from God And whereas he saith I turned he declareth that God from on every side giveth his Church clear testimonies of his care of her so that she will give heed unto them and lift up her eyes there came four chariots out i.e. four squadrons of Angels Gods Warriours and Ministers of his manifold decrees which are here set forth by the name of brazen mountains 2 King 2.11 2 King 6.17 So Hab. 3.8 See chap. 1.8 with the Note Chariots the Angels are called in many places but especially Psal 68.17 The chariots of God in the Hebrew it is chariot in the singular to note the joynt service of all the Angels are twenty thousand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even thousands of Angels of chearfull ones so the Septuagint of such as serve the Lord readily and freely with joy and tranquillity and so do quiet his spirit Deut. 33.26 God rideth upon the heavens for Isra els help i.e. upon the Angels Heb. as it is said here vorse 8 give him full satisfaction The Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place that is the Angels by their swiftnesse and warlike prowesse make Sion the Church as dreadfull to all her enemies did not one of them so to Sennacherib as those Angels made Sinai at the delivery of the Law which was given in fire Deut. 33.2 The word rendred Angels in the above-cited Psal 68.17 and so the Chaldee plainly expresseth it is by some who derive it of Shaan to sharpen referred to chariots to note a kinde of chariots armed with sharp hooks used in warres as many humane Writers record And so it maketh something to the confirmation of this Interpretation Statius Macrob. Vegetius concerning Angels rather then the four Monarchies But the Angel himself is our best Interpreter verse 5. where being asked by Zachary what these chariots were he answereth These are the four spirits of the heavens which go sorth from standing before the Lord of all the earth a plain Periphrasis of the Angels chap. 1.10 See the Note there from between two mountains tanquam è carceribus as designed by Gods all disposing providence and power and ready prest at his appointment and pleasure to run their race do their office execute Gods judgements which are both unsearchable and inevitable and this the Poets hammer'd at in their ineluctabile Fatum as they called it Gods decrees lie hid under mountains of brasse as it were till they come to execution they run as a river under ground till they break out and shew themselves When he hath once signified his will then we understand it which before lay hid from us that is when these chariots come out from between the mountains of brasse when the event declareth what was the immutable decrce of God Hence the Psalmist Thy right cousnesse is like the great mountains thy judgements are a great deep this for the decree And for the execution Thou preservest man and beast Psal 36.6 but by such means and in such manner as to thee seemeth best It is our part to say Amen to his Amen and to put our Fâ—at and Placet to his The will of the Lord be done said those primitive Christians Act. 21.14 Here am I send me Esay 6.8 Verse 2. In the first chariot were red horses c. These severall colours seem to set forth the diverse ministrations of the Angels deputed to severall employments The black colour betokeneth sorrowfull occurrences and revolutions The white joyfull The red bloody The grisled sundry and mixt matters partly joyfull and partly sorrowfull But I easily subscribe to Him that said We must be content to be ignorant of the full meaning of this vision Tanta est profunditas Christianarum literarum saith Austin so great is the depth of divine learning that there is no fathoming of it Prophecy is pictured like a Matrone with her eyes covered for the difficulty For which cause Paulinus Nolanus would never be drawn to write Commentaries and Psellus in Theodoret asketh pardon for expounding the Canticles of Solomon Verse 4. What are these my Lord Difficulty doth but whet desire in Heroick spirites the harder the vision the more earnest was the Prophets inquisition he was restlesse till better resolved and therefore applieth himself again to his Angel Tutour rather then Tutelar whom for honour sake he calleth My Lord. See the Note on chap. 4.5 and take notice of the truth of Saint Peters Assertion concerning the Prophetick scrutiny 1 Pet. 1.11 with greatest sagacity and sedulity Verse 5. These are the four spirits of the heavens Angels are spirits Heb. 1.7 14. and spirits of heaven Mat. 24.36 Gal. 1.8 resembling their Creatour as children do their Father both in their substance which is incorporeall Hence they are called sons of God Job 1.6 and 38.7 and in their excellent properties Life and Immortality Blessednesse and Glory a part whereof is their just Lordship and command over inferiour creatures For like as ministring spirits they stand before the Lord of the whole earth who sends them out at his pleasure to serve his providence so they have as his Agents and Instruments no small stroke in the ordering and managing of naturall and civill affairs as may be seen in the first of Ezechiel The wheels that is the events of things have eyes that is something that might shew the reason of their turnings if we could see it And they are stirred but as the living creatures that is the Angels stirred them And both the wheels and living creatures were acted and guided by Gods spirit as the principall and supream Cause of all the Lord of the whole earth as he is here called that stand before c. As waiting his commands and ready to runne on his errand Mat. 18 10. Dan. 7.10 Jacob at Bethel saw them 1. ascending sc to contemplate and praise God and to minister to him 2. descending sc to execute Gods will upon men for mercy or for judgement Psal 103.20 For which purpose Ezekiel tells us that they have four faces to look every way when as
fellowes sider ver 16. Verse 6. If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people Here the Lord graciously answereth the secret objection of these Iewes unbeleeving and misgiving hearts It is impossible thought they that these promises should ever have their performance they are sure too good to be true This is the voice of carnall reason it usually tells a story of impossibilities and judgeth according to sense looketh upon Gods Iordan as Naaman did with Syrian eyes But faith can mount higher and see farther as a lark with a little eye getting aloft can see that which an Oxe with a bigger eye but being below on the ground cannot It is the nature of faith to look upon all things seisable I can do all things saith she thorough Christ that strengtheneth me Is there any thing too hard for the Almighty was to that an absurd question of these mens Ancestours Can he prepare a table for us in the wildernesse God can do much more then he will do but whatsoever he willeth that he doth both in heaven and earth And if faith have but a promise to fasten upon she can beleeve God upon his bare word without a pawn and that both against sense in things invisible and against reason in thing â—â—â—red ble â—â—â—uld it also be marvelous in mine eyes q. d. will ye measure me by your selves and make my thoughts to be as your thoughts my wayes as your wayes there is no compartion Abraham caâ—ed not for the deadnesse of his own body or his wâ—ves but was strong in faith and gave God the glory of his power Rom. 4.20 This was it indeed that God himself minded him of when he said unto him Gen. 17.1 I am God Almighty walk before me and be uprihgt q. d. Thou wilt never do the later unlesse thou beleeve the former Verse 7. Behold I will save my people from the East This was in part no doubt litterally meant of the scattered Jewes and fulfilled also in those five hundred yeers space between the Captivity and Christ though stories tell us not when and how and shall be much more at their much-desired conversion For this is laid down for a generall rule that all Evangelicall promises made to the Jewes seeing they neither at first received the Gospel nor ever hitherto enjoyed that peace plenty and prosperity which these and such like promises do purport cannot but aime at somewhat that is yet to come Albeit it cannot be denied but that the great and glorious things which in the height and excellency thereof are spoken particularly to them do in their measure and degree appertaine in common to all the faithfull and so in the New Testament are ordinarily applied Verse 8. And I will bring them and them they are sure to be brought For who hath resisted his will he will breathe life into those dead bones and flesh shall cover them he will make up those two sticks into one and David his servant shall be king over them for ever Ezek. 37. and they shall dwell in the midst of Ierusalem They shall they shall O the Rhetoricke of God! O the certainty of the promises what a monstrous sin is unbelief and they shall be my people and I will be their God This is a short Gospel this is the summ of the covenant of Grace Brevis longa planeque aurea est haec clausula as Pareus some-where speakes of another Teat This is a long and yet a short clause short in sound long in sense but golden all over in truth and righeousnesse I will be their God in truth that is in an assured performance of promise and they shall be my people in righteousnesse That is in obedience to my commandements So here is the covenant renued in a mutuall stipulation Verse 9. Let your hands be strong Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us take heart of grace against all occasions of distrust and feare 2 Cor. 7.1 let us up and be doing that the Lord may be with us Let us feare lest such a promise being left us yea such a bundle of promises as are contained in the New Covenant any of you Heb. 4.1 by shrinking from the service should seem to come short of it or by faintly forwarding the Temple-work should lose the things that he hath wrought Esay 35.3 4. but that ye receive a full reward 2 Ioh. 8. strengthen ye the weak hands and confirme the feeble knees Say to them of a fearefull heart Be strong feare not c. 2 Chr. 2â— 20 Say the same every man to himself Encourage your selves in the Lord your God as David did 1 Sam. 30.6 Beleeve the Prophets and ye shall prosper do ye not heare in these dayes these words by the mouth of the Prophets my self and Haggai Iob 15.11 And should the consolation of God be small unto you will ye not trust us whom you have alread tried and take comfort by our words now whom you have formerly found no liars Verse 10. Ez 3. Iohn 2. Zach. 7. For before these dayes sc during those fourty and four yeers wherein they ceased from the work minding only their own houses and managing their own affairs their labour was unprofitable their state unquiet thorought forraine forragers and homebred Malecontents there was no hire for man nor any hire for beast Nulla emolumenta laborum Both man and beast did their parts but to little purpose Ludit qui sterili semina mandat humo Ovid. They sowed much and brought in little they earned money but put it into a bottomelesse bag Hag. 1.6 See the Note there the gaines did not countervaile the paines the wages the work neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in whether a man were within dores or without he was in danger of the enemy See the like 2 Chron. 15.5 he did eat the bread of his soul in the perill of his life being wholy at the enemies mercy 1 Sam. 24.19 which is mere cruelty For if a man find his enemy will he let him go away said Saul I trow not till he have his penniworth of him as that Monster of Millaine as the bloody Papists in the Massacre of Paris as the mercilesse Spaniards on the harmelesse Indians fifty millions of whom they have murthered in forty two yeers as Acosta the Jesuite testifieth as Ptolomaeus Lathur us king of Egypt on these poor lewes thirty thousand of whom he cruelly killed and compelled the living to feed upon the flesh of the dead And lastly as the Iewes themselves of whom Tacitus takes notice and gives them this character that there was misericordia in promptu apud suos sed contra omnes alios hostile odium that they were kind enough to their own but cruel to all others whom they look upon as Idolaters and therefore think they may safely kill as they did the Cyprians and Cyrenians in Traâ—ans time to the number
of 240000. Dio in Tra. thousand and as they still do Christians where they can without danger of being discovered whom also they curse in their daily prayers with a Maledic Domine Nazaraeis and by whom they are every where so contemned and hated that they are exiled out of the world cast out of many countries and where they are suffered as in Turkey they are at every Easter in danger of death For Biddulph telleth us that if they stirr out of doors between Maundy-Thursday at noon and Easter-eve at night the Christians among whom they dwell will stone them because at that time they crucified our Saviour derided and buffeted him for I set all men every one against his neighbour And I set emisi or commisi not permisi or dimisi as the Vulgar hath it I set on or sent out not I let or suffered all men Gods holy hand hath a speciall stroke in the Churches afflictions whosoever be the instrument Herehin his all-disposing Providence is not only permissive but active Esay 45.7 I make peace and create evill that is warr and contention which is called evill by a specialty as including all evills Omega nostrorum Mars est Mars Alpha malorum But is there evill in a city and I have not done it Am. 3.6 for a punishment sent an evill spirit of division and discord between Abimelech and the men of Shechem Iudg. 9.23 not by instilling any evill motions into their minds but in a way of just revenge for their treachery and cruelty to Gideons family This God doth 1. by letting loose Satan upon them that great kindle-coale and make-bate of the world to raise jealousies heart-burnings and discontents between them 2. By giving them up to the lusts and corruptions of their own wicked hearts 3. By giving occasions of enraging them more and more one against another And here the wickednesse of these factions and fallings out is wholy from their lusts that warr in their members Iam. 4.1 and not at all of God though his providence do concurr like as the stench of the dung hill riseth not from the Sun though the Sun-shine upon it be the occasion of it every one against his neighbour A sad case that common misery should not breed unity amongst them that necessity had not made them lay down their private enmities that being vexed so by the common adversary they should yet vex and interteare one another Blowes enough were not dealt by the Samaritans Ammonites and other Malignants but their own must add to the violence Still Satan is thus busy and Christians are thus malicious that they must needs fall out by the way home and give bloody-noses too sometimes St. Iames calls upon such to resist the devil that is their unruly passions of rage and revenge Iam. 4.1 â— wherewith the devill empestereth and embroileth their spirits and like your cockmasters sets one to kill another that at night he may feed upon both Verse 11. But now I will not be unto the residue c. Now that the Temple is well-nigh perfected and so the cause of my displeasure removed the matter you see is already well amended and shall be yet better for there is a series a concatenation of Gods mercies like the links in a chaine every former drawes on a future if we break not the chaine by our unthankfullnesse Psal 11â— 16 The right hand of the Lord shall change all this saith Hope when it is at worst Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur As when t is in better case it saith Return to thy rest O my soule for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee It is well for the present and yet it will be better hereafter Fury is not in God or if at any time it seem to be Psal 103.9 yet he will not alwaies chide neither will he keep his anger for ever It is with God in some sort as it was with David whose soule longed to go forth unto Absalom 2 Sam. 13.39 for he was comforted concerning Amnon seeing he was dead Let the Lord but see the rainbow of repentance appearing in our hearts and he will presently be pacified well he may wash us but he will never drown us Verse 12. For the seed shall be prosperous Or full and perfect as the Chaldee hath it it shall be fruitfull and yeeld a plentifull crop such as shall every way answer the desire of the husbandman Instead of your late scarcity whereof See Hag. 1.9 with the Notes you shall abound with plenty of all things Act. 14.17 feeding of the fat and drinking of the sweet and having your heart filled with food and gladnesse more particularly the vine shall give her fruit so that ye shall swim in wine and the ground shall give her encrease her full burden of the best so that your floors shall swell and your tables sweat with sweetest varieties and the heavens shall give their dew that womb of the morning wherein the fruits are conceived and I will cause the remnant of this people to possesse all these things whereas people are apt to attribute too much to meanes and second causes of plenty and prosperity God assumes the honour of all to himself Raine and fruitfull seasons are his gift Act. 14.17 And Hos 2.22 he resolveth the genealogie of corn and wine into himself I will heare the heaven and the heaven shall heare the earth c. And both here and elsewhere he giveth us to know that the reward of religion is abundance of outward blessings which yet are not alwayes entailed to godlinesse whatever Iesuites tell us of the Churches prosperity and plenty fetching her mark from the market to the end that it may be admired for it self and not for these transitory trappings Verse 13. As ye were a curse among the heathen The people of Gods wrath and of his curse Esay 34.5 ahhorred and accursed by all nations Ier. 24.9 lastly a proverb and a pattern for any fearfull imprecation Ezek. 14.8 as those that had the bloody wailes of Gods visible vengeance on their backs and Cain-like had his manifest mark upon their persons and proceedings The Turks at this day so hate the Jews for crucifying Christ that they use to say in detestation of thing I would I might dâ—e a â—ew then Let me be a Jew if I cozen thee c. Such a taunt and a curse this wretched people are still As they curse Christ and his followers continually every day so it comes into their bowels like water and like oyl into their bones Psal 10â— 18 O house of Judah and house of Israel i. e. Besides the two tribes of Judah and Benâ—amin diverse of the ten tribes that revolted for religion sake unto Judah were carried captive with them and afterwards returned out of captivity also in their company To them therefore as well as to the house of Judah is made the promise Twelve thousand of these ten tribes
it Hos 10.12 Open your mouthes wide and he will fill them Seek yee the Lord till he come and rain righteousnesse upon you Surely as the Sunne draws up vapours from the earth and sea not to retain them but to return them and as thin vapours come down again in thick showers of rain So God calls for our prayers for our profit and does for us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think Ephes 3.20 Ask we must Ezek. 36.37 Prayer is an indispensable duty Our Saviour taught his disciples to pray He himself was to ask of his Father and then he should have the Heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession Psal 2.8 He could have had presently twelve legions of Angels to rescue him but then he was to send to heaven for them by prayer Mat. 26.53 I came for thy words that is for thy prayers sake saith the Angel to Daniel As well as God loved him he looked to hear from him Dan. 10.11 12. for he will grace his own Ordinances and make his people know both their distance and dependance Rain in the time of the latter rain Rain is the flux of a moist cloud which being dissolved by little and little by the heat of the Sun lets down rain by drops out of the middle region of the air This if it come right in due time and measure it maketh much for the fattening of the earth Psal 65.11 laying the heat nourishing the herb and tree Esay 44.14 refreshing all creatures grasse fruits c. Lev 26.4 Jam. 5.18 Esay 30.23 So if otherwise it proves a great punishment Joel 1. Joel 1.10 11 c. 17 19 c. Great expectation there was in Judaea and those Eastern parts of the former and the latter rain That fell in the seed-time about Autumne this in the Spring â—ide causing the corn to ear and kearn before harvest Both were to be sought of God alone For are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain or can the heaven give showres No no These come by a divine decree Job 28.26 God prepares rain Psal 147.8 he dispenseth it in number weight and measure Job 28.25 not a drop falls in vain or in a wrong place he also with-holds it when and where he thinks good Amos 4.7 The Egyptians used in a profane mockery to tell other Nations that if God should forget to rain they might all chance to starve for it The rain they though was of God but not their river which therefore God threateneth to dry up Ezek. 29.3 9. Esay 19.5 6. Nat. quaest lib. 4. cap. 2. Art am l. 1. Jer. 2.13 as also he did as both Seneca and Ovid testifie in the raigne of Cleopatra The creatures at best are but broken cisterns Not fountains but cisterns onely and those broken too there 's no trusting to them they were never true to those that trusted them So the Lord shall make bright clouds Nubes cursitantes thin clouds that flie swiftly in the air most commonly before and after very rainy weather R. Salomon interprets the word here used not lighenings which yet are signes and fore-runners of rain Psal 135.7 Ier. 10.13 but clouds bringing rain Clouds are nothing else but vapours thickened in the middle region of the air by the cold invironing and driving them together that they may be as so many heavenly bottles holding water to be seasonably distilled How they are upheld and why they fall here and now and by drops not by spouts sith they are vessels as thin as the liquor contained in them we know not and wonder and give them showres of rain Heb. rain rain that is plentifull rain upon his inheritance Eccles 12.2 Esay 45.19 the clouds shall return after the rain and one showre is unburthened another shall be brewed God scorns to say to the seed of Iacob Seek ye me in vain or that any of his suitours should go sad away for want of an answer David asked his for life and God gave him more even length of dayes for ever and ever Psal 21.4 Many came to Christ for cure of their bodies he cured them on both sides and was better to them then their prayers Gehezi asked Naaman for a talent of silver nay take two said he and he pressed it upon him So saith God to his Ask and spare not that your joy may be full Ye are not straitened in me but ye are straitened in your own bowels Ye have not because ye ask not and he is worthy to want it that may have it for asking onely to every one grasse Grasse for the cattle and corn for the food of man as the Chaldee expounds it Verse 2. For the idols have spoken vanity q. d. Therefore ask good things at Gods hands as rain food and all necessary provision because Idols and soothsayers cannot help you to these things If they promise you as they will beleeve them not for they lie as fast as once Rabshakeh did for his Master when he promised the people a land of corn and wine Esay 36.17 a land of bread and vineyards And they will finally serve you as Absaloms mule served her Master whom she left at his greatest need to hang betwixt heaven and earth as rejected of both Lo such are all creature-comforts golden delusions lying vanities apples of Sodom nec vera nce vestra 1 Cor. 7. 31. the fashion of this world saith Paul the phantasies of mens brain saith Luke Act. 25.23 the semblances and empty shews of good without any reality or solid consistency saith Solomon often They are saith our Prophet here a wicked deceit and cosinage An arrant lie a false dream a vain or empty comfort that utterly deceiveth a mans confidence and maketh him in the fulnesse of his conceited sufficiencie to be in straights These here for instance viz. the Jews that had been carried captives as a flock without a guide sheep without a shepherd and ye had not till after some while at least abrenounced their Idols Ier. 44.22 Ezek. 9. therefore they went their way as a flock Driven by the butcher to the slaughter-house Idolatry is a land-desolating sin as besides these Jews the more ingenuous of them at this day confesse that in all their punishments there is still an ounce of the golden-calf made by them in the wildernesse the Greek Church was undone by it The worshipping of Images they defended with tooth and nail as they say and established it in the second Councell of Nice not long before the Turk took Nice and made it the seat of his Empire in opposition to Constantinople which at length he took also and brought in Mahometisme that foul impiety which quickly over-spread the whole East and South like as Popish Idolatry did the West and North. But this iniquity will be their ruine Babylon the great is fallen is fallen She hath fallen culpably she shall therefore fall
hardest heart soundly soaked in the blood of Christ the true scape-goat cannot but relent and repent for such a horrid villany as one mourneth for his onely son for his first born sc with a funerall-sorrow such as was that of the Sunamite and of the widdow of Naim of Rachel who refused to be comforted c. There is an Ocean of love in a fathers heart as we see in Jacob toward Joseph in David towards Absolam in the father of the Prodigall c. Christ was Gods only son in respect of his divine nature he was also the first-born amongst many brethren And yet God so loved the world c. So how So as I cannot tell how for this is a Sic without a Sicut Even so should our sorrow be for having a wicked hand in his dolorous death The Prophet here seemes to be at a stand as it were whence to borrow comparisons to shaddow it out by Great is the grief of children for their deceased parents as of Joseph for Iacob Gen. 50.1 he fell upon his fathers face as willing to have wept him alive again if possible So our Edward the first returning from the warrs in Palestina rested himself in Sicily where the death of his son and heir comming first to his eare and afterwards of the king his father he much more sorrowed his fathers departure then his sons whereat King Charles of Sicily greatly marvelled Speed 646. and demanding the reason had of him this answer The losse of sons is but light because they are multiplyed every day but the death of parents is irremediable because they can never be had againe Thus He Howbeit love rather descendeth then ascendeth and Abraham could better part with his father Terah then with his son his only son Isaac whom he loved Gen. 22.2 Before he had him Lord God said Abraham what wilt thou give me so long as I gee childlesse Gen. 15.2 His mouth was so out of tast with the sense of his want that he could relish no comfort But now to be bereft of him and that in such a manner as he might conceive by that probatory precept Gen. 22.2 this must needs go to the very heart of him for though he had put on grace yet he had not put off nature Both Iacob and Iacobs father as Iunius understandeth that passage Gen. 37 35. wept savourly for Ioseph and would go down into the grave unto their sen mourning True it is that the losse of some wife may be greater then the losse of some son Abraham came from his own tent to Sarah's tent to mourn for her Gen. 22.2 and she was the first that we read of in scripture mourned for but the Prophet here speaketh of the mourning of husband and wife together and they can lose no greater outward blessing then their first-born if an onely-one especially Verse 11. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem Magnificabitur luctus so the Hebrew hath it their mourning shall be greatened their heavinesse heightened they shall rise in their repentance above all that is ordinary The Casuifts and Schoolmen affirme sorrow for sin to be the greatest of all sorrowes 1. In conatu the whole soule seemes to send springs into it out of every faculty 2. In extensione It is a spring which in this life more or lesse is continually dropping neither would God have the wounds of godly forrow to be so closed up at all as not to bleed afresh upon every good occasion 3. In appreciatione the true penitentiary doth ever judge that a good God offended a Saviour crucified should be the prime cause of greatest grief 4. In intensione for intension of displicence in the will there being no other things with which Adrian Scotus Soto or for which the will is more displeased with its self then for sinning against God There is more cause of grief say they for sinning then for the death of Christ because therein was aliquid placens but sin is simpliciter displicens But is it not godly mourning may some say unlesse it be so great I answer that other mourning may make more noise like a dashing shoure of rain or a land-flood that by a small shallow channel comes down from an hill When a man mourns for his onely son or the like this comes from God as a judgement it comes down hill as it were hath nature to work with it and nothing to hinder it but this mourning and melting over Christ is as a stream that goeth up hill and through many reeds and flagges M. Cotton as a Reverend man expresseth it as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon Where good Josiah was slain and where the people saw to their unspeakable grief and heart-break family Church and Common-wealth pluckt up by the roots in the losse of that one man who was the very breath of all their nostrils as Jeremiah sadly acknowledgeth in his Lamentations composed on that very occasion and when he died all their prosperity here died with him and themselves were no better then living Ghosts walking sepulchers of themselves a being they had but not a life those that before seemed to touch heaven with their finger fell down to the earth nunc humi de repente serpere siderates esse diceres as if they had been planet-struck as Budaeus speaketh of the French courtiers at the death of Lewes the twelfth When Augustus died orbis ruinam timueramus saith Paterculus we thought all had been lost and that the world would have fallen about our ears When our Edward the sixth that second Josiah was taken away Cardan sung this sorrowful Epicedion Flete nefas magnum sed toto flebitis orbe Mortales vestrûum corrit omnis honos Verse 12 13 14 And the land shall mourn Not the generality of the Jews unlesse it be at their last general conversion that resurrection from the dead as it is called Rom. 11.15 but the elect according to grace who are here called the land because more esteemed by God then all the other Jews besides for he reckoneth of men by their righteousnesse as he did of Lot at Sodom every family apart To shew the soundnesse of their sorrow the sincerity by the secrecy for Ille dolet verè qui sine teste dolet He grieves with a witnesse that grieves without a witnesse There is a worldly sorrow that hardeneth the heart and indisposeth it for repentance as did that of Nabal There is also an hellish sorrow a desperate grief for sin poenitentia Iscariotica as was that of Judas There is no birth without travel but some children die in the birth are killed with the pains of the labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 7 Lastly there is a sorrow according to God whereby we weep kindly after God inquiring the way to Zion with our faces set thitherward and renewing our covenant Jer. 50.4 5. Against thee thee onely have I sinned
valiant in fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens subdued kingdomes fought the Lords battles Heb. 11.32 34. They saw by faith what is on the other side of the shore of this mortality and that put mettle into them The valour of the Gauls was admired by the Romans it proceeded from that instruction they had from their Druides The life of the K of Sweden by M. Clark of the immortality of the soul The Swedes upon the same ground shewed incredible courage in the late German warres running into apparent danger like flies into the candle saith One as if they had not seen it Faith fears no colours What brave spirits hath God raised up amongst us alate fighting as it were in blood to the knees for Religion and liberty resolved either to vanquish or die as the Black Prince 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with that Lacedemonian either to live with the Gospel or to die for it And how valiant the restored Jews shall once be upon their enemies the Turks who now hold their countrey till their iniquities be full who can tell Sure it is that Israel after their victory over Gog shall spoil those that spoiled them and rob those that robbed them saith the Lord God Ezek. 39.10 And then perhaps it is that the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together as a prize or booty gold and silver and apparell in great abundance Look how Abraham stripped the four kings of their plunder Gen. 14.16 Gideon the Midianites Iudg 8. David the Amalekites 1 Sam. 30.18 Iehosaphat the Ammonites they were three dayes in gathering the spoil it was so much 2 Chron. 20.25 so it may fall out one day with their posterity The Jew Doctours as they have a saying that whatsoever befell unto the Fathers is a figne unto the children so of Abrahams victory over the four kings they write that it befell unto him to teach that four kingdomes those kingdomes spoken of in Daniel should stand up to rule over the world and that in the end his children should rule over them and they should all fall by their hand R. Menachem on Gen. 14. and they should bring again all their captives and all their substance Verse 15. And so shall be the plague of the horse of the mule of the camel All the beasts of service made use of by the enemy shall consume in like sort as their masters First for a punishment to their owners who must needs suffer losse thereby Hence Saul was so sedulous in seeking the lost asses Secondly to shew how God is displeased with and will severely punish all that are instrumentall to the Churches calamities or serviceable to their sinne The serpent is cursed cut shorter by the feet and made to wriggle upon his belly yea confined to the dust for his diet So God curseth and abhorreth all instruments of idolatry Esay 30.22 Num. 31.22 23. Deut. 7.25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire the very visible heavens because defiled with mans sinne are to be purged by the fire of the last day Verse 16. Every one that is left of all the nations i.e. that hath escaped the plague verse 12. and is beaten into a better mind as those Hunnes that vanquished by the Christians concluded that Christ was the true God and became his subjects God had promised before to subvert the Churches enemies but here to convert them which is farre better And it shall appear to be so as conversion cannot be hid you cannot turn a bell but it will make a sound and report its own motion See Gal. 1.23 for they shall even go up sc to the Temple which stood upon mount Moriah to worship the king the Lord of Hosts Esay 16 1◠to send a lamb or an homage peny to the Lord of the whole earth and to keep the feast of Tabernacles In a due manner which had not been rightly done a marvellous thing all along during the reigne of David Solomon and all those succeeding Reformers till about these times as appears Neb. 8.16 17 19. The sence of this text is that the converted Gentiles shall joyn with the Jews in the sincere service of God according to his will and not according to their own brains and fancies that they shall worship him with the same rites in the same places and assemblies which they do that Jehovah may be one and his name one amongst them as verse 9. that there may be no more Jew and Gentile Barbarian or Scythian bond or free but Christ may be all and in all Col. 3.11 That those two sticks being joyned into one Ezek. 37.16 all Israel may be saved Rom. 11.26 and raised as from the dead verse 15. the Gentiles also may have their part in the same resurrection All this is here set forth in such termes and under such types as were then most in request as of going up to the Temple keeping the feast of Tabernacles c. All which expressions are parabolicall symbolicall and enigmaticall framed to the capacity of the Jews much addicted to these legall rites and shadows then in use but now done away Col. 2.17 Heb. 10.1 whatever the Jews conclude from this text for their continuance under Messias his kingdome Christians have their feasts or holy-dayes too 1 Cor. 5.8 yea their feast of Tabernacles in a mystieall sence 1 Pet. 2.11 Heb. 11.1 9. Verse 17. Even upon them shall be no rain i. e. Nullam misericordiam assequentur saith Theodoret They shall get no good at Gods hand Judaea was sumen totius orbis as One saith a very fat and fertile countrey but yet so as that her fruitfulnesse depended much upon seasonable showres the former and latter rain and the Prophet seemeth here to allude to that of Moses Deut. 11.10 c If God did not hear the heaven and the heaven the earth the earth could not hear the corn wine and oil nor those hear Jezreel Hos 2.19 Judaea was not like that countrey in Pliny ubi siccitas dat lutum imbres pulverem where drought made dirt rain made dust but if the heaven were iron over them the earth would soon be brasse under them and not yeeld her increase See Psal 65.9 Esay 30.23 and then where would they be quickly sith Animantis cujusque vita in fuga est life would be lost if not maintained by daily food Rain is in Scripture put 1. Properly for water coming out of the clouds Deut. 11.11 Prov. 16.15 nourishing the herbs and trees 2. Metaphorically for Christ his Gospel and his graces wherewith the souls of men are made fruitfull in good works Esay 45.8 Deut. 32.2 Hos 6.3 The want of rain is on the contrary made here and Rev. 11.5 a signe of a curse It waiteth not for the sonnes of men Mic. 5.7 but it accomplisheth what God appointeth Esay 55.10 11. Why it falleth here and now we know not and wonder Vers 18. And if the
