in religionis professores tanquam in adversarios hatred upon professours of religion looking upon them as their adversaries Ver. 15. And wondred The vulgar hath it Aporiatus est That there was no Intercessour No Interposer as Job 36.32 that would stickle for truth and right as did Nehemiah Athanasius Luther c. Therefore his arm brought salvation and his righteousnesse i. e. Christ the power of God Jun. and the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.24 30. Ver. 17. For he put on righteousnesse as a brest-plate i. e. Christ did and so must every Christian Eph. 6.14 where the Apostle Paul soundeth the Alarm and describeth his weapons as here defensive and offensive alluding likely to this text Ver. 18. Fury to his adversaries Viz. The Devil and his Agents his peoples adversaries Ver. 19. So they shall fear the Name of the Lord Christ shall get him a great Name as a renowned Conquerour When the enemy shall come in like a flood When they shall pour out a deluge of evils upon the Church Rev. 12.15 The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him i. e. Against strong temptations corruptions persecutions the Motto shall be as once Christus nobiscum state Ver. 20. And the Redeemer Shall come to the Israel of God That turn from transgression See Rom. 11.26 with the Note Ver. 21. My spirit which is upon thee and my words The efficacy of the Word is by the Spirit the expression of the Spirit by the Word both are here promised to the Church as her true goods Isa 30.20 21. Joh. 14.16 26. It is with the Word and Spirit as with the veines and arteries in the body as the veines carry the blood so the arteries carry the spirits to quicken the blood CHAP. LX. Ver. 1. A Rise Thou O my Church that now lyest in pulvere vastitatis as a forlorn captive rouze up thy self change both thy countenance and condition tanquam libera ac laeta ad novum nuncium up and look up I have joyful tydings for thee For thy light is come Christ who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 light essential Joh. 12.48 And the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee The glorious Gospel of grace 2 Cor. 3.7 and 4.4 Ver. 2. For behold the darknesse shall cover the earth As once it did Egypt Exod. 10.21 when there was light in the land of Goshen so is there in the Church when all the world besides lyeth buried in a fog of ignorance Semper in sole sita est Rhodos and a bog of wickednesse The separation of the Saints in light is a wonderful separation Exod. 33.16 But the Lord shall arise upon thee The Lord Christ who is the true light Joh. 1.9 the light of the world Joh. 8.12 the Sun of righteousnesse Mal. 4.2 See the Note there Ver. 3. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light The Apostles those shining Luminaries were Christs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holding forth the light of life to all people as Simeon said Luk. 2. And we may well say as our Saviour did Luk. 4.21 This day is this Scripture fulfilled in our ears and made good to our hearts praised be his holy Name throughout all eternity And Kings to the brightnesse of thy rising As did our King Lucius who is reckoned to be the first Christian King Our Constantine the first Christian Emperour our Edward 6. the first reforming Prince Scultet and many others Facit hoc contra Anabaptistas qui exclusos putant Reges ab Ecclesia Ver. 4. Lift up thine eyes As from a watchtower for so Zion signifieth All they gather themselves together c. See chap. 49.18 Thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side Like sucking children they shall suck and be satisfied chap. 66.11 The vulgar version here hath surgent for sugent as it hath unus de similibus for unus è millibus Job 33.23 and evertit for everrit Luk. 15.8 with other such grosse mistakes not a few Ver. 5. Then thou sha't see and flow together Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tam de lumine quam de stumâ—e dicitur thou shalt break forth as a river or thou shalt shine And thy heart shall fear At first at least to see such a confluence of people unto thee And be enlarged With joy upon better consideration Because the abundance of the sea i. e. The multitude of the Islanders and such as dwell by the sea-side which are noted for the worst of men whence the Proverb Maritimi mores Such are we Britones Ver. 6. The multitude of camels shall cover thee i. e. Of such peoples as usually ride upon Camels viz. the Arabians and the adjacent Countries these shall come flocking and flowing to the Church with their precious and pleasant riches The Dromedaries A lesser and lower kind of camels commended for their swiftnesse Jer. 2.23 we call slow people Dromâ—daries by Antiphrasis and for this that they can travel four dayes together without water Bajazet beaten by Tamberlan fled for his life and might have escaped had he not stayed to water his mare by the way which thereupon went the more heavily and was overtaken by the Tartars They shall bring gold and incense This the ancients interpret of those wise men from the East Mat. 2.11 which was indeed a small essay of this Prophecy But why should the Papists call them the three Kings of Cullen And they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord Gratanti animo This is more than all their rich gifts A thankful man is worth his weight in the gold of Ophir Ver. 7. All the flocks of Kedar i. e. The Kedarens and Nebateans with their flocks whereof they had abundance Refrixit proh dolor ardor isle and they now had hearts to honour the Lord with their substance and with the best of their increase See chap. 23.17 18. Ver. 8. What are these that fly as a cloud Which flyeth more swiftly than any bird and covereth the sky far and near Deus bone Confertis agmâ—nibâ— quam multi catervatim accurrunt saith the Church here wonderful what trooping and treading upon the heeles one of another is here And as the doves to their windows To their columbaries Columba Radit iter liquidum celeâ—es neque comm vet auras whereinto they scour and rush gregatim mira pernicitate especially if they have young ones there or else are driven by some hauke or tempest Gods people are free-hearted Psal 110.3 they serve the Lord with cheerfulness Psal 100.2 Amor enim alas addit and well might Plato descant upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom men call Love the Immortal call winged Ver. 9. Surely the Isles shall wait for me They shall come off freely Huic admirationi Messias ipse respondet non quasi angariati ad auditum verbi Sacramentorum usum And this is taken to be Gods answer declaring the cause of that wonderful concourse
