Aarons rod better then the rest that it alone should bud and the rest lye dry by it n Num. 17.8 every name was alike written in their rod there is nâ difference in the letters nor in the wood it is Gods choise that made the distinction So what was the floore of a Jebusite to the Lord above all other soâles to build an Altar on after the raging plague in Davids time o 2 Sam 24.18 As in places so in persons God maketh men to differ p 1 Cor. 4.7 and that is ever worthiest that he pleaseth to accept Araunah a Jebusite by nature but made a Proselyte by grace giveth his freehold as a King to the King q 2 Sa. 24.23 This deed of his or rather this work of Gods free grace is long after remembred by the prophet as some not improbably interpret him Ekron shall be as the Iebusite r Zach. 9.7 That is say they the barbarous people of Palestina shall be as the famous Araunah by kindred indeed a Jeâusire but by Gods gracious acceptation and adoption an Israelite Like as elsewhere Jether that was by his country and Ismaelite Å¿ 1 Chro. 7.17 is for his faith and religion called an Israelite t 2 Sam. 17.25 So then to summ up this reason albeit by nature that 's never a better of us but all are in the same hatefull and wofull condition all cut out of the same cloth as it were the sheers only going between Yet when grace once comes and sets a difference when that divine nature u 2 Pet. 1.4 as St. Peter calleth it is transfused into a man and he begins to be like unto God in some truth of resemblance the Lord cannot chuse but love and delight in his own image where ever he meets with it Now the persons of such being once in acceptation through Christ Gods beloved one x Eph. 1 6 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã their sacrifices cannot but be well accepted also Thus the Lord had respect to Abel and his offering to Noah and his burnt-sacrifice to Abraham and his intercession for Sodom to Iobs request for his friends to Davids for his people to Pauls for those in the ship Will you know a reason Abel was a righteous person y Heb. 11.4 Noah his favourite z Gen. 6.8 Abraham his friend Iob his servant a Iob 1.8 David his corculum b 1 Sam. 13 14 or darling Paul his elect vessell c Act. 9.15 Hence their high acceptance in the court of heaven and hence that singular delight and complacency that God took in their services For though the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord yet the prayer of the upright is his delight d Prov. 15.8 Psal 4.3 The blood of a swine is as well coloured and as fair to see to as the blood of a sheep but the former was an abhomination to the Almighty and present death to the party that brought it when the later might with good leave and liking be powred about his Altar and the sacrificer depart with the publican justified and accepted And that 's the second thing we were speaking to respecting the services of Gods people in all which there is something of Gods and something of their own This later God graciously overlooks taking notice only of his own part in that we do and hence our acceptance If this be not plain enough take it thus The Lord leadeth his people by his spirit into good works by governing the habits of grace infused and producing therehence acts of grace which though mixed with corruption as from us for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean e Iob 14.4 Denominatio fit à potiori saith Iob Yet are they good before God who winks at the imperfections and have a true goodnesse in them being therefore denominated and called from the better part good works f 2 Tim. 2.21 good fruites g Mat. 12.33 fruits of the Spirit h Gal. 5.22 who exerciseth our faith hope love zeal fear of God humility and other graces in producing them Whence it is that passing by infirmities in the manner God looks upon all our religious performances as fruits of the vine i Esay 5.4 whereupon he is pleased to feed heartily the Church her self as knowing like another Rebeccah such savoury meat as he best loved inviting him thereunto Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits k Cant. 4. ult which accordingly he did as followeth in the next chapter l Cant. 5.1 SECT IIII. Vse 1. It s otherwise with the wicked Their persons are hated their performances rejected and why FOr Use of this point God gives diligent heed to Use 1 and takes great pleasure in the religious performances of his faithfull people this as it must needs be marvelous comfortable to the saints so it cannot but be exceeding terrible to the wicked and unregenerate with whom alass it is farr otherwise if they mark it For they are all Cursed with a curse even with Cains curse the Lord had no respect to his sacrifice m Gen. 4.5 with Sauls curse whom the Lord would not answer neither by dreames nor by Urim nor by prophets n 1 Sam. 28.6 with Moabs curse he shall come to his Sanctuary to pray saith the Prophet but shall not prevail o Isa 16.12 with the curse of Davids enemies who cryed out but there was none to save them Yea to the Lord but he answered them not p Psal 18.41 Or if he do hear them as he did sometime that Non-such Ahab q 1 Kin. 21.29 nay the devill himself r Matt. 8 32 yet it is for no other end then that he may come upon them the more justly and consume them after he hath done them good Å¿ Iosh 24.20 their preservation is no better then a reservation to some further mischief But usually the Lord frownes upon such and turnes the deaf ear unto them and worthily for these three causes among many First they cannot present him with any service truly good and acceptable so long as they are out of Christ t Heb. 11.6 All their actions naturall civill recreative religious are abhomination Not the plowing u Prov. 21 4 onely but the prayer of the wicked is sinne x Prov. 15 8 saith Solomon Pray they cannot indeed to speak properly because they want the spirit of prayer that spirit of grace and of deprecation y Zach. 22.10 Say they may with those many in the Psalm Who will shew us any good but pray they cannot as there Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us z Psal 4.5 Wish they may with Balaam the Soothsayer O let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end bee like unto his a Num. 23.10 But 't is a David onely that can pray in
deed But God loves to help his people with a little help Dan. 11.34 that through weaker means his greater strength may appear His end here may seem to be the same as before in setting forth Jacobs meannesse to take down the haughtinesse of the people proud of their Founders and forefathers A Prophet he is purposely called and his name concealed 1. To shew that the work was done not by might nor by power but by Gods Spirit Zech. 4.6 2. To shew what God will do for his people by the prayers and for the sake of his Prophets when they are most shiftlesse and hopelesse 3. To let this unworthy people see how much God and done for them once by a Prophet how little soever now they set by such This is Cyrus observation Verse 14. Excusserunt ex suâvissimâ pectore meo suevitatem Ephraim hath provoked him to anger most bitterly Heb. with bitternesses or unto bitter displeasure or with bitter things that is sinnes that imbitter Gods Spirit and put thunder-bolts into his hands As a Bee stings not till provoked so neither doth God punish till there be no remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 If Ephraim will provoke him to anger ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which he will not dare to do to his land-lord if he will put it to the triall whether God can be angry as those did Heb. 3.9 he shall know the power of his wrath Psal 90.11 he shall feel to his sorrow that it is an evil thing and bitter that he hath forsaken the Lord and that his fear is not in them Jer. 2.19 there will be bitternesse in the end Principium dulce est sed finis amoris amarus Amâr amaror Lust is a lie as Amnon proved Her end is bitter as wormwood though her lips drop as an honey-combe saith Solomon of sinfull pleasure Prov. 5.3 It is like Jonathans honey or Esau's pottage or Iudas his thirty pence which he would gladly have been rid of but could not Those that provoke God shall one day hear Do ye provoke me to anger Are ye stronger then I they shall be taught to meddle with their match and not to contend with him that is mightier then they Eccles 6.10 they shall cry out in the bitternesse of their souls as Lam. 3.15 He hath filled me with bitternesses he hath made me drunk with wormwood And God shall reply as Jer. 4.18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee and this is thy wickednesse because it is bitter therefore shall he leave his blood upon him God shall bring upon him deserved destruction he shall bring him into the fire and leave him there Ezek. 22.20 the guilt of his sinne shall remain upon his soul and then punishment cannot bee far off See Ezek 24.7 8. with chap. 18.13 Josh 2.19 Or the enemy shall leave him all bloody and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him His Lord not the Assyrian as some sence it but his Liege Lord whom he hath reproached by changing his glory into the similitude of a calf and other corruptible things shall cry quittance with him as verse 2. cast utter contempt upon him according to 1 Sam. 2.30 Rom. 1.23 and make him know that he is his Lord. CHAP. XIII Verse 1. WHen Ephraim spake trembling Or there was trembling as there is among the beasts of the field when the Lion roareth Ephraim whiles innocent of the great offence spake with authority and none durst budge against him for he had great power in his hand Now as the Philosopher told Adrian the Emperour who challenged him to dispute Difficile est ei contradicere qui potest aqua igni interdicere vel adversus ãâã âââscribere qui potest proscribere It is dangerous medling with the Lions beard Nââuchadnezzars Majesty was such that all people nations and languages trembled and feared before him Dan. 5.19 wheresoever his commands or armies came there were very great heart-quakes and concussions of spirit Where the word of a king is there is power and who may say unto him What dost thouâ Eccles 8.4 Job was no king and yet whiles hee was Jobab that is in a prosperous condition The young men saw him Gen. 36.34 and hid themselves the nobles held their peace and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth Job 29.8 10 The people feared Joshuah â chap. 4.14 as they feared Moses all the dayes of his life for why the Lord had magnified him in the sight of all Israel Naturall conscience cannot but stoop to the image of God in whomsoever When Ephraim was first in the Throne he became formidable but when hââfell openly from God he grew feeble first he was a terrour and then a scorn But when he offended in Baal he died When by Jezabel who did all under her husband she was King and he Queen Baal-worship was brought in then Ephraim fell from his dignity then every paltry adversary trampled upon him as the Hare will do upon a dead Lion See how Benhadad insulted over Ahab 1 King 20. Thy silver and thy gold is mine thy wives also and thy children even the goodliest are mine And the king of Israel answered and said My Lord O king according to thy saying I am thine and all that I have Look how the worried Curre falls upon his back and holds up all four as craving quarter so did this sordid Idolater glad to crouch to his enemy when God was departed from him he was even as a dead carcasse Morti vicinus jam magis atque magis He that departeth from God who is his life by an evil heart of unbelief Heb. 3. subiecteth himself to all sorts of deaths Naturall Civil Spirituall and Eternall Verse 2. And now they sinne more and more Heb. They adde to sinne God in his just judgement hath given them up unto hardnesse of minde and to their hearts lust that for all this sudden change they repent not but run more and more into Idolatry Not content to worship Baal and such Heathen-Deities They make them molten images of their silver they laid their monies together to make the golden-calves or silver-shrines as Acts 19.24 and other idolatrous trinkets they lavished silver out of the bag and were at no small charge They multiplied their altars chap. 10. and abused Gods gold and silver to mysticall adultery chap. 2. All this they did Now saith the Text most unseasonably and as it were in flat opposition to God after he had sought to reclaim them both by counsels and corrections and had hang'd Ahab and his house up in gibbets as it were before them for their admonition Surely it is a just both presage and desert of ruine not to bee warned See chap. 7.1 with the Note And idols according to their own understanding i. e. according to their own inventions motu suo proprio forsaking the Rule of the Word they will needs be schollers to their own Rea2on though they are sure
teeth and fed them with the bread of affliction and water of affliction with prisoners pittance as they call it which will neither keep them alive 1 King 22.27 nor suffer them to die Then shall they cry and whine as hogs when hungry as dogs when tied up from their meate but God will not hear them He will even cast out their prayers with contempt as beeing the prayers of the flesh for ease and not of the spirit for grace They cry unto the Lord aloud but it is only to be rid of his rod they roare when upon the wrack but 't is only to get off they look rufully as the fox doth when taken in a gin but it is only to be set at liberty they chatter out a charme when Gods chastening is upon them yea they may be with child as it were of a prayer and yet bring forth nothing but wind Esa 26.16 17 18. For either God answereth them not at all which was Sauls case curse 1 Sam. 28.15 Moabs Isa 16.12 and Davids enemies Psal 18.41 Or else he gives them bitter answers Ezek. 14.4 Judg. 10.13 14. Or if better it is but for a further mischief that he may curse their blessings and consume them after that he hath done them good Iosh 24.20 Their preservation from one evill is but a reservation to seven worse as we see in Phaoh Senacherih Ahab and others Lo this is the portion of a wicked man with God and the heritage of oppressours which they shall receive of the almighty Iob 27 13 14 15. c. See the place Remedilesse misery shall befall them calamities that shall wring from them clamours but to no purpose or profit See Prov. 1.28 he will even hide his face from them that is withdraw his savour care providence help presence and benefits of all which the face is the symbol that like as they have turned upon God the back and not the face and have been mercilesse to men Esa 58.7 hiding their eyes from their own flesh so shall it be done to them in the day of their distresse God will award them judgement without mercy who shewed no mercy Iam. 2.13 He will set off all hearts from them as he did from wicked Haman See Prov. 21.13 with the Note when the king frowned upon him Lastly he will turn their own consciences loose upon them as once he did upon Iosephs brethren Gen. 42.21 to ring that dolefull knell in their eares Isa 3â 1. Woe to thee that spoilist c. when thou shalt cease to spoile thou shalt be spoiled c. Talionis lege mulctabere as Adonibezek Phocas Charles 9. c. Verse 5. Thus saith the Lord concerning the Prophets False prophets who pretended divine authority when as God never sent them but expresly declareth here against them and threateneth them Those prophane Princes had their flesh-flies those court-parasites to sooth and smooth them up in their sins to promise thâm peace albeit they walked in the imagination of their own hearts to add drunkennesse to thirst Deut. 28.19 Bucholcer and to live as they listed Mirifica est sympathia inter Magnates parasitos saith One. There is a strange sympathy betwixt Great men and claw-backs nothing so troublesome to such as truth nothing so toothsome as flattery this is the fruit of ãâã self-love and the end thereof are the wayes of death Prov. 16.25 that make my people to erre That ãâã them and carry them out of the right way into by paths ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Act. 20.30 and blind thickets ãâã ârrour where they are lost for ever Deut. 13.13 Seducers are said to draw ãâã violently or to thrust them onward Jeroboam is said to have driven Israel from following the Lord and the false Apostles to drag disciples after them Act. 20. compelling them by their perswasions to embrace those distorted doctrines that cause convulsions of conscience that bite with their teeth The dogs of Congo bite through they bark not saith Mr. Purchas Pilgr of Religion Christs Polititian by Tho. Scot. there are a sort of cuâ-dogs saith Another that suck a mans blood only with licking Seducers are such Beware of false Prophets for they come to you in sheeps cloâthing but inwardly they are ravening wolves And in this sense Hierome and Theodoret take this text they devoure those they make prize of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Apostles word signifieth Colos 2.8 Others think their covetousnesse and gormandise is noted O Monachi Vestri stomachi sunt amphora Bacchi Vos estis Decis est testis certissima pestis As hungry dogs they snap at a crust and make cleane work such is their voracity and unsatisfiablenesse Ingluvies tempestas barathrumque macelii And cry Peace ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã All shall be as well as heart can wish or need require Let these Cerberusses but be morselled and you shall heare no worse of them Like they are to the ravens of Arabia that full gorged have a tuneable sweet record but empty screech horribly Si ventri benè si lateri as Epicurus saith in Horace Let their bellyes be filled and their backs fitted and they will prophecy all good to you as those false Prophets nourished by Iezebel did to Ahab as the Pharisees cryed up the Centurion who had built them a synagogue Luk. 7. as the Popish Clergy canonize their benefactours and extoll them to the skies Wvlsin Bishop of Sherborn displaced secular Priests and put in Monks Hence the Monkish writers make him a very holy man and report of him that when he lay a dying he cryed out suddenly I see the heavens open Godw. Cataloc 335. and Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God and so died Yea they had a trick to make their Images speak their minds this way As the rode of grace here in England had a man within it inclosed with an hundred wires to make the image goggle with the eyes nod with the head hang the lip move and shake his lawes according as the value was of the gift that was offered If it were a small peece of silver he would hang a frowning lip if a peece of gold then should his jawes go merrily This idolatrous forgery was at last by Cromwels meanes disclosed Act. Mon. fol. 1034. and the image with all his engines shewed openly at Pauls crosse and there torn in peeces by the people who had been so seduced and he that putteth not into their mouthes they even prepare warr against him Heb. sanctifie a warr id est excomunicatis aquâ igni interdicunt Gualth crucem adversus eos praedicant c. they thunder against them and throw them out of the Church publish their Croysades as they did against the Waldenses in France the Hussites in Bohemia and Luther in Germany whom the pope excommunicated the Emperour proscribed diverse divines wrot against the reason whereof when Erasmus was asked by
Church out of which went the law that is the Gospâl ver 2. See Esa 40.9 and 52.7 Heb. 12 22. There shall Christ raigne and so he did ever but now he shall declare himself to be Messiah the Prinâe Dan. 9.25 Lord and hââst Act. 2.36 Saviour and Soveraigne As king he 1. of rebels makes them sââjects willing to be ruled by him 2. He preserves them in that priviledge by his spirit 3. He gives them lawes far better then those of the twelve tables ââ Rome which yet far exceeded saith Cicero all the learned libraries of the Philosâphârs in worth and weight 4. He sweetly inclineth their wilâ to yeââd universal obedience thereunto and to crosse themselves so they may please ãâã 5 He rewards them with comfort and peace here and with life eternall hereafter 6. He destroyes all the enemies of his Church and then at last delivers up the kingdome to his Father 1 Cor. 15.24 not his essentiall kingdome as God but his oecââomical kingdome as Mediatour Verse 8. And thou O tower of the flock that is O Church of Christ who is oft compared to a shepherdesse in the Canticles here to a Migdal-âder or tower of the flock that flock of Christ which hath golden fleeces precious souse in reference either to that tower Gen. 35.21 built for the safety and seâvice of shepherds or else to the sheep-gate in Ierusalem whereof read Nâh 3.1 and 12.39 so called from the sheep-market which for the conveniency of the Temple was neare to it as was also the sheep-pool called Bethesda Ioh 5.2 where the sacrifices were washed The world is a field the Church a fold in that field and a strong fold strong as a tower yea a strong-hold Ophel as it is stiled in the next words and that of the daughter of Zion that is of the Christian Church the inviolable security whereof is here noted unto thee shall it come even the first dominion such as was in Davidâ dayes and Solomons laâge rich peaceable prosperous terrible to other nations c. This was carnally understood by the Jewes who therefore drâame to thiâ day of an earthly kingdome and have in their âynagogues a crown ready to set upon the head of their Messiah whensoever he shall come neither were Christs disciples without a tincture of this Pharisaicall leaven whence their often-enquiries when the kingdome of God shall come and their frivolâus contests among themselves who should be the greatest in Christs kingdome who should sit at his right hand and at his left c. as if there should have been in Christs kingdome as in Solomons a distribution here of honours and offices And this groundlesse conceit hung as bullets of lead at their eye-lids that they could not look up to see that Christs kingdome was spirituall and not of this present world the kingdome shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem This the Jewes mistaking it as before pray earnestly that it may come citò Baxtor Syn Jud. citiùs citissimè bimherah bejamenâs with speed and even in our dayes oft throwing open their windowes to behold their King and to receive their long-looked-for preferment in his earthly monarchy Ver. 9. Now why doest thou cry out aloud Hout and houle q.d. hast thou any such cause to be so unreasonably and out ragiously impatient so long as Christ is thy king and counsellour What if there now be no king in thâe What if thy counsellour be perished A wo-case I confesse and great confusion most needes be the issue of it as it fell out in Ierusalem after Iosiah was slaine Confer Hos 3.4 with the Note there But yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing neither need the Saints be so excessively dejected with outward crosses so long as Christ is with them and for them If Seneca could say to his friend Polybius Fas tibi non est salvo Caesare de fortuna tua queri Be thy case never so miserable Sen. ad âolyb Consol thou hast no cause to complaine so long as Caesar is in safety How much lesse ground of mourning or murmuring have Christs subjects so long as He liveth and raigneth Gaudeo quod Christus Dominus est Calvin Epist alioqui totus desperassem writeth Miconius to Calvin of the Churches enemies I am glad that Christ is Lord of all for otherwise I should have had no hope of help at all David in deep distress comforteth himself in the Lord his God 1 Sam. 30.6 and Psal 119.94 I am thine save me saith He q. d. my professed subjection to thee calleth for thy care and protection of me and here he stayes himself Kings and Councellours are great stayes to a state but Christ is not tied to them These are but particular good things as is health against sicknesse wealth against poverty c. but Christ is an Vniversall good all sufficient and satisfactory every way proportionable and fitting to our soules and severall necessities Why then do we cry aloud as utterly undone why sing we not rather with David when at greatest under The Lord liveth and blessed be the God of my salvation Psal 18.46 It is God that avengeth me and delivereth me from the violent man c He is King of all the earth He is wonderfull in counsel and excellent in working c. It was a learned mans Motto Blessed be God that he is God and blessed be Christ that he reignes for ever that Counsel is his and sound wisdome that he hath understanding he hath strength Prov. 8.14 for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travel They have but they needed not hadst thou but turned into thy counting-house and considered thy manifold priviledges in Christ thy King and Counsellour We oft punish our selves by our passions as the lion that beates himself with his own taile Sed ô benè saith an Interpreter here quod sint hidolores saltem similes parturientium It is yet an happinesse that the Churches pangs though bitter Tarnou yet are no worse then as those of a woman in travell For 1. The paines of travell seldome bring death but life both to mother and child so do afflictions to the Saints 2 Cor. 4.17 Heb. 12.9 2. Travell comes not by chance nor for long continuance neither doth affliction Ioh. 7.30 Luk. 22.53 3. Travell is unavoidable and must be patiently born so must affliction or else we lose the fruit of it Act. 14.22 2 Tim. 3.12 4. Sharp though it be yet it is short so mourning lasteth but till morning Psal 30.6 and 73.24 and 135.14 Ioh. 16.15 Ier. 10.23 5. As the travelling woman hath the help of other women so hath the afflicted of God Angels and men 6. Lastly as she remembreth the sorrow no more for joy of a manchild born into the world so is it here Ioh. 16.20 Rom. 8.17 18. Verse 10. Be in pain and labour to bring forth c. Be sensible of thine ensuing captivity and take on but yet with hope
6.27 This is comfortable to consider of that is to be Ruler in Israel Matthew rendereth it a Captain that shall feed my people Israel Mat. 2.6 See the Note there whose goings forth have been from of old This is spoken of Christs eternal generation which none can declare Esay 53.8 What is Gods name and what is his Sons name if thou canst tell Prov. 30.4 The Scripture usually speaketh of this grand Mystery by way of circumlocution It is here spoken of in the Plurall number for the excellency of it Adoro plâniâudinem scripturarum Aug. In this Text then we have a description of Christ in his natures and offices See the like Rom. 1.3 4. and adore the fulnesse of the Scriptures Verse 3. Therefore will he give them up As a little before the day springeth it is darker then ordinary so before the day-spring from on high visited Gods people they were under very hard and heavy pressures and miseries whereby their desires after him were increased and ineagered The enemy oppressed them by Gods permission yea by his active providence that they might pant after a Saviour and sigh out with old Jacob their father Gen. 49.18 O Lord I have waited for thy salvation untill the time that she which travelleth hath brought forth She that is the Virgin Mary say some Or she that is say others the afflicted Church according to chap. 4.9 10. See the Notes there Shee must have a time of travell of trouble before she can bring forth and be delivered Luther saith well that the Church is haeres crucis and that every Christian is a Crucian we must suffer before we can reigne and bear the crosse or ere we wear the crown Then the remnant of his brethren i. e. the converted Gentiles whom Christ is not ashamed to call his brethren Heb. 2.11 12. shall return unto the children of Israel shall be proselyted and conjoyned to the elect Jews that there may bee one sheep-fold under one shepherd And the Lord shall be king over all the earth In that day there shall be one Lord and his name one Zech. 4.9 See the Note there Verse 4. And he shall stand and feed or rule in the strength of the Lord He shall stand and none shall be able to stirre him there shall be lifting at his government but it stands firm and fixed Earthly Monarchies have their times and their turnes their ruine as well as their rise The Roman Empire fell under the weight of its own greatnesse The Turkish although it be indeed very strong yet is it by many probably thought to be on the declining hand But Christ shall stand when all earthly greatnesse shall lie in the dust And He shall feed his flock in the strength of the Lord neither shall any ravenous Lion or grievous Wolf pluck them out of his hand because He and the Father are one Joh. 10.39 and God hath laid help on one that is mighty Psal 89 19. and in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God that is by the power of Gods word called his name Acts 9 15. and elsewhere This word hath a singular majestie in it whereby it aweth and affecteth mens consciences to the propagating of Christs kingdom viz when it is accompanied with the Spirit of God called his strength in the former clause And that these ever go together in all the subjects of Christs kingdom see Esay 59 21. As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon them and my word which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds sâed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth Now that is ere long in Gods due time which oft seems long because we are short apt to antedate the promises in regard of the accomplishment to limit the Holy One of Israel and to set him a time to set his Sun by our diall Jer. 8 20. help they would have that Summer at furthest But as God never fails in his own time so he seldom comes at ours We must live by faith Hab. 2.2 and stay Gods leisure as David did for the kingdome and those in Esther for deliverance Gods promises will at length take their way over all Alpes of opposition but we have need of patience c. For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10 36 37. Verse 5. And this man shall be the peace The man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 that man that shall be as an hiding place from the winde and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land Esay 32.2 Winds and tempests will arise and that upon the Church Assyrians and Babylonians Nimrods brats will invade and infest her but that famous He afore-mentioned shall bee her peace her Prince of peace Esay 9.6 who giveth her pacem omnimodam peace internal external eternal called by the Apostle life and peace Rom. 8.7 This peace peace as Esay calleth it chap. 26 3. that is a multiplied renued continued peace this peace Regionis Religionis of Countrey and of Conscience as God hath promised and Christ hath purchased He merited and made it through the blood of his Crosse Col. 1.20 Esay 53.5 Ephes 2.16 And hence it was that as he was brought from heaven with that song of peace Luke 2.14 so he returned up again with that farewell of peace Joh. 14.27 left to the world the doctrine of peace Ephes 2.17 whose Ministers are messengers of peaceâ Râm 10 15. whose followers are the children of peace Luke 10.6 whose unity is in the bond of peace Ephes 4.3 and whose duty is the study of peace Rom. 12.18 and to whom God hath promised I will give peace in your land c. And ye shall chase your enemies c. If any ask Lev. 25.6 7. how peace and pursuit of enemies can consist It is easily answered You shall have civil peace amongst your selve and besides an ability to quell and quiet forraigne enemies Or you shal have peace and if it hap that war arise you shall have the better in batteââ If the Assyrian come into your land he shall be a loser by it if he tread in your palaces he shall retreat with shame and defeatment as it befell Sennacherib Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds that is a competent number of Chieftains and Champions with their victorious forces which shall repell the enemies and secure the Church Christo duce auspice Christo under Christ the Arch shepherd This some understand of the Apostles those anointed or authorized Ones as the word here signifieth the weapons of whose warfare were not carnall but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong-holds 2 Cor.
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 ãâã the suggestions of Satan the Lord profest adversary caesariem intonsam et capita alta ferentes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 Cruentâbit 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
haec locutio Deo esse suam opportunitatem c. Calvin in locum Baiom in isto die Jom significat per Synechdoch tempus certum atque id praecipuè cum de juturo agitur Shindl. pentag 2 Thes 1 10. 1 Thes 5.2 2 Thes 2.2 2 Pet. 3.12 Rom 2 5.16 Guaââber Figuter Alii 1 Tim. 5.24.25 This Lord of Hosts will not fail to finde a fit time for the making up of his jewels from the worlds misusages There is a day here specified in the text a set and solemn day a particular time a certain season wherein God will make himself glorious and to be admired in all them that beleeve in that day So speaks the Apostle of that last day called elsewhere the day of the Lord the day of Christ the day of God and the day of the declaration of the just judgement of God according to the Gospel And of this last and great day of general judgement the most interpreters understand this text And truly I beleeve it is partly if not principally intimated and mainly though I cannot think onely here intended Some mens sins are open afore-hand going before to judgement and some men they follow after Likewife also the good works of some are manifest before hand and they that are otherwise cannot be hid Some sinners are here punished that we may acknowledge a providence and yet not all that we may expect a judgement But a day there will be as sure as day whether sooner or later I have not to determine wherein God will take out the precious from the vile the corn from the chaffe the sheep from the goats the good fish and good figs from the bad wherein he will set a price upon his pearls make up his jewels advante his favorites his darlings his peculiar people and put away all the wicked of the earth as drosse Psal 119.119 And albeit he delay haply to do it because his hour is not yet come yet his forbearance is no quittance to the bad Vide Calvin in loc nor deniance to the better sort God first writes things down in his book of remembrance and then afterwards executes them which requires some time between But a time he will finde and that must needs be so for these reasons some respecting God and some the saints themselves but both sorts grounded upon the text and there-hence borrowed SECT I Reason 1 From Gods providence Reas 1 FOr God Sic spectat universos quast singulos sic singulos quasi solos Aug. 1 Tim 4.10 Curiosus plenus negotij Deus Tull. de nat deor first there be many things in Him that may well infer the point in proof as his providence power Faithfulnesse Goodnesse and Justice First his good providence which like a well-drawn picture eyeth each one in the room Neither is he a bare spectatour onely but as chief Agent he wisely ordereth all the worlds disorders to the good of his children He saveth that is he preserveth all men but especially those that beleeve saith the Apostle he is curious and full of businesse saith the Heathen my father worketh hitherunto and I also work saith our Saviour And this is meant by those seven eyes of the Lord Zech. 4.10 That run to and fro thorow the whole earth causing that none shall have cause to despise the day of small things Gods jewels are little in bulk great in worth for as small as they are they shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubb bel with or by those seven And the eyes of the Lord saith another Prophet run to and fro thorow the earth to behold the evil and the good and not so only but to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him and to give them an expected end And this reason is secretly couched in that clause of our text There was a book of remembrance writâ before him Est autem hic liber providentiae 2 Chron 16.9 Jer. 29.11 saith Polanus this is the book of Gods providence wherein as all our members are written which in continuance of time were fashioned had he left out an eye in his common-place book thou hadst wanted it so are all our services Polan in loc Psal 139.16 that they may be recompensed yea and all our sufferings too that they may be remedied and revenged when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Act. 3.19 Thou tellest my wandrings saith David put thou my tears into thy botile are they not in thy book And there-hence he rightly concludes the point in hand ver 9. Then shall mine enemies turn back in the day that I call this I know that God will be for me Psal 56.8.9 or that God will be mine as the same phrase is rendered in this text SECT II. Reason 2. From Gods power NExt there is an almighty power in God called therefore Lord of Hosts in the text exerted and exercised for the relief and rescue of his poor people trampled on by those fat buls of Basan with the foule feet of contempt and cruelty whereby he taketh course that they be not over-trod or too long held under by the insolencies and insultations of their enemies But when they shall seem to themselves and others utterly forlorn and undone so that salvation it selfe cannot save them which was good Davids case Psal 3.2 then shall the Lord be a shield for them their glory their strong tower and the lifter up of their head Ver. 3. And this he shall do with a great deal of ease and expedition as being Lord of Hosts that is of all creatures by the hands of whom he shall send from heaven and save them from the reproach of him that would swallow them up Selah God shall send forth his mercy and his truth Psal 57.3 SECT III. Reason 3. from Gods Truth ANd that passage points us to two other reasons for the point God will send forth his mercy and truth And first his truth I meane his faithfulnesse intimated also in these words of our text Saith the Lord of Hosts These things saith he that is faithfull and true they shall be mine in the day c. I will have a time to make up my Jewels in much mercy Now hath God said it and shall he not accomplish it Is not his decree his facere shall he not fulfill with his hand what he hath promised with his mouth God is not as man that he should lye ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mal. 3.6 neither is he unconstant as other friends that he should change no nor yet unmindfull that he should forget least of all is he unfaithfull that he should falsify God is faithfull who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able c. 1 Cor. 10. He will give patience under the temptation a good use of it and a good issue from out of it in the best time SECT IIII.