Padres do their Novices And yet the most people are to this day wofully to seek for the warrant of their worships resting on that old Popish rule to follow the drove and beleeve as the Church beleeves Act. 19.32 As at Ephesus so in our Church-assemblies the more part knew not wherefore they were come together They will say in generall to serve God But who he is how to be served wherein and in whom to be served they know not There is in a printed sermon a memorable story of an old man above threescore who lived and died in a parish Mr. Pemble Serm. misch of lâ—â—â—r where there had been preaching almost all his time This man was a constant hearer as any might be and seemed forward in the love of the word On his death-bed being questioned by a minister touching his faith and hope in God he made these strange answers Being demanded what he thought of God he answered that he was a good old man And what of Christ that he was a towardly yong youth And of his soule that it was a great bone in his body And what should become of his soule after he was dead That if he had done well he should be put into a pleasant green meddow These answers astonished those that were present to think how it were possible for a man of good understanding and one that in his dayes had heard at the least two or three thousand sermons yet upon his death-bed in serious manner thus to deliver his opinion in such main points of Religion which infants and sucklings should not be ignorant of But we may be sure this man is not alone there be many hundreds whose gray haires shew they have had time enough to learn more wit who yet are in case to be set to their A. B. C. againe for their admirable simplicity in matters of religion Blind they are and blind sacrifices they offer never once opening their eyes till death if then as Pliny reporteth of the Mole but alwayes rooting and digging in the earth as if thorough the bowels of it they would dig themselves a new way to hell is it not evill Or as some read it It is not evill q. d. 't is good enough and may serve turn well enough Or thus It is not evill in your opinion who rather then you would lose any gaine say Melius est ill quà m Nil 't is Osianders rime better that which is ill and bad then nothing at all But they which count all good fish that comes to net will in the end catch the devill and all The sense is much clearer in the interrogative Is it not evill It is It is and therefore studiously to be declined and avoided as poyson in your meat or a serpent in your way 1 Thess 5.22 Abstain from all appearance of evill saith that great Apostle how much more from all apparant evils such as stare you in the face and are so directly contrary to the plain word of God Such are sins with an accent wickednesse with a witnesse great transgressions Psal 19.13 and if ye offer the lame and languishing He offers the lame that brings his sacrifice with a wicked mind Pro. 21.27 as Balac and Balaam did Num. 21.1 2. that walks not evenly before the Lord and with an upright foot Gen. 17.1 that halts between two opinions as the people did 1 King 18.21 inter coelum terramque penduli hanging betwixt heaven and earth as Meteors uncertain whether to hang or fall Such were Ecebolus Baldwin Spalatensis Erasmus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyprian calleth such ancipites palpatores temporum in levitate tantum constantes doubtfull-minded men St. James calleth them double-minded men unstable in all their wayes Jam. 1.8 Bradsords letters Rev. 3.14 as he is that stands on one leg or as a howle upon a smooth table But what said that Martyr If God be God follow him if the Masse be God let him that will see it heare it and be present at it and go to the devill with it But let him do what he doth with all his heart God cannot abide these Neuter-passives I would thou wert either hot or cold He requires to be served truly that there be no halting and totally that there be no halving To halt between two opinions to hang in fuspence to be in religion as idle beggars are in their way ready to go which way soever the staff falleth how hatefull is it When some took Christ for Iohn Baptist some for Elias some for Jeremias But whom say you that I am said our Saviour to teach us that Christ hates to have men stand doubtful and adhere to nothing certainly to have them as mills fit to be driven about by the devil with every wind of doctrine or as hunting dogs betwixt two hares running assoon after this assoon after that and so losing both This for point of judgement And for matter of practise the soule is well carried when neither so becalmed that it moves not when it should not yet tossed with tempests to move disorderly A wise mans course is of one colour like it self he is homo quadratus a square stone fet into the spirituall building 1 Pet. 2.7 he is Semper idem as Joseph was no changling but one and the same in all places and estates of life his fcet stand in an even place as Davids did Psa 26.12 that is in an equall tenour Uniformity and ubiquity of obedience are sure signes of his sincerity when godlinesse runs thorough his whole life as the woof runs thorough the warp But the legs of the lame are not equall saith Solomon Pro. 26.7 The hypocrites life is a crooked life he turneth aside to his crooked wayes Psal 125.5 saith David as the crabfish goes backwards or as the Planets though hurried from East to West yet by a retrograde motion of their own steal their passage from West to East It 's a crooked life when all the parts of the line of a mans life be not straight before God when he lifteth not up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees and maketh straight paths for his feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way Heb. 12.12 13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not rather healed and rectified or set to rights as the Apostles word signifieth That 's a sick soule that is not right set for heaven and that 's a gasping devotion a languishing sacrifice that leaneth not upon Christ and that is not quickened by his spirit fitly called by the Apostle a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1.7 Surely as a rotten rag hath no strength so an unsound mind hath no power to do ought that may please God Frustra nititur qui Christo non innititur saith a Father He loseth his labour that leaneth not upon Christ who is the power of God and the wisdome of God that leaneth not wholy upon
God takes no pleasure to pledge the devil or drink the snuffes that he hath left If men reserve the dregs of their dayes for him He will likewise reserve the dregs of his wrath for them He will put them over to the gods whom they had chosen as Judg. 10. and make them to know the worth of his good acceptance by the want of it He that should set before his Prince a dish of meat that had been half-eaten before by hogs or dogs would he not be punished with all severity What then shall become of those that serve God with the devils leavings that sacrifice to themselves as Sejanus did Dio in Tiberio that serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies as those Seducers Rom. 16. that say to God Depart from us and to the devil Reigne thou over us that are serious at his work sleighty in Gods c. Verse 9. And now I pray you besecch God Heb. Weary God with your prayers presse him till he be even sick of you improve your uttermost interest in him if at least you have any Pray hard if ye can at least for all men cannot pray wicked men are gagg'd by the devil and their character is They call not upon God They may cant or chatter out a charm when Gods chastening is upon them yea be with childe as it were of a prayer and yet bring forth nothing better then winde Isai 26.16 17 18. In prosperity they may have some few short-winded wishes as Balaam satans spelman had yea they may by strength of wit or memory devise an handsom prayer and seem to set it forth with much life that they may passe for men of parts and gifts But will the hypocrite pray alwayes Iob 27.10 will he persevere in prayer when God seems to cast out his prayers and to multiply his crosses will he not rather curse in that case as Iob's wife and Micah's mother will he not how lagainst heaven as the wolf when hungerbit and as the Parrot when beaten leave imitating man and turn to his own natural harsh voice But say that wicked men do Ioab like run to the horns of Gods altar when in distresse or danger say they roar out a consession when they are upon the rack Hos 6. Psal 78.34 as Pharaoh and call for good prayers say they seek him with their sacrifices as Israel did when he slew them then they sought unto him c. and made their voices to be heard on high as the prisoner at the bar as the hog under the knife as a bull in a net Say they weary out God with their many words as those sacrificing Sodomites Isai 11. those hypocrites in the Gofpel that hoped to be heard for their much babling Mat. 6. yet all this is but the prayer of the flesh for ease and not of the spirit for grace it is but the fruit of sinful self-love to rid themselves of Gods rod or to still the noise of their consciences or out of a vain hope to stop Gods judgements c. And hence it is that they miscarry that they pray to so little purpose as here is hinted and that they are not a button the better for all their long prayers For either God answers them not at all he hath no respect to their sacrifices which was Cains and Sauls unhappinesse The Philistims were upon him and God was departed from him Or else he answers them according to the idols of their hearts bitter answers Or if better it s but as he answered the Israelites importunity for a king for a scourge to them and for quails to choak them Deus saepe dat iratus quod uegat proprtius God often gives that in anger which he denies in mercy If it were otherwise the devil should have received mercy from God when upon his suit he was suffered to enter into the swine Let our chief and constant Petition therefore be in all our our addresses to God that he would be gracious unto us that he would cast a loving aspect upon us that what ever else he denie us corn wine c. yet that he would lift up the light of his countenance upon us This David preferred before his crown and scepter He had a crown of gold but he valued not that in comparison of that other crown Psal 103.4 he crowneth thee with loving kindnesse and tender mercies Hence Saint Paul having himself obtained mercy beginneth and concludeth all his Epistles with wishes of Grace mercy and peace as not knowing what better to wish those whom he wished best unto This was Abrahams prayer for Ismael O that he might live in thy sight that is be joynt-heire of the promise of grace with Isaac God answers Divers Dukes shall come of Ismael but with Isaac as a token of special grace will I make my covenant This was also Iosephs prayer for Benjamin Gen. 43.29 God be gracious unto thee my son This the priests were appointed to pray for as a blessing upon the people Num. 6.24 25. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee And hereunto the Prophet seems to allude in this text q. d. you are the Lords Priests and your office is to preach and pray Deut. 33.10 They shall teach Iacob they shall put incense before thee Shew now what ye can do in a time of necessity Beseech the Lord that he would be gracious unto us This is the main the mother-blessing that comprehends all the rest Every man seekes the face of the Ruler Prov. 29.26 I humbly beseech thee that I may sinde grace in thy sight my Lord O king q. d. that 's better to me then all the land thou hast given me said that crafty Sycophant Ziba 2 Sam. 16.4 How much more is the grace of God to be preferred before all outward blessings whatsoever The Lord that made heaven and earth blesse thee out of Zion Psal 134.3 saith the Psalmist intimating that blessings out of Zion are above all the blessings besides that heaven and earth can yeeld us What is the ayre without light what was Haman the better for all his honours when the king frowned upon him How can a wicked man be happy though wealthy so long as God is his enemy As that father speaks of Ahab he describes him sitting in his ivory palace in the time of the three yeers famine in Samaria he had gold silver and jewels in every place but what good did all that when the heaven was brasse above and the earth iron beneath Cry therefore as those in Zachary Grace Grace unto us pray for our selves and others as David did for Ittai the Gittite mercy and truth be with thee 2 Sam. 15.20 Stir we up our selves to take hold of God and to get of him Gaius-his-prosperity dona throni soul-blessings and such as accompany salvation Jesus Christ when he came into the world brought grace and truth with John 1.17 And
and make them know and rue his breach of promise Num. 14.34 Surely if Jacob was afraid when he went about to seek a blessing lest his blinde father should discern him and his deceit in dealing with him Gen. 27.12 and so he might get a curse instead of a blessing How ought men to take heed and fear to dissemble or deal deceitfully with the All-seeing God especially since he is so great a God see him set forth in his greatnesse Deut. 10.17 and therefore lesse patient of affronts and indignities he lookes to be served like himself and according to his excellent greatnesse for I am a great king saith the Lord of Hosts Yea a great King because Lord of Hosts See the Note on Chap. 3.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is absolute Monarch of the whole world and by him it is that all other kings reign and Princes rule Prov. 8.15 All other Soveraignes are but his substitutes his Viceroyes he makes them and unmakes them at his pleasure as proud Nebuchadnezzar was forced to acknowledge Hence he is rightly stiled a great King a title anciently given to the kings of Persia Dan. 4 and now to the Grand Signior yea Joh. Manl. loc com he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords in another sense then Maximilian the Emperour of Germany said that he was because the Princes and cities of the Empire were free states and yeelded him little obedience God hath all the Kings of the earth at his beck and check Constantine the great Valentinian and Theodosius three Emperours called themselves Vasallos Christs the vassals of Christ as Socrates reporteth And well they might inasmuch as all nations taken together are in comparison of him but as a drop of a bucket and as the dust of the ballance behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing as one would take up a feather at his foot And if a sacrifice fitting for him should be prepared Lebanon would not be sufficient to burn nor all the beasts thereof for a burnt-offering All nations to him are as nothing c. Act. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esau 40.15 16. Simon Magus gave out that he was some great matter and the world hath been troubled with Alexander the Great and Pompey the Great c. But what 's now become of all these Grandees with their swelling titles and loud bragg's Hath not God long since cut off the spirits of these petty Princes and become terrible to the kings of the earth Psal 76.12 where the word rendered cut off signifieth that he slips them off as one would slip a flower betwixt ones fingers or a bunch of grapes off the vine The kings of Persia were wont to give laws to their people sitting in a chaire of State under a vine tree of gold that had as it were bunches of grapes made up of sinaragds or em'ralds and other stones of greatest price Athenâ—us lib. 12. The King of heaven sits upon a throne far more costly and stately as may be seen Ezek. 1. Esai 6. Dan. 7. Omnino igit ur â—portet nos orationis tempore curiam intrare coelestem in qua Rex Regum stellato sedet solio c. as Bernard excellently inferreth it behoveth us therefore at prayer-time to enter into the Court of heaven Bern de divers 25. where the King of Kings sits in his starrie and stately throne environed with an innumerable number of glorious Angels and crowned Saints with how great reverence therefore with how great fears with how great humility ought a poore base toad creeping and crawling out of his ditch to approach so dreadfull a presence and my Name is dreadful among the Heathen It was ever so from the very distinction of men into Hebrews and Heathens At the first before the covenant made with Abraham all Nations were alike before the Lord. But as soon as it was said I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee the Church was evidently divided from the world as light was from darknesse at the first creation The Heathens God suffered to walk in their own wayes Neverthelesse he left not himself without witnesse but his Name was ever terrible and tremend amongst them Act. 24.16 17. The Hittites honoured Abraham as a Prince of God Pharaoh was raised up on purpose that on him God might get him a name throughout all the earth Exod. 9.16 Jethro heard of his doings in Egypt and became a Proselyte The hearts of the Canaanits melted and they were made to say The Lord your God he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath Josh 2.11 The Philistins were woe-begon when they beheld the Ark of the God of Israel brought into the field and were ready as worms to wriggle into their holes The king of Babylon sent Embassadours and a present to Hezechiah because he had heard that for his sake God had caused the Sun to go back Daniel records what a Name God had gotten him in his dayes all the world over And after the captivity neer Malachi's time the famous victories gotten by the Maccabees were far and neer discoursed of Judis M ccabaeus had his name from the capital letters of this motto written in his Ensigne Mi camocha Elohim Jehovah who is like unto thee O Lord among the Gods But besides and above all this Gods name is dreadfull among the Heathen in a special manner now since the calling of the Gentiles and the conversion of so many nations to the faith of Jesus Christ Maugre the malice of earth and of hell This made Calocerius an Heathen say Verè magnus esâ— Deus Christ anorum the God of the Christians is a great God indeed And another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your God is a most Majestick God What a mouth of blasphemy then opened that desparate Papist John Hunt in his humble appeal to King James The God of the Protestants saith he whom he knowes to be the Father Son Chap. 6. of that Pamphlet and holy Ghost is the most uncivil evil-manner'd God of all those who have born the name of gods upon the earth yea worse then Pan God of the clowns which can endure no ceremonies nor good manners at all True it is that humane inventions in his service and Popish will-worships our God will not away with Such strange fire if any presume to bring before him they may look to speed as Nâ—dab and Abihu Core and his complices did but he expects and requires that all his worshippers should come before him with reverence and godly fear For even our God no lesse then the Jews God is a consuming fire He is terrible out of his holy places Psal 68.35 Heb. 12.28 And albeit he loves to be acquainted with his people in the walkes of their obedience yet as a great King he takes state upon him in his ordinances and wil be trembled at in his word and Sacraments Hence Chrysostome
is made to give us a safe passage over a dangerous river but he who stumbles on the bridge is in no small danger to fall into the river The word is given as a means to cary us over hell unto heaven But he who stumbles at this means as by snuffing at it Mal. 1.13 chatting against it and contesting with it as oft in this prophecy casting reproaches upon it Jer. 20.8 9. gathering odious consequences from it Rom. 3.8 c. shall fall in thither from whence otherwise he had been delivered by it This mischief many fell into in Malachi his dayes by the means of those ungodly Priests who either taught them not better or otherwise drew them into sinful courses by their corrupt glosses or leud practises Evil examples of ministers have a strong influence upon their people and the sins of Teachers are the teachers of sins The leaders of this people have made them to erre Esay 9. Corruption commonly as in a fish begins at the head Cicero neque solùm obsunt Principes quòd illi ipsi corrumpuntur sed etiam quòd corrumpunt plusquam exemplo quam peccato nocent saith the Oratour they that are in office do a great deal of mischief by incouraging others in evil through their evil example Jupiters adulteries drew the people to like wantonnesse Magis intuentur quid facerit Jupiter quam quid docuit Plato saith Austin They look more what Jupiter did then what Plato taught I have read of a woman who living in professed doubt of the God-head after better illumination and repentance did often protest that the vicious life of a great schollar in that town did conjure up those damnable doubts in her soul Mr Wards Serm. In the time of Pope Clemenâ— the fifth the Church was so ill governed and things so corruptly carried at the court of Rome that Frederick King of Sicily duobted much of the truth of the Christian religion but was confirmed and his minde better setled by Arnoldus de villa nova who shewed him that Offences must come but wo be to them by whom they come Jacob. Reu. de vit Ponti p. 198. A scandalous priest is a singular mischief for he falls not alone but as when a main stone in a building or a tall cedar falls he draws many with him into fellowship of errours and enormities as did Hymenaeus and Philetus 2 Tim. 2.18 and as the dragon with his long and strong tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth Rev. 12.4 When the Pastours become bruitish all the flocks are scattered Ier. 10.21 ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi The covenant on Gods part with Levi was a covenant of salt and could not be corrupted Num. 18.19 non comutresâ—â—t vetustate saith Flaccius it putrifieth not with age or long standing as that pillar of salt into which Loss wife was turned and of which Josephus saith that something of it was to be seen till his time But these degenerate priests had abandoned Gods holy fear they did not humble and tremble before his Name as Lovi their father had done verse 5. they had falsified with God and so forfeited his favour It was with them as Cajetan complains and confesses of the Popish priests that whereas by their places they should have been the salt of the earth they had lost their savour and were good for little else but looking after the rites and revenues of the Church therefore God held himself disobliged Comment Matth. and was resolved that they should bear the iniquity of their priesthood Lev. 18.1 that is the punishment of their iniquity notwithstanding the priesthood That should be no protection to them but an aggravation because they fell as if they had not been anointed Ideo deteriores sumus quia meliores eâ—e debemus Salvian and were therefore the worse because they should have been better God holds himself not bound to perform covenant with them that break with him for why should he give the childrens bread to dogs why should he cast away his favours upon those that value them not We have the Covenant the Seals the Ministery c. and this is a singular happinesse Esay 19.25 Assyria is the work of Gods hands but Israel his inheritance But alasse are not these blessings amongst us as the Ark was among the Philistines rather as prisoners then as priviledges rather in testimonium rninam quam in salutem for a testimony against us and for our further ruine then for our safety here and salvation hereafter O consider how God hath cast off the Israelites notwithstanding his covenant with their fathers and when in their necessity they would have forced acquaintance with him he would not look upon them Judg. 10.14 The sword hath broken in pieces those seven golden candlesticks in Asia merely for their covenant-breaking See the Note on verse 5. Verse 9. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base And so have cried quittance with you and returned you your own with usury God loves to retaliate and to proportion jealousie to jealousie provocation to provocation Deut. 32.21 frowardnesse to frowardnesse Psal 18.26 contrariety to contrariety Lev. 26.18 21. contempt to contempt 1 Sam. 2.30 and here How these unworthy priests had sleighted God and exposed his Name and Service to contempt and obloquy hath been before set forth sufficiently And now it is come home to them It was threatened before verse 3. see the Notes there and now it is executed Gracelesse men are apt to imagine that God threateneth in terrorem onely and are ready with those miscreants in the Gospel to say God forbid we hope he will be better then his word and not be so unmercifull as the Preachers would make him They beleeve the predictions of Scripture but as they beleeve the predictions of an Almanack which saith such a day will be rain and such a day winde men think it may come to passe and it may be not But shall God say the word and not see it fulfilled Is not his dicere his facere his word his deed Yea doth he not sometimes dicte citiùs break out upon his enemies as he did upon Nadab and Abibu Nebuchadnezzar Herod c. God had poured contempt already upon these degenerate priests And the like he had threatened to those Jer. 23.40 See Mich. 3.7 Zach. 13.4 Ribera upon this Text bewailes the businesse in their Romish Clergy now become despicable by reason of their evill manners Petrarch complain'd long before that the stench of that sink the Court of Rome was come up to heaven Erasmus layed them open in their colours and did them more mischief jocando by his jearing and jesting at them then Luther did stomachando by dry blowes and invectives as One well observeth He made the world look up that had been long luld asleep and take notice of the truth of that which Chrysostom had long before discovered
quamdiù expediat that covenants are to be kept so long as a man shall see cause Eos foedera nescire That which was anciently said of the Thracians is now verified of the papists that they keep no covenants with heretikes especially The Turks taught by them say There is no faith to be kept with dogs that is with Christians Their leagnes grounded upon the law of Nations and solemnly confirmed by oath have with them no longer force then standeth with their own pleasure and profit And if Turks and Papists onely were truce-breakers and fedifragies it were the better to be born with But what shall we say to those Christianecategori as Bellarmine saith a certain sort of heretikes were called of old those blots and botches of Christian religion and holy society that can say and unsay at pleasure De. eccles triumph l. 2. c. 11. make vows to God in their distresse and break them as fast when delivered Just like those Jews in Ieremy chap. 34. that set free their servants when the enemy lay before the walls but reduced them into bondage when the siege was raised though they had cut the calf in twain and passed between the parts thereof a most solemne way of sealing up covenants So dealt their fathers before them Psal 78.34 35 36 37. And so dealt here their Nephews after them They profaned the covenant of obedience to Gods commandements that their fathers for themselves and their successours entred into But should men thus play with covenants as children do with nuts should they slip them at pleasure as Monkeys do their collars should they snap them in sunder as Sampson did his cords Had Shimei peace that brake his oath to Solomon or Zedekiah that kept not touch with Nebuchadnezzar c. Verse 11. Judah hath dealt treacherously Judah the consessour as his name imports Iudah that once ruled with God and was faithful with the Saints Hos 1.12 Indâ—â—h in whom God was known his name was great in Israel Psal 76 2. Prospers conceit was that Iudai were so called because thy received us Dei the law from Gods mouth whence Ioscphus calls the Common wealth of Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God government For to them pertained among sundry other precious priviledges recited Rom. 9.4 5. the Covenants that is 1. The moral law in two tables 2. The giving of the law that is the Judicial law 3. The service that is the seremonial law which was their Gospel whence Iudea is called the glorious land Dan. 11.41 or the land of delights or ornaments as the Hebrew hath it a pleasant land or a land of desire Ier. 3.19 because as it is Ezek 20.6 15. it was the glory of all lands Jerusalem the metropolis was not onely the most famous of all the cities of the East as Pliny confesseth it Psal 31.21 but also of the whole world si insignia Dei spectemus benesicia as one saith if we consider Gods marvellous kind csse shewed to it in a strong city as David hath it But as ingentia beneficia flagitia supplicia the greater the priviledges of any place or people are the more hainous are their offences and the more hideous their punishments so sell it out with this nation so advanced so obliged so shamelesly so lawlesly wicked They were but newly returned from captivity scarce yet warm in their nests when they fell afresh to their old trade of treachery doing wickedly with both hands earnestly Abomination was committed in Israel and in Jerusalem even such as Gods soul abhorred and was ready to be loosened or dis oynted from them Ier. 6.8 because in the land of uprightnesse they dealt unjustly and would not behold the majesty fâ—he Lord say 26.10 Indah had profaned the holinesse of the Lord which he loved that is the very place that he had espied out for himself and that was dedicated to his name and service the holy and separate land the Isle as it is called Tsai 20.6 though part of the continent because compassied about with Gods favour as with a shield Psal 5.12 In such a consecrated countrey to act their villany was no small aggravation of their wickednesse this made it swell like a toad in the eyes of the Almighty it was an abomination Filthynesse in a stewes in a strumpet is nothing so odious as in a pretended Virgin A nettle on the waste is better born with then in a garden To see the Devil in hell is no wonder but what makes he in Paradise England was anciently called the kingdom of God it may much better be so called now Auglia regâ—â—â—i Del. Pol. Vhg. that Gospel of the kingdom is preached amongst us It was also called Albion quasi Olbion Happy or fortunate the fortunate Island say some or ab albis rupibus from the whitenesse of the rocks True it is we were black all over with superstition first Pagan and then Papagan But Christ hath made us white again as snow in Salmon And do we again sully and soil our selves with sinnes filthinesse with that unclean kitchin-stuffe do we profane the holinesse of the Lord which he loved to drive him away from us by degrees as those Jews did Ezek 8.9 10 11. sinne is the leaven that defiles our passeover and urgeth God to passe away and depart from us Sin is the snuff that dimmes our candle-stick and threatens the removall of it Let those that live in Gods good land but not in Gods good Laws as Aristotle complained of his Athenians to like purpose Laert. l. 5. c. 1 and as Seneca said to the Romans that they were become more filthy since they had bathes to wash in look forward to the following verse and tremble at that utter destruction there threatened to such Disperdet Dominus c. And thereunto Saint Paul seemeth to allude 1 Cor. 3.17 If any man defile the Temple of God him will God destroy and hath married the daughter of a strange God This is that particular sin whereby they had dealt treacherously against their brethren profaned the Covenant polluted the Church and committed abomination in Israel they had married with women of a strange worship and joyned in affinity with the people of those abominations as holy Ezra phraseth it Chap. 9.14 and withall setteth it forth for such a sin in those newly-returned captives as he thinks heaven and earth might well be ashamed of A sin it is flatly forbidden in both Testaments Deut. 7.3 2. Cor. 6.14 and reasons added as 1. Danger of defection at least from former forwardnesse but most commonly of infection as in Solomon 1 King 11. Nehem. 13.26 what 's the reason the Pope will not dispense in Spain and Italy if a papist marry a Protestant yet here he will but in hope to draw more to them See 1 King 12.25 and 2 King 8.27 2 Great inconveniency as 1. Of grief to the godly parents Gen. 26.35 and 27.36 2. Ill education of
presently Hence he calleth things that yet are not as if they were Rom. 4.17 and this as in the works of Creation Renovation Resurrection so in the accomplishment of his promises which we must not antedate as we are apt to do but learn to live by faith Hab. 2.2 Possibly the Kalendar of heaven hath a post-date to ours Strive to be strong in faith and glorifie God my messenger Not Christ as Ensebius doated nor Meslias the sonne of Jâ—seph Lib. 5. de demon Evang. cap. 28. that is of the tribe of Joseph as Rabbi Abraham would have it For the Jews soolishly expect two Meslians's one the sonne of David and the other the sonne of Joseph Nor an Angel of heaven as Rabbi David interprets it according to Exod. 23.20 But John Baptist as our Saviour expounds himself Mat. 11.10 who is here called Christs Messenger or Angel by reason of his office one by whom he would manifest his mind to his people He was a burning and a shining light Joh. 5.35 or lamp and shone for a season till the Sun of righteousnesse came in place as lights and candles are of good use till the Sun riseth See 1 Sam. 3.3 and he shall prepare the way Expurgabit Everret emundâ—bit He shall clear the way sweep it accoutre or dresse it He shall remove all rubs and remora's out of the way he shall pare and pave a path for Christ into the soul open those everlasting doors that the king of glory may come in he shall make ready a people for the Lord. Luke 1.17 Mans heart is full of mountains and vallies Luke 3.5 These must be levelled ere Christ can be admitted and that 's not done but by repentance unto life As John Baptist was Christs fore-runner into the world so must repentance be his fore-runner into the heart for he that repenteth not the kingdom of heaven is far from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viam apertam oculis intuentium conspicuam faciet so he that cannot see it as the Hebrew word here used imports he must do for his lusts that hang in his light and the Lord whom ye seek Dominator that Lord Paramount of whom David speaketh Psal 110.1 and for whose sake Daniel desireth to be heard chap. 9.17 Messiah the Prince verse 25. the Prince and Saviour Act. 5.31 Lord and Christ Acts 2.36 the God of judgement whom they called for Mal. 2.17 and whom they are said to seek for As God he is not very sar from any one of us saith Paul Acts 17.27 not so far as the bark is from the tree for in him we all live and move and subsist And as God-Man he shall suddenly come to his Temple suddenly that is in the fulnesse of time which is but a short time in respect of the long expectation of the Patriarches and speedily after John Baptists birth suddenly also because unexpectedly to the most who stood amazed at his preaching and said Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works Is not this the carpenter c To his Temple he came when presented there to be circumcised Luke 2. when he put forth a beam of his Divinity there in his disputation with the Doctours verse 46. But especially when he purged the Temple 1. By his Doctrine Matt. 5. and 15. and 2. By his Discipline Joh 2.14 15 16. and 12.12 at which time Tell ye the daughter of Zion saith God Behold thy king cometh unto thee Mat. 21.5 meek and sitting upon an asse c. Not upon a stately palsrey as an earthly Potentate And that was the very cause that these in the text that are said to see him when they had him amongst them could by no means think well of him in respect of his mean and despicable condition They had a certain notion of the Messiah and were in expectation of him and of temporall deliverance and felicity by 〈◊〉 Of which when disappointed they were as blank as when they saw the hoped issue of their late Jewish Virgin turned to a daughter or as when they saw Mahomet eat of a camell whom till then when they saw him arising in such powetr D. Halfs Peacemaker hey were ready to cry up for their long looked-for Messiah even the messenger of the Covenant viz. of the covenant of grace for in Christ God reconciled the world to himself And of this covenant Christ is the Angel or Messenger because 1. He revealeth it and we must take heed how we slight it Heb. 2.3 shift it Heb. 12.25 2. He mediateth it 1 Tim. 2.5 and in and by him it hath accomplishment 2 Cor. 1.20 Hence Esay 9.6 he is called the Prince of peace and according to the Septuagint there the Angel of the great Counsel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all that would receive mercy from God get into Chrst and so into Covenant For as the Mercy-seat was no larger then the Ark so neither is the grace of God then the covenant of grace And as the Ark and Mercy-seat were never separated so neither are such from God as are found in Christ whom ye delight in They delighted in his day the better sort of them though afar off Joh. 8.56 they saluted him and were resaluted by him Heb. 11.13 They promised themselves through Christ malorum ademptionem bonorum adeptionem freedom from all evil and fruition of all good Hence he is called the desire of all Nations Hag. 2.8 The Church in the Canticles saith he is totus desiderabilis altogether desireable chap. 5.16 The Church in Esay desires him with her whole soul chap. 26.9 and chap. 64.1 as impatient of further delayes crieth out Oh that thou wouldest rent the heavens and come down that the mountains might flow down at thy presence Drop down ye heavens from above and let the skies pour aown righteousnesse Let the earth open and let them bring forth salvation c. chap. 45.8 Lo what earnest pantings and inquietations were in those ancient beleevers after Christ what continuall fallies as it were and egressions of affection behold he shall come He shall he shall nay he is even come already for so the Hebrew hath it Hinneh ba behold he is come me-thinks I even see him A like text there is Habak 2.3 The duty required is Wait the promise is delivered doubled and trebled It shall speak it will come it will surely come Nay doubled again It shall not lie it will not tarry It is as if God had said Do but wait and you shall be delivered you shall be delivered you shall be delivered you shall you shall Oh the Rhetorike of God! oh the certainty of the promises A Lapide his Note is not here to be passed by This word Behold signifieth that this comming of Christ in the flesh should be 1. New admirable and stupendious 2. Sure and certain 3. Desireable and joyfull 4. Famous and renowned saith the Lord of Hosts And that 's assurance good enough
