my rest for ever It was so because God was pleased to make it so hee rested in his love hee would seek no further Zeph. 3.17 For I have desired it This alone made the difference as it a so did betwixt Aarons rod and the rest that were laid with it Vers 15 I will abundantly bless her provision Her stock and her store Viâ—tico ejus affatim benedicam Tâ—em so that she shall not want necessaries which yet shee shall hunt for that is labour for as the Hebrew word importeth and know how shee comes by therefore it is added I will satisfie her poor with bread Dainties I will not promise them a sufficiency but not a superfluity poor they may be but not destitute bread they shall have and of that Gods plenty as they say enough to bring them to their Fathers house where is bread enough Let not therefore the poor Israelite fear to bring his offerings or to disfurnish himself for Gods worship c. Vers 16 I will also cloath her Priests c. So that they shall save themselves and those that hear them 1 Tim. 4.16 Thus God answereth his peoples prayers both for temporalls and spiritualls See vers 9. and that with an overplus of comfort they shall shout aloud Vers 17 There will make the horn of David to bud A metaphor from those living creatures quorum ramosa sunt cornua which have snags in their heads as Deer have which are unto them in stead of boughs For horn some read beam of David confer Luk. 1.78 I have ordained a Lamp i. e. A successor cui lampada tradat and that a glorious one at length Christ who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Light essentiall Joh. 12.46 Of Ascanius the son of Aeneas and likewise of Tullus Hostilius it is storied that light flames were seen about their heads when they lay in their cradles and that thereby was foresignified that they should bee Kings Vers 18 His enemies will I cloath with shame Shame shall bee the promotion of all such fools as set against Christ and his people yea they shall bee cloathed with it so that it shall bee conspicuous to all men But upon himself shall his Crown flourish His royall Diadem Nezer whereby hee is separated and distinguished from other men Alexander dropt his Diadem once into the water and because hee who fet it out put it on his own head whiles hee swam out with it hee cut off his head Our Edward the fourth hanged one for saying hee would make his Son owner of the Crown though hee only meant his own house having a Crown for the sign in Cheapside PSAL. CXXXIII VErs 1 Behold how good and how pleasant it is This David is thought to have said to the people when after eight years unnaturall war they came together to Hebron to anoint him King over all Israel 2 Sam. 5. Behold bee affected with that happiness of yours which no tongue can utter Accipe quod sentitur antequam discitur as Cyprian saith in another case How good and how pleasant Precious and profitable sweet and delectable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dainty and goodly as Rev. 18.14 Communion of Saints is the next happiness upon earth to communion with God For Brethren Whether by Place Race or Grace which last is the strongest tye and should cause such an harmony of hearts as might resemble that concord and concent that shall bee in Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—thenaeus â—â— 3. The Thâ—bans in their armies had a band of men they called The holy Band consisting of such only as were joyned together in the bonds of love as would live and dye together these they made great account of and esteemed the strength of their armies To dwell together Heb. Even together that is even as God dwelleth with them Psal 132. to bee kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love Rom. 12.10 to bee as those Primitive Christians were Act. 2. of one heart and of one soul The number of two hath by the Heathens been accounted accursed because it was the first that departed from Unity Vers 2 It is like the precious ointment This similitude setteth forth the pleasure and amaenity of it as the other from the dew the profit and commodity Sic miscuit utile dulci. This ointment was most rich as made up of the chiefest spices Exod 30. and very fragrant refreshing the senses not of Aaron only but of all about him â—al 5. so doth Christian unity and amity that fruit of the Spirit far beyond that common friendship so highly extolled by Cicero and other Heathens and is therefore here fitly compared to that Non-such odoriferous ointment Upon the head that ran down upon the beard So the Spirit of grace that oil of gladnesse Psal 45.7 poured out abundantly even to a redundancy upon Christ the head runneth down upon all the members of his body mysticall even to the meanest so that they have grace for grace Vers 3 As the dew of Hermon Moisteneth and maketh fertil the Country of Bashan Hermon is a very high hill ever covered with snow whence ariseth a perpetuall vapour the originall and fountain of dew to all Jury And as the dew that descended The spirituall dew dispensed from God in Sion where hee is sincerely served For there the Lord commanded the blessing A powerfull expression highly commending brotherly love as a complexive blessing and such as accompanieth salvation PSAL. CXXXIV VErs 1 Behold bless yee the Lord This short Psalm the last of the fifteen Graduals is brâ—ve Sacerdotum speculum saith an Expositour a mirrour for Ministers who are first excited by a Behold as by the sounding of a trumpet or the ringing of a Sermon-bell And secondly exhorted to praise God and to pray unto him whereunto if wee adde their teaching of Jacob Gods Judgements whereof Moses mindeth them Deut. 33.10 what more can bee required of Archippus to the fulfilling of his ministry and if hee bee slack hee must bee told of it Col. 4.17 yet with all due respect and reverence to his office 1 Tim. 5.1 And it were fat better if they would rouse up themselves with the wakefull Cock and not keep sleepy centry in the Sanctuary All yee Servants of the Lord Yee Priests and Levites who are Gods Servants but of a more than ordinary alloy servants of noblest imployment about him Such are all faithfull Ministers each of them may say with Paul Act. 27.23 whose I am and whom I serve Which by night stand in the house of the Lord Keeping watch and ward there in your turns Num. 58.1 2 c. 1 Chron. 9.33 The Rabbins say that the High-Priest only sat in the Sanctuary as did Eli 1 Sam. 1. the rest stood as ready prest to do their office Vers 2 Lift up your hands in the Sanctuary Or Lift up holy hands as 1 Tim. 2.8 One readeth it out of the Hebrew Lift up your hands Sanctuary that is ye
the great God So they stile him because the Jewes called and counted him so The Lord your God saith Moses is God of gods and Lord of lords a great God a mighty and a terrible c. Deut. 10.17 He is Fortissimus Maximus as Tremellius there renders it yea he is a degree above the superlative Not onely is God great as here greater Job 33.12 Greatest Psal 95.3 but Greatnesse it self Psal 145.3 and to him all other Gods whether Deputed or Reputed are but deastri deunculi diim inorum gentium petty deities poor businesses Verse 9. Who commanded you Chald. Who hath made you a Decree See the Note on verse 3. Verse 10. We asked their names also See verse 4. That were the chief of them For the rude multitude follow as they are led And as in a beast the whole body goeth after the head so do most people after their Rulers and Ringleaders hence that severity of God Num. 25.4 Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the Sunne Ver. 11. We are the servants of the God of heaven And in that respect higher then all the Kings on the earth Psal 89.27 for all his servants are sons heirs of God and coheirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 who have held it no small honour to be called his vassals See how bold these 〈◊〉 men beare themselves upon this relation to the God of heaven and earth and how couragiously they stand to their work and stout it out with their adversaries See Prov. 28.1 with the Note These many years ago Five hundred at least Verse 12. But after that our fathers had provoked Sinne is the make-bate that sets heaven and earth at oddes and hurleth confusion over the whole creation Esay 59.2 Num. 11.31 there were more remarkable expressions of Gods anger upon mans sinne in the dead body of a man then of a beast One made uncleane but till the evening the other for seven dayes He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar This is still the property of sinne unpardoned to raise the Posse comitatus all the armies of God against the sinner Verse 13. But in the first year of Cyrus See chap. 1. verse 1. with the Notes Verse 14. The Temple of Babylon For there also was a Temple built for Bel. Faciunt vespae favos simis imitantur homines The Devil will needs be Gods Ape and affecteth to be semblably worshipped Verse 15. Take these vessels go carry them Go thy self in person and see that all things be well carried there This pleased Zerubbabel well it confined him to live in that element where he would live as if one should be confined to Paradise Verse 16. Then came the same Sheshbazzar All this is truly and fairly related as was likewise that of Doeg to Saul against Ahimelech but with no good intent Now to speak the truth not for any love to the truth nor for respect to justice nor for the bettering of the hearer or of the offendor but onely to incense the one and prejudice the other this is plaine slandering And yet it is not finished And all by reason of such ill-conditioned persons as your selves who retarded it Verse 17. Now therefore if it seeme good Verba byssina Whether it be so They supposed it was nothing so and hoped that these Jewes would be found falsaries but it fell out farre otherwise like as Saint Pauls persecutions at Rome fell out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel then else Phil. 1.12 CHAP. VI. Verse 1. Then Darius the King DArius Hystaspes who succeeded Cambyses being chosen by the Princes of the Persians as saith Herodotus Plato commendeth him for a restorer of the Persian Monarchy much defaced under Cambyses Howbeit he discommendeth him for this In Thalia lib 3. de Legib. that he bred not his sonne Xerxes so well as he might have done and further testifieth that to him it might be said O Darius how little care hast thou taken to shun Cyrus his slacknesse for thou hast bred Xerxes every whit as ill as he did Cambyses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the house of the Rolles So called because rolled up together volumes rolled up like the web upon the pinne Verse 2. And there was found at Achmetha Or Ecbatana This was occasioned by the malice of the Jewes adversaries and proved a great furtherance to the finishing of the Temple Sic canes lingunt ulcera Lazari All things work together for good to them that love God Venenum aliquandò pro remedio fuit saith Seneca Rom 8.28 Verse 3. The height thereof threescore cubits Yet was it lesse then Solomons Temple Hag. 2.3 Ezra 3.12 Solomons cubits therefore were longer likely then these here mentioned Verse 4. Out of the Kings house i. e. Out of the royal revenue in those parts chap. 7.20 Herodotus testifieth that Cyrus and Darius who married his daughter Atossa and made him his patterne for imitation were highly honoured among the Persians for their Kingly munificence God hath threatened that the Nation and Kingdome that will not serve the Church shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted Esay 60.12 See verse 12. of this chapter Verse 5. And also let the golden and silver vessels This was decreed and this was done accordingly chap. 1.7 8. Let good resolutions be put in execution purpose without performance is like a cloud without raine and not unlike Hercules his club in the Tragedy of a great bulk but stuft with mosse and rubbish Verse 6. Be ye far from thence i. e. Come not at them to hinder them at all Thus though the Churches enemies bandy together and bend all their forces against her yet are they bounded by Almighty God who saith unto them Be ye farre from thence as is the raging sea Jer. 5.22 Surely saith the Psalmist the wrath of man shall praise thee the remainder of wrath shalt thou restraine Heb. gird that is keep it within compasse as with a girdle The Septuagint render it thus The remnant of wrath shall keep holy-day to thee that is it shall rest from working or acting how restlesse soever it be within Verse 7. Let the work of this house of God alone Meddle not make no disturbance this was doubtlesse an hard task to them for their spirits were irked as Moab Num. 22. 