Chap. 3.4 where he interprets this Text shall abide many dayes without a King and without Princes and without a sacrifice and without an image and without an Ephod and without Teraphim that is without any forme of civil Government and without any exercise of true yea or of false religion What a comfort was it to good David in his banishment and after the slaughter of the Priests by Saul even fourscore and five persons that did wear a linnen Ephod 1 Sam. 22.18 that Abiathar the son of Abimelech came down to him to Keilah with an Ephod in his hand and that thereby he could enquire of God what to do as he did 1 Sam. 23.6 1 Sam. 30.7 And what a grief and misery to Saul that God had forsaken him in those visible pledges of his favour and would not be found of him Hence he lay all open and naked to his enemies who now might do what they would to him and none to hinder them This also was the case and condition of the people when Aaron by making the golden Calf at their command had made the people naked unto their shame amongst their enemies Exod. 32.25 that is destitute of Gods powerfull protection and deprived of their former priviledges A people or a person may sin away their happinesse and forfeit the favours they formerly enjoyed An hypocrite may lose his gifts and common graces as that idle and evil servant did his talent his light may be put out in obscure darknesse See Ezech. 43.11 17. with the Note and set her as in the day that she was born Not onely nudam tanquam ex matre Naked as ever she was born The Albigenses in France those old Protestants were turned out stark-naked both men and women at the taking of Carcasson by the command of the Popish Bishop and so were thousands of good Christians by the bloody Rebels in Ireland now alate but as she was born of the Amorite and Hittite her navel was not cut her birth-blot was not washed in water nay shee was cast out into the open field and no eye pitied her as the Princesse did Moses and as the shepherdesse did Romulus and Remus See all this and more most elegantly set out Ezek. 16. together with what high honour and sumptuous ornaments God did put upon her verse 11 12. What this people were in the day of their nativity Ioshuah telleth them in part Chap. 24.2 Your father 's dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time even Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor and served other gods And I took your father Abraham out of Vr of the Chaldees as a brand out of that fire c. and gave him Isaacâ And I gave unto Isaac Iacob who together with his children went down into Egypt where they fell to the worshipping of Idols Ezek. 16.26 And although they were there held under miserable servitude yet they continued exceeding wicked and abominable The fire of their afflictions seemed to harden their hearts as much as the fire of the furnace did the bricks they made Hence as they hardened their hearts God hardened his hand and had hastened their destruction had it not been that he had seared the wrath of the enemy lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely Deut. 32 27. and lest they should say our hand is high and the Lord hath not done all this Psal 107.8 The Psalmist was sensible of all this therefore saith Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt they remembred not the multitude of thy mercies but provoked him at the sea even at the Red sea Neverthelesse he saved them for his Names sake c. And what was it else but the respect to his own great Name and the remembrance of his holy covenant that moved the Lord to premonish this perverse people of their present danger and not to suffer his whole wrath to arise against them and to rush in upon them without a Ne forte Am. 4.12 lest I set her as in the day c. The esoâe thus will I do unto thee O Israel and because I will do this unto thee prepare to meet thy God with intreaties of peace lest your house be left unto you desolate Luc. 21. least wraâh seise upon you and that without remedy And make her as a wilderness after that â have brought her out of a wildernesse and set her in a land that floweth with milk and hony God can quickly curse our blessings and destroy us after that he hath done us good See this excellency set forth Isay 5.5 and Jer. 17.5.6 Psal 107.34 Zech. 7.14 with the Note there and take heed lest living in gods good land but not by Gods good lawes we forfeit all into his hand and he take the forfeiture For he had rather that wild beasts should devour the good of a land yea that Satyres and devils should dance there then that wicked and stubborn sinners should enjoy it If Philip of Spain could say he had rather have no subjects then Lutheran subjects And if the Councell of Tholouse out of a like blind zeale for propagating Popery did decree that the very house should be pâlled down in qua fuerit inventus baereticus wherein an heretick as they then called Gods true servants waâ found How much more shall the King of heaven the righteous judg root out and pluck up a rabble of rebels that refuse to be ruled by him Idolatry is a Land-desolating sin and brings in the devouring sword Judg 5.8 1. Joh. 5.21 Psal 78.58.59.62 Jer. 22.7.8.9 Cavete ab Idolis And slay them with thirst Surgit hic oratio surgit afflictio To be slame with thirst is a grievous judgment Lysimachus parted with his kingdome for a draught of water in a dry land and made himself of a great King a miserable Captive to the King of Getes Darius slying from his enemies Plut. was glad to drink of a dirty puddle that had carrion lying in it professing that it was the sweetest draught that ever he drank in his life Dives would have given all that ever he was worth for a drop of cold water The members infeebled for want of due moisture seek to the veynes for relief the veines to the liver the Liver to the Entrals the Entials to the ventricle âhe ventricle to the orifice But these being not abâe to impart what they cannot receive One he cryes Father Abraham But hospitable Abraham hath it not to him Rab. Samuel fire and brimstone storme and tempest is now the portion of his cup extream thirst is a piece of Hels pains Act. Mon. fol. 1547. and one of the greatest of earths miseries A dear servant of God in Queen Maries dayes kept and pined in prison would faine have drunk his own water but for want of nour shmânt could make none Inward refreshings he had even those divine consolations of the maâtyâs he drank of the
river of Gods pleasures Psal 26.8 which cast him into a sweet slâââ at which time one clad all in white seemed to stand before hâm and to say Samuel Samuel be of good cheer for after this day tho shâât never be hungry or thirsty more for soon after this he was buried and from that time till he should suffer he felt neither hunger nor thirst as himself declared though he were kept by the cruel B of Norwich with 2. or 3. morsels of bread every daâ and thâee spoonfuls onely of water Mercer expounds this text of spirituall thiâst the same that was foretold by Amos. Am. 8 Ideoque subdit vers 4. saith Oecolampadius and therefore God addeth in the next verse that he will not have mercy upon her childrer but will kill them with death huââ them to hell as he threateneth to do Jesâbel's children Ren. 2.23 Oh when the poor soul shall be in a wildernesse in a dry and thirsty land scorched and parched with the sense of sin and feare of wrath when the terrours of God fall thick upon it even the invenomed arrowes of the Almighty Besides the bufferings of Satan that haile shot hell-shot of fiery darts Eph. 6. so called for the dolour and distemper they work in allusion to the poisoned darts used in war by the Scythyans and other nations the venemous heat whereof is like a fire in the flesh when conscience I say shall by this means lie burning and boyling what would it not gieve for a cup of consolation Phil. 2.1 Gen. 16.14 Judg. 15.19 yea for any consolation in Christ as the Apostle hath it for any Beer-lahai-roi to fill the bottle at yea for any En-haccore any cleft in a jaw-bone to revive a thirsty Sampson that must else be slaine with thirst David never so desired after the water of the well of Bethlehem as he did after God in a dry and thirsty land where no water was Psal 63.1 As the hunted Hart the Hind saith the Septuagint panteth after the water-brookes so panteth or brayeth my soul after thee My soul thirsteth for God c. Oh ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Psal 42 1.2.3 when shall I come and appear before God The tears have been my meat c. Hunters say the Hart sheds tears or somthing like when hotly pursued and cannot escape He is a beast thirsty by nature and whose thirst is much increased when he is hunted The female especially in whom the passions are stronger then in males Christ that Aicleth Shachar that is the morning-Hart or stagg as he seemeth to be stiled Psal 22.1 in the title felt his soul heavie to the death in his bitter agony and tasted so deep of that dreadfull cup that in a cold winter night he swat great clods of blood which through cloths and all fell down to the ground And when this lamb of God was even a roasting in the fire of his fathers wrath he cryed out I thirst At which time men gave him cold comfort even vineger to drink but God his Father most sweetly supported him so that he might better say then David In the multitude of my perplexed thoughts within me thy comforts have refreshed my soul But what shall those poore creatures do that are strangers to the promises and have no water of the well of life to relieve them when Gods wrath is as a fire in their bones and falleth upon their flesh like molten-lead or running-bell-mettle Then they that have suckt in sin as an Ox sucks in water shall suck the gall of aspâ and venom of vipers and have none to pitty them Francis Spira fele this spirituall thirst c. Verse 4. And I will not have mercy upon her children Lo here another And to those foure afore and more dreadfull then the rest Like as that in the 16. of Jeremy vers 13. where I will not shew you favour was worse to them then their captivity in a strange countrey Say that God do cast off his people yet if he say Ezek. 7.5 they shall be as if I had not cast them off and will hear them Zech. 10.6 the affliction is nothing so great as when he sends an evill an onely evill without mixture of mercy as here Oh this pure wrath this judgment without mercy must needs be very heavy when it is once grown to hatred there is little hope Hos 9.15 All their wickednesse is in Gilgal for there I hated them God is not of himself ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a hater of mankind but the contrary Titus 3.4 But such is the venemous nature of sin and so contrary it is to Gods both holy nature and just law ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he cannot but hate it in whomsoever he finds it yet with this difference that he pitties it rather in his Saints hates it in his enemies as we hate poyson in a toad but we pitty it in a man because in the one it is their nature in the other their disease And as revenge is the next effect of hatred wicked men may expect no better dealing from God then a man would afford to his stubborn enemy Pharoah had plague upon plague neither did the Lord leave him till he had dasht the breath out of his body so true is that of the Psalmist Psal 18. With the froward thou wilt wrestle and that of Solomon The back slider in heart shall be filled with his own wayes He hath made a match with mischief he shall have his belly-full of it Prov. 14 He would needs have his own way and had it for I would have purged him but he would not be purged Now I will have my way another while for thou shalt not be purged from thy filthinesse any more till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee Ezek. 24.13 So our Saviour to those refractory Jewes in the Gospell I would have gathered thee as the hen gathereth her chickens I would but thou wouldst not therefore they shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee And I will not have mercy upon her children Lo God is so incensed by a generall defection that he will make havock and destroy even the mother with the children which was Jacobs great fear Gen. 32.11 yea he will dash the mother in pieces upon the children as Shalman did at Betharbel Hos 10.14 he will put young and old into the same bag together as fowlers deal by birds which yet was forbidden by a law ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Qualis mater talis filia Partus sequitur ventrem Deut. 22.6 his eyes shall not spare children as Isai 13.19 And why For they are the children of whoredoms They are maliex malis as Hierom interprets it they love and live in the adulteries of their mother they take after her as the birth usually followeth the belly and as in a Syllogisme the conclusion followes the weaker proposition Those Jewes in the Gospel boldly boasted
fulfilled at the restitution of all things which they make to be at the time of the call of the Jewes But when I find Nebuchadnezzar and other enemies of the Church to be called Lions Leopards Wolves c. as Jerem. 5.6 and elswhere I cannot but think that these might be here meant in part at least Virg. ponentque ferocia Poeni Corda volente Deo according to Peters vision Act. 10. and that God will so meeken the spirits of his converts that they shall not hurt nor destroy in all his holy mountain Esay 11.9 The literall sense is very good I grant but yet it is still to be taken as all such promises are 1. with exception of the cross here 2. with expectation of the full accomplishment hereafter in the state of perfection And I will break the bowe and the sword and the battle out of the earth These words seem to be opposed to that threat Chap. 1.5 I will break the bowe of Israel c. And it is as if he should say After that I have broken their power and tamed their pride by the enemies forces then I will punish those enemies and so take order with them that they shall not hurt my people by any of their hostilities Lo peace is a piece of Gods Covenant and covenant-mercies are very sweet when all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth Psal 25.10 Not mercy onely but truth too that comes by vertue of a covenant Mark what God saith to Abraham Gen. 17.20 21. I have blessed Ishmael twelve Princes shall he beget but my Covenant will I establish with Isaac And in the same Chapter Divines observe that in ten verses thereof God repeateth his Covenant which he made with Abraham thirteen times to note thus much that that was the mercy indeed that must satisfie Abraham in all his troubles sorrows and afflictions For the Covenant of Gods peace shall not be removed no not when the mountains shall depart and the hils be removed Esay 54.10 The Lord will give strength to his people the Lord will blesse his people with peace Psal 29.11 and will make them to lie down safely Being gathered under my wings they shall repose themselves upon my power and providence committing themselves to me in well-doing All true and solid security whether inward or outward all true peace whether of countrey or of conscience floweth from Gods favour Psal 3. 4. Hence the Apostle wisheth grace and peace and the Angels sang Ephes 1.2 Luke 2 14. Deut. 33.16 Glory be to God on high and peace on earth even the peace of good-will toward men the good-will of him that dwelt in the bush The Lord is with me saith David I will not fear what man can do unto me I will sleep and wake and wake and sleep again Psal 3. for the Lord sustaineth me No wonder I slept so soundly and safely said King Philip when Antipater watched me Abner watched not so well when David fetcht away Sauls spear and pitcher and was barely told of it Phil. 4.7 1 Pet. 1.5 Lev. 26.5 Psal 116.7 Ishbosheth was slain whiles he slept The Saints go ever under a double guard the peace of God within them and the power of God without them and may therefore in utramque aurem dormire lie down safely See Ier. 23.6 call their souls to rest Verse 19. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever This because it could not be easily beleeved is thrice repeated We beleeve not what ever men may dream to the contrary without much ado and many conflicts When faith goes about to lay hold on Christ the devils raps her on the fingers and would beat her off Hence she is fain to take great pains for it to work hard for her living The Apostle speaks more then once of the work of faith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Thess 1.3 and 2 Epist 1.11 And it is no lesse difficult say Divines to beleeve the Gospel then to fulfill the Law No man can come unto the Son except the Father draw him the soul naturally hangs back and had as lief put off its immortality as put on Christ Joh. 6. The devil also doth his utmost to hinder The contest was not so great betwixt Michael and him concerning Moses his dead Body as it is here betwixt the beleever and him concerning Christs living body And should not God mightily assist the businesse would never be done Hence faith is called the faith of Gods power Tarnan Col. 2.12 the faith of his operation and what an Almighty power God doth therein put forth is elegantly described by the Apostle in that sixfold gradation Ephes 1.19 which shews it to be more then a morall swasion Betroth thee I will I will I will saith God here and some think the Sacred Trinity is here though darkly according to the manner of those times brought in betrothing the Church in this trina repetitio And mark that he doth not say I will be reconciled unto thee and receive thee again after thy foul-playes with me for Reconciliationes ferè sunt vulpinae amicitiae inter homines Men are seldom reconciled heartily but I will espouse thee marry thee unto me and that for ever I will null the Bill of divorce love you no lesse then if you had continued true to me or were now a pure Virgin Quis hanc Dei bonitatem dignè collaudet saith Drusius Who can sufficiently set forth this goodnesse of God When God once pardoneth sin he will remember it no more he will not come with back-reckonings Discharges in justification are never repealed or called in again Peccata non redeunt is a true axiom and it is no lesse true that peccata non minuunt justificationem God can pardon sins of all sizes and assoon disperse the thick cloud as the cloud Esay 44.22 See the matchlessnesse of his mercy to a repenting adulteresse Jer. 3.5 What greater love can he shew to her then to marry her again and rejoyce over her as a bridegroom rejoyceth over his bride Esay 62.5 Yea to rest in his love and to joy over her with singing Zeph. 3.17 and to do this for ever as it is here promised so that there shall be no more breach of conjugall love and communion for ever betwixt them Ama amorem illius Oh love this love of his saith Bernard and reciprocate And as the wife will keep her bed onely for her husband saith Mr. Bradford Martyr although in other things she is content to have fellowship with others Acts Mon. fol. 1503. as to speak sit eat drink go c. so our consciences which are Christs wives must needs keep the bed that is Gods sweet promises alonely for our selves and our husband there to meet together to embrace and laugh together and to be joyfull together If sin the law the devil or any thing would creep into the bed and lie there then complain to thine husband
bee wise and to do good hee setteth himself in a way that is not good hec abhorreth not evil Psal 36.3 4. The words may be read thus The good God hath rejected Israel the enemy shall pursue him according to that in the Psalme God hath forsaken him persecute and take him for there is none to deliver him Psal 71.11 Sure it is that the Lord is with us while we are with him and if we seek him he will be found of us But if we forsake him he will forsake us And if he forsake us wo be to us chap. 9.12 we are in danger to be caught up by every paltry enemy as young Lapwings are to be snatcht up by every buzzard If Israel cast away the thing that is good â Chron. 15.2 what marvell if evil hunt him to overthrow him Psal 140.11 and if he find himself in all evil in the midst of the Congregation and the assembly Prov. 5.14 Hence Cains fear when cast out by God and Sauls complaint that the Philistines were upon him and God had forsaken him Verse 4. They have set up kings but not by me c. The Septuagint and vulgar Latine render it They have reigned to themselves like as St. Paul telleth the haughty Corinthians who carried aloft by their waxen wings domineered and despised others ye have reigned as kings without us c. 1 Cor. 4.8 But our reading is according to the Originall and so they are charged with a double defection the one Civil from the house of David they have set up kings c. the other Ecclesiasticall from the sincere service of God they had made them idols For the first it was not their fault to set up kings but to do it without God without his licence and approbation They took counsel but not of God they covered with a covering but not of his spirit that they might adde sin to sin Esay 30.1 They went headlong to work in setting up Jeroboam the son of Nebat For although the thing were done by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God as was likewise Christs crucifixion Acts 2.23 See 1 King 11.31 17. and Chap. 12.15 24. yet because the people were led by their own pride and ambition to chuse a new king without either asking Gods consent or eyeing his decree they did it rashly and seditiously neithey aimed they at any thing else but at the easing of their burdens and drawing to themselves the wealth of the kingdome As for Jeroboam it is before noted that although he had it cleared to him that Gods will was he should be king over the ten Tribes yet because it was a will of Gods decree not of his command as of a duty to be done by him and because he did not as David who when he had the promise of the kingdome yea was anointed king yet invaded not the kingdom but waited till he was lawfully exalted thereunto by God therefore passeth he for an usurper And the people are here worthily reprehended sith whatsoever is not of faith is sin and it is obedience when men obey a Divine precept but not ever when they follow a Divine instinct they have made princes c. Some render it They have removed Princes R. Sal. Jark as if in the word Hasiru Sin were put for Samech they have taken liberty to make and unmake Princes at their pleasure as the Roman Army did Emperours and as that potent Earl of Warwick in Henry the sixths time who is said to have carried a king in his pocket But because the former reading is confirmed by the Chaldee Paraphrase and the sence is agreeable to what went before neither read we of any kings of Israel deposed by the people we retain it as the better Of their silver and their gold have they made them idols Of the guts and garbage of the earth had they made them terricula fray-bugs or molestations Gnatsabim terrorem enim tristitiam duntaxat afferunt suis cultoribus for they cause terrour and heavinesse onely to those that worship them Polan Their sorrow shall be multiplied that hasten after another God Psal 16.4 The Greek Churches for instance so set upon Image-worship and therefore now subjected to the Turkish tyranny a type whereof were these ten Tribes carried captive by the Assyrian without any return Idols are called griefs or sorrows saith Peter Martyr because they torment the minde and trouble the conscience neither can they quiet or pacifie it Com. in 1 Sam. 31.9 so that Idolaters must needs be alwayes in doubt and despair as Papists are whose whole religion is a doctrine of desperation Their penances and pilgrimages to such or such an Idoll might still their consciences for a while but this was a truce rather then a peace a palliate cure which would not hold long a corrupting of the sergeant but not compounding with the Creditour that they may be cut off Not their silver and gold the matter of their idols as some sence it but the whole nation Princes and people together Idolatry is a God-provoking and a land-desolating sinne as in this Prophecy Often it is not so much the enemies sword as the sin of idolatry that destroyeth cities and kingdoms through the justice and jealousie of Almighty God Verse 5. Thy calf O Samaria hath cast thee off That is it can do thee no stead nor deliver thee from the destroyer Be not afraid of such mawmets saith Jeremy for they cannot do evil neither also is it in them to do good ãâ¦ã chap. 10.5 they can neither hurt nor help for an idoll is nothing in the world 1 Cor. 8.4 nothing but a meer fiction it hath no god-head or power divine in it self as the following words shew that there is none other God but one How then can help be reasonably expected from it Israel had cast off the thing that is good for calf-worship ver 3. therefore is he worthily cast off by his calf called here Samaria's calf or calves because that was the chief City the Palace of the King and is therefore put for the whole Province and their idols called a calf by way of contempt as the brazen-serpent is called Nehushtan or a piece of brasse when once it was Idolized See how Rabshakeh insults over those Heathen-deities 2 King 18.33 34 35. and blasphemously applieth it to the God of Israel who never casteth off his faithfull servants but is with them in trouble to deliver them and honour them Psal 91.15 Surely the Lord will not cast off his faithfull people neither will he forsake his inheritance Psal 94.14 Behold God will not cast away a perfect man Job 8.20 But though he cause grief yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies Lam. 3.31 32. some reads it thus Thy calf O Samaria hath been carried away into a far countrey namely into Assyria as the idols of the nations which were overcome were carried away captive
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 Moâb 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 Reubâns 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 bâook 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Grac. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
chap. 9.17 for this Chapter is a continuation of that though Gualter make it the beginning of Hosea's seventh Sermon He that excellent He that Aph-Hu 2 King 2.14 Even He proved by five reasons to be one of Gods Attributes by Mr. Weemss in his Exposition of the Morall Law Part. 1. pag. 162. Vide sis Others render it thus It shall break down their altars Ipsum cor It that is their Heart which indeed is the next Antecedent and happy had it been for them if their heart divided from their wickednesse had been active in breaking down their Altars in the Prophet Esay's sence chap. 27.9 as a fruit of their true repentance By this therefore that is by their affliction sanctified shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit and good fruit too to take âay his sinne When in testimony of his sound repentance and self-abhorrency for former idolatry he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk-stones that are beaten in sunder the groves and images shall not stand up But it appears not any where that Israel was so well-affected though grievously afflicted that his divided heart prompted him to any such holy practise Rather it brought ruine upon him to the decolling of his altars and spoyling of his images which he so doted on and delighted in and so might well say to him as Apollodorus the tyrants heart did ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who dreamed one night that he was flea'd by the Scythians and boyled in a caldron and that his heart spake to him out of the kettle It is I that have drawn thee to all this thou mayest thank me for all Verse 3. For now they shall say We have no king sc to do us good he is no better to us now then a king of clouts he cannot protect us or deliver us out of the hands of our enemies If we crie unto him as she did Help O king he must needs answer as there If the Lord do not help thee whence I help thee 2 King 6.16 27. Vain is the help of man now that God sets against us Feared him we have not and now help us he will not Est ergo interrogatio negantium desperantiuns saith River This is the question not of penitentiaries as Lyra thinketh but of such as despair and deny that help can be had either from God whom they have slighted or from their king who is over-matched as Asa was by the Ethiopians when he came forth against them with an Army of five hundred thousand but was encountred by an Army of a thousand thousand the biggest I think that we read of in the book of God 2 Chron. 14. and was therefore fain to crie Help us O Lord our God for we rest in thee and in they Name not in our own strength we go against this multitude ver 11. because we feared not the Lord We trembled not at his word as chap. 9.17 and now it hath taken hold of us Zech. 1.6 See the Note By our prophanenesse we have enraged God against us by our creature-confidence wee have made him our enemy and now all too late we acknowledge our implety we bewail our folly for what should a king do to us what can he do for us more then weep over us as Xerxes did over his Army cry Alas Alas that great city Babylon c. as those kings her paramours Rev. 18.9 10. wish they had never raigned as Adrian Felix si nan imperitassent c. Once the cry of this people was Nay but we will have a king and they had him but no such great joy of him After that again they would have a king of their own choosing Ieroboam I mean and he proved a singular mischief to them as did likewise all his Successours They doted upon a king and put their trust in Princes but they soon found that in them there was no help Psal 146.3 that they could not rescue them out of the punishing hands of the king of kings the living God Verse 4. They have spoken words Bubbles of words great swelling words as 2 Pet. 2.18 thereby thinking to bear down and outface the Prophets and the godly-party They speake violent words as the Chaldee hath it robustious words as if they would yet carry it though their king could not help them by confederacies and covenants confirmed with oathes holding that rule of the Priscilianists for Gospel as they say Iura perjura secretum prodere noli And that maxime of Machiavel that Religion it self in contracts and covenants should not be cared for but onely the appearance because the credit is an help the use a cumber but all these are but words saith the Prophet and those but winde they shall do them no good because without God Quid nisus risus conamina inania vana Conventus ventus foedera verba mera Swearing falsly in making a covenant A foul businesse whether it be understood of covenanting with God whereof before or with the Assyrian with whom they broke to ingratiate with So king of Egypt 2 King 17. How God plagueth perjurers c. covenant-breakers see Zach. 5.3 and Mal. 3.5 with the Notes He will appoint the sword to avenge the quarrell of his Covenant Lev. 26.25 as he did upon Jerusalem not leaving there one stone upon another upon those seven golden candlesticks long since broken in pieces for their breach of covenant upon Bohemiah that seat of the first open and authorized Reformation whatever will yet become of England c. thus judgement springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field Heb. Of my field where I have plowed and made long furrowes fitted for good seed wherein I looked for judgement but behold oppression for righteousnesse but behold a crie Esay 5.7 This root of bitternesse these stalks of hemlock that venemous weed full of deadly poyson is bad any where but worst of all when found in Gods field noted for an habitation of justice and mountain of holinesse Jer. 31.23 Where should a man look for justice but where holinesse is professed Luther sith primo pracepto reliquorum omnium observantia praecipitur the second Table of the Law is included in the first yea the keeping of all the ten is enjoyned in the first commandement Velejus Of Rome it was anciently said that all the neighbouring cities were the better for her example of singular care to do justice It should be so said of the city of God where when judgement is turned into wormwood and the fruit of righteousnesse into hemlock as Amos 6.12 Well it may grow till it be ripe in the field but God will not suffer it to shed to grow again but cuts it up by a just and seasonable vengeance Verse 5. The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear sc When God shall break the necks of their altars and spoil their images as verse 2. They feared not God by their own confession verse 3. therefore