sanctified For by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Isa 27.9 Christ hath bought off all our corruptions redeemed us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 and God will have the price of Christs blood out what the word purgeth not the rod must like as what evill humours Summer purgeth not out by sweating Winter concocts by driving in the heat And as winter is of use for mellowing the ground and for killing worms and weed c. so is the crosse sanctified for quelling and killing fleshly lusts that fight against the soul He that hold the winds in his fist stayes his rough wind Esay 27.8 and lets out of his treasury such a wind as shall make his yong plants fruitfull and blow away their unkindly blossomes and leaves Black sope makes white clothes if God set in and set it on with his battle-dore as that Martyr phrased it Fowl and stained garments are whitened and purified by laying abroad in cold srosty nights Scouring and beating of them with a stick beats out the mothes and the dust so do afflictions corruptions from the heart Aloes kills wormes so do bitter crosses crawling lusts Rubarbe is full of choler yet doth mightily purge choler Hemlock is a deadly plant yet the juyce applyed heales ignis sacer and hot corroding ulcors and much asswageth the inflammation of the eyes The sting of a scorpion though arrant poyson yet is an antidote against poyson Nothing is better to cure a leprosie then the drinking of that wine wherein a viper hach been drown'd The viper the head and tail being cut off beaten and applied cures her own biting Affliction is in it self an evill a fruit of Gods wrath and a peece of the curse Christ alters the property to his and makes one poison antidotary to another and cures security by misery as Physitians oft cure a letharby a fever Every affliction sanctified rubbs off some rust melts off some drosse empties and evacuates some superfluity of naughtinesse strains out some corruption Iob 10.10 Christ straines out our motes whiles our hearts are powred out like milk with grief and fear he also keeps us from setling on the lees by emptying us from vessel to vessel Ier. 48.11 when as the wicked have no changes and therefore they fear not God Psal 73. they come not in trouble like other men therefore they face the heavens and their tongues walk thorough the earth All that are Christs people are sure of sore and sharp afflictions fiery tryals and tribulations piercing and pressing crosles Psal 34.19 Iam. 1.2 He will be sure to plow his own ground whatsoever becomes of the wast and to weed his own garden though the rest of the world should be let alone to grow wild He will cast his purest gold into the fire of afflictions but they shall lose nothing by it Gold cast into the fire wasteth not cast into the water rusteth not No saint was ever the worse for his sufferings but the better the least that can come of it is to do good duties with greater zeal and large affection Esay 26.9 Now who would not fetch such gold out of a fiery crucible and he shall purifie the sons of Levi Whom he had before faulted chap. 1. and 2. Or he may mean the Ministers of the Gospell called Priests and Levites Esay 66.21 Or rather all the royall Priest-hood of Gods people whose office is to â—ffer up spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus christ 1 Pet. 2.5 9. Rom. 12.1 2. Now for these Christ 1. Of bad make them good as he did Joses the Levite Act. 4.36 and many priests Act. 6.7 He makes them passe under the rod and so brings them into the bond of the covenant Ezek. 20.37 2. Of good he makes them better and brighter he powres them forth as molten mettall so the Septuagint read this text Gold that is melted in the furnace is not only purified but also made malleable yea fit for the mould Their bearts are brought down they speak as out of the ground Esay 29.4 in a low language and like broken men they put their mouths in the dust they lie low at Christs feet and say Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Thus haughty Hagar humbled by a sâ—â—tion harkeneth to the Angell and submits to her mistresse that yong gallant that in the pride of his prosperity in the ruffe of his jollity would not be warned when â—s flesh and his body was consumed when his bones clattered in his skin Prov. 5.11 12 13. and the mourners expected him at the doors he is of another mind and he 〈◊〉 talked with then like the beaten viper casteth up his poyson both of high mindednesse and of earthly-mindednesse and if you have any good 〈◊〉 to give him he is ready to receive it See the like Iob 33.19 20 21. c. and purge them as gold and silver Colabit cos Si◠〈…〉 saith the Vulgar He shall 〈◊〉 them as some liquor or liquid matter so that the purer part shall go thoro the strayner or colander and the dreggy may be left The same thing is again and again promised as for more certainty sake so to shew that the purity should be very great in the dayes of the gospell Howbeit for the comfort of his poor people who are conscious of more drosse then good oare Christ hath promised that he will resire them but not as silver he will not be over-exact with them Isa 48 1â— he will not mark all that 's amisse he will not contend very much lest the choice spiriâ—â— of his afflicted people should faile before him Isae 57.16 when the child swormâ—s in the whipping Christ lets falâ— the rod and falls a kissing it to fetch life 〈◊〉 it again As 't is a rule in physick still to maintain nature so God 〈…〉 to keep up his peoples spirits by cordials though he purge them 〈…〉 till he bring them almost to skin and bone that there may be a spring of bett 〈…〉 its 〈…〉 the Lord an affering in rightcousnesse Or a right offering a 〈…〉 holy dâ—ties from a right principle and to a right purpose Two things make a good Christian good 〈◊〉 and good aymes Though a good aâ—me doth not in â—e a bad action good as we see in Vzza yet a bad ayme makes a good action bad as we see in John If Gods work be not duely done we may meet with breaches instead of blessings 1 Chron. 15.17 David faâ—led but in a ceremony yet God waâ—angry Jâ—hâ—'s â—eal was rewarded in an act of justice quoad subâ—â—â—â—tion aperis in regard of the substance of the work and yet punished as an act of policy quoad mâ—dum for the perverse end Let no man measure himself by the matter of things done for there may be malum opus in bona materia an evill â—â—â—k in a good matter Works materiaâ—ly good may never prove so formally and 〈…〉
a certain Pope and his Nephew it is storied that the one never spake as he thought the other never performed what he spake But God is not a man that he should repent or if he do it is after another manner then man repents Repentance with man is the changing of his will repentance with God is the willing of a change It is mutatio reinon Dei affectus non affectus facti non consilii Gods repentance is not a change of his will but of his work It noteth onely saith Mr. Perkins the alteration of things and actions done by him and no change of hi purpose and secret decree which is immutable What he hath written he hath written as Filate said peremptorily there 's no removing of him If the sentence be passed if the decree be come forth none can avert or avoid it Zeph. 3.5 Currat ergo poenitentia ne praecurrat sententia Chrysolog Go quickly and make an atonement as Moses said to Aaron Num. 16.46 Prepare to meet thy God O Israel Amos 4.12 Mite preces lachrymas cordis legatos meet him with intreaties of peace agree with him quickly who knowes if he will return and repent for he is gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse and repenteth him of the evil Joel 2.13 14. It should seem so indeed by this Text For even whiles he is threatening and ratifying what he had threatened his heart is turned within him his repentings are kindled together Hos 11.8 And hence the following words Therefore ye sonnes of Jacob are not consumed A strange inference considering the sence and occasion of the foregoing words as hath been set forth and not unlike that Hos 2.13 14. I will visit upon her the dayes of Baalim she went after ber lovers and forgat me saith the Lord. Therefore mark that Therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the wildernesse and speak comfortably to her And I will give her c. So Esay 57.17 18. For the iniquity of his covetousnesse was I wroth and smot him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly c. I have sten his wayes and will heal him Wayes what wayes his covetousnesse frowardnesse c. and yet I will heal him I will deal with him not according to mine ordinary rule but according to my Prerogative If God will heal for his names sake and so come in with his Non obstante as he doth Psal 106.8 what people is there whom he may not heal Well may these sinfull sonnes of Jacob be unconsumed well may they have for their seventy years captivity Ezek 20 8 14 22 45. seven seventies of years according to Dans ls weeks for the re-enjoying of their own countrey and Gods mercies shall bear the same proportion to his punishments which seven a complete number hath to an unity Provided that they return to the Lord that smot them as in the next verse for else he will surely punish them seven times more and seven times and seven to that Levit. 26.21 23 27 c three severall times God raiseth his note of threatening and he raiseth it by sevens and those are discords in Musique Such sayings will bee heavy songs and their execution heavy pangs to the impenitent Verse 7. Even from the dayes of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances The more to magnifie his own mercy by a miracle whereof they had hitherto subsisted by an extraordinary prop of his love and long-suffering God sets forth here their utter unworthinesse of any such free favour by a double aggravation of their sinnes First their long continuance therein so that their sinnes were grown inveterate and ingrained and themselves aged and even crooked therein so that they could hardly ever be set strait again from the dayes of your fathers c. q d. Non hoc nuper facitis nee somel ut erroris mereamini veniam sed haereditariam habetis impietâ—tem c as Hiâ—rom paraphraseth this Text. You are no young sinners it is not yesterday or a few dayes since you transgressed against me you are a seed of serpenis a raâ—e of rebels you are as good atresisting the Holy Ghost as ever your fathers were Act. 7.51 Secondly their pervicacy and stiffenesse they would not yeeld or be evicted But ye say wherein shall we return as if they were righteous and needed no repentance Still they put God to his proofs as Jer. 2.35 and shew themselves an unperswadeable and gainsaying people Esay 65.2 and this had been their muâ—nâ—r from their youth Jer. 22.21 when they were in Egypt they served idols there Ezek. 16. and 23. In the wildernesse they tempted God ten times and hearkened not to his voice Num. 14.22 Under their Judges and then their Kings they vexed him and he bore with them till there was no remedy 2 Chron 6.16 After the captivity they do antiquum obtinere and are found guilty here of sundry both omissions and commissions calling for a just recompense of reward Heb. 2.2 All which notwithstanding Deus redire eos sibi non perire desiderat God soliciteth their return unto him here by a precept and a promise Chrysolog two effectuall arguments if any thing will work and ratifieth all with his own authority which is most authentick in these words saith the Lord of Hosts A stile oft given to God as elsewhere in Scripture so especially in these three last Prophecies to the people returned from Babylon because they had many enemies and therefore had need of all encouragement For God is called the Lord of Hosts quòd ille numine suo nomine terreat terras Alsted temperet tempora exercitusque tam superiores quam inferiores gubernet to shew that he hath all power in his hand and doth whatsoever he pleaseth in heaven and earth See the Notes on verse 17. of this chap. doctr 1 And for the Doctrine of returning to God from whom we have deeply revolted by repentance see the Note on Zach. 1.3 But ye said Wherein shall we return This was their pride proceeding from ignorance they were rich and righteous as those Laodiceans Rev. 3.17 not in truth but in conceit vainly puft up by their carnall minds drunk with self-dotage as Luke 16.15 Elementum in suo loco non ponderat Hence they stand upon their pantofles and none must say Black is their eye Sin is in them as in is proper element and therefore weighes not till by long trading in wickednesse they grow to that dead and dedolent disposition Ephes 4.14 their heart fat as grease their conscience cauterized 1 Tim. 4.2 that is so benummed blotted lenselesse filthy and gangrenate that it must be seared with an hot iron whereupon it growes so crusty and brawny that though cut or pierced with the sword of the spirit it doth neither bleed nor feel and though handfulls of hell-fire be flung in the face of it yet it
for confirmation wills them as once he did wicked Ahaz Ask thee a signe of the Lord thy God Ask it either in the depth or height above they churlishly answer him in effect as he did I will not ask neither will I try the Lord. Whereupon the Prophet that made the motion in an holy indignation Heare ye now saith He ye house of David Is it a small thing for you to weary men but ye will weary my God also Isa 7.12.13 if I will no open you the windowes of heaven Vulg. the cataracts or flood-gates or spouts of heaven meaning the clouds those bottles of raine which God here promiseth to shour down abundantly Gorn Lapid tantâ copiâ impetu fragore ut ruere potius quam fluere videatur A phrase noting great plenty 2 King 7.2 for in those hot countries drought ever made a dearth Hence the proud Egyptians whose land is watered and made fruitfull by the overflow of the river Nilus were wont in mockery to tell the neighbour nations that if God should forget to raine they might chance to starve for it They thought the rain was of God but not the river God therefore threateneth to dry it up Ezech 29.9 Isa 19.5.6 and so he did Creditur Aegyptus caruisse juvantibus arva Imbribus Ovid. atque annis sicca fuisse novem To teach both them and us that both plenty and scarcity drought and rain are his work he carries the keyes of the grave of the heart and of the windows of heaven the clouds under his own girose Vessels they are as thin as the Equâ—â—â— which is contained in them There they hang and move though weighty with their burden How they are upheld and why they fall here and now we know not but wonder at it as Gods handy work In the island of â—t Thomas â—â—â—â—s Grg. pag 251. on the backside of Airike in the middest of it is an hill and over that a continuall cloud wherewith the whole Island is watered In the middle region of the air God 〈◊〉 made drukâ—esse his secret place has pavilion round about 〈◊〉 is dâ—â—k 〈…〉 cloude of the skie Psal 18.11 These he weighes by measure so that not a drâ—â—â— falls in vain nor in a wrong place Job 28.15 When he uttereth his voice 〈◊〉 is a multitude or noise or waters in the heavens and he causeth the 〈◊〉 to ascend from the ends of the earth he maketh lightenings with rain c. Job 10. â—â— A wonderfull thing surely that out of the middest or water God setcheth 〈◊〉 and hard stones out of the midst of thin vapours This is the Lords own doâ—â—â— and it is worthily marvellous in our eyes Are there any among the vanitâ—â—â— or the Gentiles that can given rain or can the heavens give snowres So the â—â—â—â—ralisis will needs have it but what saith the Prophet 〈…〉 Gad therefore we will wan upon thee for 〈…〉 Jer. 〈◊〉 A pious resolution surely and that which the Lord here would have this people to take up viz. in the way of his judgements to wait upon him Esay 25.3 and work bâ—â—â—â—â— him to honour him with their substance and with the first fruits of alâ— their increase So should their barnes be filled with piency and their presses burst out with new wine Prov. 2.9 10. The 〈…〉 〈◊〉 shall be 〈…〉 Prov. 11.25 God will poure him our a blessing because he 〈…〉 as the Hebrew hath it in that place of the Proverbs last cited and he shall have rain 〈…〉 plâ—vâ—a erir as Kâ—â—chr rendreth the last words there â—e shall be a sweet and 〈◊〉 showre to himself and others Theresore they shall 〈…〉 of Zion and shall flow together to the goodnesse of the Lord for wheâ—◠〈…〉 and for oil and for the young of the stock and of the heâ—d and their 〈…〉 a waâ—ered garden and they shall not sorrow any more 〈…〉 Gen. 31.12 O precious promise every syllable whereof drops myrrhe and merey 〈…〉 that 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 so we may call him as the 〈…〉 the â—ather of Vows because he is the first we read of in Scripture that vowed a vow unto the Lord had this promise of abundance plentifully performed unto him So had 〈◊〉 the first Christian Emperour the Churches great Benesactour 〈…〉 De civ Dei i 5. c 25. faith Aâ—gâ—stine Constimum Alagnum 〈…〉 mullus under et The good Lord filled 〈…〉 with so many temporall blessings as never any man durst with for There shall not be 〈…〉 〈…〉 Nop tanâ—â—m quod sufficiat sedâ—ti mquod supersit Rah Drvil Vltra sufficiens Montat so that you shall say It is enough Thus the Chaldee rendreth it 〈…〉 shall hove more then enough as the areptan had â— King 〈◊〉 the cruse never ceased running till there was no room Borrow of 〈…〉 〈◊〉 the Prophet but shâ—â— the doors 〈◊〉 It was time to shut the doors 〈◊〉 One when many greater vessels must be supplied from one little one shee had a Prephets reword with a witnesse And so had the Shunamite Her table and bed and stool was well bestowed That candlestick repaid her the light of her future life and condition that table the means of maintenance that stool a seat of 〈…〉 bed a quiet rest from the common calamities of her nation So 〈◊〉 a pay-master is God his retributions are more then bountifull he will not be overcome by his creature in liberality Jam. 1.5 They shall be sure to have their own again with usury either in money or moneys-worth What they want in temporalls a sufficiency whereof they shall be sure of if not a 〈◊〉 he will a 〈◊〉 up in spirituals joy and peace through beleeving as much or more then heart can hold Some holy men have so over-abounded exceedingly with joy that they have been forced to cry out Hold Lord stay thine hand c. their spirits were even ready to expire with an exuberancy of spirituall ravishment as the Church in the Canticles was sick of love and therefore calls to the Ministers Cmt. 2.5 to stay her from sinking and swooning to bolsier her up being surprized with a love-qualme as the Queen of Sheba rapt with admiration had no more spirit in her as Jacobs heart saintd Godfr in ult Bern. Epist I. 1. Confess l. 6. e. 22. when he heard the good news of Joseph alive Bernard for a certain time after his conversion remained as it were deprived of his senses by the excessive consolations he had from God Cypran and Austin testifie the like of themselves Veâ—se 11. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes Caterpillars Canker-wormes and such hurtiull creatures Gods terrible army as they are notably set forth in their march and mischief Joel 2.2 3 4 5 c. with chap. 1.4 to tame his rebels to ease him of his adversaries and to avenge him of his enemies Esay 1.24 These he will rebuke for every creature is at his beck and check as
that he would set up his own kingdome here more and more amongst us then should were be more happy then the Israelites were under the raigne of king Solomon or the Spaniards under their Ferdinand the third who reigned 35. years in all which time there was neither famine nor pestilence in the land Lopez Gloss in prolog par 1 Vers 13. Your words have been stout against me Or reenforced or strongly confirmed Superant me verba vestra so some have rendred it By your hard and hatefull words you have been too hard for me as it were And it is as if God should say I have given you my best advice o break off your sinnes and to bring me my tythes that I might blesse you both with store and honour But I have lost my labour I see well my sweet words are worse then spilt upon you who are so hardened in your errour and blasphemy Prov. 23.8 Verba quid incassum non proficientia perdo Mal. 2.17 that you are still clamouring and casting out odious words against me Once before you had set your foul mouthes against me and like so many wolves that were wood you held up your heads and howl'd out these ugly words Every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them c. was it possible that the wit of malice could devise so high a slander And now you are at it again creaking like doors that move upon rusty hinges nay clattering and blustering out such hellish and hideous blasphemies as at the hearing whereof it is great wonder if the heavens sweat not earth gape not sea roar not all creatures conspire not to be avenged upon you as the very stones in the wall of Aphek turned executioners of those blasphemous Aramites when as being but ignorant Pagans their tongues might seem no slander Your words have been stout against me Yea stouter and stouter your wickednesse frets like a canker and encreaseth still to more ungodlinesse 2 Tim. 2.17 Evil men and deceivers grow worse and worse 2 Tim. 3.13 as being given up by God Rom. 1.28 acted and agitated by the devil Ephes 2.2 serving diverse lusts and pleasures Tit. 3.3 which to satisfie is an endlesse piece of businesse Neither let any here say they were but words that these are charged with and words are but wind c. for words have their weight and are marvellous provoking Leviter volant sed non leviter violant You shall find some saith Erasmus that if death be threatned can despise it but to be belied they cannot brook nor from revenge contain themselves As a murthering-weapon in my bones saith David mine enemies reproach me Psal 42.10 Desperate speeches and blasphemies that impose upon the Lord any thing unbeseeming his Majesty a thing common among the Jews even at this day he can by no means away with See how God stomacketh such proud contumelious language Psal 73.11 and 94.4 5 6 7 c. Zeph. 1.12 Ezech. 9.9 See how he punished it in him that bored thorough his great Name Lev. 24.11 Ludovike commonly called St. Lewis caused the lips of blasphemers to be seared with an hot iron Philip the French King punished this sin with death yea though it were committed in a Tavern The very Turks have the Christians blaspheming of Christ in execration and will punish their prisoners sorely when as through impatience or desperatenesse they wound the ears of heaven Yea the Jews in their speculations of the causes of the strange successe of the affairs of the world Specul Europae assigne the reason of the Turks prevailing so against the Christians to be their blasphemies and among other scandals and lets of their conversion are all those stout words darted with hellish mouthes against God in their hearing so ordinarily and openly by the Italians especially who blaspheme oftner then swear and murther oftner then revile or slander Andrew Musculus in his discourse intituled The devil of blasphemy hath a memorable story of a desperate dice-player in Helvetia Anno 1553. at a town three miles distant from Lucerna Where on a Lords-day three wretched fellows were playing at dice under the town-wall One of them named Vlricus Schraeterus having lost a great deal of money swore that if he lost the next cast he would fling his dagger at the sace of God He lost it and in a rage threw up his dagger with all his might toward heaven The dagger vanished in the air and was seen no more five drops of blood fell down upon the table where they were playing which could never be washed out part of it is still kept in that town for a monument the blasphemer to say the best of him was fetcht away presently body and soul by the devil with such an horrible noise as affrighted the whole town The other two came to a miserable end shortly after The truth of this relation is further attested by Job Fincelius and Philip Lonicerus Theat histor pag. 142. yet ye say What have we spoken so much against thee Chald What have we multiplied to speak before thee As if they should say â—t is not so much that we have spoken that thou shouldest make such a businesse of it Nothing more ordinary with gracelesse men then to elevate and extenuate great sins with them are small sins and small sins no sins when as every sinne should swell like a toad in their eyes and the abundant hatred thereof in their hearts should make them say all that can be said for the aggravation and detestation of it sith there is as much treason in coyning pence as bigger pieces because the supreme authority is as much violated in the one as in the other But this sin of theirs was no peccadillo as appeareth by the following instance Verse 14. Ye have said It is vain to serve God Vulg. He is vain that serves God Ye are idle ye are idle said Pharaoh to the Israelites when they would needs go sacrifice and to Moses and Aaron Ye let the people from their works Any thing seems due work to a carnall mind saving Gods service that 's labour lost time cast away they think But this is their want of spirituall judgement they see not the beauty of holinesse they taste not how good the Lord is they discern not things that are excellent they measure all by present sight sense and taste as do children swine and other bruit creatures And therefore they themselves are vani vanissimi as an Expositor here speaketh vain and most vain and that for two reasons and in two respects First for that they take themselves to be servers of God Secondly they stick in the bark serve him with the out-side onely honour him with their lips and not with their hearts to bring him vein oblations empty performances serve him wih shews and formalities which he delights not in nay he rejects them with infinite scorn as he did the Pharisees devotions
as boyling and swelling with spite and spleen against God and his people deal arrogantly and insolently doing wickedly with both hands earnestly Exod. 18.11 and 21.11 and working their own ends confidently and daringly these we call and count happy because wealthy and well underlaid as they say because they live in the height of the worlds blandishments But the whole book of Ecclesiastes is a clear and full confutation of this fond conceit had they but ever read or regarded it How can the proud person be happy that hath God for his profest enemy what was all Hamans honour to him when the king frown'd upon him what was Ahah the better for his ivory palace his gold and his jewels in every place when the heaven was brasse above the earth iron beneath Surely God abhorreth pride as an abomination of desolation Psal 31.23 and though he preserveth the faithfull yet sooner or later he plensifully rewardeth the proud doer Like metall in the fire when they shine brightest they are nearest to melting and like a bulging wall they will shortly fall Swelling is a dangerous symptom in the body so is pride in the soule Telluntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant Neither are they therefore to be reputed ever awhit the more happy because they come not in trouble like other men but prosper in their wickednesse For God is never more angry with such then when he seemes best pleased Pharaeh had fair weather made him till he was in the middest of the Sea fatting cattle are but fitting for the shambles Never was Jerusalems condition so desperate as when God said unto her My fury shall depart from thee I will be quiet and no more angry Ezek. 16.42 Nor Ephraims as when he said I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom And Ephraim is joyned to idols let him alone Hos 4.14 17. sc till I come and setch my full blow at him Clem. Alexandrinus cites Plato expressing himself thus Although a righteous man be tormented although his eyes be digged out yet he remains a blessed man and the contrary they that work wickednesse are set up Heb. they are built up sc in posterity and prosperity of all sorts The Psalmist expresseth it thus They are full of children and leave the rest of their substance to their babes Psal 17. Thus God built the midwives houset that is he gave them children for their mercy to those new-born-babes Exod. 2.21 Thus he builded David an house 2 Sam. 7. And thus those that return to the Almighty have a gracious promise that they shall be built up Iob 22.23 That these stout and stift Stigmaticks were built up and prospered though after so sweet an invitation they turned not to him that smot them we need not wonder sith it is their portion as David sheweth all they are like to have or must everlook for Besides Is not God the true proprietary of all Is not the earth the Lord purse with the sulnesse thereof Mat. 20.13 and may he not do with his own as he pleaseth Add hereunto that what wicked men have they have it with a curse and for mischief their table is a snare to them they are like to pay dear for their sweet morsels as Haman did for his wine at Esthers banquet Bernard calles the wicked mans prosperity misericordiam omni indignatione crudeliorem In Psal 91. a merey more cruel then any adversity Austin affirmeth Nullum mare tam profundum quam est Dei cogitatio ut mali floreant c. No sea is so deep as the divine dispensation that good men should suffer bad men prosper They are built up with blessings as they say the Phenix builds her nest with hot spices wherein she is afterwards burned They build as those at Babel and feather their nests as if their lives were rivetted upon eternity but as their foundation is laid upon fire-work so brimstone is scattered upon their habitations Iob 18.15 If the fire of Gods wrath but touch it all will be quickly consumed Dioclesian that bloody persecutour despairing of ever rooting out the Christian religion as he had endeavoured to do gave over his empire in a discontent and decreed to lead the rest of his life quietly But he could not escape so For after that Fuseb de vita Constant lib. 5. his house was wholy consumed with lightening and a flame of fire that fell from heaven he hiding himself for fear of the lightening died within a little after Their inward thought is saith the Psalmist of such wicked Atheists that their houses honours riches nephews shall continue for ever and their dwelling place to all generations they call their houses after their own names as Cain called his new-built city Enoch after the name of his son that he might leave him Lord Enoch of Enoch Neverthelesse man being in honour abideth not he is like the beasts that perish Psal 49.11 12. The use to be made hereof see ver 16. Be not thou afraid when a wicked one is made rich when the glory of his house is increased c. yea they that tempt God are even delivered Still these Miscreants are grunting out their grudges aginst God What this sin here instanced viz. of tempting God is hath been shewed before in the note on ver 10. of this chapter Here it is to be taken for an audacious daring of God to take vengeance as Num. 15. These very worst fort of sinners are sometimes not only spared but prospered Ier. 12.1 c. Their Epha is not yet full their iniquity not found to be hatefull enough yet But the wicked is kept by the patience of God unto the day of destruction and shall be brought forth to the day of wrath as condemned Malefactours are to execution some by posterns and by-gates others thorough the market place so here He that hath stollen a good hoâ—se ride gallantly mounted for present till shortly after followed close by Huâ— and cry he is soon apprehended sentenced and brought to condign punishment And this is the very state of presumptuous sinners and will be I know well that because sentence is not presently executed therefore the hearts of the sons of men are set in them to doe wickedly Felix scelus virtus vocatur as we see here The proud are called happy Eccles 8. Cicero because for present in prosperity See the like Ier. 44.11 Gen. 30.18 Dionysius after the spoile of an Idol-temple finding the winds favourable in his navigation Lo said he how the Gods approve of Sacriledge But the weaknesse of this argument see set forth by Solomon Eccles 9.1 2 3. with the Notes there God gives outward things to the wicked no otherwise then as if a man should cast a purse full of gold into a jakes He gives them riches to furnish their inditement out of them as Joseph put his cup into their fack to pick a quarrel with them and lay theft to their
doth his light Ioh. 1.16 It is further said here that he shall arise that is he shall appear and shew himself on earth who now lieth hid as it were in heaven as the materiall Sun doth under the Horizon God was manifested is the stesh 1 Tim. 3.16 Manifested out of the bosom of his father out of the womb of his mother out of the types of the law c. In his Nativity he came forth as the Sun doth as a bridegroome out of his chamber In the whole course of his life he rejoyced as a Gyant to run his race He enlightened and warmed the dark and dry hearts of men he filled them with the fruits of righteousnesse Ioh. 15.5 He could not be stay'd or stopped in his course He made his gospel to run and be glorified He was and is still in continuall motion for the good of his Church as the Sun in heaven is for the good of the world He went under a cloud in his passion and brake forth again in his Resurrection From heaven he daily darts forth his beams of righteousnesse and showres down all spirituall blessings in heavenly priviledges Eph. 1.3 The Sun sucks up foul water from the earth drawes it up into the ayte not to hold it there but first purifies it and then distilles it down again with a fattening and fructifying property Hereupon the thankfull earth brings forth most fair and fragrant fruits and flowers c. Semblably this â—un of righteousnesse took on him our sins and miseries sordes nostras induit assumed our humane nature not to retain it and glorify it in himself alone Philip. 1 10 but that we might be conglorisied and in the mean space filled with those fruits of holinesse which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God And as the Sun the nearer he runns to the earth the weaker he is in operation as in winter-time But the higher in heaven the more effectuall So while Christ was not yet ascended the holy Ghost and his grace were not in that full measure imparted nor Churches gathered as afterwards Ioh. 7.39 Lastly at that last and great day he will shew himself in speciall manner a Sun of righteousnesse clearing all obscurities bringing to light the hidden things of darknesse causing his peoples most holy faith that now lyes hid in great part to be found to praise honour and glory Chearing up their spirits after manifold tribulations healing all their spiritual maladies for he comes with healing under his wings and making them as so many Sampsons whose name signifies a little Sun in the Noon of their full strength Ipse est ergo nester Apolle sanitatis praeses A Lap. Solisus For the righteous shall shine as he Sun in the kingdome of their Father Mat. 13. I shall shat up this discourse with that observation of an Ancient When the Sun of righteousness was yet in his Mothers womb he might be said to be in Virgo when on the Cross in Taurus when he rose from death in Leo when he shall come again to judgement in Libra And as when the Sun is in Libra the day is of an equall length so when Christ cometh all shall be perfected with healing in his wings that is in his beames This implies sicknesse in all to whom Christ comes the world being as it were a great Hospitall or Nesoromium though few feel it and that true of every person that is spoke of the whole people Esay 1.6 The whole head is sick c. O my head my head said the Shunamites son my belly my belly faith the Prophet my leaenesse my leanenesse c. And surely it were happy if men would be more sensible of their malady and make out to this Jehovah Rophe this Almighty Physitian Exod. 15.26 that wants neither will nor skill to cure all that come unto him See him hanging out his tables as it were and setting to sale his eye-salve Rev. 3.18 for there he begins the cure Act. 26.18 Hear him 1. Complaining of our dulnesse backwardnesse frowardnesse Ior. 8.22 Ezech. 24.13 Hos 7 1. 