Reformers bring forth their rich treasure and liberally disperse it by preaching writing and every way trading their Talents for the Churches good Farellus with his Talent Hic est ille Farellus qui Genevenses Novocomenses Monipelgardenses c. Christo lucrifecit Melch. Adam in vit gained to the Faith five Cities of the Cantons with their territories Wickliff Hus Luther Calvin c. how active and fruitful were they in their Generations to dispread and scatter light over the Christian world to wise and win souls to Christ Prov. 11.30 These surely shine as stars in Heaven Dan. 12.3 that like stars by their light and influence made such a scatter of riches upon earth Every Star saith one is like a purse of Gold out of which God throws down riches and plenty upon the sons of men And as it is the nature of gold to bee drawn forth marvellously Zinch de oper dei part 2. l. 3. c. 6. so that as the learned affirm an ounce of gold will go as far as eight pound of silver so it is the nature of sound knowledge to be spreading and diffusive But the heart of the foolish doth not so Or is not right 'T is little worth Prov. 10.20 as having no true treasure in them but froth and filth vanity and villany hence they do not onely not disperse knowledge which they have not Psal 14.4 but patronize and promote ignorance and errour sow Cockle as fast as wiser men do Corn and are as busie in digging descents to Hell as others are in building stair-cases for Heaven Vers 8. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination Their very incense stinks of the hand that offers it Isa 1.13 Good words may bee uttered but wee cannot hear them because uttered with a stinking breath and good meat may bee presented but wee cannot eat of it because cook'd or brought to Table by a nasty sloven Works materially good may never prove so formally and eventually viz. when they are not right quoad fontem quoad finem 1 When they proceed not from a right principle a pure heart a good conscience and Faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1.5 2 When they tend not to a right end the glory of God in our own or other mens salvation Christus opera nostra non tam actibus quà m finibus pensat Zanchius The glory of God must consume all other ends as the Sun puts out the light of the fire Cant. 4.11 Psal 141.2 Hos 14.2 But the prayer of the righteous is his delight His musick his hony-drops his sweetest perfume his Calves of the lips with which when wee cover his Altar hee is abundantly well-pleased For as all Gods senses nay his very soul is offended with the bad mans sacrifice Isa 1.13 14 15. his sharp nose easily discerneth and disgusteth the stinking breath of his rotten lungs though his words bee never so sented and perfumed with shews of holiness So the prayer that proceeds from an upright heart though but faint and feeble doth come before God even into his ears Psal 18.6 and so strangely charms him Isa 26.16 see the Margin that hee breaks forth into these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Incantamentum Ask mee of things concerning my sons and concerning the works of my hands command yee mee Isa 45.11 O that wee understood the latitude of this Royal Charter then would wee pray alwaies with all prayers and supplications in the Spirit then would wee watch thereunto with all perseverance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not faint or shrink back Ephes 6.18 Luk. 18.1 Vers 9. The way of the wicked is abomination Not his sacrifices onely but his civilities all his actions natural moral recreative religious are offensive to all Gods senses as the word signifies The very plowing of the wicked is sin Prov. 21.4 all they do is defiled yea their very consciences Their hearts like some filthy bog or fenn or like the lake of Sodome send up continual poisonous vapours unto God And hee not able to abide them sends down eftsoons a counterpoison of plagues and punishments Psalm 11.6 Rom. 1.18 But hee loveth him that followeth after righteousness Although hee fulfil not all righteousness yet if hee make after it with might and main as the word signifies if hee pursue it and have it in chase as ravenous creatures have their prey if by any means hee may attain to the resurrection of the dead Phil. 3.11 That is that height of holiness that accompanieth the resurrection This is the man whom God loves Now Gods love is not an empty love It is not like the Winter Sun that casts a goodly countenance when it shines but gives little warmth and comfort Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh righteousness Aug. those that remember thee in thy waies Isa 64.5 that think upon thy commandements to do them Psal 103. qui faciunt praecepta et si non perficiant that are weak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but willing Heb. 13.18 that are lifting at the latch though they cannot do up the door Surely shall every such one say In the Lord have I righteousness and strength Isa 45.24 Righteousness that is mercy to those that come over to him and Strength to enable them to come as the Sea sends out waters to fetch us to it Vers 10. Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way Hee pleaseth himself in his out-straies and would not bee reduced hee is in love with his own ruine and takes long strides towards Hell which is now but a little afore him And if any man seek to save him Jude 23. with fear pulling him out of the fire hee flies in his face This is as great madness as if they whom our Saviour had healed or raised should have raged and railed at him for so doing And hee that hateth reproof shall die Hee that is imbittered by rebukes and not bettered by chastisements shall die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Septuagint shall die shamefully yea shall die eternally as the next verse shews shall bee swallowed up of Hell and destruction which even now gapes for him They that will not obey that sweet command Come unto mee all yee c. shall one day have no other voice to obey but that terrible Discedite Go yee cursed into everlasting flames Vers 11. Hell and destruction are before the Lord Tophet is prepared of old and where ever it is as it skils not curiously to enquire below us it seems to bee Pareus in loc Rev. 14.11 ubi sit sentient qui curiosius quaerunt so it is most certain that Hell is naked before God and destruction uncovered in his sight Job 26.6 Wee silly fishes see one another jerked out of the pond of life by the hand of death but wee see not the frying-pan and the fire that they are cast into that die in their sins and refuse to bee reformed Cast they are into utter darkness
Vers 17. A friend loveth at all times Such a friend was Jonathan Hushai the Archite Ittai the Gittite who stuck close to David when hee was at his greatest under B. Morton But such faithful friends are in this age all for the most part gone in Pilgrimage as hee once said and their return is uncertain David met with others besides those above mentioned that would bee the causes but not the companions of his calamity that would fawn upon him in his flourish but forsake him in his trouble My lovers and friends stand aloof c. The Antients pictured Friendship in the shape of a fair young man bare-headed meanly apparelled having on the out-side of his garment written To live and to dye with you and on his forehead Summer and Winter His breast was open so that his heart might bee seen and with his finger bee pointed to his heart where was written Longè Propè Far and near Humphrey Duke of Glocester being wounded and overthrown by the Duke of Alenzon at the battel of Agincourt was rescued by his brother King Henry the fifth who bestriding him delivered him from danger c. Speed And a Brother is born for adversity Birth binds him to it and although at other times fratrum concordia rara brethren may jar and jangle yet at a straight and in a stresse good nature will work and good blood will not belie it self And as in the natural so in the spiritual brotherhood Misery breeds unity Ridley and Hooper that when they were both Bishops differed so much about Ceremonies could agree well enough and bee mutual comforts one to another when they were both prisoners Esther concealed her kindred in hard times but Gods people cannot Moses must rescue his beaten brother out of the hand of the Egyptian though hee venture his life by it Vers 18. A man void of understanding striketh hands Of the folly and misery of rash suretyship See Chap. 6.1 2 c. with the Notes there In the presence of his friend Or before his friend that is before his friend do it who was better able and more obliged Thus like a Woodcock hee puts his neck into the ginne his foot into the stocks as the Drunkard and then hath time enough to come in with the fools had I wist and to say as the Lion did when taken in the toil Si praescivissem If I had foreseen this But why should there bee amongst men any such Epimetheus such a Post-master an after-wit Vers 19. Hee loveth transgression that loveth strife It s strange that any should love strife that Hell-hag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And yet some like Trouts love to swim against the stream like Salamanders they live in the fire of contention like Phocion they hold it a goodly thing to dissent from others like Pyrrhus they are a people that delight in war Psal 68.30 Like Davids enemies I am for peace saith hee that was his Motto but when I speak of it Psal 120.7 they are for war These unquiet spirits are of the Devil doubtlesse that turbulent creature that troubler of Gods Israel Hee knows that where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work James 3.16 and that hee loveth transgression that loveth strife hee taketh pleasure in sin which is the cause of his unquietnesse Good therefore and worthy of all acceptation is the counsel of the Psalmist Cease from anger and forsake wrath fret not thy self in any wise to do evil Psal 37.8 Hee that frets much will soon bee drawn to do evil An angry man stirs up strife and a furious man aboundeth in transgression Prov. 29.22 Hence our Saviour bids Have salt within your selves that is mortifie your corruptions and then bee at Peace one with another Mark 9.50 Hence also Saint James saith that the wisdome from above is first pure and then peaceable And Saint Paul oft joyns faith and love together there can bee no true love to and good agreement with men till the heart bee purified by faith from the love of sin And hee that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction Eventually hee seeketh it though not intentionally that exalteth his gate that is his whole house a part being put for the whole which hee that builds over-sumptuously is in the ready rode to beggery the begger will soon have him by the back as they say quaerit rupturam hee will shortly break Others read the words thus And hee enlargeth his gate that seeketh a breach that is say they hee that picketh quarrels and is contentious setteth open a wide door to let in many mischiefs Vers 20. Hee that hath a froward heart findeth no good Who this is that hath a froward heart and a perverse tongue Solomon shews Prov. 11.20 viz. the hypocrite the double-minded man Jam. 1.8 that hath an heart and a heart Psal 12.2 One for God and another for him that would have it as that desperate Neapolitan boasted of himself And as hee hath two hearts so two tongues too 1 Tim. 3.8 wherewith hee can both bless and curse talk religiously or prophanely according to the company James 3.10 11. speak Hebrew and Ashdod the language of Canaan and the language of Hell like those in an Island beyond Arabia of whom Diodorus Siculus saith that they have cleven tongues Antiq. l. 3. so that therewith they can alter their speech at their pleasure and perfectly speak to two persons and to two purposes at once Now how can these Monsters of men expect either to finde good or not to fall into mischief How can they escape the damnation of Hell whereof hypocrites are the chief inhabitants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 24.31 yea the free-holders as it were for other sinners shall have their part with the Devil and hypocrites Vers 21. Hee that begetteth a fool doth it to his sorrow Solomon might speak this by experience and wish as Augustus did Utinam coelebs vixissem aut orbus periissem Hof 4 O that I had either lived a batchelour or died childlesse to bring forth children to the murtherer children to the Devil that old man-slayer Oh what a grief is this to a pious Parent how much better were a miscarrying womb and dry breasts What heavy moan made David for his Absolom dying in his sin How doth many a miserable Mother weep and warble out that mournful ditty of hers in Plutarch over her deceased children Quo pueri estis profecti poor souls what 's become of you And the Father of a fool hath no joy No more than Oedipus had who cursed his children when hee died and breathed out his last with Per coacervatâ—â— percat domus impia luctus No more than William the Conquerour had in his ungracious children or Henry the second who finding that his sons had conspired against him with the King of France Daniel fol. 112 fell into a grievous passion cursing both his sons and the day wherein himself was born and in
devitatur impletur humana sapientia dum reluctatur comprehenditur Gods decree is fulfilled by those that have least minde to it Humane wisdome whiles it strives for masteries is over-mastered Vers 31. The horse is prepared against the day c. A very serviceable creature and in battel full of terrour so swift in service that the Persians dedicated him to their god the Sun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Pausanias hath it But as the Sun in heaven can neither bee out-run nor stopt in his race so neither by men though wise nor by means though likely can Gods purposes bee disappointed An horse is a vain thing for safety Neither shall hee deliver any by his great strength Psal 33.17 But safety or victory is of the Lord Hee gives it to which side hee pleaseth as hee did to the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan though they had no horses to help them as their adversaries had and Charets too both Aegyptians and Canaanites CHAP. XXII Vers 1. A good name is rather to bee chosen HEb A name as Chap. 18.22 a wife for a good wife better no wife than an ill wife so better no name than an ill name This good name proceeding from a good conscience this honour from vertue Isa 43.4 this perfume of faith and obedience this splendor and sparkle of the white stone which onely shines upon heavenly hearts is far more desirable than great riches For first These oft take away the life of the owners thereof Prov. 1.19 the greater wealth the greater spoil awaits a man As a tree with thick and large boughes every man desires to lop him Whereas a good name saves a man oft from that danger as it did Jonathan whom the people rescued Secondly Riches breed and bring their cares and cumbers with them Qui habet terras habet guerras saith the Proverb Many Law-sutes and other vexations c. when a good name as a precious oyntment powred out gets loving favour with which it is therefore fitly coupled in this Text. Thirdly Riches are enjoyed but till death at utmost but a good name out-lives the man and is left behinde him for a blessing Isa 65.15 See Prov. 10.7 with the Note there Other people went beyond Gods Israel in wealth and riches but none in fame and renown 2 Sam. 7.23 Deut. 4.6 Fourthly Riches are oft gotten by fame let a mans name bee up and there will bee great recourse to him But let him once crack his credit and riches cannot repair him Infamy will not bee bought oft with money Lastly Riches are common to good men with bad men but a good name truly so called is proper to Gods peculiar confined to the Communion of Saints Hee was therefore a better husband than Divine that first called Riches Bona Goods And that Heathen was nearer the truth than many profligate professors of it who said Ego si bonam famam servasso Plaut sat dives ero That is If I may but keep a good name I have wealth enough And loving favour rather than silver and gold Which what is it else but white and red earth And therefore no way fit to come in competition with good repute and report among the best such as Christ had Luke 2.52 and Joseph and Daniel and David and Demetrius Joh. 3.12 and they had it as a special favour from God who fashions mens opinions and hides his people from the strife of tongues Job 5. Vers 2. The rich and the poor meet together They have mutual need one of another and meet many times as it were in the mid-way by an alteration of their condition They that were full were hired forth for bread and the hungry are no more hired 1 Sam. 2.5 The mighty are put down from their seats and those of low degree are exalted Luk. 1.53 The Lord is the maker of them all The maker of the men the maker of their estates and the maker of that change and alteration which often happeneth that the one might become grateful the other humble See Job 31.15 Vers 3. A prudent man foreseeth an evil c. Prevision is the best means of prevention A wise mans eyes are in his head Eccles 2.14 his heart is also at his right hand Eccles 10.2 The Chineses say of themselves that all other Nations of the world see but with one eye they only with two The Italians give out that they only do sapere ante factum look before they leap fore-cast an evil before it befall them But these are praises proper to them that have learned holy and heavenly wisdome that by certain sights and signs discern a tempest in the clouds and seek seasonable shelter under the hollow of Gods hand under the shadow of his wings Such prudent persons were Noah Joseph Jonadab Josiah the Christians at Pella c. But the fool passeth on Pusheth on without fear or wit as being resolved to have his will what ever it stand him in And is punished As a just reward of his rashness Sin ever ends tragically Flagitium flagellum ut acus filum Who ever waxed fierce against God and prospered Job 9.4 With the froward thou wilt wrestle saith David Psal 18.16 Upon the wicked God shall rain snares c. Psal 11.6 And then ut leo cassibus irretitus dixit sipraescivissem as the Lion when hee was caught in the Hunters toyl said If I had fore-known this mischief I would have shunned it So these after-wits these post-masters these Epimetheusses shall come in but all too late with their Fools Had-I-wist which they should have timously foreseen and prevented Vers 4. By humility and the fear of the Lord Heb. The heel of humility c. The humble heart that lyes low and hearkens what God the Lord will say unto it that follows him trembling as the people followed Saul 1 Sam. 13.7 shall have hard at the heels of it riches a sufficiency if not a superfluity and honour which is to bee chosen before riches v. 1. See the Note there and life above the danger of those thorns and snares mentioned in the next verse not life present onely but length of dayes for ever and ever Psal 21.4 O the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the heaped up happiness of a man that humbles and trembles before the Lord Hee that doth the former cannot but do the latter Hence that close connexion of these two graces in this Text By humility the fear of the Lord so the original runs without the grammatical copulative And to shew that they go alwayes together yea the one is as it were predicated of the other neither want they their reward Riches honour life What things bee these Who would not turn spiritual purchaser Vers 5. Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward In opposition to the reward of righteousness vers 4. which is to say The ungodly are not so Or if they have riches they prove thorns to them to prick and choak