3. and their fingers even itched at these builders They sleep not except they may do mischief Prov. 4.16 Ver. 8. Moreover I make a Decree So did some of the Heathen Emperours for the persecuted Christians Charles the fifth for the Lutherans at the motion of Albertus Archbishop of Ments and Ludovicus Palatine of Rhine and Henry the third of France for the Protestants which yet was but sorrily observed though sworne to It is written by an Italian no stranger to the Court of Rome that their Proverb is Mercatorum est non regum stare juramentis that it is for Merchants and not for Kings to
Children Anashim Venashim c. A Woman is a man cut short by the head 1 Cor. 11.3 Here was a general meeting of all Sexes and Sizes joyned together to cut sins cart-ropes And the people wept very sore They could not wash their hands in innocency they therefore washed them in tears they knew that as the sins of the old World so of this little World needeth a deluge Their sins therefore are as so many Hazaels to them◠their hearts as so many Hadad-rimmens the place they made to become a very Bechi◠they wept with a great weeping and so vented their sins at their eyes as sick people do their ill humours at the pores of their bodies Verse 2. And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel Egregie cordatus homo A prudent and a pious man one that had feeding lips and a healing tongue one that knew how to time a word Esay 〈◊〉 Prov. 25. ◠and to set it upon the wheels Answered and said unto Ezra Such words as were uttered more from the bowels then the brain and thereby proved so effectual We have trespassed against our God His father Jehiel had taken a strange Wife ver 18. 26. so perhaps had he himself or if not yet he might fear wrath because of the same body politike with those sinners against their own souls God he knew might well draw blood of the arm for the cure of the head as Theodoret saith he did when he slew Pharaohs first-born Yet now there is hope in Israel c. Hope that the people will repent and hope that God will have mercy upon their repentance Superest sperare salutem If it were not for hope heart would break God having opened a door of hope let us go holdly to the Throne of grace what should hinder Qui nil sperare potest desperet nihil Cast not away your confidence which hath so great recompense of reward but cast Anchor within the veil and wait for day as Paul did in the Ship-wrack See Esay 50.10 Verse 3. Now therefore let us make a Covenant And so tye our selves thereby to the better abearance that we slip not collar that we detrect not the yoke of Gods obedience Deut. 10.20 Cleaving to God with full purpose of heart will require swearing Broken bones must have strong bands to close them Tottering houses must be crampt with iron barres or they will soon down If the vowes of God be upon us if we be Covenanters it will help against the fickleness of our false hearts which cannot but know that if God shall be All-sufficient to us we must be Altogether his Cant. 2.16 His is a Covenant of mercy even the sure mercies of David ours is a Covenant of obedience to him in every part and point of duty To put away all the Wives This Jewes might do in this and some other cases So did Romanes also with this onely bill of divorce Res tuas tibi habeto Take what is thine own and be packing But Christians may not do thus because of difference in Religion 1 Cor. 7. ver 12. Whatever some late upstarts have printed and practised to the contrary And such as are born of them The children of those strange Wives persisting in their paganisme These children though disinherited yet were not to be altogether deserted but nourished and nurtured also in the fear and admonition of the Lord Eph. 6.4 Proving if perad venture God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth c. 2. Tim. 2.25 According to the counsel of my Lord Termes full of hearty respect and humble submission He calles Ezra My lord as Hannah did Eli with an eye to his dignity and authority both as a Priest and as a Commissioner from the King of Persia At Venice every ordinary Mechanike is called Magnifico At Vicenza in Italy the common title to a common Gentleman is Signor Conte as much as My Lord Earle But Ezra was every way honourable and deserving titles of honour were not worthy of him And of those that tremble at the Commandement of our God A periphrasis of a truly pious person sc such a one as feareth God and keepeth his Commandements And this is the Man alone that is fit to judge of cases of conscience and to comfort the feeble minded Now although the comfort given by Gods Ministers such as Ezra was be ordinarily most effectual as is the blessing of Parents who are in Gods Room yet others also that are consciencious and experienced persons that tremble at the Commandement of God as here may give excellent counsel and comfort in such a case But how like the motion of a Puppet the language of a Parret is the best discourse in this subject of conscience of the not-interessed man And let it be done according to the Law Which though it take no direct and expresse order in this case yet by due deduction and just inference it was determined both here and in Nehemiah chap. 9.2 that those strange Wives should be put away Verse 4. Arise Surge age Summe Pater said Mantuan to the Pope exciting him to take Arms against the Turk to the same sense Shechaniah here to Ezra or rather as Jehovah to Joshuah chap. 7.10 Get thee up why lyest thou here on thy face For this matter belongeth unto thee Who hast both an heart to do it as appeares by thine humiliation and also power in thine hand as witnesseth thy commission We also will be with thee Every man must shew himself forward to further the work of Reformation moving regularly within his own sphere and trading every talent for that end and purpose Be of good courage and do it These were verba non inflantia sed inflammantia And thus may one by his hearty good counsel become an Angel nay a God to another Senarclaeus in an Epistle to Bucer telling how John Diazius the Martyr discoursed unto him the Night before he was butchered by the appointment of his own Brother Alphonsus hath this notable expression Ego verò illius oratione sic incendebar c. I was so inflamed with his words as if I had heard the Holy Ghost himself speaking unto me Verse 5. Then arose Ezra According to the counsel of Shecaniah ver 4. How forcible are right words Job 6.25 One seasonable speech falling upon a prepared heart hath oft a strong and sweet operation as that similitude used by Peter martyr reading upon the first to the Corinthians had upon Galeacius Caracciolus that Noble Italian convert as some speeches of Staupicius had upon Luther who was likewise much confirmed and cheared up by conference with an old Priest at Erford who largely discoursed about justification by faith Life of Luther by Mr. Clark and explained the Articles of the Creed to him And made the chief Priests the Levites and all Israel to swear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An oath is a fence and added to a vow or covenant it doth notably conduce as a holy
over asking of God till he had received seeking till he had found knocking till the gate of grace was opened His clothes were good enough unlesse his condition were more comfortable Verse 5. Then called Esther for Hatach She snuffeth not at Mordecai's refusal of her courtesie She saith not Let him chuse the next offer shall be worse Rerum suarum satagat si velit valeat c. Solomon reckoneth among those foure things that the earth cannot bear an handmaid advanced to the state and place of a Mistresse Prov. 30. Sen. epist But Esther was none such In her you might have seen magnitudinem cum mansuetudine as Seneca hath it singular humility in height of honours She calleth here for Hatach a faithful servant and perhaps a Jew a Jew inwardly Honesty flowes from piety One of the Kings Chamberlaines Heb. Eunuchs or gelded men such as used to keep their women in Kings Courts The Chaldees call them Rabrebanim that is Grandees The Persians call them Spadones saith Stephanus The Greeks Eunuchs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either because they were Princes Chamberlaines and had the custody of their beds or because they were egregiè cordati homines well-minded men for they generally proved as likewise now they do among the Turks subjects though not of great courage yet of the greatest judgement and fidelity their mindes being set on businesse rather then on pleasure Whom he had appointed to attend upon her Heb. Whom he had set before her in obsequium servitium to be at her beck and obedience probably he was happy in such a service for goodnesse is communicative and of a spreading nature Plutarch saith of the neighbour-villages of Rome in Numa's time that sucking in the aire of that City they breathed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteousnesse and devotion so it might very well be here It was so with Abrahams servants and Solomons and Cornelius's Acts 10.7 Nero complained and no wonder that he could never finde a faithful servant What could they learn from him but villany and cruelty And gave him a commandment to Mordecai i.e. She commanded him to deliver her minde to Mordecai A servant is not to be inquisitive John 15.15 he knoweth not what his Lord doth but executive ready to do what is required of him He is the Masters instrument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and wholly his saith Aristotle The hands must take counsel of the head and be stir them To know what it was and why it was Some great matter she well knew it must needs be that put him to those loud laments Wise men cry not till they are sorely hurt Jobs stroak was heavier then his groaning Job 23.2 He was not of those that are ever whining like some mens flesh if their skin be but razed with a pin it presently rankleth and festereth or like rotten boughes if a light weight be but hung on them they presently creak and break Mordecai she knew was none such She therefore sendeth to see what was the matter that she might help him if possible The teares and mones of men in misery are not to be sleighted as if they were nothing to us Who is afflicted 2 Cor 11. Rom. 12. and I burn not saith Paul