2 Wishing we had more care of our poor soules Oh that this people were wise c. Why will ye dye 3. Threatening Ezek. 24.13 4. Promising Hos 14.4 mat 11.28 5. Performing Psal 103.3 2 Cron. 30.20 Lastly providing all sorts of physick for us preventing purging restoring corrosives of the law lenitives of the Gospel plaisters of his on blood for here Sanguis medici est curaio phrenetici and requiring us no more but to come unto him as they of old did to the brazen serpent with sorrow for sin and faith in his name having a good opinion of our Physician and casting our selves wholy upon him for cure Calling upon him as blind Bartimaeus did and crying out as that Martyr did at the stake Son of God shine upon me and immediatly the Sun shone out of a dark cloud so full in his face Act. and Mor. fol. 1398. that he was constrained to look another way What shall I say more this blossed Sun of Righteousnesse must be sought in the West if we will get the kingdome as Strato's servant in Justin did by the advise of his master Lib. 18. whom he had preserved upon the cross I mean and in the state of his Abasement so shall we be sure to finde healing in his wings that is the gracious influence of the holy Spirit convaying the vertue of Christs blood to the conscience as the beames of the Sun do the heat and influence thereof to the earth thereby calling out the herbes and flowers and healing those deformities that winter had brought upon it and ye shall go forth To shew that ye are thoroughly healed ye shall rise up and walk Where the spirit is there is liberty live things love to be stirring 2 Cor. 3.17 and those that are restored to health after sicknesse are not satisfied till they can go about their businesse in their accustomed strength Quod sanitas in corpore id sanctitas in corde Holinesse is to the soul what health is to the body Let men 〈…〉 out that Christ Jesus hath wrougtht a cure upon their soules by being 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 in his work Life consists in action Esâ—y 38.16 O Lord by 〈…〉 and in all theâ—â— things is the life or my spirit saith Hezekiah And 〈…〉 in them saith the Lord as the fish lives in 〈…〉 lives in the oyle and as the creature by his food Vp 〈…〉 Live betime live quickly and apace Some men live 〈…〉 then others in a moneth as wiâ—e men speak more in two words 〈…〉 two hundred or as one piece of gold is more worth then twenty of 〈…〉 what to do for God as David did Psal 116.12 serve out your 〈◊〉 as he Act. 13.36 do not idle it out wear out do not wast out slame out Hie suns est Vacla 〈…〉 out burnout be not blown out Be not buried alive as 〈…〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Deliverer It was the thankfull acknowledgement of Generall Captaines and souldiers at Edge-hill-fight that the Lord was seen in the Mount Never lesse of man in such a businesse never more of God But what shall it prosit a man to conquer countries 2 Tim. 2.26 and yet be vanquished of vices to tread upon his enemies and yet be taken captive by the devill at his pleasure to command the whole world as those Persian kings and yet were commanded by their concubines so by their base lusts by yeelding whereunto they give place unto the very devill and receive him into their very bosomes Eph. 4.26 who therehence leads them away naked and barefoot as the Assyrian did the Egyptians Isa 29.2 How much better Valentinian the Emperour who said upon his deathbed that among all his victories over his enemies this one only comforted him viz. that by the grace and power of Christ Jesus he had got the better of his corruptions and was now more then a Couquerour even a Triumpher for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet Even the ashes of that stubble burnt in Christs oven Verse 1. This shewes their utter and ignominious destruction And the like is foretold of mysticall Babylon Rev. 18. Tota eris in cineres quasi nunquam Roma fuisses sang Sibylla of old Fiat Fiat Our corruptions also shall one day be incinerated they are already buried Rom. 6.4 Col. 2.12 the fiery spirit of Christ will do with the body of sin as the King of Moab did with the King of Edom Am. 2.1 burn its bones into lime In the day that I shall do this sc partly here but perfectly at the last day Mean while sinne may rebel in Gods people but it cannot raigne Satan may nibble at their heele but he cannot come at their head the world may kill them but cannot hurt them Re of good chear saith Christ I have overcome the world Joh. 16.33 All evils and enemies shall cooperate for their good Rom. 8.28 saith the Lord of Hosts Who hath also said Heaven and earth shall passe but not one jot or tittle of my word c. Verse 4. Remember ye the law of Moses viz. Now henceforth in the fail of Prophecy for Malachy knew that after him untill the dayes of John Baptist no Prophet should arise Hence this exhortation to read and remember the Law as leading them to Christ the Law I say in all the parts of it not excluding the Prophets those Interpreters of the Law and most excellent Commentaries thereupon with like reverence to be read and received The Jews at this day read in their Synagogues two lessons One out of the Law by some chief person another out of the Prophets correspondent to the former in argument but is read by some boy or mean companion for they will in no sort do that honour neither attribute they that authority to any part of the Bible that they do to their Law But this their way is their folly Psal 49.13 yet their posterity opprove their sayings as the Psalmist speaketh in another case Two things offer themselves to our observation from these first words First the little coherence that this verse hath with the former the Prophet chusing rather to fall abruptly upon this most needfull but too too much neglected duty of remembring the Law then not at all to mention it See the like Rom. 16.17 where the Apostle breaks off his salutations to warne them of their danger by seducers and that done returns thereto again Secondly In the Hebrew word rendred Remember Buxtorf in Comment Mafor c. 14. there is in many Bibles a great Zain to shew as some think the necessity and excellency of this duty of remembring the law of Moses It is well enough known that since the fall mans soul is like a filthy pond wherein fish die soon and frogs live long profane matters are remembred pious passages forgotten Our memories are like sieves or nets that retain chaffe and palterment let go the good grain or clear water Gods word â—uns thorough us as water runs thorough a riven vessell And as hour-glasses which no sooner turned up and filled but are presently running out again to the last sand so is it here And yet the promise of salvation is limitted to the condition of keeping in memory what we have read or heard 1 Cor. 15.2 And Davids character of a blessed man is that he meditateth in the Law day and night Psal 1.2 Hoc primum reâ—etens opus Nor. ep 6. hoc postremus omittens Bishop Babington had a little Book containing three leaves onely which he turned over night and morning The first leaf was black to inminde him of hell and Gods judgements due to him for sinne The second rod to minde him of Christ and his passion The third white to set forth Gods mercy to him through the merits of his Son in his Justification and sanctification The Law of the Lord as it is perfect in it self so it is right for all holy purposes Psal 19. â— 8 It serves to discover sinne Rom. 3.20 and 7.9 shews the punishment due to sinne Gal. 3.10 scourgeth men to Christ Gal. 3.24 And is a perfect rule of obedience it being so penned that every man maythink it speaks de se in re sâ—a as â—thanesivs saith of the book of Psalms and must therefore be of all acknowledged to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods own invention Demost Moses was but the Pen-man onely though it be here called his Law because God gave him the Morall Law written with his own hand Deut. 10.2 adding it to the promise made to Abraham that thereby guilt being discovered c. men might acknowledge the riches of free-grace and mercy and that they might walk as Luther hath it in the heaven of the promise Gal. 3.19 but in the earth of the law that in respect of beleeving this of obeying that they might live as though there were no Gospel die as though there were no Law passe the time of this life in the wildernesse of this world under the conduct of Moses but let none but Joshuah Jesus bring them over to Canaan the promised land This the generality of the Jews could not skill of though the Morall-law drove them to the Ceremoniall which was then Christ in figure as it doth now drive us to Christ in truth they would needs have Moses for a Saviour and being ignorant of Gods righteousnesse wilfully ignorant they go about to establish their own Rom. 10.3 and so lose all They jear at an imputed righteousnesse and say That every fox must pay his own skin to the fleare They blaspheme Jesus Christ and curse him in a close abbreviature of his name and call those among them that convert to Christianity Mtshumadim that is lost or undone Buxtorf syn Jud. cap. 5. Schicard de jure reg Jiebr Moses Law they extoll without meature It
then to the observation of the ceremoniall and judiciall Law But it is ordinary with those Jew-Doctours to corrupt the Text for their own purpose adding and altering at their pleasure The judiciall law was fitted to the jews and was the best that they could suffer as Solon said of the Athenian Lawes The ceremoniall law was their Gospel pointing them to Christ and therefore abolished by him as having no use in the Church after his death but by accident As for the Morall law called here by an excellency the Law of Moses it is established for ever in heaven Psal 119.89 and albeit some duties of certain commandements shall cease when we come to heaven yet the substance of every one remaineth This perpetuity of the morall law was noted by engraving of it in stone Exod. 34.27 2 Cor. 3.7 The Jewshave a saying That God hath more respect to the letters of the Law then to the stars of heaven Mat. 5. And Christ either alludes to or confirms it in that saying of his Heaven and earth shall passe before one jot or tittle of the Law passe Think not that I am come to destroy the Law viz. the Morall Law or the Prophets who presse Morall duties as explainers of the law they do as it were unfold and draw out that Arras which was folded together before These therefore together with the Law of Moses must be daily and duely read and remembred Lege Melachim meum meum inquam meum quicquid enim didicimus tenemus nostrum est rolog in lib. Reg. Scripturas sanctas memoriter tenebat His rom calls the books of Kings his own because by the frequent use and reading of them he had got them by heart and as it were made them his own Of Paula he testifieth that she had most of the Scriptures by heart Of Nepotian likewise that with daily reading and continuall meditation he had made his heart Bibliothecam Christi the Library of Christ See my True Treasure pag. 315. Verse 5. Behold I will send you Elijab the Prophet Not Elijah the Thishite as the Septuagint corruptly read and the Popish Expositours make no smail use of it to prove that the Pope is not Antichrist because Enoch and Elias are not yet come and yet are to come in his time before the day of judgement as they sondly fable to preserve the Elect in the faith of Christ and to convert the Jews But we have better Interpreters of this Text. 1. An Angel who applies it to Iohn Baptist Luk. 1.17 2. Christ that Angel of the Covenant Mat. 17.10 11 and 11.14 Hear ye him against all Antichrists Agitatours Saint Mark begins his Gospel with these very words of Malachy to let us know that this Elias is the Baptist who is called Eliah the Prophet because of the like gifts calling and ministery office of reforming habit people with whom they dealt c. The like almost may be said of Lather a third Elias for boldnesse courage zeal knowledge successe c. But yet we see no footing in this Text for Lucas Osianders conceit viz. that the Prophet here pointed at Luther as well as at John Baptist and that men must receive his Doctrine or else look to be smitten with a curse Howbeit this is more passable and possible then that of the Jesuites who presume to controul Christs own Exposition and give out that as the Devil stirred up Luther to call the Pope Antichrist so God raised up them to resist Luther But what a mad fellow was that Spaniard of whom Severus Sulpitius writeth that professed himself first to be the Prophet Eliah and afterward when he had gained authority Lib. 1 de vita S. Martini fere in calce to be The Christ carrying himself so cunningly in his collusion that Bishop Ruffus was led away with the errour beleeving in him and adoring him as God for which he was justly deprived of his dignity Had we not need receive the truth in the love of it lest God give us up to the efficacy of errour 2 Thess 2.10 lest being first infatuated we be seduced and then being seduced we be damned as Austin glosseth on that Text before the coming of the great and dreadfull day of the Lord Great in respect of the good and dreadfull or horrible in respect of the wicked as Montanus interprets it paralelling it with Mat. 3.12 Or great because it shall be a beginning of great changes both to the godly and the ungodly and dreadfull to the bad yea and to the best also at first till they have recollected and better bethought themselves as Another senceth it as taking it of the last day which is the generall mistake of Popish Expositours and that upon this ground because Christs first coming was an acceptable time and a day of salvation But though it be so to Gods people yet to others it was terrible as hath been shewed in the Note on Chip 3. verse 2. and is so described Luke 2.34 and 3.9 17. and 19.44 Mat. 21.44 Esay 11.4 He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with his two-edged sword he shall slay the wicked See the like Râ—v 2.16 And by his Ministers he doth it still 2 Thes 2.8 2 Cor. 2.15 16. 2 Cor. 10.6 Vengeance is as ready in Christs hand as in the Ministers mouth for the disobedient Some read the words thus Before the day of the great and dreadfull Lord come like as others read that Jam. 2.1 Have not the glorious faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons Both readings are good and the Text will bear both Verse 6. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children c. John Baptists office and efficacie is here described He shall as a powerfull instrument by preaching repentance Mat. 3.2 and prevailing as he did with all sorts even to admiration so that all men mused in their hearts whether he were the Christ or not Luke 3.10 12 14 15. convert sinners from the errours of their way reduce them to the faith of the old Patriarches make them unanimous in the love of God and of one another and tye them up together as it were by his Baptisme For the multitude of beleevers were of one heart and one soul Act. 4.32 animo animaque inter se miscebantur as Tertullian phraseth it neither was there any controversie at all amongst them as One ancient Greek copy subjoyneth there Controversies there were great store among the Jews when the Baptist came As Joseph found his brethren in Dothan which signifieth Defection so did he They were all gone out of the way and being led aside by the errour of the wicked they were fallen from their own stedfastnesse Many strange opinions and dotages they had taken up and were wofully divided specially by those three different Sects Pharisees Sadduces and Essenes which the Prophet Zachary calleth three shepherds that were to be destroyed in one moneth
more then a Prophet a Math. 11.9 may not unfitly be applyed to Malachy the last of Prophets b Prophetarum ultimum veluti sigillum c. Petrus à Figuiero proaem in Mal. Judaei in hujus prophaeta obitum collocant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id esi obfignationem proplietrae In ejus locum successisse aixnt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filam vociâ— id est oraculum divinum quo post prophetarwn tempo a dicunt suisse revelata futura Alsted Chron. that he is the boundary c Malachias à Terrulliano limes in tervetus novum Testam vocatur ad quem desineret Judaismus à que inciperet christianismus and buckle d Ioh Baptista fuit ut ita dicam legis gratiae fibula Chrysol of the Law and Gospel the golden girdle that knitsup and ties together those two brests of Consolation e If. 66.11 the old and new Testament between the which he seemes to lie as a bundle of Myrrhe or cluster of Camphire the sweet scent whereof fills the whole house of God f 1 Tim. 3. 15. and greatly affects all such as have their senses habitually exercised to discern both good and evill g Heb. 5.1 Summa libri est quòd cùm Judaei nuper reversi essent in patriam statim simul redieruâ—â— ad ingenium immemores gratiae dei ita se dediderant multis corruptelis ut nihilo melior esseâ—status eorum quam patrum antè suerat quasi Deus operam lusisset castigando corum scclera Calvin in Malach. proem Such were these good soules the subject of our text Reserv'd they were to those last and losest times of the Jewish Church after the return from Babylon where it seemes their seventy years captivity had not much mended the most of them h such alasse is the hardnesse of mens hearts that till the Spirit mollify and make them mallcable Afflictions Gods hammers do but beat cold iron Little good is done nay much hurt by accident for unsanctified persons grow worse with afflictions as water more cold after a heat witnesse these proud misereants that gave the occasion of this text Gods correcting hand had laine long time sore upon them to turn them from their enterprizes and to hide pride from their hearts i Iob. 33.17 But he had not his end upon this untoward generation Cohaerence nor they the best use of this affliction Witnesse their words above the text where they stand stouting it out with the Lord of Hosts ver ver 13. 13. and stick not to charge him with deep oscitancy and forlorne neglect of his best servants ver 14. yea with flat iniquity and most unequall administation of his earthly kingdome 14. For now we call the proud happy say they and those that work wickednesse are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered As who should say 15. Surely there is no reward for the rightcous verily there is not a God that doth judge in the earth Either things are not ordered by a divine providence but left at randome and let run at sixes and sevens as it happens or else there is not an equall hand held over the sons of men but partiality and unrig hteousnesse found with the judge of all the earth k Gen. 18.25 whiles the proud thus tempt God and trample upon his people and are not only not punisht but even preferr'd for their labour Thus they in their madnesse set their mouthes against heaven l Psal 73.9 and spare not despitefully to spit their venome in the face of God himself At the bearing of which abhorred blasphemies ‖ Mirum videtur coelum hoc dicto non sudare terram hiare mare non conuno veri c Cart. Hist Xpti I wonder if the heavens did not swear the Sun blush the Earth wax weary of her burthen and Hell gape wide and enlarge her self m Esay 5.14 for these prodigious Atheists these Gyants ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 5.39 23 9. these monstrous men of condition I am sure the Godly of these times were much affected with it and met often about it not without a great deal of good conference and much holy duty perform'd on all hands to that God with whom they found all best audience and acceptance for the present together with a promise of fuller and further reward for the future to the comsort of his people and consusion of his enemies 16. The they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord harkened and heard it and there was a booke of remembrance written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name 17. And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts c. The words present unto us 1. aduty performed set forth 1. in the circumstances 1. of time Then 2. of persons they that feared the Lord. thought upon his Name 2. in the substance they spake often one to another 2. A mercy returned and that 's double 1. Gods grcious acceptation in that for present he regards what they did the Lord harkened and heard is future he records it And a booke of remembrance was written c. 2. his righteous retribution of 1. Mercy to his people respecting 1. their persons which 1. own they shall be mine c. 2. honour in the day when I make up my Jewels he will 2. their performances I will spare them as a man spareth his owne son that sorveth him 2. Judgment to his enemies ver 18. Then shall ye return and discern c. CHAP. I. Doctr. I. Saints must be best in worst times THem men were arrived at this height of impudency and prophanenes as to say T was to no purpose to serve God even then when their black mouths were now big swolne with such like blasphemies n Illis de Dei judicio blasphemantibus Hieron Tunc cum blasphemi talia loquerentur Pet à Figuiero in locum Doct. then they that fcared the Lord were thus busied as in the text Note hence That Gods servants must labour to shew themselves best in the worst times and then most bestirr them in his businesle when others are most carelesse of it and contrary to it SECT 1. The Point consirmed â— by precept 2 by practise THis you shall see confirm'd and commended to us 1. by precept from Gods mouth 2. by the constant practise of his best children in allages For precept first what can be more direct and expresse then those common texts Thou shalt not follow a multitâ—ide to do evill o Exod. 23.2 Save your selves from this untoward generation p Act. 2.40 Come out from among them my people and be ye separate q 2 Cor 6.17 Be not ye conform'd to this world but be ye transform'd by the rencwing of your mind r Rom 12.2 Have no fillowship with the unfruitfull works of
his own sonne that serveth him Then the which I know not what the Lord could have spoken more effectuall for the glory of his own rich grace or the shirring up of our utmost affections to an holy contention in godlinesse be the times never so bad or boisterous sith in doing thereof there is so great reward q Psal 19 11 Perinde ut homo cum homine amico vel Domino suo ubique judiâ—ulse inambulans c Aug. In which respect how fitly doth the Authour to the Hebrews close up the story of 〈◊〉 hs heroicall faith with that golden corollary He that cometh to God as Henoch did who walked familiarly with God as a man with his friend * with whom he is in covenant for can two walk together saith the Prophet and they not be agreed r Am. 3.3 must beleeve that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him s Heb. 11.6 The Greek text hath it that seek him out t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely when he is cast into a blind corner if I may so speak with reverence to the Divine Majesty conveyed out of the way and covered as it were with the calumnies and stout words of the wicked those hard words against which Malachy here and Henoch anciently prophecied u Jade 14 15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verbum 〈◊〉 durum inconveniens c. of ungodly persons whose throats are as open fepulchres x Psal 5.9 to bury Gods Name in as much as they may were it not for Henoch and such as hee that do daily and diligently vindicate that reverend y Psal 111.9 Name from their false aspersions and as it were dig it out of the grave wherein they had villanously conceal'd after a sort and cover'd it But what lost Henoch by this labour of love z Heb. 6.10 had he not this testimony from heaven hereupon that he pleased God a Heb. 11.5 was hee not translated as a Jewel of price into the heavenly Cabinet b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 11.19 and were not the fewnesse of his dayes on earth in comparison of his forefathers recompensed in that longest life of his sonne Methuselah c Gen 5.27 And why all this but because he walked with God when others walked aster the lust of their hearts and sight of their eyes d Eccles 11.9 seeking to take men off from their lewd and lawlesse courses by the terrou of the Lord which he most powerfully denounced Jude 14 15. In doing whereof though to his own thinking he laboured in vain and spent his strength for nonght yet surely his udgement was with the Lord and his reward with his God e Esay 49.4 whith was the first reason taken from God The second follows respecting our selves And so by cleaving close to Jehovah in corrupt times it shall well appear first that we are the same we would all seem to be Men searing God For this is pure religion indeed to keep a mans self unspotted of the world f Jam. 1. ulc There must be heresies amongst you saith the Apostle that they which are approved may be made manifest g 1 Cor 11 19 And by a like reason there must h Nen à Den sed ab hominis corruptione voluntaria Beza be a perverse and gracelesse generation a viperous brood i Mar. 3.7 amids whom Gods sunts may shine as lamps in the world and so approve themselves blamelesse and harmelesse the sonnes of God without rebuke Holding forth the word of life k Philip. 2 15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great lights for an Ensigne * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a bold and wise profession and practise of the truth that is in Jesus then when it is most oppos'd and opprest by the sonnes of Belial This is the guise of a man that truely fears God he cannot blow hot and cold o Erasm Adag p. 350. ex codem are calidam â—â—frigidum esslare as they say he dare not swear by God and Malchom p Zeph. 1.3 he will not hold the truth in indifferency q 2 Thes 2.10 God he knowes must be worshipt trucly that there be no halting r 1 King 18.21 and totallr that there be no halving s Hos 7.8 for what communion hath Christ with Belial and what fellowship hath the temple of God with idols t 2 Cot. 6.16 Out upon those Rimmonites that plead for an upright soul in a prostrate body u 2 King 5.18 Thou shalt not how down to them nor worship them w Exod 20 for any mans pleasure And why for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God c. therefore let my fear fall upon thee as a strong counter-blast to the base fear of any tyrant x As the fifth commandement is the first with promise so is the second the first with punishment which the Lord severely threatens there to them that worship him not aright because men commonly inflict punishment on them that do For as one fire drives out another so doth the fear of God the fear of the creature Obadiah for instance that good steward of a bad Lord that Non-such Ahab I mean a man that had sold himself to do wickednesse y 1 King 21.20 Not so Obadiah but whatever my Lord the King and the whole State do I fear God greatly saith he to the Prophet z 1 King 18.12 13. I but how shall this appear Obadiah Why when Jezabel kiâ—d up the Lords Prophets I not standing to cast perils hid them and fed them by fifâ—y in a cave not without the hazard of my head if it should ever have been noticed Loe here 's a man of courage fearing God a Exo. 18.21 and he gave the best testimony of it by ruling with God and contiuuing faithfull with the Saints as Judah then when Ephraim compassed him about with lyes and the whole house of Israel with deceit b Hof 11.12 Real 4. c 2 Chr. 7.14 But secondly as the practise of this point proves one a Christian fearing God so a zealous forward christian one that solicitously thinks upon Gods name that high and holy Name whereby he is called and wherewith he is intruded d 2 Chr. 12 13 with charge not to take it in vaine e Exod. 20. but to bear it up aloft as the word f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 elevavit evexiticonfer Esay 5.26 elevabit vexillum ad gentes in that third commandement signifies to lift it up as a standard saying Jehovah Nisi g Exo. 17.15 the Lord is my banner or as servants do their masters badges upon their shoulders so they Gods Impress upon their forcheads yea upon the bridles of their horses h Zach. 14.20 21. in their common conversation also even Holinesse to the Lord. Being consident of this very thing with Paul that in nothing they
of the Preacher Wâ—â—â— him that 's alone e Eccies 4.10 and 7.16 and again Be not rightcous over much and that of Saint Paul Offer unto God a reasonable sorâ—ice f Rom. 12 1. and i became all things to all men g 1 Cor. 9.22 How shall these cry out one day with Severus the Emperâ—â— Câ—nuâ—a jui nihil exped 〈◊〉 Hence they think themselves sufticiently secured and shrowded from the dint of any such reproof as this is pleusing themselves in a cold and carelesse mediocrity in spirituall matters and fearing nothing more then to be esteemed too precise fellows of an odde humour and engrossers of more grace then ordinary Which imputation to decline and avoid they hold that for Gospel * 〈…〉 He that 〈◊〉 dissemble is not in case to live in a common-wealth which was all the Latine that Low is the eleventh of France would have his some to learn And that they may keep correspondency at once as they fondly dreaâ—â— it with God and the world sooner then which they may 〈◊〉 fire and water yea bring heaven and earth together and gripe them 〈◊〉 in a fist they can Chamoeleon like turn themselves into any coloum accommodate themselves to any company and like the planet Mercury they can bee good in conjunction with good and bad with bad * 〈…〉 nature figuris In quamcunque voles verte decorus ero Propertius Such of old were those Assyrian Colonies 2 King 17.41 that seared the Lord and withall served their graven images * Redâ—ald K. of East Saxons the first of his nation that was baptized but asterwards seduced by his wife he had in the fels same Chappell one Altar for Christs religion and auother for factâ—â—ces unto devils Bede And such for all the world were their successours the Samaritans of whom Josephus recordeth that they could weather-cock-like turne with the times b Pro prssentitemporum condirtone mutabiles 〈◊〉 Quoties Judaeos faeheites degere videant cogn toâ— eorum se appellant utpote à Joseph orâ—unâ—i quanao vero cos re bus adversts consâ—â—â—â—â—â—elligâ—nt 〈…〉 and shift fail with the sea-man to the sitting of every wind The Jews while they flourished should be their dear Cousins but if at any time under-hatches they would not once own them Such also may the ancient Nazarites seem to have been who as the learned i Junius in paraâ—â—sis conceive misled at first by example of Saint Peters Judaizing at Antioch k Gal. 2 11. fell afterwards to defend such halting betwixt two religions and sought to bring in a miscellany of both In detestation of which new-bred heresie falsely fastned upon them by the infamous name of Nazarites it is thought that the Church of Auticâ—h protesting against that Sect and title called themselves l Act 11.26 by the once honorable but now among the Antichristian rout despicable m It is notoâ—ioutly known that the most honoutable name of Christian is in Italy and a Rome a name of reproach and usually abused to siguitie a fool or a dolt Fuik on the Rhem. 〈◊〉 Act. 11. sect 4 â—â—t of 〈◊〉 Franch Coll. Jesuit in fine name of Câ—ristians Such were the ancient Ebionites and the modern Libertines Nioodemites Familists Of the former Eusâ—hius tells us that they would keep the Sabbath with the Jews and the Lords day with the Christiaes like men that would seem to be of all religions when in truth they were of none n Sabbata cum Judaeis nohiscum diem Domâ—â—â—um in honorem 〈◊〉 observarunt Ebionaei verè pauperes in agnitinne gloriae Chrisli Euseb lib. 3. cap. 27. Of the latter Calâ—â—in and many others complain that they held it no sinne to serve idols with their bodies among Papists and Pagans so they kept their heart free to God pretending for their practise that counsell of Apochryphall Baruc Chap. 6 Wherefore when 〈◊〉 see the mulâ—ituae of people worshipping them bâ—hind and before say in your beares O Lord is is thou that oughtest onely to be worshipped Such a Polititian was Ecehâ—lus o Ecebolius se ad Imperatorum ingenia naturam conformans c. Sâ—â—rat Ecclesbist l 3 c. 11. Such also were the Melchites a kinde of mongrell Christians that would be of the kings religion whatever it was Brierwoods Eâ—â—â—isies ex Niceph. of old and Baldvinus alate of whom Beza restifies that he had religioâ—â—m epâ—emevam for every day a new religion ab his ad illos ab illos ad hos levitèr ieas lâ—vius transiens * Melchi-r Vius exter 225 to day a Papist to morrow a Protestant in nothing so constant as in his unconstancy And have we not now adayes that I may come lower and nearer home more then a good many p Heu quam multâ—s tales â—um doctrâ—â—â â—um morthus Samaritanos inter Christianos hodie reperias qut et in religione sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dubij atque neutrales ad latus navis foelicius pro temporum ratione sese inclinant c. Buchol Chronol brats of the same breed beasts of the same litter that stand halting between two in utrunque paratt unresolv'd to either and ready to be any thing with the State These ask not of their father saith a Divine a fish but a scorpion for a fish would teach them to go onely forward but a scorpion doth teach them to go backward and forward Like they are to Barnacles saith Saint Austin that are neither flesh nor fish to Bats that are neither birds nor beasts to the mongrell Israelites that spak both Hebrow and Ashdod q Nchem. 13.24 to Balaam that could both blesse and curse r Numb 23. to the sonnes of Issachar mea skilfull in the times s 1 Chron. 12.32 Using religion for a cloak to wear abroad cast off at home or to put on onely upon high-dayes when they are to converse with their betters as Jeroboams wife did her demure clothes t 1 King 13.2 when she was to speak with the Prophet Of all which kind of persons I may justly ask as Jacoh once of his lost Joseph Here 's the coat but where 's the man u Gen. 37.33 a party-colour'd coat a double minded man w James 1.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—stable in all his wayes imprisoning the truth in uarightcausmsse x Rom. 1.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and dissembling it ever and anon for carnall respects palling in his horns with the snail for every pile of grasse and ashamed of his Masters cognizance for every light counterblast of disgrace or danger Oh detestable sheepishnesse and dastardlinesse fit for such a doom even to be turned out among dogs y Pev 22 15. and hell hounds For the feâ—r uâ— and unbelreving and the abominable and murderers c. shall all have their part in the burning lake z Revel 21.8 but the fearfull first Lo these are heid worthy to
then a Carter a Prince then a pesant and so should a Christian too then another man He should demean himself noblâ— heavely gellantly z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 13 18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom 13.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 2.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thes 2.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph 5 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to go to the utmos of a thing worthy of God and as becommeth a saint a Ephes 5 3. a citizen or heaven and a burgesse of the new Jerasalem b Eph 2.19 Not clownsnly unworthily basely foolishly c Eph. 5.15 like an inhabitant of the earth d Rev. 12.12 or a â—ree-holder or hell e Mat. 24.51 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greatest States afford least liberty f In maxima fortuna minima licentia Salust in Cat. and therefore are such worse saith that â—ather though they be no worse then others because they ought to be better g Ideo deteriores sâ—mus quia meliâ—res esse debemus calvi It is some singular thing h Mâ—t 547. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that God looks for from his people and that which is excellent extraordinary and above vulgar pollibility Should such a man as I she said good Nehemtah i Neh. 6.11 q. d. Though other men â—aply may yet â— may not do it though the Philistines might carry Gods Ark in a new cart and hear no further of him k 1 Sam. 6 10 11 yet if Israel attempt such a thing God will make a breach upon them l 2 Sam. 6 8. This is that which the Lord hath said I will be sanctified in all them that draw near unto me m Lâ—viâ— 10 3. Sanctified he will be one way or other either in us or upon us n Aut a nobis aut in nos Aug. Keeping their vertue fâ—ll like a pear in a puddle 'T is sure he will be no loser by us as he should be in a high degree should not we be harmelesse and blamelesse the sonnes of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and pâ—râ—erse generation amongst whom we shine as lâ—ghts o Phil. 2 15. so that the Sun may go unseen as soon as such p Qai in excelso aetatem agâ—nt eoâ—um facta cunclin â—ales novire Salust ad Caesarem And as the least aberrarion is quickly espied in those heavenly bodies so in the saints of God nothing they do escapeth sight and censure all is markt and observed q Omnium oculi in te sunt conveâ—si Sâ—m Sâ—ip They watch for my halting r Jer 20.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet 2.2 They are not observed that do as the most but if any vary from the multitude all eyes are upon him Bishop Halls Contemp. saith Jeremy as those that would desire no better sport they pore and pryâ—s into every particular if haply they may take us tripping in any thing they search into our whole conversation more narrowly more thoroughly then Laban once did into lacobs stuffe t Gen. 31.34 ready prest and prepared to blaze and blaspheme for the least slip they can lay hold on be it but in a rash and indiscreet speech that falls from us or the like Now what a glory is it to slaughter envy it self to stop an open mouth nay to reprove their darknesse by our light u Ephes 5.11 their covetousnesse by our contentednesse their pride by our lowliness their peevishness by our patience and peaceableness c. and so to clothe them with their own shame w Psal 109 29 by our unblameable behaviour that they shall self condemned x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.11 Iustinus martyr fatctur se conspectá Chrisi ianorum plotate in vita conslantiá autem in morte collegisse veram es se quam prosâ—terentur doctrinam return and discern between the righteous and tho wicked and be forced to testifie of us as Saul of David that we are more righteous then they y 1 Sam. 24 17 This is to shine as lights z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 2.15 in the world Herein indeed like the Sun which although wicked men may at sometimes hate because it discovereth their deeds of darknesse yet are they so convinced with its beauty and excellency that they cannot for shame speak against it Now to wind up all in a word Look to your sâ—lves that we lose not those things that we have wrought but that we receive a full reward a 2 Joh. 8. The ends of the world you see are come upon us b 1 Cor 10.11 cast we are upon the last and worst times of all c his uâ—imis pessimis temporibus Berrard those hard and perillous times d 2 Tim. 3.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle long since prophecied of wherein because iniquity aboundeth the love of many is waxen cold e Mat. 24.12 Who seeth not every age worse then other and to go no further this then the last * It is remarkable that Mr. Fox relates of our Ancesioâ—s even in K. H. 8. time Cerres the servent zeal of those Christian days seemed much superiour to these our times as appeared by their sitting up all night in reading hearing c. To see their travels earnest seekings burning zeals readings watchings sweet assemblies love concord godly living saithfull marrying with the saithfull may make us now in these ciâ—â— dayes of sree prosâ—ession to blush 〈◊〉 shane Act. Mon. or the Church fol 750. Do not diverse among us fall from the love of the Gospel Is not religion turned with many into a meer formality and policy our ancient heat and forwardnesse into a generall coldnesse in profession lukewarmnesse in religion denying the power of it in our lives and conversations Well I say no more to as many of you in our Thyatira as have not the doctrine of Iezabel and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak but this That which ye have already hold fast till Christ come f Rev 2.24 25. And seeing ye know these things before take head lest ye also being pluckt away with the errour of the wicked fall from your own sledfastnesse g 2 Pet. 3.17 Take heed that ye prove not with the Prophet Esay men of polluted lips by living among a people of polluted lips k Esay 6.5 that ye learn not to swear with Ioseph l Gen. 42.16 by conversing with swearers and to curse with Peter m Mat 26.74 by being awhile among the ruffianly souldiers The worse any times are and the lesse comfortable the better should we be and the oftener in Gods presence n Micâ—h 7.6 7. therefore walking exactly o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 5.15 or as in a frame and redeeming the time by a redoubled diligence in all holy duties because the dayes are evil Let