ward off his blow to moâ— up ones self against his fire Why should vain man contend with his Maker Why should hee beat himself to froth as the surges of the Sea do against the Rock Why should hee like the untamed Heifer unaccustomed to the yoke gall his neck by wrigling make his crosses heavier than God makes them by crosseness and impatience The very Heathen could tell him that Deus crudelius urit Tibul. Eleg. 1. Quos videt invitos succubuisse sibi God will have the better of those that contend with him and his own Reason will tell him that it is not fit that God should cast down the bucklers first and that the deeper a man wades the more hee shall bee wet Vers 12. For who knoweth what is good for man Hee may think this and that to bee good but is mostly mistaken and disappointed Ambrose hath well observed that other creatures are led by the instinct of Nature to that which is good for them The Lion when hee is sick cures himself by devouring an Ape the Bear by devouring Ants the wounded Dear by feeding upon Dittany c. in ignoras O homo remedia tuo but thou O man knowest not what is good for thee Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good saith the Prophet and what doth the Lord require of thee but this instead of raking riches together to do justly and to love mercy and instead of contending with him to humble thy self to walk with thy God Micah 6.8 For who can tell a man what shall bee after him When the Worms shall bee scrambling for his body the Devils haply for his soul and his friends for his goods A false Jesuite published in print Camd Elis Dilexi virum qui cum corpore solveretur magit de Ecclesiarum statu c. some years after Queen Elizabeths death that shee died despairing and that shee wished shee might after her death hang a while in the air to see what striving would bee for her Kingdome I loved the man said Ambrose of Theodosius for this that when hee died hee was more affected with care of the Churches good than of his own CHAP. VII Vers 1. A good name is better than precious ointment YEa than great riches Prov. 22.1 See the Note The initial letter of the Hebrew word for Good here is bigger than ordinary Majusculum to shew the more than ordinary excellency of a good name and fame amongst men If whatsoever David doth doth please the people Rom. 1.2 if Mary Magdalens cost upon Christ bee well spoken of in all the Churches if the Romans Faith bee famous throughout the whole world if Demetrius have a good report of all good men and St. John set his seal to it this must needs bee better than precious ointments the one being but a perfume of the nostrils the other of the heart Sweet ointment olfactum afficit spiritum reficit cerebrum juvat affects the smell refresheth the spirit comforts the brain A good name doth all this and more For First As a fragrant scent it affects the soul amidst the stench of evil courses and companies It is as a fresh gale of sweet air to him that lives as Noah did among such as are no better than walking dunghills and living sepulchres of themselves stinking much more worse than Lazarus did after hee had lain four daies in the grave A good name preserveth the soul as a Pomander and refresheth it more than musk or civil doth the body Secondly It comforts the conscience and exhilatates the heart cheers up the mind amidst all discouragements and fatteth the bones Prov. 15.30 doing a man good like a medicine And whereas sweet ointments may bee corrupted by dead flies a good name proceeding from a good conscience cannot bee so Fly blown it may bee for a season and somewhat obscured but as the Moon wades out of a cloud so shall the Saints innocency break forth as the light and their righteousness as the noon-day Psal 37.6 Buried it may beee in the open sepulchres of evil throats but it shall surely rise again A Resurrection there shall bee of names as well as of bodies at the last day at utmost But usually a good name comforts a Christian at his death and continues after it For though the name of the wicked shall rot his lamp shall bee put out in obscurity and leave a vile snuff behinde it yet the righteous shall bee had in everlasting remembrance they shall leave their names for a blessing Isa 65.15 And the day of death than the day of ones birth The Greeks call a mans birth-day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginning of his Nativity they call the begetting of his misery Man that is born of a woman is born to trouble saith Job chap. 14.1 The word there rendred Born signifieth also generated or conceived to note that man is miserable even so soon as hee is warm in the womb as David hath it Psal 51.5 If hee lives to see the light hee comes crying into the world Ad Marc. cap. 11. a flet is vitam anspicatur saith Seneca Insomuch as the Lawyers defined 〈◊〉 by crying and a still-born childe is all one as dead in Law Onely Zoâ—â—staâ— is said to have been born laughing but that laughter was both monstrous and ominous Justin lib. 1. For hee first found out the black Art which yet profited him not so far as to the vain felicity of this present life For being King of the Bactrians hee was overcome and slain in battel by Ninus King of the Assyrians St. Austin who relates this story saith of mans first entrance into the world Nondum loquitur tamen prophetat Ere ever a childe speaks hee prophesies by his tears of his ensuing sorrows Nec prius natus quam damnat no No sooner is hee born but hee is condemned to the Mines or Gallies as it were of sin and suffering Hence Solomon here prefers his Coffin before his Cradle And there was some truth in that saying of the Heathen Optimum est non nasci proximum quam celorrime mori For wicked men it had been best not to have been born or being born to dye quickly sith by living long they heap up first sin and then wrath against the day of wrath As for good men there is no doubt but the day of death is best to them because it is the day-break of Eternal Righteousness and after a short brightness as that Martyr said gives them Malorum ademptionem bonorum ademptionem freedome from all evil fruition of all good Hence the antient Fathers called those daies wherein the Martyrs suffered their birth-daies because then they began to live indeed sith here to live is but to lye a dying Eternal life is the onely true life saith Austin Vers 2. It is better to go to the house of mourning To the terming-house as they term it where a dead corps is laid forth for
his heat in Venery and ill savour saith Plutarch He that offereth an oblation Unless withal he present his body for a sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God as Rom. 12.1 Is as if he offered swines blood Blood was not to be offered at all in an oblation or meat-offering but meal oyle wine Levit. 2. much less swines blood See Levit. 11.7 He that burneth incense In honour of me unless his heart ascend up withal in those pillars of sweet smoke as Manoahs Angel did in the smoke of the sacrifice Is as if he blessed an Idol i. e. Gave thankes to an Idol called here by a name that signifyeth vanity or vexation as if he were a God in doing whereof God holdeth himself less dishonoured then by their hypocritical services performed to himself Ezek. 20.39 Beâ—n Yea they have chosen their own wayes Which must needs be naught Nemo sibi de suo palpet Are ye not carnal and walk as men saith Paul that is as naughty men Horreo quicquid de meo est ut meus sim Ver. 4. I also will chuse their delusions As they have had their will so will I have mine another while I will make them to perish by their mockeries idque ex lege talionis See chap. 65.11.12 They thought to cozen me by an out-side-service but it shall appear that they have cozened themselves when I bring upon them mercedem multiplicis petulantiae corum as Piscator rendereth it the reward of their manyfold petulancies and illusions And will bring their fear upon them Inducam nivem super eos qui timuerunt à pruina They have feared the coming of the Chaldees and come they shall So their posterity feared the Romans Joh. 11. and they felt their fury See Prov. 10.24 with the Note Because when I called c. See chap. 65.12 Ver. 5. Hear the Word of the Lord ye that tremble c. Here 's a word of comfort for you who being lowly and meek-spirited are the apter to be trampled on and abused by the fat bulls of Basan where the hedge is lowest those beasts will leap over and every crow will be pulling off wooll from a sheeps sides Your brethren By race and place but not by Grace That hated you For like cause as Cain hated Abel 1 Joh. 3.12 for trembling at Gods judgements whilst they do yet hang in the threatnings And cast you out Either out of their company as not fit to be conversed with chap. 65.5 or out of their Synagogue by excommunications as fit to be cut off See 1 Thes 2.14 Papists at this day do the like whence that Proverb In nomine Domini incipâ—t omne malum Ye begin in a wrong name said that Martyr when they began the sentence of death against him with In the name of God Amen Let the Lord be glorified With such like goodly words and specious pretences did those odious hypocrites palliate and varnish over their abominations they would persecute godly men and molest them with Church-censures and say Let the Lord be glorified So do Papists and other Sectaries deal by the Orthodox Becket offered but subdolously to submit to his Sovereign salvo honere Dei so far as might stand with Gods glory Speed 508. Anno 1386. The Conspiratours in King Richard the seconds time endorsed all their letters with Glory be to God on high on earth peace good-will towards men The Swenck feldians stiled themselves The Confessours of the glory of Christ and Gentiles the Antitrinitarian when he was called to answer said that he was drawn to maintain his cause through touch of conscience and when he was to dye for his blasphemy he said that he did suffer for the glory of the most high God so easy a matter it is to draw a fair glove upon a foul hand c. Some for Let the Lord be glorified render it Gravis est Dominus The Lord is burdensom or heavy and they parallel it with those sayings in the Gospel This is an hard saying Thou art an austere man We will not have this man to reign over us c. But he shall appear to your joy Parallel to that your sorrow shall be turned into joy How did some of the Martyrs rejoyce when excommunicated degraded c. Diod. Ver. 6. A voice of noise from the City This is a Prophetical description of the last destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans A voice from the Temple Wherin they so much gloryed where they had oft heard Christ and his Apostles preaching repentance unto life but now have their ears filled with hideous and horrid outcries of such as were slain even in the very Temple which they defended as long as they were able and till it was fited That which Josephus reporteth of Jesus the son of Ananis a plain Country-fellow is very remarkable viz. that for four years together before the last devastation he went about the City day and night crying as he went in the words of this text almost A voice from the East Lib. 7. Bâ—lli cap. 12. a voice from the West a voice from the four Winds a voice against Jerusalem and the Temple a voice against all the people Woe woe woe to Jerusalem and thus he continued to do till at length roaring out louder then ordinary Woe to Jerusalem and to me also he was slain upon the wall with a stone shot out of an Engin as Josephus reporteth That rendereth recompence to his enemies So they are here called who pretended so much to the glorifying of God ver 5. False friends are true enemies Ver. 7. Before she travelled she brought forth Quum nondum parturiret paperit understand it of Zion or of the Church Christian which receiveth her children that is Converts suddainly on a cluster before she thought to have done Subito ac simul Margaret Countesse of Henneburg and in far greater numbers then she could ever have beleeved That Lady that brought forth as many as a birth as are dayes in the year was nothing to her nor those Hebrew women Exod. 1.10 She was delivered of a man-child For the which there is so great joy Joh. 16.21 and which is usually more able and active than a woman-child so good and bold Christians strong in faith unless he meaneth Christ himself saith Diodaâ— who is formed by faith in every beleevers heart Gal. 4.19 Ver. 8. Who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such things The birth of a man would seem a miracle were it not so ordinary miracula assiduitate vilescunt but the birth of a whole Nation at once how much more Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day Yes if the day be long enough as among the Hyperboreans of whom it is written that they sow shortly after the Sun-rising and reap before the Sun-set because the whole half year is one continual day with them But the words here should be rather read Can a land Heresbach
of thy least love as blessed Bradford was with his Miserrimus peccator Ioh. Bradford as Mr Dod and Mr. Cleaver your and my old and good acquaintance were with whom we well remember it was usual Agur like to vilifie yea to nullifie themselves to the utmost And this comes 1. From increase of light 2. From much and long experience of their unavoidable failings and infirmities 2. He is very heavenly minded as having by the constant practice of mortification comfortably subdued his corruptions seen through the vanity and vexation of outward things set one foot upon the battlements of heaven had here much sweet intercourse and communion with God gotten a full gripe of Christ laid fast hold upon eternal life for the full fruition whereof he therefore dearly and daily longs and labours Hence also it comes to pass that this good old Saint this earthly Angel is so heavenly in his Spirit fruitful in good speeches innocent in his life abundant in deeds of Piety and Charity still doing something that may further his reckoning and add weight to his crown which he ever eyeth and even reacheth after The former instances might be here called over again all whose humility was not more low then their aims were lofty 3. This good old disciple of Christ is very able to bear and forbear like as a man at maturity can bear with little childrens follies and not set his wâ—t to theirs as we use to phrase it Thus Abraham bore with Lots rudeness Moses with the peoples petulancies and insolencies Paul with the buffoneries and indignities put upon him by the Corinthians and Galathians Ye have not injured me at all saith he Gal. 4.12 Your disrespects and affronts reach me not I am far above them I am out of your gun-shot So Fulgentius an Ancient of the Church being abused by one who was far his inferiour Maluit tolerare quà m deplorare put it off with Plura adhuc pro Christo toleranda This is a small Trial I must frame to bear more yet for Christ As an old Porter that had been beaten to the Cross he went singing under his burthen holding it no small grace Elegantissimum Oxymoron Casaub to be disgraced for the name of Jesus as it is said of those Disciples of our Saviour Acts 5.41 who soon after his Ascension were all upon the suddain of Babes become Grandees in Grace 4. Lastly he is much affected with the state of others Good Abraham could not rest in his bed that night for thinking of poor Sodom Gen. 19.27 as Luther observeth But especially he is affected with the well-fare or ill-fare of the Churches as being himself of a publick that is of a noble spirit and as a living member of Christs mystical Body he feels twinges whensoever others are hurt in the least See this in Daniel Nehemiah EZra but especially in Paul upon whom lay the care and cumber of all the Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 11.28 it came upon him as an armed man and gave him no rest or respite Cyprians Cum singulis pectus meum copulo is well known And of Calvin it is recorded in his life by Beza that he was no otherwise affected toward the Churches though far remote then if he had born them on his own shoulders This is a sure Note of a Father Indeed Babes and young men are so cumbred with their own corruptions have so much work of their own to do within doors that they have little leisure or list to look abroad Neither are they therefore so much affected with other mens conditions To speak a little of those two also in their order And first of the young man in Christ Where let it be I beseech you no trouble or offence of heart singultus cordis some render it 1 Sam. 25.31 to You Noble Colonel together with your * Jungat epistola quos junxit conjugium immò charta non non dividat quos Christi nectit amor Hier. praefat in Proverb elect or choice Lady to be set among the second sort of good Christians though I must needs say for your very eximious and exemplary Piety and Prudence you may well claim place in the upper form of this lower world But you know who it was that said long since Cicero Honestum est ei qui in primis non potest in secundis tertiisve consistere And to have a door-keepers place in Gods house David held no small preferment Psalm 84.10 But to go on with our business A young man in Christ may be thus Characterized 1. He is strong in grace but withall he hath some one or more strong corruption suppose Passion evil Concupiscence Worldliness or the like that holds him play and puts him shrewdly to 't so that sometimes he could almost find in his heart to sin My feet were almost gone my steps had well-nigh slipt Psalm 73.2 But afterwards he better bethinks himself forbears and forgoes it as a man would do a Serpent in his way or poison in his meats He maketh strong resistance and reneweth his well-knit resolutions against sin A mighty combat and coil there is other whiles as it useth to be in a thunder-clap caused by a hot dry vapour wrapt up in a cold moist cloud which ends in a great rumble and dreadful crack Patient Job and devout David for instance the one abhorring himself for his impatient out bursts the other be-beasting himself for his precipitancy his rash resolves one time when sick of the Fret Psalm 73.22 2. Next the weapons of this young mans warfare are not carnal such as natural reason shame of the world fear of Hell c. have put into his hand but spiritual mighty through God to the pulling down of Satans strongest holds the digging down of his deepest trenches 2 Cor. 10.5 He fights against the enemies of his soul with Gods own Arm and with Gods own Armour he is strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and taking the sword of his Spirit mingling with faith in his heart the Precepts Menaces and Promises he layes about him lustily and prevails accordingly driving the field of that old Man-slayer 3. He is much affected with his success If he get the better in any measure so that he doth not so much and oft break out as he was wont if his corruption be any whit abated his strength increased a little he is marvellous glad and thankfull Was not David so when disarmed by the discretion of Abigail 1 Sam. 25. and detained from shedding innocent blood As on the other side if wounded and worsted at any time he is all amort sorely disquieted restless as on a rack like a man thrust thorough the body he bleeds and sinks till with Peter he run to Christ the right Chirurgeon in this case with tears in his eyes bitter complaints in his mouth and utmost self-abhorrency in his heart and is cured set right again 4. Lastly