Weep with those that weep else you adde to their grief as the Priest and Levite did by passing by the wounded man Is it nothing to you O ye that passe by the way Lam. 1.12 Are not ye also in the body Heb. 13.3 that is in the body of flesh and frailty subject to like afflictions And may not your sins procure their sufferings as a veine is opened in the arme to ease the paine of the head Verse 6. So Hatach went forth to Mordecai He was obedient to his Queen-mistriss pleasing her in all things not answering again Tit. 2.10 unlesse it were I will or the like Servus sit monosyllabus Domino Apelles painted a servant with Hindes feet to run on his Masters errands with Asses eares and with his mouth made fast with two locks to signifie that he should be swift to heare slow to speak Vnto the street of the City The Broad-street as the word signifieth there Mordecai kept him Rechob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 latitudiue voomth and might not come nearer the Court because a Mourner See verse 2. Tiberius the Emperour counterfeiting grief at the Funeral of Drusus there was a vâ—ile laid betwixt the dead and him because being High-Priest forsooth he might not see any mournful object The Statues of the gods were transported or covered for like cause in those places where any punishment was inflicted But what saith the wise man The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning whereby we must understand any place or object which occasioneth mourning but the heart of fooles is in the house of mirth Eccles 7.4 Verse 7. And Mordecai told him all that had happened unto him Not by fate or blind fortune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet time and chance happeneth to all Eccles 9.11 and it was by chance to the wounded man that the Priest and the Levite came down that way Luke 10.31 but by the Providence of God which hath an hand in ordering the most casual and fortuitous events to the execution of his righteous counsels neither is there ever a Providence but we shall once see a wonder or a mercy wrapt up in it And of the summe of money See chap. 3.9 Money is the Monarch of this present world Money is to many dearer then their heart-blood yet to gratifie their lusts they lavish silver out of the bag and care not to purchase revenge or sensual delights with misery beggery discredit damnation Verse 8. Also he gave him the copy of the writing That she might see it and rest assured that it was even so and no otherwise and that therefore now or never she must bestir her self for the labouring Church That was given at Shushan Which if ever it were full of judgement and white as a lilie according to the name is now stain'd with blood of innocents if ever righteousnesse did lodge in it yet now murtherers as Esay 1.21 To shew it unto Esther That her eye might affect her heart and her heart set all awork for her people that is her self according to that Physician heale thy selfe Lam. 3. Luke 4. that is thine own Countreymen And to declare it unto her In the cause viz. his refusing to bow to Haman against his conscience whereof it no whit repented him and in the several circumstances laid forth in the liveliest colours for her thorough-information And to charge her that she should go in unto the King Hoc perquam durum est sedita lex scripta est saith the Civilian This Mordecai knew would hardly be done he therefore makes use of his ancient authority and sets it on with greatest earnestnesse So Saint Paul I charge you by the Lord 1 Thes 5.27 And again I
how old he was answered that he was in health and to another that asked how rich he was answered that he was not in debt q. d. He is young enough that is in health and rich enough that is not in debt Now all this Job was yet and therefore Satan ill apaid and unsatisfied And all that he hath will a man give for his life Life is sweet we say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aesop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist and man is a life-loving creature saith the Heathen fond of life and afraid of death which is Natures slaughterman and therefore the most Terrible of Terribles as Aristotle stileth it The Gibeonites refused not to be perpetuall slaves so they might but live Those that are overcome in battle are content to be stript of all so they may have quarter for their lives Marriners in a tempest cast their lading into the sea though never so precious in hope of life If Job may escape with the skin of his teeth it is some favour he may not think much to sacrifice all that he hath to the service of his life his conscience only excepted Some good people have strained that too for love of life as when Abraham denyed his wife David changed his behaviour Camd. Elis fol. 325. Peter denyed his Master Qu. Elizabeth though afterwards she could say When I call to mind things past behold things present and expect things to come I hold them happiest that go hence soonest yet in Queen Maries time shee sometimes heard divine service after the Romish religion and was often confessed yea at the rigorous sollicitation of Cardinall Pool shee professed her self a Romish Catholick yet did not Queen Mary believe her saith mine Author remembring that shee her self for feare of death had by Letters written with her own hand to her father both renounced for ever the Bishop of Romes authority Ibid. Introd and withall acknowledged her father to be supreme head of the Church of England under Christ and her Mothers marriage to have been incestuous and unjust Those good soules did better that loved not their lives unto death Rev. 12.11 that by losing their lives saved them Matth. 10.39 that held with that Martyr Julius Palmer that life is sweet only to such as have their souls linked to their bodies as a thiefs foot is in a pair of fetters Verse 5. But put forth thy hand now See notes on chap. 1.11 This God did at Satans motion yet non ad exitium Jobi sed ad exercitium Jobs temptation is of Satan but his triall and invincible constancy is of god God in a sense tempted Job Satan also even as the dog may be said to bait the beast and the owner of the beast too that suffered him to be baited And touch his bone and his flesh pinch him to the quick that not his flesh onely may feel it but the marrow also in his bones Psal 6.2 and 32.3 and 51.8 The bone and flesh are the chief materials of mans body which is fitly compared to a fabrick wherein the bones are the timber-work the head the upper-lodging the eyes as windowes the eye-lids as casements the browes as pent-houses the ears as watch-towers the mouth as a door to take in that which shall uphold the building and keep it in reparations the stomack as a kitchin to dresse that which is conveyed into it the guts and baser parts as sinks belonging to the house c. as one maketh the comparison Now in all these and the rest of his parts of body Satan would have Job to be smitten and then he made no question of a conquest Paine is a piercing shaft in Satans quiver of temptations hence he stirred up his agents to tympanize and torment the Martyrs with as much cruelty as the wit of malice could devise but all in vain Heb. 11.35 36. Apollonia had all her teeth pulled out of her head hence Papists make her the Saint for tooth-ach Blandina tired those that tortured her Theodorus was cruelly whipped racked Scerat Theodor. and scraped with sharp shells by the command of Julian but yeilded not Rose Allen had her hand-wrist burnt by Justice Tyrrell who held a candle under it till the sinews brake that all the house heard them and then thrusting her from him violently said ah strong whore wilt thou not cry thou shamelesse whore thou beastly whore c. But she quietly suffering his rage for the time at the last said Sir Acts Mon. 1820. have you done what you will doe and he said yea and if thou think it not well then mend it Mend it said she nay the Lord mend you and give you repentance if it be his will And now if you think it fit begin at the feet and burn the head also for he that set you a work shall pay your wages one day I warrant you As little got the divel by these worthies as he did by Jobs biles and carbuncles We are ashamed said one of Julians Nobles to him we are Ashamed O Emperour the Christians laugh at your cruelty and grow the more resolute And he will curse thee to thy face Heb. If he curse thee not to thy fade q. d. then damne me send me to hell presently This Satan holds in by an Aposiopesis being therein more modest then our desperate and detestable God-damn-mee's let them see how they gratifie the divel who curse and blaspheme or protest openly what they know to be false This the divel did not Verse 6. And the Lord said unto Satan who hath his request it is not alwayes a mercy to have what we wish Deus saepè dat iratus quod negat propitius Be sure we bring lawful petitions and true hearts Heb. 10.22 and then we shall have good things and for our greatest good Behold he is in thine hand Here God puts his child into his slaves hand to correct but not to destroy And surely if we give reverence to the fathers of our flesh who correct us for their own pleasure shall we not much more be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits Heb. 12 9 10. Busbeq chastning us for our profit and live The Turks though cruelly lasht are yet compelled to return to him that commanded it to kisse his hand and to give him thanks and to pay the officer that whipt them This last we need not do but the former we ought taking Gods part against our selves and resting contented though as Paul delivered up some to Satan that they might learn not to blaspheme so God deliver us up to him and his agents such as Satanically hate us and are divellishly bent against us Psal 32.21 causing us to suffer more then any ever did out of hell that we may learn not to be proud secure sensuall and may preach forth the vertues of him who hath brought us out of darknesse into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 Let us not say if God would take