and goodnesse able and ready to admonish z Rom. 15.14 and comsent one another in love The blessed Virgin could not conceal the comfort she had conceived upon the conception of her Saviour nor rest till she had imparted it to her cousin Elizabeth a Luk 1 3â— 40. The Apostles could not but speak the things they had heard and seen b Acts 4.20 they must do it And Saint Paul was so constrained by the love of Christ c Cor. 5.14 shed abroad in his soul that he could do no lesse then perswade other men to the like Christian coarse of life yea he had aimest perswaded Agrippa also to be a Christian d Act. 26.28 Fox Holy Bradford reckoned that hour lost wherein he had not done some good to other by tongue hand or pen. And how comes it then beloved brethren that such a sore deadnesse and dump of zeal and heavenly mindednesse doth haunt the hearts even of Gods hidden ones e Psal 83.3 in these unhappy dayes of security and forme that ye cannot finde your tongues in Christian company nor have a word hardly to utter there to any good purpose Is it because ye need not learn or be confirmed in the present truth that ye are so still is there nothing yet lacking to your faith or growth f 1 Thes 3.10 that ye are so tongue-tied God I am sure hath commanded another thing Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour and every one to his brother what haeth the Lord answered and what hath he spoken g Jer 23 25 And again They shall stand in the wayes and enquire for the old way h Jer. 6.16 c. If a passenger know not his way yet we say he hath a tongue in his head and he may seek direction and so he will if he be his own worthy Why then do not we that are travellers toward heaven use our tongues when we meet with company asking of one another the way to Zion with our faces thitherward going and weeping and seeking the Lord and sâ—ying Come and let us joyn our selves unto the Lord in a perpetuall covenant that shall never be forgotten i Jer 50.4 5 Is it fit to say to God with those in Job Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes k Job 21.14 or if we do desire are we too good to ask with the Eunuch l Acts 8 34 to seek with the Church in the Canticles m Cant. 3.1 to knock at the door of their lips for a spirituall alms who as liberall house-keepers feed many n Prov. 10.21 is it stiffenesse in us that we will not be beholding or bashâ—â—â—nesse that we would not be thought too forth-putting or is it not dulnesse rather and disaffection that we receive no more good and iron-boweld selfishnesse that we do no more good looking upon our own things onely with Cain as if we were not our brothers keepers oGen 4.9 bearing fruit to our selves onely with Ephraim p Hos 10.1 as if the Lord would be content with such empty vines living and lording it as if our lips were our own q Psal 12 and we not bound to serve one another in love r Gal. 5.13 yea and though free from all yet to make our selves servants to all that we might edisie some Å¿ 1 Cor. 9.19 I doubt not but dumb Christians are as well to be disliked and censur'd as dumb Ministers The manifefestation of the spirit is given to presit withall t 1 Cor 12.7 and the Philippians were all partakers or fellow-partners of St. Pauls geace u Philip. 1.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he else-where calls the gift bestowed on us for many x 2 Cor. 1.11 Why should any of us then hide his candle under a bushell thrust his hand into his bosom dig his talent into the earth shall it not be taken from us unlesse we improve it for common benefit and our selves be laid by as broken vessells whereof there is no further use How many have wee known in our little experience that once flourished like green bay-trees and yeelded much refreshing like Jonas his Gourd who yet ceasing afterwards from Christian exhortation have been blasted as sorward buds with untimely frosts and withered as Jonas his Gourd smitten with the worm How is the door of their lips as one justly complains that whilome was wont to open with the law of grace y Prov. 31.26 now lockt up from good words or moves as a door on rusty hinges with murmuring and complaining and speeches tending rather to the perverting of the hearers then godly edifying Oh look upon the fields of these slothfuil persons and when ye see them all grown over with thistles and nettles for want of manuring receive Instruction z Prov. 24.30 31 32 And that 's a third Use SECT V. Vse 3. Vse 3 Exhortation to be forward and free to godly Discourse INstruction I say and that in the Apostles words Let no corrups communication proceed out of your monthes but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers a Ephes 4.29 Covet after spirituall gifts but chiefly that ye may edisie b 1 Cor. 12.31 Let no man please himself but please every one his neighbour for his good to edisication c Rom. 15.2 being ready to distribute willing to communicate d 1 Tim. 6 18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad liberalem quorumvis bonorum cominunicationem respicit Scultet obser and exchange common comforts sweetest soul-secrets spirituall consolations and consultations with whatsoever Christians Bear ye one anothers burdens saith St. Paul and so fulfill the law of Christ e Gal. 6 2 What is that law hear it from his own mouth Little children yet a little while I am with you ye shall seek me and as I said unto the Iews whither I go ye cannot come so now I say unto you A new commandement give I unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you c f Joh. 13 33 34. Post consolationes quas ei cogitatio divinarum promissionum invocatio adferebant dicebat se non habere aliam levationem maestitiae nisi coll quia optimoruÌ„ fiatrum alierum bonestorum ac doctissimorum virorum De Georgio Principe Anbaltino Melchior in vita which seepch of his our Saviour shews that whereas they might be grieved at the losse of his bodily presence he had prescribed them a course for the supply of that comfort to wit as loving friends and fellow-members to sort together side together live together love together and by all means possible to delight themselves in a fruitfull fellowship one with another than the which I know not whether there be any thing in the whole earth more comfortable and glorious Sure it is if there be any heaven upon earth
be to lay open our cases and cares to the God of all comfort when we see Nehemiah again so quick in the expression of his grief to an uncertain eare That we have come off so heavily with our good God and done so little heretofore in his work upon so great incouragement let it heartily humble us SECT VII Vse 4. Exhortation to the Saints 1. To admire this mercy Helpes thereunto respecting God and themselves ANd for the future that I may speak forward here is a threefold duty to be commended from the point in hand to your christian care and practise First Use 4 doth the Lord of heaven and earth so abase himself as to take the least notice of our poor performances Yea as the bridegroom is glad of the bride doth our God so rejoyce over us u Isa 62.5 doth he delight to see our faces to hear our voyces to smell our odours to taste our fruits to be handled and embraced x Heb. 11.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by our faith Is he so farr taken by the poor things that passe from us that he rests in his love and will seek no further Yea that he joyes over us with singing y Zeph. 3.17 Oh how should the due appehension of this dear love of his ravish and affect our hearts with deepest admiration and how should we even stand amazed at the never-enough-adored depth of his love unto us in this behalf To help you herein the wonder will appear the greater if we first look up to God and there see 1. what he is 2. how little either need he hath of us or gain he makes of our services and then secondly look down again to our selves and consider 1. who we are 2. what are our best works in themselves For God first he is the high and mighty Monarch of heaven and earth of transcendent perfection and excellency even above all degrees of comparison for he is great z Psa 77.17 greater a Iob 33.12 greatest of all b Psal 95.3 greatnesse it self c Psal 145.3 Again he is good d Psal 106.1 better e Psal 108 9 best f Phil. 1.23 goodnesse it self g Mat. 19.17 So that if men should attempt to serve God and do sacrifice to him according to his excellent greatnesse h Psal 150.2 and goodnesse all the wood of Lebanon would not serve to burn nor all the beasts that be in it suffice for sacrifice i Esa 40.15 16 Yea little enough would all the wood in the world be and all the cattle therein to make up but some one sacrifice Next see how little this mighty and All-sufficieut God either needs us or gets by us For the first hear what he saith Psal 50. from the seventh to the sixteenth Hear O my people and I will speak O Israel and I will testifie against thee I am God even thy God I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings c. For every beast of the forrest is mine and the cattel upon a thousand hills c. Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me k Psal 50.6 7 8 9 10 11 12 c. Lo this is all he looks for at our hands Not but that he could well enough be without that too sith his glory being eternall and infinite as himself is no way capable of any our addition or detraction For as the Sunne would shine though all the world were blinde so should God be glorified though we were all condemned Yea he could glorifie his justice by our eternall damnation There 's all the need he hath of us And for matter of profit If thou be wise thou art wise for thy self l Prov. 9.12 saith Solomon what shall the Lord gain by it And if thou be righteous what givest thou to him saith Elihu and what receiveth he at thy hands m Job 37.5 And yet we see how highly he esteems and how greatly he respcts that little Nothing of our endeavours of doing him the least service and bringing honour to his Name Secondly take notice what we are and what the best of our works To the first Abraham answereth I am but dust and ashes n Gen. 18.27 then when he stood before the Lord to mediate for Sodom Jacob answereth I am losse then the least of thy loving-kindnesses o Gen. 32.10 then when he wrestled with excellent wrestlings and prevailed with God p Gen. 30.8 David answers I am a worm and no man q Psal 22.6 Esay answers I am a man of polluted lips r Esay 6.5 Peter answers Depart from me for I am a sinfull man or a man a sinner ſ Luk. 5.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a very mixture and hodgpodge of dirt and sinne for ever since the fall whole evil is in man and whole man is evil Lastly the whole Church answers It is the Lords mercy that we are not consumed t Lam. 3 22 that hee plungeth us not in the ditch and that our own clothes abhor us not u Job 9.31 Especially since all our righteousnesses which is an answer to that second demand what are the best of our works are but as filthy clouts x Esay 64.6 such as a man would be afraid to touch and asham'd to take up The best we can present God withall passeth from us no otherwise then as pure water thorow a muddy sink or sweet wine thorow a sowre cask See it in Jonas's prayer or rather brawl y Jon. 4.1 Jobs request or rather curse z Job 6.8 9 Sarah's heat and hast to send for God by a post to arbitrate a Gen. 16.5 Moses his carnall expostulation his former tergiversation and at last cast when he had nothing else to reply his flat and peremptory refusall to go upon Gods errand to the King of Egypt b Exod. 4.1 13. 5.22 23 The conscience of which weaknesse or rather wickednesse in himself drives holy David so often to pray for his prayers c Psal 119.169 170 and good Nehemiah to crave pardon for his best performances d Nehem 13.2 c. Horreo quicquid de meo est ut sim meus Bern. In any of which if the Holy Ghost had not his hand there would not be as from us the least goodnesse no not so much as truth and uprightnesse without which the Lord Jesus would never present them for us to his Father nor the Father once vouchsafe to look upon or hearken after such refuse stuffe which yet he doth such is the de-delight he taketh in the exercise of his own graces in the fruits of his own Spirit And this is that that may justly drive us into a deep extacie of admiration at his incomparable love and more then fatherly affection SECT VIII 2. To retain it and if lost to recover it and how With
fry weep and gnash live and die a dying life a living death not for a time or times or half a time t Rev. 12.14 oh happy they if ever they might hope an end but ever and ever and beyond all time throughout all eternity Oh considerchis all ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you u Psal 50.22 Save your selves from this tormenting Tophet and be forwarned to flee from the wrath to come See what miserable slaves ye are to Satan being altogether as much in his power and clutches x Act. 26 18 as he that goes gyved is in the gaolers or he that goes up the ladder pininond and hoodwinkt in the hangmans and for how little good advantage ye lay forth your selves and toyl out your lives in wearisome * Ier. 9.5 Psal 55.10 wickednesse Do but summon the sobriety of your senses afore your own judgments and see what uncessant pains ye are at and all to go to hell whiles you do wickedly with both hands earnestly y Mic. 7.3 working hard at the works of the flesh but putting your gets into a bottomlesse bag z Hag. 1.6 Nay that 's not all for he that soweth the winde shall reap the whirelwinde a Prov. 22 8 Hos 10 12 saith Solomon that is he that soweth the wind of sin and vanity shall reap the whirlwinde of vengeance and misery And he that soweth to his flesh shall of the fiesh reap that corruption that is contradistinguisht to life everlasting b Gal. 6.8 for the wages of sin is death c Rom. 6. ult Sursum cursum nostrum dirigamus minantem imminentem exterminantem mortem attendamus ne simul cum corporis fractura animae jacturam faciamus temporal spiritual and eternal And is it nothing to lose an immortal soul to purchase an everliving death hear then set thy self in good earnest to see and sigh under Satans servitude be sensible of his yoke as galling thy neck and let it make thee cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this unsufferable servitude Behold I am more miserable then Samson at the mill for he had hope in his death d Prov. 14.32 but what hope have I When God shall take away my soul e Job 27.8 I am more miserable then Zedekiah in cold irons for though he los his eyes yet he escaped with his life but I alasse am am dead while alive f 1 Tim. 5.6 a very living ghost a walking sepulchre of my self I am more miserable then Ieremy in the dungenon for he found friends and means of enlargement but to which of the Saints shall I turn my self g Job 5.1 or where shall I finde help or rescue in heaven or earth I am more wretched then Israel in Egypt for if they performed their tasks they escaped the lash but I after all my best services done o the devill am laden with stripes and shall be scourged with scorpions * â—â—â—nsideret his quilibet quam jod 1 sir servitus servhe priacipi immò tyranno diabolo qui subditos sibi infandis divexat modis Bucer Thus make moan to thy self first and tenmake out to Christ next for manumission and enlargement for if the son set you free you shall be free indeed h Ioh. 8.36 Cry to the Lord Christ in the words of the ancient Church O Lord other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us but we will remember thee only and thy name i Isa 26.13 Thy name is as an oynt munt powred out theresore the Virgins love thee k Cant 1.3 O pour upon my dry soul of that precious oyntment and stablish me with thy free spirit l Psal 51 12 for where thy spirit is there is liberty m 2 Cor. 3.17 from both the commanding and the condemning poer of sin and Satan O deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove to these wicked ones x in thy righteousnesse rid me and set me free For a day in thy courts is better then a thousand other-where I had rather be a dore-keeper in the house of my God o Ps 84.10 11 then to be Satans chlef-favourite or one of the privy chamber For the Lord God is a Sun and a shield the Lord will give grace and glory large wages grace and glory what things be these one would think that were reward enough for such sorry service as we can do him a best ey but then her 's more then enough for no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Oh bountifull God! who would not chuse and covet to be thy servant who would not gladly stand waiting at the posts of thy gates p Prov. 8 34 if haply at any hour of th day he might hear thy happy call and be hired into thy heavenly Vineyard who would not â—un through thick and thin * Quidam ad omnia viae vitae hujus exercitia non solum ambulant sed currunt imò potius volant Bern. Serm. 3. de Asc Dom. to compasse such a gainfull service And yet 't is a world to see a wonder to behold how strangely men hang off here how hard they are to be wonn to the setting in hand with the works of the Lord miserably slighting God offers and letting slip their golden opportunities of getting into his employment They talke sometimes of the wages but shrink at the work as the Israelites talked of the reward of Goliath's conquest yet fled from it when they had done q 1 Sam. 17.24 25 The land is good said those faint-hearted spies but the cityes are walled up to heaven and the inhabitants unconquerable They wish well other-whiles to heaven as he that kneeled to our Saviour with good master r Mat. 19.16 Turpe est impios diabolo tam strenuèservire nos Christo pro sanguinis â—retio nihil rependere Cyprian lib. de oper et eleemos in his mouth they could be glad with Balaam to dye the death of the righteous but to live their precise and austere life that goes to the heart of them they cannot frame to it O blinder then Beetles the merchant refuseth no adventure for the hope of gain the hunter shrinketh at no weather for love of game the souldier declineth no danger for desire of glory or spoile the bear breaks in upon the hives contemning the stings And shall we fain to our selves an ease in not understanding or an idlenesse in not seeking after that service that will be a means unto us not only of avoyding intollerable and endlesse torments which is the devills meed and wages but also of attaining immeasurable and immortall glory pleasure and gain which is Gods reward and guerdon For glory honour and peace to every man that works good to the lew first and also to the Gentile Å¿ Rom. 2 10 And contented godlinesse
is greatest gain t 1 Tim 6.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in pietate 1 Tim. 4.8 saith the same Apostle such as wherein all losses are recompensed all wants supplied all curses removed crosses sanctified promises accomplished blessednesse procured Satan conquered Death destroyed the grave sweetned corruption abolished sanctification perfected and heaven opened for a more happy enterance What should I say more for a conclusion of this first Exhortation to those that are in their naturall condition There is no gain to that of grace no increase to that of Gods service The Usurer gaines six in the hundred but the gain of godlinesse is an hundred-fold here and eternall life hereafter Oh who would not then turne spirituall purchaser SECT VI. Vse 4. Exhortation to Saints to abide in Gods love and to abound in his work sith their labour of love is not in vain in the Lord. OUr second Exhortation is to be addressed to all those that are true of heart Use 4 whose names are written in heaven u heb 12.23 whose services are set down in Gods book of remembrance How should these first rejoyce in this priviledge more a great deal then if devils were subdued unto them x Luc. 10 what a mercy is his that God should set so highly by their poor performances as to record them in the high court of heaven to gratifie and grant them thereupon great suites on earth to glory and bost of them before the Prince of hell as he did of Iob y Iob 1.8 because he was jealous over himself and his with a godly jealousy z Iob 1.5 How should the Saints delight themselves in such a master and make their boasts of God all day long a Psal 44.8 How should they sing with David Lord thou hast dealt bountifully with thy servant according to thy word b Psal 119.17 carolling out and calendring up the noble acts of that Lord * Psal 105.5 who shall count when he writes up the people c Psal 87.6 that such a man was born there and there was faithfull in all his house as a servant d Heb. 3.5 with Moses kept his word and not denyed his name with Pergamus and Philadelphia e Rev. 2. 3 instantly served the Lord day and night with the twelvâ— tribes f Act. 26.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. These things he carefully recordeth and honourably mentioneth and is it not a shame for us to be slothfull and silent to be forgetlull of him that thus remembreth us and the poor things that pass from us Of all things God cannotabide to be forgotten See how ill he takes it at the hands of his people They are a froward generation children in whom â—â—no faith saith he For of the Rock that begat them they are unmindfull and the God that formed them they have forgotten And when th Lord saw it he abhorred them because of this provoking of his sons and of his daughters g Deut. 32.18 20 And a fire was kindled in hisanger thereupon even such as burneth to the lowest hell For the wicked shall be turned into hell and who too With all them that forget God h Psal 9.17 But what shall become of them in the mean while Behold I even I will utterly forget you and so pay you home in your own coyne yea I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you and a perpetuall shame which shall not be forgotten i Ier. 23. 39.40 See this exemplified in the rich glutton Luc. 16. who because he remembred not that God gave him his corne and wine and oile and multiplyed his silver and his gold k Hos 2.8 but sacrificed to his own net and burnt incense to his own yarn because by them his portion was fat and is meat plenteous l Habak 1.16 therefore is he not so much as once called by his name in holy scripture but lyes wrapt up in the sheet of infamy and buried in everlasting reproach which shall not be forgotten When as the poor beggar that set God alwayes before him m Psal 16 with David that remembred his name in the night and thereby kept his law n Ps 119.55 is thought worthy to have a name in Gods book and a nayle in Gods house o Ezra 9.8 the Lord saying unto him as once to Moses I have known thee by name p Exod. 33.12 thy memoriall shall endure to all generations q Psal 112. Nay the Lord Jesus remembreth such still now he is in his kingdome r Luc. 23.42 that bestirr themselves all they can and despatch a great deal of work in a little time as that samous theef did who therefore by a commendable thest after he bad offered violence to Gods king dome Å¿ Mat. 11.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arripiunt vel diripiunt ut citatur ab Hilario Metaph. â— castris aut arce quapiam quae irrumpentibus hostibus diripitur Beza stole heaven and supt in paradise SECT VII BUt secondly Doth God remember his Saints and their services then let us learn hence not only to reciprocate by remembring him and his mercies but also as his remembrancers to put him in minde in case he seem less forward to do us good of his ancient proceedings and gracious promises This is that the Prophet exhorts unto Ye that are the Lords remembrancers keep not silence t Esay 62.6 7 This the Psalmist constantly practised Remember O Lord thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses for they have been for ever u Psal 25.9 And this the Lord though he needeth it not yet every where stands upon He exacts and expects it from us as a part of his service and as a condition on our part to be fulfilled in the new covenant Where after he had promised great things concerning Justification Sanctification and preservation he subjoyns Yet I will for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it x Ezek. 36.37 So in another Prophet I will blot out thy transgressions and not remember thy sinnes But then Put me in remembrance lit us plead together declare that thou mayest bee justified y Isa 42.25 26 Whereby you see what 's to bee done on our part if we would be remembred with the mercies of Gods people Plead wee must the gracious promises spread them before the Lord as Hezekiah did Sennacheribs letter z Esay 37.14 Pray them over as David often and so put him in mind of the good he hath spoken concerning us He loves to be importuned in his own words to bee burdened with his own promises and to be urged with rguments taken from his old proceedings Arise as in the dayes of old and performe the mercy which thou hast sworn to our fathers from the dayes of old a Mic. 7.14 20 This Moses and Elias well understood and therefore the former as in pleading for the people he minds the
the Saints are so set upon the thoughts of Gods Name they are taught and inabled thereunto by that holy spirit their domesticall Monitour and sweet inhabitant For know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the holy ghost that is in you p 1 Cor. 6 19 And if their bodies are the Spirits temples surely then their soules are his Holy of Holies wherein are continuall pillars of incense ascending q Cant. 3.6 good and holy thoughts I meane abounding by the operation of the Holy ghost whose immediate motions they are we being not able of our selves to think one good thought r 2 Cor 3.5 There never entred into the heart of a naturall man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him ſ 1 Cor. 2.9 10. ◠But God hath revealed them to us by is spirit whose worke it is 1. To enlighten 2. To enlarge the heart wherein he takes up His first work is to beat out new windows in the dark soules of men to let in a new light thereinto to give us thereby some fight of God some sense of his sweetnesse some glimpse of his glory Not as he is in himself in the brightnesse and perfection of his essence for so he is incomprehensible and the light whereby he should be seen inaccessible t 1 Tim. 6.16 Nor yet so perfectly here as he stands described unto us by his Attriutes and actions that 's reserved for a better life But his back-parts u Exo. 33.23 only with Moses that holy and reverend Name of his Jehovah Jehovah strong mercifull gratious longsuffering c. x Exod. 34.6 Thus much the spirit gives us to see of God though somewhat obscurely y 1 Cor. 13.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as through a grate only or as in a glasse in a riddle or as an old man through spectacles the greatest part of our knowledge being but the least part of our ignorance And Secondly having thus opened our eyes and turned us from darknesse to light he turnes us next from the power of Satan to God z Act. 26.18 that whereas heretosore we were acted and agitated by the Prince of the power of the ayre a Eph. 2.2 the God of this world who had first blinded our minds b 2 Cor. 4 4 and then set abroad upon our hearts and affections hatching out thence whole swarmes of evill thoughts and litters of lusts that fight against the soul c 1 Pet. 2 11 So now being possessed by a better spirit we are enlarged and enabled to captivate and conforme our thoughts to the soveraignty of Gods grace the rules of his word and the remembrance of his Name Fourthly their new Nature Reas 4 that blessed frame of Gods grace erected in them by the spirit that great Architect that plants the heavens and layes the foundation of the earth that he may say to Zion Thou art my people d Esay 57.16 This Divine Nature e 2 Pet. 1.4 as Peter calls it and renewed Image of God this habit of heavenly-mindednesse putteth Gods servants upon a continuall fresh succession of holy thoughts For besides that their phantasy or thinking-faculty being a chief inward sense of the soul is seizedupon for God to the utter dessolving of that old frame of vile thoughts and lusts those strong-holds wherein satan had entrencht f 2 Cor. 10.4 5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself the whole spirit soul and body of a Christian is sanctified throughout g 1 Thes 5.23 God writes his law in our hearts h Heb. 8.10 stamps his image upon the spirit of our minds i Eph. 4.23 makes us partake of the god-like nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world thorough lust k 2 Per. 1.4 c. Hence an ability of holy thoughts and affections for as the man is such are his dispositions and meditations The liberall man deviseth liberall things l Isa 32.8 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things m Mat. 12. And as from within out of the old heart proceed evill thoughts n Mark 7.21 c. so from the sanctified heart proceed sanctified thoughts and gracious considerations and respects to God and his Name Reas 5 Lastly we may argue for the truth and certainty of this point of the godly mans practise from the many near and dear relations he stands in to God together with the daily dealings he hath and often use he makes of his Name For God first he is the good mans friend and father Prince and portion God and guide his All in All o Colos 3.11 he hath given up his name to Gods truth devoted himself to his fear p Psal 119.38 sworne himself to his service q Psa 119.119 and endeavours nothing more then to love him with all his heart with all his soul and with all his thought which is that first and great commandement of the law whereupon the rest hang r Mat. 22.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a hing upon a nail or as beads upon a string And secondly for the name of God they run to it in any stresse as to a strong tower ſ Prov. 18.10 they walk in his name t Micah 4.5 as in a Garden or gallery they rejoyce in it as in all treasure u Psal 119 14 yea what ever they do in word or deed they do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ x Colos 3.17 c. Now can we possibly rejoyce in Gods name run to it upon all occasions walk in it talk of it do all in it and yet not minde it not be much in the thought of it Again can we acquaint our selves with the Almighty vouch him for our God set him up for our Soveraigne coverse familiarly with him as our friend walk before him y 1 King 9 4◠in uprightnesse and integrity walk with him z Gen. 6.9 in an humble familiarity walk after him a Deut. 13.4 by an entire obedience and ready conformity and yet not frequently think on him 't is not possible SECT III. Vse 1. Those that habitually think not upon God fear not God NOw for application Are all Gods people such as think upon his Name Use 1 This then serveth first to shut all such out of this holy society andto evince them void of Gods true fear that think not dayly and diligently upon God that make not his name the matter of their meditation that say not in their hearts Let us now fear the Lord our God b Ier. 5.24 c. The wicked saith David through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts c Psal 10.4 Eating and drinking buying and felling building and planting plowing and reaping c. are in his thoughts but God falls not into his thoughts the whole day thoroughout Or
fatherly providence and most righteous proceedings damnably depraved and maligned by the wicked of those times and stayed up their hearts against all discouragements with that wholesome meditaion u Mal. 3.16 Thirdly see to the end of your good thoughts both that of intention and the other of duration For your drift and intention first Do ye in taking up some holy thoughts ayme at God and the advancement of those main ends the setting forth of his glory in your own and other mens salvation ordo ye not rather therefore think of holy things 1. That ye may set off with God and make him some manner of amends for your other infinite worldly ploddings and wicked imaginations or 2. Is it not to collogue with the Lord and curry favour to get off the sooner and easier when you are smarting and it may be bleeding under his hand Thus the false Israelites served him in the wildernesse when he slew them then they sought him apace Vexatio dat intellectum they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their redeemer These were good thoughts had they been as well intended But alas their project and device was onely to ease themselves of God and to get from under his hand for they flattered him with their mouthes and lied unto him with their lips Their heart was not right with him that is their aymes and respects were sinister neither were they stedfast in his covenant x Psal 78.34 35.36 37. and so they failed in the end of continuance also 3. Is it not to still and stifle the noise of your conscience and to give it some sorry satisfaction when it shall tell us from the Pulpit or when we are all alone that God is to be thought upon and his name to be had in remembrance of all that love him that such onely as do so can be comfortably assured of their gracious estate c. For if we do this or any other holy duty not out of any delight we taken in it but merely to stop consciences mouth and to ease our selves of that unrest and disquietment that we feel within till the thing be done our good thoughts are defective in the end of intention and can yeeld us little comfort Next for the end of duration and continuance Are those good thoughts you bind upon fixt and setled Principium fervet medium tepet exitus alget constant and parmanent Or are they not rather flitting and fugitive transient and temporary assoon gone as come almost like a flash of lightning in the aire like a dive-dapper upon the water like a post that passeth swiftly by the door or to speak with the scripture like the morning dew that melt-away y Hos 6.4 such were Sauls resolves z 1 Sam. 26.21 and Balaams wishes a Num. 23.10 Ephraims goodnesse b Hos 6.4 and the stony-grounds fruit The seed started up straight and straitway also withered That is saith our Saviour â— man heare 's the word and anon with â—oy he receives it c Luc. 8.6 Math. 13.20 where by one affection of joy ye are to understand any other even that of grief if the nature of the discourse call for it let comfortable matter be handled in his hearing he is wonderfully taken and ravished therewith for he doubts not with Haman but himself is the man whom the king wil honour d Esther 6.6 As if terrible or mornful his thoughts are sutable being affrighted affected enlarged distressed disposed as the matter requireth O this is a passing fine temper of soul and thus it should be with us all when we come to heare * Vide August lib. 4 de doct Christ cap. 12. But how long wil this hold think you with the Temporary so long only as he is in the church or not many hours after This motion towards heaven is too violent to be lasting with him The good ground therefore is said to be such as brings forth fruit with patience e Luc. 8.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oponitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de qua Heb 10.38 The word signifies with continuance or tarriance untill the fit time of fruit bearing in opposition doubtlesseto that straight way * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the stony ground whose fruit was no sooner ripe then rotten much like the Psalmists grasse upon the house top which withereth afore it groweth up f Psal 129.6 Like Charles 8. of whose expedition to Naples Guicciardine saith that he came into the field like thunder and lightning bt went out like a snuffe more then a man at first and lesse then a woman at last Lo such are the good thoughts of ungodly men they take them wings are gone they dye before they see the light an untimly birth is better then they Secondly having thus lookt upon thy good thoughts in the causes see next what effect they work in thee Doth the thought of Gods presence and purity make thee tremble and sin not g Psal 4.4 of his mercy and patience lead thee to repentance h Rom. 2.4 of his power and All-sufficiencie worke thee to an even-walking and integrity i Gen. 17.1 Do thy thoughts of heaven weane thee from earth of the vanity of life fit thee for death of the uncertainty of things temporall edge thy desires after things eternall Davids holy meditations were driven all to this issue His thoughts of God and his Name made him turne his feet to Gods testimonies k Psal 119.59 The lively remembrance of Gods benefits made him take the cup of salvation l Psal 116.12 c. Apprehensions of mercy in God wrought resolutions of obedience in him m Psal 23. ult The consideration of his own present indisposition to do God service made him chide himself out of that distemper with why art thou so sad my soule n Psal 43. ult c. I thought saith he I would confesse my transgressions unto the Lord and I did confesse them o Psal 32.5 I will meditate on thy precepts and what upshot will you drive it to I will have respect saith he to thy wayes p Psal 119.15 16 Thus David and very Godly person And thus if you can approve your thougts truly good by the causes and have improved them thus good to such holy effects and purposes you may safely thence conclude your good estate and comfortable condition SECT VII Vse 3. Exhortation Settle the soundnesse of your Sanctification by the goodnesse of your thoughts motives thereunto THirdly this point serves for Exhortation and so it calls upon us all to make our sanctification sure to our selves by this infallible signe Vse 3 to approve out selver men truely fearing God by this character of a Christian this thinking upon Gods Name Motives A subject if you look for motives for the excellency of it first wo thy of your best thoughts and such as will perfect