light of a Candle fed by base and stinking matter soon wasting and ending in an offensive snuffe The light of the wicked shall be put out and the spark of his fire shall not shine The light shall be dark in his Tabernacle and his Candle shall be put out with him Job 18.5 6. Ecquandone vidisti stammam stipula exertam claro strepitu largo fulgore cito incremento sed enim mater alevi Apuleius in Apolog. caduco ine endio nullis requiis Salomon compares it fitly to a handful of brush-wood or sâ—are thorn under the pot Eccles 7.6 Vers 10. Only by pride cometh contention Hebr dabit jurgium Pride if there be no cause of contention given will make it Transcendâ— non obedio perturbo is the Motto written upon prides tripple-crown A proud person is full of discontent nothing can please him c. Just like one that hath a swelling in his hands something or other toucheth it still and driveth him to out-cries Pride maketh a man drunk with his own conceits Hab. 2.5 The proud man is as he that hath transgressed by wine And drunkards we know are quarrelsome The Corinthians had riches and gifts and learning and carried aloft by these waxen wings they domineered and despised others 1 Cor. 4.8 they were divided and discontented 1 Cor. 3.3 and these over-flowings of the gall and spleen came from a fulnesse of bad humours Pride is a dividing distemper gowty swoln leggs keep at a distance bladders blown up with wind spurt one from another and will not close but prick them and you may pack a thousand of them in a little room But with the well-advised is wisdome The meeknesse of wisdome as St. James hath it Chap. 3.13 of the which we may well say as Tertullus said to Felix Acts 24.2 By thee we enjoy great quietnesse It was a great trouble to Hamaâ— to lead Mordecai's Horse which another man would not have thought so The moving of a straw troubleth proud flesh whereas humility if compelled to goe one mile will goe two for a need yea as far as the shooes of the Gospel of peace can carry it The wisdome from above is peaceable Jam. 3. Vers 11. Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished De malè quasitio â—ix gauget tertius haeres Horat. Ill gotten goods fly away without taking leave of the owner leaving nothing but the print of talons to torment him Prov. 23.5 Many when they have a losse in their riches it is as it were raked out of their bellies Joh 20.15 A piece of their very heart goes with it But he that gathereth by labour shall encrease Howbeit sometimes it is otherwise Master we have laboured all night and taken nothing Behold Luke 4. is it not of the Lord of Hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity Hab. 2.13 There is a curse upon unlawful practices though men be industrious as in Jehojakim Jer. 22. Vers 12. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick Hope 's hours are full of eternity and how many see we lye languishing at Hopes Hospital as hee at the Pool of Bethesda Spes in terronis incerti nomen boni spes in divinis nomen est certissimi Heb. 11.1 Hope unfailable Rom. 5.5 is founded upon faith unfained 1 Tim. 1.5 But when the desire cometh As come it will to those that wait patiently upon God for waiting is but hope and trust lengthened Deo confisi nunquam confusi The vision is but for an appointed time therefore wait Hab. 2.3 you shall be well paid for your patience Wee are apt to antedate the Promises and to set God a time as they Jer. 8.20 looked for Salvation at Summer at furthest We are short breathed short-spirited But as God seldome comes at our time so he never fails at his own and then he is most sweet because most seasonable Vers 13. Who so despiseth the Word shall be destroyed Bishop Bonners Chaplaine called the Bible in scorn his little pretty Gods Book Lindan paâ— lib. 1. cap. 9. Commonitorium Bell. Gifford and Rainold said it contained doctrinam peregrinam strange doctrin yea some things profane and Apocryphal The more modest Papists account Traditions the touch-stone of doctrin and foundation of faith And repute the Scriptures to be rather a kind of store-house for advice in matters of Religion We account them the Divine beam and most exact ballance Cor animam Dei the heart and soul of God as Gregory calleth them the best fortresse against errours as Austin c. though some of our sublimated Sectaries blaspheme that blessed Book as a dead letter and a beggerly element But he that feareth the Commandement That honoureth the Scriptures and trembleth at the Word preached as King Edward the sixth did that second Josiah and as Queen Elizabeth his sweet sister Temperance as he used to call her who when the Bible was presented to her as she rode triumphantly thorow London after her Coronation she received the same with both her hands and kissing it laid it to her breast saying that it had ever been her delight and should be her Rule of Government Vers 14. The law of the wise is as a well of life Or the Law to the wise is a fountain c. whence he may draw the best directions and helps to holinesse and happinesse It confines him to live in that element where hee would live as if one were confined to Paradise where hee would be though there were no such Law The wicked on the contrary leaps over the pale after profit and pleasure and falls upon the snares of death as Shimei sought his Servants lost himself Vers 15. Good understanding giveth favour See this exemplified in Joseph David Daniel Paul Acts 27.43 28.2 God oft speaketh for such in the hearts of their enemies who cannot but admire their piety and patience and spend more thoughts about them than the world is aware of as Darius did about Daniel when cast into the Den. Natural conscience cannot but doe homage to the Image of God stamped upon the natures and works of the godly when they see in them that which is above the ordinary nature of men or their expectation they are afraid of the Name of God whereby they are called Deut. 28.9 10. and are forced to say Surely this is a wise and understanding Nation Deut. 4.6 God is in this people of a truth 1 Cor. 14.25 Certainly this was a righteous man Luk. 23.47 But the way of transgressors is hard Or rough and rugged Satan is a rough harsh Spirit hence Devils are called Sheguirim hairy ones Levit. 17.7 Satyres Isa 34.14 So are all his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fierce heady high-minded 2 Tim. 3.3 4. living in malice and envie hateful and hating one another Tit. 3.3 Such were Ishmael Esau Saul Antiochus that little Antichrist the Pope that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and our Richard the
bee repeated which is a more artificial kinde of selling their gifts than if they had professedly set them to sale as the Greek Orator observeth Both these take a wrong course to bee rich Isocr ad Demon. The way were to give to the poor and not to oppress them Psal 76.11 1 Tim. 6.17 and to bring presents to him that ought to bee feared sith it is hee alone that giveth us all things richly to injoy Vers 17. Bow down thine ear and hear Here begins say some Interpreters the third book of Solomons Proverbs as the second began at Chap. 10. And indeed hee here seems to assume a new kinde of bespeaking his son different from his discourse in the twelve preceding Chapters and much like that in the nine first And apply thy heart c. q. d. Call up the ears of thy minde to the ears of thy body that one sound may pierce both at once otherwise thou wilt bee like the Wolf in the fables thou wilt never attain to any more divine learning than to spell Pater and when thou shouldest come to put together and to put thy heart to it as Solomons phrase here is instead of Pater thou wilt say Agum thy minde running a madding after profit and pleasures of the world as hath been once before noted Vers 18. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee Heb. In thy belly that is in thine inwards Truth it is that St. John found the little book hee ate whether wee understand it of the Revelation only or of the whole Bible which Bishop Bonners Chaplain called in scorn his little pretty Gods-book it much matters not bitter in his belly though sweet in his mouth Rev. 10.10 because Ministers finde it grievous to bee kept from making known the whole counsel of God to their people But the Word of God attentively heard and by an after meditation well digested and incorporated into the soul is sweeter than hony as David felt it and yeelds more pleasure than all the tasteless fooleries of this present world They shall withall bee fitted in thy lips Thou shalt need no other help to discourse thou shalt get a singular dexterity and volubility of holy language being able to utter thy minde in pure Scripture Loquamar verba Scripturae saith that incomparable Peter Ramus Utamur sermone Spiritus sancti c. thou shalt so speak and so do as one that must bee judged by that law of liberty Jam. 2.12 Vers 19. That thy trust may bee in the Lord Onely a divine word can beget a divine faith and herein the Scripture excells all humane writings none of which can bring our hearts to the obedience of faith I can speak it by experience saith Erasmus that there is little good to bee got by the Scripture Erasm Praef. in Lucam if a man read it cursorily and carelesly But if hee exercise himself therein constantly and conscionably hee shall feel such a force in it Pet. Mart. Praf in com in Ep. ad Rom. as is not to bee found again in any other book whatsoever I know saith Peter Martyr that there are many that will never beleeve what wee say of the power of Gods word hidden in the heart and not a few that will jear us and think wee are mad for saying so But O that they would but bee pleased to make trial Malèe mihi sit ita enim in tanta causa jurare ausim nisi tandem capiantur Let it never go well with mee for so I am bold to swear in so weighty a business if they finde not themselves strangely taken and transformed into the same image if they pass not into the likeness of this heavenly pattern The Ephesians trusted in God so soon as they heard the word of truth they beleeved and were sealed Ephes 1.13 And the Thessalonians faith was famous all the Churches over when once the Gospel came to them in power 1 Thess 1.5 8. To thee even to thee Men must read the Scriptures as they do the Statute-books holding themselves as much concerned therein as any other threatning themselves in every Threat binding themselves in every Precept blessing themselves in every Promise resolving to obey God in all things as convinced of this that these are verba vivenda non legenda words to bee lived and not read only Vers 20. Have not I written to thee excellent things Heb. Princely things Principles for Princes Rare and Royal sentences The word signifies say some the third man in the Kingdome for Authority and Dignity Others read the words thus Have not I three times written for thee concerning Counsels and Knowledge meaning his three books Proverbial Penitential Nuptial Key of the Bible by Mr. Roberts The Canticles were penned perhaps in his younger years saith one when his affections were more warm active and lively in spirituals The Proverbs in his manly ripe age when his Prudence and parts were at highest most grave solid setled Ecclesiastes in his old age c. Vers 21. That I might make thee know the certainty And so finde firm footing for thy faith Luke 1.3 5. These words of God are true saith the Angel Rev. 21.9 These words are faithful and true Rev. 22.24 void of all insincerity and falshood How can it bee otherwise when as they are as Gregory speaks Cor animae the very heart and soul of the God of truth Greg. in Reg. 3. there must needs bee a certainty in these words of truth neither need wee hang in suspence When some took Christ for John Baptist some for Elias Mat. 16. some for Jeremias But whom say yee that I am to teach that Christ would not have men stand doubtful halt between two bee in Religion as beggers are in their way ready to go which way soever the staff falleth but to search the Scriptures and grounding thereon to get a certainty a full assurance of underderstanding Col. 2.2 so as to bee able to say Wee have beleeved therefore have wee spoken 2 Cor. 4.13 Vers 22. Rob not the poor c. Here some Caviller will bee apt to cry out Object Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hidlu After so promising a Preface and such wooing of attention wee looked for some new matter and that of best note too But behold here is nothing but what wee had before Sol. Phil. 3 1. It is truth saith the Wise man and yet I must tell you that to write the same things to mee indeed is not grievous but for you it is safe See the like Psal 49.1 2 3 c. The scope of the Psalm is to shew the happy and secure estate of the Saints in trouble Object Sol. and the slippery condition of the wicked when at their height Now whereas some might object and say this is an ordinary argument we have heard of it an hundred times The Psalmist answers that yet this is the great wisdome that
meet for the work and therefore not examining his religion entertained him into his service yea placed him over the family of Joseph admitted him into so much familiarity and so let loose the bridle of domestical discipline to him that he took state upon him as a young master in the house and soon after turned traitour and would needs be as his sonne and more The like is to be seen in Abner Ishbosheths servant who grew so haughty and haunty that he might not be spoken to 2 Sam. 3. And in Zimre whom his master Elah so favoured and esteemed that he made him captain over the half-part of his charets But this begger thus set on horse-back rides without reigns to the ruin of his master and his whole house 1 King 16.11 So true is that of the Poet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asperius nihil est humili dum surgit in altum Tobiah the servant is so insolent ther 's no dealing with him Vers 22. An angry man stirreth up strife See Chapter 15.18 and 16.21 And a furious man Hebr. A master of fury or one that is mastered and overmatched by his fury that hath no command of his passions but is transported by them or as some make the metaphor and the Original will well bear it is wedded to them as a man is to his wife commanded by them Plutarch as the Persian Kings were by their Concubines being captivarum suarum captivi slaves to their slaves Such a man being big with wrath not onely breeds contention but brings forth transgression in great abundance he sets his mouth against heaven and his tongue walketh through the earth c. Psal 73. he lets fly on both hands and lays about him like a mad man Vers 23. A mans pride shall bring him low For it sets God against him and Angels and men not good men onely but bad men too and those that are as proud as themselves For whereas one drunkard loves another and one thief another c. one proud person cannot endure another but seeks to undermine him that he alone may bear the bell carry the commendation the praise and promotion See chap. 11.12 and 15.33 and 18.12 Vers 24. Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul Sith to hold the bag is as bad as to fill it to consent to sin or to conceal it as bad as â—o commit it By the one as well as by the other a man may easily become as Coraeh did a sinner against his own soul and cruelly cut the throat of it Let our publike theevs look to this See Isa 1.23 He heareth cursing and bewrayeth it not See Levit. 5.1 with the Note To conceal treason is treason so here Have no fellowship therefore with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them Let me be counted proud or pragmatical saith Luther rather than found guilty of sinful silence Luth. Epist ad Staupiâ— whiles my Lord suffereth Vers 25. The fear of man bringeth a snare This cowardly passion expectorates and exposes a man to many both sinnes and sufferings And albeit faith when it is in the heart quelleth and killeth distrustful fear and is therefore fitly opposed to it in this sacred sentence yet in the very best Sense fights sore against Faith when it is upon its own dunghil I mean in a sensible danger Natures retraction of it self from a visible fear may cause the pulse of a Christian that beats truly and strongly in the main point the state of the soul to intermit and faulter at such a time as we see in the exampleâ— of Abraham Isaac David Peter others who shewed some trepiâ—ation and timidity and like fearful birds and beasts fell into the pits and toyls of the Hunter and hazzarded themselves to Gods displeasure The Chameleon is said to bee the most fearful of all Creatures and doth therefore turn himself into so many colours to avoyd danger which yet will not bee God equally hateth the timorous and the treacherous Fearful men are the first in that black bedrole Rev. 21.8 Tectus â—â—tus But he that trusteth in the Lord shall be safe Or set on high as on a rock his place of defence shall be munitions of rocks Isa 33.15 farre out of harms-way he shall be kept safe as in a tower of brass or town of war Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the youngmen shall utterly fall But they that wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as Eagles c. Isa 40.30 31. Like as the Cony that flyes to the holes in the rocks doth easily avoyd the dogs that pursue her when the Hare that trusts to the swiftnesse of her leggs is at length overtaken and tore in peeces So here Vers 26. Many seek the Rulers favour More than the love of God and so cast themselves into a second snare besides that vers 25. But as he that truly trusts in God will easily expel the fear of man so he that looks upon God as Judge of all from whose sentence there is no appeal will rather seek his face than the favour of any earthly Judge whatsoever Especially since whether the Judge clear him or cast him the judgement he passeth is from the Lord. Vers 27. An unjust man is an abomination to the just Who yet hates non virum sed vitium not the person of a wicked man but his sin as the Physician hates the Disease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but loves the Patient and strives to recover him hee abhorres that which is evil perfectly hates it Psal 139.22 hates it as hell so the Greek word signifies Rom. 12.9 hates it in his dearest friends as Asa did in his mother Maacha hates it most of all in himself as having the Divine Nature transfused into him whereby hee resembles God and that life of God whereunto sin he knows is a destructive poyson a sicknesse unto death Arist Rhetor. 1 Joh. 5. Hence his implacable and no lesse impartial hatred of all as well as any sin for all hatred is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle hath it to the whole kind It was said of Antony that he hated a Tyrant not Tyranny it cannot be said of a Saint he hates sinners not sin but the contrary And he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked So there is no love lost betwixt them The Devil hath set his limbes in all wicked people they are a Serpentine seed a viperous brood and the old enmity continues Gen. 3.15 see the Note there Antipathies there are in Nature as between the Elephant and Boar the Lion and Cock the Horse and the Stone called Taraxippe c. But this is nothing to that betwixt the godly and the wicked and why but because the ones works are good and the others evil and because the just man condemnes the unjust by his contrary courses yea hee affrights his heart and terrifies him with his presence and
behold the face of God the Father and of his Son here is one held forth in the next verse Vers 5. Every word of God is pure Oda septima Pind. tanta fuit admirationis apud Rhodios ut fuerit scripta in templo aure is literis c. Joh. Manl. loc Com. 414. he is a shield Albeit all the sacred sentences contain'd in this blessed book are pure precious and profitable yet as one star in Heaven out-shineth another so doth one Proverb another and this is among the rest velut inter stellas luna minores an eminent sentence often recorded in Scripture and far better worthy than ever Pindarus his seventh Ode was to be written in letters of gold Every word of God is pure purer than gold tried in the fire Rev. 3.17 purer than silver tried in a furnace and seven times purified Psal 12.6 Julian therefore that odious Apostate is not to be hearkened to who said there was as good stuff in Phocillides as in Salomon in Pindarus his Odes as in Davids Psalms Nor is that brawling dog Porphyry to be regarded who blasphemously accuseth Daniel the Prophet and Matthew the Evangelist Spec. Europae as writers of lies Os durum The Jesuits some of them say little less of Saint Pauls Epistles which they could wish by some means censured and reformed as dangerous to be read and savouring of heresie in some places Traditions they commonly account the touch-stone of doctrine and foundation of faith the Scriptures to be rather a Commonitorium as Bellarmine calls it a kind of store-house for advice Greg. in 3. Reg. then Cor animam Dei the heart and soul of God as Gregory calls them a Fortress against Errours Firmamentum contra errores Aug. in Johan 1. Tract 2. Possevin Appar sac verbo Pat. Antiq as Augustine The Apostle calleth concupiscence sin at non licet nobis ita loqui but we may not call it so saith Possevine the Jesuit The Author to the Hebrews saith Marriage is honourable among all men but the Rhemists on 1 Cor. 7.9 say that the marriage of Priests is the worst sort of incontinency Christ saith the Sin against the Holy Ghost hath no remission Bellarmine saith that it may be forgiven The Council of Constance comes in with a non-obstance against Christs institution Lib. 2. de Paeâ—it cap. 16. Montan. in 1 Cor. 14. withholding the Cup from the People at the Sacrament And a Parisian Doctor tells us that although the Apostle would have sermons and service celebrated in a known tongue yet the Church for very good cause hath otherwise ordered it Bishop Bonners Chaplain called the Bible in scorn his little pretty Gods book and judged it worthy to be burnt tanquam doctrina peregrina as strange doctrine Gilford and Raynolds said it contained some things prophane and apocryphal Others have stiled it the mother of heresie and therefore not fit to be read by the common people lest they suck poyson out of it Prodigious blasphemy Of the purity and perennity of the holy Scriptures See more in my True treasure pag. 85.139 He is a shield to them that put their trust in him See Gen. 15.1 with the note and Prov. 29.25 Buxtorf Tiberias Vers 6. Adde thou not unto his words As the Jews at this day do by their traditions which they arrogantly call Mashlamnutha Completio perfectio because they think that thereby the Law is compleated and perfected as the Artemonites Brightm upon Rev. p. 292. and after them the school-men corrupted the Scripture out of Aristotle and Theophrastus turning all into questions and quillets As Mahomet joyned his Alfurta his service book an horrible heap of all blasphemies to the three parts of holy Scripture as he divides them the Law Psalmes and Gospel As the Papists adde their humane inventions and unwritten verities which they equallize unto if not prefer before the book of God as appears by that Heathenish decree of the Council of Trent And when at the Council of Basil the Hussites denied to receive any doctrine that could not be proved by Scripture Jacob Revius hist Pontif. p. 235. Cardinal Cusan answered that Scriptures were not of the being of the Church but of the well-being and that they were to be expounded according to the current rite of the Church which if it change its mind the judgement of God is also changed Lastly such adde to Gods Word as wrest it and rack it making it speak that which it never thought causing it to go two miles where it would go but one gnawing and tawing it to their own purposes as the Shoo-maker taws his upper-leather with his teeth Tertullian calls Marcion the heretick Mus Ponticus of his arroding and gnawing the Scripture to make it serviceable to his errours Lest he reprove thee Both verbally and penally both with words and blows Lest he severely punish thee as one that addes to his will or imbaseth his coyn And thou be found a lier As all Popish forgers and foysters at this day are found to be God hath ever raised up such as have detected their impostures and vindicated the purity and perfection of the sacred Scriptures Vers 7. Two things have I required of thee Two special requests he had among many for our present condition is a condition of singular vanity and indigency we get our living by begging and are never without somewhat to bee required of God never without out wants and aylments and sutes for supplies Deny me them not See here both his familiarity with God in Prayer and his importunity for a lazie Sutâ—r beggs a denial Agur therefore re-enforceth his request it was honest else he would never have begun it but being so he is resolved to follow it So doth David with his one thing which hee did desire and he would desire Psal 27.4 he would never give it over So Jacob would have a blessing and therefore wrastles with might and slight and this he doth in the night and alone and when God was leaving him and upon one legge He had a hard pull of it and yet he prevailed Let me goe saith God No thou shalt not goe saith Jacob till I have my request It is not unlawful for us to be unmannerly in Prayer to be importunate and after a sort impudent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 11.8 Propter improbitatem Luke 18.8 Was not the Woman of Canaan so Matth. 15.22 Shee came for a Cure and a Cure she would have and had it too with an high commendation of her heroical faith Christ he was no Penny-father he had more blessings than one even the abundance of Spirit for them that ask it When poor men make requests to us we usually answer them as the Eccho doth the voyce the answer cuts off half the Petition if they ask us two things we think we deal well if we grant them one Few Naamans that when you beg one talent will force