once said Judg. 9.29 Vbi est Rex tuus ubinam nunc servit te c. Where is the king where is he let him now save thee in all thy cities so Polanus rendreth it Can they save thee who cannot save themselves It is a Sarcasticall concession See the like Deut. 32.37 38. Judg. 10.4 Am. 4.4 And observe that Gods to deride and insult over men in their carnall confidence and his people are licenced to do so too so it be out of pure zeal Psal 52.6 7. and not out of private revenge and thy judges Or chief Officers Princes that are necessary to a King and are called his Comites cousins and counsellours whereof thou saidst and wast set upon it thou wouldst needs have them contra gentes as they say and hadst soon enough of them Strong affections bring strong afflictions Give me a king and princes It was partly their ambition and partly discontent with the present government as the present is alwayes grievous that prompted them to this request ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thucyd. and they had it but for a mischief It is not alwayes in mercy that prayers are answered for Deus saepe dat iratus quod negat propitius God oft throwes that to his enemies when they are over-importunate which he denies to his friends in great mercy to their souls They do best that acknowledging him the onely wise God pray Not our but thy will be done c. Verse 11. I gave thee a king in mine anger As once before he gave them Quails to choak them A king that is all those kings they had since they fell off from the house of David These were Gods gifts but giftlesse-gifts which hee cast upon them in his anger ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for a punishment both of the sinnes of Davids ho use and likewise of the peoples rebellion It was ab irato potius quam ab exorato Deo Take him saith He sith you will needs have him with all that shall follow after The hypocrite shall raigne that the people may ensnared Job 34.30 Set thou a wicked man over him saith the Psalmist and let Satan stand at his right hand Psal 109.6 See Dan. 8.23 Saul was an hypocrite Jeroboam a wicked man so were all his successours in that Throne Levit. 26.17 it is written as an heavy curse of God If you still trespasse against me I will set Princes over you that shall hate you mischievous odious princes odious to God malignant to the people and took him away in my wrath Heb. In mine immoderate wrath that passed the bounds This is spoken of God after the manner of men for he cannot exceed or over-do fury is not in him Esay 27.4 but here he threateneth to take away king and kingdome together as he did Hosea by the Assyrian that carried them all captive Observe here that better a bad Magistrate then none for this latter is the fruit of Gods utter indignation Those Anabaptists that from this Text inferred that no Christian can with a good conscience take upon him kingly dignity should have observed that as an evil king is reckoned as a plague to a people so a good king is to be held a speciall blessing to them Verse 12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up sc in a bundle or fardle or fagot as the French hath it And like as all fardles are opened on a Fair-day so shall Ephraims iniquities be brought to light and punished at the last day As the housholder bindeth up the tares in bundles at harvest and burneth them so shall it be in the end of the world The Son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all scandals and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire c. Matth. 13.30 41 42. As the Clark of Assizes bindes up the inditements of malefactours in bundles or seals them up in a bag for more surety and at the Assizes brings his bag takes them out and reads them so will it be at that last and great day My transgression is sealed up in a bag saith Iob and thou sowest up mine iniquity viz. as the writings or informations of a processe which is ready to be sentenced See Deut. 32.34 Ier. 17.1 Hos 9.9 Sinners shall one day know that Gods for bearance is no quittance Job 14. â that however he is silent for a season and thereupon they are apt fondly to conceit him to be such another as themselves yet He will confute them and set their sins in order before their eyes Psal 50.21 Their actions are already in print in heaven and God will one day read them aloud in the ears of all the world And then though their sinne be hid for present all shall out to their utter shame and everlasting contempt Dan. 12.2 that last light of the day of wrath shall reveal all Rom. 2.5 punish all Hos 9.9 Whatever God hath threatned shall then be inflicted whatever arrowes are in the bow-string shall then flee and hit and stick deep And the longer the Lord is in drawing the heavier they will light Morae dispendium foenoris duplo pensabitur the longer He forbeareth the heavier He punisheth So that there shall be no cause why sinners should say Where is the God of judgement Mal. 2.17 See the Note God will enquire after their iniquity and search after their sin Iob 10.6 Verse 13. The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him This Common-wealth was before compared to a mother chap. 1. 3. And as a woman that hath conceived is not for a while discerned to be with child till she biggen and burnish and grow near her time so is it with sinners see it elegantly set forth by S. Iames chap. 1.14 15. The sorrows of a travailing woman are known to be unexpected exquisite and inevitable so shall Gods judgements be upon the workers of iniquity such as they shall never be able to avert to avoid or to abide This is set forth by an apt similitude ordinary in holy Scripture Mic. 4.9 10. Psal 48.7 Ier. 49.29 and 50.43 c. And whereas some might say A travailing woman is soon delivered her pain is sharp but short she hath hope not onely of an end but of a birth the joy whereof maketh her remember her anguish no more Ioh. 16.21 The Prophet replieth that it is otherwise with Ephraim he is an unwise sonne that will be the death both of his mother and of himself He hath no list to help himself and to get free of the straights and petils of the birth by passing thorow the narrow womb of Repentance and being born anew God stands over him stretching out his hands all the day long to do a midwives office to take him out of the womb as Psal 22.9 to cut his navell and wash off his blood to salt him and swaddle him as Ezek. 16.4 but he hath no minde
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 âay 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
for their dignity they are the Lords Ministers as likewise the good Angels are and their fellow-servants so according to their duty they must be first in holy exercises going in and out before Gods people in the perforâânce of their trust and that worthy work of theirs 1 Tim. 3.1 for the which ãâã are to be very highly esteemed in love 1 Thess 5.13 Let Ministers therefore pray hard for their people as did Aaron Samuel Paul c. Let their prayers at âasts especially be well watered with teares those effectuall Oratours that cry to God for mercy Psal 39.12 as blood doth for vengeance Gen. 4.16 as theirs were Judg. 20.23 and Judges 2.5 and 1 Sam. 7.6 and as Ezra chap. 10.1 and âremy chap. 9.1 and 13.17 and why but for corruption in Magistrates Ministers All sorts a generall defection drawing on a generall desolation Oh let Gods two faithfull witnesses be clothed in sack-cloth Rev. 11.3 teaching Gods people with many tears and temptations Act. 20.19 20 31. both publikely and from house to house yea not ceasing to warn them night and day with tears to redeem their own sorrows by sound repentance It is said of Athanasius that by his tears as by the bleeding of a chast Vine he cured the leprosie of that tainted Age. And of Luther that by his prayers and tears he had prevailed with God that Popery should not over-run his countrey Act. Mon. In vita Luth. during his dayes When I am dead said He let those pray that can pray Melancton his Colleague writeth that he constantly prayed with abundance of tears for he knew that as Musick upon the waters sounds farther and more harmoniously then upon the land so prayers joyn'd with tears finde much respect with Christ who could not but look back upon the weeping women and comfort them though he was then going to his death between the porch and the altar This was that void place where the Priests prayed after the sacrifices were offered Ezek. 8.16 As in man there is Body Soul and Spirit 1 Thess 5.23 so in the Temple at Jerusalem 1. between Solomons Porch Act. 3.11 and the Altar of burnt-offering was the outer great Court 2. Chron. 4.9 where the people met for preaching and prayer Next there was the second Court for the Priests onely and here was the Altar of incense Luke 1.9 10. Thirdly the most Holy place for the High-priest to enter once a year Num. 17.10 The first is here spoken of the outer Court where the priests might bee best heard to pray and seen to weep and the people might comport and say Amen the want whereof St. Paul counts no small losse 1 Cor. 14.16 and let them say Spare thy people O Lord c. Other exercises there were usually performed at publike fasts as Reading the Scriptures Jer. 36.5 27. expounding and preaching Neh. 8.4 8. examining censuring and punishing such sinnes as then most raigned Neh. 9.2 Ezr. 9.2 Josh 7. and 22. Binding themselves to God by a Covenant of better obedience Nehem. 10.18 29 30. Contributing to good uses Esay 58.7 and 2 Chron. 31.3 4. But the chief businesse and duty of the day was as here Prayer to God for pardon of sinne and removall of shame and other punishment whence also it was called A day of Atonement or Expiation Spare thy people O Lord c. Brevis oratio sed tota affectibus ardens saith Mercer A short prayer but very affectionate So are all Scripture-forms they have fulnesse of matter in fewnesse of words Quam multa quam paucis How much in a little as Tully said of Brutus his Laconicall Epistle See Numb 6.24 25 26. Hos 14.2 Luke 18.13 Matt. 6.9 10 c. which is both a prayer and a pattern as the standard is the exactest measure Why then should any man fall out with forms and call them idols odious as swines-flesh c Why should they say that the use of the Lords Prayer is the Note of a formalist Is not this to speak evil of good c. and give not thine heritage to reproach Suffer us not for our sinnes to be forced by famine to beg bread of our enemies the Ammonites and Moabites for that will reflect upon thee Lord and turn to thy dishonour as if thou hadst no care of thine heritage couldst not maintain thy servants See a like prayer to this Num. 14.11.12 16 17 c. and Deut. 9.26 27 28. and learn to deprecate shame and reproach as a fruit of sinne and a piece of the curse Deut. 28. Lev. 26. 1 Sam. 2.30 Beg of God 1. To keep thee from reproachfull courses such as may expose thee to the scandall of the weak and scorn of the wicked David is much in this petition 2. To hide thee in a pavilion from the strife of tongues Psal 31.20 either to preserve thee from aspersions or so to oil thy name that they may not stick 3 To give thee good repute and report among the best 'T was God gave Solomon honour and he promiseth it to all his as a reward of religion Prov. 22.4 that the heathen should rule over them It is an heavy hand of God upon his people when Pagans or Papagans have dominion over them Neh. 9.9 10 27 c. Psal 79.1 c. and 80.1 2 c. and 137.1 2 c. Lam. 1.2 4 5. They are bloody in their positions and dispositions See Rom. 1.31 their government is tyrannicall such as the Spaniards is over the poor Indians the Turks over Greece the Rebels over the English in Ireland c. The Saints also are 1. Consciencious and cannot yeeld to their unlawfull commands as the three children 2. Zealous and cannot but contest as Steven Paul at Athens the Martyrs 3. Friendlesse and destitute Matt. 10.16 as Paul afore Nero Christ afore Pilate forsaken of all Pray therefore as here and prevent such a mischief by shunning Ierusalems sinnes of ignorance ingratitude incorrigiblenesse formallity c. and by putting our necks under the yoke of Christs obedience observing from the heart that form of doctrine which he hath delivered unto us Rom. 6.17 wherefore should they say among the people Where is their God q. d. Why should they cast our religion in our dish why should they twit us with thy neglect of us why should thy name be blasphemed and thy power traduced as it were on a publike theatre This was that which most galled these good souls as it had oft done David before them that God with whom they quartered armes should be reproached for their sakes and thorow their sides and his glory defaced This was as a murthering-knife in Davids bones Psal 42.10 and worse to him then all the evill that he had suffered from his youth up Our nature is most impatient of reproach for there is none so mean but thinks himself worthy of some regard and a reproachfull scorne shewes an utter disrespect which flowes from the very superfluity of malice You
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 infructuosâm 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
banishment by reason of the barbarous usage of the fouldiers that led him along hired for that purpose sweetly and blessedly breathed out his last the English Exiles in Queen Maries time whereof many returned and did excellent service here Calv. in loc But I doubt not saith judicious Calvin but God intends here a spiritual gathering together of his people into one body by the bond of faith and this was principally fulfilled after the death of Christ who died for that Nation And not for that Nation onely bus that also hee should gather together into one the children of God that were scattered abroad Joh. 11.51 52. so that those whom God hath gathered together and caused to return non pedibus vel navigio for that needs not to Hierusalem which is above which is the mother of us all from the lands of the East of the West of the North and of the South Psal 107.2 3. shall praise the Lord together as the Psalmist hath it and will return your recompense upon your own head God delights to retaliate to bloody and decitufull men especially as were easie to instance in the Egyptians Adonibezek Polybius Agag Attilius Regulus the Roman Generall who dealt most cruelly with the Carthaginians and was shortly after as cruelly dealt with by them when fallen into their hands Here at home in K. Edw. the sixths time the remembrance of Somerset much moved the people to fall from Northumberland who had wrought his death in his greatest attempts and to leave him to his fatall fall whereat also they openly rejoyced and presented to him handkerchiefs dipt in the blood of Somerset Life of Edw. 6. by Sir I. H. for whom they thought he suffered rather late then undeserved punishment So certain it is saith the Histarian that the debts both of cruelty and mercy go never unpaid Verse 8. And I will sell your sonnes and your daughters And so the scene shall be soon altered and a strange vicissitude easily observed But when was this done or was it ever done Ego putarim factum etsi scriptura non dicat quando saith Tarnovius I suppose it was done though the Scripture say not when Others flie to Allegories and understand the Text of the conversion of the Gentiles I like their way best that say That which God did for the Churces sake the Church it self is said to do it For their cruelties to the Jewes God delivered these Nations up into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar first who had a hard tug of it and had therefore Egypt given him for his wages and afterwards by Alexander the Great who took Tyre and rased it And this was that great service spoken of Ezek. 29.18 wherein every head wasmade bald and every shoulder bare in filling up that strait of the Sea which separated it from the Continent before it could be taken But taken it was together with Sidon and Philistia and their children sold as far as Sabaea which was then counted the utmost part of the known earth Mat. 12.42 Luke 11.31 being part of Arabia the Happy or as some will the Desert All this was done for the Jews sake though the world little considereth it It was enough for them that they knew it to be so according to this Prophecy and that God did hereby shew his high esteem of them by avenging them of their enemies and by thus giving men for them and people for their life Esay 43.4 for the Lord hath spoken it And will therefore surely do it neither could their Apollo deliver them out of Gods hands though to prevent his forsaking of them when besieged by Alexander the Tyrians chained and nailed that Idoll of theirs to a post that they might be sure of it But all would not do Verse 9. Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles Oratio tota est figurata saith Pareus All this following discourse is figurative Hortatio sarcasmon habens saith Mercer It is an Ironicall challenge to all Gods enemies to do their worst to Christ and his Church Somewhat like that Iudg. 9.29 Increase thine Army and come out which seems to be the challenge that Gaal sent to Abimelech by some messenger Or that of Rabshakeh Esay 36.8 I will give thee two thousand horses if thou be able on thy part to set riders on them Or that Esay 8.9.10 prepare warre Heb. sanctifie warre that is laying aside all other businesse give your selves wholly to it like as at holy services they were called upon Hoc agere to minde the businesse in hand and nothing else as Scanderbeg did out of whose lips whiles he was fighting the very blood would ftart so earnest he was at it wake up the mighty men the Giants the champions such as were Goliath the Gittite Davids band of worthies Achilles Albertus Marquesse of Brandeburg who for his valour was called Achilles Teutonicus Put what metall you can into these your Mighties that they may do their utmost But withall know that they shall soon meet with their matches viz Gods Mighty Ones mentioned verse 11. let all the men of war draw neare that they may joyn battel and not stand daring and facing one another as the two armies of Christians and Turks did in the dayes of Baldwin the second king of Ierusalem for three moneths together Turk hist fol. 27. and then rose and returned without any notable thing done Speed 963. It is the ancient and manfull fashion saith our Chronicler of the English who are naturally most impatient of lingering mischiefs to put their publike quarrels quickly to the triah of the sword Praestat semel quam semper was Cesars motto and his property was Credere nil actum dum quid superesset agendum Lucan Verse 10. Beat your plowshares into swords Come with the best preparation you can make that ye may seeme as they say of a travelling Turk to be so many walking armouries Voyage into Levant let the weak say I am strong Come forth full and whole yong and old weak and strong all that are able to bear armes without excuse It is an ancient custome in Scotland in cases of importance to command the fire-crosse to be carried that is two fire-brands set in fashion of a crosse and pitched upon the point of a speare Life of Edâ 6. p. 20. and proclamation is thereupon made that all men above 16 yeares of age and under 60 shall come into the field to oppose the enemy Those were desperate boyes in Kets conspiracie that at the battel nere Norwich pulled the arrowes out of their own flesh Ibid. 75. and delivered them to be shot againe by the archers on their side and those other wounded and weakned no less desperately resolved who being disabled almost to hold up their weapons Ibid. 72. would strive what they could to strike their enemies others being thrust thorough the body with a speare would run themselves further on to reach those that wounded them deadly The enemies
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 Horaâ 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. â 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
Fenugreek which the worse it is handled the better it growes as Pliny saith No fowl is more preyed upon then the pigeon no creature more killed up then sheep yet are there more pigeons then birds of prey more sheep then slaughter-men c. Verse 21. Optatus For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed i. e. I will clear their consciences from dead works from the stain and sting of all sinne that they may not question their right to these precious promises but boldly take the comfort of them I will say unto them Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are justified but ye are sanctified Be of good cheer therefore sith your sinnes your bloody sinnes are forgiven you Or thus I will cleanse their blood that is I will declare that the blood of the godly which the world thought to have been justly spilt was indeed innocent blood and that they were slain without cause This I will do partly by rooting out and damning their enemies and partly by clearing their innocencie and crowning their constancy Thus Mercer Levely c. for the Lord dwelleth in Zion This is the last promise but not the least It referreth saith Danaeus to Christ taking our flesh by the which he dwelt among us being God manifest in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 and Joh. 1.14 The word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we saw the glory thereof c. This is reserved to the last place as the causa cumulus felicitatis especially since he dwelleth with his Church for ever as it is in the precedent verse and maketh her a true Jehovah Shammah as she is called Ezech. 48.35 A COMMENT OR EXPOSITION Of the Prophesie of AMOS CHAP. I. Verse 1. THE words of Amos Not of that Amos who was father to Isaiah as some Ancients for want of Hebrew mistook it but a man of meaner rank 2 Cor. 11.6 rude in speech but not in knowledge tam sensuum nomine quam simplicitate verborum clarus as Hierom saith of Didymus The Jews firname him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Stammerer as if he had been a man not onely of a low but of a letsome language one that had an impediment in his speech ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Vt Michael Balbus as Mark 7.32 and this they gather from his name Amos which signifieth a burthen as if this herds-man had had bovem in lingua a clog upon his tongue and could not utter himself freely But let this passe for a Jewish tradition True it is that Amos is by interpretation a burden and no lesse true that the words of Amos are onerosa prophetia the burthen of the word of the Lord to Israel by Him See the Note on Mal. 1.1 who is a vehement Prophet laden with reproofs and threatnings Comminationibus ac reprehensionibus Onustus as Luther saith of him such as the land was not able to bear said that Malecontent Amaziah who had sel in aure his gall in his ears as they write of some creatures But truth must be spoken however it be taken neither may Gods Ministers meddle with toothlesse truths onely as Balac bid Am. 7.10 Neither curse nor blesse at all but bind heavy burdens if need be upon the shoulders of obstinate sinners that may cripple their iron sinewes and make them buckle under the sense of Gods unsupportable displeasure who was among the herdmen of Tekoah He was no Prophet neither was hee a Prophets sonne but an herdman and a gatherer of Sycomore fruit chap. 7.14 1 Cor. 1.27 and extraordinarily called to this high office by Him who chooseth the foelish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to confound the mighty who enabled the dumb Asse to forbid his Masters madnesse 2 Pet. 2.16 and sent this down-right Net-herd to deal with a bruitish people worse then the Ox an Asse that have no understanding Psal 32. Esay 1.3 Job 10.4 and who had changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into a four-footed calf and creeping things Rom. 1.23 Tekoah is said to be six miles from Bethlehem twelve from Jerusalem Kimchi in loc in cap. 3.10 seituate in the tribe of Judah 2 Chron. 11.6 Quinquius that learned Hebrew therefore is utterly out in saying that Tekoah was a great townin the tribe of Asher which he saw concerning Israel He not onely heard these words but saw them in a vision he had them by revelation from God See the Note on Hos 1.1 concerning Israel ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Herodot Or against Israel that is the ten revolted tribes who had many Prophets sent them to foretell their captivity God loves to foresignifie In the dayes of Vzziah c. At the same time with Hosea and Isaiah and Micah when Procas Sylvius was king of the Latines and Sardanapalus of the Assyrians as Hierom saith and in the dayes of Ieroboam the second not that funestum Iudaeis caput that Jeroboam the sonne of Nebat 2 Kin. 14.20 25. 2 Chro. 26.6 7 8 c. who caused Israel to sinne Under the raign of these two kings Judah and Israel were in great prosperity and bewitcht therewith applauded themselves in their impiety as Psal 73.5.6 This Prophet therefore is sent to rouse them and rub them up to tell them their own and what they should trust to Two years before the earthquake That notable earth-quake famous and fresh in most mens memories Whether it sell out just then when Vzziaâ attempted to offer incense and was therefore smitten with leprosie 2 King 15.5 as some Ancients affirme or whether at that instant when Esay in a vision saw the Lord in his glory and the posts of the door mooved Esay 6.4 as some Rabbins tell us I have not to say It seems to be foretold chap. 3.5 and so terrible it was that people fled from it Zach. 14.5 See the Note there Josephus maketh mention of it in the ninth Book of his Antiquities chap. 11. and telleth us that half a great hill was removed by it out of its place and carried four furlongs another way so that the high-way was obstructed and the kings gardens utterly marred God by such extraordinary works of his shâweth his justice and displeasure against sinne Psal 18.8 Esay 13.23 as also his special mercy to his praying people as at Antioch in the yeer 529 and at Bern Anno 1584 near unto which city a certain hill carried violently beyond and over other hills is reported by Polanus who lived in those parts to have covered a whole village that had 90 families in it one half house onely excepted Polan syntag 841. wherein the master of the family with his wife and children were earnestly calling upon God Oh the terrour of the Lord and oh the power of prayer Verse 2. And he said The Lord will roar This is spoken for the terrour of the wicked as the
Heb. corrupted his compassions forgot his brotherhood banished naturall affection out of his bosome and put off all humanity The Rabbines tell us that out of the profanenesse of his Spirit Esau put away his circumcision by drawing up againe the foreskin with a Chirurgeons instrument Whether this were so or not I have not to say but that he corrupted his compassions if any ever he had violated the law of nature and abolished the bowels of a brother the brotherly covenant this text assureth us even all the affections duties and respects of blood and nature by which he was bound His grandfather Abraham could say to his nephew Lot Let there be no difference between thee and me for we are brethren Gen. 13.8 This one consideration was retentive enough cooler sufficient to his choler it was even as the Angel that stayd his hand when the blow was comming Gen. 22. It should have been so with Edom good blood would not have belyed it self But he had lost his brotherly bowels and even put off manhood he had wiped out all stirrings of good nature as a man wipeth a dish wiping it and turning it upside down as the scripture speaketh in another case 2 King 21.13 or as when a man emptieth wine out of a cup the sides are yet moist but when it is rinsed and wiped there remaines not the least tast or tincture and his anger did teare perpetually i. e. He in his anger did teare as a beast of prey Psal 14. and rage without intermission The enemies of the Church do so still such is their implacable hatred against God and his truth they eat up Gods people as they eat bread yea they tread down and teare in peeces as if there were none to deliver At the Town of Barre in France when it was taken by the Papists all kind of cruelty was used saith Mr. Fox children were cut up and the guts of some of them and hearts pulled out which in rage they tare and gnawed with their teeth The Italians likewise which served the king there did for hatred of religion break forth into such fury Act. and Mon. fol. 1951. that they did rip up a living child and took his liver being as yet red hot Erasm epist lib. 16. ad obtrectator and eat it as meat Erasmus tells of an Augustine friar who openly in the pulpit at Antwerp wished that Luther were there that he might bite out his throat with his teeh And Friar Brusierd in a conference with Bilney brake out into these angry words But that I beleeve and know that God and all his saints will take revengement everlasting on thee Act. and Mon. 914. I would surely with these nailes of mine be thy death Psal 74.19 Gen. 49.7 Pray therefore with David Deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove to these destroyers c. Cursed be their anger for it is fierce and their wrath for it is cruel and kept his wrath for ever Though himself was mortal yet his wrath might seem to be immortal as was Hanibals against the Romanes and our Edward the first against the Scots against whom being about to march he adjured his son and Nobles Dan. hist fol. 201. that that if he died in his journy into Scotland they should carry his corpes with them about Scotland and not suffer it to be enterred till they had absolutely subdued the countrey Anger may rush into a wise mans bosome but should not rest there Aug. ep 87. Eccle. 7.9 for it corrupteth the heart as vineger doth the vessel wherein it long continueth Of the Athenians it was said that their anger was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã everlasting but that was but small to their condemnation Thou shalt neither revenge nor remember ill turns Lev. 19.18 where servare is put for servare iram to keep Ar. Rhetor. l. 9. c. 1. for to keep ones anger to shew that there is nothing that a man is more ready to keep as beeing a vindictive creature Arestotle saith but absurdly that it is more manly to be revenged then to be reconciled and this the world calleth manhood but indeed it is doghood rather The manlier any man is the milder and more mercifull as David 2 Sam. 1.12 And Julius Caesar when he had Pompey's head presented to him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Cor. 6.7 wept and said Non mihi placet vindicta sed victoria I seek not revenge but victory And the Apostle purposely disgraceth revenge of injury by a word that signifieth disgrace losse of victory or impotency of mind Thunder haile tempest neither trouble nor hurt celestiall bodies no more doth anger great minds Edom was short-spirited soon kindled and not easily appeased his wrath kept no bounds as the word here used importeth his coales were coales of Juniper fierce and long lasting his fire not elementary but culinary nourished by low and unworthy considerations a fruit of the flesh and such as excludes out of heaven Gal. 5.20 21. It was not the passion but the habit of hatred which St. James calleth the devill Jam. 4.7 and St. Paul counselleth men not to give place to that devill and for that end not to let the Sun go down upon their wrath Ephe. 6.26 See Ezech 35.5 where Edom is charged with a perpetuall hatre and therefore threatened with blood and desolation as here Verse 12. But I will send a fire A fierce enemy ut supra The inhabitants of Teman and Bozra together with other the posterity of Esau were famous for power and policy Obad. 8.9 Ier. 49.7 Esa 34.6 But there is no wisdome might nor counsell against the Lord Prov. 21.30 31. He can make fooles and babies of the Churches enemies he can fire out their malice c. Verse 13. I will not turn away the punishment thereof Or I will not turn and reduce him to my self by repentance that I may shew him mercy as Lam. 5.22 Ier. 31.18 but harden his heart and hasten his destruction because they have ript up the women with child Immane facinus vicinis indignum saith Mercer A cruel fact and the worse because done by so neere neighbours and allyes thus to kill two at one blow and those also innocent and impotent and such as they ought to have spared by the law of nature and of nations and all this meerely out of covetousnesse and ambition That they might enlarge their border but first root out the little ones that else might hereafter claime and recover their fathers possessions So at the Sicilian vespers they ript up their own women that were with child by the French that no French blood might remaine amongst them See the Note on Hos 13.16 and learn to detest covetousnesse that root of all evill 1 Tim. 6.10 Better converse with a Canibal then with a truly covetous caytiffe and more curtesie you may expect Verse 14. But I will kindle a fire c. with mine own hands not only
and that because of the disloyalty and treachery that is therein Other mens sinnes are rebellions against God but the saints sins are treacheries because against the covenant Let such therefore look to themselves and walk accurately or they shall be sure to rue it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ephes 5.15 God 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 bee let alone to grow wild His own he will not fail to punish 1. In case of scandall as David 2. For sins unrepented of though not scandalous Oh the bloody wails that God hath left upon the backs of his own dear children for such sins Bastards may scape scot-free but sonnes shall pay for it Ingentia benesicio slagitia supplicia The punishing Angel is bidden begin at Gods Sanctuary Magdeb. Praefat. ad Cent. 5. Ezek. 9. He will be sanctified in all that draw neer unto him Levit. 10.3 Sanctified I say either actively or passively either in the sincerity of mens conversation or in the severity of their visitation at which time his Articles of enquiry will be very strict and criticall against his own professed people who are therefore worse then others and shall therefore speed worse because they ought to be better Verse 3. Can two walk together except they be agreed God permits his people to walk together with him in an humble familiarity but then they must take care that familiarity breed not contempt and that they conceit not that hee will connive at their iniquities or that their holy services will bear them out iâ any known sinne He is just and jealous of his glory wherein he should be no small loser if he did wink at any besides involuntary sailings and unavoydable infirmities for which there is a pardon of course if sued out If I shall walk with you saith God as a father friend husband you must agree with me consent and conform to me idem velle idem nolle will and nill the same that I do or else I shall walk with you no otherwise then as a severe judge or cruel enemy Levit. 26.24 as a lion with the prey that he hath taken as the fowler with the bird hee hath caught or the hunter with the wild beast he hath gotten into his snare Verse 4. Will a lion roar in the forrest when c. It is said of the Lion that he sets up a double roar Pâut lib. de indust anima first when he descrieth his prey next when he seizeth it Then saith Plutarch he roareth or rather belloweth like a bull that other beasts may come to him and take part with him It is not for nothing that the lion uttereth his voice much lesse that Almighty God thundereth and threatneth by his Prophets your sins without repentance will be your ruine according to those threatnings though you are so sturdy or at least so stupid as to fear them no more then Behemoth doth the iron weapons Jeb 40. which are esteemed by him as strawes or bull-rushes Shall the wrath of a King be as the roaring of a lion Prov. 19.12 and as the messengers of death Prov. 16.14 and shall Gods menaces be slighted will vile men imagine him a God of clouts One that howsoever he speaketh heavie words will not do as he saith intends them no otherwise then in terrorem for fray-bugs Surely they will finde it far otherwise and it must be concluded that being already sentenced either their beds are very soft or their hearts very hard that can sleep securely in so deplorable a condition Surely Gods predictions shall have their accomplishment 1 Sam. 3.19 15.29 Beleeve them therefore Stand in awe and sin not sith he that despiseth the word shall be destroyed but hee that feareth the commandement shall be rewarded Prov. 13.13 See the Note there Will a youg lion cry out of his den q. d. Is it for nothing that God so terribly threatneth Is there not a cause as David said in another case 1 Sam. 17.29 Surely as in the Revelation we never read that heaven opened but some great matter followed so here Hath the Lord spoken it and shall he not do it Never think it Oh think of God as of one not to be thought of as One whose wisdom is his justice whose justice is his power whose power is his Truth and all himself He is the God of Amen Psal 31.6 faithfull and true he can as soon die as lie neither can he be hindered or resisted as Angels men and devils may In the creature there is an essence and a faculty whereby they work as in fire is the substance and the quality of heat Now between these God can separate and so hinder their working as in the Babylonish fire In the Angels there is an essence and an executive power God comes between these oft and hinders them from doing what they would Not so in God who is most simple and entire armed with power irresistible to tame his rebels Every morning doth he bring his judgement to light he faileth not but the unjust knoweth no shame Zeph. 3.5 the fool passeth on and is punished Prov. 22.3 Verse 5. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth c Think you that all things are carried here by blind fortune and not by a particular providence as if mundo nullus inesset Rector incertâ fluerent mortalia casu Will you say of the evils you have suffered in the language of Ashdod 1 Sam. 6.9 1 Cor. 10. It is a chance Is that Heathen-Idol Fortune any thing in the world more then a blasphemie spued out by the devil against the divine providence Can a sparrow fall to the ground or any the least bird into a snare upon the earth without your heavenly Father Matth. 10.29 Birds flying seeme to be at liberty yet are guided by an over-ruling hand They fall sometimes into a gin and do not you thereupon conclude that some fowlers hand is in it Lo you are insnared and insnarled by your enemies and can you not discern that it is the Lord who hath done it Lam. 3.37 38. Act. 17.25 28. Eccles 9.12 For man knoweth not his time nor his chance ver 11. as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly but providentially upon them Or shall one take up a snare from the earth c. No wise fowler will take up his nets till he have gotten his prey No more will God withdraw his hand or call off the enemy and the avenger till he have his designe till he hath either reformed or ruined you Verse 6. Shall a trumpet be blowen sc out of a watch-tower in time of war to sound an alarme and to say Hannibal ad portas the enemy is at hand the Philistines are