in Gods heart and which he was well assured could not have befallen him without Gods will and decree the mercies which in the former verses Job had recounted and reckoned up viz. his conception quickening preservation all which he looked upon as love-tokens coming out of the heart of God and from the spring of special love Here then we see whence we may fetch comfort when most hardly bestead namely from those effects whereby God sealed up his love to us in forming us in the womb but especially in his Covenant of Grace that bee-hive of heavenly honey whereby he hath ingaged to be our God even from the womb to the tomb yea to all perpetuity Hereunto Job had respect and so had David Psalm 22.10 11. and Psalm 25.10 Verse 14. If I sin then thou markest me Though through humane frailty only I offend niâ—is dedignatur mortalitatem qui peccasse erubescit Enphorm thou soon notest it thou followest me up and down as it were with pen ink and paper to set down my faults How then say some that God sees not sin in his children Job thought the Lord was over-strict with him which yet could not be and that he put no difference betwixt him and those that were notoriously wicked as the next words import And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity That is from the punishment of mine iniquity Verba diffidentis saith Mercer words spoken according to the judgment of the flesh saith Diodate which holdeth Gods visitations to be punishments and vengeances Verse 15. If I be wicked wo unto me Here he bringeth a Dilemma whereby he declareth himself every way miserable faith Mercer whether he be bad or good suffer he must without remedy If I be wicked woe unto me wo is the wicked mans portion tell him so from me saith God Isai 3.10 11. Though he love not to hear on that ear but can blesse himself in his heart when God curseth him with his mouth Deut. 29.19 And a godly man setteth the terrour of sins woes before his flesh that slave that must be frighted at least with the sight of the whip Wo be to me saith Paul if I preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.16 Or if when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast-a-way verse 27. which to prevent he kept under his body his corruption and gave it a blue eye for we are not debters to the flesh saith he Rom. 8.10 We owe nothing but stripes and menaces cursing it in every cruse c. And if I be righteous yet I will not lift up my head Indeed I cannot because I am so bowed down with changes of sorrows armies of afflictions my pains are continued and I shall surely sink under them much adoe I have now to keep head above water Others make this a description of Jobs humility I will not lift up my head viz. in pride but humble my self to walk with my God as that poor publican did who stood afarre off and would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven Luk. 18.13 I am full of confusion Cast upon me by my friends who reproach me for an hypocrite and make my cheeks glow The fulnesse of an aspersion may possibly put an innocent person to the blush and it is the property of defamations to leave a kind of lower estimation many times even where they are not believed This was the confusion that Job complained of the stomack of his mind was full of it even to satiety and surfet Therefore see thou mine affliction My pressing and piercing affliction see it and remedy it as Psalm 119.153 Let not all my trouble seem little unto thee as Nehem. 9.32 See Lord see behold it is high time for thee to set in Verse 16. For it increaseth Heb. For it lifteth up it self it even boyleth up to the height or it waxeth proud as the proud surges of the sea Broughton rendreth it Oh haw it fleeth up Why how Surely as a fierce lion so it hunteth me it riseth upon me as a Lion rampant doth upon his prey or as a Lion when he is pursued gives not place hides not his head but comes into the open fields as holding it a disgrace to withdraw so some sense it Or Thou huntest me as a fierce Lion Tanquam â—e God when he afflicteth men is oft compared to a Lion or Tanquam leonem as if I were a ravening Lion so thou huntest me Isa 38.13 Hos 5.14 Hos 13.7 setting thy nets and toyls making thy snares and pits ut capiar ad occisionem so the Septuagint that I may be taken and destroyed as 2 Pet. 2 12. And again thou shewest thy self marvellous upon me Heb. And thou returnest Here Job sheweth saith an Interpreter what a confidence he had that God returning to him in mercy would do wonderfully for him in the end the word turning here Ab. Ezr. and the turning his captivity chap. 42. so aptly answering the one to the other to approve this exposition But others understand it of the continued or repeated acts of Jobs affliction unâ viâ—e post aliam as if he should say thou clappest on one affliction upon another my pains know not only no period but no pause thou layest upon me extraordinary sorrows as if thou wouldst declare in me alone quà m mirus sis artifex what an excellent artisan thou art when thou pleasest and what thou canst do against a poor creature surely thou hast made my plagues wonderfull Deut. 28.59 So the Apostles were made a gazing-stock a theatre a spectacle of humane misery 1 Cor. 4.9 Verse 17. Thou renewest thy witnesses against me These fresh witnesses were divels say some Jobs friends say others his dolorous sufferings rather saith Austir those open witnesses of some secret wickednesse in Job as the world would esteem them See chap. 16.8 Ruth 1.21 Thus the Jewes censured our Saviour Isa 53.3 4. The Barbarians Paul Acts 28. and those in the Gospel them that perished by the fall of the tower of Siloam And how many precious men as well as Job have been cast upon this evidence for traitors and rebels against the highest majesty Jâ—â—uâ— thinks that when Job uttered the words of this text he felt some new pains growing upon him and increasing Thou in reasest thine indignation upon me Or within me as chap. 6.4 and this was it that put a sting into his sufferings Gods heavy displeasure seemed to be kindled against him Be not thou a terrour unto me ô Lord said Jeremy and then I shall do well enough with the rest Changes and warre or armies are upon me or against me Variety of troubles come trooping and treading as it were on the heels of one another fluctus fluctâ—um â—rudiâ— there is a continual succession of my sorrows fresh forces sent against me c. We see then that Job complained not without cause though he kept not alwaies within compasse as appeareth by that which followeth
Sedom and her sisters were not only consumed with fire from heaven Gen 19. but thrown forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude 7. some Nations were ejected and others substituted Deut 2.10 12 20. Some utterly wasted and rooted out as the Edomites Ammonites Moabites c. that live by fame only others not so much as by fame their very names being blotted out from under heaven The cities be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the land is utterly desolate Isai 6.11 Now all this is the Lords own doing and should be marvellous in our eyes Hee plants and plucks up hee builds and breakes downe Jerem. 31.28 He enlargeth the Nations and straitneth them again Or That he may straiten them again so in the former clause That he may destroy them This if he may justly do to whole nations why should it seem so strange that he suffereth particular persons though wicked to prosper for a season and though righteous for a while to suffer hardship Verse 24. He taketh away the heart of the chiefe of the people That is of the greatest part of the people of the world say some these God suffereth to walk in their own wayes Acts 14.16 To become vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart is darkned professing themselves to be wise they became fools Rom. 1.21 22. As the Philosophers of old and the Chineses at this day who are known to be ingenious and use to say of themselves that all other nations of the world see but with one eye they only with two yet continue they grosse Idolaters Descrip of the world of China and Cataia meer heathens having no lesse then an hundred thousand gods which they worship one while and whip another if they come not at a call But the most Interpreters by chief or heads of the people here understand their Governors of whom though Job had said as much in effect before 17 viz. that God dispiriteth and besotteth them for a plague to the people who follow their Rulers and fall with them as the body of a beast followeth the head yet because few observe and improve this truth therefore he repeateth and illustrateth it by three elegant Similies And first He causeth them to wander in a wildernesse c. Not knowing which way to extricate themselves they beat their brains about it but to no purpose they are so bewildered and puzzled as if they were treading a maze and this God causeth he is active in it whiles he with-draweth his light and delivereth them up to their own foolish hearts and to the Prince of darknesse to be further benighted 2 Cor. 4.4 Verse 25. They grope in the dark without light This is the second Similie setting forth this judiciary act of God in taking away the heart of the heads of the earth grope they do and would fain find out a way by feeling but they feel darkness and not light so the Hebrew hath it they try to help themselves and their people out of misery as the last Greek Emperour did notably but it would not be Turk hist 345. And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man Who having lost the use of reason knoweth neither where he is nor what he was but reeleth and falleth oft and cannot rise again much lesse go forward So fareth it with evil rulers when God smiteth them with a spirit of giddinesse and of slumber See Isa 19.24 and 04.20 CHAP. XIII Verse 1. LO mine eye hath seen all this sc All those effects of Gods providence declared in the former chapter I have not discoursed of Gods powerful and wise dispensations by rote or without book I have not blurted out what I believe not or am not able to prove as you have accused me but I have spoken both that which I have seen and what more sure then sight and that which I have heard and received from our Ancestors and Doctors to whom you have frequently referred me for better information mine ear that sense of discipline by which not learning only but life also entreth Isai 55.3 hath heard it and understood it too which he addeth for further assurance Job was a Weighing Hearer Mr. Clark in his life as Mr. Bradshaw was called the Weighing Divine let us learn by his example heedfully to observe Gods works laying up experiences and diligently to listen and learn the things that are taught us or written for us by others that we may grow to a right and ripe understanding of divine truths and be able confidently to commend the same to others as being upon sure grounds See Matth. 13.51 52. Verse 2. What y◠know the same do I know also Heb. According to your knowledg I also know this may seem an unbeseeming boast which if his friends had taxed him for he might have answered as Paul did in a like case Ye have compelled me 2 Cor. 11.5 The Rule is let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory but in lowlinesse of mind let each esteem other better then themselves Philip. 2.3 Non est tamen prodenda Dei veritas aut integritas nostra c. Neverthelesse Merlin in loc no man ought to betray the truth or his own integrity lest he should he counted contentious See chap. 12.3 where we have the same in effect as here whence some do gather that Jobs friends had a very high opinion of their own knowledg and a very low one of Jobs He that is thus proud of his knowledg the divel careth not how much he knoweth Verse 3. Surely I would speak to the Almighty It were far better for me to speak to God then to you and much fairer dealing from him I might expect a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he Deut. 32.4 But ye are Jorgers of lies and ye load me with false accusations depraving my speeches as thou Zophar especially hast done wishing withall that God himself would speak with me face to face which if it should come to passe thou saidst my misery and affliction would be redoubled But oh that I might commune with the Almighty surely and seriously I would rather do it then with you my friends and should hope so to defend mine innocency against your slanderous accusations yea to maintain Gods justice against you in the presence and judgment of God himself O the confidence of a good conscience see it in Abimelech Gen. 20.5 but much more in David Psal 7.3 4. And Psalm 139.23 24. In Jeremiah chap. 12.1 in every strong believer 1 Pet. 3.21 Those that walke uprightly and speake uprightly Isai 33.15 Not so every 〈◊〉 Christian or profligate professor verse 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid fearfulness surprizeth the hypocrites c. but good Job was none such and God knew it to be so what if to the wicked he be a devouring fire yet to those that fear his name he is a reviving Sun Mal. 4.1 2. And