exercised and encreased at the Lords Table that heavenly Love-feast Ubi cruci haeremus Cyprian sanguinem sugimus inter ipsa Redemptoris nostri vulnera figimus linguam whereat wee climb the cross as it were suck Christs blood suck hony out of the Rock Deut. 32.13 feed heartily and hungerly upon his flesh as Eagles do upon the slain Matth. 24 38. This Luther calls crapulam sanctum a gracious gourmandise Luther whiles wee lean upon his bosome and feed without fear sending forth our sweet odours our pillars of incense by lifting up many an humble joyful and thankful heart to him living by his Laws and being a savour of life to others But what shall wee think of those that stink above ground poison the very air they breathe upon defile the visible Heavens which must therefore bee purged by the fire of the last day and by their rotten communication and unclean conversation spread their infections and send the Plague to their neighbours as those Ashdodites Gittites and Ekronites did 1 Sam. 5. Vers 13. A bundle of myrrhe is my Well-beloved c. The Bride proceeds to return all the glory to her Bridegroom of all that good that hee had praised her for before by a second similitude here and by a third in the next verse for in this argument shee thinks shee can never say sufficient It is the manner of Maids to wear Nosegaies of sweet flowers in their bosomes and to make no small account of them Myrrhe is marvellous sweet and savoury Psal 45.8 Prov. 7.17 See Plin. lib. 12. cap. 15 16. but nothing so sweet as the Lord Christ is to those that have spiritual senses Whom therefore the Spouse here placeth between her breasts that there-hence the sweet savour may ascend into her Nostrils Again Myrrhe hath a bitter root Mark 15.23 Christ seems bitter at first because of afflictions but if wee suffer with him 2 Tim. 2.12 Matth. 2 wee shall also reign together with him Thirdly Myrrhe was very precious Hence the Wise-men offered it to Christ at his birth Christ is of that esteem with his people elect and precious 1 Pet. 2.6 That as wise Merchants they make a thorow-sale of all to purchase him Matth. 13. Lastly Myrrhe is of a preserving nature and was therefore made use of at funerals see John 19.39 In like sort Christ as hee doth by his Spirits heat exsiccate or dry up the superfluity of our degenerate nature whereby body and soul is preserved to eternal life so after our bodies are turned to dust hee still preserves a substance which hee will raise again at the last day Hence the Saints are said to sleep in Jesus to bee dead in Christ who shall raise our vile bodies and make them like unto his own glorious body in beauty brightness grace favour agility ability Phil. 3.21 and other Angelical excellencies Hee shall lye all night betwixt my breasts This is Christs proper place My son give mee thine heart Christ should dwell in the heart by Faith Ephes 3.17 But too too often hee is shut out and adultery found between the breasts as Hos 2.2 there they carried the signs of their Idolatry as Papists now do their crucifixes to testifie that the Idol had their hearts But what saith Mr. Bradford Martyr in a certain letter As the wife will keep her bed onely for her husband although in other things shee is content to have fellowship with others 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 a lonely for our selves and our husband to meet together to embrace and laugh together and to bee joyful together If sin the Law the Devil Act. Mor. 1503. or any thing would creep into the bed and lye there then complain to thy husband Christ and forthwith thou shalt see him play Phineahs part c. And again in another Letter Think on the sweet mercies and goodness of God in Christ Here here is the resting-place here is the Spouses bed creep into it and in your arms of Faith imbrace him Ib. 1â—9 Bewail your weakness your unworthiness your diffidence and you shall see hee will turn to you What said I you shall see Nay I should have said you shall feel hee will turn to you c. Vers 14. My beloved is unto mee as a cluster of Camphire My Beloved and unto Mee This particular application is the very quintessence and pith of Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the property of true Faith to individuate Christ to appropriate him to her self as if hee were wholly and solely hers Shee adjudgeth him in special to her self with My Beloved my Strength and my Redeemer my Lord and my God This when Thomas did Now thou beleevest said our Saviour John 20.29 Were it not for this word of Possession Mine the Devil might say the Creed to as good purpose as any of us Hee beleeves there is a God and a Christ but that which torments him is hee can say My to never an article of Faith Wicked men likewise may Credere Deum Deo sed non in Deum they may hear with joy and have a taste yea and apply the promises but they do it presumptuously and sacrilegiously because they accept not of Christ upon Christs tearms take not whole Christ in all his Offices and Efficacies would have him as a Saviour but not as a Soveraign they make not a total resignation of themselves to Christ as Paul did Gaâ— 2.19 20. As a cluster of Camphire Or As the Cypress-berry within his white flower sweet Plin. lib. 12. cap. 14. pleasant and very fragrant They thaâ— talk here of the Island Cyprus are as far from the sense as that Island is from Engedi which was a place in the Land of Canaan in the tribe of Judah near unto the Dead Sea Hither fled David one time when Saul pursued him And here Jehosaphat had that notable victory over his enemies by the power of prayer 2 Chron. 20. This was a fruitful soil for Gardens and Vineyards Ezek. 47.10 Now the Cypress-tree as also other Aromatical-trees grow best in Vineyards And the Church forgetting her self as it were and transported with love to Christ heaps up thus one similitude upon another Amor Christi est ecstaticus neque juris se sinit esse sui R. Solomon Jarchi doth out of their Agada note Rev. 22.2 that this Cophir in the text is a tree that bringeth fruit four or five times yearly Christ is that tree of life that yeelds fruit every month being more fruitful than the Lemmon-tree Sol. cap. 45. or the Egyptian Fig-tree that bears seven times a year as Solinus reporteth Our English Bibles call it Camphire which being smelled unto doth naturally keep under or weaken carnal lust saith one Now if that should bee here intended how fitly is it here
Contrariwise the godly in the fulness of his want is in an All-sufficiency because hee is in Christ Col. 3. who hath filled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the neuter gender not onely all the hearts of his people but All things hee hath filled up that emptiness that was before in the creature and made it satisfactory I sate down under his shadow with great delight Heb. I delighted and sate down The Church being scortcht with troubles without and terrours within ran to Christ for shelter and found singular comfort Psal 91.1 Isa 25.4 Tua praesentia Domine Laurentio ipsam craticulam dulcem fecit saith an Antient Philip Lantgrave of Hesse being a long time prisoner under Charls the fifth was demanded what upheld him all that time Respondit divinas Martyrum consolationes se sensisse hee answered that Christ came in to him with such cordials as kept up his spirits above beleef There bee divine comforts that are felt by the suffering Saints that others taste not of nor themselves neither at other times When the childe is sick out come the conserves and sweet-meats Never sits hee so much on his Mothers lap and in her bosome as then And his fruit was sweet to my taste i. e. His word and promises which I rolled as Sugar under my tongue and sucked therehence more sweetness than Sampson did from his hony-comb Psal 19.10 119.103 Jer. 15.16 Luther said hee would not live in paradise Tom. 4. Oper. Lat. if hee might without the Word at cum verbo etiam in inferno facile est vivere saith hee but with the Word hee could live even in Hell it self True it is that those that have not the Spouses palate finde no such sweetness in Christ or his promises Most men are so full gorged with the Devils dainties so surfeited with sins sweet-meats that they finde no more relish in the good Word of God Multi in terris manducant quod apud inferos digerunt Aug. than in the white of an Egge or in a dry chip These feed upon that now that they must without repentance digest in Hell there will bee bitterness in the end Whereas they that by sucking those full-strutting breasts of consolation the promises have tasted and seen how good the Lord Christ is as their souls are satisfied with fat things full of marrow with the very best of the best Isa 25.6 so hee shall make them to drink abundantly of the river of his pleasures Psal 36.9 hee shall take them into his Wine-â—eller and fill them with gladness Vers 4. Hee brought mee to the banquetting-house Heb. to the house of Wine where hee giveth mee that which is better than Apple-drink as vers 3. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ 2 Cor. 1.5 The lower that ebb the higher this tide as is to bee seen in the Martyrs who went as merrily to die as ever they did to dine sang in the flames and felt no more pain than if they had lain upon beds of Roses This their persecutors counted stupidity and vain-glory but they knew not the power of the Spirit and the force of Faith as Mr. Philpot told scoffing Morgan who coming to confer with him asked him How know you that you have the Spirit of God Mr. Philpot answered By the Faith of Christ which is in mee All by Faith quoth Morgan do yee so I ween it bee the spirit of the buttery which your fellows have had that have been burned before you who were drunk the night before they went to their death Act. and Mon. fol. 1653. and I ween went drunk unto it Whereunto Philpot replied It appears by your communication that you are better acquainted with the spirit of the buttery than of God Meethink you are liker a scoffer in a Play than a reasonable Doctor to instruct one Thou hast the spirit of illusion and sophistry which is not able to countervail the Spirit of truth Thou art but an Ass in the things of God c. God shall surely rain fire and brimstone upon such scorners of his Word and blasphemers of his people as thou art The like sensure was passed upon Nicholas Burton Martyr in Spain who because hee went chearfully to the stake and embraced death with all gladness and patience Ibid. 1866. his tormentours and enemies said that the Devil had his soul before hee came to the fire and therefore his sense of feeling was past These carnal creatures meddle not with the true Christians joy neither know they the privy armour of proof the joy of Faith that hee hath as an aes triplex about his heart making him insuperable and more than a Conquerour Rom. 8.35 True grace hath a fortifying comforting virtue which the world knows not of like as true gold comforts and strengthens the heart that Alchymy gold doth not And as a man that by good fare and plenty of the best Wines hath his bones filled with marrow and his veins with good blood and a fresh spring of spirits can endure to go with less cloathes than another because hee is well liâ—ed within So it is with a heart that by oft feasting with Christ in his Ordinances and by much reading and ruminating upon the Scriptures called here the Banquetting-house or Wine-celler as most are of opinion hath got a great deal of joy and peace such an one will go thorow troubles and make nothing of them yea though outward comforts utterly fail Hab. 3.17 Rom. 5.15 And his banner over mee was love As a Standard erected as a banner displayed so was the love of Christ shed abroad in her heart by the Holy Ghost who had also as a fruit of his love set up a Standard in her against strong temptations and corruptions Isa 59.19 and thereby assured her of his special presence like as where the colours are there is the Captain where the Standard there the King The wicked also have their banners of lust covetousness ambition malice under which they fight as the Dragon and his viperous brood Rev. 12.7 against Christ and his people but they may read their destiny Isa 8.9 10. Associate your selves O yee people stand to your arms repair to your colours c. yet yee shall bee broken in peeces gird your selves and yee shall bee broken in peeces c. Take counsel together and it shall come to nought c. for God is with us Immanuel is our General And how many do you reckon him for as Antigonus once said to his souldiers that feared their enemies numbers Surely if Christ bee for us and hee is never from us Matth. 28.20 but as Xerxes was wont to do hee pitcheth his tent and sets up his Standard in the midst of his people as once in the wilderness who can bee against us Rom. 8.31 And though many bee yet No weapon that is formed against the Church shall prosper how should it fith shee hath such a
Epicureans that if any were good amongst them it was meerly from the goodness of their nature for they taught and thought otherwise And as Peter Moulin said of many of the Priests of France that they were for their loyalty not beholding to the Maxims of Italy and yet Bellarmine hath the face to say De notis Eccles l. 4. c. 13 Sunt quidem in Ecclesia Catholica plurimi mali sed ex haeriticis nullus est bonus Among Papists there are many bad men but among Protestants not one good man is to bee found Vers 10. Hee made the pillars thereof i. e. The faithful Ministers called Pillars Gal. 2.9 and that Atlas-like bear up the pillars of it Psalm 75.3 Those that offer violence to such Sampson-like they lay hands upon the pillars to pluck the house upon their own heads Yea they attempt to pull Stars out of Christs hand Revelations 1. which they will finde a work not feisable Of silver For the purity of matter and clearness of sound for their beauty stability and incorruption Let Ministers hereby learn how they ought to behave themselves in the house of God which is the Church of the living God the pillar and ground of truth 1 Tim. 3.15 The bottom thereof of gold Understand it either of Gods Word which is compared to the finest gold or of that precious grace of Faith the root of all the rest whence it is laid by St. Peter as the bottom and basis the foundation and fountain of all the following graces 2 Epist 1.5 Add to your Faith virtue and to virtue knowledge c. they are all in Faith radically every grace is but Faith exercised Hence wee read of the joy of Faith the obedience of Faith the righteousness of Faith c. Shee is the Mother-grace the womb wherein all the graces are conceived Hence the bottom of Christs fruitful bed the pavement of his glorious Bride-chamber the Church is here said to bee of gold that is of Faith which is called gold Rev. 3.17 compared with 1 Pet. 1.7 that the tryal of your Faith or your well-tryed Faith for it seems to bee an Hebraism being much more precious than that of gold c. And here Bern. Melius est pallens aurum quam fulgens aurichalcum gold though paler is better than glittering copper Splendida peccata The Faith of Gods Elect is far more precious than the shining sins of the beautiful abominations of meer Moralists Suppose a simple man should get a stone and strike fire with it and thence conclude it a precious stone Why every flint or ordinary stone will do that So to think one hath this golden grace of Faith because hee can bee sober just chast liberal c. Why ordinary Heathens can do this True gold will comfort the fainting heart which Alchymy gold will not Think the same of Faith The covering of it of Purple I am of their mind that expound it of Christs blood wherewith as with a Canopy or a kinde of Heaven over head the Church is covered and cured Rev. 5.16 7.14 Rom. 6.3 4. Purple was a rich and dear commodity amongst them see Prov. 31.22 7.5 Mark 15.17 Luk. 16.19 The precious blood of Christ is worthily preferred before gold and silver 1 Pet. 1.18 19. The midst thereof being paved with love For Christ loved us and washed us with his blood Rev. 1.5 Hee also fills his faithful people with the sense of his love who therefore cannot but finde a great deal of pleasure in the waies of God because therein they let out their souls into God and taste of his unspeakable sweetness they cannot also but reciprocate and love his love So the bottom the top and the middle of this reposing place are answerable to those three Cardinal graces faith hope and love 1 Cor. 13. For the daughters of Jerusalem This Charret or Bridal-bed hee made for himself hee made it also for the daughters of Jerusalem for all his is theirs Union being the ground of Communion As wee must do all for Christ according to that Quicquid agas propter Deum agas and again Propter te Domine propter te choice and excellent Spirits are more taken up with what they shall do for God than what they shall receive from God so Christ doth all for us and seeks how to seal up his dearest love to us in all his actions and atchievements Christs death and bloodshed saith Mr. Bradford is the great Seal of England yea of all the world for the confirmation of all Patents and Perpetuities of the everlasting life whereunto hee hath called us This death of Christ therefore look on as the very pledge of Gods love toward thee c. See Gods hands are nailed they cannot strike thee Serm. of Repent 63 his feet also hee cannot run from thee His arms are wide open to embrace thee his head hangs down to kiss thee his very heart is open so that therein look nay even spy and thou shalt see nothing therein but love love love to thee Hide thee therefore lay thine head there with the Beloved Disciple joyn thee to Christs Charret as Philip did to the noble Eunuchs This is the cleft of the Rock wherein Elias stood This is for all aking heads a pillow of Down c. Vers 11. Go forth O yee Daughters of Zion i.e. All yee faithful souls which follow the Lord Christ the Lamb that stands upon Mount Zion Rev. 14.1 4. Yee shall not need to go far and yet far yee would go I dare say to see such a gallant sight as King Solomon in his Royalty the Queen of Sheba did behold hee is at hand Tell yee the Daughters of Zion behold thy King cometh c. Mat. 21.5 Go forth therefore forth of your selves forth from your friends means all as Abraham did and the holy Apostles Confessours and Martyrs and as the Church is bid to do Psal 45.10 forget also thine own people and thy Fathers house Good Nazianzen was glad that hee had something of value to wit his Athenian learning to part with for Christ Horreo quicquid de meo est ut meus sim saith Bernard Hee that will come to mee must go utterly out of himself saith our Saviour All Saint Pauls care was that hee might bee sound in Christ but lost in himself Epist ad Gabr. Vydym Ambula in timore contemptu tui ora Christum ut ipse tua omnia faciat tu nihil facias sed sis sabbatum Christi saith Luther walk in the fear and contempt of thy self and rest thy spirit in Christ this is to go forth to see King Solomon crowned yea this is to set the Crown upon Christs head Camd. Elisab Anno 1585. When Queen Elizabeth undertook the protection of the Netherlands against the Spaniard all Princes admired her fortitude and the King of Sweden said that shee had now taken the Diadem from her own Head and set