ãâã that the sparkles and ashes of burnt Troy served for a lasting monument of Gods great displeasure against great sinners See the like threatened to Babylon Esay 13.19.20 as God overthrew Sodom As Jehovah from Jehovah rained hell out of heaven upon them Gen. 14.24 De praepar Evang. l. 5. c 23. Vide Socrat. hist Eccles l. 2. c. 30. that is God the Son from God the Father and so Eusâbius observeth that the Father here saith of the Son that he overthrew Sodome and Gomorrah he condemned them with an overthrow 2 Pet. 2.6 he overthrew them and repented not Jer. 20.16 he overthrew them in a moment and no hand stayed on them Lam. 4.6 And yet worse shall be the condition of those that despise the grace of the Gospell which is the great sin of these last times Mat. 11.24 yea the devils will keep holy-day as it were in hell in respect of such sinners against their own soules and ye were as a sire brand Ambustus fumigans titio smutchy and smoaky and scarcely escaping with the skin of your teeth Iob. 19.20 as Lot out of Sodom as the man of Benjamine out of the army 1 Sam. 2.12 as the young man that fled naked away at Christs attachment Mar. 14.52 or as Hunniades narrowly escaping with his life from the battel of Varna where he had like to have fallen with that perjured Popish king as good Jehosaphat had for joyning with Ahab It is as if God should say There are not many of you that are left and have your lives for a prey howbeit they are ill bestowed upon you for any good use you have made of my forbearance Let favour be shewed to the wicked yet will he not learne righteousnesse Esay 26.10 and if thou deliver him once yet thou must do it againe and when all 's done that can be done A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment Prov. 19.19 and so to be sure of it shall a man of great stomach and stubbornnesse that refuseth to return as these of whom the fifth time it is here complained and yet ye have not returned c. O prorsus obstinati saith Tarnovius here Act. 7.51 Prorsus indurati et contumaces saith Mercer Ye stifnecked and uncircumcised in heart and eares do ye thus alwayes resist the holy Ghost will ye needs be like horse and mule uncounsellable untractable will ye after conviction needes run away with the bit in your mouths and take your swinge in sin c. If so resolved yet stay saith the Psalmist Psal 32.9.10 and take this along with you Many sorrowes shall be to the wicked your preservation from one evill shall be but a reservation to seven worse Lev. 26. as it fared with Pharaoh Senacherib and others God will surely subdue or subvert you Verse 12. Therefore thus will I do unto thee o Israel Thus how Non nominat mala ut omnia timeant saith Ribera He tells them not how that they may feare the worst even all that is written and unwritten It was the very policy of Julius Caesar never to extenuate or deny to his souldiers the danger of an enemy but rather to raise up thoughts of valour by aggravating the contrary forces and this way he did not seldome hyperbolically rhetoricate saith the story Now the Lord need not do so sith his judgements are a great deep neither can any man know the power of his anger Psal 90.11 let a man feare it never so much he is sure to feel it a great deale more if he once fall into his fingers Is it nothing to drink the dregs of Gods displeasure when it is eternity unto the bottome Is it nothing to launch into an infinite Ocean of scalding leade and to swim naked in it for ever Oh do any thing rather then be damned and as Lewis King of France cast the Popes bulls into the fire saying Speed 496. he had rather they should burn then himself fry in hell for obeying them Or as Mary Q. of England restored againe all the Ecclesiasticall livings assumed to the crown Idem saying that she set more by the salvation of her own soule then she did by ten kingdomes So let the wicked forsake his wayes and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord that he may have mercy upon him and to our God that he may multiply pardon Esay 55.7 and because I will do this unto thee which had I not wished thee well I would never have told thee Ideo minatur ut non puniat But God loves to fore-signifie and therefore threateneth evill that he may not inflict it he would gladly be prevented by our humble addresses unto him and by our entreaties of peace Heare him else prepare to meet thy God O Israel Turn and try thou canst not likely lose thy labour or if thou should'st yet thou hast lost many a worse Let Ephraim but bemoane himself and God will soon melt over him Ier. 31.20 Let Gods prodigals return to their mercifull father and he will meet them halfe-way and receive them with all sweetnesse Tantum velis Deus tibi praeoccurret Do as those Jer. 3.17 Alexanders Macedenonians being sensible of his displeasure laid by their armes put on their mourning attire Plut. in Alexandro came trooping to his tent where for almost three dayes they remained with loud cryes and abunance of teares testifying their remorse for offending him beseeching his pardon which at last they gained And Guicciardin tells us that Lewis 12. of France when he entred Genoa in his triumphant charret with his sword naked resolved to make a prey of their riches Guice lib. 7. and an example of many of the chief amongst them and to leave the rest to his souldiers mercies But beeing met first by the chief afterward by the multitude Parel Med. hist prof 754. making great lamentation for their folly with abundance of teares and cryes his wrath was appeased toward them The like we read of Henry 7. Emperour toward the citizens of Cremona of our Edward the third Daniel hist 240. toward the Inhabitants of Callice And in Cades conspiracy here after that 26. of the chief rebels were executed the multitude naked in their shirts met the king on Black-heath Speed 851. humbly praying mercy which they obtained Verse 13. For âo He that formeth the mountaines c. q. d. If my mercy move thee not to an humble submission let my Majesty and for that end consider and tremble at my Nomen Majestativum my transcendent excellencies as they are here displayed descried and described for thy learning with a great deale of solemnity and state to the end that thou mai'st not expect evils but prevent them as Demosthenes counselled his countrymen He that formeth the mountaines At first doubtlesse with the rest of the Universe though some held they were cast up by Noahs flood see Psal 90.1 2. by his mere
22.30 31. Verse 2. The virgin of Israel is fallen i. e. Though of the spouse of God she be become the devils adulteresse Jer. 3.1 Hos 1.2 yet shee will needs be counted and called a virgin still as Sardis she hath a name to live but is dead as the Romish crew cry themselves up the onely Church Catholike and therein like Oyster-wives do much out-crie us Rev. 3.1 But what saith the Lord by his Prophet Ieremy chap. 18.13 Ask ye now among the Heathen who hath heard such things The Virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing And the Virgin of Rome may well say as Quartilla the strumpet in Petronius doth Iunonem meam iratam habeam si unquam me meminerim virginem fuisse Petron. Satyr I can hardly remember my self a maid Israel may also be called a virgin because she yet subsisted and flourished in her first liberty and splendour till taken and defloured as it were by the Assyrian And in this sence we read of the virgin of Babylon Esay 47.1 of Egypt Jer. 46.12 of Zidon Esay 23.12 and now of Venice whose Motto is Intacta maneo I am still a maid as having never yet fallen into the enemies power Tournay a town in France was ever counted so invincible that this sentence was engraven over one of the gates Iannes ton me perdu ton pucellage Thou hast never lost thy maidenhead Yet was it yeelded up to our King Henry 8. with 10000. pound sterling Speed sol 1001. for the citizens redemption The Virgin of Israel sped not so well Shee is fallen That is shee shall fall surely suddenly utterly she shall no more rise i. e. return out of captivity and be restored to her pristine splendour yet some think otherwise she is forsaken upon her land Projecta est prostrata jacet she is thrown hard upon her ground and as it were dashed against it like an earthen pot against a rock and all this because she had left off righteousnesse in the earth Verse 7. Those that forsake God shall be forsaken of him 2 Chron. 15.2 there is none to raise her up God will not and then man cannot Behold saith Bildad God will not cast away a perfect man neither will he take the ungodly by the hand Job 8.20 he will bring them into trouble and there leave them Ezek. 22.20 29.5 His own he will not leave or if he do yet forsake them he will not Heb. 13.5 and if men do he will relieve them the rather Because they called thee an out-cast saying This is Zion whom no man seeketh after therefore I will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds saith the Lord Jer. 30.17 Verse 3. The city that went out by a thousand i. e. that had a thousand inhabitants passing to and fro thorow the gates See Gen. 34.24 and 23.10 for men love not to bee cooped up or confined to a place as the Duke of Venice is but to be travelling and trading Or that can send out a thousand fit to bear arms Shall leave an hundred Here 's a wofull decimation purporting a very great paucity of people such as was threatned Deut. 28.62 a tenth man onely shall be left if that Behold the severity of God and betray not the lives of others by an impenitent continuance in sinne Turn to God if but for your poor brethrens sake that are in danger or in durance Hezekiab's reason to repent is very remarkable 2 Chron. 30.9 For if ye turn again to the Lord your brethren and your children shall finde compassion before them that lead them captive so that they shall come again into this land for the Lord your God is gracious and mercifull and will not turn away his face from you if ye return unto him Shall leave ten Not take ten in an hundred and leave the rest as the Roman Generals used to do in the Army in case of a mutiny This was fulfilled in that three yeers siege of Samaria 2 King 18.10 as afterwards the like fell out at Ierusalem which could hardly be repeopled in Nehemiah's time and at this day is but thinly inhabited there being not an hundred housholds of Jews to be found there In our Countries of the abundance of people commeth dearth which maketh many male-contents to mutter but in many parts of Turkey for want of men to manure the ground most of the poor being enforced with victuals and other necessaries to follow their great Armies in their long expeditions of whom scarce one of ten saith mine Authour ever return home again there by the way perishing Turk hist 1153. if not by the enemies sword yet by the wants intemperatenesse of the air or immoderate pains-taking Verse 4. For thus saith the Lord Or Truly thus saith the Lord Notwithstanding the former terrible sentence which the Prophet could not denounce with dry eyes but takes up a lamentation though lesse concerned in it and might well say as One did in another case Tu quibus ista legis inâertum est lector ocellis M. Fox of the L. Jane Gray Ipse quidem siccis dicere non potui All Gods threatnings for most part are conditionall Ier 18.7 and 26.2 sc if men repent not As if they do they may live in his sight and be accounted worthy such is Gods great goodnesse to escape all those things that shall befall the impenitent Luke 21.36 The Gospel is post naufragium tabula and hath its reward too Heb. 11.6 Heb. 11.6 sc of grace and mercy Do this and live saith the Law Seek the Lord and live ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith the Gospel He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him and that is the force of the Hebrew word here used which signifieth to euquire to make serious search and scrutiny to seek him out as the Seventy have it when he is with-drawn to seek him as a Student doth sciences a worldling gold a hungry man meat c. as a man studiously turns over a Commentary to finde out the sence of a Text 1 Thess 3.8 1 Sam. 25.6 Esay 34.16 Do this saith God and ye shall live not onely have your lives for a prey but live merrily happily Now we live saith the Apostle that is we rejoyce and Thus shall ye say to him that liveth that is hath a comfortable life and a confluence of blessings But besides all this yee shall live for ever and aterna vita vera vita eternall life is the onely life properly so called Life in what sence soever taken is a sweet mercy Aug. A living dog is better then a dead Lion saith Solomon and Ioseph is yet alive saith Iacob he doth not say Ioseph is Lord of Egypt I will get down Eccles 9.4 Gen. 46.28 Rom. 6. âlt and see him before I die But eternall life is by a specialty and with an accent the gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord and this gift
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
lurking-holes as he did Adam out of the thicket 2 Chro. 33.11 Manasseh from among the thornes Jonah from the sides of the ship the Duke of Buckingham in Rich. the thirds time c. Be sure saith Moses your sinne will finde you out Speed Num. 32.23 and Gods hand will hale you to punishment Though they climb up to heaven That is by an hyperbole to high and strong places as the Babel-builders the Benjamites that fled to the Rock Rimmon and there abode four moneths Judg. 20 47. the gibing Jebusites that were so confident of their strong-hold of Zion that they flouted David and his forces 2 Sam. 5.8 the proud Prince of Tyre and others thence will I bring them down From their loftiest tops of Pride and creature-confidence which God loves to confute and defeat as I might instance in Nebuchadnezzars Xerxes Haman Sejanus Bajaezet that terrour of the world and as he thought superior to fortune yet in an instant with his state in one battle overthrown into the bottome of misery and despaire Turk hist 287. and that in the middest of his great strength The same end awaits the Pope and his hierarchy ruet alto à culmine Roma that Jupiter Capitolinus shall be one day unroosted by him who casteth the wicked down to the ground Psal 147.6 Verse 3. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel In densis sylvis inter spelaea ferarum Lawfull enough it is in some cases to hides David did oft and Elias and Christ and Paul 2 Cor. 11.32 and Athanasius and diverse other Saints Tertullian was too rigid in condemning all kind of hiding in evill times Lib. de suga on persecution But to hide from God who searcheth Jerusalem with lights and to whom the darknesse and the light are both alike Psal 139.12 to whom obscura clarent muta respondent silentium confitetur this is base and bootlesse Carmel shall not cover them nor any other starting-hole secure them from divine justice The poore Jewes were pulled by the Romanes out of privyes and other under-ground places where they had hid themselvss as Josephus writeth and so were those Samaritans served by the Assyrians who ferreted them out and slaughtered them and though they be hid from my sight as they think but that cannot be for He like the Optick vertue in the eye sees all and is seen of none in the bottome of the sea which how deep and troublesome soever is to God a Sea of glasse like unto Chrystal corpus diaphanum a pervious clear Rev. 4. transparent body such as he sees thorow and hath the sole command of thence will I command the serpent For there is that crooked serpent Leviathan there are also creeping things innumerable Esay 27.1 Psal 104.26 to arrest wicked men as rebels and traitors to the highest Majestie and to drag them down to the bottom of hell All elements and creatures shall draw upon them as servants will do upon such as assault their Lord. Rebellisque facta est quia homo numini creatura homini as Austin truely and trimly avoucheth Verse 4 And though they goe into captivity c. And so may hope the worst is over Surely the bitternesse of death is past yet it shall prove otherwise The hypocrites hope is as the giving up the ghost saith Iob and that 's but cold comfort 1 Sam. 15.32 Or as the spiders web spun out of her own bowels and when the beesome comes swept to the muck-hill before their enemies whose custome was to drrive their captives before them Lam. 1.5 young and old naked and barefoot even with their buttocks uncovered Esay 20.4 Or before their enemies that is before they are taken captive by the enemies by a voluntary yeeldance in hope of quarter for their lives The Jewes indeed had a promise from the Prophet Jeremy chap. 21.9 That if they went out and fell to the Chaldeans that besieged them they should have their lives for a prey but the ten tribes had no such promise made them They were strangers from the covenants Ephes 2.12 and therefore could look for no mercy Loammi and therefore Lo-ruhamah Hos 1. the Ark and the Mercy-seat were never sundred thence will I command the sword See Esay 13.15 16. Jer. 9.10 and 43.11 Ezek. 14.17 and I will set mine eyes upon them Emphaticoteâon est qâam si dixiâset Oculos pluraliter Mercer Heb. eye viz. the eye of my providence that oculus irretortus whereby I will look them to death and take course that nothing shall go well with them see a little below vers 8. Jer. 21.10 Psal 34.16 In Tamerlanes eyes sat such a Majesty as a man could hardly endure to behold and many in talking with him became dumb He held the East in such awe as that he was commonly called Turk hist 211.236 The wrath of God and terrour of the world Augustus Cesar frowned to death Cornelius Gallus and so did Queen Elizabeth Sir Christopher Hatton Lord Chancellour Gods enemies are sure to perish at the rebuke of his countenance Psal 80.16 and if he but set his eyes upon them for evil and not for good all occurrences shall certainly work together for the worst unto them Verse 5. And the Lord God of Hosts is he c. Here the Prophet proveth what he had said in the foregoing verses by an argument drawn from the wonderfull power of God which profane persons are apt to question that they may harden their hearts against his fear Consider saith He first that He is the Lord God of Hosts and as the Rabbines well observe he hath the upper and lower troops ready prest as his horse and foot to march against his enemies Next that he toucheth the land as it were with his little finger and it shall melt like the fat of lambs before the fire it shall crumble to crattle moulder away and be moved because he is wroth Psal 18.7 and shall men be unmoved shall they bee more insensible then the senselesse earth The people of Antioch though many of them gave their hands for Chrysostoms banishment yet terrified by an earthquake which wrought in them an heart-quake as it had done in the Gaoler Acts 16. they immediately sent for him again But thirdly the tremend power of God appears in this that The land shall rise up wholly like a flood and it shall be drowned as by the flood of Egypt God can flote it and flood it at his pleasure See chap. 8.8 Water is naturally above the earth as the garment above the body saith David and would but for the power and providence of God prove as the shirt made for the murdering of Agamemnon where the head had no issue out Let God be seen herein and mens hearts possessed with his holy fear who can so easily pull up the sluces let in the Sea upon them and bury them all in one universall grave of waters Fear ye not me
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 Boâus Deus Constânâ tantis terrenâ implevit muâââbus qâanta âpââre nullus âuderet Dâ C D. l. 5.25 Elizabetha gloriâsissima 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 coâapsae 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 âoloris 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
in all ages fetching the Church as it were out of the wildernesse where she had long laine hid Rev. 12.6 and whence she is said at length to come leaning upon her Beloved Cant. 8.5 and they shall plant vineyards That is particular churches and drink the wine thereof Have the fruit and comfort of their labours in the Lord which they shall see not to be in vaine 1 Cor. 15. they shal also make gardens and eat of the fruit while they shall see their people to be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.8 but far off flourishing Psal 92.13 actuosi fructuosi Esa 51.3 The Popish Commentatours as it is the manner of many of them to marre and bemire the text with their absurd glosses by cities here would have men to understand the state of married people by vineyards their Prelates and by gardens Monkes Is not this to wrest the scriptures and so to set them on the rack as to make them speak more then ever they intended Is it not to compel them to go two miles when they are willing to go but one Is it not to taw them and gnaw them as Tertullian saith that Marcion the heretick that Mus Ponticus as he therefore cals him did to make them serviceable to his vile purposes Vers 15. And I wil plant them upon their land as trees of righteousnesse the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified Esay 61.3 11. being well rooted and no worse fruited Philip. 1.6 and they shal no more be pulled up None shall pull them out of Christs hand for he and the Father are one None shall separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. they shall be sure of continual supplies of sap and safety Joh. 10.29 30. being kept by the power of God thorow faith unto salvation 2 Pet. 1.3 The paradise of God was so planted that it was watered on all sides with most noble rivers to keep it flourishing how much more will the Lord do this in his heavenly garden the Church See Psal 92.13 14. when it comes to be transplanted especially saith the Lord thy God Thy God O Prophet who will ratifie and verifie what promises soever thou hast uttered in his name Or thy God O people now reconciled unto thee in Christ Ioh. 26.17 and therefore ready to heap upon thee all things needful for life and godlinesse A COMMENT OR EXPOSITION Of the Prophesie of OBADIAH Verse 1. THE vision of Obadiah The same say some that hid the Lords Prophets and fed them by fifty in a cave when sought for to the slaughter by wicked Jezabel 1 King 18.4 whereupon himself also received a Prophets reward That is saith Lyra was endued with the spirit of prophesie Hierom addeth that he was buried at Samaria called afterwards Sebaste by Herod in honour of Augustus and that there his Sepulchre was yet to be seen The Rabbines say that this Obadiah was that widows husband whom Elisha relieved by multiplying her oyl 2 King 4. Others with more shew of reason conjecture that this was that Obadiah mentioned 2 Chron. 34.12 a faithfull Levite set by Josiah to oversee the Artificers who repaired the Temple in the eighteenth yeere of his reigne Jer. 49. Ezech. 25. Psal 137.7 and so was contemporary to Ezechiel and Jeremy with whom also he consenteth in many passages and besides he maketh mention of the Babylonish captivity and the Edomites cruelty to the Jews at that time But let him be who he will for where the Scripture hath no tongue we need not finde ears but may well content our selves with a learned ignorance his doctrine he entituleth not a Burden because he concludeth it comfortably but a Vision which is more generall it being his scope to comfort the people of God that were under great affliction Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom If Obadiah were himself an Edomite but a Proselyte to the Church as some Rabbines have reported him his vision should have taken the better with his cruell countrey-men to bring them to repentance But whether he were or not they should have observed his authority and that his doctrine came Cum privilegio and that it was the Lord God the Tremend Trinunus that spake by him and that hee was according to his name a servant of the most high-God which shewed unto them the way of salvation Acts 16.17 Sed surdo fabulam the Edomites were so fleshed in blood and such inveterate enemies to the Church that there was little good to be done upon them Howsoever to leave them without excuse and if possible to rouse them out of their security He saith We have heard a rumour from the Lord We that is I and my fellow-Prophets who are à secretis to the Lord Amos 3.7 have heard for a certainty that the Edomites are devoted to destruction And that this was no vain rumour but accordingly accomplished see Jer. 25.9 21. Mal. 1.3 and an Embassadour is sent among the heathen An herald at arms sent by Nebuchadnezzar say some to stir up his Chaldeans against the Edomites Others make this Embassadour to be Christ or a created Angel or a divine instinct or lastly the Prophets Whosoever he is he doth his work very vigorously Arise ye saith he and let us rise up against her in battell Let us joyn our forces and do our utmost against Idumea After this sort also shall Gods warriours stirre up themselves one day and one another against the Romish Edomites those Pseudo-christians Antichristians when God shall once put into their hearts to hate that old withered whore of Babylon to make her desolate and naked to eat her flesh and burn her with sire Rev. 17.16 17. The Alarum was long since given them not unlike this in the Text by Francis Petrarch in these words Babylon altera nempe propinquior atque recentior adhuc stat citò itidem casura si essetis viri De rem utriusque sort de al. 118. There yet standeth a nearer and newer Babylon then that of old but it should not stand long were you but Men. Arise ye and let us rise up against her in battell The Jews at this day call the Hierarchie of Rome the wicked kingdome of Edom and for Dumah Esay 21.11 they read Roma by a very easie but willing mistake See Dr. Taylours sermon called The Romish Edomite Verse 2. Behold I have made thee small among the heathen That is vile despicable and abject as Psal 119.141 I am small and despised nothing is more ordinary then to despise the day of small things Zech. 4.10 Augustin ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hesiod Godw. Catal. And whereas God is said to be Magnus in magnis nec parvus in minimis hee had alwayes kept down these profane Edomites shutting them up in mount Seir a craggy barren countrey not unlike Ascre Hesiods countrey or Landaffe in Wales which is said to be a place neither
of a gracious deliverance in due time See the Note on ver 9. It is no lesse a fault to despise the chastening of the Lord then to faint when thou art rebuked Heb. 12.5 The hypocrite in heart heapeth up wrath saith Elihu and why he crieth not when God bindeth him Iob. 3â 11 The wicked saith Hannah are silent in darknesse and shall therefore lie down in sorrow This is not patience but pertinacy 1 Sam. 2.9 Esay 50.10 the strength of stones and flesh of brasse Iob 6.12 It is not vasour but apathie stupidity and indolency much complained of in scripture and threatened with a succession of sorrowes Lev. 26.18 28. seven more and seven more and seven to that Three times in that chapter God raiseth his note of threatening and he raiseth it by sevens and those are discords in musick Such sayings will be heavy songs and their execution heavy pangs worse then those of a woman in travel for now shalt thou go forth out of the city This Now fell not out of an hundred yeares after Foule weather seldome rotteth in the ayre Time weareth not out Gods threatenings Nullum tempus occurrit Regi nedum Deo Time can be no prejudice to the Ancient of dayes sooner or later his word shall be accomplished When the sins of the Amorites are full they shall be sure of their payment The bottle of wickednesse when once filled with those bitter waters will sink to the bottom and thou shalt dwell in the field Sub dio having no canopie over thee but the azured skie so little account is made of poore captives If they may have the open ayre to breath in though they lie without dores ' it s better then a stinking dungeon or to be shut up close under hatches among the excrements of nature as Barbarussa Christian prisoners taken in Greece were Turk hist 750. so that all the way as he went home with them to Constantinople every houre almost some of them were cast dead over-board and thou shalt go even to Babylon there to dwell among plants and hedges making flower-pots for a forreine prince There they dwelt with the King for his work 1 Chron. 4.23 there shalt thou be delivered there the Lord shall redeem thee This There is as Emphaticall as that Yet so oft repeated Zech. 1.17 See the Note there It seemed improbable to many and to some impossible that ever they should return out of Babylon But God effected it to the great astonishment of his poore people who were like them that dream Psal 126.1 and could scarce beleeve their own eyes God loves to deliver those that are forsaken of their hopes Ad nos ergo transferamus promissionemistam saith Gualther upon the text Let us apply this promise to our selves and as oft as we are pincht with poverty or tormented with diseases or cast out into banishment or are in any great danger by water or land or under terrours of conscience let us think we heare God thus speaking to us There shalt thou be delivered there I will redeem thee c. Verse 11. Now also many nations are gathered c. that is they shall be once gathered when the Babylonians who are Lords of the world shall muster many nations against thee Would any man take the Churches picture saith Luther then let him paint a silly poor maid sitting in a wood or wildernesse compassed about with hungry lions wolves bores and beares and with all manner of cruel and hurtfull beasts Loc. com de persee ver Eccles and in the middest of a great many furious men assaulting her every moment and minute for this is her condition in the world that say Let her be defiled sc with blood and slaughter Or Let her be condemned as an hypocrite Let her be stoned as an adulteresse so the Trent translation Thus they pretend as Rabshakeh did that they were sent by God against an hypocriticall nation that had broken their faith with God and men The like craft and cruelty was used in the Parisian massacre and Gunpowder-plot God and man said they in that blind letter that brought all to light have agreed to punish the wickednesse of this age Those that would kill a dog give out that he was mad first saith the French Proverb Whom no man looketh after Jer. 30.17 and let our eyes look upon Zion Let us feed our eyes with such a delightfull spectacle and say as that cruel Charles the 9. of France did when he saw the streetes strawed with the bodies of the massacred Protestants and the rivers dyed with their blood O pulchrum spectaculum O brave sight Or as the Q. Mother of Scotland when she beheld the dead carcasses of her Lutheran subjects said that she never saw a goodlier peece of Arraz in all her dayes See the accomplishment of this prophecy in the Lamentations Psalm 137. and in the book of Nehemiah Verse 12. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord Nothing like their thoughts Es 55.8 Confer Es 10.7 8. Zach. 11.15 16. c. His thoughts are fatherly whiles theirs are butcherly the Physitian in setting leeches to his patient seekes his good he aymes not at filling the leeches gorges neither will he set more on him then will make for his health God by his wisdome and according to his eternall counsell which the wicked understand not ordereth and draweth the blind and bruit motions of the worst creatures to his own honour and his churches good D. Reyn. as the huntsman doth the rage of the dog to his pleasure or the marriner the blowing of the wind to his voyage or the Artist the heate of the fire to his work or the Physitian the blood-thirstinesse of the leech to a cure Surely saith the Psalmist speaking of Senacheribs cruelty in the siege of Jerusalem the wrath of man shall praise thee eventually though not intentionally the remainder of wrath shalt thou restraine Psal 76.10 Let the enemies think and project as they please Ier. 29.11 2 Thes 1.6 7. let them rage and resolve upon your utter ruine I know the thoughts that I think toward you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evill to give you an expected end to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest c. For thus saith the Lord God the Holy One of Israel In returning and rest shall ye be saved in quietnesse and in confidence shall be your strength Esay 30.15 And I will strengthen the house of Iudah and I will save the house of Ioseph and I will bring them again to place them for I have mercy upon them and they shall be as though I had not cast them off for I am the Lord their God and I will heare them Zech. 10.6 Surely as it was said of old Neither shall Rome fall while Scipio standeth neither shall Scipio live when Rome falleth so may it more truely be affirmed of Christ that he and