harshnesse Not that every man must be left to himself and let alone to live as he lifteth Admonition is a Christian duty and the word of exhortation must be suffered sharp though it be and to the flesh irksome better it is that the Vine should bleed then dye Had Job been guilty he would or should have been as Vespasian is reported Patiâ—utissimus veri patient of a reproof But his friends falsly accused him for an hypocrite and fell foule upon another mans servant whom they had nothing to do to condemn Rom. 14. And hence this expression of his discontent Verse 5. If indeed yen wil wagnifie your selves against me Or will you indeed magnifie your selves against me scil because of mine error as vers 4. which yet ye have not convinced me of Will ye insult over me therefore and throw dirt upon me Of Bonassus a certain beast as big as an On Aristotle reporteth Hist Animal lib. 9 cap. 45. that having hornes bending inward and unfit for fight after that he is wounded by the hunters he flyeth for his life and often letteth flye his dung for four yards or more upon the dogs or men that pursue him to their great annoyance In like fort deal many disputers of this world when they cannot make good their matter by strength of Argument they cast upon their adversaries the dung of calumnies so seeking to magnifie themselves against him and pleading against him his reproach And plead against me my reproach Affliction exposeth a man to reproach Where the hedge is low the beast will be breaking over See Zeph. 3.12 with the Note there Verse 6. Know that God hath overthrown me Do not you therefore add affliction to the afflicted which is so odious a thing to God Psal 41.2 Diodaze and 69.26 but regard the greatnesse of mine evils which draw these complaints from me that seem so immoderate to you See Job 6.2 And hath compassed me with his net Hath encompassed me round with affliction that I can get out no way An hunting term Job 10.16 Laâ—â— 1.23 Ezek. 12.13 Hos 7.12 Bildad had made much mention of nets and grins chap. 18.8 9. where in God ensnareth and ensnarleth the wicked Job granteth that Gods not had encompassed him but withal denyeth himself to be wicked or that his friends should therefore reproach him but rather pity him Verse 7. Behold I cry out of wrong but I am not heard Nothing is more natural and usual then for men in misery to cry out for help Jobs great grief was that neither God nor man would regard his moanes or deliver him out of the Net God did not rescue him men did not right him or relieve him His outcry seemeth to be the same in effect with that of Habakkuk the Prophet chap. 1.2 3. O Lord how long shal I cry and then wilt not hear even cry out unto thee of violence and thou wilt not save Why dost thou shew not iniquity and cause we to behold grievance for spoiling and violence are before me and there are that raise up strife and contention Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously c. verse 13. Thus Job but with out an answer as the Lion letteth his Whelps four themselves hourse for hunger yea till they are almost dead ere he supplieth them Sure it is that God alwayes heareth his Jobs though he doth not alwayes answer in our time and in our way Yea it is an hearing and an answer of prayer saith one that we can pray though unheard and unanswered I cry aloud Heb. I set up my Note cum gemitu ululatu with groaning and howling Men never pray so earnestly as in greatest afflictions Heb. 5.7 Hos 12.4 then their prayers like strong streams in narrow streights bear down all that stands before them Verse 8. He hath fenced up my way c. Here Job carried away as it were with a torrent of grief ampâ—sieth his miseries by many other comparisons And first of a Traveller whom nothing so much troubleth in his journey as hedges and darkness God saith Job hath every way hedged me out of content and comfort so that though I seek it never so I cannot find it Gods people are oft brought into greatest straits as David Psal 31. and 142. Israel at the red sea Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 20. that they may learne to depend upon the divine providence c. And he hath set darknesse in my paths I am benighted and know nor wither to go or how to get out Darknesse is full of errour and terror A child of light may walk in darknesse Isai 50.10 Yea in the valley of the shadow of death Psal 23.4 yet is he never without some spark of faith which guideth him in the deepest darknesse until he behold the Sun of righteousnesse Light is sowne for the righteous c. heavinesse may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Psal 30. ver 6 And as before the day breaks the darknesse is greatest so here Verse 9. Gen. 37.23 He hath stript me of my glory This is the second comparison ab externo corporis cultu habitu saith Merlin From the outward habiliments and habits of the body Our King Richard the 2d when he was to be deposed was brought forth gorgeously attired in his Robes royal with a crown upon his head a Scepter in his hand c but soon after despoiled of all and unkinged So it fared with poor Job stripped and bereft of all that he formerly gloried in and was respected for as a man robbed hath all his cloathes taken off and is lest naked In him it appeated that mortality was but the stage of mutability as one saith of our Hâ—â—y 6. who of a most potent Monarch Daniels Hist was when deposed not the Master of a Molehil nor owner of his own liberty And hath taken the Crown from off my head Hence some infer that Job was a King the same with Jobab King of Edom mentioned Gen 36.34 But this is uncertaine sith Crown is often in Scripture taken allegorically for Riches Authority Dignity and other Ornaments These were taken from Job yea from off his head See Lam. 5.16 But he had a better Crown quae nec eripi nec surripi potuit which could not be taken away viz. that crown of twelve Stars or celestial graces Rev. 12.1 together with that Crown of glory the fruit of the former that is incorruptible and fadeth not away 1 Pet 1.4 Happy Job in such a Crown and that he was in the number of those few heads destined to such a Diadem David had whatever Job had a Crown of pure gold set upon his head Psal 21. this was a great mercy to so mean a man sith beyond a Crown the wishes of mortal men extend not But David blesseth God for a better Crown Psal 103.4 Who crowneth thee with loving kindnesse and tender mercies And how was this set on his head Who for giveth
all thy iniquities c. verse 3. Neither can any take away this Crown because We are kept Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 guarded or garrison'd as in a Tower of brasse or Town of War that is well fenced with walls and works and so it s made impregnable by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.4 Verse 10 He hath destroyed me on every side Heb. He hath demolished me he hath pulled me down piece-meal as an old house is taken down part by part See Levit. 14.45 Judg. 8.17 God had made and fashioned Jobs body together round about chap. 10.8 and now he destroyeth it round about The body of a man is a wonderful fabrick wherein the bones are the timber-work the head the upper-lodging the eyes as windowes the eye-lids as casements the browes as pent-houses the ears as watch-towers the mouth as a door to take in that which shall uphold the building and keep it in reparation the stomack as a Kitchin to dresse that which is conveyed into it the guts and baser parts as sinks belonging to the house c. All these were decaying apace in Job to his thinking And I am gone That is I am as good as gone already every day I yeild somewhat unto death I am free among the dead free of that Company And my hope hath he removed like a tree He hath not left me so much as hope which is the last comfort of the afflicted of ever recovering here my health wealth and former enjoyments but hath lest me as a tree that is plucked up by the roots and so can never grow again A Saint may be at that passe here in regard of his outward estate that there may be to him neither hope of better nor place of worse This was Cranmers Case Melch. Adam Verse 11. He hath also kindled his wrath against me Now if his wrath be kindled yea but a little woe be to all those against whom it is bent He will surely help mischiefs upon them he will spend his arrowes upon them Deut. 32.22 23. with Psal 2.12 Job felt them striking in the sides of his soul even the invenomed arrowes of the Almighty and yet this was only a Refiners fire Mal. 3.2 or if a consuming fire as Heb. 12.29 yet it was to waste his corruptions only to sever the sin which he hated from the Son whom he loved to try and exercise his patience c. all which notwithstanding he complaineth heavily of these spunks and sparks of divine displeasure And counteth me unto him as one of his enemies Heb. As his enemies not as a single enemy but a rabble of rebels an Army of enemies such as shal one day meet at Armageddon their Rendevouz See chap. 13.24 Verse 12. His troops come together i. e. Troops of tribulations and temptations of Pirates and Robbers as the Seventy have it sicknesse and other sorrowes are Gods Souldiers Matt. 8.8 9. and they seldome come single James 1.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. but trooping and treading on the heels of one another Concatenat a piorum crux a company comes And raise up their way against me As Souldiers besieging a place cast up their Trenches and Fortifications Vatablus rendreth it And have beaten their way upon me that is saith he tribulations have so often passed over me that they have made a path way upon me more trausenntium as passengers use to do And encamp round about my tabernacle Afflictions hem me in on every side the troops of troubles besiege me so straitly that I can no way in all the world find relief or comfort which now as by a strong hand yea as by a strong hoste are with-holen from my soul and so are like to be for a long season as Sieges are many times Heman was afflicted and ready to dye from their youth up suffering those terrors Psal 88.15 Job was a man of sorrowes Verse 13. He hath put my brethren far from me In their affections at least some stuck to him but for a mischief for they proved miserable Comforters as did likewise Peter to our Saviour who fled not with the rest of the Disciples but better he had for any good he did him A brother is born for adversity saith Solomon Proverb 17.17 and although at other times there may be some unkindnesse fratum concordia rara est yet in affliction and extremity good nature will work and good blood will not belye it self But Jobs brethren proved unkind and grew out of kind they got farthest from him when his enemies had besieged him And all this befel him not without the Lord He hath put my brethren far from us this was no small aggravation of the affliction that God with-drew or with-held that assistance and influence that should have inlarged and united the hearts of his brethren unto him See Psal 105.25 And mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me Those that formerly knew me throughly and were as well knowne of me mine intimate friends Noti mei Vulg. Necessarii met Tigur Quasi esset scriptum aczaru who knew all my heart are now truly as strange to me as if there had never been any such matter of Acquaintance R. Solomon readeth it They are cruel to me All the brethren of the poor man hate him saith Solomon Prov. 19.7 how much mere do his friends go far from him He pursueth them with words yet they are wanting to him This the Heathen as Ovid and others heavily complain of In the River Araris there is reported to be a fish called Scolopidus which at the waxing of the Moon is as white as the driven snow and at the wayning thereof is as black as a burnt coal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thuc. Et cum fortuna statque caditqus fides Ovid. Tempora si fuerint nubula solus cris Ibid. A fit embleme of a false friend Wealth maketh many friends but the poor is separeted from his neighour Prov. 19.4 who therefore turneth from him as a stranger if not against him as an enemy Verse 14 My kinsfolk have failed scil in courtesie as Ruths Kinsman did Job had many kinsfolk but few friends and this was a great grief to him as it was afterwards also to David Psal 31.11 and 38.11 and 69.8 to Heman Psal 88.8 and to Paul 2 Tim. 4.14 And my familiar friends They whom I favoured saith Broughton according to Psal 11.6 Have forgotten me Out of sight out of mind A thing forgotten is as if it had never been All Jobs courtesies were cast away upon these Summon birds who had well nigh forgotten that there was ever such a man in the world as Job Ver. 15 They that dwel in mine house and my maids c. My Tenants or my Guests or my Sojourners those widowes and Orphans haply whom he kept at his own charge chap. 31. More then this my Maidens these house keepere entrushed with the keyes of the family and that are