Churches hair here may bee meant the community of true Christians that being as the hair innumerable do adhere to Christ as to their head and have a promise that not one hair of that sacred head shall fall to the ground and that if any son of Belial shall offer to shear or shave them 2 Sam. 10. hee shall answer it as dearly as the Ammonites did the like abuse done to Davids Embassadours Vers 2. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep c. Handsome teeth set forth a woman very well and they are then held handsome when they are 1. Even and well matcht 2. Fair and white 3. Thick and full All this wee have here daintily set forth in an allegory And by teeth the Chaldee Paraphrast will have meant and I dissent not the Priests and Levites of the Law the Pastours and Preachers think I of the Church who as they must bee eyes to see so they must bee teeth in another regard viz. 1. To chew 2. To bite First they must champ and chew the childrens meat for them as good Nurses such as Paul was 1 Thes 2.7 and before him Isaiah chap. 28.9 Whom shall hee teach knowledge and whom shall hee make to understand Not the wise and prudent not conceited persons that make Divinity onely a matter of discourse or come to hear onely to exercise their Criticks and to sit as Judges on their Ministers gifts But such as are weaned from the Milk and drawn from the Breasts And how will hee do to deal with such and to divide the word aright to them Hee will praemansum cibum in os indere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 2.25 mollifie their harder meat for them that it hurt not the tender toothless gumms of these weanlings weaklings Precept saith hee shall bee upon Precept Precept upon Precept line upon line line upon line here a little and there a little They shall have it as they can take it neither will hee put that upon them that is not fit for them They shall have Milk and not strong meat or if they have it shall bee ready chewed for them Our Saviour spake as the people could hear and not as hee could have spoken Mark 4.33 If wee have spoken to you saith hee of earthly things that is of spiritual matters under earthly similitudes borrowed from wind water c. and yee beleeve not how shall yee beleeve John 3.12 if I tell you of heavenly things that is of more sublime matters and mysteries of eternal life Ministers must stoop to their hearers capacities and not bee up in their Altitudes or deliver their discourses in an high language in a Roman English c. For what is that but to beat the air to lose their labour and to bee as Barbarians to their hearers c Non oratorum filii sumus sed piscatorum nec verborum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed Spiritus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said that great Divine to Libanius the Rhetorician Wee are not Oratours but Preachers neither come wee with excellency of words but with evidence of the Spirit and of power and by manifestation of the Truth commending our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God 1 Cor. 2.4 2 Cor. 4.2 This is preaching the Art whereof plus operis habet quam ostentationis as Quintillian saith of the Art of Grammar is not a matter of shew but of service And to the ears of that which St. Peter calls the hidden-man of the heart the plain song alwaies makes the best musick But secondly As Ministers must masticate the childrens meat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cuttingly and make it fit for their eating so they are bound to bite that is to rebuke sharply those that are unsound in their Faith or enormous in their practice Tit. 1.13 to gore their very souls with smarting pain and to sting their consciences to the quick with the forked arrows of biting reproofs and unquestionable convictions Thine arrows art sharp in the hearts of the Kings enemies whereby the people fall under thee Psal 45.5 Ministers must not onely whet their teeth against the wicked as Boars do their tusks when provoked but set their teeth in the sides of those Boars that root up the Vineyard and those Foxes that destroy the Grapes Thus the antient Prophets prickt and peirced the hearts of their hearers so did the holy Apostles St. Peter for instance Act. 2. hee so handled the matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they were punctually prickt at heart Act. 2.37 they felt the nails wherewith they had crucified Christ sticking fast in their own spirits and driven home to the head by that Master of the Assembly Eccles 12.11 Penitency and pain are words of one derivation and are very near of kin Hardly will men bee made to repent till toucht to the quick till the Preacher do mordaci radere vero Horat. deal plainly and roundly with them stab them to the heart with the menaces of the Law and lay them for dead at Christs feet that hee may revive them as the Pellican doth her young ones with her blood Oâ—iand hist Eccles Cent. 5. l. 1. c. 6. It is said of Chrysostome that hee took the same liberty to cry down sin that men did to commit it Of Mr. Bradford that as hee did earnestly perswade to a godly life and sweetly preach Christ crucified so hee did sharply reprove sin and zealously impugn errours Of Mr. Perkins that â—ee came so close in his Applications that hee was able almost to make his hearers hearts fall down and their hairs to stand upright This was preaching indeed preaching in the life of it I know well that most men are sick of a Noli me tangere and are apt to hate him that reproveth in the gate As loth they are to bee searched as Rachel when shee sate upon the Idols to have their lusts mortified as David was to have Absalom executed Handle him gently for my sake c. Cannot Preachers meddle onely with toothless truths say they as Balak bade Balaam neither curse nor bless at all But why hath Christ given his Ministers teeth but to bite and bee bitter against sin and wickedness personal invectives indeed proceeding from private grudge hee allows not Spiritus Christi nec mendax noc mordax The Rule here is Parcere nominibus dicere de vitiis Of Erasmus it is said that hee was Mente dente potens sharp with discretion Every Minister should bee so and his Doctrine should distill as hony as the property whereof is to purge wounds but to bite Ulcers it causeth pain to exulcerate parts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alex. Aphrod Probl. though of it self sweet and medicinable That are even shorn The commendations of a set of teeth whereof before 1. Even they must bee and well matcht so should Ministers bee like-minded having the same love being of one accord and of one mind Phil. 2.2
unto her beloved and presuming upon his patience Heu rara hora parva mora Dern was in good hope to have had him at hand But patientia laesa fit furor Christ will not always bear with our evil manners but hide his face from us like as we have behaved our selves evil in our doings Micah 3.5 And whereas spiritual desertions are of three sorts 1 Cautional for preventing of sinne as Pauls seems to be 2 Probational for trial and exercise of grace as Jobs 3 Penal for chastisement of spiritual sloth and sluggishness as here in the Church this last is farre the heaviest My soul failed when hee spake Or because of his speech that sweet speech of his when hee so passionately wooed her ver 2. Then hee could have no audience nor admittance now if he would but offer himself hee might bee sure of both The word spoken doth not always presently take effect in the hearers but lies long as the seed under a clod till Christ the good husbandman come with some temptation as with his clotting-beetle and give it room to rise Then as the water casts up her dead after a time so do their memories cast up that which seemed buried therein by the help of the Holy Ghost their remembrancer John 14.26 John 2.22 The new birth of some the recovery of others out of their relapses is like the birth of the Elephant fourteen years after the seed is inserted into the womb Peter remembred Christs words and repented Mat. 26.75 If wee remember not what hath been preached unto us all is lost 1 Cor. 15.2 If we leak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and let slip actum est de nobis Heb. 2.1 If we keep the Word the Word will keep us Prov. 6.22 I sought him So soon as recovered out of my swoon I set to seek him The Church went not to bed again to sleep as before neither stays she longer within than to cast her veyl or her scarf over her head without any further dress abroad shee gets to seek him whom her soul loveth She sought him by serious and set meditation of the word and promises but after all that royl and travell shee took therein shee found him not This is the greatest grief that can befall a good heart in this present world it is to such little better than hell it self Thou hiddest thy face and I was troubled saith David Psal 30.8 Non frustra praedicant meptes hominum nitere liquido die coactanube flaccescere saith Symmachus Mens mindes are either clear or cloudy as the weather is but more truly good mens mindes are as Gods countenance is It is with the godly in desertion as with vapours drawn up by the Sun which when the extracting force of the Sun leaves them fall down again to the earth And as in an Eclipse of the Sun there is a drooping in the whole frame of nature so it is with the Saints when Christ withdraws himself Hell it self is said to bee a separation from his presence the pain of loss there is worse than the pain of sense the tears of hell are not sufficient to bewail the loss of heaven Bern. Laetemur igitur in Domino sed caveamus a recidivo I called him but hee gave mee no answer And it was but just for shee had dealt so by him ver 2. Christ loves to retaliate Such a proportion many times one may see between sins and punishments that you may say such a sin brought forth this affliction it is so like the father Howbeit his ear is not heavy that hee cannot hear but your iniquities have hid his face from you that hee will not hear Isa 59.1 2. And this the Saints take as well they may for a sore affliction Lam. 3.8 when to all other their miseries hee addeth this that hee will not come at them that hee casteth out their prayers that hee deals by them as the Lionness doth by her young ones which shee seems sometimes to leave till they have almost killed themselves with roaring This is to make them more carefull another time None look at the Sunne but when it is in the eclipse Neither prize we for most part Gods loving countenance till we have lost it In this case the course is to set up a loud cry after him as Micah did after his Gods Judg. 18.23 Or rather as the Church here doth after her beloved in many strong cries and bitter tears continuing instant in prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.12 The Greek word imports a metaphor from hunting dogges that give not over the game till they have got it For incouragement See the happy success the Church here had and further take that saying of Brentius Etiamsi fides tuae nec lucem hominibus nec calorem cordi tuo afferat tamen non abjicit Christus modo incrementum ores i. e. Although thy faith as smoaking flax yield neither light to others nor heat to thine own heart yet Christ will not cast thee off so thou pray for more and follow thy work close till thou have gotten it Vers 7. The Watch-men that went about the City c. See the Note on Chap. 3.3 The Ministers that walk the round that watch for mens souls Heb. 13.17 Isa 61.6 that know how to time a word Isa 51.4 these smote her with the tongue they buffeted her by just and sharp reproofs for her negligence they unveiled her for being abroad at that time of night which she needed not to have been but for her own slothfulness they dealt little better with her than as if shee had been some light and lewd woman and all this they might well do out of zeal to God and godly jealousie for her souls good Unless it were that Hypocrisie of jealousie exercised by the false Apostles over the Galatians Chap. 4.17 Not Pastours but Impostours not Over-seers Non Episcopi sed Aposcopi but By-seers potius grassatores quam custodes homonymâ—s tamen sic dicti out-throats rather than Keepers wicked men taking upon them to bee Watch-men Church-officers in name but Church-robbers in deed Such were those Isa 66.5 that hated and cast out the true worshippers under a pretence of Let the Lord bee glorified Such an one was Diotrephes that prating prelate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that villanously intreated Gods faithful people 3 John 9.10 And such is that Man of sinne that Antichrist of Rome who for so many hundred years together hath smitten with the fist of wickedness hath wounded and drawn blood from Christs dearest Spouse and despoiled her of her veyl that is laboured to dispriviledge her and deprive her of that purity and soundness of Doctrine that hee hath committed unto her as a means to hold her in the duty of all holy obedience and subjection unto him 1 Cor. 11.5 6 10. Of these false friends and deadly enemies the Church here heavily complains and might well have proceeded against them as
That wee may seek him with thee For hee is not like to seek long that seeks alone there being a notable tye to constancy in the Communion of Saints Surely as sincerity is the life of Religion so society is the life of sincerity The Philippians had no sooner received the Gospel but they were in fellowship to a day Phil. 1.5 Vers 2. My Beloved is gone down into his garden Now she can tell where Christ is and inform others who before was to seek of him and sought information from others Post tenebras lux is the Churches Motto Though I sit in darkness the Lord shall give mee light hee will with the temptation give the issue a way to get out of it as the Moon wades out of a cloud as the Seed gets up from under a clod And see how forward shee is to communicate her friends shall know all that shee can tell them There is no envy in Spiritual things because they may bee divided in solidum one may have as much as another and all alike Yea Gods people know that the manifestation of the Spirit is given them to profit withall 1 Cor. 12.7 and that it is not powring out but want of powring out that dries up the streams of grace as that of oyl 2 Kings 4.6 What is meant by Christs garden see chap. 4.17 with the Note Hee is said to go down to it in allusion to the situation of Jerusalem which was on an hill their gardens being below in the fruitfull valleys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex omni ad nihilum seipsum redegit Beza Christ came down to his Church he descended into the lower parts of the earth that is into his mothers womb Eph. 4.9 with Psal 139.15 yea hee emptied himself of all his excellencies and took upon him the form of a servant yea of an evil servant that was to bee beaten Yea more hee humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2.9 Oh humble Saviour whether wilt thou descend Facinus vincire civem Romanum Cicero It was much for the Son of God to bee bound more to bee beaten most of all to bee slain Quid dicam in crucem tollâ— c well might the Apostle say He humbled himself To the beds of spices i. e. To the particular Churches or to the companies of Believers these beds or rowes of renewed souls Christ as a good Gardiner treadeth out soweth planteth watereth fenceth filleth with sundry gifts and graces To feed in the Gardens and to gather Lillies Like as men go to their Gardens either to make merry as wee say or to gather fruits So Christ here either to eat his pleasant fruits Cant. 4.16 his peoples holy performances better to him than any Ambrosia and then to gather his Lillies to transplant them into heaven Pascitur Christus quando suorum virtutes videt saith one Lilia decerpit quando optimum quemque ex hac vita traducit Christ feedeth in the Gardens when hee beholdeth the vertues of his people hee gathereth Lillies when hee translateth good souls into his Kingdom above Verse 3. I am my Beloveds c. Or I am for my Beloved and hee is for me i. e. for mee onely Flammâ— redardescit quae modo nulla fuit Ovid. hee resteth in his love and I in mine wee will seek no further And here her faith reviveth who in her late temptation and desertion was in a mist and could not read her own graces See the Note on chap. 2.16 It reviveth I say and fetcheth out Christ that had hid himself as that brave woman did Mark 7.24 25. Vers 4. Thou art beautiful O my Love as Tirzah A most neat and elegant City where the Kings of Israel kept their Courts A place of pleasure it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the very name imports hence the Greeks translate it here Good pleasure like as the Italians call a City of theirs Placenza Of the Churches exquisite beauty much hath been said before let it ever bee remembred that all her beauty is but borrowed Ezek. 16.14 Uxor fulget radiis mariti as they say in the Civil Law Isaac when hee was to marry Rebecca sent her jewels aforehand that having them shee might bee more lovely in his eye So doth Christ the Spirit of faith and other graces besides the imputation of his own perfect righteousness that hee may delight in his Spouse And albeit shee had so discourteously dealt with him as chap. 5.3 and thereupon hee had stept aside for a while yet that shee might know that hee was still the same without shadow of change and that hee hated putting away Mal. 2.16 meeting her again hee doth marvelously commend her that is his own graces in her and all is as well as ever betwixt them Homo agnoscit Deus ignoscit it is but acknowledging the debt and Christ will soon cross the book and cancell the hand-writing Col. 2.14 Quem poenitet peccasse Jer. 3.22 pene est innocens Repent and the amends is made Return yee backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings Comely as Jerusalem That City of the great King great among the Nations and Princess among the Provinces Lam. 1.1 the glory of the whole earth urbium totius Orientis clarissima Plin. l. 5. c. 14. saith Pliny the most famous of all the Cities of the East Orbis totius lumen as another calls it yea an earthly paradise as Josephus soli coelique fertilitate omnes civitates superans a City compact together Psal 122.3 The Church is all this in Christs esteem and though the least yet not the least among the Princes of Juda as it is said of Bethlehem in a different respect Mic. 5.2 Mat. 2.6 Terrible as an army with banners i. e. Of invincible faith and Spiritual courage terrible also and full of majesty either to draw hearts or to daunt them as Nazianzen saith of Athanasius that hee was Magnes Adamas a Loadstone in his sweet gentle drawing nature and yet an Adamant in his resolute stout carriage against those that were evil and erroneous Exod. 15.14 15 16. Psal 48.5 6. How terrible were the Israelites encamped and bannered in the wilderness unto the Moabites Canaanites c And the like may bee said of the Hussites in Bohemia when all Germany were up in arms against them and worsted by them of the Britains under the conduct of Germanus D. Usher de Britan. Eccles primord 337. fighting against a mighty army of Pelagian Picts and Saxons in this Kingdome and prevailing onely by the three times pronouncing the word Hallelujah Of the Protestants in France at the siege of Mountalban where the people of God using daily humiliation immediately before their sallying forth sang a Psalm which when the enemy heard they would so quake and tremble crying They come Speâ— beâ—li sac 282. they come as though the wrath of God had been rushing out upon them