And what though the Gods of the nations had not delivered them yet Hezekiah's God in whom he trusted did not deceive him as Senacherib said he would ver 10.12 He is the champion of his church and will be the strong hold of his people when the heathens Tutelur Gods and the Papists Patrone-saints will leave them in the lurch England was sometime said to have a war-like George but the Papists being offended with us to do us as they suppose a mischief have robbed us of out George and left us God alone to be our Champion for which honour and favour all true English hearts are bound to thank them and can merrily sing as He did once Contemno minutulos istos deos modò Jovem propitium habeam We care not for their He-saints or she-saints to shelter us so that the great God will be good to us a streng-hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him that hover and cover under his wings as the chickens do under the hens for that 's the force of the Hebrew word here used Such as these God knoweth for his 2 Tim. 2.19 he knoweth their soule in adversity Psal 119. he knoweth how to deliver them as he did the righteous Lot 2 Pet. 2.9 then when they knew not what to do as Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 20.12 yet if their eyes be toward him their affiance in him he will extricate and deliver them So well pleased is he with those that trust in him for that 's meant here by his knowing of them Psal 1.6 confer Iob 9.29 1 Thes 5.12 he taketh such complacency and delight in them Psal 147.11 and 33.18 and such continuall care of them as hath been proved by an universall experience nor one instance can be given to the contrary that they shall be sure to have whatsoever heart can wish or need require 2 Sam. 22.2 3. even miraculous loving kindnesse from God in a strong city Psal 17.7 and 31.21 so great as cannot be uttered Psal 31.19 This is for the comfort of Gods Israel But lest the wicked as they are apt should meddle with childrens meat which was never meant for them lest Niniveh should please her self in a fond conceit of Gods goodnesse to her also and so turn it into wantonnesse the Prophet brings in a stinging But in the next words Ver. 8. But with an over-running flood he will make an end of the place thereof i. e. of Niniveh that great but bloody city chap. 3.1 Her state shall be utterly ruinated as the old world by the generall deluge But because the word here rendred flood is used of rivers that overflow the bankes 2 Chron. 32.4 and the adjunct over-running also implies as much See Esai 8.8 Dan. 11.10 40. I suppose the Holy Ghost here forethreateneth that ruine of this city by the river Tigris which at an inundation broke out upon the wall and threw down twenty furlongs thereof This was a sad foretoken to them of their ensuing desolation by the enemy as that raine was that fell in Egypt where it used not to raine a little before Cambyses with his Persians subdued it for it fell out in the time of the Siege as Diodorus testifieth according to an oracle that the Ninivites had received by tradition from their progenitours sc that their city should then be taken by the enemy Diod. Sic. when the river took part against them and it fell out accordingly and darknesse shall pursue his enemies i. e. terrible and inextricable calamities shall overtake them their ruine shall be irreparable And indeed it may now be said of Niniveh which once was of a great city in Strabo Magna civitas magna solitudo See Zeph. 2.13 14 15. Drusius rendreth it thus Hostes suos persequi faciet tenebras He shall cause darknesse to pursue his enemies Or He shall make his enemies to pursue darknesse according to that noted saying of the Ancients Deus quem destruit dementat whom God intends to destroy him He first infatuateth But the former sence is the better Ver. 9. What do ye imagine against the Lord because against his people So Psal 62.3 How long will ye imagine mischief against a man ye shall be slaine all of you as a bowing wall shall ye be and as a tottering fence The blind and bloody Ninivites looked no further then the Jewes whom they invaded they considered not that God was ingaged in the quarrel of his people This made the Virgin daughter of Zion confident of Gods help shake her head in scorn and pitty at them saying Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high even against the holy One of Israel Isai 37.22 23. She knew well though her enemies knew not that as an unskilfull archer in shooting at a beast hitteth a man sometimes so the Churches adversaries in troubling of her trouble Almighty God who will not faile to be even with them for he that toucheth Gods people toucheth the apple of his eye Zach. 2.8 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me â Act. 9.4 It was a simple question of Satan to our Saviour ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã what have I to do with thee whilest he vexed a servant of his Hath he his name from knowledge and yet could he so mistake himwhom he confessed to be the son of the living God It is an idle misprision to-sever the sense of an injury done to any of the members from the head Drusius reades the text thus Quid cogitatis de Domino what think ye of the Lord what conceit or opinion have ye of him Doe ye imagine that he cannot performe what he threateneth by his Prophets or that he cannot when he pleaseth deliver his people out of your hand he will make an utter end Not a consumption only but a consummation This he is even doing as the Hebrew hath it he is busy about it and will not faile to sinish it for he useth not to do his work to the halves Surely a short work will the Lord make in your land now that he taketh you to do certo cito penitus assliction shall not rise up the second time God will dispatch you at one blow See a like expression 1 Sam. 26.8 Niniveh had many brushes before by Phraortes king of Medes and his son Ciaxares and afterwards by the Scythians whereof See Ier. 49.34 and by Astyages c. Now Nâbuchadnezzar was appointed by God to make an utter end of it c. The wicked shall totally and finally be consumed at once Not so the Saints these he corrects with a rod those with a grounded staffe Esa 32.32 These in mercy and in measure in the bunches only he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the East-wind Esa 27.8 he stayeth such afflictions as would shake his plants too much or quite blow them down But to the wicked he hath no such tender respect he smites them at
promise yea to give oath and now thy truth bindeth thee to performe All thy pathes to thy people now are mercy and truth Psal 25.10 not mercy onely but mercy and truth not by a providence onely but by vertue of a promise ratified with an oath This is sweet indeed this deserves a Selah to be set to it thou didst cleave the earth with rivers Exod. 17.6 Psal 78.15 16. Deut. 8.15 Neh. 9.15 This cleaving the hard Rock and setting it abroach this turning of the flint into a fountain Psal 114.8 was a work of Omnipotency and is therefore so much celebrated It maketh much to the miracle that the earth was cleft with rivers this importeth both the plenty and the perennity thereof for the Rock that is the river out of the rock followed them 1 Cor. 10.4 lest in that dry and barren wildernesse they should perish for want of water The same God also who had given his people petram aquatilem gave them pluviam escatilem Tertul. de patientia as Tertullian phraseth it Manna from heaven Quails in great abundance and never was Prince better served in his greatest pomp He also defended them from the fiery serpents and delivered them from a thousand other deaths and dangers all which mercies are here implied though one onely be instanced and all to ascertain the Saints how much God setteth by them and what he will yet do for them as occasion requireth As he made the world at first that he might communicate and impart himself to his Elect so for their sakes doth he still preserve and govern it ordering the worlds disorders by an over-ruling power for his own glory and their eternall good Verse 10. The mountains saw thee and they trembled sc At the promulgation of the Law Exod. 19.17 Psal 114.4 6. when God came with ten thousand of his Saints Deut. 33.2 and so terrible was the earth-quake that it wrought an heart-quake even in Moses himself Heb. 12.21 It is the office of the Law to do so and happy is he who terrified and thunder-struck by the threats thereof runnes to Christ for refuge as to One who is able to save to the utmost them that come unto God by him Heb. 9.25 Some take mountains metaphorically for the Mighties of the earth and read it thus The mountains saw thee and they grieved See Num. 22.3 Josh 2.9 10 11 The over-flowing of the water passed by the inundation of Jordan passed into the dead-sea the lower part of it I mean like as the upper stood and rose up upon an heap Gualth Josh 3.16 being bounded and barred up by the Almighty power of God the deep uttered his voice and lifted up his hands on high i. e. summo consensis suffragatus est c. It voiced and voted for Gods judgements helping forward the execution thereof Verse 11. The Sun and Moon stood still in their habitation viz. In the dayes of Joshuah and upon his prayer chap. 10.12 13. whereupon One crieth out O admirabilem piarum precum vim ac potentiam quibus etiam coelestia cedunt c. O the admirable power of prayer Buchol that worketh wonders in heaven and oh the heroicall faith of Joshuah the trophees whereof hee set in the very orbes of heaven at the light of thine arrowes they went By these shining arrowes and glittering spears some understand that terrible lightening mixt with that horrible hail Josh 10.11 with Exod. 9.23 and then it is figura planè poetica a Poeticall expression for the poets call lightening ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã As the sword of the Lord and of Gideon Judg. 7. 18. Joves arrow See the like Psal 18.14 The huge hail-stones were Gods glittering spears wherewith he slaughtered his enemies Others suppose that these things are meant of the arms and weapons of the Israelites called Gods arrowes and spears because used at his command and ordered by him This sence Gualther liketh better as most comfortable to Christian warriours who fight the Lords battels Verse 12. Thou didst march thorow the land in indignation Heb. Thou didst walk in pomp as a Conquerour thorow the land sc of Canaan in contempt of the opposite forces treading upon the neeks of thine enemies Josh 10.24 thou didst thresh the heathen in anger See Amos 1.3 Mic. 4.13 God by the hands of Joshuah did all this The most of the old inhabitants were destroyed Some few fled into Africk and left written upon a pillar for a monument to posterity We are Phoenicians that fled from the face of Joshuah the son of Nave Verse 13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people q. d. Thou wast Generalissimo in âour expeditions in the dayes of the Judges who therefore were so successefull How could they be otherwise when God came with them into the field Camd. Elisab If Q. Elizabeth could take for her Motto Cui adhaereo praest He to whom I adhere prevaileth how much more may Almighty God say as much even for salvation with thine anointed i. e. with David 1 Sam. 16.12 13. 2 Sam. 5.3 16. and 19.22 and 22.51 Psal 20.7 a lively type of Christ that Messiah the Prince the mystery of which promised Saviour the ancient Jew-Doctours confessed to be contained in this text It is not altogether unlikely that the Prophet might intend here to point at Jesus Christ when he saith for salvation Jeshang whence Jesus for thine anointed or thy Christ There are that read the words in the Future-tense thus Thou shalt go forth for the salvation of thy people sc when Messiah that great Sospitator cometh thou shalt wound the head of the wicked sc of the Devil Rom. 16.20 Thou shalt make naked the foundation of his kingdom unto the neck Selah thou shalt utterly destroy sin death and hell A remarkable mercy indeed a mystery of greatest concernment and most worthy to be considered Gualther carries the sence this way and yet addeth that if any please to refer the words to the history of the old Testament they must be understood of those tyrants that persecuted the true Church and whom God for Christs sake subdued and subverted together with their kingdomes Verse 14. Thou didst strike thorow with his staves the heads of his villages Heb. thou didst pierce or bore thorow as with an awger with his staves a Metaphor from shepherdy according to that Psal 23.3 thy rod and thy staffe c. or with his tribes the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that entred the land of promise Acts 26.7 with these men or with these weapons though never so unlikely thou diddest by the hand of David wound the hairy scalp of thine enemies those Pagans and persecutours and much more wiââ by the Son of David subdue Satan and his Complices they came out as a whirl-winde to scatter me Heb. they tempested they raised an hurly-burly being turbulent spirits as the devil is to disperse me as the dust of the mountains is scattered before a whirle-winde their
manet may better be her Motto then Venice's She is surely invincible Zach. 12.5 6 7. as having a mighty Champion even the holy One of frael and this makes her though but a Virgin to laugh to scorn her proudest enemies yea to shake her head at them Esay 37.22 23 as rather to be pitied then envied There were they in great fear saith David of the Churches enemies for why God is in the generation of the righteous Psal 14. Hence those Philistims were so woe-begone 1 Sam. 4.7 And the Egyptians no lesse Exod. 14.25 Let us flee say they from the face of Israel for the Lord fighteth for them What shall wee then say to these things saith Paul who had often heard when he was in the enemies hand Fear not I am with thee If God be for us who can be against us who dare be so fool-hardy so ambitious of his own destruction Hath ever any waxed fierce against God and prospered Job 9.4 Where is Pharaoh Nero Nebuchadnezzar c Was it safe for these or any any other to provoke the Lord to anger were they stronger then he Oh that men would according to Solomons counsell meddle with their match and not contend with him that is mightier then they Esth 7.8 Can God be with his people and see them abused to his face Will they force the Queen also before him in the house Will they Giant-like fight against God will they needs touch the apple of his eye that tenderest piece of the tenderest part Will they invade his portion plunder him of his jewels pull the signet from his right hand Surely God is so with his people that as he taketh notice of the least courtesie done to them to reward it even to a cup of cold water so of the least affront or offence to revenge it be it but a frown or a frump Gen. 4.6 Num. 12.10 Better a milstone were hang'd c. Better anger all the witches in the countrey then one of Gods zealous witnesses Rev. 11.5 Death cannot hurt them Psal 23.3 Hell could no more hold them the pains of hell gat hold on David but he was delivered Psal 116.3 then the Whale could hold Jonas It must needs render them up again because God is with them Now I had rather be in hell said Luther with God then in heaven without him and it were far safer for mee Verse 14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel c. Here 's the Appendix of the foregoing sermon whereof we have heard but the brief Notes That one word I am with you seconded and set on by Gods holy Spirit set them all awork How forcible are right words Job 6.25 One seasonable truth falling on a prepared heart hath oft a strong and sweet operation sc when God is pleased to work with it and make it effectuall this man cannot do no more then the husband-man can make an harvest The weapons of our warfare are mighty 2 Cor. 10.4 through God to the pulling down of strong-holds Luther having heard Staupicius say that that is kindly repentance which begins from the love of God found from that time forward the practise of repentance far sweeter to him then before Galeacius Caracciolus an Italian Marquesse was converted by an apt similitude used by Peter Martyr reading on the first Epistle to the Corinthians Dr. Taylour Martyr blessed God that ever he became fellow-prisoner to that Angel of God as he called him John Bradford Senarclaeus in his Epistle to Bucer prefixed before the history of the death of Iohn Diarius slain by his own brother as Abel was for religions sake I remember saith He when he and I were together at Newburg the day before his slaughter he gave me a great deal of grave and gracious counsell Ego verò illius oratione sic incendebar ut cum eum disserentem audirem Spiritus Sancti verba me audire existimarem i. e. I was so stirred up with his discourse as if I had heard the Holy Ghost himself speaking unto me so fervent was he and full of life for he first felt what he spake and then spake what he felt So should all do that desire to speak to purpose and then pray to God as for a door of utterance so for a door of entrance to be opened unto them such as St. Paul had to the heart of Lydiae and as Bishop Ridley had to the heart of good King Edw. 6. whereof before and they came and did work The Governours also by overseeing others and ruling the businesse by their discretion Where Gods glory and the common good is concerned all sorts must set to their helping hand Verse 15. In the four and twentieth day See the Note on vers 13. The time is diligently noted to teach us to take good note of the moments of time wherein matters of moment have been by Gods help begun continued and perfected in the Church This will be of singular use both for the increase of faith and of good affection in our hearts CHAP. II. Verse 1. IN the seventh moneth in the one and twentieth day of the moneth This is the Preface to the fourth sermon as some reckon it noting the exact time when it was delivered See the Notes on chap. 1.1 and 15. came the word of the Lord This he often inculcateth to set forth the truth of his calling and validity of his commission See the Note on chap. 1. ver 5. by the Prophet Haggai Heb. by the hand of the Prophet See the Note on Mal. 1.1 Verse 2. Speak now to Zerubbabel c. The better to hearten them on in the work the Prophet is sent again to them with a like message as before Note here 1. That there are none so forward for God and his work but may stand in need of continuall quickening there being more snares and back biasses upon earth then there are starres in heaven and the good gift of God having so much need of righting up For like a dull sea-coal-fire if it be not now and then blown or stirred up though there be no want of fuell yet will of it self at length dye and go out Besides that every inch every artery of our bodies if it could would swell with hellish venome to the bignesse of the hugest Giant that it might make resistance to the work of Gods sanctifying Spirit Heb. 10.24 Let us therefore consider one another and study every man his brothers case to stirre up or whet on to love and good works God will not forget this our labour of love but abundantly both regard and reward it Mal. 3.16 See the Notes there 2. That continuall preaching makes men continue in well-doing Therefore it was that Barnabas was sent to Antioch Acts 11.22 23. who when he came and had seen the grace of God was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. And hence also it was that Paul and Barnabas
word Prophet be to be referred to Zechariah 2 Chr. 22.15 or to Iddo is uncertaine That there was a Prophet Iado we read and Zechary might well be of his line after many descents He is here mentioned as also Ezr. 5.1 ut nepoti suo Zachariae nomen decus conciliet for an honout to his ab-nephew Zechary according to that of Solomon The glory of children are their fathers Prov. 17.6 to wit if they be godly and religious What an honour was it to Jacob that he could sweare by the feare of his father Isaac to David that he could say Psal 116.16 2 Tim. 1.5 Truly Lord I am thy servant I am thy servant the son of thine handmaid to Timothy that he had such a mother as Lois such a grandmother as Eunice to the children of the Elect Lady to the posterity of Latimer Bradford Ioh 8.33 Mat. 3.9 Ridley and other of those men of God who suffered for the truth If the degenerate Jewes so boasted of Abraham their father how much more might Zechary no degenerate plant ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã no bastardly brood as they were Mat. 12.39 boast and beare himself bold on his father Berechiah the blessing of God and his grandfather Iddo Gods Witnesse Confessour or Ornament sith he trod in their holy steps and was adorned with their gifts and virtues The Papists brag much of Peter and other Apostles their founders and predecessours But this is but an empty title to talk of personall succession which yet cannot be proved unlesse they could also shew us their gifts and graces as all the world may see they cannot We read of a painter who being blamed by a Cardinall for colouring the visages of Peter and Paul too red tartly replyed that he painted them so as blushing at the lives of their successours Verse 2. The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers Heb. He hath boyled against your fathers with foaming anger with height of heate There are degrees of anger see Mat. 5.22 and Deut. 29.28 The Lord rooted them out of their land in Anger and in wrath and in great Indignation Surgit hic oratio and the last of those three words is the same here used in the text noting an higher degree then the two former even such a fervour and fiercenesse of Gods wrath as maketh him ready to kill and cut off see 2 King 6 6. and note the affinity of that word with this like as he had much adoe to forbeare killing of Moses Exod. 4. when he met him in the Inne and as Nebuchadnezzar was not only angry but very furious and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon Dan. 2.12 Now if the wrath of a king be as many messengers of death Prov. 16.14 what shall we think of the foming and frothing wrath of God which burnes unto the lowest hell and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains Deut. 32.22 After which followeth in the next verse I will heape mischiefs upon them Deut. 32.23 I will spend minc arrowes upon them c. He had done so upon the Ancestours of these refractary Jewes who had been saepius puncti repuncti minimè tamen ad resipiscentiam compuncti ost punished but could never be reclaimed so incorrigibly flagitious so shamelesly so prodigiously wicked were they till there was no remedy This their vile stubbornnesse made him sore displeased with them and put thunder-bolts into his hands to destroy them For though Fury be not in God Isay 27.5 to speak properly he is free from any such passions as we are subject to yet if briars and thornes set against him in battle if a rabble of rebels conspire to cast him out of his throne saying We will not have this man to rule over us c. I would go through them I would burn them together saith he in the same breath Abused mercy turneth into fury Nothing so cold as lead yet nothing so scalding if molten Nothing more blunt then iron yet nothing so keen if sharpened The ayre is soft tende yet out of it are ingendered thunder and lightenings The sea is calme and smooth but if tossed with tempests it is rough above measure The Lord as he is Father of mercies so he is God of recompenses and it is a fearefull thing to fall into his punishing hands If his wrath be kindled yea but a little Heb. 10. Psal 2. woe be to all those upon whom it lights how much more when he is sore displeased with a people or person as here For who knoweth the power of thine anger saith Moses even according to thy feare so is thy wrath that is let a man feare thee never so much Psal 90.11 he is sure to feel thee much more if once he fall into thy fingers And this is here urged by the Prophet as a motive to true repentance sith by their fathers example they might see there was no way to escapâ the dint of the divine displeasure but to submit to Gods Justice and to implore his mercy men must either turn or burn For even our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 Verse 3. Therefore say thou unto them These Jewes saith Cyrill had neither seen their fathers wickednesses nor heeded their calamities mittitur ergo ad cos Zacharias quasi paedagogus Zachary therefore is sent unto them as a schoolmaster or Monitour that by considering what had been they might prevent what otherwise would be and redeem their own sorrowes thus saith the Lord of hosts A farr greater Lord and Potentate then that great King of Persia who was now their soveraigne True it is that they had been commanded by a former King to desist from building the city Ezr. 4.12 21. But there was no one word in that letter to forbid the building of the Temple There was also now another King set up and of another family They are therefore by this Prophet and by Haggai called upon again and again to turn to the Lord and to return afresh to their work Ezra 5.1 Wherein because they were sure to meet with many enemies therefore here and elsewhere eighteen severall times in that eight chapter there is frequent mention made of the Lord of Hosts for their better encouragement See the Note on Mal. 3.17 turn ye unto me saith the Lord of Hosts This is the great Doctrine of the Old Testament as Repent ye is of the New And this He purposely prefixeth as a preface and preparative to the other Prophesies both of Mercies and Judgements whereof the whole is fitly made up Sowr and sweet make the best sauce Promises and Menaces mixt make the most fruitsull discourse and serve to keep the heart in the best temper Hence Davids ditty was composed of discords Psal 101.1 I will sing of mercy and judgment and so be both merry and wise But to the words of the Text turn ye unto me c. By sin men run away
from God whereby it appeareth that sin is the greatest evill because it sets us furthest off from the greatest good and by repentance they return unto him Deut. 30.2 8 9 10. Mal. 3.7 Ier. 4.1 Hos 14.1 Act. 26.18 Hence Act 3.19 Repent and be converted Contrition is repentance for sin 2 Cor. 12.21 Rev. 9.20 Conversion is repentance from sin Act. 8.22 Heb. 6.1 Hereunto is required first a serious search of our wayes for it is a Metaphor taken from a traveller Let us search and try our wayes and turn againe to the Lord Lam. 3.39 I considered my wayes and then seeing my self farr wide I turned my feet to thy Testimonies Psal 119.59 Satius est recurrere quam malè currere said that Emperour in his symbol It is better to stop or step back then run on when out of the way for here he that hasteth with his feet sinneth Prov. 19.2 the faster he runs the farther he is out But as the deceived traveller when once he finds his errour in his judgement he dislikcth it in his will he turneth from it in his affections he grieveth at it and is angry with his false guides with his utmost endeavour he not only turns againe to the right way but makes the more hast that he be not benighted So is it here David not only turned his feet to Gods âestimonies from which he had swarved but he thenceforth made hast and delayed not to keep his commandements Psal 119.59 60. For this true conversion we are speaking of this repentance never to be repented of is an upright earnest and constant endeavour of an entire change of the whole man from all that is evill to all which is good This is the doctrine of the Gospell Tit. 2.11 and this is all the fruit Isaey 27.9 To turn from one sin to another is but to be tossed from one hand of the devill to the other it is but with Benhadad to recover of one disease and dye of another it is but to take paines to go to hell See this in Saul Iohn Herod Agrippa and others who gave but the half turn turned not from East to West but from East to North onely their change was not essentiall but only graduall it is not a through change for subject and object but partiall and temporall as being but morall or formall or merely mentall It proceedes from conviction of judgement onely and not for aversion of will from horrour of punishment not from hatred of sin which they leave haply but loath not leave it I say for the inconveniences that follow it for the fire that is in it not for the filthinesse that is in it Now all these seeming Converts because they cast not away all their transgressions All is a little word but of large extent are therefore to be reckoned among those fooles of the people that passe on and are punished those enemies of God that instead of turning againe turning short againe upon themselves with the prodigall Prov. 22.3 and returning to the Lord with Ephraim go on still in their trespasses till their hairy scalp be wounded Psal 68.21 till evident and inevitable judgements be incurred till iniquity prove to be their utter ruine Ezek. 18.30 Wherefore now Turn ye unto me saith the Lord of Hosts Add not to all your other sins that of Impenitency for which there remaines no more sacrifice as Herod added to all his former abominations the beheading of the Baptist but Turn you Turn you why will ye dye O house of Israel And for this consider these ensuing particulars 1. Who you are that are required to return weake and worthlesse creatures the slime of your fathers loynes dust and ashes altogether unable to avert or avoid Gods judgements beaten rebels you are and have therefore no help left but to fall down before God and implore his mercy Turn and live except ye repent ye shall all perish 2. Next see who it is to whom ye are required to return Not to some tyrant or implacable enemy that having gotten us into his hands will deale cruelly with us as the Duke of Alva rosted some to death starved others and that even after quarter but to the Lord your God Hist of Netherl who is gracious and mârcifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse and quickly repenteth him of the evill Ioel 2.13 He will surely both assist such as have but a mind to return why else doth he bid us turn which he knowes we cannot do without him and why doth he bid us pray to him to Turn us when we bid our children ask us for this or that it is because we meane to give it them He will also accept us with all sweetnesse as he did Ephraim Ier. 31.19 20. and the Prodigall Luk 15. The father met him ver 20. so he will doe us Isay 65.24 The Prodigall came the Father ran Tantum velis Basil Deus tibi praeoecurret he fell on his neck as Jacob did on his deare Josephs he kissed him when one would have thought he should have kicked him Ambros or killed him rather for his former riotousnesle He calleth for the best robe and for the gold-ring and for the fatted calf Filsus timet convitium Pater adornat convivium Psal 88.5 Let us eat and be merry saith He For this my son was dead given up for dead free among the dead free of that company and is alive againe He was lost and is found Of himself he lest his father and ran riot and yet he is called the lost son in the best sense Hunger drove the wolf out of the wood and yet he is accepted as if not necessitated 3. Thirdly take notice from what you are required to turn Turn ye turn ye from your evill wayes for why will ye dye ye house of Israel Ezek. 33.11 It is your sin only that you are to part with and why should ye be so fond of it if you look upon it either in the Authour of it the devill Ioh. 8.44 Or in the Nature of it as it is an Offence against God your rightfull Lord your bountifull Benefactour and a breach of his Law which is holy and just and good Or in the horrid effects of it as upon other creatures for mans sake so especially upon man himself whom Sin hath excluded from the possession of the lower paradise and the possibility of the higher into an eternity of all extremities after many a little hell here afore-hand Or lastly in the ransome of it Christs blood and bitter sufferings that soule of sufferings which his soule then suffered when God made our sins to meet upon him Esay 53.6 Oh think on these things sadly seriously fixedly and copiously and you will soon see caule enough to turn to him from whom these children of Israel had deeply revolred Isay 31.6 and were therefore grievously plagued they and their fathers that they might return to him that smote them Which
three-hours darknesse especially but he delivering himself as a mighty Conquerour their horns stick fast as it were in his crosse as Abrahams ramme by his horns stuck fast in the brier c. and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom Myrrhe-trees some render it Here Christ that horseman and head of his Church keepeth himself as touched with the feeling of our infiunities Heb. 4.15 as suffering and sorrowing with his people who are fitly compared to myrtles that grow in a shady grove in vallies and bottoms and by waters sides amantes littorae myrtos Virg. Georg. Blessed are ye that sowe beside all waters Esay 32.20 Myrtles also are odoriferous and precious Esay 41.19 and 55.13 so are the Saints Esay 43.4 Colos 4.6 they cast a good scent where-ever they go by the grace of God that is in them as Alexander the Great is said to do by the excellent temperament of his body Lastly Levit. 23.40 with Neh 8.15 the Jews at their joyfull feast of Tabernacles used myrtle-branches among others to testifie their thankfulnesse for a settlement in the promised land after so long wandring in the wildernesse The Gentiles also in their solemn feasts enterludes and cingebant tempora myrto wore garlands made of Myrtle Virg. Georg Let us keep the feast Let us keep holy-day saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 5.8 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who himself did over-abound exceedingly with joy had an exuberancy of it at that constant feast of a good conscience Diogenes could say that a good man keeps holy-day 2 Cor 7.4 all the yeer about Christ crowneth the Kalendar of his peoples lives with continuall festivals here how much more in heaven Pliny tells us Plin. lib. 15. cap. 29. that ex myrto facta est ovantium corona subinde triumphantium of Myrtle was made among the Romans the crown or garland of those that did shout for victory or ride in triumph and behind him were there red horses i. e. horse-men Nam nimis crassum est illud commentum fuisse locutos equos saith Calvin here These horse men are Angels as verse 10. deputed to severall offices and executions for judgement foâmercy or both shadowed by the divers colours of their horses Verse 9. âalvin Then said I O my Lord what are these Thus the Prophets enquired and searched diligently as saith Saint Peter 11 Epist 1.11 for the truth of things ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as hunters seek for game and as men seek for gold in the very mines of the earth who not content with the first oar that offereth it self to their view dig deeper and deeper till they are owners of the whole treasure See Prov. 2.4 and rest not till ye see that blissefull sight Ephes 1.18 19. and the Angel that talked with me Or in me as the Vulgar rendreth it This was some created Angel who might reveal things to the Prophet by working on the phantasie and spirit by way of information and instruction as Dan. 9.21 Luk. 1.11 Apoc. 1.1 I will shew thee what these be How ready are the holy Angels to serve the Saints Heb. 1.14 rejoycing more in their names of office then of honour of employment then preferment to be called Angels that is Messengers or Internuntio's then Principalities Thrones Dominions Ephes 1.20 accounting it better to do good then to be great to dispense Gods benefits then to enjoy them Hence they are with and about the Saints as their companions guides protectours monitours and rulers of their actions as here Verse 10. And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees The man Christ Jesus that is ever with his Church and in the midst of his people that feedeth among the lillâes and walketh in the middest of the seven golden candlesticks He being asked by the foresaid Angel answered him in Zacharies hearing for he is Palmoni hammedabber that excellent Speaker as Daniel calleth him and therefore asketh him of the vision Dan. 8.13 These are they whom the Lord hath sent As his Epoptai or Overseers and Intelligencers Not that God needeth them as Princes need the counsell and aid of their subjects The holy Angels receive möre from God then they performe or bring to him But he maketh use of their service about us 1. For the honour of his Majesty and comfort of our infirmity 2. To make out his love unto us by employing such noble creatures for our good 3. To make and maintain love and correspondency between us and Angels till we come to walk arm in arm with Angels ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Zach. 3.7 and to be like unto them yea their equals Luke 20.36 if not more Ephes 1.23 Verse 11. We have walked to and fro thorow the earth Itavimus we have coursed up and down with incredible swiftnesse Hence they are called the charrets of God Psal 68.17 Heb. Gods-charret to note out their joynt-service as of one as here his horsemen ready prest to do his pleasure and behold all the earth sitteth still and is at rest excepting the Church alone which like Noah's Ark is ever tossed up and down till it rest at last on the everlasting mountain then she shall have her happy Halcyons then she shall see her enemies afar off as Lazarus did Dives or as the Israelites at the red-sea did their persecutours dead upon the shore Mean-while she must not expect to be calm and quiet for any continuance Joh. 16.33 Joh. 16.20 Esth 3.15 Esay 21.10 1 Cor. 3.9 In the world ye shall have trouble And ye shall weep and lament but the world shall rejoyce they shall revel and laugh themselves fat The king and Haman sat down to drink but the city Shushan was perplexed The Church is called Gods threshing-floor because threshed with continuall crosses and Gods-husbandry because he will be sure to plow his own ground and to make long furrows upon their backs whatsoever become of the waste and to weed his own garden though the rest of the world be let alone and grow wild Moab is not poured from vessell to vessell Jer. 48. Job 10.10 â but setleth upon the lees when the Israel of God is poured out as milk and crudled like cheese as Job speaketh in another case Verse 12. Then the Angel of the Lord That Advocate with the Father Jesus the Juft One 1 John 2.2 who appeareth for his afflicted people and feelingly pleads for them as being afflicted in all their afflictions even the Angel of his presence that saveth them Esay 63.9 It much moved him to hear that Gods enemies were in better case then his people and this put him upon the following passionate expostulation O Lord of Hosts How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem c. Vsquequo Domine Calvin had these words much in his mouth thereby breathing out his holy desires in the behalf of the afflicted Churches Melch. Adam in vita with whose sufferings hee was more affected