and transforme you dayly into the same image of his from glory to glory q 2 Cor. 3 ult causing you to shine as the pearle which being often beaten upon by the Sun-beames becomes at length lightsome radiant as the Sun it self By walking much in the hot Sun men gather blaknesse but there is a glistering luster set upon their hearts and faces that with Moses ascend up into the mount of God and behold his glory r Exod. 34.29 That take a turn or two every day upon Mount Tabor and contemplate his beauty and brightnesse ſ Math. 17.2 These get such an excellency of experimentall wisdome hereby as makes their faces shine t Eccles 8 1◠valere est philosophari inquit Seneca Ego verò dixerim valere est meditari eloquia divina Horum meditatio valetudo mea vita mea Scultet Observ in Marc. and their lives Angelicall Secondly for the sweetnesse and pleasure of it who would not wish himself an Anchoret pent up in the voluntary prison-wales of Divine meditation David met with marrow and fatnesse hony and hony-comb surpassing delight and cordiall comfort in his heavenly exercise For in the multitude of my perplext thoughts within me thy comforts refresh my soule u Psal 94.19 How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God x Psal 139.17 c. And Moses after forty dayes converse with God in the mount where he had been rapt and ravished in spirit all the while was so little satisfied therewithall that he presently after he came down againe maketh a new motion I beseech thee O Lord shew me thy Glory y Exod. 33.18 Indeed this Divine meditation is a very heaven upon earth a beginning of that beatifical vision a hansell of heavens happinesse an having of one foot already in the porch of Paradise a very foretast of eternll life It is none other to the Saints then as the fiery Charret was to Elias for by it men are transported from earth to heaven in their spirits to have their conversation above and to be so far ravished sometimes in their thinking upon Gods Name as that they know not those things that are before them * Augustinus dum sanctae Trinitatis mysterium solus in cubiculo sedens contemplatur ita à seipso abscesserat ut à muliere quae illum consulere cupiebat saepius interpellatus nihil responderet imò ne respiceret quidem mulier denique quia se contemptam putavit abiret tristis Marul lib. 2. cap. 4. Sab. lib. 2. cap. 6. minde not those persons that are about them But being in the body are carried as it were out of the body z Mat. 17.4 and so far lost in the endlesse maze of spirituall ravishments that they could almost wish with Peter still to be there z Mat. 17.4 that they cannot well tell with Paul whether they are in the flesh or out of the flesh a 2 Cor. 12.3 this only they can tell that they see unspeakable excellencies tast incomparable sweetnesses in that good name of his such as no tongue of men or Angels is able to expresse Thirdly as it is pleasant so it is profitable and that 1. to others for meditation makes a full man and fit for Christian conference which is nothing else but the cloathing of our mentall conceptions with suitable expressions * Verbaq provisam rem c. Hor. 2. to our selves and first for the avoyding of evill meditaion upon God and his name awakeneth the drowsy heart weeds out inward corruptions prevents the intrusion of trifling fancies deceitfull dreams vain hopes carnall fears foul and fleshly lusts which else will muster and swarm in the best heart like the flyes of Egypt Leaves the devill no room for his black and blasphemous suggestions and injections defeats the world that wily adversary which else will be ready to catch us up and defile our hearts with spirituall fornication if Dinah-like she finde them roving And secondly for furtherance in good it is many wayes profitable for hereby we shall get intimate acquaintance with God the fountain of goodnesse grow up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ b 2 Pet. 3.17 which is the ground-work of all true religion and is therefore by a specialty called Theology * As St. Iohn and after him Greg. Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 attain to a great measure of spirituall wisdome and holinesse above our ancients c Ps 119.97 98 treacherous enemies prove tall christians expert christians full of all goodnesse filled with all knowledge d Rom. 15. not without a comunication of Christs secrets even to have the minde of Christ e 1 Cor. 2. ult c. Lastly is is also necessary both in regard of God and our selves For God first he calls for it requires a Thought-worship a service of the spirit for why himself First is a spirit f Ioh. 4. and every one requires to be served like himself Secondly he gave us these spirits endued us with reasonable soules with thinking faculties that we might return them upon him again by thinking industriously upon his Name g 2 Cor. 6.20 Thirdly he upholds mans minde in its thought and workings for in him we move with the motions of the minde no lesse than of the body h Act. 17.28 Fourthly he will account with us for our thoughts as his precious talents i Eccles 9.11 12. ult Rom. 2.15 Fiftly he will reward us for the right managing of them as he did David k 2 Sam. 7.16 the prodigall l Luc. 15 18 and these good people in the text Secondly in respect of our selves this duty is necessary Thoughts are the principles of Action m Pro. 4.23 Cogitation is the fountain of all both communication and conversation causing the current of both to run either muddy or clear according to its self For this is the manner and method of it as the learned have well observed Thoughts tickle andexcite the affections first which kindle upon a thought as tinder upon a spark These stirr and carry the will as winds do the ship The will as a Queen commandeth all the inferiour powers to execute what the thoghts have suggested the affections seconded and her self accepted And is there not a just necessity then of well-imploying the thoughts SECT VIII Directions 1. For the matter of good meditations BUt because he that exhorts to a duty and directs not how to do it is as he that snuffs a lamp and powrs not in oyle to maintain it let us lay down certain Rules and directions for 1. the Matter 2. Manner 3. Measure 4. Means of better performing this piece of Gods service and part of our duty For the Matter first of our best thoughts it must be Gods holy Name according to the text A little word but of large extent and very comprehensive For besides that it signifies Gods
profitably of him the whole week after Our infinite week-day wandrings and wofull trisling out our golden hours in idle and evill thoughts comes much-what from our customary and carnall keeping of Gods holy-day z Esay 58.13 Sixtly exercise your selves in the word of life be swift to hear and 〈◊〉 Gods holy word Search and study the scriptures a Ioh. 5.39 These will 1. free the heart from impure lusts Wherewithal shall a young man one that is in the heat of his passions cleanse his way b Psal 119.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rub off his filth It is a metaphor from glasse which though rub'd never so clean will soon gather dust again Answer is made there by taking heed thereto accrding to thy word 2. It will fill the head with good notions of God and his nature his word and his works c. * Hieronymus de Nepot vit cum assiduâ lectione meditatione diuturnâ pectus suum bibliothecam christi effecisse Cogitationes innumerae sunt uno die cas quis colliget quis corriget quis reprimet quis exprimet Sphinx philos so that no rome shall be left for worse thoughts which else will be stirring For the thoughts of a man are never idle as ye know save when he sleeps nor then many times but are like a mill that turns round uncessantly while it hath water and if it want other grist will grind and grate upon it self Lastly to sett all the former awork add hearty prayer to him that is both the heart-maker and heart-mender too Pray him to make the meditations of our hearts ever acceptable in his sight c Psal 19. and when we are in a good frame to keep it ever in the imagination of the thoughts of our hearts and to prepare our hearts unto himself d 1 Chron. 19.18 as David beggs in the behalf of his people Pray him to open your understandings to sanctify your wills and affections to raise up and ravish your hearts to fix your quicksilver as one speaks that is in meditating upon good things to grant you strength of memory stedfastnesse of imagination staâ—ednesse of minde sharpnesse of conceit soundnesse of judgement and all other necessary gifts and abilities that ye may so meditate upon Gods precepts that withall ye may have respect to his wayes e Psal 119 15 16. SECT XII The Conclusion LOe this is the way walk in it And 's as many as walk after this direction peace shall be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God f Gal. 6.16 For Do they not erre that devise evill but to them that think upon good things shall be mercy and truth g Prov. 14.28 Mercy and truth be with you h 2 Sam. 15.20 Amen The Righteous mans Recompence OR GODS JEWELS MARKT AND MADE UP FROM MENS MISUSAGES The Text MALACHI 3.17 And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my Jewels And I will spare them as a man spareth his own sonne that serveth him CHAP. I. The Text divided GODS gracious acceptation of his people and their holy services hath been hitherto described and discovered Followes now his righteous remuneration and rich respects to their persons which he highly prizeth for They shal be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my Jewels 2. To their performances which he bountifully rewardeth And I will spare them as a man spareth his own sonne that serveth him Then shall ye return and discern c. The former without forcing points us to these three positions 1. That God is the Lord of Hosts 2. That this Lord of Hosts will have his day to do good to his people and to make them up as his Jewels from the worlds misusages 3. That this people of his shall be gratiously owned and greatly honoured in that day SECT I. That God is Lord of Hosts What these Hosts are why called Hosts what it is to be Lord of Hosts FIrst God is the Lord of Hosts So he is frequently stiled in the old Testament Doct 1 Lord of Sabaoth which is all one in the New thought this more seldome because the old Law was given in fear the new in love as Hugo will have it Now touching this title here and elswhere given to God let us see 1. What these Hosts or Armies are whereof he is Lord. 2. Why they are called his Hosts 3. What it is to be Lord of these Hosts and what honour accrues and is a scribed to God by this Attribute In treating whereof I must intreat my Reader the same that the Oratour did His when he spake of Socrates Vt majus quiddâ—m de â—is quà m quae â—â—ripta sunt suspicarentur Cic. 3. de Oratore Loquimur de Deo non quantum debemus sed quantum possumus Gratian. Imperator and Lucius Crassus that they should imagine some greater matter then here they finde written forasmuch as in speaking of God we speak not what we ought but what wee are able as that Emperour hath well observed in his Epistle to Ambrose First then these Hosts whereof God is said to be Lord Soveraigne are all creatures heaven in earth and under earth 1. In heaven there are 1. Angels which are calâ—ed The Host of heaven 1 King 22.19 An heavenly Army or the multiâ—ude of the heavenly Host Luke 2.13 the armies that are in heaven following the Lord Christ upon white horses c. Rev. 19.13 The Authour to the Hebrews calles them the heavens as some conceive it Chap. 7.26 Not because they were coworkers with God in the creation of the world as the Rabbins will have it Goodw. Child of Light c. 102. for though Angels are called Elohim Psal 8.5 yet it was Jehovah Elohim onely that made all things of nothing Gen 2.4 Esay 45.24 Neither yet because they move the heavens and governe the whole world as the Jews after the Platonists beleeved and thereupon fell into the sinne of Angel worship Ratione pluralis Elohim ex Hebrais aliqui existimant so iarchum Deo Angelos in opere creationis c. Pareus in Gen. 1.1 Hebrai Platonicis imbuti opinionibus Angelos coelorum motores tâ—tiusque mundi gubernatores esse putabant c. Pareus in Heb. 2.5 intruding into those things that they had not seen Colos 2.18 and curiously prying into those secrets whereof there is neither proof nor profit Howbeit that they have under God a main stroke in ordering the course of naturall and civil affairs it may be proved out of Ezekiel Chap. 1. where the beasts are said to stir the wheels as themselves are stirred by the Spirit of God And for the manner of their motion every one of them is said to have four faces that is they can look every way at once and to have calves feet round that is they are apt to go every way and this with the greatest facility that
of a petty universitie scarce so good as one of our free-schooles in England Sanders was starved Will. Raynolds was nominated to a poore vicarage under value On Harden his Holinesse bestow'd a prebend of Gaunt or to speak more properly saith mine Authour a Gaunt prebend c. But this by the by onely SECT III. Wo to Rebells against the Lord of Hoasts FOr a second Use Use 2 Is God the Lord of Hosts and doth he with them whatsoever he will in heaven and earth Wo then to rebels and refractaryes to traitours and transgressours Job 21. sons of Belial children of disodedience that say to the King Apostata that break his bands and send messages after him saying we will not have this man to rule over us that refuse to be reclaimed and stick not to oppose with crest and brest whatsoever stands in the way of their sins and lusts God saith the Psalmist shall wound the head of his enemies But are there any such may some say Psal 68.21 so desperatly mad as to bear armes against heaven yes saith the prophet and ye shall know who they are too He shall wound the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on in his trespasses All those then that lye sucking at the botches of carnall pleasures grinding in the mill of worldly lusts listning 〈◊〉 the suggestions of Satan the Lord profest adversary caesariem intonsam et capita alta ferentes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lacones coammnutriebant ad terrorem and principall Counter-factionist All that against the rich offers of Gods free grace the menaces of his mouth the strokes of his hand chuse to go on still in their lewd and lawlesse courses refusing to be reformed hating to be healed all these are to be reputed Gods enenies And although their scalps be never so hairy their lockes never so bushy their lookes never so lofty and haughty fierce and furious though they have marrow in their bones and milk in their breasts though their natural moisture be no whit decayed through age or unbealthinesse with Moses much lesse turned into the drought of summer with David which might occasion baldnesse as in elderly people but that being young and youthy yea strong and sappy they had haire by weight Cruentâ—bit caput inimicorum suorum Beza as Absolom yea were rough all over with Esau which which makes them look grim and terrible with the Caldeans that people of fierce countenance yet that shall little availe them when God shall take them in hand Hee 'le crack their crownes hee 'le cleave their sculs hee 'le wound through the hairy scalpes of all such as obstinating themselves in an evill course will needs on in their trespasses whatsever it stand them in In the doing of which fearfull execution upon his enemies the Lord of hosts will not much trouble himself neither For he needs no more but arise and his enemies shall be scattered yea all that hate him shall flee before him as it is in this same Psalme ver 1. He needs not arme himself as David against this giant-like generation with weapons offensive or defensive for with his bare hand only he can beat the proudest of them yea make a puny-boy and a very baby of him Thou hast smitten all thine enemies saith David upon the cheek-bone Psal 3.7 thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly As if he should have said Dio. Those that think themselves tall fellowes and dare challenge the very devill to a duell as Caligula once did his Jupiter are as children in thy great hands and fare accordingly For thou boxest them about the ears clappest them on the cheeks with the palms of thy hands buffetest the about the lips with thy clutch-fist till they spit blood again and be made to look their teeth in their throats thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly But if yet they will not yeeld but wrestle with thee with the froward thou wilt wrestle Psal 18.26 Thou wilt be as froward as they for the hearts of them If they will needs try a fall with thee thou wilt fell them Act. 9.4 Joh. 18.6 and quell them thou wilt lay them at thy feet as the Lord Christ did Saul and the souliers that came to surprize him yea thou wilt smite them in the hinder-parts where we use to whip unruly boyes and so put them to a perpetuall reproach Psal 78.66 But what need the Lord as I was saying be at all this pains with himself or once so much as foul his fingers with them who hath such mighty armies and so many Hosts afoot to chastise his rebels Pomp. Mag. nostrâ miseria tu es magnus Pub. Minus so that if he do but once wag his little finger or stamp with his foot only upon the ground as that Roman vainly vaunted he can presently command and call for legions of Angels to subdue Senacherib millions of starrs to fight against Sisera vollyes of thunder and lightning to blast and burn up the Philistins cart-loads of massy hailstones to brain the kings of Canaan These are Gods hosts in heaven Neither is he to seek of sufficient forces here beneath both by sea and land There he hath whales and dragons to devour his enemies here he hath besides armies of diseases within them Physitians reckon 2000. severall sorts 200. whereof belong to the eye that lye in wait for the precious life let him but say with Jehu who is on my side who and all beasts fouls and exeeping things innumerable will straight looke out at their windowes and tender him their service God cannot possibly want a staff to beat his dogs with a weapon to wound his rebels with Facile est invenire baculum quo canem caedas If He set against a world-full of wicked doers the water will take his part If against Sodom fire If against murmurers earth If against blasphemers fiery serpents If against Idolaters lions Dan. 6. If against mockers bears If against Herod wormes 2 King 2.24 Act. 12. Hatto Bonosus Praesul Moguntinus à muribus devoratus An. Dom. 969. ut ait Wilderogus episcopus Argentinensis A. D. 997. Alsted Chron. Fit cruor ex undis conspurcant omnia ranae Dat pulvit cimices postea musca venit De in pestis post ulcera grando locusta tenebrae Tandem prototocos ultima plaga necat If against Hatto mice If against Pharaoh all Now a host of frogs distresse him now of flies now of lice now of Caterpillers now of grashoppers c. God made the earth fight against him the ayre fight against him the fire fight against him the water fight against him he left him not till he had beaten the very breath out of his body with stroke after stroke and so made good with his hand what he hath also said with his mouth The Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust to the day of punishment And In the thing wherein they deal proudly
so that he was fain to flee to the old Rock for refuge Devils may want of their will though never so many Esay 26.4 as that Legion in the Gospel and though never so well united as they there were for though many Squama Leviathan ita cohaerent ut quasi loricatus incedat Satan cataphractus Luther D. Preston yet they say My name not Our name they speak and act as One in that possession But God doth whatsoever he will in heaven and earth without controll or contradiction In the creatures saith One there is an essence and a faculty whereby they work as in fire the substance and the quality of heat between these God can â—inder and so hinder their working as in the Babylonish fire Dan. 3. In the A â—geis there is an Essence and an executive power God comes between these oâ—teâ— and hinders them from doing what they would But now it s otherwise in God he is most simple and entire without mixture or composition Hence his Almightinesse is his Essence and his whole Essence is Almighty Hee is not mighty in respect of some part or faculty as the creature is but all in God is mighty He is not dependent upon another for new supplies as the creature whose power will cease and determine if not renewed and confirmed by God Jer. 32.18 19. He is El-shaddai absolutely self-sufficient not needing any subsidiary help from without though he please otherwhiles to make use of the creatures as his Hosts to tame his enemies and performe his word to his people Tamen tantum effecit ut tota Aegyptus deficiens exclamare â—â—geretur hunc esse digitum Dei Philo. Quid ciniphe vâ—lius saith Philo. What 's more base then a lowse yet all Aegypt could not stand before this poor creature but was forced to acknowledge it the finger of God If any Pharaoh oppose to him he can soon subdue the strongest Rebell by the weakest instrument As if any Gideon build and bind upon his promise of weak he shall become strong Heb. 11.34 Deo confici nunquam confusi He that beleeveth shall not be ashamed he need no more but stand and see the salvation of the Lord. The Lord shall fight for you Exod. 14.14 saith Moses to Israel namely by his red-sea that shall cover your enemies as it did ours in 88. but ye shall hold your peace Commit your wayes therefore unto the Lord trust also in him Psal 37.5 and hee shall bring it to passe Stand not upon these and these dangers and difficulties that stand in the way Found your faith fast upon the infallible promises of God All-sufficient put them also in suit by faithfull and fervent prayer and then though you see not how or which way such a mercy should be attained or deliverance compassed yet give glory to Gods power with Abraham Rom. 4.18 and buy the field at Gods bidding with Jeremy Chap. 32 17-27 thought the captivity were then foretold unavoydable What talke wee of any thing impossible or improbable to the Lord of Hosts This is to limit the Holy One of Israel with those Rebels that asked Can the Lord provide a table for us in the wildernesse or with that Infidell Lord of Samaria Behold if the Lord should make windowes in heaven might this thing be Can the Lord and Might this be Why what a questions that He can give bread from heaven and drink out of a rock He can command the ravens to feed Elias and the most hurtfull creatures to be usefull to us as poyson in Physick He can do more then ever he will as he could have rescued his Sonne Christ by a legion of Angels Mat. 26.23 Some things God can do but will not 2 Tim. 2.13 Heb. 6.18 Mat. 3.9 Some things he neither will nor can as he cannot lie die deny himself break his promise c. But whatsoever God willeth that without impediment he effecteth Esay 46.10 For who hath resisted his will And yet I know not how 't is natural and usuall with us in an exigence to question Gods power one while If thou canst do any thing help us his will another while Master if thou wilt thou canst make me clean and to tie him so to the means that if they fail he cannot help When the bottle was spent Hagar falls a crying as utterly undone Whence shall we have bread to feed so many thousands Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people Ioh. 6 Num. 11.13.22 Ver. 23. Dei dicere est facere shall the flocks be all slain and all the fish of the Sea gathered together for them to suffice them said Moses But what said the Lord to it Is the Lords hand waxed short thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to passe unto thee or not Gods word is his deed his promise sure-hold never any yet miscarried that could produce and plead it sith he wants neither power nor will to make it good Peter had a good will to deliver Christ out of the Jews hands but wanted power Pilate had power enough to do it but wanted will God wants neither but will put forth both forthe safety and salvation of his faithful people Hence holy Job having spoken of Gods power speaketh of his thoughts as Calvin observeth to tell us that his power and will are things inseparable his minde and hand agree together the one to determine the other to execute Job 42.2 All his shall have whatsoever heart can wish or their condition require 2 Sam. 22.2.3 even marvellous loving kindness from God in a strong city above all that can be uttered The prophet is fain to expresse himself above it by an exlamation Psal 31.19 20 21. The Lord of Hosts is for them the God of Iacob is their refuge He hath entred into a covenant with them both defensive and offensive so that all his is theirs as Iehosaphat that told his confederate King of Israel 1 King 22.4 SECT VI. Stoop his power and submit to his Soveraignty THirdly is he the Lord of Hosts what then should we rather and sooner do then stoop to his power and submit to his soveraignty And sith we must be either his servnts or his slaves his subjects or his foot-stool chuse the former condition that we may escape the latter for certain it is he will fetch us in by one Pursivant or another and he hath enow ready if we make not hast with Shimci to come down and meet the Lord with intreaties of peace that he may embrace us and take us in to his princely favour Do not ask me here as Pharaoh once did Moses who is the Lord that I should serve him God Attributes are of two kinds which either shew what he is or who he is to the question of Moses what he is God gave a short answer I am To the second of Pharaoh who he is he made a large reply by his armies of lice flies hail
about points of Religion then in controversy he though thirty miles distant at the very house wherein it was concluded that the reformation should be established came leaping out of his closet where he had been tugging with God by prayer with Vicimus Vicimus in his mouth we have overcome we have overcome Spec. belli sacri Dr. Powell in Cambr. histor Non disputationibus sed rogationibus saith Bodine The busines of religion is more dispatcht by prayers then disputes yea or then by force of armes A great Queen is reported to have said that she more feared the fasting prayers of John Knox and his disciples then an army of thirty thousand men Leoline Prince of Wales when by some about him he was moved to make war upon our third Henry I am more afraid sad he of his prayers and almes then of his preparations and armies Alius insaniat utibellum inferat ei qui câ—nsâ—â—itse deum defensorem habiturum Bucholc Index Chron. Idem in Cron. Cruciger Ber medi. devotis cap. 5. The like we read of a cor am Duke of Saxony that having raised forces to fight against the Bishop of Magdeburg and understanding by his Intelligencers that the Bishop made no kinde of Warlike provision but said that he would wholly commit his cause to God who would not faile to fight for him God blesse me said the Duke from waging war with him that trusts in God for defence and deliverance Numa a Heathen reposed so much confidence in his gods that when he heard the enemies were at hand he laughed and said At Ego rem divinam facio But I am about the service of the gods and so long I can not but be in safety Jacob wrestled with God by prayer and had the better of him Of Luther it is said that â—e could have what he would of God St. Bernard in his meditations giving diverse rules of strictnesse purity of heart humilitie and holinesse Et cum talis fueris saith he memento mei when thou art thus fitted for prayer thou maist have any thing pray for me God requires no more of us but to bring before him lawfull petitions and honest hearts and then doubt not but if the thing be feasable prayer can effect it Especially if in prayer we rest upon Gods infinit power ingaged for our reliefe and plead it he cannot say us nay It was a notable and an imitable piece of policy in the ancient church Psal 80. to found her prayers upon Gods Power Stir up thy strength and come and save us Verse 2. And in suing for her liberty to presse God with this prevayling argument Thou art the Lord of hosts yea by waving her wings often to gather that winde under them that might mount and beare her up to the presence of the Almighty with more facility and efficacy growing every time in fervency by her threefold iteration and repetition of the self same petition in prayer Turne us agine O God Cumin colloquium descendimus cum Dee replicemus licet duplicemus triplicemus et quadruplicemus Alsted in Gen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tantus fulminator ad Jesabelis minas 〈◊〉 trepidat fachis seipso imbecillior Buch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cognationem habet cum verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 attendere intendere Novarin saith she ver 3. and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved This was a good prayer but somwhat flag therefore she stirres up her self againe and takes better hold of God by this title in my text Turne us againe O God of hosts and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved ver 7. Here â—he is somwhat thriven in her devotion Before 't was O God onely without any further attribution Now t is O God of hosts Thou that hast all power in thine hands do it for us But lastly as if that were too little she trebbles her forces as Abraham did for Sodom and by a new addition Turne us again saith she O Lord God of bests cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved And having thus said she rests satisfied so dosing up her prayers as not doubting in Gods due time of a gratious answer The effectuall fervent prayer of a righteous man saith St. James availeth much or is greatly powerfull And this he exemolifies in Elias a man saith the Apostle as other men are and therefore had originall sin in him mixing with his prayers And a passionat man too subject to like passions as other men are for we read how on a time when he sate under the Juniper he would have died in a passion and yet he prayed and prayed that it might not raine and at his prayer it rained not on the earth by the space of three yeares and six moneths And he prayed againe and the heaven gave raine and the earth gave her fruits not without a miracle of Gods mercy For raine in an ordinary course had come too late to a land that had laine so long parcht and scorcht the very roots of herbes and trees being now decayd and dryed up and all in a manner past recovery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But faithfull and fervent prayer never comes too late and that because God never comes too late Prayer is a great wonder-work in heaven and earth No good thing can match it nor evill over-match it The flood could not drown the old world till praying Methuselah was laid up in peace The fire could not consume sinfull Sodom till praying Lot was provided for It is not in the power of Labans hand to hurt Iacob because Quasi manu facta Deum ambiunt orantes Tertull. Preces sunt bombardae instrumenta bellica christianoâ—um Luth. Ligatum habent Sancti Deum ut non puniat nisi permiserint ipsi Bern in Cant. serm 30. upon his yester-nights prayer God had rebuked him Nor could Esau touch him because Iacob had wrestled with God all night and would not away without a blessing of deliverance and a guard of Angels The plague cannot fasten upon the people for Moses will not yeeld to it nor Amalec prevail in the vale because he held up his hands on the hill If ever the enemy shall do good on 't and God have decreed it so he first takes order for the silencing of his prophets whose prayers would as it were tranfuse a dead palsy into his hands that he could not smite Ier. 7.16 pray not saith he for this people neither lift up cry nor prayer for them neither make intercession to me for I will not hear As if the Lord should have said thus Had there been any good to be done in this case prayer would have done it But I am fully bent and therefore though Moses and Samuel those men of prayer stood before me yet my minde could not-be toward this people I am inexorable Ier. 15.1 what then shall Gods servants lose their prayers No this they shall have
of my hand they shall deliver their own souls they shall have their own lives for a prey Something there is that God will yeeld to prayer then Cartwr in loc when he is most bitterly bent against a people or person Mat. 24.20 Pray saith our Saviour after he had foretold such an affliction as never had been nor should be the like pray saith he that your flight be not in the winter for that will be tedious nor on the sabbath for that will be grievous Whereupon a learned Interpreter makes this note In maxima severitate aliquid permittit precibus Something God will graciously yeeld to prayers in his greatest severity Admirable is that and for the present purpose most apt and apposite that Polanus reports of a terrible earth-quake in the territories of Berne in Swisserland by means whereof a certain high mountain carried violently over other mountains ' ore-whelmed and covered a whole township that had ninety families in it one half house only excepted wherein the master of the family with his wife and children were with bended knees calling earnestly upon God This fell out no longer ago then in the year 1584. Polan Syntag. Theolog tom ◠lib. 5. cap. 21. de terr aemotu mortuus est Polan Anno. 1610 Mat. 21.21 and is related by Amandus Polanus a famous Divine who lived not many yeers since at Basill not many miles distant from the place where the thing fell out In which notable example who seeth not as in a mirrour the marvelous force and efficacy of faithfull prayer standing Aaron-like with his incense betwixt the living and the dead and verifying that of our Saviour Verily I say unto you if ye have faith and doubt not ye shall say unto this mountain Remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove yea be thou removed and cast into the sea and it shall be done And All things whatsoever ye shall aske in prayer beleeving ye shall receive Oh blessed Saviour Eph. 1.19 what could have fallen from that sweet mouth of thine more for the glory of thy free grace and our greatest encouragement to ply the throne of grace with dayly suites that God would open our eyes to see the exceeding greatnesse of his power towards us that beleeve according to the working of his mighty power There is in the Originall a sixfold gradation and all too little Words are too weak to utter it SECT VIII Be comforted in the consideration of his power where diverse objections of weak Christians are answered SIngular comfort to all that belong to the Lord of Hosts Use 4 to consider that God hath a power alwayes prepared an army ever in readinesse 1. to preserve them 2. to provide for them For their preservation Dan. 3.17 first Our God is able to deliver us either from the fire or in it this was the support of those three brave Worthies in Daniel and may be ours that lean on the Lord and the power of his might Shall the Philistins rely upon their Goliath Papists an their he-saints and she-saints Turks on their Mahomet Heathens on their Tutelaries and not we encourage our selves in the Lord our God as David not cheer up our hearts in this man of warr whose name is the Lord of Hosts the Lord mighty in battle Oh say with the church in Micah Micah 4.5 All people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever For their rock is not as our Rock Deut. 32.31 our enemies themselves being Judges Contemno minutos istos Deos modo Jovem propitium habeam said that Heathen If God be for us what need we fear what man or devill can do unto us Rom. 8 31 Ob. Sol. Oh but mine enemies are many and mighty Yea but thy champion is the Lord of hosts with whom it 's nothing to save whether with many or with no power I his staid up Asa's heart against a thousand thousand enemies 2 Chron. 14 22 But they are fierce and furious Ob. Sol. What of that I know whom I have trusted saith Paul and I am sure that he is able to keep that I have committed to him against that day 2 Tim. 1.12 I have been delivered out of the mouth of the lion And the Lord shall deliver me from all evill c. 2 Tim. 4.17 18. Did not the Lord appear to Joshuah with a naked sword in his hand Nudatum nimirum ensem suum nunquam deposuit sed inde usque ab Adae lapsu eum in Ecclesiae suae defens c. Bucholc as captain of the Host Did not the Angels fight for Hezekiaeh and environ Iacob at Mahanaim Elisha in the mount c and hath not the Lord charged them still to pitch their tents round about the righteous They appear not unto us it 's true now as of old because the church now needs not such confirmations and Christ being ascended and the spirit plentifully bestowed God would that our conversation should be in heaven and not that the Angls should converse so visibly with us on earth But they still pitty our humane frailty and secretly suggest both counsell and comfort they also keep us from perils and dangers of body and soul who else could not subsist no not an hour Next for provision of necessaries God hath taken and bound over the best of the creatures to purvey for his people and to bring them in maintenance the heaven Pro. 20.30 31 Rex ferarum Isidor lib. 10. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the earth the corne the wine the oyle the best of the best is for them Hos 2.20 21. The Lions saith the Psalmist and the Lion is the king of beasts or the ricb among the people as the Septuagint have it shall hunger and starve those that will be sure to have it if it be to be had wicked rich men not only rob but ravish the poor Psal 10.9 10 when they have gotten them into their nets that is their debts bonds mortgages as Chrysostom expounds it Hence they are called men-eaters Cannibals Psal 14.4 Loe these Cormorants these yong Lions shall lack and suffer hunger but those that seek the Lord shall want nothing that is good Psal 78.14 Pluviam escatilem petram aquatilem Tertull. Vix unquam major fuit gloria illius populi in terra Canaan quà m in deserto Buchol He will rain down bread from heaven and set the flint-stone abroach and turn the wildernesse into a Paradise before his people shall pine and perish Never was Prince so served in his greatest pomp as the rebellious Israelites in the desert How good shall we finde him then to those that please him Elias is fed one while by an Angell another while by a Raven But if both should have failed him as the brook Cherith did yet he that took away his meat could have taken