Pageants And by this passage some conjecture that not the Whale but the Sea-dragon is here described Let it be what it will it must needs be a great heat within this great Fish that sendeth forth as it were burning lamps and sparks of fire and a strong sulphurous breath he must have like the out-bursts of Aetna by this description Aristotle saith the Whale is of an hot fiery nature and that he hath Lungs and breatheth a pipe or passage also he hath in his fore-head Lib. 4. 〈◊〉 anim cap. 〈◊〉 whereat he throweth out the water he hath taken in either by his breathing or eating This transparent water thus with a force thrown up against the Sun-beams may bear a shew of lightning or burning lamps Verse 20. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke c. Whiles his meat heateth in his stomack for concoction Sufflati as if fire were put under some great reaking pot or Caldron boyling Heb. blown for of blowing comes boyling Verse 21. His breath kindleth coals Or Would kindle coals as a Smiths bellows if there were any to kindle Such a kindle-coal was Arrius and Hildebrand of old the Jesuites at this day and not a few others Prov. 26.21 Es 33.10 your breath as fire shall devour you Some mens tongues are like Gun-powder which touched with the least spark will instantly be in the face Jam. 3.6 A flame goeth out of their mouths enough to set the whole course of Nature on fire Verse 22. In his neck remaineth strength Aristotle saith that among Fishes De part 〈◊〉 lib. 3. the Dolphin Whale and such as breath have necks proportionable to their bodies The word rendred remaineth is in the Hebrew lodgeth or abideth all night so spoken saith One because the Whale as also the Dolphin sleepeth with his head erected above water And sorrow is turned into joy before him i.e. He knows no sorrows he fears no hurt but alwayes rejoyceth bearing himself bold upon his strength God having made him to sport in the sea Psal 104.26 Others read it And before him danceth fear Pavor Pallor Tullus Hostilius his two gods men dance or start for fear Verse 23. The flakes of his flesh are joyned together Heb. The fallings Meland Tremell or the refuse and vilest parts as the word is rendred Am. 8.6 Now if God be so punctual in the description of these also can any one think that he hath let passe any thing in the holy Scriptures that belong to our Salvation What need is there then of humane traditions They are firm in themselves Heb. Moulton Firm they must be because so joyned together Vis unita fortior but dissention is the mother of dissolution England is a mighty Animal saith a great Polititian which can never die except it kill it self They cannot be moved Or He cannot be moved He may say as Terminus of old Nullicedo I give place to none unlesse I please Verse 24. His heart is as firm as a stone He is corpore corde validissimus Of the sword-fish Plutarch saith that he hath a sword but not an heart to use it But the Whale hath courage to his bulk his heart is as firm as a stone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his head saith Scaliger is as hard as a flint In the hearts of some creatures saith Aristotle is found a bony or grisly hardness but the Whales heart is all as it were a bone and this bone as a stone As a pair of the neather milstone Metae upon which the whole weight lyeth the Greek call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 18.6 the Mill-Ass because it is the bigger and harder of the two The vulgar here for the neather Mill-stone hath the smiths-Anvil which by hammering is made harder Verse 25. When he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid When he shewes himself like some moving mountain upon the surface of the water the most assured Pilotes or passengers are seized with fear of death and seek to make peace with God as those Marriners did Jon. 1.5 6 c. By reason of breakin gs Broughton reads of shiverings They purifie themselves Expiantse they beg pardon of sin and prepare to die Others render it aberrant they are dispirited and know not what course to take Others again they purge downwards their retentive faculty being weakned with fear they let go their excrements as Loper the traytour did when he was upon his tryal before the Lords of the Council and as God somewhere in Ezekiel threatneth his rebels that for fear of his displeasure they shall not be able to hold their water Verse 26. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold So close are his scales so thick his skin that there is no wounding of him There was not of old it seemeth But now there is a way found of shooting and piercing of him so that he dieth with an horrible noise and out-cry Nor the Harbergeon A defensive weapon will be as uselesse as those other offensive for the Whale will soon swallow up the armed as well as the unarmed Verse 27. He esteemeth iron as straw and brasse as rotten wood He makes nothing of any thing that shall be done against him Bears and Lions may be wounded with hunting-weapons other Fishes with Eele-spears and the like not so the Whale or not so easily Verse 28. The arrow cannot make him flee Heb. Sons of the bow as chap. 5.7 Sparks are called sons of the coal Arrows were then as much in use as bullets are now Sling-stones are turned with him into stubble Those stones which the sling castes with so much force make as little impression upon his body as a festraw would which the hand of a child should push Verse 29. Darts are counted as stubble When any thing in the Decrees or Decretals likes not the Pope he sets Palea that is stubble upon it or Hoe non credo so doth this Leviathan upon all kind of weapons he slightes them The word here rendred darts is as strange as the weapon it signifieth is to us unknown lapides ballistae an engin whereby great stones were thrown against Walles or Towers as now Cannon-bullets to make a breath in them Catapulta aries vel simile aliquod tormentum Be they what they will the Whale fears them not no though they were as terrible to others as those two great pieces of Ordnance cast by Alphonsus Duke of Ferrara the one whereof he called the Earthquake the other Grandiabolo the great Devil Verse 30. Acumina testacea Sharp stones are under him Heb. Sharp pieces of the potsheard which prick him no more than if he lay upon the softest couch◠so hard is his belly He spreadeth sharp-pointed things upon the mine When he might lye softer he scorns it as our hardy forefathers some two or three hundred years agoe who ordinarily lay upon straw-pallets covered with canvas and around log under their heads instead of a bolster Hollinshed As
side to shew their numbers and their insolencies all places are full of them such dust-heaps are found in every corner when as the godly are as the salt of the earth sprinkled here and there as Salt useth to be to keep the rest from putrifying When the vilest men are exalted Heb. Vilities the abstract for the concrete quisquiliae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oft empty Vessels swim aloft rotten Posts are gilt with adulterate Gold the worst weeds spring up bravest Chaff will get to the top of the Fan when good Corn as it lieth at the bottom of the heap so it falls low at the feet of the Fanner The reason why wicked men walk on every side are so brisk so busie and who but they is given in to be this because Losels and Rioters were exalted See Prov. 28.12.18 29.2 As Rhewms and Catarrhes fall from the Head to the Lungs and cause a Consumption of the whole body so it is in the Body Politick As a Fish putrifies first in the head and then in all the parts So here Some render the Text thus When they that is the wicked are exalted it is a shame for the Sons of men that other men who better deserve preferment are not only slighted but vilely handled by such worthless Ambitionists who yet the higher they climbe as Apes the more they discover their deformities PSAL. XIII VErs 1. How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever It appeareth that when David penned this Psalm which some think was about the end of Sauls Persecution when he was forced to fly into the Land of the Philistines 1 Sam. 27.1 he was under a dreadful desertion and that for a long while together Hence his many How-longs and for ever Christ saith Greenham was forsaken for a few hours David for a few months and Job for a few years Luther confesseth of himself that after his conversion he lay three days in desperation and the like is reported of Mr. Robert Bolâ—on who felt himself for the time in the Suburbs of Hell as it were So did Heman Psal 88.5 so did David here and elsewhere The final absence of God is Hell it self Depart from me yee cursed is worse than into everlasting fire To be punished from the presence of the Lord is the Hell of Hells 2 Thess 1.9 God seemeth to forget his dearest Children sometimes for a season to the end that they may remember themselves and become every way better as the Lion leaves her Whelps till they have almost killed themselves with roaring that they may become the more courageous But to speak properly God cannot forget his people Isa 44.16 49.14 15 16. Non deserit Deus etiamsi deserere videatur non deserit etiamsi deserat saith Austin If he leave us for a time yet he forsaketh us not at all If he hide his face as in the next words which is a further trial and a greater misery for it importeth indignation contempt and hatred yet it is but for a moment though it should be during life and he therefore taketh liberty to do it saith one because he hath an eternity of time to reveal his kindness in time enough for kisses and embraces mean while as when the Sun is ecclipsed though the earth wants the light thereof yet not the influence thereof so Gods supporting Grace is ever with