dies Ovid. We should have been as Sodom Those five Cities of the Plain are thrown forth for an Example Jude 7. Lot was no sooner taken out of Sodom but Sodom was taken out of the World and turned into a sea of salt Deut. 24.23 So Meroz Judg. 5.23 some City likely near the place where that battel was fought hath the very Name and memorial of it utterly extinct Ver. 10. Hear the Word of the Lord ye Princes of Sodom Having mentioned Sodom and Gomorrah vers 9. he maketh further use thereof probrosa hac appellatione auditores suos conveniens sharping up his Hearers in this sort whom he knew he should not wrong at all by so calling them see Ezek. 16.46 48. Non tam ovum ovo simile Like they were both Princes and people to those of Sodom and Gomorrah 1. In their ingratitude toward God 2. in their cruelty toward men Our Prophet therefore is very bold as Saint Paul also testifieth of him Rom. 10.20 fearing no colours although for his boldness he lost his life if at least that be true which Hierom out of the Rabbins telleth us Hier. â—â— Is 1. viz. that this Prophet Isay was sawn asunder 1. Because he said he had seen the Lord chap. 6.1 Secondly Because he called the great Ones of Judah Princes of Sodom c. giving them a Title agreeable to their wicked practises The like liberty of speech used Athanasius toward Constantius Agapetus toward Justinian Johannes Sarisburiensis toward the Pope c. Ver. 11. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices All which without faith and devotion are no better then meer hypocrisie and illusion It is saith Oecolampadius as if one should present his Prince with many Carts laden with dirt or as if good meat well-cooked should be brought to Table by a nasty sloven who hath been tumbling in a jakes They are your sacrifices and not mine and though many and costly yet I abhor such sacrificing Sodomites as you are neither shall you be a button the better for your pompous he catombe and holocausts Your devotions are placed more in the massy materiality then inward purity and therefore rejected Go ye and learn what that is I will have mercy so Faith Repentance new Obedience and not sacrifice Mat. 9.14 You stick in the bark rest in the work done your piety is potius in labris quam in fibris nata a meer outside shels Nut-kernels shews and Pageants not heart-workings c. Vna Dei est purum gratissima victima pectus I am full of the burnt offerings I am even cloyed and lothed with the sight of them And of the fat of fed beasts Though ye bring the very best of the best yet you do worse then lose your labour cast away your cost for therein ye commit sin Prov. 15.8 Displeasing service is double dishonour Deus homines istis ut vocant meritis praefidentes aversatur I delight not in the blood of Bullocks c. He that killeth an Ox unless withall he kill his corruptions is as if he slew a man He that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a dogs neck c. chap. 66.3 Those miscreants in Micah who offered largely for a License to live as they list are rejected with scorn Mic. 6 7. Ver. 12. When ye come to appear before me Heb. to be seen else all had been lost Hypocrisie is very ostentous it would be noted and noticed whereas true Devotion desireth not to be seen of any save Him who seeth in secret Who hath required this at your hand This is Gods Voyce to all superstitious Will-worshippers and carnal-Gospellers Friend how camest thou in hither Who sent for thee to my service Who hath forewarned this generation of Vipers to flye from the wrath to come What hast thou to do to take up my Name c. Psalm 50.16 to tread my Courts to pollute my Presence This is the gate of the Lord into which the Righteous only should enter Psalm 118.20 The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind Prov. 21.27 To tread my Courts Or trample on as chap. 62.3 to foul it Calcaâ—is atria teritis pavimentum A Lap. Sands his Relat of West Relig. Sect. 8. and wear it out with their feet as in some places Marble-crosses graven in Pavements of Popish Churches with indulgences annexed for every time they are kissed are even worn by the kisses of the devouter Sexe especially Diodaete noteth here that a phrase is pickt out on purpose to shew that these false appearances were rather acts of prophane contempt then of right Religion The Greeks gave such honour to their Temples that they durst not tread on the Threshold thereof but leap over it The Priests at their solemn services cryed aloud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gressus removete prophani The Jews at this day before they come to the Synagogue wash themselves and scrape their shoos with an Iron fastened in a wall at the entrance The Habassines a mongrel kind of Christians in Africk do neither walk nor talk nor sit nor spit nor laugh in the Church nor admit dogs into the Church-yards Sed quorsum haec omnia to what end is all this without an honest care to lift up pure hands and holy hearts in Gods presence See Jer. 7.3 4 9 10 11. Ver. 13. Bring no more vain oblations Vain because unacceptable ineffectual unsubstantial Epitheton argumentosum saith Piscator Lip-labour is lost-labour For God is not mocked with shadows of service his sharp nose easily discerneth and is offended with the stinking breath of the Hypocrites rotten Lungs though his words be never so scented and perfumed with shews of holiness Hence it is added Incense is an abomination unto me sc because it stinketh of the hand that offereth it Incense of it self was a sweet and precious Perfume compounded of the best Odours and Spices In the incense of faithful prayer also how many sweet spices are burnt together by the fire of Faith as Humility Hope Love c. all which come up for a memorial before God through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ Heb. 9.24 But it is otherwise with the wicked whose carnal heart is like some fen or bog and every prayer thence proceeding is as an evil vapour reaking and rising from that dunghill Never did those five Cities of the Plain send up such poisonous smels to Heaven which God being not able to abide sent down upon them a counter-poyson of fire and brimstone I cannot away with Heb. I cannot by an angry Aposiopesis I cannot that is I cannot behold bear with or forbear to punish as Oecolampadius maketh the supply to be It is iniquity Or an affliction a grievance as Joh. 5.6 Yea it is a Vexation as some render the next word viz. your solemn meeting Ver. 14. Your New Moons These were commanded to be kept to mind them of Gods gubernation of
their confidence was the fruit of prayer At the lifting up of thy self If God do but arise only his enemies shall be scattered and all that hate him shall flee before him Psal 68.1 See the Note there Ver. 4. And your spoiles shall be gathered The spoile of the Assyrians Camp now become yours as 1 Sam. 30.20 Like the gathering of Catterpillars Quae ad hominum concursum omnes repente disperguntur which are soon rid when men set themselves to destroy them Ver. 5. The Lord is exalted He hath made him a name gained abundance of honour For he dwelleth on high Whence he can poure down plagues at his pleasure on his proud enemies and fill Zion with Judgement and Righteousness Ver. 6. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times Thy times O Hezekiah but especially O Christ Or the stability of thy times and strong safeguard shall thy wisdom and knowledge be By his knowledge that is by faith in him shall my righteous servant Jesus Christ justifie many Chap. 53.11 but these are also sanctified by him the fear of the Lord is their treasure they hold faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack 1 Tim. 1.19 See the Note there The fear of the Lord is his Treasure The spirit of this holy fear rested upon Christ Paradin in symbol chap. 11.2 and good Hezekiah was eminent for it not for civil prudence only this was flos regis the fairest flower in all his garland this is solidissima regiae politiae basis as one saith the best policy and the way to wealth Ver. 7. Behold their valiant ones or their Heralds Messengers Heb. Hen Erelam Behold their Erel or their Ariel chap. 29.1 2. that is their Altar shall they i. e. the Assyrians cry without sc in mockery twitting the Jews with their Sacrifices as no way profitable to them Mr. Clarkes Eng. Martyrol So the profane Papists when they murthered the poore Protestants at Orleans sang in scorn Judge and revenge my cause O Lord Others Have mercy on us Lord. And when in the late persecution in Bohemia divers godly Nobles and Citizens were carried to prison in Prague the Papists insultingly cried after them Why do ye not now sing The Lord raigneth The Embassadours of peace thar went for peace having for their Symbol Pacem te poscimus omnes but could not effect it Weep bitterly so that they might be heard before they entered the City Vide quam vivide see here how lively things are set forth and what a lamentable report these Embassadours make of the state of the country and the present danger of losing all Ver. 8. The high-ways lye waste and by-waies are more frequented through fear of the enemy He hath broken the Covenant Irritum factum est pactum He took the money sent him but comes on nevertheless though he had sworn the contrary 2 King 18.14 17. It is said of the Turks at this day that they keep their leagues which serve indeed but as snares to intangle other Princes in no longer then standeth with their own profit Turk Hist 755. Their Maxime is There is no faith to be kept with dogs whereby they mean Christians as the Papists also say There is no faith to be kept with Hereticks whereby they mean Protestants But why kept not Vladislaus King of Hungary his Faith better with Amurath the great Turk or our Henry the third with his Barons by Papal dispensation Vah scelus vae perjuris He hath despised the Cities and will not take them for his Subjects he scorneth the motion He regardeth no man He vilipendeth and slighteth all Jewels generally Metaphora Prosâ—popoetica Ver. 9. The earth mourneth and langisheth Or the land luget languet thus they go on in their doleful relation Miserrima sunt omnia atque miseranda What sad work hath Antichrist made of late years in the Christian world what desolations in all parts Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down Sharon is like a wilderness East West North P. al. 80 13. and South of the Land are laid wast by the enemy and the avenger that boare out of the wood that bear out of the Forest Ver. 10. Now will I rise saith the Lord now Now now now Emphasin habet ingeminatio vocis Nunc This now thrice repeated importeth both the opportunity of time and Gods readiness to relieve Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses When things are at worst they 'le mend we say Now will I lift up my self who have hitherto been held an underling and inferiour to the enemy Ver. 11. Ye shall conceive chaff ye shall bring forth stubble Gravidi estis stramine parietis stipulam So did Pharaoh Antiochus Julian c. so doth Antichrist and his Champions notwithstanding his bloody alarmes to them such as was that sounded out in the year 1582. Vtere jure tuo Caesar sectamque Lutheri Ense rota ponto funibus igne neca And that other to the King of France not many years since exhorting him to kill up all the Protestants per Galliam stabulantes the very words of the Popes Bull that had any stable-room in France Your breath as fire shall devoure you shall blow up the fire that shall consume your chaff and stubble Your iniquity shall be your ruine Ezek. 18.38 Turdus sibi malum cacat Hic est gladius quem ipse fecisti this is a sword of thine own makeing said the Souldier to Marius when he ran him thorough with it Ver. 12. And the people shall be as the burning of lime As hard chalk-stones which when burnt to make lime crumble to crattle As thorns cut up Sear-thornes that crackle under a pot and are soon extinct The Hebrews tell us that the Assyrian Souldiers were burnt by the Angel with a secret fire that is with the pestilence as Berosus cited by Josephus witnesseth and our Prophet hinteth as much in many passages Lib. 10. cap. 1. Ver. 13. Hear ye that are afar of Longinqui propinqui Gods great works are to be noted and noticed by all The Egyptians heard of what God had done to the Assyrian Army and memorized it by a monument as Herodotus relateth Ver. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid At the invasion of the Assyrian Herod l. 2. Justin those that formerly fleared and jeared Gods Prophets and their menaces now fear and are crest faln ready to run into an anger-hole as we say It is as natural for guilt to breed fear and disquiet as for putrid matter to breed vermine Sinners especially those in Zion where they might be better and are therefore the worse a great deal have galled consciences and want faith to fortify theâ—r hearts against the fear of death or danger and hence those pitiful perplexities and convulsions of soul in the evil day what wonder if when they see all on fire they ring their Bells backwards if instead of mourning for their sins and
were prayed to take the office and to help to govern the State but here were none left for such a purpose Ver. 13. A Court for Owles Or Ostritches see on ver 11. Ver. 14. The wild beasts of the desart Heb. Ziim Jiim See Chap. 12.21 22. where these monstrous creatures are said to dance whence Basil noteth that men learned of devils to dance Conr. Clingius And another saith that a dance is a circle the centre whereof is the devil the circumference all his Angels And the Satyr shall cry to his fellow Heb. the rough or hairy one Chald. Daemones inter se colludent the devils shall play among themselves Satan is a rough harsh spirit so are his See Levit. 17.7 Ver. 15. There shall the great Owle make her nest Heb. Kippoz The Hebrews themselves agree not what creatures these are here mentioned so far are they faln from the knowledge of the Scripture Their tale about Lilits once Adams first wife but now a scriech-Owle or an evil spirit is not worthy the mentioning Ver. 16. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord Sciscitamini ex libro Domini the Holy Bible which Bishop Bonneri Chaplain called in scorn of the Martyrs Your little pretty Gods-book Another Bohemian blasphemer for Biblia called it Vitlia which in the Bohemian language signifieth Vomit But let us search the Scriptures and particularly this Prophecy commanded to be written in a book chap. 30.8 and compare the truth of these predictions with the events None shall want her mate Some write of the Asp he never wandreth alone without his companion and none of these birds of desolation want their mate so craft and cruelty do ever go together in the Churches enemies Ver. 17. And he hath cast the lot for them i. e. For those creatures of prey aforementioned From generation i. e. For many generations CHAP. XXXV Ver. 1. THe wildernesse and the solitary place shall be glad for them The Edomites and other enemyes have had their part It hath been sufficiently said Woe unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him And now the Prophet is bidden to say to the Righteous to tell him so from the Lord that it shall be well with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him Isa 3.10 11. The wildernesse and the desart that is the poor people of God that have been oppressed and slighted in this world shall be restored into a happy and flourishing estate the Church shall have her Halcyons under Hezekiah but especially under Christ She shall have it both in temporals and spirituals ver 2. Ver. 2. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it the excellency of Carmel c. Outward blessings shall be heaped upon Gods people even all that heart can wish or need require They shall see the glory of the Lord Spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus shall be conferred upon them also even every good gift and perfect giving from the Father of lights Qui icturatos intexit floribus hortos Quique jubet rutilis albescere lilia campis Ver. 3. Strengthen ye the weak hands q. d. Chear up my hearts be of good courage and God shall strengthen your hearts all ye that hope in the Lord. Comfort ye also one another with these words and build up each other on your most holy Faith and I will shew you how and in what termes you shall do it Ver. 4. Say to them that are of a fearful heart Inconsideratis to them that consider not the Promises but forget the consolations Heb. 12.5 so poring upon their sins that they see not their Saviour Behold your God will come with vengeance He will tread Satan under your feet shortly Rom. 16.20 Even your God with a recompence Diabolo par pari retribuet Christus saith Hierom Christ will be even with the devil He had got one of Christs Disciples Judas and to cry quittance Christ gat one of his Paul Cyprian was wont thus to comfort his hearers Veniet Antichristus sed superveniet Christus Antichrist will come but Christ will not be long behind him Ver. 5. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened This was fulfilled corporally in cures wrought by Christ Mat. 4.27 and 11.5 c. and spiritually in the preaching of the Gospel by the efficacy of his spirit Act. 26.18 and 16.14 Apollonius Tyanaeus could never do such miracles nor any other This sheweth that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah Ver. 6. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart As that impotent man did Act. 3.8 and those Loripedes Heb. 12.13 And the tongue of the dumb sing As good old Zacharies did Luk. 1. Not so much for his speech restored or his son received as for his Saviour now at hand and as did those that sang He hath done all things well he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak Mac. 7.37 yea to utter the great things of God and to speak good of his name Lo here saith Luther miracles to confirm the Gospel to be of God against those that deride his Ministers saying They cannot make so much as a lame horse sound For all they in whose hearts it taketh effect of blind are made to see of deaf to hear of lame to go and of dumb to speak For in the wildernesse shall waters break out This and that which followeth in the next verse Junius maketh to be the matter of their song viz. the grace of God abundantly communicated to his Church See Joh. 7.38 39. The Jews dream that when their Messiah cometh the red sea shall again be divided and the rock cloven much water gushing out c. Thus they work themselves into the fooles Paradise of a sublime dotage by misunderstanding this text Ver. 7. And the parched ground c. See on ver 6. Ver. 8. And an high-way shall be there i. e. In the Church of Christ and a way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kings high-way to Heaven arcta ampla latet lucet The way of holinesse Or the way of the Sanctuary But it shall be for those Those Beneficiaries of Christ mentioned ver 5 6. the ransomed of the Lord ver 10. The wayfaring men though fooles Simple Christians Shall not erre Misse their way or miscarry in it Ver. 9. No Lyon shall be there The Devil that roaring Lyon nor his actuaries tyrants and hereticks shall haunt these holy high-wayes God will preserve his people from all deveratory evils as Tertullian calleth them 2 Thes 3.3 that wicked one the devil shall not once touch them 1 John 5.18 so as to thrust his deadly sting into them Ver. 10. And the ransomed of the Lord Those happy ones Deut. 33.29 Shall return To the Lord from whom they had deeply revolted Tantum gaudebimus quantum amabimus Tantum amabimus quantum cognoscemus Aug. With songs As they were wont to do in their
they did not but were senselesly silent therefore He answereth by a discription of himself Calling the generations from the beginning Giving them their Being and having them at a Beck I the Lord the First and with the Last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De leg lib. 4. Virg. This was anciently believed concerning God as Plato testifieth A te Principium tibi desinet Ver. 5. The Iles saw it The Heathens were convinced by the former arguments yet not converted they were affraid and yet they came together to confirm themselves mutually in their abominable Idolatries Yea they drew near As it were to justify their Idolatries before the Lord. Such is the desperate obstinacy of obdurate sinners Pharaoh menaced Moses even during that palpable darkness The Philistines were afraid when they saw the Ark of the Covenant brought into the feild and yet they encourage one another to fight against Israel 1 Sam. 4.8 9. The Thief on the cross was under the arrest of death and yet railed Felix trembled and yet expected a bribe from St. Paul There is a cold sweat sitteth on all the limbs of Antichrist at this day and yet they repent not of their Idolatries nor murthers nor sorceries nor fornication nor thefts Rev. 9.20 21. but defend them all they can Ver. 6. They helped every one his neighbour Thus those desperate Idolaters did from the first Eusebius telleth us that in the seventh year of Abraham Ninus the founder of Niniveh set up an Image of his father Belus In Chron. which was worshipped after his death so did other Princes by his example not moved with Gods mercies shewed to Abraham who worshipped the true God alone setting up altars to him whereever he came Ver. 7. So the Carpenter encouraged the Gold-smith Because no small gain was brought hereby unto these crafts-men Acts 19.24 25. The Jew-doctours tell us that Terah the father of Abraham was an Image-maker at Vr of the Chaldees till God called him thence Hyperius saith that all these words are to be taken as pronounced with irrision and contempt that so the vanity of Idols may the more plainly be perceived sith they have no more worth then is given them by their worshippers Ver. 8. But thou Israel art my Servant And it was for thy sake and for thy settlement that I have dealt so long with these odious Idolaters whom else I would not once look toward nor commune with as he said 2 King 3.14 The seed of Abraham my Friend This stile was an higher honour to Abraham then if God had ingraven his name in the orbes of Heaven See the Note on Jam. 2.23 Hushai was Davids Friend and Augustus vouchsafed to give Virgil the name of Amicus This was a special favour but not like that in the Text. Ver. 9. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth sc in the loyns of Abraham thy Progenitour And called thee from the chief men thereof Called thee and culled thee out of the Grandees of the Chaldees the rich the potent and the honourable separate from the common sort setting thee above the Kings of the earth Psal 89.27 Ver. 10. Fear thou not for I am with thee Cordialibus ut ita dicam verbis Deus hoc eloquitur As long as a childe hath his Father by the hand he feareth none Quid timet hominem homo in sinu Dei positus what should he who lyeth in Gods own bosom fear any man alive Is not Gods presence security sufficient I will strengthen thee I will help thee c. I will I will I will Oh the Rhetorick of God! Oh the certainty of the Promises With the right-hand of my righteousnesse i. e. My righteous right-hand that shall right all thy wrongs Ver. 11. Behold all that were incensed against thee These and the following precious Promises the Jews misapply to the coming and Kingdom of their Messias the Papists to their Hierarchy Let every true servant of God take them home as spoken to himself Every promise droppeth Myrrhe and mercy Ver. 12. Even them that contended with thee Heb. the men of thy contention thy Contendents such as this Eristical age hath more then a good many By the Quakers wild fancies and rude practices we may see how cross-grained these people are in contradicting every thing Many mens spirits saith One now-adayes lie like that Haven Acts 27.12 toward the South-West and North-West two opposite points Ver. 13. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand As a tender father taketh his dear childe by the hand in dirty or dangerous wayes especially lifting him over So the Saints are said to sit down at Gods feet Deut. 33.3 or to stand betwixt his legs as little ones do Ver. 14. Fear not This is oft inculcated for better confirmation and comfort Our Saviour may seem to have hence his Fear not little flock It is no easy matter to chear up afflicted consciences Luther saith it is as hard a matter as to raise the dead Hence this frequent Fear not Ver. 15. I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth Traham aut tribulam in omnem partem probè dentatam Such as those Eastern Countries did use to mash in pieces their rougher and harder fodder for their cattle or rather to thresh out their harder grain with Chap. 28.25 28. or to torture men with 2 Sam. 12 31. Thou shalt thresh the mountains Thy lofty and mighty enemies This was fulfilled in the Macchabees But especially in the Apostles subduing the Nations to the obedience of the Faith See 2 Cor. 10.4 Ver. 16. Thou shalt fan them But find nothing in them of any solidity the heart of the wicked is little worth And thou shalt rejoyce in the Lord As the sole doer of all for it is he that subdueth the people under us and doth all our works for us Chap. 26.12 Ver. 17. When the poor When such as are poor in spirit sensible of their utter indigency shall blessedly hunger and thirst after righteousnesse shewing themselves restless and unsatisfiable without it And there is none None to be found in the doctrine of the Pharisees Philosophers or Fryars Ver. 18. I will open rivers in high places Rather work miracles as once in the Wildernesse Exod. 17.6 7. then my poor people shall want necessary support and succour Ver. 19. I will plant in the wildernesse the cedar c. That is saith Lyra I will give variety of graces to my people Per varia ligna varietatem gratiarum insinuat Oecol And the Box-tree That groweth of it self in wild places saith Diodate to signify that the Church will alwaies have worldly wild plants mixed and growing in it Box is alwayes green indeed and full of leaves but it s of an ill smell semen habet omnibus invisum animantibus and of a worse seed Sphinx Philos Ver. 20. That they may see and know and consider Heb. lay 1. Lay it upon their heart which
dreary tears from us Zach. 12.10 Ver. 9. And he made his grave with the wicked i. e. He should have been buried among malefactours had not rich Joseph begged his body Or his dead body was at the disposal of wicked ones and of rich men or Rulers the Jews and Pilat at his death And with the rich The same say some with wicked And indeed Magna cognatio ut rei siâ— nominis divitiis vitiis Rich men are put for wicked rich Jam. 5.1 And how hardly do rich men enter Heaven Hyperius thinketh that the two thieves crucified together with Christ were rich men put to death for Sedition and Christ was placed in the midst as their chieftain whence also that memorable title set over his head King of the Jews Because he had done no violence Or albeit he had done c. notwithstainding his innocency and integrity Nec te tua plurima Pentheu Labentem texit pietas Ver. 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him Singula verba hic expendenda sunt cum Emphasi saith One Here every word hath its weight Hyper. and it is very sure that the Apostles and Evangelists in describing the mysteries of our salvation have great respect as to this whole Chapter of Isaiah so especially to these three last verses And it must needs be that the Prophet when he wrot these things was indued with a very great Spirit because herein he so clearly setteth forth the Lord Christ in his twofold estate of Humiliation and of Exaltation that whereas other oracles of the Old Testament borrow light from the New this Chapter lendeth light to the New in several places He hath put him to grief Or he suffered him to be put to pain See Acts 2.23 4.28 God the Father had a main hand in his Sons sufferings and that out of his free mercy Joh. 3.16 for the good of many When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin Confer 2 Cor. 5.20 He made him sin for us that knew no sin Our sins were laid upon him as the sins of him that sacrificed were laid upon the beast which was thereby made the sinner as it were and the man righteous Christs Soul suffered also Matth. 26.38 it was undequaque tristis surrounded wich sorrows and heavy as heart could hold This Sacrifice of his was truly expiatory and satisfactory Confer Heb. 10.1 2. He shall see his seed Bring many sons to God Heb. 2.10 13. See on ver 8. an holy seed the Church of the New Testament to the end of the world Parit dum perit perit dum parit Phaeâ— nic aenigma Psal 72.17 filiabitur nomine ejus The name of Christ shall endure for ever it shall be begotten as one generation is begotten of another there shall be a succession of Christs name till time shall be no more And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand He came to send fire on the earth which whiles he lived upon earth was already kindled Luke 12.49 This some interpret of the Gospel which how wonderfully it spred and prospered the Evangelical and Ecclesiastical histories testify Ver. 11. He shall see of the travel of his soul Or because his soul laboureth he shall see his seed and be satisfied A Metaphor from a travelling woman confer Acts 2 24. Joh. 16.21 And shall be satisfied As a Parent is in his dear children or a rich man in the fight of his large farms and incomes Saturabitur salute fidelium quam esurivit If therefore we would gratify and satisfy Christ come by troops to the Ordinances By his knowledge i. e. By the lively light and impression of Faith as Joh. 17.3 Acts 25.23 26.18 Joh. 6.69 Faith comprehendeth in it self these three acts Knowledge in the understanding Assent of the will and Trust of the hearâ— so that justifiyng Faith is nothing else but a fiducial assent presupposing knowledge The Popish-Doctours settle the seat of Faith in the Will as in its adaequate subject that they mean while may doe what they will with the Heart and with the Understanding To which purpose they exclude all knowledge and as for confidence in the promises of Christ they cry it down to the utmost and everywhere expunge it by their Iudices expurgatorii for a bare assent though without wit or sense is sufficient say they and Bellarmine defendeth it that Faith may better be defined by ignorance then by knowledge Shall my righteous servant Jesus Christ the just one 1 Joh. 2.2 Jehovah our righteousnesse Jer 23.6 Justify many i. e. Discharge them from the guilt of all iniquity by his righteousnesse imputed unto them This maketh against Justification by works Cardinal Pighius was against it so before him was Contarenus another Cardinal And of Stephen Gardiner it is recorded that he died a Protestant in the point of mans Justification by the free mercies of God Fullers Church hist and merits of Christ For he shall bear their iniquities Bajulabit that by nailing them to his Crosse he may expiate them Ver. 12. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great Or I will give many to him Psal 2.8 Some sense it thus I will give him to conquer plunder and spoil the evil spirits as Colos 2.15 and this he shall have for a reward of his ignominious death and his intercession for some of his enemies whom he conquered by a new and noble kind of victory viz. by loving them and by praying for them And he was numbred with transgressours So he became a sinner though sinlesse 1. By Imputation 2. By Reputation And he bare the sins of many Not of all as a Lapide here would have it because all are many c. And made intercession For those that with wicked hands crucified him Luke 23.34 so for others still Heb. 7.25 CHAP. LIV. Ver. 1. SIng O barren thou that didst not bear O Church Christian O Jerusalem that art above the mother of us all the purchase of Christs passion chap. 53. to whom thou hast been a bloody spouse Acts 20.28 an Acheldama or field of blood 1 Pet. 1.18 19. he hath paid dear for thy fruitfulnesse As the blood of beasts applied to the roots of trees maketh them sprout and bear more fruit so doth the blood of Christ sprinckled on the roots of mens hearts make them more fruitful Christians as it did the Gentiles whose hearts were purified by Faith Acts 15.9 See Gal. 4.27 The corn of wheat that fell into the ground and died there abode not alone but brought forth much fruit Joh. 12.44 For more are the children of the desolate The Christian Church made up of Jews and Gentiles shall have a more numerous and glorious off-spring then ever the Synagogue had Sarah shall have more issue then Hagar Hannah then Peninnah Ver. 2. Enlarge the place of thy tent Thus he speaketh after the custom of those Countries wherein was frequent use of tents neither is it
life of God The Egyptians once sware by the life of Pharaoh as the proud Spaniards now do by the life of their King But to speak properly none liveth but the Lord and none should be sworn by but he alone an oath being a proof of the Divine Power which one worshippeth The Pythagoreans used to swear by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quaternity which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fountain of eternal being and this doubtless was the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jehovah Tremel In truth in judgement and in righteousnesse Vere ritè juste 1. In truth Rom. 9.1 that is 1. To that which is true least we fall into perjury Lev. 19.12 And 2. Truly agreeable both to the intentions of our mind not deceitfully Psal 24.2 and agreeable also to the intentions of him that ministreth the oath and not with mental reservations as Romish Priests oft swear The Romans used that most considerate woâ—d Arbitror when the Jurors said those things which they knew most certainly Suidas In judgement Or considerately duely weighing the conditions and circumstances not rashly and unadvisedly Levit. 5.4 1 Sam. 14.39 as those that swear in heat and choler swear when they should fear Deut. 10.20 and 28.58 The Graecians when they would swear by their Jupiter out of the mere dread and reverence of his name forbore to mention him And the Egyptians bore such respect to Mercurius Trismegistus that they held it not lawful to pronounce his name lightly and rashly This is check to many swearing Pseudo-Christians Such also as swear in jest will without repentance go to hell in earnest The ancient form of taking and imposing an oath was Give glory to God Josh 7.19 Joh. 9.24 And in righteousnesse 1. Promising by oath lawful and possible things only not making an oath a bond of iniquity 1 Sam. 25.21 32. and 28.10 2. Careful to perform what we have sworn though to our own hindrance Psal 15.4 And the Nations shall blesse themselves in him Or shall be blessed in him that is in that God to whom thou returnest and by whom thou thus swearest They shall turn to God by thine example and hold themselves happy in such a good turn Ver. 3. Break up your fallow-ground Novellate vobis novale Tertullian rendreth it Renovate vobis novamen novum put off the old man and put on the new See Hos 10.11 with the Notes By the practise of Repentance runcate exstirpate root up and rid your hearts and lives of all vile lusts and vicious practises The breaking up of sinful hearts may prevent the breaking down of a sinful Nation Sow not among thornes i. e. Cares and lusts of life fitly called thornes because 1. They prick and gore the soul 2. Harbour the old Serpent 3. Choke the Word there 's no looking for a harvest in a hedge Stock them and stub them up therefore 1 Pet. 2.1 Jam. 1.21 do not plow here and make a bawk there c. Ver. 4. Circumcise your selves to the Lord There is a twofold circumcision Corporis Cordis Outward and Inward that without this availeth nothing Gal. 6.15 See the inward described Colos 2.11 It is the putting off the old Adam with his actions It is purgatio animae abjectio vitiorum saith Origen the clensing of the soul and the casting away of sin that filthy foreskin that superfluity of naughtinesse It is a wonderful work of the holy Spirit wrought by the Word upon the Saints at their first conversion whereby corruption of nature is wounded beloved sins cast away with sorrow and the sinner received into an everlasting communion with God and his Saints Those that are not thus circumcised are not Israelites but Ishmaelites whereas Jether though by nature an Ishmaelite 1 Chron. 2.17 yet being thus inwardly circumcised he was for his Faith and Religion called and counted an Israelite 2 Sam. 17.25 See Philip. 3.3 4 5. And take away the fore-skin of your heart Not of the flesh only see 1 Pet. 3.21 as the carnal Israelite who rests in the work done glorious in outward priviledges neglects the practice of religion and power of godlinesse pursueth him that is born after the spirit the Israelite indeed c. and is therefore dispriviledged hated and defied by God as Goliah that uncircumcised Philistin was by David dead in sins and the uncircumcision of the flesh Colos 2.13 subject to utter excision Gen. 17.14 as having no portion in Christ nor in Canaan Take away therefore the fore-skin of the heart stick not in the bark pare not off the fore-skin of the flesh only off with the whole body of sin Col. 2.11 begin at Adams sin bewail that then set upon the beloved sin out with that eye off with that hand cast away all your transgressions with as great indignation as angry Zipporah did her childs fore-skin Take unto you for this end the sword of the Spirit the word sharper then those stones that she made use of Exod. 4.24 consider the threats these will work faith and that will work fear apply the Promises Deut. 30.6 Ezek. 36.26 28. doubt not of Gods Power but pray him to thrust his holy hand into your bosoms and to fetch off the filthy fore-skin that is there Loe this is the way walk in it And burn that none can quench it When once it hath caught your thorns ver 3. Ver. 5. Declare ye in Judah As if the Prophet should say I do but lose my labour in calling upon you to mortify your corruptions and to cast away all your transgressions Uncircumcised ye are in heart and ears and so will be Now therefore stand upon your guard against the approaching enemy and defend your selves if at least you are able from the evil that is coming upon you Mott up your selves against Gods fire ver 4. Ver. 6. Set up the standard towards Zion All this seemeth to be Ironically spoken as ver 5. For I will bring evil from the North i. e. From Babylon Ab aquilone nihil boni There is also another Babylon spoken of in the Revelation which to the true Church hath of long time been lerna malorum Roma radiu omnium malolorum and so the poor persecuted Protestants in Poland feel at this day Ver. 7. The Lion is come up from his thicket i. e. Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon where he lyeth safe ficut leo in vepreto and will shorly shew himself for a mischief to many people who shall feel his force and fiercenesse Ver. 8. For this gird you with sack-cloth Repent if at least it be not too late as the next words hint that now it was For the fierce wrath of the Lord is not turned back from us Or because the fierce wrath of the Lord will not turn from us it will have its full forth See Zeph. 2.2 with the Notes Ver. 9. The heart of the King shall perish His courage shall be quailed and he shall be strangely crest-faln This was
was quite gone from the City then followed the fatal calamity in the ruine thereof But that he went away by degrees and not soon and at once was an argument of his very great love and long-suffering He left them step by step as it were and plaid Loth to depart but that there was no remedy Tyed he is not to any place as these fond Jews thought he was to their visible Temple which now he is about therefore to abandon and to make their very Sanctuary a slaughter-house Ver. 4. And the Lord That great Induperator Goe through the midst Discriminate make a difference take out the precious from the vile God will sever his Saints from others in common calamities and deliver them if not from the common destruction yet from the common distraction And set a mark upon the foreheads Vulg. Et signa Thau Whatever this mark was it was signum salutare The letter Tau some think it was as part of the word Tichieh i. e. Thou shalt live according to that The just shall live by his faith or as part of the word Torah i. e. The Law to shew that these had the Law of God written in their hearts and this made them mourn to see it so little set by Howsoever it is not the sign of the crosse as Papists would have it but rather the blood of the crosse wherewith when believers are sprinkled from an evil conscience as the houses of the Israelites in Goshen were with the blood of the Paschal-lamb they are sure of safety here and salvation hereafter The Election of God is sure and hath this seal The Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2.19 and it shall appear by them Psal 91. Tau is the basis of the Hebrew Alphabet saith One and marking by Christ is the basis of all true comfort and sound profession Tau endeth and closeth up the Alphabet saith another so he who persevereth to the end shall be saved The mark here mentioned was not corporal but spiritual even the Merit and Spirit of Christ the Value and Virtue of his death and sufferings Of the men that sigh and cry That sigh deeply and cry out bitterly for their own and other mens sinnes and miseries and this out of Piety and Pitty These are not many yet some such are found in all ages Rev. 11.3 Inter vepres rosa nascitur inter feras nonnullae mitescunt Ammian Le us mourn in time of sinning so shall we be marked in times of punishing Ver. 5. Goe ye ofter him Goe not till he hath marked the Mourners so chary and choise is God of his jewels Mercy is his first-born saith One and visites the Saints ere Judgements break out Isa 26.20 21. Ver. 6. Slay utterly old and young A dreadful commission see it fully executed 2 Chron. 36.17 all sorts sexes and sizes of people were corrupted Immedicabile vulnus Ense recidendum and sith there was no hope of curing there must be cutting But come not near any upon whom is the mark These were the precious sons of Zion the excellent ones of the earth as whatsoever is sealed is excellent in its kind Isa 28.25 hordeum signatum these are the darlings the favourites handle them gently therefore for my sake touch not mine anointed come not near any such to fright them but keep your distance And begin at my Sanctuary From whence went forth prophanesse into the whole land Jer. 23.15 These Sanctuary-men were an ill generation at them therefore begins the Judgement God will be sanctified in all that draw near unto him Nadab and Abihu found the flames of jealousy hottest about the Altar Vzza and the Bethshemites felt that justice as well as mercy is most active about the Ark. Murtherers must be drawn from the Altar to the slaughter Exod. 21.14 Holy places were wont to be refuges not so here but the contrary Then they began at the Ancient men At those seventy Seniours chap. 8.11 whose foul offences had flown far upon the two wings of evil example and scandal Ver. 7. Defile the house Once hallowed by my self but now abhorred and rejected as a stews or sty of filthiness Fill the courts That where they have sinned there they may suffer as did Ahab 1 King 22.38 2 King 9.26 Ver. 8. And I was left And as I was apt to think alone Rom. 11.3 I fell upon my face and cryed This is the guise of the gracious in evil times as may be seen in Moses Jeremy Paul Athanasius Ambrose c. Ah Lord God Adonai Jehovi not Jehova as elsewhere usually so the Saints have sometimes prayed Polan tanquam singultientes in patheticis precibus or rather sighed out their most earnest suits to God as Gen. 15.28 Deut. 3.24 and 9.26 Lavat Wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel Brevis quidem est haec querimonia Prophetae at multa complectitur This is a brief but a complexive complaint and hath much in it Nimis valde Ver. 9. The iniquity of Israel is exceeding great Still there is a cause to be sure and Gods judgements are sometimes secret ever just And as swift rivers when they once fall into lakes or seas are at rest so are our restlesse minds when once they fall into the depth of the Divine Justice duely considered Declinatione detorsione judicii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the City full of perversenesse Or wresting of judgement Mutteh id est mishpat din Mitteh saith the Hebrew Scholiast that is judgement turned from the biasse as it were when the ballance of Justice is tilted o' t 'one side as Pauls word importeth 1 Tim. 5.21 For they say The Lord hath forsaken the earth See on chap. 8.12 Hic est fons omnium scelerum saith à Lapide hinc ruunt homines in scelerum abyssum saith Theodoret When men are once turned Atheists what will they not dare to do what should hinder them from laying the reines in the neck and running riot in wickednesse Ver. 10. And as for me also Quapropter etiam ego wherefore also I and there 's a stop by an elegant Aposioposis Mine eye shall not spare Chap. 5.11 7.4 8.18 See a just Commentary upon these words Jer. 9.3 4 5. 17. Ver. 11. And behold the man reported the matter The Vulgar hath it Respondit verbum as if he had been asked before whether he had done as was bidden I have done as thou hast commanded me So did David Psal 119.112 Act. 13.22 and the son of David Joh. 17.4 14.51 and Paul witnesse his famous vox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. Let every of us so carry the matter toward God that at death we may say with that servant Luk. 14.22 Lord it is done as thou hast commanded CHAP. X. Ver. 1. THen I looked and behold in the firmament Heb. In that expanse or firmament mentioned chap. 1.22 That was above the head of the Cherubims Called before