but not given me up to death The plowers plowed upon my back but thou hast cut asunder their traces and provide liberally for them in the land of their captivitie as he did for Ezekiel Daniel and others he will be a little sanctuary unto them there and supplie the defect of all other comforts Or if he call them to higher sufferings he will give them an higher spirit if he free them not from the common destruction yet certainly from the common distraction If they resist unto blood yea unto losse of life yet in the midst of death they shall live conquer and raigne For blessed are they that dye in the Lord especially if withall they dye for the Lord for they shall rest from their labours rest in their beds each-one walking in his uprightnesse Esay 57.3 Heb. 4 There remaineth then a rest unto the people of God an eternall Sabbatisme such a day as knowes no evening or end or toile of travell that great Sabbath-day that comprehends and accomplishes all the Sabbaths of the law These were first the weekly Sabbaths wherein they rested from their week-day labours Secondly the seven-yeares-sabbath for every seventh yeare the ground also rested from tillage and manuring Thirdly the fifty-yeares-sabbath for every seventh seventh year was a year of Jubilee And then all debts were remitted all prisoners released and all mortgages restored to their right inheritours Heaven involves all these And that great day of the Resurrection when God shall chiefly make up his Jewels and redeeme Israel out of all her troubles called therefore the day of Redemption of the purchased possession for Gods peculiar Rom. 8.21 Psal 16.11 Rev. 3.21 2 Tim. 4.8 Rev. 2.26 2 Pet. 3.13 Heb. 12.22 Psal 16 9 10 11. 17. ult Rom. 8.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a bird out of a cage as longing for liberty or as a prisoner out of a grate looking for a pardon or as one out of a turret expecting his friends coming the people of his purchase This day I say shall set Gods people at rest from their labours and the creatures which now lye bed-ridden as it were waiting the good houre at rest from all their burdens and bondages into the glorious Jubilee of the children of God Who shall then have all their wrongs righted all their sins pardoned debts discharged bonds cancelled graces perfected desires satisfied and that heavenly inheritance mortgaged in paradise and long since forfeited shall be then restored Where they shall be possesed of all the pleasures at Gods right hand seated as Princes in thrones of Majesty crowned with diadems of immarcessible glory having power over all creatures and plenary possession of that now heaven and that new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse Beholding and being filled with the vision and fruition of Gods glorious presence amidst a world of blessed angels and crowned saints even all the court of heaven who shall joyfully meet and welcome them Oh let the forethought of those unutterable varieties felicities eternities lighten our spirits smooth our countenances and chear up our hearts as it did Davids and doth all the servants of God who with stretcht out necks look up long after and even hasten that happy day crying all with one minde and with one mouth Come Lord Jesus come quickly and exhaling their broken spirits in continuall sallies and egressions of love affecting not only a union but a unity with Christ SECT X. Reproof of forwardnesse and saintheartednesse in affliction SEcondly will the Lord indeed finde a set time to free his poor people of all their sorrowes and sufferings this then serves sharply to reprove that impatiency and shortnesse of spirit found in not a few of Gods dearest Jewels who because they are vilipended and undervalued by the blind world who know not the price of a heavenly Jewel and for that they are trode under foot for a time by these swine and slurried with the mire of their contempt and cruelty are drawn thereupon one while to fret and another while to faint begin to be out of all heart and hope of a better condition and to make against themselves these or the like desperate conclusions Surely I shall never winde out of these disgraces and distresses Esay 38.15 I shall go softly all my yeers in the bitternesse of my soul My state is past recovery I never look to see joyfull day more Abraham had a spice of this disease when he could enjoy nothing because he wanted one thing Gen. 15. 1 2. But Iacob was farr over-gone with it when together with his wife Rachel he refused to be comforted Gen. 37.35 and would needs go down into the grave unto his son Ioseph mourning as if all his merry dayes were past So the children of Iacob in Egypt Exod. 6.9 that could not take comfort in the sweet words of Moses and Aaron for the greatnesse of their oppressions The eare that tryeth words as the mouth doth meat Psal 34. was so imbittered with their extreme bondage that they could not relish any thing nor tast how good and sweet the Lord was This was Iobs fault when he cursed his day and the consolations of God were small unto him Elias also wisht himself dead in a passion and wist not that he was to be carried up ere long in a fiery charret And what can we say for David when he repented him of his repentance Psal 73.13 and another time said I shall surely fall one day by the hand of this same Saul notwithstanding Gods promise to me of the kingdome 1 Sam. 27.1 Gen. 25.32 Were it not better for me to save one Behold I am going to dye and what profit shall this birth-right do to me and to shift for my self by flying to the Philistines 1 Sam. 27.1 Psal 116.11 then by ' biding longer here to hazard my life upon the hopes of a kingdome being a mere uncertainty sith all men are liars not the Prophets themselves excepted Thus he in hast And thus the whole Church upon as little good advice Lam. 3.18 19. I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord Remembring mine affliction and my misery the wormwood and the gall Lam. 3.18 19 Lam. 4.22 Fidei murus tentationem ariete durius aliquantò pulsatus concussus facilè nutare acruinam minari incipit nisi divinitus sustentetur Bucholc Psal 43.7 This made her desperately conclude the book But thou hast utterly rejected us thou art very wroth against us And the very truth is the best faith long tried will something flag and hang the wing The best minds when troubled yeeld inconsiderate motions as water that is violently stirred sends up bubbles Adoò nihil est in nobis magni saith One quod non queat minui But for this we must take up our selves roundly and chide our hearts out of these distempers with Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Why
long looking after his coming Now the God of all grace who hath called us to his twofold kingdom of power and of patience by Jesus Christ Regnum Patientiae Potentiae Rev. 1.9 1 Pet. 5.10 after ye have suffered awhile for so you must make you perfect settle strengthen stablish you To him be glory and power for ever and ever Amen CHAP. III. God will owne and honour his Saints And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in the day when I make up my Jewels c. OF the three points gathered out of the former part of the 17. Verse Two are already dispatcht The third now followes Doct That Gods faithfull people shall be graciously owned and acknowledged Nota quod ipst futuri sint Deo inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quo die suum peculium sit confecturus Polan yea preciously esteemed and accounted of in that day They shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts there he ownes them And I will make them up as my Iewels there he honours them I know the words are by some somwhat otherwise read and rendered as thus They shall be to me in the day that I shall do this or that I shall make or set out for a flock So the Geneva Translaters after the vulgar Vatablus Pagnine Calvin and the whole streame of Interpreters Our last most accurate Translation after Tremellius Polanus and Shindler hath it better and nearer to the naturall genuine grammaticall sense of the Originall thus And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts In die quo confecturus sum peculium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 2.14 Deut. 32.9 Iob 22.25 Psal 148.14 Psal 125.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato Deut. 26.17 18 19. 1 Pet. 2.9 Heb. 13.15 in the day that I make up my Jewels or peculiar treasure my proper goods and most precious substance my silver and my gold my gemmes and my Jewels the people of my purchase as St. Peter after the Septuagint renders it and those that comprehend as it were all my gettings they are as it were all he hath that he makes any account of The Lords portion is his people saith Moses and Iacob the the lot of his inheritance God is their portion and they are his They his glory and gold and He theirs they are round about him and he interchangably round about them as the mountaines are round about Jerusalem They make their boast of God and God boasts as fast of them Hast thou considered my servant Iob that there is not such a man in all the earth He avoucheth them for his people high above all nations in praise in name and in honour And they o'tother side such a sweet correspondency there is avouch him for their God to walk in his waies and to keep his statutes to shew forth his vertues as examples of the Rule and as a kingdome of Priests to cover Gods altar with the calves of their lips and to offer up spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ in whom he hath chosen them as vessels of honour before the foundation of the world c. Eph. 1.4 SECT I. Reason 1. Reas 1 ANd that 's indeed sith we are here fallen upon it the first and chief ground of the point Greevinchomius Tales nos amat Deus quales futuri sumus ipsius done non quales sumus nostro merito Concil Arausican sec canon 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sic Beza testatur in vetustis suo cedice nec non in comment Chrysost Origenis plurimis locis legi In hominibus beneplaciti Sic Vulgata In hominibus bonae voluntatis The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a speciall people or a Jewell to himself above all people his mere mercy making the difference Thou canst not say as that proud heretick did in answer to the Apostles quere who made thee to differ Ego meipsum discerno For lest any should dreame of foreseen faith or previous merits the Lord saith Moses did not love or chuse you because ye were more or better then others but he loved you because he loved you And out of this preventing love he chose you for a peculiar treasure to himself above all people Exod. 19.5 The Originall word there used is the same with that in our text and the Chalde Paraphrast expounds it by another word that signifies beloved ones For as his love first moved him to make us his own so being now his own he cannot but love us He chose whom he would love and now loves for his choise For ownenesse makes love Having loved his own to the end he loved them Ioh. 13.1 and therefore loved them because his own because the people of his good pleasure as the Angels call them Luc. 2.14 and as Gabriel had before called Daniel a man of desires or greatly beloved of God Dan. 9.23 SECT II. Reason 2. Reas 2 2. A She hath elected us to this high honour of old so he created us to it in his own due time by a new and wonderfull creation Eph. 2 10â—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ut quando quis aliquid opus producit secundum praecepta artis propriè dictae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Factura Valla. Rev. 3.14 Esay 51.16 Eph. 1.19 For we are his workmanship his artificiall curious exquisite workmanship whereon he bestowed like skill and industry as he did in making mans body Psal 139.15 or the third heaven whereof he is called the Artificer Heb. 11.10 and it is called not the work of his hands but of his fingers Psal 8.4 Lo thus are we his facture or workmanship created unto good works in Christ Jesus who is not ashamed to stile himself the beginning of this creation and to say that he planted the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth that he might say to Zion Thou art my people St. Paul also testifieth that God putteth forth the same almighty power in the working of saith in us as he did in making the world for us that being as great a wonder as this and the analogy is very excellent The first God creates here also is light of knowledge next as on the second day the firmament of faith 3. seas and trees repentant tears and worthy fruites 4. the sun heat of zeal with light of knowledge 5. fishes to play and fouls to fly so to live and rejoyce in a sea of troubles and to fly heaven-ward by prayer and contemplation 6. And these things performed man is made a new creature advanced to a dominion over all the works of Gods hands yea to a blessed fellowship with Gods only son who rejoyceth in this habitable part of Gods earth and his delights are with the sons of men Prov. 8.31 SECT III. Reason 3. 3. HE hath bought us with a price the church is an Acheldama a field of blood a field purchased with blood Reas 3 not with that goodly price
is diminished but he accounts himself damnified You know how dearly the proud Ammonites paid for the hair they shaved off from Davids servants 2 Sam. 10 Luke 18.7 1 Sam. 2 Psal 91 And shall not the son of David avenge his own elect though he beare long with them He keepeth the very feet of his Saints saith holy Hannah and chargeth his angels with them to beare them in their hands lest at any time they dash their feet against a stone If they stumble and fall yet they shall get up againe for the Lord puts under his hand Psal 37.24 Yea the everlasting armes are underneath Deut. 33.27 Am. 1â— They that swear by God and Malchom shall fall as old Eli did and never rise againe but the Saints of God though Ioseph-like they fall into a pit yet as prisoners of hope they shall come forth by the blood of the covenant Zach. 9.10 Good Mordecai a Jew may fall before a Persian and get up againe yea prevaile and prosper But if wicked Haman begin to fall before a Jew that is in covenant with God he can neither stay when he stumbles Esth 6.14 nor rise when he is down God himself is so far interested and ingaged in the quarrels of such as I was saying erewhile that who so toucheth them toucheth the ball of his Eye The eye is a tender part we know and a small matter offends it God is every whit as choice and as chary of his people What part is more sensible of the least touch then the eye or being hurt canseth greater smâ—rt and rage or if put out brings more deformity to the face God is as tender of us c Pemble on Zach. 2.8 as a man is of his eyes Now a good thump on the back is better borne then a light touch on the eye Take heed I advise you how you meddle with Gods Eye lest you heare of him to your cost For although we must turne t'other cheek also yet he will not take a blow on the eye for the proudest of them all No man will stand still while his eyes are pecked out much lesse will God Thou knowest saith dying David to his son Solomon what Ioab did to me He meaneth it of the slaugher of Abner and Amasa which David appropriats and makes it his own case The soveraigne is smitten in the subject neither is it other then just that the arraignement of mean Malefactours runs in the stile of wrong to to the Kings Crowne and dignity Gods people are his crowne let none presume to attempt against it his dignity his glory let none turne it into shame Psal 4.3 His pearles let no swine trample them his holy things let no dogs profane them by holding their lives madnesse and their ends without honour by speaking basely of their persons actions sufferings as if they were vile and inglorious It was an heavy indictment doubtlesse Psal 14.6 You have shamed the counsell of the poore because the Lord is his refuge Thus those miscreants that mocked and railed at Christ upon the crosse upbraided him not with any evill but only for the good he had done in saving others for his trust in God and prayers to God Thus also they deale with David they that render evill for good are mine adversaries or hate me like divels and why Psal 38.20 they satanically hate me Because I do the thing that good is And the very truth is that were wicked mens insides turned outward it would well appeare that when they disgrace those that make conscience of their waies under the infamous names of puritans singularitans zelots and the like termes of reproach it is for the good that is in them and for the true glory that God hath stamped upon their persons and performances This savours strongly of the Devill of hell Tertull. 1 Ioh. 3.12 Graecinum Julium virum egregium Caesar occidit ob hoc unum quod melior vir erat quam esse quemquam tyranno expediret Sen. l. 2. de benef c. 21. whose property it is to hate and persecute any footstep of Gods holy image where-ever he finds it as the Tigre if he see but the picture of a man he flies upon it and tears it to peeces And it proves men to be the posterity of Cain the devils Patriarch as one calls him who was of that wicked one of the serpents seed and slew his brother And wherefore slew he him but because his own works were evill and his brothers good That was all the quarrell then and is still All that viperous brood bear an aking tooth to the better sort they do maliciously and mortally hate all holy impressions of grace wrought upon any by the sanctifying spirit though they restrain sometimes the expression and exercise of this hatred for advantage and in policy by accident and for by-respects it may be SECT 8. 9. 10. Exhortation to honour them that fear the Lord and what great cause men have and shall have so to do LEt us that know and professe better things approve our selves to be of the family of heaven Use 3 and followers of God as dear children by contemning a vile person though never so glorious a magnifico in the worlds eye and esteem but honouring them that fear the Lord though never so much under-prized and vilipended by the wicked of the earth This is a note of Gods houshold-servant Psal 15.4 Nabal shall not be stiled Nadtb 1 Ioh. 4.17 1 Pet. 2.17 and of one that hath share in Christs kingdome wherein the vile person shall no more be called liberall nor the churle bountifull Esay 32.5 Further would we have boldnesse in that last and great day and be able to lift up our faces before the son of man let love be perfect in us toward the brotherhood loving them in truth and for the truths sake and being ready to serve the saints in love to wash yea to kisse their very feet and to lay down our lives for the brethren if called thereunto And because this can never be done except men see more in them then ordinary to move them labour and learne to know the price of a saint and to esteem them very highly in love for their worths sake The Jews tell us and truly that those seventy souls that went with Jacob into Egypt were as much worth as all the seventy Nations of the world besides It is not for nothing sure that the saints are called All things Coloss 1.20 and Every creature Mar. 16.15 Mat. 5. Is 6.11 statumen terrae Tren and the salt of the earth that keep the rest from putre fying the substance and support of the earth that keep the rest from shattering I bear up the pillars of it saith David and the Innocent delivereth the Island saith Eliphaz Iob. 22.30 For their sakes it is that God spares and prospers the wicked as he did Laban for Iacobs sake Potiphar for Iosephs Sodom for Lots when they were
Christo Calvin in loc He looks upon such as serve him in sincerity as upon sons and daughters 2. That he will surely shew like mercies and mildnesse to his children in their faults and failings in their wants and weaknesses as the kindest father would do to his dearest son that serveth him For the former point The promise of pardon is here fitly made sub patris parabola saith Gualther under the similitude of a father Figuier in loc And the sense is thus much saith another Interpreter although I seem for a time to the blinde moles of the world to be negligent of those that are diligent about me of my best and busiest servants yet I think upon them still as my dearest children and when I may be thought most carelesse and cruel towards them then am I a most propitious and sin-pardoning father fully reconciled unto them in Christ for there comes in the kinred according to that of our Saviour in his message by Mary to his distressed disciples after his resurrection I ascend unto your father Iohn 20.17 and my father mine and yours and therefore yours because mine For as many as received him saith St. Iohn to them he gave priviledge to become the sons of God Ioh. 1.12 And again when the fulnesse of time was come saith another Apostle God sent forth his son his natural onely begotten son made of a woman and so by personal union of the two natures in one Christ his son by a new relation Gal. 4.4 according to that This day have I begotten thee and all to the end that we may receive the adoption of sons That we which by nature were children of wrath and by practise children of the devil might by divine acceptation and grace be made the children of God who had predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will Ephe. 1.4 5. to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved One. SECT I. Reasons hereof drawn from the causes IN which heavenly Text Reas 1 we have the first and chief ground of this doctrine drawn from the causes of our spiritual sonship 1. The fundamental and original cause Gods decree of election by grace we have an act for it in Gods eternal counsel According as he hath chosen us in Christ before the soundation of the world c. For which cause also the predestinate are called the Church of the first-born who are written in heaven Heb. 12.23 And whom he did foreknow saith Saint Paul them he did predestinate also to be conformed to the image of his son like him in glory as well as in sufferings like in being sons as he is a son that he might be even according to his humanity the first-born among many brethren Rom. 8.29 2. The meritorious and procuring or working cause of our adoption is here set forth to be the Lord Christ in whom he as a father hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things Ephe. 1.3 but all in Christ and all in this order A christian by the Gospel is made a beleever Now faith afteran unspeakable manner engrafteth him into the body of Christ the natural son and hence we become the adopted sons of God it being the property of faith to adopt as well as to justifie ratione objecti by means of the object Christ up whom faith layeth hold For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3.26 Children I say not by creation as Adam is called the son of God Luk. 3. because he was produced in the similitude of God but by marriage and mystical union with Christ the fecond Adam the heir of all who hath 1. Laid down the price of that great priviledge Heb. 9.15 even his own most precious blood redeeming us thereby that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons Gal. 45. 2. He hath sealed it up to us by his spirit that earnest of our inheritance Eph. 1.13 called therefore the spirit of adoption and the spirit of Gods son as springing out of his death Rom. 8.15 Joh. 16.14 Gal 4.6 and procured by his intercession For because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba father 3. Here is the motive and impulsive cause and that is the good pleasure of his will Joh. 1.12 1 John 3.1 2 Tim. 1. vlt. his absolute independent grace and mercy was the sole inductive He giveth us this dignity saith St Iohn in his Gospel And what more free then gift he sheweth us this love saith he in his epistle because it was the time of love that we should be called the sons of God So that our Adoption is not a priviledge purchased by contract of justice Rom. 8.23 Prov. 16.4 but an inheritance cast upon us of free grace and goodnesse The Lord shew mercy to Onesiphorus in that day when our adoption shal be crowned with its ful accomplishment Lastly here we have the final cause of our adoption â—heprâ—â—ise of the glory of his grace This is the end God propounds to himself in this as in all other his works as having none higher then himself to whom to have respect for he is the most highest God hath made all things for himself yea the wicked also for the day of evil viz. for the glory of his Justice and power as he told Pharaoh Rom. 9.17 but especially of his grace sith all that his justice doth in the Reprobation of some tendeth to this ultimate end of all that the riches of his grace may be the more displayed in the election of others SECT II. Reasons from the effects of his father-hood A Second reason followeth from the effects and those are no lesse demonstrative of the point then the causes Reas 2 These are 1. Gods fatherly affections 2. His expressions both which speake him a father to all his For his affection first to his people Albeit they be but his Adopted children yet he loves them more then any naturall father doth his own bowels Jam. 1. ult Hence he is called the father by an eminency as if there were no father to him none like him none besides him as indeed there is not originally and properly Called he is the father of all mercies Eph. 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paternitas paerentela Math. 23.9 the fountaine of all that mercy that is found in any father all is but a spark of his flame a drop of his ocean Yea he is stiled the father of all the fatherhoods in heaven and earth Whence also our Saviour Call no man saith He your father on earth for one is your father even God To enter comparison in some few particulars First a father loves freely not so much for that his child is witty or wealthy Patriam amat quisque nonquia
magna sed quia sua Sen. ep 66. sic et prolem De mercatore pro filijs suis duobus captis seipsum offerente ut filijs servatis ipse interficeretur lege Sozom. lib. 7 cap. 24. or wel-favour'd as for that he is his There needs no other argument to a father but that this is my child So is it with God Deut. 7.7 Ezek. 36.32 Secondly a father loves hugely there is an ocean of love in a fathers heart he loves his child as well if not better then himself as Joab twitted David with his excessive love to his unnaturall Absolom There is also an immense incomparable incomprehensible love in God toward his children an hyperbole an excesse of love a love passing knowledge Eph. 3.19 And that passeth all the dimensions It is higher then heaven Psal 36.5 deeper then hell Psal 86.13 longer then the earth and broader then the sea Psal 98.4 Psal 104.24 a transcendent boundlesse bottomlesse love truely exalted above the love of naturall parents which yet is wonderous great Psal 103.13 Esay 49.15 But infinitly short of Gods love it makes not the tith of it Thirdly a father loveth constantly and unchangably yea though his child be never so untoward and disobedient as David did his Amnon and his Absâ—â—em even to the last of them did he love them So and much more then so doth God his children For as himself is an everlasting father so is his love everlasting Esay 9.6 49.14 His compassions faile not Lam. 3.22 He cannot grow out of kinde nor be weary of loving Having loved his own saith the evangelist to the end he loved them Ioh. 13.1 Frown he can if need be hate he cannot hide his face he may for a while but his heart is ever earning towards them his bowels are turned within him his repentings are kinled together scoâ—â—e them he doth other-whiles with the rods of men Hos 11.8 Psal 89. Esa 57.7 8 9◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1 Psal 27.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 13. but the sure mercies of David he will never take from them Naturall parents may prove unnaturall not so our heavenly father he is all bowels they may hate where they loved they may loath whom they liked but he rests in his love Zeph. 3.17 He hates putting away Hos 2. Davids father and mother may cast him out but then God will gather him Father Abraham may forget us and Israel may disown us Esay 63.16 But God hath said I will not leave thee I will not not not forsake thee The Fathers and governours of the Church may under a faire pretence of zeale cast us out and say let the Lord be glorified but then shall God appeare to our joy and they shall be ashamed Esay 66.5 The fathers of our flesh are mutable and fickle-minded Jam. 1.17 but with the father of light is no shaddow of change his love lasteth to all eternity without any alteration SECT III. Other reasons from the effects of his fatherhood NExt as Gods affection to his children is more then fatherly so are his expressions and provisions for them too For 1. Besides his eternall electing them to the adoption of children Eph. 1.4 It was he that took us out of the womb Psal 22.9 Hos 13.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Math. 28.19 that we might not Ephraim-like that unwise son stay over-long in the birth and dye before we saw his marvelous light It was he that baptized us into his own name whereby we are called as a childe by his fathers 2. He loves the very places they first breathed in the better for their sakes Ps 86.7 and the very ground they tread upon Hence Judaea the seate of the church is called a delightsome land Mal. 3.12 the glorious land Zach. 7.14 â—om 4.13 Psal 89.12 the land of desires or ornaments Dan. 11.41 yea Canaan for this is called the whore world and Tabor and Hermon is put for the East and West of the world 3. He chargeth all sorts as they love him to love his lambs his little ones to handle them gently for his sake He feeds them with sincere milk streaming from those full-strutting breasts of consolation the lively oracles he brings them forth butter in a lordly dish Judg. 5.25 he makes them ready and unready Esay 66.11 Act. 7. Ezek. 36.25 as new-borne-babes lulling them asleep in a holy security shifting them in their scapes by the clean water of his spirit in their sanctification and the clean linnen of Christs righteousness in their justification He keepeth them from fire from water the fire of temptation which the Dragon spers and the water of persecution which he spews out of his mouth as a flood Rev. 12.4 15 to drown theâ—t avelling church and to devour her babe as soon as it was borne All this God doeth for his children assoon as they are any thing Afterwards as they grow up to any bignesse he beares them in his bosome as a nursing-father bears the sucking child Num. 11 1â— carries them in his armes till such time as they can go Esa 46.4 guides them with â—is eye when they begin to finde their feet I taught Ephraim also to go 1 Thes 2.7 taking them by their armes Hos 11.3 leads them in his hand as a horse in the wildernesse Es 63.13 If the way be too rough for their tender feet or too long for their short legs he lifts them over by his spirit he chargeth also his angels to bear them in their hands who are as glad of such an office as the servants are to get their yong master in their armes It 's certain that no yong Prince goes better guarded and attended then a childe of God Heb. 1. ult Next for their diet and apparrell God feeds his children with the kidnyes of wheat with the hidden Manna with the bread of life with the best of the best fat things full of marrow Gen. 47 12 Luk. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog apud Plutarch Prov. 15.15 wines on the lees well refined Isa 25 6. Thus he nourisheth them as Ioseph did his fathers family in Egypt as a little child is nourished And for appaâ—rell they have it of the finest Bring forth the best robe and the best ring c. the righteousnesse of the saints even the red upper-coat of Justification and the white under-coat of sanctification They are ever in their holy-day cloaths their festivall apparrell every day-being the christian mans holy-day and he having within him a continuall feast 6. For their teaching and tuition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 1.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioh. 16.8 Eph 5.9 Cant. 2.4 Such comfort there is in Christs presence though but in the womb as it made Iohn to spring Luc. 1 Shindler Pentag Buxtorf Lexic Cartw Harm The North is a nippingwind the South a cherishing wind but both for the saints D. Sibbes they are all taught of God
Esay 54.13 who 1. by his word makes them wise to salvation gives subtlety to the simple and to the youg man knowledge and discretion 2. by his spirit of revelation convinceth them of their false principles refells their fallacious reasonings unteacheth them the devils learning and then leads them into all truth and goodnesse for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodnesse righteousnesse and truth And of this teaching speaketh St. Paul 1 Thes 4.0 and St. Iohn 1 Epist 2.27 7. Next for their delight and recreation he allowes them his garden to walk into his wine-cellar to go down into He pleaseth himself wondrously in their company be they but two or three of them he is in the midst as once he made the third with those two going Emaus He sets them between his legs as it were so some read that text Deut 33.3 He loved tho people and as an effect thereof they sat down at thy feet or they were set between thy feet as the fathers darlings Moreover when he hath them there he rejoyceth over them with joy yea he rejoyceth ouer them with singing Zeph. p 3.17 like as earthly parents dandle dance and sing their little ones upon their knees Further he is wondrous choyce and chary of his children so that he cannot abide the cold wind should blow upon them The sun must not smite them by day nor the moon by night and what wind soever blow whether North or South and what more contrary then those they must blow good to Gods children Cant. 4. ult In a word he thinks nothing good that he hath to himself except they may share a part And is not this the part of a loving parent 8. Lastly for matter of maintenance and outward subsistence your heavenly father knowes that ye need these things also Mat. 6.32 and it 's enough for you that he knowes it He holds them to hard-meat sometimes but then they have it of free-cost when the wicked pay deare for their tid-bits and dainty morsels Their meat is sawced and their drink spiced with the wrath of God Iob 20.14 their very table is a snare to them The Inne-keeper gives his guests the bests dishes but reserves the inheritance for his children so here God gives his people mony in their purses so much as will serve turne to beare their charges home to buy them necessaries and to keep them true men at least though they have not to lavish and riot because he knows their weaknesse that way and therefore holds them mostly to straight allowance Not out of niggardize I must tell you for he could beteeme them more meanes and so he doth also to some of his better children that have grace to use it and make them friends with it But the less he allowes them here the more he layes up for them in heaven Psal 89.28 31 19. And when they are once come to the full stature of a man in Christ for now they are in their nonage the whole inheritance shall be given them of the father Rom. 8.16 They shall have power over all creatures Rev. 2.26 and possession of that new heaven and new earth 2. Pet. 3.13 And if these be not the expressions and provisions of a bountifull father pray y' what is SECT IIII. God no Father to the wicked what ever they pretend to him NOw for Application Doth God the Lord look upon such as sons and daughters as sincerely serve him Use 1 How then think we doth he look upon all such as serve not God but Mammon as serve not the Lord Christ but their own bellies their base lusts this present evill world nay the God of this world Matth. 6. Rom. 16. 2 Cor. 4.4 Ioh. 8. 1 Ioh. 3.8 Ver. 9.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose works they do and will do and are therefore of their father the devill This saith St. Iohn entitles the devill to a man for he that commits sin is of the devill that 's flat And again In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devill He that is borne of God doth not commit sin Well he may slip into it of infirmity and at unawares Gal. 6.1 A sheep may slip into a slough but delights not to wallow in it He doth not work iniquity on set purpose he doth not sell over himself to sin with Ahab Rom. 6. Eph. 4. he doth not hire out his members as weapons of wickednesse working all uncleannesse with greedinesse No this is not the guise of a childe of God but of an impe of hell of a brat of fathomlesse perdition They have corrupted themselves saith Moses Deut. 32.5 their spot is not the spot of his children they are a perverse and crooked generation And yet who so forward as these to claime kindred of the Almighty to fawn upon God and call him father Wilt thou not from this time saith He to Idolatrous Israel that had in this behalf an whores forehead a wainscot face hatcht all over with impudence wilt thou not from this time cry unto me My father my father art thou not the guide of my youth Will he reserve his anger for ever will he keep it to the end Here were good words Sed quid verba quaero facta cum videam How canst thou say Judg. 16.15 Ier. 3.2 3 4 ◠thou lovest me when thy heart is not with me Behold saith God in the same place thou hast spoken and done evill things as thou couldest thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredomes and wickednesse and hast thou yet a sace to call me Father Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God 2 Ioh. 9. He that walketh not in the steps of Abrahams faith Obj. Sol. hath not Abraham to his father Rom. 4.12 what-ever he pretends to him with those braving Jews Ioh. 8. Tell me not here that God hath blessed you as a father sustein'd you with corne and wine Gen. 27.37 given you of the fatnesse of the earth and of the dew of heaven c. for Esau had as good a portion as this and yet a cast-away and Abraham gave the moveables to the children of the concubins whom he lesse respected but Isaac had the inheritance Oh but we are children of the free-woman Obj. Sol. borne and bred in the bosome of the church and enjoy many outward priviledges So did Esau and yet was hated of God so did Iudas and yet a firebrand of hell Obj. Sol. Mat. 3. Neither is it any such businesse as many make of it that they have had their Christendome For unlesse they be withall baptized with the holy Ghost and with fire with the spirit of judgement and of burning Esay 4.4 whereby they have so put on Christ as that they are become the children of God by faith in him Gal. 3.26 27. It s pity that ever Font-water was spilt upon their faces Saul was circumcised and yet David calls him