his deserted Vers 2. How long shall I take counsel in my soul i.e. conceal my grief saith Aben-Ezra which is no small aggravation of it or how long shall I toss and tumble in my mind sundry counsels and purposes but allto no purpose This is no small affliction when we try all courses to get out of durance and nothing will do Such must needs have much sorrow in their hearts Having sorrow in my heart daily Heb. by day sc when others are full of business and forget their sorrows saith R. David But the Greek rendreth it day and night David was a cheerfull man and a great Musician but at this time heavinesse had possest his heart and his harp would not relieve him Sadnesse of Spirit had dryed up his bones Prov. 17.22 and made him a very bag of bones a bottle in the smoak shrinking away to nothing almost See Prov. 12.25 15.13 and the Notes Vers 3. Consider and hear mee O Lord my God Hee turns him to God in this peck of troubles for they seldome come single and pleads the Covenant My God beseeching him to see and hear both at once how it fared with him and to send him feasonable and suitable succour It were wide with the faithfull if they had not their God to repair unto in distresse pouring out their souls into his blessed bosome This they must do most earnestly when under a cloud of desertion as our Saviour being in an agony prayed more fervently Luk. 22.44 and as Micah having lost his Gods set up his Note Judg. 18. Lighten mine eyes lest I sleep death i. e. Comfort my conscience clear up my condition and chear up my drooping spirit lest I faint away as a dying man whose eyes through weaknesse wax dimme lest I fall into that somnus ferreus as the Poets call death that longest sleep Surge ne longus tibi somnus unde Non times detur Mor. lib.3 â— 11. Vers 4. Lest mine enemy say I have prevailed against him This David frequently deprecateth as a great evill because Gods honour was concerned in it and would suffer by it As unskilfull hunters shooting at wild Beasts do sometimes kill a man so Persecutors shooting at Saints hit Christ reproach him and this the Saints are very sensible of And those that trouble me rejoyce when I am moved Compose Comedies out of my Tragedies iram Dei ad calumniam rapiant The wicked are vindictive and implacable sick of the Devills disease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rejoycing at other mens harms revelling in other mens ruins But this is to inrage God and hasten wrath Prov. 24.17 18. Vers 5. But I have trusted in thy mercy Notwithstanding all the endeavours of Earth and of Hell to cast down this castle of my confidence I will not quit it but be still as a green Olive tree in the house of God I le trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever Psal 52.8 Vers 6. I will sing unto the Lord How farre different is the end of this Psalm from the beginning See the like Psalm 6.1 with the Note there Because hee hath dealt bountifully with mee Qui retribuit mihi so Popish merit-mongers read it and would there-hence collect something in favour of their absurd Tenent But their own Vulgar Translation hath it bona tribuit Aynsworth hath givenmee good things And it is well observed that though the Hebrew word be sometimes taken for rewarding evill for good Psal 7.5 or evill for evill Psal 137.8 yet from God to his people it commonly signifieth a bountifull rewarding of good things instead of evill which
Ark of the Covenant hitherto transportative into the place of its rest Psal 132.14 Certain it is that the Saints those living Temples of the Lord are here called upon to lift up their hearts in the use of holy ordinances yea therein to bee abundantly lifted up through faith with a joyfull and assured wel-come of the King of Glory who will thereupon come in to them by the ravishing operation of his love benefits and graces Vers 8. Who is this King of glory The gates are brought in as asking this question saith R. David This is the Angells admiration at the comming in of Christs humanity into Heaven saith Diodate Rather it is the question of the faithfull concerning the person of their King whom they hereby resist not but for their further confirmation desire to bee better informed of Him and his never-enough adored excellencies The Lord strong Jehovah the Essentiator the Eternall God the most mighty and puissant Warriour who if hee do but arise only his enemies are scattered and all that hate him flie before him Psal 68.1 Vers 9. Lift up your heads c. See Vers 7. And learn that in matters of moment wee must be more than ordinary earnest and importunate with our selves and others Vers 10. Who is this King of glory The best are acutè obtusi in the mystery of Christ crucified and must therefore by study and inquiry grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3.18 praying for that Spirit of wisdome and revelation for the acknowledgement of him Ephes 1.17 The Lord of Hoasts Hee who hath all Creatures at his beck and check the Lord of Sabaoth Rom. 9.29 Jam. 5.4 where the word signifying hoasts or armes is used untranslated because well understood both by Jews and Gentiles as is also Hosanna Hallelujah Amen PSAL. XXV A Psalm of David An excellent Psalm the second of those seven called by the Ancients penitentiall and such as may well serve us for a pattern of our daily prayers Beza as wherein David beggeth three things answerable to those two last petitions in the Lords prayer first Pardon of sin secondly Guidance of Gods good Spirit thirdly Defence against his enemies It appeareth that this Psalm was made by David when hee was well in years vers 7. after his sin in the matter of Vriah that great iniquity as hee calleth it vers 11. saith Vatablus and some gather from vers 19. that hee framed this Psalm when Absolom was up in armes against him vers 19. compared with Psal 3.1 See also vers 15. 22. It may seem therefore that when hee came to Mahanaim a Sam. 17.24 27. where God shewed him marvellous loving kindnesse in a strong City Psal 31.21 and where-hence hee was at the peoples request to succour them or to cause them to bee helped viz by his hearty prayers for Gods assistance 2 Sam. 18.3 he composed this Psalm with more than ordinary artifice viz. in order of Alphabet as hee hath done also some few others both for the excellencie of the matter and likewise for help of memory for which cause also St. Matthew summeth up the genealogie of Christ into three fourteenes all helps being but little enough Nazianzen and Sedulius have done the like the former in his holy Alphabet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and the latter in his Hymn A Solis ortus cardine Beatus auâ—tor saeculi c. Vers 1. Vnto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul i. e. Praeparo cor meum Ad te orand non ad Idola saith R. Solomon My heart maketh its faithfull addresses to thee and not any other with strength of desire and delight with earnest expectation and hope of relief See Jer. 22.27 Deut. 24.15 Psal 86.5 Cyprian saith that in the primitive times the Minister was wont to prepare the peoples minds to pray Cyp. de orat by prefacing Sursum corda Lift up your hearts The Jews at this day write upon the walls of their Synagogues these words Tephillah belo cavannah ceguph belo neshamah That is Buxtorf abbreviar A prayer without the intention of the affection is like a body without a soul and yet their devotion is a meer out-side saith One a brainlesse head and a soulelesse body Spec. Euâ— Antiquum obtinent Isa 29.13 This people draweth nigh to mee with their lipps but their heart is farre from mee A carnall man can as little lift up his heart in prayer as a moul can flye A David finds it an hard task sith the best heart is lumpish and naturally beareth downward as the poise of a clock as the lead of a net Let us therefore lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset it and pray God to draw us up to himself as the load-stone doth the Iron c. Vers 2. O my God I trust in thee I pray in faith which is as the fire and my prayer as the flame that ariseth out of it Faith is the foundation of prayer and prayer is the fervency of faith Now David knew that the hand of faith never knocketh at the gate of grace in vain Let mee not bee ashamed Shame is the Daughter of disappointment This David deprecateth Quaeque repulsa gravis see Job 6.20 Let not mine enemies triumph over mee By saying that I pray to no purpose as Rabshakeh did Isa 35.6 I say saith Hezekiah I have words of my lipps prayer prayer but alasse what 's that more than empty words an aiery nothing Counsel and strength are for the battel Thus Hee Vers 3. Yea let none that wait on thee bee ashamed Be nosed and twitted with my disappointments as they are sure to be if I be repulsed by thee and worsted by mine enemies all thy praying people shall have it cast in their teeth and laid in their dish Let them bee ashamed which transgresse without cause Let shame bee sent to the right owner even to those that deal disloyally unprovoked on my part And so it was for Achitophel hanged himself Absoâ—om was trussed up by the hand of God and dispatcht by Joab the people that conspired with him partly perished by the sword and partly fled home much ashamed of their enterprize Oh the power of prayer what may not the Saints have for asking Vers 4. Shew mee thy wayes O Lord q. d However other men walk towards mee yet my desire is to keep touch with thee for which purpose I humbly beg thy best direction See Exod. 33.13 Isa 2.3 Teach mee thy paths Assues ac me inure mee to thy paths Sicut parvulus ad ambulandum assuetus saith Kimchi as a little one is taught to find his feet Vers 5. Lead mee in thy Truth and teach mee i. e. Assiduè doce urge David was a great proficient in Gods School and yet he would learn more so sweet is divine knowledge Four times together here prayeth David to bee further instructed See Moses in like