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
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 fiât 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
land of Hadrach Better on the land of Hadrach whereby is meant Because Messiah is chad sharp to the Nations but rach gentle to the Israelites not thy land O Immanuel or O Messiah as Hierom after Rabbi Benaiah nor a countrey that is neer or lying round about another countrey as Junius and Danaeus expound the Syrian word But either a province or a city of some Note in Syria not fat from Damascus Diodate maketh it to be an Idoll of the Syrians which represented the Sunne from which the countrey took its name as Esay 8. 8. Jer. 48.46 Hos 10.5 and Damascus The Metropolis of Syria built say some in the place where Cain slew Abel and therehence called Damesech or a bag of blood a great scourge to Israel chiefly famous for Saint Pauls conversion there and his rapture into the third heaven during that three-dayes darknesse Act 9.9 with 2 Cor. 12.2 shall be the rest thereof sc of that bitter burden which shall here abide and be set upon its own base as chap. 5.11 See a like expression Joh. 3.36 the wrath of God abideth upon an unbeleever tanquam trabali clavo fixa he can neither avert nor avoid it when the eyes of man c. That is of other men the Gentiles also who as yet are carnall and walk as men shall be toward the Lord lifted up in prayer and confident expectation of mercy See Psal 122.2 Verse 2. And Hamath also shall border thereby i. e. shall share in the same punishment with Damascus and fare the worse for its neighbourhood though it be very wise and think to out-wit the enemy to be too hard for him that way ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Cor. 3.19 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Midian was for Israel by his wiles rather then by his warres Num. 25.18 God taketh these Wisards in their own craft as beasts in a toil and makes very fools of them notwithstanding their many fetches specially when they boast of their wit as Tyrus did Ezek. 28.3 4 c. and trust in it Prov. 3.5 The Phoenicians and Tyrians were wont to boast that they first found out the use of letters c. Sure it is that by much trading by Sea they were grown cunning and crafty Merchants to cosen others and this they coloured with the name of wisdome Wise they were in their generation Luke 16.8 but so is the fox the serpent and the devil who when he was but young out-witted our first parents And wee are still sensible of his slights and not ignorant of his wiles his methods and his stratagems Verse 3. And Tyrus did build her self a strong-hold Thor did build her self Matsor An Elegancy not to be Englished such as are many in the old Testament but especially in Esay It is as if it should be said A strong hold such as Tyrus which was naturally fortified did build it self a strong hold sc by the industry and diligence of men so that she might seem impregnable yet all should not do A Lapide Alexander after seven moneths siege took it and destroyed it and heaped up silver as dust Pulverizavit argentum quasi pulverem Shee had money enough by means of her long and great trade with all the world Ezek. 27. and so might hire what souldiers she pleased for her defence The sinewes of warre were not wanting to her She heaped up her hoards as it were to heaven her Magazines were full fraught The word here rendred heapt up signifieth to comport and gather in money as men do corn into barnes and granaries Exod. 8.10 Psal 39.7 But riches avail not in the day of wrath And Tyrus converted leaves laying up and treasuring and falls to feeding and cloathing Gods Saints Esay 23.18 Vers 4. Behold the Lord will cast her out Or impoverish her as some render it that 's for her money God can soon let her blood in the vena cava called Marsupium and make her nudam tanquam ex mari And then for her munitions He will smite her power in the sea She was seated in a Island upon munitions of rocks the sea was to her instead of a three-fold wall and ditch She was better fortified then Venice is which yet hath flourished above nine hundred years and was never in the enemies hands whence she hath for her Motto Intacta manet But Tyrus was taken Nebuchadnezzar as his wages and afterwards by Alexander who never held any thing impossible that he undertook how unlikely soever it were to be effected He found means to fill up the sea with stones trees and rubbish where it divided Tyrus from the Continent and made himself master of it and she shall be devoured with fire though seated in the heart of the sea Ezek. 28.2 Curt. lib. 4. Plin. lib. 5. c. 19 and had motted up her self against Gods fire Nothing shall quench the fire that he kindleth Verse 5. Ashkelon shall see it and fear for jam proximus ardet Vcalegon her next neighbours house was now on fire and she might well fear she should be dasht at least with the tail of that over-flowing storm that had swept away Tyrus The sword was now in commission it was riding circuite Ezek. 14.17 and God had given it a speciall charge against Ashkelon and against the Sea-shore there had he appointed it Jer. 47.6 7. Now Ashkelon Gaza and Ekron were scituate all along the Sea-coast Southward of Tyre and Sidon All these were bitter enemies to the Church and were therefore destroyed by Alexander the Great that man of Gods hand Gaza also shall see it and be very sorrowfull like a travailing woman as Esay 26.17 18. where the same word is used her heart shall ake and quake within her she shall have sore throwes and throbs and Ekron for her expectation shall be ashamed Her hope hath abused her her confidence is cut off her countenance is covered with confusion She looked that Tyrus should have been a bulwark to her or at least a refuge if need were But now she seeth her expectation shamed The expectation of the wicked shall perish They look out of the window with Siserah's mother and say Have they not sped have they not divided the prey c But what saith the Church So let thine enemies perish O Lord c. Judg. 5.30 31. and the king shall perish from Gaza Rex id est Regulus for there were five Princes of the Philistines each great city having a Prince over it The Prince of Gaza that is here designed to destruction may very well be that Betis whom Darius the last king of Persia had set over Gaza He having kept out Alexander for two moneths was at length taken by him together with the city and put to a cruell death as Curtius testifieth Q. Curt. l. 4 and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited It was so wasted by warre and dispeopled that it became cottages for shepherds and folds for sheep See Zeph. 2.4 â Howbeit after
because the colt whereon Christ rode ran after two asses coupled together in one yoke whereof one was his damm Mat. 21.5 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1.2 See the Note there These asses used to the yoke Hesiod calleth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã wretched or enduring great toyle and labour That Christ should ride upon the foale of such a hard labouring asse a yong wild colt not yet ready tamed and trained to the saddle as it shewes his humility so also his power over the creature Clarescente gloriâ inter humilem simplicitatem and his peaceablenesse too as Kimchi thinkes from that in the next verse that the Israelites under Christs government should have no need of horses and charrets All this description of Christs person and kingdome we know was punctually fulfilled in our Saviour according to Mat. 21. Mar. 11. Luke 19. Ioh. 12. foure sufficient witnesses The old Rabbines and with them R. Galatin lib. 8. cap. 9. Solomon though a sworn enemy to Christians take the text of the promised Messias his solemne entrance into Ierusalem Of Jesus the crucified son of Mary they will not yeeld because they stumble at his poverty and expect pomp But if they had consulted their own Prophets they would have found that Messiah was foretold as despicable Esay 53.2 Poor as here crucified Dan. 9.26 Num. 21.9 among malefactours Esay 53.9 nailed Psal 22.16 pierced Zech. 12.10 mocked Psal 69.7 And that their very rejection of him for his meanenesse and meeknesse proveth him to be Christ Psal 118.22 Act. 4.11 It is reported of Agesilaus that comming to help the king of Egypt in his distresse he was despised by the Egyptians because of the plainenesse of his person and the homelinesse of his attire for they thought that they should see the king of Sparta such an one as the king of Persia was bravely habited and pompously attended Semblably the Iewes expect a Christ like to one of the mighty Monarches of the earth and they are strongly possest with the fond conceit of an earthly kingdome Hence when they saw Mahomet arising in such power they were straight ready to cry him up for teir Massias The rich hath many friends saith Solomon but the poor is hated or slighted even of his own noighbour Prov. 14.20 Christ came to his own but his own received him not When it was sometime disputed among the Romanes in the Councell using to deify great men whether Christ having done many wonderfull works should be received into the number of the gods the Historian saith that they would not therefore receive him because he preached poverty and made choice of poor men to follow him whom the world careth not for Verse 10. And I will cut off the charret c. This the same in effect with that of Esay chap. 9.7 Of the encrease of Christs government and peace there shall be no end and chap. 2.4 they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their speares into pruning-hookes nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learne warr any more Christ was born in the raigne of Augustus Caesar then when having vanquished Lepidus Antonius and the rest of his enemies both at home and abroad he set open gates of Janus in token of an universall peace and raigned as Lord and Monarch of the Roman world De invent râr lib. 4.1 Polydor Virgill out of Orosius tells us that the self-same day wherein Christ was born Augustus Caesar made proclamation that no man should thenceforth give him the title of Lord manifesto praesagio majoris dominatus qui tum in terris ortus est saith he not without a manifest presage of a greater Lord then himself then born into the world greater 1. both for the peaceablenesse of his government as here no use of weapons or warllike engines The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual 2 Cor. 10.4 Christ shall bring both to Jewes and Gentiles the Gospel of peace and the peace of the Gospel he shall speake peace unto the Heathen peace of countrey and peace of Conscience too and 2. for the extent of his government It should be as large as the world a Catholike kingdome his dominion shall be from Sea to Sea From the red Sea the Mediterranean Sea or the Sea of Palestina for these two seas were the bound of the land of Canaan Num. 23.31 for the Jews scarce knew any other sea but these two And the Prophet here alludeth to the times of Solomons reigne aâ appeares by Psal 72.8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth that is from Euphrates to the utmost bounds of the holy land which by a common custome of speech are put for the utmost quarters of the world Verse 11. As for thee also O daughter of Sion O my Church not O Christ the king of the church as the Grreek and Latine fathers and after them the Popish commââtarours will needs have it the better to establish their Chimera of Limbus Patrum Christ here by an Aposââpâsis an ordinary figure or keeping back something unspoken through earnestnesse of affection bespeaks his people in this sort Eâiam tis As for thee also I will surely impart unto thee the benefits of that my kingdome as I have already begun to do in delivering you out of that ãâã that âirty dungeon of the Babylonish thraldome by the blood of thy covenant by the blood of Christ figured by the blood that was sprinkled upon the people Exod. 24.8 Psal 74.20 Heb. 13.20 and by vertue of the Covenant confirmed thereby I have sent forth thy prisoners I have enlarged thy captives out of the pit wherein is no water but mud only Gen. 37.24 Ier. 38.6 as in Iosephs pit and Ieremies dungeon The Saints have temporall deliverances also by vertue of the covenant and if any of Christs subjects fall into desperate distresses and deadly dangers yet they are prisoners of hope and may look for deliverance by the blood of the covenant Verse 12. Turn ye to the strong hold i. e. to Christ the rock of ages Isa 26.4 the hope of Israel Ier. 17.13 the expectation of all the ends of the earth Luke 2.25 38. Or to the Promise that strong tower whereunto the righteous run and are safe that are Christi munitissima as Cyrill here saith strong hold of Christ Thou art my shield saith David I truth in thy word Psal 119.114 And againe Remember thy word to thy servant wherein thou hast caused me to trust Verse 49. When yong Ioash was sought for to the shambles by his murderous grandmother Athaliah he was hid in the house of the Lord for six yeers But whence was this safety Even from the faithfull promise of God 2 Chron. 23.3 Behold the kings son must raigne as the Lord had said of the sons of David that he should never want a man to raigne after him Hence Psal 91.4 his faithfulnesse
and his truth shall be thy shield and buckler Under this shield and within this strong-hold of the promises God had made them in the foregoing verses these prisoners of hope these heires of the promises were to shroud and secure themselves amidst those dangers and distresses as incompassed them on every fide And that they might know that the needy should not alwayes be forgotten Psal 9.18 the expectation of the poor should not perish for ever here 's as precious promise of present comfort even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee Though you be now at never so great an under yet I do make an open promise unto you verbis non solum disertis sed exertis I do assure you in the word of truth that I will render unto thee thou poor soule that liest panting under the present pressure double that is life and liberty saith Theodoret Grace and Glory saith Lyra Or double to what thou hopest I will be better to thee then thy hopes saith Hierom Or double that is multiplied mercy but especially Christ who is caled the Gift of God by an excellency Ioh. 4.10 the Benefit 1. Tim. 6.2 that which shall abundantly countervaile all crosses and miseries Mar. 10.30 Iob had all double to him Valentinian had the Empire Q Elisabeth the Crown God will be to his Hannah's better then ten children Verse 13. When I have bent Judah for me God himself did the work though by the sons of Zion as his instruments whom he used and prospered against the sons of Greece that is the successours of Alexander the Great who led them out of Greece against the power of Persia and who seizing upon Egypt and Syria crusht and ground the poor Jews betwixt them as betwixt two milstones This Prophesie was fulfilled in the Maccabes but may have on eye to the Apostles who were some of them of Judah some of Ephraim that is of the ten tribes as of Zebulon Psal 45.5 Nepthali c. these Christ used as bowes and arrowes in the hand of a mighty man whereby the people fell under him the sons of Greece especially where so many famous churches were planted as appeares by the Acts and the Revelation See Rev. 6.2 with the Note and made thee as the sword of a mighty man given thee both armes and an arme to weild them For it is God that strengtheneth and weakeneth the armes of either party in battel Ezek. 30.24 It is he also that rendreth the weapons vaine or prosperous Isa 54. ult Ier. 50.9 This Judas Maccabeus well understood and therefore had his name from the capitall letters of this motto written in his Ensigne Mi camoca belohim Jehovah who is like thee O Lord among the Gods St. Paul also that conquered so many countries and brought in the spoiles of so many soules to God whence the change of his name from Saul to Paul as some think 2 Cor. 10. 1 Cor. 15. from Sergius Paulus the Proconsul whom he converted to the faith Act. 13.9 The weapons of our warfare saith He are mighty through God to the casting down of strong-holds Not I but the grace of God that is with me c. And ye men of Israel why look ye so earnestly upon us saith Peter as if by our own power of holinesse c. Act. 3.12 Verse 14. And the Lord shall be seen over them shall be conspicuous amongst them he shall appeare for them in the high places of the field he shall make bare his arm and bathe his sword in blood How many do you reckon me at said Antigonus to his souldiers when they feared the multitudes of their enemies May not God say so much more to his Hath ever any waxed fierce against him and prospered If he but arise onely his enemies shall be scattered Psal 68.1 and those that hate him shall flee before him his arrow shall go forth with the lightening Here the former matter is illustrated by many lofty tropes and allusions either to those ancient deliverances at the red-sea and against the Canaanites and Philistines by thunders lightening and tempest or else as Calvin rather thinks to the terrible delivery of the Law with thunderings and lightenings and sound of trumpets to the great amazements of the people insomuch as Moses himself said I exceedingly fear and quake He confers Habak 3.3 4 5. and further alledgeth that Teman here rendred the South was the same with Sinai and lies South from Judaea Lightening thunder and whirl-winds are a part of Gods Armies which he can draw forth at his pleasure against his enemies Such things as these fell out oft-times in the warres of the Maccabees And how the Lord mightily assisted his Apostles whose arrowes went forth as the lightening swiftly suddenly irresistibly and whose thunder gave a loud alarum to all Nations I need not relate Vers 15. The Lord of hosts shall defend them Heb. Paulum quoâiescunque lego non verba mihi audire videor sed tonitrua shall hold his buckler over them which none can strike thorow and they shall devour sc their enemies that till then did eat up Gods people as they eat bread Psal 14.5 and subdue with sling-stones with weak means as David did Goliath and they shall drink and make a noise Tumultuabuntur quasi temulenti 'T is a Catechresis signifying the very great destruction of their enemies so that they might be even drunk with their blood if they had any mind to it the tongues of their dogges should be dipped therein as Psal 68.23 24. and they shall be filled like bowls c. that held the blood of the sacrifices and as the corners of the altar which were all besprinkled with the blood of the sacrifices A Lapide applies all this to those heavenly Conquerours and more that is Triumphers the Apostles and Martyrs Verse 16. And the Lord their God shall save them Not defend them onely as Lord of Hosts verse 15. but as a further favour save them as their God in Covenant with them as the flock of his people rescuing them as David did his lamb from the lion and bear and tending them continually as the stones of a crown Costly and precious or Monumentall-stones with crowns on the top and set up for Trophies Verse 17. For how great is his goodnesse He shuts up all with this sweet Epiphonema or exclamation admiring the singular goodnesse of God to his people in all the former particulars and yet promising them Abundance of outward necessaries even to an honest affluence they should have store of corn and wine so much as should make them succulent and vigorous full of sappe and good humours Provided that first they content not themselves with the naturall use of the creature but tast how good the Lord is And next that they put this promise into suit by their prayers as chap. 10.1 CHAP. X. Verse 1. ASK you of the Lord rain Ask it and have
penally ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And why She is become the habitation of devils that is of idols See Rev. 9.20 1 Cor. 10.20 Verse 3. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds Pastores Impostores the greedy priests and false prophets main causes of the captivity because through their default there was no knoledge nor fear of God in the land Esay 5.13 Hos 4.6 7. See Ier. 23.1 Ezek. 34.1 and I punished the goats The Grandees and Governours temporall and Ecclesiasticall See Ezek. 34.17 They should have been as the hee-goats before the flock Ier. 50.8 worthy Guides to God But they were goats in another sence unruly and nasty and lascivious as those two filthy fellows for instance whom for their adultery the kind of Babylon roasted in the fire Ier. 29.22 and such as begat kids of their own kind men of their own make and went before them in wickednesse as the goats lead the flocks for the Lord of hosts Better to read it but the Lord of hosts c. And this is spoken for the comfort of those that called upon God and abhorred Idols and Idol-shepherds that were in speciall covenant with him and therefore owned by him as his flock or peculiar charge Now to such he promiseth to feed them as him sheep and to furnish them as his horse for service his goodly warre-horse mainly respected by his Master as Bucephalus was by Alexander Plin. l. 8. c. 41. This may in part be understood of the Maccabees victories but principally of the Apostles those white horses upon which they rode thorow the world conquering and to conquer Rev. 6.2 Saint Paul is fitly compared to that war-horse in Job chap. 39.20 whose neck is clothed with thunder and the glory of his nostrils is terrible He mocketh at fear and turneth not back from the sword He goeth on to meet the armed man and swalloweth the ground with fiercenesse and rage c. Verse 4. Out of him came forth the corner Angulus not Angelus as some Vulgar Latine translations have it and A Lapide justly finds fault with it Chap. 35. A like fault Surius and Caranza his fellow-popelings are content to wink at nay to defend in the Laodicene Councell because it makes for their Angel-worship For whereas the Councell truely saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Christians must not pray to Angels They make the words to be Non oportet Christianos ad angulos congregationes facere Christians ought not hold their meetings in corners and they make the title say the same thing but is this fair dealing thus to falsifie antiquity for their own ends and to maintain their own errours As for the Text. Out of his came forth c. That is Out of Judah shall be had all things necessary both at home and here the Prophet proceeds from the foundation to the nails or fastening of the house together and abroad both for the mastering of the enemy by the Battle-bowe c. and the making of him tributary for Out of him shall come every exactour sc Of homage and tribute as the fruit of their victory Danaeus senceth it thus Out of Judah shall go every oppressour which did vex his people before God driving him forth Verse 5. And they shall be as mighty men Or as Giants as Gabriels they shall be strong in the Lord Ruth 2.11 and in the power of his might they shal do worthily in Ephratas and be famous in Bethlehem their bow shall abide in strength and the armes of their hands be made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob from thence is the shepheard the stone of Israel Plutarch Gen. 49.24 If it could be said of Mithridates a meer Atheist that he never wanted any courage nor counsel how much of Gods warriours such as Iudas Maccabeus especially Messiah the Prince who treads down his enemies as the mire of the streets setting his feet in their necks and making them to be found liars unto him that is to yeeld him at least a forced and fained subjection and they shall sight because the Lord is with them This is enough to make them fight up to the knees in blood that they have God to stand by them not onely as a spectatour or Agonotheta though that 's somwhat dogs and other baser creatures will fight lustily when their masters are by and to set them on but as a Captain of the Lord Hosts as Christ is called and a Coadjutor a Champion a man of war Exod. 15.3 Yea he alone is a whole army of men he is Van and Reiâe both Isai 52.12 The shields of the earth belong to him the Militia of the world is his Psal 47.9 he hath magnleh choloth and matteh choloth as the Rabbins well observe armies both above and beneath as his horse and foot to fight for him people and the riders on horses shall be confounded As they were in the conquest of Canaan where the enemies had horses and chariots when the Israelites had neither as Origân observeth and as they were in all Davids wars and the rest of the victorious kings of Israel who according to the Law Deut. 17.16 made no use of horses but said An horse is but a vain thing for battel c. God takes no delight in the strength of an horse and ever fought on foot with singular successe So did the Maccabees Zisca and after his the Bohemians the English in France at the battle of Spurres so the battle of Terwin was called in Henry the eighth his time from the French posting away to save their lives Spied 1000. Verse 6. A Lapide And I will strengthen the house of Judah Robustos as quasi Gabricles efficiam See Chap. 12.8 Esay 10.34 See verse 5. of this chapter The Saints shall be strengthened with all migh according to his glorious power Col. 1.11 at the Resurrection especially when Christ shall change their vile bodies and make them like unto his glorious body in strength agility beauty c. The bodies of the Saints saith Luther shall have that power as to tosse the greatest mountains in the world like a ball Auselme saith such as they shall be able to shake the whole earth at their pleasure Our Saviour saith that they shall be as the Angels of God Luk. 20.36 more like spirits then bodies while they are here In quiet and confidence is their strength Esay 30.15 and again in the same chapter verse 7. their strength is to sit still They expected much strenght from Egypt but the Prophet tells them that by siting still and waiting for the salvation of God by faith they shall have an Egypt Heb. 11.34 and better out of weaknesse they should be made strong wax valiant in fight turn to flight the armies of the aliens as the Maccabees did and as Michael and his Angels Rev. 12. the noble Army of the Apostles who were more then Conquerours and Martyrs who tired their tormentours and laughed at
which he not onely casteth but thrusteth into the bottom of the sea whence it cannot be boyed up This Angel might well be Luther with his Book de captivitate Babylonica confer Jer. 51.63 whom God strangely preserved from the rage of Rome and Hell like as he did from that deadly danger by the fall of a stone whereof Mr. Fox writeth thus Acts Mon. Upon a time saith He when Luther was sitting in a certain place upon a stool studying a great stone there was in the Vault over his head where he sate which being staid miraculously so long as he was sitting assoon as hee was up immediately fell upon the place where he sat able to have crusht him in pieces if it had light upon him But no malice of man or devil could antedate his end a minute whilest his Master had work for him to do as the two witnesses could not bee killed till their businesse was dispatched Rev. 11.7 Verse 4. Turk Hist I will smite every horse with astonishment Great is the strength of the horse and the rage of his rider Jehu marched furiously Bajazet the great Turk of his fierce and furious riding was surnamed Gilderun or Lightening But God can make the Egyptians to appear men and not Gods and their horses flesh and not spirit When the Lord shall but stretch out his hand and that 's no hard matter of motion both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is holpen shall fall down and they shall all faile together Esay 31.3 See Psal 76.5 6. Psal 33.17 An horse is a vain thing for safety though a warlike creature full of terrour but safety or victory is of the Lord Pro. 21.31 In nothing be terrified saith the Apostle Philip. 1.28 The Greek word is a metaphor from horses when they tremble and are sore affrighted as it fell out in the Philistines army when the Angels made a bustle among the mulbery-trees 2 Sam. 5.24 in the Syrians army when the Angels likewise made an hurry-noise in the ayre of charrets of horses and of a great host 2 King 7.6 in the army of Sennacherib when at Gods sole rebuke both the charret and horse were cast into a dead sleep Psal 76.6 Lastly in the German wars against Zisca and the Hussites in Bohemia where God smot every horse with astonishment and his rider with madnesse Parei Meduè hist Profan pag. 785. such a panick terrour seized upon the enemies of the truth though they came in with three potent armies at once that they sled before ever they looked the enemy in the face How this Prophesie was litterally fulfilled to the Maccabees see 2 Mac. 10.30 and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah who before seemed to wink or to be asleep Now will I awake saith the Lord Now will I arise Isa 33.10 now will I lift up my self for the relief and rescue of my poor people and that because they called them outcasts saying This is Zion whom no man looketh after Ier. 30.17 Verse 5. And the Governours of Judah The Dukes of Chiefetaines meaning the Maccabes who ware not any kingly crown but were only Governours Rulers ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Commanders in chief such as went before others like as in the Alphabet Aleph is the first letter So Omega nostrorum Mors est Mars Alpha malorum Saith the Poet wittily shall say in their hearts i. e. shall say heartily from the root of the heart and not from the roof of the mouth only Profession of the truth and prayer for so some make this verse to be are not a labour of the lips but a travel of the heart The voice which is made in the mouth is nothing so sweet as that which comes from the depth of the brest As in instrument-musick the deeper and hollower the belly of the Lute or Violl is the pleasanter is the sound the sleeter the more grating and haâsh in our eares the inhabitants of Iorusalem shall be my strength Though now there be few found in it yet it shall be much repeopled and fortified so that under God it shall be a fortresse to the whole countrey and the Governour shall so take it to be Or thus there is strength to me and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem in the Lord of Hosts their God Every governour shall say so for his own particular And this seemes to me to be the better reading The Maccabes did so as appeared by their posy whereof before their prayers and their singular successe as appeares by their history and by Josephus Deo confisi nunquà m confusi They that trust in God shall never be confounded Our father 's trusted in thee and they were delivered O trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Look not down on the rushing and roaring streames lest ye grow giddy but look up to the heavens from whence comes your help and fasten by faith on Gods power and promises Faith unseined breeds hope unfaileable such as never miscarrieth O trust in him at all times ye people c. Psal 62. for with God is wisdome and strength Iob. 12.13 Plutarch saith of the Scythians that they have neither wine nor musick but they have Gods Say that the Saints have neither power nor pollicy as their enemies yet they have all in God who is more then all Verse 6. In that day will I make the governours c. This is the third similitude whereof the scripture is full according to that I will open my mouth in parables c. These are of excellent use to adorn and explain and yet they are evermore inferiour to the matter in hand They are borrowed from things well known and easy to be conceived as here from an harth of fire among wood Now we can all tell how great a matter or wood a little fire kindleth Iam. 3.5 As when Nero for his pleasures sake set Rome on fire among other stately buildings that were quickly burnt down the Circus or race-yard was one being about half a mile in length of an ovall form with rowes of seats one above another capable of at least an hundred and fifty thousand spectatours without uncivil shoulderings As the fire burneth a wood and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire So persecute them with thy tempest and make them afraid with thy storme saith the Church Psal 83.14 15. Thus they pray'd and thus it is here promised and was accordingly performed in those first warrs of the Maccabees as appeareth in the first book of their story Antiq. lib. 12. and in Josephus Diodate and others understand this text of the Apostles and Evangelists who should fill the world with wars and dissentions by preaching the Gospell Luke 12.49 whereby the enemies should be ruinated Hieron Remig. Albert. A Lapide and the church reestablished Obad. 18. thorough the spirit of judgement and of burning Esay 4.4 To which purpose Chrysostome saith