affectiâ—â—â— hearts to greatest cheerfulnesse and thankfulnesse let it swallow up an â—â—â—â—oâ—tents and make us send up many an humble joyfull and praisefull heart to him SECT X. Let them honour their father and how A Third duty we are to performe to God as a father is Reverence according to that in the Prophet Mal. 1.6 A son honoureth his father If then I be a father wher 's mine honour and that in the Decalogue Honour thy father and thy mother which saith St. Paul it the first commandement with promise Promise I say of long life to him that by honouring them lengtheneth his parents life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hiâ—rocl Reverence and loving respect to parents never went unrecompenced as in Iapheth Isaac Ruth others much lesse shall that to God for them that honour him he will honour Here then we are 1. 1 Sam. 2. to have an high and honourable esteem of God in our hearts lifting up and laying open those everlasting doors that the King of glory may come in Psal 24. and come in state in his own likenesse Ignorant people cast him into a dishonourable mould as it were they have bald and base conceits of God they think him altogether such a one as themselves or worse they change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man c. Psal 50.21 Rom. 1.13.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 6.16 they dishonour him and therefore he gives them up to passions of dishonour or vile affections For as a king will take it ill to be entertained no otherwise by his subjects when he comes amongst them then if he were some Knight or meaner man so will God when we have low conceptions of him when we glorifie him not as God when we enlarge not his roome and let him in-dwell richly in us when we conceive not of him as the onely potentate represent him not to our thoughts in the apprehension of one that is in and of himself All-sufficient Omnipotent onely wise and in Christ our most merciful father yet still our father in heaven who without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans works 1 Pet. 1.17 whom therefore if we call father we must passe the whole time of our sojourning here till he send for us home infear Lo this is to honour God in our hearts And this is that that is required so often in scripture under the term of magnifying God or making him great and of glorifying God or making him glorious so he is pleased to account of it when we get so far as to conceive of him above all creatures and that is when he comes into our hearts as a king of glory far above all the glory that can be found in earthly princes 2. We must honour him in our speeches both to him and of him 1. In our prayers to God we must take unto us words neither too curious Verba nec lecâ—a sint nec neglecâ—a nor too carelesse we must speak supplications with the poor publican we must addresse our selves unto him in lowliest manner as the Prodigal did Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee I am no more worthy to be called thy childe A servants place in thine house is too good for me Briefly our words to God in prayer must be as the words use to be of a childe to his father humble earnest and direct to the point avoiding vam babblings This is to be sober in prayer 1 Pet. 4.3 Eccles 5.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interparlance 1 Tim. 2.1 Omnino oportet nos oraâ—iotionis tempore curiam intrare coelestem in qua Rex regum stellaâ—â— sedet solâ—â— c. Quant â— ergo cum reveremia quanto timore quanto illuc humilitate accedere debet epalude suâ— procedens repens vilts ranuncula Bern. Lev. 19.12 when considering that God is in heaven and we on earth considering the infinite distance and disproportion between him and us therefore our words are few We are allowed to parle with God by prayer to use an holy and humble familiarity and to come boldly unto the throne of grace but yet we must so couch our petitions that all needless heartlesse repetitions superfluous endlesse digressions tedious and unnecessary prolixities be carefully avoided Humble and pithy prayer findes freer accesse to God and returns with better successe to us 2. As we must thus honour our heavenly father in our speeches to him so in our speeches also of him to others Take heed that we take not up that great and terrible name of his unreverently lightly loosely disrespectfully for he hath vowed that he will hold none guiltlesse he hath sworn that no vain swearers or other dishallowers of his name shall ever enter into his kingdom Reviling of parents was banishment by Plato's laws death by Gods laws Exod 21.17 How shall they escape that bore thorough the glorious and dreadful name of God tossing it in their common talk as filthy dogs do stinking carrion that swear in â—â—st and not in judgement that play with oathes as apes do with nuts not considering that there is a large roll of ten yard long and five yards broad full of curses against the swearer and that shall rest upon his house which he calls his castle and where he thinks himself most secure Zach. 5.2 Oh what will become of those hellish mouthes that belch out blasphemies against him whom yet they daily call Our father which art in heaven so ordinarily and so openly that some of them are become very inter ections of specch to the vulgar S. Edw. Sands and other-somemere phrases of gallantrey to the braver as one complaineth How should we grieve at this as those good men did when David was reviled by Shimei how should our hearts rise to hear our heavenly father thus dishonoured surely good blood will not belie it self 3. God is to be honoured as a father in our whole conversation remembring that we are ever in his eye and should therefore walk before him in an holy bashfulnesse as ashamed and afraid to do any thing unworthy of his presence or that may give him discontent It was ordered in Moses law that when any went forth of the camp to ease nature they should dig a hole with a paddle and cover their excrements And why For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp therefore shall it be holy that he see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee Deut. 23.13 14. Now there was more in this law then every man looks unto Sin is the souls excrements St. Iames therefore calls it the superfluity of naughtinesse Jam. 21. Hâ—b 1.13 Amos 3.3 2. Sain 12.9 〈◊〉 10.33 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 4.13 Gen. 27.12 41 Prov. 17.2 as Samuels and 〈◊〉 sons as â—onathan the four Gâ—rshom the son of Menesseh or as some copies have it the son of Moses In
him saith David that is whatsoever thou wouldst that God should bestow upon thee cast it first upon him by faith and it shall be effected Rom. 8. Qui misit unigenitum immimisit spiritum promisit vultum quid tandem tibi negaturus est Bâ—r. de tem he shall bring it to passe Away with the spirits of bondage to feare againe we have now received the spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba father yea for an unquestionable pledge of his infinite love he hath given us his son how shall he not then together with him give us all things also That 's St. Pauls argument If ye which are evill can give good things to your children how much more wil your heavenly father give to them that ask of him that 's our Saviours argument Whereunto let me adde this God made himself known to be our gracious and provident Father Mat. 6 A Christian is crowned not only in his cradle with K. James but before he is born as Sapores K. of Persia was For his father dying left his mother with child and the Persian Nobility set the crown on his mothers belly acknowledging thereby her issue for their Prince Heyl. Geog. p. 64 Mat. 6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 23.3 before we could know our selves to be his children He formed us in the womb crudled us there like cheese curiously wrought us in those lowermost parts of the earth as an Artificer when he hath some speciall piece of work to do retires into some private room out of the sight of others whilest we were there he filled two bottles of milk for our entertainment into the world whereinto we no sooner came but he entred into covenant with us to be our God and Father hee signed and sealed this covenant by the Sacrament of Baptisme the solemne seal of our adoption And all this before ere we knew what was done unto us And will hee now forget to do us good when we know and acknowledge him when we pray unto him and by faith depend upon him It is not possible He feeds the fowls and clothes the lillies to whom he is no father And will he not much more do so for you Oh ye mall faiths A child whiles he hath his fathers favour cares for nothing never troubles himself to think where he shall have his next meal or a new suit of clothes let him but please his father and those things shall be provided to his hand Again let a child walk in dark and dangerous places so long as he hath hold of his father he fears not Did we but stirre up our selves to take hold of God wee should be secure yea though we walked in the vale of the shadow of death with David we should never be heard to say as Heathens that have no interest in God What shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith shall we be clothed so long as our heavenly Father knows that we need all these things and will not fail to provide them in a competent measure The men of Gods hand it may be shall have more then wee because they have their portion here with the prodigall But we need not envie them that for it is but an estate for life granted them in the utmost and most remote part of our inheritance Psal 17 Will a child think much a father should give a pension for life out of this or that whiles he hath far greater things left him yea the inheritance also of that out of which an annuity is granted for a time to some other Children ought not to lay up for their parents but parents for their children saith the Apostle And Oh how great things saith the Prophet hast thou laid up in store for them that fear thee Now 2 Cor. 12.14 will he give us a crown and deny us a crust provide heaven for us and with-hold earth from us Ask onely and it shall be given you the earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof In your Fathers house is bread enough Shall the prodigall call so confidently for his childs part shall Esau go so roundly to his father for the blessing Luk. 15.12 Gen. 27.34 And do we stand doubting whether we were best speak or hold our tongues and not fall down with Esther before Ahashuerosh or with Achsah before her father Caleb and beg the upper-springs of spirituall blessings and the nether-springs of temporall comforts which he with-holds haply for a time with an unwilling willingnesse that he may hear of us and have our prayers which though never so poor and imperfect yet he is much taken with as a naturall parent is with the pratling and stammering of his own above all the plain speech of all the children in the Town besides SECT XIV Comfort of Adoption where are shewed the Priviledges of sonnes privative and positive COmfort to all Gods faithfull servants Vse 5 they are sonnes and daughters to the Almighty and count you that a small matter Is it nothing to be son-in-law to a king saith David What pains did Jacob take night and day to be but sonne-in-law to Laban who changed his wages ten times and ever for the worse Joseph and Daniel were for their good service highly advanced but not adopted But every servant of God is a sonne and every sonne an heir Great was the glory of our first Parents in Paradise had they held it and yet if they had what had they gotten more then a confirmation of their present estate or at most the reward of their service wages for their work they could never have attained to this honour Joh. 1.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the sons of God This St. Iohn in his gospell calls a dignity an eminency a royalty And in his first epistle he stands and wonders as transported with an extasy of admiration at it 1 Ioh. 3.1 And well he might For this saith the psalmist is to be set above the Kings of the earth it interesteth and inrighteth a man to the inheritance of heaven and earth The possession of the earth is as yet deteyned from God children by the wicked for a time as the promised land was from Israel by the Amorites but they have great things mean-while in reversion even heaven with all its happines whither they may comfortably look up and boast on better ground then Nebuchadnezzar did of his Babel 1 Pet 1.4 Is not this mine inheritance Am I not kept by the power of God to that salvation reserved for me in the heavens Yea they may comfortably lift up their eye as God bâ—d Abraham toward heaven and tell the starrs if he were able so they their glorious priviledges This Moses well understood and therefore chose rather to suffer as a son Heb. 11. then to scape as a bastard he preferr'd the reproach of Christ before the honour of being the son of Pharaohs daughter and the possibility of being heir to two
kings as Iosephus relates it He was faithfull in all Gods house as a servant Joh. 8.35 but that was not all For the servant abideth not in the house for ever as the son doth Moreover the kings of the earth take tribute of their servants and subjects but their children go free Mat. 17.26 Behold Gods children are all manumitted by Christ and possessed of a twofold freedome 1. Multò plures sunt gratiae privativae quam positivae Gerson Privative from the dominion and damnation of sin from the rigour and irritation of the law from the captivity and cruelty of the devill from the danger of death and horrour of hell c. This is a priviledge far beyond that of a citizen of Rome which yet might neither be suffered to beg nor be bound with thongs Act. 22.29 Rom. 8. And this is that the Apostle calls the glorious liberty of the sons of God as elsewhere he couples Adoption with glory Rom. 9.4 includes it in glory Rom. 8.30 and puts it for glory Rom. 8.23 Freed Gods children are not I confesse of crosses and corrections for then were they bastards and not sons He scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Joh. 14.18 but he never leaveth them orphans helpelesse comfortlesse In the midst of desertion the sorest kinde of affliction they may nay they must call him Father and ask him blessing Esay 64.7 8 9. and he knowes not how to say them nay coming unto him in that name and under that notion Should a parent see his sick childe pant and look pittifully cry out as once the Shunamites son to his father O my head my head my heart is sick my head is heavy I am weary with paines what shall I do where shall I rest c. He could not turn his back upon him and neglect his moans much lesse could he continue to strike him lifting up his feeble hands for mercy and looking upon him with watery eyes but would rather set himself to seek out and to do him all possible ease and comfort Hic cum triste aliquid staruit fit tristis ipsa Cuique ferè poenam sumere poena fua est Ovid. 2 de Pont eleg 2. To say God hath cast you off because he hath hid his face is a fallacy fetcht out of the Devils Topicks And shall not the God of all mercy and the Father of all consolation pity his poor children that are distressed or diseased and send deliverance Will he not melt over his childe and burn his rod Will he not hold him up with one hand as he did Iacob when he beats him down with the other will he not look through the chinkers to see how we do when he hath shut us up close prisoners will he not deal by us as the mother deals by her little-one makes him beleeve she will cast him away to the puttock or pitch him headlong into the pool when yet she keeps fast hold on him 2. Positive and so he is made a free-denison of Jerusalem that is above and possessed of all the priviledges of that supernall citty See a brief extract of them in that 1 1 Cor. 3.22 23. All things are yours A very large charter All illuminations inspirations gifts and graces of the spirit gifts of Gods ministers and the abler sort of Christians all these are not more their own then yours to use you have title to them and interest in them and may claime them for your own Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world you are heirs of it together with faithfull Abraham Or life grace to spend it well or death to the wicked a trap-dore to hell Janua vita porta coeli Bern. but to the saints an inlet into eternall happines or things present all occurrences are sanctified to you or things to come heaven waits for you hell hath nothing to do with you Thus all is yours as the Apostle there reiterates it though not in possession unlesse it be in our Head yet in use in right or by way of reduction as we say the worst things are Gods childrens they are heirs of the kingdome saith Iames heads destinated to the diadem Jam. 2.5 Serms non valet exprimere experimento opus est Chrys Lati simus non securi gaudentes in spiritu sancto scd tamen caventes à recidivo Bern. saith Tertullian Their priviledges as sons are fitter to be beleeved then possible to be discoursed And this should make them hold up their heads but not too high and be cheerfull but not withall scornefull CHAP. V. God will pity and pardon his people their wants and weaknesses And I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serves him HOw graciously God will deal with his dear children in respect of their pious performances is here sweetly set forth by an exquisite simile Shindler Pentag miserebor misericordia commovebor Figuier Clementiâutar Trem. polan. In quo duplex est aemoris ratio c. Figuier De Cartulone filio à patre Machaeo ob contemptum cruci affixo lege Just lib. 18. Heb. 13.18 from the dealing of an indulgent father with his obsequious childe I will spare them saith he nay that 's not full enough I will pardon and pity them I will commiserate and compassionate them as Pharaohs daughter once did the forlorne infant she found among the flags I will use clemency and shew kindnesse unto them And how As a man doth to his own son that serves him In which comfortable expression there is a double declaration saith an Interpreter of Gods fatherly affection as thus We cannot but shew love even to a stranger that observes us As o' tother side we dislike and detest even a son that slights us But a son and a serviceable son what father can chuse but love and like well of And shall God the father of all the father-hoods in heaven and earth shew lesse love to his obedient children that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 willing at least to keep a good conscience and are faithfull in weaknesse though weak in faith No but he will kindly accept of what they are able and remit the rest He will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serves him Than the which I know not what the good Lord could have spoken more effectually for the setting forth of his own fatherly compassion or for the setting of our hearts in sound consolation Take it thus God will surely shew like mercy and mildenesse to his obedient children in Doct their faults and faculties in their wants and weaknesses as the kindest father would do to his dearest son that serves him SECT 1.2.3.4 Reasons from God out of Micah 7.18 19. THis is no new doctrine for besides that the Text is for us in so many words almost the man whose eyes are open hath said it He hath said Num. 23.21 who heard the words of God who saw the visions of the Almighty God
followeth his trade whereto he is bound apprentice though he be far from being his trades-master he shall have honour and life honour in earth and life in heaven Prov. 21.21 Yea but displeasing service is double dishonour Obj because we displease God in that act wherein he specially lookes to be pleased I grant that a powerlesse performance of holy duties Sol. proceeding from a spirit of sloth joyned with presumption so highly provoketh God against his own dear children that he hath much a doe to forbear killing them as he had to forbear Moses when he met him in the Inne Ready he is to have a blow at them as he had at David when he brake his bones and felt his fall to his dying-day Psal 51 But they that see and sigh under their wants and weaknesses with shame and sorrow need not be discomforted Christ appeats for them in heaven with their names upon his bosom and their services in his hand which he not only presents but perfumeth not only puts them up but adds weight to them nonsuting and casting out of the court all accusations and allegations made against them either by sin or Satan and drowning their noise by that blood of sprinkling Heb. 12. that speaketh better things then the blood of Abel This he doth for them in heaven as on earth he is touched with the feeling of their infirmities and hath taken order with their enimies for their security Joh. 18.8 and with their friends for their kinde acceptance commanding the stronger to receive them into their affections Rom. 14.1 and to restore them in their outstraies Gal. 6.1 promising also to give strength to him that fainteth and to increase power to him that hath no strength Even the youths that trust to their own strength or to any measure of grace acquired which is but a creature and to trust in it is to trust in the arme of flesh lo those youthes shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint Esay 40.29 30 31. In regard of the Authours absence and the misplacing of his Copy the Reader is desired to referre this Exposition of the 18. ver of the 3. Chapter to its proper place Verse 18. Then shall ye returne you wicked blasphemers that have flandred Gods hous-peeping and brought up an evill report of his providence and justice as if in managing the matters of the world he were lesse equall or lesse carefull You I say shall returne not to your right minds by a through conversion by an entire change of the whole man from evill to good alasse for your misery t is past time of day with you for any such good work But you shall alter your opinions when your eyes are once uncealed by the extremity of your suffering Plin. Prov. â—â— 25 Eâ—â— 4.30 Dan. 11.21 Vasallos Christi Socrat. as the Mole eyes are said to be when pangs of death are upon her to see and acknowledge a sensible difference between the righteous ever more excellent then his neighbour let him dwell where he will because sealed up to the day of redemption and the wicked who is but a vile person an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be as great as Antiochus Epiphancs the great King of Syria between him that serveth God accounting it the highest honour to be his vassall as Constantine Theodosius and Valentinian their Emperours called themselves And him that serveth him not but casteth off the yoke of his obedience being a son of Belial and counteth it the only liberty to live as he lists and not to be ruled by God Then shall ye returne Then when it it is too late when the day of grace is past the gales of grace gone over the gate shut the draw-bridge taken up Then shall ye wretched lingerers and loytorers Epimetheusses postmasters after-wits that come in at length with your fooles Had-I-wist return not as the Prodigall did who seasonably and savingly came to himself Luk. 15.17 having bin before utterly bestraught 1 King 8.47 and quite beside himself by the deceitfulnesse of sin called foolishnesse of madnesse Eccles 7.25 nor as those true converts mentioned in Solomons prayer that bethink themselves and repent and make supplication to their judge Par. in Rev. 18.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 27.3 Fox Martyrol But as Iudas who whilst he plai'd alone wan all but haunted with the furies of a guilty conscience which would needs make one with him he repented after a sort with a poenitentia sera Iscariotica as Pareus calleth it had some after-thoughts but not to a transmentation some inward wamblings but they boyled not up to the full height of a godly sorrow and therefore came to nothing Or as Iames Abbes with his hideous All too late All too late So these wicked ones in the text when they shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdome of heaven and themselves thrust out Lazarus in Abrahams bosom and their selves in the burning lake Mat. 13.43 Christs poor despised fellow-sufferers shining forth as the Sun in the kingdome of their father and themselves cast out into outer darknesse then shall they change both their minde and their note then shall their odious blasphemies be driven back again down their throats and then made to say with Pharaâ— Exod. 9.27 The Lord is righteous and so are all his people Esay 60.21 but I and mine associates are wicked and therefore deservedly wretched We once counted the proud happy but now we see that of David verified which erst we beleeved not Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed for that they erred from thy commandements Psal 119.21 We looked upon the righteous as calamitous as worms and no men as the nullisicamen populi Tertullians expression fit to be set with the dogs of the flock De resurrect Iob 30.1 and as the off-scouring of all things But now we can vote with that man of God and say Happy art thou O Israel Who is like unto thee O people Deut. 33 29 saved by the Lord the shield of thy help and the sword of thine exeâ—â—ncy and thine enemies are now found liars unto thee for thou treadest upon their high places when they are troden under foot as unsavoury salt Woe unto 〈◊〉 spoilers for now we are spoiled c. Isa 33.1 Ier. 4.13 Isa 33.14 Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire Who can abide with ever lasting burnings Behold the day is come that burneth as an oven Mal. 4.1 and we are now as stubble fully dried that it may burn the better Nah. 1.10 We are put away even all the wicked of the earth like drosse Psal 119.119 thrust away as thorns 2. Sam. 23.6 placed as vile things under Christs feet Psal
punishment of their frowardnesse and 〈…〉 people The instruâ—â—nts of a foolish shepherd that 〈…〉 seeking Magistrate are not virg a 〈◊〉 a 〈…〉 mulctra sheers to clip them and a milk-pail to 〈…〉 they look after Now it is threaten 〈…〉 hate you shall reigne over you 〈…〉 bed in the next verses England was 〈…〉 burdens and impositions 〈…〉 An Emperor 〈…〉 the King of France was king of Asses 〈…〉 his Exactours received from his subjects 〈…〉 saith our Chronicler 〈…〉 â—â—fections the joynts 〈…〉 A 〈…〉 the third became a precedent to the next 〈…〉 greatest popular insurrection that ever was seen 〈…〉 of our Historians and what sad effect 〈…〉 duct-money and other opprelin 〈…〉 known to all But what 〈…〉 lancthon that when he want 〈…〉 of his and reqire of him what he 〈…〉 would knock out first one of his teeth 〈…〉 like by all the rest in case the money â—â—ere not brought in by 〈…〉 not this one of those foolish or rather 〈…〉 in the next 〈…〉 eat the flesh of the fat and tear their 〈…〉 that shall 〈…〉 drink thy milk as another Prophet phraseth 〈…〉 litâ—â— quam 〈◊〉 Christe 〈…〉 plaineth And no lesse 〈◊〉 Another Some follow the 〈…〉 as a trade onely with an unquenchable and unconscionable 〈…〉 justifieth the common 〈…〉 of ill Governours 〈…〉 the sheep 〈…〉 defence in weather he is sure to loâ—e 〈…〉 seek to Courts of Justice to he 〈…〉 his mind who 〈…〉 to hell and the other to the 〈…〉 to 〈…〉 the other Verse 16. For lo I will raise up a shepherd in the land Evil she 〈…〉 is Rulers in State and 〈◊〉 see Jer. 6.3 Nabum 3 1â— Eisay 44.28 â—â— are set â—â—by God for a punishment of a sinfull people See the Note on Verse 1 The evil shepherd the pherd here meant was Antiocha Ephiphanes saith Theodoret Herod the Infanticide saith 〈◊〉 Titus and the Romans saith â— Castro All the perverse Priests and Princes that 〈◊〉 over the Jews after the time of this Prophecy saith A Lapides as Jason Mentlaus 2 Machab. 4. 〈…〉 Herod Pilate Annas and Caiaphas the Scribes and â—â—â—â—sees But especially Antichrist according to Joh. 5.43 whose fore-runners all the former were Of one Pope it is said by those of his own side that he entred upon the government of the Church as a Fox reigned as a Wolf died as a Dog and its true enough of all the rest and to them the following words do most fitly agree who shall not visit those that be cut off Or look for the thing that is lost Illos â—â—â— erraverunt non quaeret saith the Chaldee the word signifieth such as are hid in thickets hang'd among thorns and briers and there like to perish without help neither shall seek the young one the tender lambs of Christ which Peter was double-charged to feed Stolidam non requiret saith the Tigurine Translation Lambs are silly things very apt to straggle and least able of any creature to find their way home again nor heal that that is broken David by leaping over the pale as it were of Gods precepts brake his bones Psal 51.8 and felt the fall the longest day of his life So may any of Christs flock The good shepherd therefore in pera gestat unguentum hath his medicines ready in scrip to apply as need requireth Not so the Idol shepherd who will rather break the sound then bind up the broken nor feed that that standeth still Or that is well underlaid and is full of vigour Vatablus rendreth it Eam quae restitat non portabit He will not carry that which can go no further Hitherto the negligence of these evil-shepherds Followeth next their cruelty and that is more then bestiall For the ravening beasts lightly leave some foot or bone undevoured Am. 3.12 But these do not onely eat the flesh of the flock and suck the fat but barbarously tear the claws also in pieces exercise utmost immanity as it is here graphically and gallantly described Verse 17. Wo to the idol shepherd The Vulgar hath O pastor idolum O thou shepherd and idol thou that hast the shew onely and semblance of a shepherd the name but not the thing thou that art the ape of a shepherd non verus sed vanus non vivus sed pictus fictus pastor that art cleped a shepherd as an idol is a god but shouldst be called rather a dumb-dog a greedy-dog a shepherd that cannot understand Esay 56.10 11. a foolish shepherd as verse 15. an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Per agnominationem alludit ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 15 one that hath nothing in him of any true worth but art vain and vile and of no value as this word is rendred Job 13.4 and 11.17 Vae vae vae tibi Christ the great shepherd of the sheep will surely pull off they visour wash off thy varnifh with rivers of brimstone brand thee for an hireling that leaveth the flock to shift as it can among theeves and wolves Joh. 10.13 See the Note there The sword shall be upon his arm adn upon his right eye i. e. The curse of God shall light upon his power Many Pastors say as He Pan cures oves oviumque magistres Virg. and policy both which shall be blasted his arm shall be clean dried up as a keck or stick and his right eye shall be utterly darkned Or shrivelled up wrinkled and dusk as in old bisons The idle and evil servant had his talent taken from him and worthily The barren fig-tree was cut down from cumbring God will recover his gifts from those that misuse Mar. 25.28 Luke 13 Mos 2.9 or but disuse them Away they go as strength went from Sampson wisdome from Solomon they cry unto God under our abuse who thereupon gives them the wings of an Eagle and layes aside their owner as so many broken vessels causing them to be even forg otter as dead meâ—â—out of mind Esal 31.21 This is now especially fulfilled among the Jews who 〈…〉 son have been without God without a teaching priest and without 〈…〉 15.3 CHAP. XII Verse 1. THE burden of the word of the Lord That is a declaration of his mind and counsell for Israels comfort and his enemies confusion To the Israel of God it is onus sine onere such a burden as the wings are to the bird a burdenlesse burden To the enemies a burdensome stone verse 3. heavier then the sand of the sea Iob 6.3 For Israel Not against Israel though Calvin so taketh it and by Israel understandeth the ten tribes and those other captives that loth to leave those houses they had built and those gardens they had planted in Babylon Ier. 29.5 neglected to return to Jerusalem for fear of the Samaritans and other ill neighbours whole ruine is therefore here foretold by three excellent similitudes after a stately preamble drawn 1. From the power of God whereby he stretcheth forth the heavens that huge
expanse as a curtain or as a molten looking-glasse Job 37.18 Job 26.7 2. From the wisdome of God in laying the foundation of the earth and hanging it by Geometry as we say in the midst of heaven like Archimedes his pigeon equally poized with its own weight Terra pilae similis nullo fulcimine nixa Ovid. Fast l. 5 Aere subjecto tam grave pendet onus 3. From the goodnesse of God who formeth the spirit of man within him who hath made us these souls Esay 57.16 which he doth daily create and infuse into mens bodies yea and that alone without any help of their parents hence hee is called the Father of spirits Heb. 12.9 and the spirit of a dying man is said to return to God that gave it Eccles 12.7 This last text convinced Augustine who held sometime with Origen that the soul as well as the body was begotten by the parents farre more then the peremptory rashnesse of Vincentius Victor who censured boldly the Fathers unresolvednesse Chemnitius when hee doubted concerning the originall of a rationall soul and vaunted that he would prove by demonstration that souls are created de novo by God Aristotle Natures chief Secretary was much puzled about this point of the soul which indeed cannot fully bee conceived of nor defined by man Onely this we can say that the soul as it comes from God so it is like him viz. One immateriall immortall understanding Spirit distinguisht into three Powers which all make up one Spirit Verse 2. Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling Or slumber or poyson A Metaphor taken from a cup of generous wine but empoysoned so that those that drink of it do presently tremble grow giddy sleepy sick as heart can hold Poyson in wine works more furiously Thou hast made us to drink the wine of giddinesse saith the Church Psal 60.3 In the hand of the Lord is a cup and the wine is red it is full mixed c. The Prophet here seems to allude to Jer. 25.15 Esay 29.8 Jer. 31.7 Ovid saith of the river Gallus that whoso drinketh of it runneth mad immediatly Hierom telleth of a Lake neer Naples whereinto if a dog be thrown he presently dieth The like is reported by Josephus of the Lake Asphaltites Jerusalem shall be a murthering morsell to those that swallow it His meat in his bowels is turned it is the gall of aspes within him Hee hath swallowed down her spoil and he shall vomit it up again Job 20.14 15 God shall rake it out of his belly He shall have as little joy of his tid-bits of his sweet draughts as Jonathan had of his honey whereof he had no sooner tasted but his head was forfeited Pliny speaketh of a kind of honey that poysoneth because it is sucked out of poysonous flowers Our Chronicler telleth us Speed 1210. that at Alvelana three miles from Lisbon many of our English souldiers under the Earl of Essex perished by eating of honey purposely left in the houses and spiced with poyson The enemies of the Church make a dangerous adventure they are even ambitious of destruction they run to meet their bane as did those Philistines at Mizpeh 1 Sam. 7. And had they but so much wit as Pilats wife in a dream they would take heed of having any thing to do with those just men of eating up Gods people as they eat bread Psal 14.4 of bowsing in the bowles of the Sanctuary with Baltasar who fell thereupon into a trembling Dan. 5.6 so that his loyns were loosed and his knees knockt one against another when they shall be in the siege And so about to do their last and worst against the Church The people of Rome was saepe praelio victus nunquam bello saith Florus they lost many battles but were never overcome in a set warre at the last at the long-runne as they say they crushed all their enemies so doth the Church See Psal 129. thorowout and the story of the Maccabees Verse 3. I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone Such a stone as that wherewith the woman brake Abimelech his brainpan at the tower of Thebez Judg. 9.53 He had slain all his brethren upon one stone verse 5. he receives therefore his deaths-wound by a stone and that by the hand of a woman which was his greatest grief The like death befell Pyrrhus king of Epirotes slain at the siege of Argos with a tyle thrown by a woman from the wall So was Earl Simon Mountfort that bloody persecutour of the Albigenses in Irance A woman discharged an engine at him Cades Justif of the Church from the walls of Tholouse and by a stone parted his head from his shoulders The virgin daughter of Zion shall do as much as all this comes to for her besiegers though all the people of the earth be gathered together against her For why she hath a strong champion that in maintaining her quarrell will dash them to pieces and grind them to powder Luke 20.18 They are no more able to stand before him then a glasse-bottle before a cannon-shot Hence her confidence her laughing and shaking her head by way of derision at her stoutest enemies Esay 37.22 She knows that all that burden themselves with her shall be cut in pieces Hamans wife could tell so much If Mordecai said she be of the seed of the Jews Esih 5.13 before whom thou hast begun to fall thou shalt not prevail against him but shalt surely fall before him A Jew may-fall before a Fersian and get up and prevail But if a Persian or whosoever of the Gentiles begin to sall before a Jew he can neither stay nor rise There is an invisible hand of omnipotency that strikes in for his own and confounds their opposites That little stone cut out without hands Christs humane nature is called a tabernacle not made with hands not of this building Heb. 9.11 that is not by an ordinary course of generation smiteth the four mighty Monarchies and crumbleth them to crattle Dan. 2.34 Hierom upon this text and after him other Interpreters both Ancient and Modern tell us that the Holy Ghost here alludeth to a certain exercise or game used much among the Jews namely to take up a great round stone for the triall of a mans strength lifting it up from the ground sometimes to the knees sometimes to their navels sometimes to their breasts and sometimes as high as their heads or above their heads At which sport many times they did grievously hurt themselves or at least scarify and make cuts in their flesh See Levit. 21.5 where the same word is used The Churches enemies shall strive and try who shall do her most hurt but the stoutest of them all shall be fooled and foiled in the end The irrepairable ruine of Rome is graphically described and even set forth to the eye Rev. 18.21 by a notable gradation An Angel a mighty Angel taketh a stone a great stone