qui modò vivus erat We wonder now and then at the suddain death of a man In war many thousands exhale their breath without so much as Lord have mercy on us Death heweth its way through a wood of men in a minute of time c. Ver. 21. The strong among the mighty Who might have seen many fair summers had they not been cut off by Pharaoh's sword Shall speak to him out of the midst of hell What they say to him see Isa 14.10 where we have the like Prosopopaeja Poetica Ver. 22. Ashur is there To wit in the belly of Hell among the uncircumcised as Lazarus and other Saints are in the bosom of Abraham the place of blisse Slain they were with the sword but that was but a beginning of their sorrows a trap-door to eternal torment Virgil by a like figure brings in Aeneas going down to hell and there seeing Agamemnon Dido the Titans Cyclopes and other Tyrants Ver. 23. Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit In the bottom of the burning Lake which from the high top of a Kingdom is a foul fall Their being there buried may import that they shall never come out Which caused terror As breathing nothing but blood and slaughter raising a tempest wherever they came so that they became terrores terrae as dreadful as devils Ver. 24. There is Elam The Persians who in the reign of Cyaxares had been subdued by the Scythians and slain in great number Jer. 49.34 c. Jun. Into the nether parts of the earth Into hell as that rich glutton Luke 16.23 where our Saviour seemeth to allude to this place Yet have they born their shame Carried the matter of it to hell with them where is perpetual shame and confusion beside the vexing snuff they have left behind them upon earth Ver. 25. They have set her a bed i. e. The devils have set the Persian multitude a bed but an uneasy one such as they set for that rich wretch Luke 12.19 20. who thought to take his ease but was not suffered With all her multitude The grave is the Congregation-house of all living Job 30.23 Hell is of many dead that dye in their sins He is put in the middest In the hottest fire of hell Ver. 26. There is Meshâ—c and Tubal i. e. Say some the Cappadocians and Spaniards Others the Scythians and Sarmatians And all her multitude See ver 25. Ver. 27. Which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war They dyed not gloriously as Conquerours nor were buried triumphantly with their arms under their heads as valiant warriours were wont to be sed ingloria vita recessit but they dyed like dogs and were basely buried and yet that was not the worst of it neither But their iniquities shall be upon their bones They shall rue for their cruelty and bloodshed These shall be as a murthering-weapon in their bones Psal 42.10 throughout all eternity Ver. 28. Yea thou shalt be broken Thou O Pharaoh shalt have a deeper degree of torment in hell Potentes potentèr torquebuntur Ver. 29. They shall lye with the uncircumcised Though they were circumcised as now the Turks are yet that shall not profit them Faciunt vespae favos Simia quam similis turpissima bestia nobis Ver. 30. There be the Princes of the North i. e. saith Junius the Syrians Tyrians and others And all the Zidonianâ— All the Hunters saith the Vulgar taking the word appellatively Which are gone down The same again ad majus Pathos Ver. 31. Pharaoh shall see them This is the Epilogue or perclose of this doleful ditty And shall be comforted This was a miserable comfort the like whereto is that of some prophane persons among us who when threatened for their foul practises use to reply If we do go to hell yet we shall have company Ver. 32. For I have caused my terror By Pharaoh's exemplary punishment This will make good men tremble at my Judgements and bad men beware how they come under my wrath CHAP. XXXIII Ver. 1. AGain the Word of the Lord came unto me saying A new commission to preach again to his Country-men which he had not done since chap. 24.27 See the Note there Ver. 2. Speak to the children of thy people I say of thy people for I can scarce find in my heart to own them they be so â—ad When I bring the sword upon a Land The sword is of Gods sending chap. 14.17 and whencesoever it cometh it is bathed in heaven Isa 34.5 Think the same of any other publike calamity Amos 3.6 and therefore frame to a patient and peaceable behaviour under it Among Philosophers the most noted sect for patience was that of the Stoikes who ascribed all to Fate Ver. 3. He blow the trumpet Hence the Ancients infer Clem. Bern. that a Bishop must preach and that Praelati officium est sollicitudo non celsitudo He taketh upon him the office of a constant Preacher saith Gregory that undertaketh to be a Minister Ver. 4. His blood shall be upon his own The blame shall rest wholly upon himself Not to be warned is a just both presage and desert of destruction Ver. 5. But he that taketh warning Praevision is the best means of prevention Ver. 6. He is taken away in his iniquity This a dismal kind of death far worse then that of dying in prison or of dying in a ditch At the watch-man's hand By whose treachery or indiligence at least he miscarried Ver. 7 8 9. See Notes on chap. 3.17 18 19. Ver. 10. Thus ye speak But not well whilst ye have hard thoughts of God Refricat verba desperantium Omnis restitutionis species spes à Deo nobis praecisa est Heb. 2.1 and heavy thoughts of your selves as if your sins were unpardonable and that ye were already ruined beyond relief whereas true Repentance is a ready remedy a plank after shipwrak that would set you safe and render you right again This they had been told before chap. 18. but to little purpose the word was not mingled with faith in their hearts and did therefore run through them as water runs through a riven vessel And we pine away in them Ita punimur ut perâ—amus This the Prophet had threatened chap. 24.23 and they still stomackfully object it to him it lay as hard-meat and they raise a cavil upon it whereto the Lord answereth Ver. 11. As I live saith the Lord God c. This is one of those precious places those melliflous hony-combes which we should go on sucking towards heaven as Sampson once did toward his parents Judg 14.9 Here if anywhere we may find strong consolation God when he swears desires certainly to be credited saith Tertullian O happy we for whose sakes God vouchsafeth to swear Lib. de Poenitent cap. 4. and O thrice-wretched we if we believe not God no though he swear to us Oh saith Theodoret here who can ever sufficiently admire
saith that in the faculty of Physick there is nothing small 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De part anim lib. 1. cap. 5. nothing contemptible Aristotle saith in all nature nothing is so mean vile and abject that deserveth not to be admired The Rabbines have a saying that there is a mountain of sense hangeth upon every Apex of the Word of God c. And brought me thither sc To Jerusalem in vision that valley of Vision In the beginning of this book the spirit carried him into the plain of Shinar there to see a vision purporting the destruction of the material Temple Here toward the close of it he is by the same hand carryed to Jerusalem to see a mystical Temple set up in the stead thereof far more stately The sufferings of this life are in no comparison worthy of the glory that shall be revealed Rom. 8.18 Ver. 2. Brought he me i. e. The Spirit brought me who is called Gods hand ver 1. quia à Patre Filioque quasi manus dimanat so he is called the finger of God Exod. 8.19 that is his power And set me upon a very high mountain Moriah where had stood the Temple which overlooked the City and had been a kind of heaven upon earth wherein the holy Priests and Israelites were as stars By which was the frame of a City So the Temple seemed to him for its many courts walls towers gates c. So doth the Seraglio at this day Ver. 3. And behold there was a man Christ the Soveraign Architect of his Church as Rev. 11.1 This might well be brought in with an Ecce He appeared after another manner in that first dreadful vision chap. 1. Whose appearance was like the appearance of brasse Bright and durable importing Christs purity and eternity With a line of flax in his hand Christs measuring-line is the holy Scripture and the preaching of the Word so is also his measuring rod here said to be of reed but Rev. 11. of gold Both these are in Christs hand to shew that the power and efficacy of the Word read or preached is from him alone See 1 Cor. 3 9 10. 18. 2 Cor. 10.13 17. Ver. 4. Son of man A most kind compellation holding forth Christs Philanthropy or love to mankind He calleth us sons of men who for our sakes became the Son of Man that we might become the sons of God It is observed that Ezekiel with the Seventy is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the son of man but Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the son of Adam he was the next and only other common-person Behold with thine eyes and hear with thine eares and set thine heart c. We should give all possible diligence and heed to a discourse of the new Jerusalem that City of pearle setting a work both our outward and inward senses and those well exercised to discern both good and evil Heb. 5. ult Declare all that thou seest unto the house of Israel For therefore hast thou seen it The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal 1 Cor. 12.7 And as any man hath received the gift so let him minister the same to others 1 Pet. 4.10 What use is there of candle under a bushel Ver. 5. And behold a wall on the outside of the house Betokening Gods Almighty Protection of his Church and chosen Esa 26.1 Zach. 2.9 Job 1. Psal 125.1 2. Psal 46.1 c. Ver. 6. Then came he unto the gate Henceforth we shall read of gates greeces posts porches courts chambers windows c. after the manner of Solomons Temple now burnt to ashes Concerning all which various and very different are the opinions of Interpreters We shall see hereafter the whole building in heaven meanwhile for many things here mentioned we must content our selves with a learned ignorance and not call it descriptionem insulsam Sanctius Argum in hoc cap. as that Popish Commenter blasphemed or think that the holy Pen-man spake he knew not what This was basely to speak evil of the things that he knew not How much better those Rabbines who meeting with many things here inextricable and inexplicable say Elias cum venerit solvet omnia Ver. 7 And every little chamber Or Porters-lodge Ver. 8. He measured also the porch This porch which had neither doores nor roof that we read of was symbolum caeli De bell Jud. l. 6. c. 6. caelum enim undique conspicuum lateque patens significabat saith Josephus it represented heaven Ver. 9. And the porch of the gate was inward Or this was the porch of the inner gate Ver. 10. And the little chambers Here lay the door-keepers whose office was to keep out the unclean 2 Chron. 23.19 Oh for such officers amongst us Ver. 11. And the length That is the height of the gate Ver. 12. The space also before the little chambers Which space served either for seats walks or eaves rather at either end Ver. 13. Door against door The one facing the other in a direct line Ver. 14. Even unto the post i. e. The height was the same everywhere See these things best set forth by pictures at the end of Castalio's and Lavaters Annotations on the Text. Ver. 16. Narrow windows i. e. Narrowed the better to let in light and so shadowing out that spiritual illumination and joy wrought in the hearts of the children of light See Esa 42.7 49.6 60.19 20. Mic. 7.8 Luk. 2.32 Joh. 3.19 8.24 9.5 12.35 36 46. Were palm-trees As for ornament so in token of Victory gotten by the Saints who do over-overcome Rom. 8.31 37. 1 Cor. 15.54 55. Ver. 17. Then brought he me into the outward court In this Temple were more Courts and more Chambers then ever were in Solomons Heaven is large and full of mansions Joh. 14. And a pavement made More costly and stately then that of Ahashuerosh Esth 1.6 Gods people are said to be living stones 1 Pet. 2. more precious then Sapphires Esa 54. firm as a pavement by faith and low by humility submitting to their teachers Heb. 13.17 and obeying from the heart the form of doctrine delivered unto them Rom. 6.17 Ver. 18. Was the lower pavement See on ver 17. Ver. 19. An hundred cubits Square Ver. 21. Of the first gate i. e. Of the east gate first measured Ver. 22. And their windows See ver 16. And they went up unto it by seâ—â— steps Whereby was noted the Saints progress in knowledge and holinesse Luk. 17.5 Rom. 1.17 Rev. 22.11 still climing up toward the heavenly Temple Psal 84.7 Ver. 31. And palm-trees See on ver 16. Eight steps See on ver 22. Ver. 35. And measured it according to these measures Vilalpandus here noteth that whatsoever is measured in one gate the same is common to all the rest Ver. 38. Where they washed the burnt-offering All must be pure and clean in Gods Service Pura Deus mens est c. This washing of
who so falleth not down and worshippeth c. Fire and sword are Idolaters best arguments But Conscience is the fountain and spring of duty and if that be not directed and awed by the Word of God in vain are Acts of Parliament and Proclamations though backed with menaces as if the spring of a clock be down in vain are all the wheels kept clean and put in order Ver. 7. All the people nations and languages fell down They that come of the yielding Willow and not of the sturdy Oak will yield with the time and ever be of the Kings religion In Queen Maries dayes here and so in the Palatinate lately scarce one in five hundred stood out but fell to Popery as fast as leaves fall in Autumn See on ver 5. Ver. 8. Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews All the Jews are accused because some refused to worship So still all the generation of the righteous must be charged with the pretended miscarriages of some few amongst them The world we see is no changeling antiquum obtinet The Jews indeed ever since the Captivity have abhorred idolatry and the Papists worshipping of images for which both Jews and Turks call them idolatrous Christians is a main scandal to them Spec. Eur. and a let to their conversion Ver. 9. They spake and said O King live for ever Thus they insinuate themselves by flattery so Act. 24.2 3. Ver. 10. Thou O King hast made a decree Kings decrees are much urged by such as are resolved to be of King Harries religion whether he stand for the old Mumpsimus or the new Sumpsimus Ver. 11. And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth that he should be cast c. This with a graceless man is a swaying argument he will rather turn then burn as he came not frying into the world as one said in Queen Maries dayes so he cannot go frying out of it Aug. de â—iv D. lib. 18. c. 41. Epicurus in word confessed a God but indeed denyed him because Anaxagoras was put to death for denying God at Athens where Epicurus flourished Lib. 15. Ver. 12. There are certain Jews Everywhere spoken against as were afterwards Christians odio humani generis saith Tacitus hated for their religion Whom thou least set over the affaires This was it that irked these spiteful accusers Wrath is cruel and anger is outragious but who is able to stand before envy Prov. 27.4 Shadrach Meshac and Abednego Whom though thou hast highly preferred and by calling them by the names of thy gods engaged them to thy religion yet will they not yeild to it but be singular and refractory These men O King have not regarded thee Chald. have set no regard upon thee This was ever unicum crimen eorum qui crimine vacabant Ver. 13. Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury His blood boyling at his heart as brimstone doth at the match for preventing whereof nature hath placed the heart near to the lungs ut cum irâ accenditur Pulmonis humore temperetur for an allay to the heat of it lest perturbations should boyle it into brine Commanded to bring Shadrach Who it seems were present at first with an holy boldness confronting their idolatries in the very teeth of the King and Nobles Daniel is excused by his absence and ignorance But perhaps Nebuchadnezzar might shew him the like favour as our Henry the eight did Cranmer who disputing zealously against the six Articles Act. Mon. 1037. was willed by the King to depart out of the Parliament-house into the Council-chamber for a time till the Act should passe and be granted which he notwithstanding with humble protestation refused to do and so its likely would Daniel who must therefore be excused as before Ver. 14. Is it true O Shadrach Meshac c. q. d. I can very hardly believe it Certè tu non occidisti patrem sure thou didst not kill thy father said Augustus Cesar once to a parricide whom he had in examination And Suetonius saith that it was usual with him to examine malefactors in that sort as if he could not believe any such thing of them Tremel Buxtoâ—f Some render the text Num de industria aut certo consilio Do ye this on set purpose to cross and provoke me others as Montanus Nunquid desolatio q. d. what you to oppose the command of a King If this be suffered what disorder yea desolation must needs follow Pride ever aggravateth any thing done against its own mind Ver. 15. Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear Many can no sooner hear flattering promises of preferment as it were Nebuchadnezzars instruments but they presently fall down and worship the Babylonish idol but these three Worthies were none such And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hand What God is he Sure a mean God he were thou poor thimbleful of dust could he not stay thy hand and stop thy blasphemous mouth with a spadeful of mould and that in a trice Ver. 16. Shadrach Meshac and Abednego answered With an heroical faith and well-knit resolution A sound faith and a clear conscience saith one are able by their native puissance to pull the very heart as it were out of hell and with confidence and conquest to look even death and the devil in the face We are not careful to answer thee The Saint hath a Quietus est that supersedeth all his cares Philip. 4.6 Some render it Non necesse habemus As the King would admit no discussing his decree but would have it absolutely obeyed so they were at a point never to do it nor to be removed from their religion The heavens shall sooner fall said that Martyr then I will start or stir an inch from what I have professed With the like undaunted courage answered Cyprian the Proconsul Bâ—sil the Arrian Emperour Valens D. Taylor Stephen Gardiner Mr. Hawkes bloody Bonner A faggot will make you believe the Sacrament of the Altar said Bonner Act. Mon. 1445. No no answered Hawkes a point for your faggot what God thinks meet to be done that shall ye do and no more Paenae sunt pennae queis super astra vehor Ver. 17. Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us And deliver us he will either from death or thorough it and we are by his grace in utrumque parati wholly at his dispose Never ask then O King Who is that God that shall deliver you Our God is in heaven and doth whatsoever he will in heaven and in earth He well knoweth how to deliver his out of temptations and to reserve the unjust be he King or Caytiffe unto the day of judgement to be punished 2 Pet. 2.9 From the burning fiery furnace Sic fortissimum Martyrem saith Ambrose of Laurentius may we as well say of these saevissima presecutoris flamma superare non potuit quod longe ardentius veritatis radiis