eyes their houses shall be spoiled and their wives ravished The Irish rebels bound the husband to the bed-post whiles they abused his wife before his face In the time of K. Edward the third Donec mulier fatigata spiritum exhalareâ Walsing the French souldiers at Winchelsey in Sussex took their lustfull turns upon a beautifull woman in the Church and at the time of divine service untill they had turned her out of the world as a learned man phraseth it and half of the city shall go forth into captivity An evill an onely evill threatened Deut. 28. and sulfilled to the utmost upon this nation so shamelesly so lawlesly wicked as can hardly be peered or parallelled I have noted before that this their last captivity and dispersion is such as that one of their own Rabbines concludeth from thence that their Messiah must needs be come and they must needs suffer so much for killing him They use to say that there is still an ounce of the golden calf in all their publike calamities There is another thing lieth more heavily upon them to this day were they but sensible of it Let us be sending up and sighing out for them that of the Psalmist O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people Jacob shall rejoyce and Israel shall be glad Psa 14.7 and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city A remnant shall be reserved as it were for royall use whether a third part as chap. 13.8 or an half as here 't is not much materiall in numeris non est anxiè laborandum saith Calvin here for the direct number it is neither here nor there as we say God shall reserve unto himself a set and select number He who comforteth those that are cast down speaketh this to his for encouragement The Church may be shaken not shivered persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed 2 Cor. 4.9 Verse 3. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations Some read it Among those nations He shall be the Archistrategus the Commander in chief of those Armies which he hath brought together against Ierusalem to revenge upon her the quarrel of his Covenant But I like the other way better because it is purposely spoken for the comfort of Saints in evill times When therefore there is dignus vindice nodus periculum par animo Alexandri as he was wont to say when it is time for God to arise that his enemies may be scattered and those that hate him fly before him he will arise and have mercy upon Zion he will awake as in the dayes of old he will come forth from his holy place to the relcue of his praying people There brake he the arrowes of the bow the shield and the sword and the battel Selab Psal 76.3 4. There he appeared more glorious and excellent then the mountaines of prey There he did and there he will for this is a common and currant Scripture-medium Esay 10. God shall fight against those nations the very rod of his wrath which after he hath worn to the stump he will cast it into the fire The wicked are called Gods sword Psal 17.13 But it will fall out with them as with that sword which Hector gave Ajax which so long as he used against his enemies served for help and defence but after he began to abuse it to the hurt of hurtlesse beasts it turned into his own bowels as when he fought in the day of battel with his own bare hand as it were Esay 52.10 and in a miraculous manner as he did for Israel at the red sea for Ioshua Iehoshaphat Hezekiah c. and as he shall do at that last great battle against Antichrist and his Adherents Rev. 20.8 9 10. which is here haply pointed at Let the Lord but arise only and his enemies shall be scattered but if he once take hold of shield and buckler for defence he draw out the spear and sword those weapons of offence and appear as a man of warr Exod. 15.3 or as a Lord and Victour of warrs so the Chaldee there hath it he will charge thorough and thorough he will burn them together Esay 27.4 and in the same place 2 Sam. 23.7 Verse 4. And his fcet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives that is he shall so put forth his power for defence of his people as if he did visibly appear amongst them and beheld the fight from the top of a mountain like as Zerxes used to pitch his tent on high and stand looking on his army when in fight to encourage them and to send out orders From this Mount it was that God departed after many former removes from Ierusalem Ezech. 11.23 And what wonder when as Har Hamischa the mount of Unction was become Har Hamaschith the mount of Corruption 2 King 23.13 the bold lews having let up their Idol in this mount Olivet even in the sight of the Lord so that he never looked out of the Sanctuary Iohn 18. Mat. 26.30 but he beheld that vile hill of abominations From this mount it was that our Lord Christ ascended into heaven Act. 1.11 There he was apprehended by the Jews there therefore it is prophecied that he shall stand against them by the Romans say some out of Josep de Bello Jud. lib. 6. cap. 3. And that when these things should come to pasle the Jews might know that their utter destruction was neer at hand So God shewed unto the Ninivites on what side their city should be taken and what at that time should be the power and the attempts of the enemy against them Nah. 2. and 3. and yet neither of these repented for all this Others more probably hold that here is promised such a powerfull presence of God for the relief of his people as shall farr exceed the glory that appeared at the promulgation of the law when the mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs Psal 114.6 Heb. 12.21 so terrible also was the sight that Moscs said I exceedingly fear and quake I also see and tremble at the resemblance said an holy man betwixt that giving of the law and the requiring of it at the last day In the one Mount Sinai only was on a flame all the world shall be so in the other To the One Moses that climbed up that hill and alone saw it sayes God came with ten thousand of his Saints In the other thousand thousands shall minister to him and ten thousand thousands shall stand before him Hereunto some refer that obscure passage in the next verse The Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee and that at the day of judgement Christ shall descend with all his Angels into mount Olivet which hangs over the valley of Jehoshaphar that there he may plead with all nations for his people
reserved unto judgement 2 Pet. 2. â4 Iob felt but his little finger as it were and yet cryes out for help Have pitty upon me have pitty upon me O ye my friends for the hand of God hath touched me Iob 19.21 It had but lightly tonched him and yet he was hardly able to endure it Oh the bloody wails that Gods hand hath left upon the backs of his best children Wo then to his enemies when he comes forth to fight against them Their flesh shall consume away whiles they stand upon their feet They shall pine away in their iniquities Levit. 26.30 their beauty shall consume away like a moth Psal 39.11 they shall melt as wax before the sun or as the fat of lambs before the fire God if he be not unto them as a lion to tear the kell of their hearts in sunder yet he will be as a moth and as a worm insensibly to consume them Hos 5.12 14. If he break not their teeth in their mouths by smiting them upon the cheek-bone yet he will make them to melt away as waters which run continually as a snail which melteth and as the untimely birth of a woman that never seeth the sun Psa 58.6 7 8. God hath secret wayes to wast his enemies and to bring them on their knees when they are best under-set He can trip up their heels when they are standing upon their feet and lay them low enough in the slimy valley where are many already like them and more shal come after them Iob 21.31 32. God hath a Marasmus an evil messenger for a malicious persecutor as he had for Antiochus Epiphanes for both the Herods for Maximinus the Tyrant 1 Machab. 6. Joseph Antiq. l. 12. c. 11. for Philip the second of Spain Charles the ninth of France Queen Mary of England Steven Gardiner Arch-Bishop Arundel Nestorius Arrius and other odious Hereticks and enemies of the Church amongst whom à Lapide the Iesuit reckons here Calvin and saith That like another Hered he died a lowsie lothsom death and for his authority thinks it enough to say uti refert Bolsecus in ejus vita But it must be understood that the lives of Calvin and Beza were spitefully written by this Bolsecus their sworn enemy that twice banished and thrice runnagate Friar liar I might have said and Physician for those names his often changes and hard chances have given him This man being requested by the popish side and it s likely hired by them to write thus Spec. Eur is in all their writings alledged as Canonical And their eyes shal consume away in their holes Physicians tell us of two thousand diseases that annoy mans body two hundred whereof affect the eyes All these are part of Gods hosts which are as much at Gods command as the Centurions servants and souldiers were at his when he said but Go or come and they did accordingly He can make mens eyes drop and cease not without any intermission as Lam. 3.49 till they melt out Mat. 8.9 as the Hebrew here hath it even the very same word as before he can smite men with sudden blindness as he did the sinful Sodomites that had eyes full of adultery such as tormented their eyes as if they had been pricked with thorns as the Hebrew word signifieth Gen. 19.11 Failing of eyes and sorrow of minde is threatned as a judgement Deut. 28.65 yea thou shalt be mad for the fight of thine eyes which thou shalt see is another piece of the curse verse 34. See 1 Sam. 2.33 And their tongue shal consume away in their mouth As did the tongue of Nestorius the Heresiarch eaten out of his mouth with worms Tho. Arundel and Steven Gardiner two bloody persecutors died of a like disease Diodate understands all this to be a description of hel-torments Their flesh shall consume yet never be consumed for they still stand upon their feet or subsist that they may still suffer having no end that their pain may be endless Their eyes shal consume c that is saith he though they be alive and can see yet shall they be deprived of light in infernal darknesse having neither eyes nor understanding but onely to see and judge of their extream misery Their tongue shal consume away c. as did the rich gluttons Luke 16.24 M. Calvin observeth here that all is delivered in the singular number his flesh shal consume his eyes shal melt his tongue c. for so runs the Original to note that every of Ierusalems enemies shal taste of Gods wrath though some of them may haply hold themselves out of the reach of his rod. And Secondly that God can as easily destroy them all as if he had to do but with one fingle man Verse 13. A great tumult from the Lord shal be among them He shall fright them as he did the Philistines by a sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees 2 Sam. 5.24 and the Syrians by a hurry noise in the air causing a Pannick terror 2 King 7.6 Therefore some render it Erit strepitus vel fragor Domini magnus in eis ut 1 Sam. 7.10 with 1 Sam. 2.10 Or he shall exasperate and imbitter them one against another as he did Abimelech and the men of Shechem by sending an evil spirit between them Judg. 9.23 that is by letting loose Satan upon them that old man-slayer that kindle-coal and make-bate of the world and this in a way of just revenge for their treacherous conspiracy against the house of Gideon Thus God first divided and then destroyed the Midianites by setting every ones sword against his fellow Judg. 7.23 So he dealt by the Philistims 1 Sam. 14.15 20. So the Kings of Syria and Egypt that succeeded Alexander and were enemies to the Jews destroyed one another So did the Primitive Persecutors the Turk and the Persian the Spaniard and the French In the year 1526. Charles the fifth Emperour of Germany set at liberty his prisoner Francis King of France Scultet Annal. Dec. 2. pag. 2 upon this condition among others that they should joyne their forces and do their utmost to suppresse and root out the Lutheran Heresie that is the truth of the Gospell out of both their Dominions But soon after they fell at variance amongst themselves the Pope blowing the bellowes whereby the Church had her Halcyons sic canes lingunt ulcera Lazari shall take the hand of his neighbour as those yonkers of Helcath-hazzurim did that sheathed their swords in their fellows bowels 2 Sam. 2.16 Verse 14. And Iudah also shall fight at Ierusalem Shall fight like a lion and do great exploits for his countrey as Judas Maccabeus did as Hunniades that Maul of the Turks and Scanderbeg who killed 800. Turks with his own hand and fought so earnestly sometimes that the very blood burst out at his lips So did Zisea and the rest of Christs worthy warriours who by faith and yet by force of arms too waxed
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 1â 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
had they considered Daniels weekes they might have known that besides their free election all blessings flowing therefrom as verse 3.4.5 for their seventy years captivity they had seven seventies of years granted them afterwards for the comfortable enjoyment of their own countrey Sed ingrato quod donatur deperditur saith Seneca And Amare non redamantem est amoris impendia perdere saith Hierome All 's lost that is laid out upon an unthankfull people who devoure Gods best blessings as bruit beasts their prey haunch them up and swallow them as swine do swil bury them as the barren earth doth the seed use them as homely as Râchel did her fathers gods which she laid among the litter and sat upon yea sighting against God with his own weapons mercies I meane as John did against Ichoram with his own messengers as David did against Goliath with his own sword as Benhadad against Ahab with that life that he had given him as iâ God had hired them to be wicked c. was not Esau Jacobs brother Did they not both tumble in a belly Isay 51.1 were they not both digged out of the same pit hewen out of the same rock and yet as the great Turk and his brethren born of the same parents the eldest is destined to a diadem the rest to an halter so here Esau though the elder and heire was rejected at least he was lesse loved for so the word hated is to be taken Gen. 29.31 Luke 14.20 Mââ 10.37 Jacob though the younger and weaker for Esau was born a manly childe born with a beard as some think and was therefore called Esau that is Factus persâââus pilis a man already rather then a babe yet was Gods beloved one And so were his posterity too the people of Gods choyce above the Edomites who were now left in captivity at Babyloâ when as the Jews were returned into their own countrey yea for the Jews sakes and as a testimony of Godslove to them were these Edomites still held captives and their land irreparably ruinated because they shewed themselves mercilesse and bloody in the day of Jerusalems calamity Obad. 10.11 Psal 137.7 God had charged the âraelites saying Thou shalt not abhor an Edoâââte for he is thy brother Deut. 23.7 But as Eâau began betime to persecute Jacob bristling at him and bruising him in their mothers womb Gen. 25.22 so his posterity were bitter enemies to the Church joying in her misery and joyning with her enemies wherefore thus saith the Lord God I will also stretch our mine hand upon Edom and will cut off man and beast from ât c. Ezck. 25.13 14. yet I loved Jacob And preordained him to a crown that never fadeth as Paul expoundeth this text Rom. 9.13 of election to eternal life which is the sweetâst and surest seal of Gods love Let us secure our election and so Gods special love to our souls by those two infallible marks 2 Thes 2.13 First belief of the truth that particularity and propriety of assurance Secondly ââââââsication of the Spirit âââo the obedience of the truth And as God loved Iacobs person so he loved his posterity the Israelites above all other people not because they were more in number or better in disposition ex meliore luto c. But because the Lord loved you therefore be set his love upon you and chose you saith Moses Dâut 7.7 8. the ground of his love was wholly in himself there being nothing in man nothing our of Gods self that can primarily move and incline the eternal immutable and omnipotent will of God The true original and first motive of his love to his creature is the good pleasure of his will See Eph. 1.5 where all the four causes of Election are shewed to be without us Verse 3. And I hated Esau i. e. I loved him not as I did Iââob I passed him by and let him alone to perish in his corruption and for his sin And for his posterity whereas they were carried captives by Nebuchadnezâzar as Isreal also was I have not turned again their captivity but laid their land desolate rased and harased their cities and castles made them an habitation of dragons and devilââ and all this as an argument of my deep hatred and utter detestation of them True it is that Judea lay utterly waste during the seventy yeers of their captivity the land kept her sabbaths resting from tillage Upon the slaughter of Gedalâah all the Jews that were left in the land fled into Egypt and God kept the room empty and free from invasion of forreiners untill the return of the Natives out of Babylon Now it was far otherwise with Idumea the desolation whereof is here described to be both total and perpetual according to that foretold by Ezechiel Chap. 35. O mount Seir I will make thee to be most desolate Ezech. 35 3 7 15. or as the Hebrew hath it emphatically and eloquently wastnesse and wastnesse extreme and and irrecoverable A ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or utter ruine befel that countrey being part of Arabia Petrea hence mention of their mountains and abounding naturally with with serpents or dragons it being in the wildernesse of this country of Edom where the Israelites were so stung with fiery serpents Num. 21.6 hence it became afterwards a very den of dragons lurking there Verse 4. Whereas Edom saith we are impoverished Or thrust out of house and home and reduced to extreme indigency yet we will return and build the desolate places We will do it all despito di Deo as that prophane Pope said if it be but to crosse Gods prediction and to withstand his power and providence Thus these earthen pots will be dashing themselves against the rocks against those mountains of brasse so Gods immutable decrees are called Zech. 6.1 Thus Lamech will have the oddes of God seventy to seven so Iunius interprets it Gen. 4.24 Thus when God had threatened to root out Ahab and his posterity he would try that and to prevent it took more wives and so followed the work of generation that he left seventy sons behinds him 2 Kin. 10.1 Thus Pharaoh that sturdy rebel holds out against God to the utmost and sends away his servant Moses threatning death to him even then when he was compassed on all hands with that palpable darknesse Thus the Philistin Princes while some plagued gather themselves together again against the humbling Israelites at Mizpch 1 Sam. 7. and so rum to meet their bane Thus the proud Ephraimites Isai 9.10 The bricks indeed say they are fallen down but we will build it again with hewen stones The The wilde sigtrees are cut down but we will change them into Cedars Thus the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves Luk. 7.30 yea would needs be found fighters against God Act. 5.39 as Gamaliel truly told them Thus those primitive persecutours would needs attempt to root our Christian religion the
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 impietâtem c as Hiârom 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 raâe 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 muânâr 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
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 ât 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
ãâã ãâã 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 âuns 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 reâetens 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 sâa as âthanesivs saith of the book of Psalms and must therefore be of all acknowledged to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã id esi obfignationem proplietrae In ejus locum successisse aixnt ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 redieruââ ad ingenium immemores gratiae dei ita se dediderant multis corruptelis ut nihilo melior esseâstatus 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 â 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 â ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 multitâide 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
righteous run to it and are safe e Pro. 18 10. safe Iâay it not from the common destruction yet surely from the common disâraction those slinging frights horrible amazements and woefull perplexities wherewith the hearts of those that sear not God are miserably pestred and even eaten up mââe day of evill Thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes that thou shalt see f Deut. 28.34 saith God to such And again they shall be at their wits ends g Psal 107.27 nay at their lives ends for fear and for looking after those things that are comming upon them h Luc. 21.26 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Nabal for example whose heart even dyed within him ten dayes before he died upon the apprehension of his late danger and he became as a stone i 1 Sa. 25.37 But now 't is otherwise far with those that fear God that fear before him k Eccl 8.12 God is our refuge and our strength saith the Church a very present help in trouble Therefore will we not fear though the earth be remooved and though the mountains be carried into the miâst of the Sea l Psal 46 1 2. In pavidos ferient ruinae Hor. See an instance in David he having made God his fear could sing a requiem to hiâ soule m Psal 116 7. Quid timet hominem hemo in sinu dei positus Aug. rock it asleep in a holy security and not once be afraâd for ten thousands of people that had hemmed him in and desperately given out that salvation it self could not save him out of their hands n ps 3.2 5 6 8 Against all which blasphemie and bravadoes of his enemâes he encourageth himself in the Lord his God and comfortably concludes the Psalme with Salvation is of the Lord and I have devoted my self to his fear o Psa 119.38 therefore I cannot miscarry so long as he is in safety If a child have his father by the hand though he be in the dark he is not afraid so is it with us whiles by saith the mother of this fear we sit and see him that is invisible p Heb. 11.27 at our right hand q Psal 16.8 to support and save us A second effect of Gods holy fear is a carefull thinking upon his name a reverencing of the commandements r Pro. 13.13 a conscionable endeavour of doing his whole will to the obedience whereof this fear doth strongly incline and enable us For which cause it is that the Lord having delivered his law in great terrour wisheth that the heart of his people might be alwayes fraught with his fear Å¿ Deut. 5 29. which might be as a domesticall chaplaine a faithfull monitour in their bosomes to quicken them to obedience And the preacher in this respect compriseth in this one grace alone all other vertues and dutyes t Eccl. 12.15 because it involves and carryes along with it a religious care of all the commandements though never so harsh and uncouth even to the denying of a mans self in all his selves 1. For his naturall self Isaac was reind in by this religious fear from reversing Jacobs blessing though naturall affection within and Esau's roarings without prompted him thereunto but he did not he durst not do it because he trembled with a great trembling exceedingly u Gen. 27.33 when now he saw that he had done unwilling justice 2. For his carnall self âhis own ease honour comfort prosit and other personall respect and conveniences see it in Jonah who after he had known the terrour of the Lord w 2 Cor. 5.11 in the heart of the sea in the belly of the whale how willing was he on his way to Nanveh x Ion. 3 3. So the Prophet Esay after he hâd ââen God ââ his majâsty was so subdued by his fear to the obedience of his will that no sooner could the Lord say whom shall ââenâ but he replyed here am â sand ãâã y Esay â 8. though before he were wondrous unwilling to so unwelcome an er and. 3. in his spirituall self his own undeâitanding judgement reasân I mean Abrahuâ was excellent at this for as in beleeving the promise of a son ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he censââed not the drynesse of his own body nor the deadnesse of Sarah's wo ânb he cared not for that but silencing his Reason esalted his saith giving glory to God z Rosq 18 19 so in parting with him again at Gods appointment he conserred not with slesh ãâã blood as St. Paul speake in another case a Gal. 1.16 but getting up early b Gen 22.3 which shewed his wilâingnesse on his way he went an end with the work and therefore heaâd from heaven Now I know that thou fearest me c. c ver 12. 4. Lastly in his second self wise and kind ed a Iob who retained his integrity and âânyed himself in his wicked wife that bad him cuââe God and dye d Iob 2.9 The Septuagint help Ioby wise to scold adding a whol verse of semal passion I must now saith she gâe wander and have no place to rest in c. for he feared God and so eichewed that evill also The like we may say of Moses the servan of the Lord who after he had met God in the Inn and was surprized with his fear not only circumcised his son though to the great disconteât of his froward wife e Exod. 4.26 but also sent her away upon that occasion and trouble as it is likely to her fathers house again who met him at Eoreb and reslored him his wife and children f Exod. 18.2 Thus the fear of God fame a man to an umversall self-denyaâl and makes him willing to be whatsoever the Lord world have him to be in every part and point of dut than which I know not what âuâer signe can be shewed of a sancâisied soule Thirdly for the companions of Gods fear they are such as do accompany salvtion g Heb. 6 9. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Scholiaââ Ps 119.155 âeas 3. which as far ãâã the wickâd as they are from se ãâã Gods shatuâes h. These are First sound judgment and saving knowledge of God and his will our selves and our dutyes Hence they are set so neer together in the prophet The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord i Esay 11.2 ver 3. And in the next verse This same spirn shall mâkâ him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord to discerne of things that be excellent such as none of the pâân as of this woâld ever knew but God hâth revedeâ them to us that desire so fear his ãâã with Neââon âb k Neh. 1.11 by that spiâit of his that sâârcheth ad thââgs ãâ¦ã things of God causing us for a largesse to know the things thât are sreâly given us of God l 1 Cor. 2.10 And this way it
with unbeleevers m Mat. 24.51 Luk. 12.46 What though they flourish awhile here and spread themselves like a gren bay tree n Psal 37.35 exorientur sed exurentur it is that they may be cut off for ever What is fairer then the corn-field a little before harvest then the vineyard a little before the vintage Thrust in thy siclke and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are fully ripe and cast t into the great wine-presse of the wrath of God o Rev. 14.18 19. SECT V. Vse Let them therefore hasten out of the Devils danger and get into Gods service How that may be done KNowing therefore the terrour of the Lord Vse 3 we perswade men p 2 Cor. 5.11 And oh that we could perswade all unregenerate prsons first by this point to do as Saint Peter adviseth all in their case Repentye saith he and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord q Act. 3.19 Bloted out I say and first out of Gods book of remembrance where they stand written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond r Jer 17.1 Secondly out of the book of their own consciences where they stand recorded for future time as ye may see in Josephs brethren Their own hearts condemned them and called them miscreants twenty years after the fact committed Å¿ Gen. 42.21 their consciences also bearing witnesse as saith the Apostle and their thoughts between themselves accusing one another t Rom. 2.15 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã formavit pinaeit Where it is remarkable that the Syriack translatour useth a word for conscience that signifieth a written or painted thing For the conscience now is as a table wherein are many things painted which sort of writting is fitly compared to that we write with the juice of an onion or lemmon hold it to the fire and it is legible So when the conscience is once put to the fire of Gods wrath all will out and old sins come to a new reckoning The onely way to spunge out this writing is by weeping upon it repentant tears that God may wash us throughly with the blood of his Son For if we confesse our sins against our selves with David u he is faithful and just to sorgive us our sins x 1 Joh. 1.7 9 and to crosse out of his debt-book the black lines of our sins and arrerages with those red lines of his sons blood I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins y Esay 43.25 And again I will be merciful to their unrighteousnesses and their sins will I remember no more z Heb. 8.12 Lo if we but remmber our misdoings he will forget them if we reveale them with shame and sorrow he will cover them a Psal 32.1 if we but see them to confession we shall never see them to our confusion if we but acknowledge the debt he will cancel the bond blot out the hand-writting that was against us b Col. 1.2 14 and cast all our sins behinde him c Micah 7.19 as off-cast eidences that are past date into the depth of the sea so that we shall never see them again otherwise then the Israelites saw their enemies the Egyptians dead upon the shoare 2 Next doth the Lord so remember to requite the services of his people is there such a lively remembrance and ample recompence preparing for them how should this fire up the affections of all unregenerate persons to hire themselves out to God for servants d Rom. 6.13 to swear with David e Psal 119.106 to vow with Ioshua f Josh 24.14 to serve Iehovah renouncing the devils drudgery to whom they have hithereo damned themselves voluntary slaves to their inestimable disadantage It is a point I wot well they will not hear of that the devil is their good Lord that he sets them awork and will pay them their wages You know how ill the Jews took it to be told as much by our Saviour Christ g Ioh. 8.44 But that it is no better with them the scripture is clear and the joynt testimony of all Gods redeemed ones concurrent for we our selves also even I Paul and thou Titus were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving diverse lusts and pleasures h Tit. 2.3 hampered and enwrapt in the invisible chaines of the kingdom of darknesse being taken alive captive by the devil at his pleasure i 2 Tim. 2.25 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã hurried about by him as Bajazei in his iron cage toiled out of all true comfort as Samson at his mill opprest with unreasonable tasks and insupportable burdens as hrael in the iron-furnace this is their work And for wages they are exposed to a world of plagues and curses armies and changes of sorrows and calamities here their whole life being but one continuate vexation k Eccles 2.17 besides the fear of death that upshot and center of evils to evil men making them subject to bondage all their life time l Heb. 2.15 And worthily for terrours take hold of them then as waters they make them afraid on every side m Job 27.20 18 19 Trouble and anguish make them afraid they shall prevail against them as a king ready to the battle n Iob. 15.23 24 Death seizeth upon them as a mercilesse officer o Psal 55.15 takes them by the throat as that cruel servant in the Gospel feedeth upon their flesh as a greedy lion p Psal 49.14 stings them to the soul as a fiery serpent q 1 Cor. 15.55 gripes them to the quick as a bear robbed of her whelps comes upon them with a firmae Ejectione as an inexorable Landlord carries them away as Gods executioner yea as the messenger and forrunner of the second death where the worm never dieth where the fire never goes out r Mar. 9.44 where they seek death but finde in noâ yea desire it but it fleeth from them Å¿ Rev. 9.6 It is reported of Roger somtimes Bishop of Sal shury the second man from king Steven that he was so tortured in prison with hunger and other calamities usually accompanying people in that case ut vivere noluerit mori nescierit live he would not die he could not How much more true think we is this of all those that are thrust into that outer-darknesse Nubrigensis ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that darknesse beyond a darknesse as the word seems to import that utmost dungeon of the damned where there is nothing but weeping and wailing and gnaihing of teeth Weeping for extremity of heat and gnashing of teeth for extremity of cold Weeping is the expression of sorrow and sorrow cools the heart and cold makes the teeth to chatter Thus those miserable creatures do at some time freez and
Lord often of his covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob b Exod. 32.13 and treats with him to that purpose by his Name Jehovah that emphaticall and comfortable Name c Exod. 6.3 so when he had foretold a plague to the Aegyptians or the remove of it yet he omitted not to pray the accomplishment And the later when he had by warrant from heaven promised rain to Ahab after three yeers draught yet he went afterward to the top of Carmel and prayed earnestly d Jam. 5.17 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith St. James he prayed toughly lustily laboriously he strained every vein of his heart as it were in prayer for he stoopt and stretcht and put his face between his knees saith the story and this for a great while together till at length a cloud and after this a cataelysme of raine and waters came of it when once he had prayed to purpose e 1 Kin. 18.42 and not till then For the Lord though he be liberall yet he is not prodigall and although he reject not our weak services yet he throwes not away his mercyes upon such as hold them not worth whistling after as they say Be his children never so deare unto him yet they shall know their distance and their duty and although he love to be acquainted with them in the walkes of their obedience yet he taketh state upon him in his ordinances and wil be sought unto for his mercies Seek the Lord saith the Prophet and then will he raine righteousnesse upon you f Hos 10.12 For like as the Sun drawes up vapours from the earth not to retaine them but to return them to the moistening and so fattening of the same so doth the Lord draw from us our devotions and other duties not for any benefit of his own but to raine them down againe upon us in so many blessings SECT VIII LAstly this me thinks should mightily encourage good peoples hearts and strengthen their hands in well-doing to consider that the Lord doth perfectly remember plentifully to requite whatsoever service The pains cannot be cast away that we resolve to lay out nay to lose for Christ Master saith Peter we have laboured all night and have taken nothing Neverthelesse at thy word wee will let down the net g Luk. 5.5 6 And he sped accordingly for he enclosed a great draught of fishes even to the breaking of the Net c. So true is that of the Apostle Heâ that is Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him h Rom. 10.12 He gives exceeding abundantly even above all that we ask or think i Ephes 3.20 Thus David asked life of the Lord and he gave him length of dayes for ever and ever k Psal 21.4 Solomon asked wisdome not wealth and he had wisdome and wealth too Hezekiah asked one life and God gave him two added fifteen yeers to his dayes which we count two mens lives and a yeer over The palsie man seeking health at Christs hands had health and heaven to boot Zacheus striving to see Christ not onely seeth him but heareth him spealâing salvation to him and his Yea may some say God may crown his people with salvation Ob. John Baptist was without any law right or reason beheaded in Prison as though God had known nothing at all of him George Marsh Martyr Act. Mon. fol. 1423. Sol. but they are hardly put to 't in the mean while many of them and sorely vexed by the oppressions of their enemies who make pitifull havock of them and God regards it not First this is not for their diligence but negligence rather in the work of the Lord lazy servants must be quickned Secondly God hereby tryeth the truth and soundnesse of their graces makes it appear that they serve him for himself and not meerly for provender or for a whole skin as the Devil accused Job l Iob. 2.4 Thirdly God in humbling them remembreth them for his mercy endureth for ever m Psa 136.23 Is Ephraim my dear sonne is he a pleasant child for since 1 spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord n âer 31.20 Lastly heaven will pay for all and the lesle they take up of their wages before hand the more they shall receive at the quarter day It we suffer together with him we shal be glorified together o Rom. 8.17 This made Abraham content to dwell in tents because he looked for a more enduring city p Heb. 11.9.10 Moses chose the repreach of Christ the worst part of him before the honour of Pharaoh's court this when he was no baby neither but at mans estate q Heb. 11.24 c. and therfore knew well what he did and all because he had respect to the recompence of Reward This made the beleeving Hebrewes suffer with joy the spoiling of their goods as knowing that they had in heaven abetter and more enduring substance r Heb. 10.34 Nudus opum sed cui coelum terraeque paterent De Archimede suo Silius lib. 14. Ezekiel willing to deliver an unpleasing message and suffer for it too because God took him up and let him heare the noise of a great rushing saying Blessed be the glory of the Lord Å¿ Ezek. 3 12 Nay our Saviour Christ helped himself over the hardship of his crosse by casting his eye upon the Crown leaving us an example to follow a copie t â Pet. 2.21 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to write after And indeed it is a matter passing difficult to obey God when carnall reason suggesteth likely hood or damage or other danger But if it were a sufficient reason to move Jacob to neglect his stuffe in the land of Canaan because Pharaoh promised him the best things of Egypt u Gen. 45.20 How much more should the assurance of heaven that true treasure make us carelesse of this earthly trash How should the very fore-thought of that exceeding exceeding weight of glory x 2 Cor. 4.17 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã There ye have an elegant treble Antithefis double hyperbole beyond englishing A superlative transcendent phrase saith one such as is not to be found in all the Rhetorike of the Heathens because they never wrote of such a theme nor with such a spirit make us plentifull in Gods worke cause and even compell us to hear much pray much live holily deale uprightly be constant and abundant in well-doing what ever come of it Not standing upon the worlds censure who are apt enough to call thee foole for thy forwardnesse and two fooles for thy foole-hardinesse so they usually call and count the care of good conscience and courage in a good cause let them work on and spare not but scare thou God and against all their * Nigro carbone notandus Juven black coles comfort thy self with bis white