men and other earthly creatures might have that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Pindarâ—â— â—iseth it for the satisfying of their thirst and for other necessary uses This is Davids Philosophy and his son Solomon saith the same Eccles 1.7 Though Aristotle assign another cause of the perennity of the fountains and rivers Vers 11. They give drink to every beast A great mercy as we have lately found in these late dry years 1653 1654. wherein God hath given us to know the worth of water by the want of it Bona sunt à tergo formosissima The wild-asses Those hottest creatures Job 39.8 9 10 11. Vers 12. By them shall the souls of the heaven Assuetae ripis volueres fluminis alveâ— Virg. Which sing among the branches Most melodiously many of them therefore it is reckoned at a judgement to lose them Jer. 4.25 and 9 10. Vers 13. He watereth the hils from his chambers That is from his clouds he giveth water to hills and high places where Wells and Rivers are not The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works i.e. With the rain of thy clouds dropping fatness Vers 14. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattel Hee caused it to grow at first before cattel were created Gen. 1.11 12. And so he doth still as the first cause by rain and dew from heaven as the second cause And herb for the service of man Ad esum ad usum for food physick c. Gen. 1.29 Green herbs it seemeth was a great dish with the Ancients which therefore they called Holus ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristippus told his Fellow-Philosopher who fed upon them If you can please Dionysius you need not eat green herbs He presently replied If you can eat green herbs you need not please Dionysius and be his Parasite That he may bring forth food out of the earth Alma parens Tellus Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for the meat c. Job 6.37 Vers 15. And wine that maketh glad That hee may the more cheerfully serve his Maker his heart being listed up as Jehosaphats was in the wayes of obedience Judg. 9 13. Prov. 31.6 7. And oyl to make his face to shine The word signifieth Oyntments of all sorts whereof see Pliny lib. 12. and 13. These man might want and subsist But God is bountifull And bread which strengtheneth c. In nature Animantis cujusque vita est fuga were it not for the repair of nutrition the natural life would be extinguished The Latines call bread Panis of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be cause it is the chief nourishment Vers 16. The trees of the Lord are full of sap Heb. are satisfied viz. with moisture sucked by their roots out of the earth plentifully watered whereby they are nourished grow mightily and serve man for meat drink medicine c. The Cedars of Lebanon These are instanced as tallest and most durable Gods Temple at Jerusalem was built of them and so was the Dâ—vils temple at Ephesus for he will needs be Gods Ape Vers 17. Where the birds make their nests Each according to their natural instinct with wonderful art As for the Stork That Pietaticultriâ— as Petronius calleth her and her name in Hebrew soundeth as much because she nourisheth and cherisheth the old ones whereof she came whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Genetricum senectam invicem educant Plin. Ciconiis pietas eximia inest Solin Vers 18. The high hills are a refuge These wild but weak creatures are so wise as to secure themselves from violence when pursued they run to their refuges and should not we to God for the securing of our comforts and safe-guarding of our persons Vers 19. He appointed the Moon for seasons Most Nations reckoned the year by the Moon rather than by the Sun The Sun knoweth his going down As if he were a living and intelligent creature so justly doth he observe the Law laid upon him by God and runs through his work See Job 38.12 Vers 20. Thou makest darkness Which though it be dreadful yet is it useful and in the vicissitude of light and darkness much of Gods wisdome and goodness in to bee seen We must see that we turn not the day into night nor night into day without some very special and urgent occasion Vers 21. The young Lions roar Rousing themselves out of their dens by night and then usually seizing upon what prey God sendeth them in for they are at his and not at their own finding And seek Like as the young Ravens cry to him Psal 147. implication only See Joel 1.18 20. Vers 22. They gather themselves together viz. into their dens and lurking holes smitten with fear of light and of men A sweet providence but little considered Vers 23. Man goeth forth unto his work His honest imployment in his particular place and calling whe the manual or mental eating his bread in the sweat either of his brow or of his brain Vntil the evening That time of rest and refreshment The Lord Burleigh William Cecil when he put off his gown at night used to say Ly there Lord Treasurer and bidding adieu to all state affairs disposed himself to his quiet rest Vers 24. O Lord how manifold c. q. d. They are so many and so great that I cannot recount or reckon them up but am even swallowed up of wonderment All that I can say is that they are Magna mirifica In mans body only there are miracles enough betwixt head and foot to fill a volume The earth is full It is Gods great purse Psal 24.1 Vers 25. So is this great and wide sea Latum manibus id est siâ—â—bus yet not so great and wide as mans heart wherein is not only that Leviathan some special foul lusts but creeping things innumerable crawling bugs and baggage vermine Wherein are things creeping innumerable Far more and of more kinds than there are on earth Vers 26. There go the ships The use whereof was first shewed by God in Noahs Ark whence afterwards Audex Iapeti genus Japhets off-spring sailed and replenished the Islands There is that Leviathan Whereof see Job 41. with Notes Vers 27. These wait all upon thee The great House-keeper of the world who carvest them out their meet measures of meat and at fit seasons Of thee they have it Per causarum concatenationem Vers 28. That thou givest them they gather Neither have they the least morsel of meat but what thou castest them by thy providence Turcicum imperium quantum quantum est nibil est nisi panis mica quam dives pater-familias projicit canibus saith Luther Thou openest thy hand By opening the bosome of the earth thou richly providest for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 29. Thou hidest thy face i. e. Thou withdrewest thy favour thy concurrence thine influence they are troubled or terrified a cold sweat sitteth upon their limbs animam agunt they shortly expire
they write that when shee would change her feathers shee falleth down into the Sea Vers 10 Even there shall thy hand lead mee i. e. Thy Power and Providence shall dispose of mee I shall flee but from thy hand to thy hand as guilty Jonas did Vers 11 The darknesse shall cover mee The Hebrew phrase is taken from Beasts that lye a squat saith Dâ—odat Nocte latent mende sed non Deum The guilty conscience sharketh up and down for comfort but getteth none Vers 12 Yea the darkness bideth not Heb. Darkeneth not from thee because thine eyes are fiery Rev. 1.14 such as need no outward light they are more light and radiant than the Sun in his strength The darkness and the light c. Deo obscura clarent muta respondent silentiâ—â— confitetur saith an Ancient Night will convert it self into noon before God and silence prove a speaking evidence Vers 13 For thou hast possessed my reins The seat of mine affections Thoughts kindle affections and these cause thoughts to boil they are causes one of another and both well known to God For who possesseth lands or houses but hee knoweth the right title and rooms thereof saith an Expositour T. W. Thou hast covered mee in my Mothers womb But not from thine all peircing eyes though in so dark a place and wrapt up in secâ—â—dâ—â—es Vers 14 I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made 〈…〉 operibus tâ—â—s saith Montanâ—s neither can I wonder enough at thy workmanship The greatest miracle in the World is man in whose very body how much more in his soul are miracles enow betwixt head and feet to fill a volume Austin complaineth that men much wonder at high mountains of the earth huge waves of the Sea deep falls of rivers the vastness of the Ocean the motions of the stars relinquunt seipsos nec mirantur but wonder not at all at their wonderfull selves Fernel de abâ—â—â— rerum cauâ—â— Galen a prophane Physician writing of the excellent parts of mans body and comming to speak of the double motion of the lungs could not chuse but sing an hymn to that God whosoever hee were that was author of so excellent and admirable a peece of work And that my soul knoweth right well That is so well as to draw hearty praises from mee to my Maker But for any exact insight hear Salomon As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all Eccles 11.5 Some read the words thus Thy works are wonderfull and so is my soul which knoweth right well q. d. my rationall and intelligent soul is an admirable peece indeed Nothing in the World saith one is so well worthy to bee wondred at as man nothing in man as his soul Vers 15 My substance was not hid from mee Ossatiâ— mea id est ossium 〈◊〉 tuum compages â—embles misâ—hief of ignor the structure of my bones and joynts But was not hee a wise man and yet wise enough otherwise who being asked upon his death-bed what his soul was seriously answered that hee knew not well but hee thought it was a great bone in the middle of his body Was not hid from thee For thou hast both the names and number of every part to a nerve or an artery Aquinas saith that at the Resurrection the bodies of the Saints shall bee so clear and transparent that all the veins humours nerves and bowels shall bee seen as in a glass T is sure that they are so to God when first formed in the womb When I was made in secret That is in the womb of my Mother As curious workmen â—â—de Lactant. â—â— Dei opificio â—alen de usu â—rt Cic. 2. de â—â—t dear when they have some choice peece in hand they perfect it in private and then bring it forth to light for men to gaze at so here And curiously wrought Variegatus quasi acu pictus Embroidered and wrought as with the needle whence man is called a Microcosm or little World Bodine observeth that there are three regions within mans body besides all that is seen without answerable to those three regions of the World Elementary Etherial and Celestial His entrails and whatsoever is under his heart resemble the Elementary region wherin only there is Generation and Corruption 〈◊〉 Nâ—â— â—â—â— The heart and vitals that are divided from those entrails by the Diaphragma resemble the Ethereall Region as the brain doth the heavenly which consisteth of intelligible creatures In the lowest parts of the earth That is in my Mothers womb as before See Epâ—es 4.9 The Syriack interpreteth it but not so well when I shall dye and be buried and my bones turned to ashes yet thou shalt know them Vers 16 Thine eyes did see my substance Galmi est semen coagulatum ante formationem membrorum saith Kimchi when I was but an Embryo or hardly so much Disponit Deus membra culicis pulicis saith Austin how much more of man The word signifieth my wound-up or unwrought-up mass And in thy book all my members are written A metaphor from curious workmen that do all by the book or by a modell set before them that nothing may bee deficient or done amiss Had God left out an eye in his common-place book saith One thou hadst wanted it Which in Continuance In process of time and by degrees When as yet there was none of them But all was a rude lump This is a great secret of nature and to bee modestly spoken of How precious also are thy thoughts unto mee i. e. The thoughts of thy wisdome power and goodness clearly shining in these wondrous works of thine it does my heart good to think and speak of them How great is the summ of them viz. Of my works and of thy thoughts thereon I cannot count them much less comprehend them To blame are such as trouble not their heads at all about these matters Surely when the Lord made 〈◊〉 head with so many closures and coverings to his brain the seat of understanding hee intended it for some precious treasure Many locks and keys argue the price of the Jewell they are to keep and many papers wrapping a token within them the use of that token Vers 18 If I should count them c. q. d. They are infinite and innumerable Archimedes that great Mathematician bragged that hee could number all the sands in the habitable and inhabitable World but no man ever beleeved him See 1 Sam. 13.5 2. Sam. 17.11 Psal 78.27 When I awake I am still with thee Still taken up with some holy contemplation of thy works and wisdome These thoughts I fall asleep with and these I awake with As I take up my fire ore night so I finde it in the morning Vers 19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked Those that traduce and slander mee