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 doctâorem agnoscam qui triginta habet legiones Phavorm de Adriano âmp 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 fâar 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. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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 âinder and so hinder their working as in the Babylonish fire Dan. 3. In the A âgeis there is an Essence and an executive power God comes between these oâteâ 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 ââgeretur hunc esse digitum Dei Philo. Quid ciniphe vâlius 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
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 â 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. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
their souls and healing to their state for this Sunne shall arise with healing under his wings that is in his beams See Psal 60.1 2. with 2 Chron. 7.14 3. Liberty for ye shall goe forth Calvin ãâ¦ã to wit out of the strait prison the little-ease of Affliction and grow up or frisk about for joy so some render it as fat calves and young cattle in the spring 4. Prosperity ye shall grow up as the Palme tree notwithstanding your oppressions Vtaër percussus non loeditur imeââne dividitur quidÌe sed refundit sese spissior redit Job à Woover ye shall break out and get up as blown bladders aloft all waters as the Sunne from under a cloud as the seed from under a clod 5. Victory for ye shall tread down the wicked and they shall be as ashes under the joles of your feet which erst rode over your heads and made you passe thorow fire and water Psal 66.12 But when shall all this be In the day that I shall do this saith the Lord q. d. Not so soon as your selves would for then it should be presently you would be pulling at the fruit afore it were ripe and plucking off the plaister afore the sore were healed nor so long hence as the enemies would Hoc esset poma acerba adhuâ decerpere Cyp. for then it should be never but in Gods good time when he seeth fit who hath kept that key of times and seasons under his own girdle Not seldome in this life as when Constantine overcame and trampled upon Dioclesian Maximian Maxentius Licinius and other persecuting Tyrants according to that of Solomon The evil bow before the good Prov. 14.19 and the wicked at the gates of the righteous But most certainly at the day of judgement which is the third particular day of deliverance we have to speak to called that day by an appellative proper Then at utmost God will make up his jewels in much mercy and of this last day the most interpret it then will he both bring to light the hidden things of darknesse Vatablus Figuier Gualther c. Psal 83.3 and also those Hidden ones of his that are all glorious within though for the outside mean and despicable together with all their secret services and mental performances even the counsels of their hearts shall be made manifest and then shall every man have praise of God 1 Cor. 4.5 That is every jewel every Jew inwardly every Israelite indeed whose praise is not of men but of God shall be graced by the judge himself Rom. 2.29 before a world of men and angels For without the least mention of their sins Ezek. 18.22 Rev. 14.13 Their good parts and practises onely and amply shall be remembred and rehearsed And those not strictly censured for he will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him but onely produced as proofs and evidences of that effectual faith of theirs wherby they have a plentiful entrance further and further into the kingdom of God 2 Pet. 1.10.11 SECT VIII Comfort under publike Calamities For application the main vse of this point and that which the holy Ghost in this text chiefly drives at is Vse 1 Singular comfort and incouragement to all and every of Gods faithful servants both in regard of the Church universal first and themselves next in their own particular First then for the labouring church what can be a greater comfort to every good child of hers then to hear that God will have his time ere long to ease her of her adverâaries and avenge her of those her enemies that now revel in her ruines crying down with her down with her even to the ground Psal 137. Ille dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox Ovid. Trist Cuique ferè paenam sumere paenasua est ib. Lam. 3.31.32 33. Ier. 30.7 2 Cor. 4.8 9. Niteris incassùm Christi submergere navem Cant. 2.2 This is the horrid and hideous voice of Babels brats and Edoms rufflers flesht in blood and used to the spoil as birds of prey But what saith the Oracle Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem and cry unto her that her set time is expired that her iniquity is pardoned and so the quarrel fairely ended for she hath received of the Lords hand double for all her sins So it hath seemed to him that waited all this while to shew her mercy and thought long of the time she was in misery as being himself afflicted in all her afflictions and bearing a part Surely it is not willingly or from his heart saith the original that he doth at any time afflict or grieve the Children of men said that church that was even then under the lash but though he cause grief such is our untowardnesse that will not else be ordered yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his merceies he will not cast off for ever This was her comfort and this may be ours when we hear how ill it fares with Gods people abroad and what preassures and grievances they groan under at home say This is the time of Jacobs trouble but he shall be saved out of it Troubled the Saints are on every side but not distressed doubting but not despairing persecuted but not deserted cast down but not cast off Tost the Church might be with Noahs Ark but not orewhelmed washt with Paul in the shipwrack but not drowned fired with Moses bush but not consumed pressed with Davids bay-tree but not oppressed prickt with Solomons lillie among thorns but not choaked growing in a bottom with Zacharies myrtle tree Chap. 1.8 Yet not overtopped a burdensome stone a torch of fire a cup of trembling in the hand of her enemies Zach. 12.2 3 6. who have but a time Dan. 11.24 39. The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth The Lord shall laugh at him saith the Psalmist for he seeth that his day is coming Psal 37.12 13. And thereupon afterwards he inferreth mark the upright man and behold the just for let his beginning or middle be never so troublesome the end of that man is peace God delighteth to make fools of his enemies and lets them bring their designes to the utmost and then defeats them 2 Chro. 32.21 Esther 7.10 1 Sam. 17.51 suffers them to proceed very far that they may return with the greater shame as Sennacherib that their high hopes may end in a haltar as Hamans that their own swords may be sheathed in their own throates as Goliaths When they are tumultuating and triumphing as if they day were their own and they were masters of the field with Gog and Magog then shall God come down as it were in an engin to rescue his saints and to dissolve the Gordian knots of all Antichristian power and policy ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Psal 112.4 2 Cor. 4 6 This he doth also for his
of Jerusalem the truely religious discetned her beauty in the dark night of her tribulation and confessed that she was fair and glorious Chap. 6.1 Christ also passing by her former remissenesse and unworthy usage of him professeth that she was as amiable in his eyes as ever her hair teeth temples all as fair and well featured yea that she was fair as the Moon cleer as the Sun that Sun of righteousnesse having blotted out all her sins as a cloud Isa 44.22 so that none of her transgressions could be found though lookt for Fer. 50.20 but every tongue that rose up against her should she condemn Isa 54.17 Further he hath provided that every body do love and honour his people he hath given a charge to that end in diverse scriptures Now what is wanting in men himself will make up honoring pleading for them in the hearts of their very enemies who cannot but be confounded many times and stand amazed at the height of spirit and resolution that possesseth their hearts and at the sober and undaunted majesty that shines in the faces of those that fear the Lord. Now if he say Grace Grace unto us it should suffice to encourage us in building the towre of godlinesse Yea it should make us hold out to lay the very last stone thereof with joy Zach. 4.7 being vexed at nothing more then at the vile dulnesse of our hearts that are no more affected with there indeleble ravishments SECT XIV Let the Saints see their duty and be carefull 2. Next 1 Pet. 2.9 Mat. 5.14 Qui in excelso aetatem agunt corum sacta cuncti mortales novere Salust ad Caesarem ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 2 Thess 3.2 compact of meer incongruities ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Nazian in Mat. 19 Ideò deteriores sumus quia meliores esse debemus 1 Sam. 6.3 In maxima libersate minimalicentia Salust Deus in circuitu sanctorum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ephes 5.15 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Posse nolle nobile est Benesicium postulat officium as Gods servants must see their dignity and take comfort in it so must they also look to their duty and take care about it And thisis to walk worthy of the high and heavenly vocation wherewith they are called remembring alwayes that they are a chosen generation a royall priesthood a peculiar people the light of the world the salt of the earth to season the rest a city seated on an hill conspicuous to all the countrey The Sunne may go assoon unseen as they unobserved there are that watch for their halting and snatch at any thing whereat they may snarl and cavil be it but an indiscreet speech that falls from such it 's enough to break down the banks of blasphemy Oh labour to silence these absurd men to stop an open mouth to cut off all occasion of obloquy Any spot is spied in white apparrell and the least stain doth evil upon a royall robe A small flaw in a jewel is a great blemish and so is a small defect in a Christian His heart is made pure by the blood of Christ and fine white linen is sooner and deeper stained then course rags Therefore are such worse saith Salvian though they be no worse then others because they ought to be better Adde hereunto that it is some singular thing that God requires of his servants He will take that from Philistines that he will not brook from Israelites who thought they might carry Gods Ark in a new-cart as those Pagans had done before them but they payed for their presumption Greatest States afford least liberty His Saints are round about him and like good Angels they stand always in the presence of their heavenly Father All holy circumspection therefore and exact walking is required of them even an excellency above ordinary Every Calling hath a comelinesse appertaining to it The Scholler behaves himself otherwise then the clown the Courtier then the carter the Prince then the pesant so should a Christian otherwise then an unbeleever then a profligate professour a carnall Gospeller He should walk nobly bravely gallantly worthy of God and as becometh a Saint considering that of Bernard in every enterprize of his an liceat an deceat an expediat whether the thing bee lawfull seemly suitable to his state Not stretching alway to the utmost of his chain lest he break a link but beating off a sollicitation to sinne as Nehemiah did to cowardize Shall such a man as I do it God forbid that I should part with my patrimony said Naboth that I should leave my fat and my sweet said the Vine in Jothams parable that I should look back with Lots wife having set my hand to Christs plow that I should flinch from my colours having taken his presse-money disgrace his house being received into his retinue Great things are bestowed upon me great things are expected from me Every mercy calls for duty every deliverance commands obedience God hath elected me for a vessel of honour shall I defile my self with the kitchin-stuffe of uncleannesse He hath bought me with a price shall not I yeeld my self up to his service He hath adopted me for his childe shall not I carry my self as a childe he hath sanctified me by his spirit shall I pollute his temple He hath inrighted me to a kingdom and keeps a crown for me shall I lay it to gage for ever trifle shall Isay with Esau what is this birth-right Oh let there be no root of bitternesse no profane person amongst you as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birth-right and is therefore so often branded for it with this is Edom. CHAP. IIII. God is a Father to all his faithfull servants And I will spare them as a man sparethhis own son that feareth him VVHat gracious respects and high honours the God of heaven puts upon the persons of them that fear him Psal 115.13 both small and great hath been said already That which follows in the text concerneth their performances Psal 19.11 For every childe in Gods house know's his own work in doing whereof as there is great reward so there is no little favour shewed him in case it be not all out so well done For I will spare them saith the Lord of hosts as a man spareth his own son that serves him I will be no lesse propitious unto him then is the most indulgent parent to his most obedient childe Videmus ergo c. We see then saith judicious Calvin the Prophets purpose in this precious promise 1. That they shal serve God and serve him as sons do that is ingenuously and freely 2 That God will graciously accept the service of such taking in God part from them what they are able and pardoning the rest These are his notes upon the text and these shall be ours Doct 1. That God is a father to all his faithful servants Deus nobis est Pater nos sibi reconciliavit in
sacrifice ceased and all good hearts were thereby sadded See vers 9 with the Note Verse 17 The seed is rotten under their clods It lieth buried or drowned with excessive rain and moisture corrupting the seed soon after it was sown and that which was not so marred was afterwards when it came to be corn dried up with excessive heat The corn is withered So that the garners were desolated the barnes broken down for want of stuffing and for that there was no use of them sith they sowed but reaped not Mic. 6.15 The husbandman was called to mourning Amos 5.16 for a three-fold calamity that lay upon his tillage First Immoderate rain in or about seeding Secondly Locusts and other vermine at spring Thirdly extreme drought after all verse 19 20. Thus God followeth sinners with one plague in the neck of another as he did Pharaoh that sturdy rebell till he have made his foes his footstools To multiply sin is to multiply sorrow Psal 16.4 to heap up wickednesse is to heap up wrath Rom 2.5 I will heap mischiefs upon them Si quoties peccent homines sua fulmina mittat Jupiter exiguo tempora inermis erââ Ovid. saith God I will spend mine arrows upon them Deut. 32.23 which yet cannot be all spent up as the Poet feared of his Jupiter that if he should punish men for every offence his store of thunder-bolts would be soon spent and exhausted Verse 18. How do the beasts groun The wilde beasts groan in their kinde The herds of cattell home and tame beasts as oxen c. are perplexed as not knowing what to do 't is the same word with that Esth 3.15 God had hid his face withdrawn his hand and they were troubled he taketh away their breath for lack of pasture they die and return to their dust as David telleth us in his Physicks Psal 104.29 Epiphaxius his Physiologer reporteth of the bird called Charadius that being brought where a sick man lieth if he look upon the sick with a fixed and unremoved eye there is hopes of recovery but if he look another way the disease is deadly Sure it is that if God look in mercy upon man and beast they are cared and catered for Psal 36.7 and 104.27 and 145.15 16 c. and the contrary yea the flocks of sheep c. which yet can bite upon the bare live with a little and get pasture where the bigger creatures cannot come Verse 19. O Lord to thee will I cry I will though others will not I have called upon others to cry mightily unto thee and to meet thee by repentance but they ranquam monstra marina as so many Sea-monsters passe by my words with a deaff ear they refuse to return thy hand is lifted up in threatning and will fall down in punishing but they will not see Esay 26.11 they will not search they will not have their eyes like the windowes in Solomons Temple broad inward the eyes of their mindes are as ill set for this matter as the eyes of their bodies they see not what 's within But whatever they do 1 King 6.4 my soul shall weep in secret for their pride and mine eyes shall weep sore c. Jer. 13.17 for their insensiblenesse of their misery For the fire hath devoured the pastures that is the immoderate scorching heat of the season See Psal 83.14 Jer. 17.6 Or the blasting winde as Lyra expounds it or the locusts as Drusius or God who is a consuming fire by any or all these instruments of his wrath as Tarnouius And the flame hath burnt all the arees of the field This was dreadfull but yet nothing to that conflagratio mundi spoken of by St. Peter 2 Epist 3.12 when the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements melt with fervent heat on the heads of the wicked who shall give a terrible account with the world all on alight fire about their ears Verse 20. The beasts of the field cry also unto thee Glocitant a term taken from Deer they cry as they can they cry by implication imploring thine help each for himself See Psal 149.9 Job 39.3 Psal 104.27 And should men be silent For the rivers of the waters are dried up This maketh the Hart bray after the water-brooks yea shed tears as hunters say the Hart will when hot and hard-bestead for water Hereto David seems to allude Psal 42.5 My tears have been my meat c. And the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wildernesse This had been said before verse 19. The reason of such repetitions see above in the Notes on verses 11 12. Neither let this last exaggeration of the common calamity by that which befell the bruit beasts seem superfluous For whereas the security and obstinacy of most men is such that they take little notice of present pressures but promise themselves peace and safety whatsoever God by his servants shall say to the contrary it is but needfull surely that their danger should be inculcated and their calamity set out and set on with utmost importunity and vehemency CHAP. II. Verse 1. BLow ye the trumpet in Zion Idem aliis verbis repetit saith Mercer here The Prophet repeateth the same as in the former Chapter onely in other words more at large and after another manner pressing the people further to the practise of repentance by many sweet promises of the blessings of this and a better life Our Prophet may seem to bee of the same mind with Tertullian who said that he was nulli rei natus nisi poenitentiae born for no other end but to repent and to call upon others so to do Tot autem verbis figuris ntitur saith Luther he useth so many words figures because he had to do with a people that were harder then rocks Jer. 5.3 as also because there is an absolute necessity of repentance Aut poenitendum aut pereundum as our Saviour tells his Disciples twice in a breath Luke 13.2 5. The Prophet had urged them hereunto from the evils they felt or feared chap. 1. Pain and penitency are words of one derivation God plagueth men that he may make them cry Peccavi not Perij onely I am undone as Cain but peccavi I have done very foolishly as David The seventeen first verses of this Chapter are Hortatory the rest Consolatory The day of the Lord cometh therefore Repent This is the summe of the exhortation It cometh ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Herod and that instantly Give warning therefore God loveth to foresignifie saith the Heathen Historian and to premonish before he punish He dealt so with Cain to whom he read the first lecture of Repentance Gen. 4. as he had done of Faith to his father Adam in the Chapter before He dealt so with the old world with the Sodomites Ninevites c. Sound an alarm in my holy Mountain Ring the bels backwards as amongst us they do the house is on fire the enemy is at hand Let all
the inhabitants of the land tremble and take course to prevent or mitigate the ensuing mischief to cut the cart-ropes of sin that pull down wrath upon the land for the day of the Lord cometh for it is nigh at hand An end is come is come is come as Ezekiel hath it chap. 7.6 7. I will overturn overturn overturn as the same Prophet hath it elsewhere Ezek. 21.27 and 10. Should we then make mirth as it is in the same Chapter should we sleep upon a mast-pole dance upon a weather-cock go hallowing and hooping to the place of execution Verse 2. A day of darknesse and of gloominesse Lest they should imagine it to be some light matter that hath been and is still threatned he sets forth to the life the bitternesse of that day so lowring and lightlesse that it can hardly be called a day a dark and dolefull doomesday it will be to the impenitent infaustus infelix dismall and dreadfull What better can be expected by those Tenebriones that delight in the deeds of darknesse and are acted by those Rulers of the darknesse of this world Ephes 6.12 the Devils whom they follow as they are led 1 Cor. 12.2 till they fall into outer darknesse even that darknesse beyond a darknesse as the dungeon is beyond ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or below the prison where they shall never see the light againe till they see all the world on a light fire Let those Lucifugae look to it that love darknesse better then light for besides what they meet with here they shall one day have their bellies full of it in that dungeon of darknesse Exod. 19.15 A day of clouds and of thick darknesse Caused by that huge army of Locusts c. coming in great swarms Postera vix summos spargebar lumina montes Orta dies Virg. Lux subit primo feriente cacumina sole Ovid. and darkning the air as the morning spread upon the mountains i. e. longe lateque far and neer all the countrey over and that in an instant even as the Morning spreadeth abroad upon a sudden over the tops of hills though they be a great way off Hereby is imported that the calamitie here threatned is such as they can neither avert nor avoid Irretensibilis est saith Luther A great people and a strong So the Locusts are called See Chap. 1.4 5 6. not without some respect to the Chaldeans that should afterwards carry them captive as Hierom here glosseth there hath not been ever the like sc in the land of Judea nor of the like continuance See chap. 1.2 3. even to the yeers of many generations Heb. of an age and an age so Deut. 32.7 Joel 3.20 This assureth us of the greatnesse of this peoples sin sith they were so signally punished for God doth not use to kill flies with beetles as they say Verse 3. A fire devoureth before them and behinde them a flame burneth Such waste these vermine shall make like as it is said of the great Turk that where-ever he sets his foot there never growes grasse again he doth so eat up the countreys where he comes with his huge armies And the late Lord Brook Pag. 47. in his discourse of Episcopacy noteth that that unhappy proverbe amongst us was not for nought The Bishops foot hath troden here In Biscay a Province of Spain they admit no Bishops to come amongst them and when Ferdinand the Catholike K. came in progresse hither accompanied amongst others by the Bishop of Pampelune Heyl. Geog. pag. 55. the people arose in armes drove back the Bishop and gathering all the dust on the which they thought he had troden flung it into the Sea What fires they kindled here in Queen Maries dayes devouring six or seven hundred at least of Gods faithfull witnesses in five yeers space And what work they made in our remembrance thorowout the three Kingdoms to the imbroyling of all and their own utter ruine I need not relate That renowned Authour afore-cited had told them time enought L. Brooks discourse of Episcop 39. but that they were destined to destruction that if they forbare to touch the supreme Authority of the Land which they affected it was but as once Mercury spared Jupiters thunderbolts which he durst not steal lest they should roar too loud or at least burn his fingers The land is as the garden of Eden i. e. of all kinde of pleasures and delights Eden inde ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã See Gen. 2.8 and 13.10 Strabo speaks spitefully of the land of Canaan as if it were a dry stony and barren countrey not worth the seeking after Rabshaketh shews more ingenuity then this Strabus pravus Strabo as one therefore calleth him 2 King 18.32 Tacitus commends it for a fertile soil so doth Pliny but above all the holy Scripture setteth it forth to be Sumen totius orbis Heidfeld a land flowing with milk and honey c. Exod. 3.15 Deut. 32.13 and behind them a desolate wildernesse Not such a wildernesse as yeelded pastures and habitations for shepherds chap. 1.19 20. but utterly desolate and therefore unhabitable as under the Torrid Zone No place can be so pleasant but sinne can lay it waste A fruitfull land turneth the Lord into barrennesse for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein Psal 107.34 There is no foot-step left at this day of that gallant Garden planted by God himself or if any cecidit rosa sit spina the place remains in the upper part of Chaldea but not the pleasantnesse of the place The like we may say of Sodom of Jerusalem of Greece of Asia the lesse of Germany Ireland c. England hath hitherto subsisted meerly by a miracle of Gods mercy and by a prop of his extraordinary patience The Lord continue it to the glory of his Name and the good of his poor people Fiat fiat Verse 4. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses and as horsemen i. e. the Locusts and other Insects come on amain they march with much nimblenesse and swiftnesse An horse is a warlike creature full of terrour ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Pausan so swift in service that the Persians dedicated him to their god the Sun as the swiftest creature to the swiftest god See Job 41.20 Prov. 21.31 In Persia they do all almost on horseback they buy sell confer but especially fight on horseback to this day So they did of old and so did the Chaldeans from whom they took the Monarchy These were horsemen and not as horsemen this place therefore is properly and principally to be understood of the locusts Confer Rev. 9.7 Verse 5. Like the noise of charets on the the tops of mountains Not onely on the tops of standing-corn as other Locusts which therehence also have their name ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but as the hurry of charrets in stony places Rev. 9.9 For in that book of the Revelation the Pen-man
upon you and the people not be afraid or run together to make resistance Jer. 5.22 Psal 114.7 Will ye not then tremble at my threats saith the Lord Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob. Fear is an affection of the soul shrinking in it self from some imminent evil God is the proper object of it whence hee is called Fear in the abstract Psal 76.11 and those that come on his errand should bee received with reverence yea with fear âand trembling as was Titus 2 Cor. 7.15 and before him Samuel by those Elders of Bethlehem 1 Sam. 16.4 as suspecting it was the purpose of some judgement that brought him thither Commest thou peaceably said they It is a good thing to stand in awe of Gods Messengers and to tremble at his judgements whilest they yet hang in the threatnings It appeareth by this Prophet that carnall security was grown epid emicall and had over-spread the land chap. 6.2 3. Some there were that said God had not sent the Prophets to denounce those evils but that they had done it of their own heads as we say Others doubted of the certainty of those evils denounced chap. 6.3 against whom He here disputeth by these fore-going similitudes and in the next words plainly asserteth the Divine providence and the authority of the Prophets Gods privy-Counsellours Shall there be evil in a city Understand it of the evil of punishment See Lam. 3.37 Esay 45.7 Mic. 1.12 Eccles 7.14 1 King 9.9 and 21.29 See my Treatise called Gods love-tokens pag. 3 4. c. and the Lord hath not done it Although God doth it not but onely as it is bonum Justitiae good in order to his glory That which we are here advertised is that it is not Luck and Fortune that doth tosse and tumble things here below but that God sits at the stern and steers the affairs of the world The Gentiles indeed held Fortune as a goddesse representing her by a Woman sitting upon a Ball as if the whole world were at her command having with her a razor as if she could at her pleasure cut off and end mans happinesse bearing in her right hand the stern of a ship as if she could turn about all things at her pleasure and in her left hand the horn of abundance as though all plenty came from her This was abominable idolatry to be shunned by Christians yea the very name of Luck or Fortune is to be spet out of their mouthes with utmost detestation It repented Austin that ever he had used that wicked word Fortuna Aug. Retract Verse 7. Surely the Lord God will do nothing i. e. Hardly any thing He lo-veth to foresignifie to warn before he wound and this meerly out of his Philanthropie Howbeit sometimes and in some cases he is more sudden and still in his revenges that he may thereby First maintain his honour and glory the eyes whereof are by some sinnes extraordinarily provoked as Acts 12.23 And secondly to teach men not to continue in sinne no not for a moment sith they may bee presently cut off from all further time of repentance acceptation and grace for ever This made Austin say that he would not be an Atheist no not one half hour to gain all the world See Luke 17.32 and 12.20 Pharaoh had warning of the first and second plagues not so of the third and again of the fourth and fifth but not of the sixth and yet again of the seventh and eight but not of the ninth And when neither warning nor no-warning would do good then came that sweeping plague Tandem prototocos ultima plaga necat But he revealeth his secret to his servants the Prophets Gods Prophets then are his meniall servants not his underlings or inferiour hinds but of noblest employment about him Every faithfull Minister is servant to the king of heaven Act. 27.23 whose I am and whom I serve this the Devil denied not Act. 16.16 17. yea his Steward Embassadour Herald as here by whom he proclaims warre but first proffers pardon and proposes conditions of peace A practise usuall not onely among the people of God by his appointment Deut. 20.10 but also among the Heathens as Histories informe us The Romans had their Lex Facialis by their Heralds they sent to such as had wronged them Caduceum Hastam as Ensignes of peace and warre that within thirty dayes they might take their choice within which time if they did them not right the Herald presently denounced warre against them casting forth a dart in token thereof Alexanders course was when he sat down before a city to set up a torch to shew that if they would come in and submit before that torch were burnt out they should have hearing Tamerlan hang'd out first a white flag then a red and lastly a black And the Turks at this day Turk hist. 344. first make to their enemies some offer of peace how unreasonable soever it matters not Gods offers in this kinde are all of grace and for our good If it were otherwise what need he give warning and why doth he not as Absalom did when intending to murther Amnon hee spake neither good nor evil to him Well might the Lord say Fury is not in me O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self As I live I desire not the death of a sinner c. If he did why might he not rush suddenly upon such and confound them at once as he did the reprobate Angels even in the very act and first moment of their sinne Why comes he first in a soft still voyce when he might justly thunder-strike us and why sendeth hee his Heralds to proclaime warre but yet with articles of peace and reconciliation open in their hands Chrysost Why was He but six dayes in making the world and yet seven dayes in unmaking and destroying one city Jericho Was it not to shew that the Lord is mercifull and gracious slow to anger and of great kindnesse And this he hath commanded his Prophets to make known Psal 103.8 that the goodnesse of God may lead men to repentance As if they turn his grace into wantonnesse and pervert his patience to presumption Rom. 2.4 their commission is to declaim against such practises with all authority Tit. 2.15 and to proclaim hell-fire in case men amend not Necessity is laid upon them so to do and wo be to them if they preach not law as well as Gospel that when they return up their commission they may report the matter saying Behold we have done as thou hast commanded us Ezek. 9.11 True it is that perverse people question the Prophets and quarrell them for this plain-dealing as Ahab did Eliah for a troubler of Israel and Amaziah our Prophet Amos for a trumpetter of rebellion But this is as great folly as if some fond people should accuse the herald or the trumpet as the cause of their warre or as if