obey the voyce of the Lord your God Which you ought to do whatever come of it sith rebellion is as witchcraft 1 Sam. 15. Ver. 14. Saying no but we will go into the land of Egypt Infamous for idolatry luxury and the oppression of your Ancestours there besides Gods expresse prohibition Deut. 17.16 and commination of it as the last and greatest plague The Lord shall bring thee into Egypt Deut. 28.68 And there will we dwell The Prophet now by their looks or some other way perceived their purpose so do do whatever they had promised ver 5 6. Ver. 15. If ye wholly set you faces As now I see you do and shall therefore tell you what to trust unto with the froward God will wrestle Psal 18.26 Ver. 16. Then it shall come to passe that the sword which ye feared shall overtake you there Categorice intonat Propheta God hath long hands neither can wicked men anywhere live out of the reach of his rod. And the famine whereof ye were afraid Egypt was very fertile the granary of the world and yet God could cause a famine there he hath treasures of plagues for sinners and can never be exhausted Ver. 17. They shall dye by the sword by the famine and by the pestilence Three threats answerable to those three promises ver 10 11 12. in case of their obedience Metaph. Ã metallis Ver. 8. As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth sc Like scalding lead or burning bell-metal which runeth fiercely spreadeth far and burneth extreamly Vpon the inhabitants of Jerusalem Out of which fire I have late pulled you as a brand the smell thereof is yet upon your clothes as it were Cavete Ver. 19. Go ye not into Egypt Be ruled or you will rue it when you have learned their evil manners and shall perish in their punishments It is better for you to be in cold irons at Babylon then to serve idols in Egypt at never so much liberty Your father 's brought a golden calf thence Jeroboam brought two Ver. 20. For ye dissembled in your hearts Heb. ye seduced in your souls or in your minds The Vulgar hath it you deceived your souls and not God by playing fast and loose with him by dealing with him ac si puer esset scurra vel morio Ver. 21. But ye have not obeyed the voyce of the Lord Nay you take a clean contrary course as if ye would despitefully spit in the face of heaven and wrestle a fall with the Almighty Ver. 22. Now therefore know certainly that ye shall dye In running from death ye shall but run to it as Jonas did Quo fugis Encelade quascun que accesseris oras Sub Jove semper eris CHAP. XLIII Ver. 1. ANd it came to passe that when Jeremiah had made an end c. See here how wicked men and hypocrites especially grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived Balaam being resolved to curse however went not as at other times but set his face toward the wildernesse Num. 24.12 Now he would build no more altars but curse whatever came of it so would these refractaries without Gods good leave go down to Egypt putting it to the venture Jeremyes sweet words were even lost upon them Ver. 2. Then spake Azariah See on chap. 42.1 And all the proud men Pride is the root of rebellion See chap. 13.15 These mens Pride budded as Ezek. 7.10 and as the leprosie brake forth in their foreheads See Hos 7.1 with the Note Saying unto Jeremiah Thou speakest falsely By this foul aspersion not proved at all they seek to discredit his Prophesie like as the Jews at this day do the New Testament and the Papists the book of Martyrs and other Monuments of the Church saying of them So many lines so many lyes Ver. 3. But Baruc the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us A likely matter what should Baruc get by that but malice careth not how truely or rationally it speaketh or acteth so it may gall or kill Jeremy and Baruc must be said to pack together and to collude for a common disturbance like as the Papists say Luther and Zuinglius did when as they knew nothing one of another for a long time after that they began to stickle against Popery in several climates and when they did hear of one another they differed exceedingly in the doctrine of the Sacrament especially Ver. 4. So Johanan the son of Kareah c. Nothing is more audacious and desperate then an hypocrite when once discovered Now these subdoli shew themselves in their colours appear in their likenesse going on end with their work Ver. 5. But Johanan took all the remnant of Judah Whose preservation had been but a reservation to further mischief a just punishment of their incorrigibleness Ver. 6. And Jeremiah the Prophet and Baruc the son of Neriah This was not without a special Providence of God that these Desperado's might still have a Prophet with them for the making of them the more inexcuseable If it befall any of Gods faithful servants to be hurried whither they would not as it did Jeremy and Baruc here Paul also and Peter Joh. 21.18 Ignatius Polycarp and other prisoners and sufferers for the truth in all ages let them comfort themselves with these examples Ver. 7. Thus came they even to Tahpanhes A chief City of Egypt called also Hanes Esa 30.4 Hierom calleth it Tunis and Herodotus Daphnis Pelusiae Ver. 8. Then came the Word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes saying And although many more words besides came to him whiles he was there and many remarkable passages fell out yet the holy Ghost hath recorded no more thereof then what we find in this and the next Chapter Ver. 9. Take great stones in thine hand Bricks wherewith Egypt abounded as being much of it muddy by reason of the inundation of the River Nilus hence also their chief City was called Pelusium or Daphnis Pelusiae See ver 7. It is ordinary with Jeremy to joyn Paradigms with his Prophecies as here that they might be the more evident and take the deeper impression Ver. 10. Behold I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar By a secret instinct put into his heart And will set his throne upon these stones This was dangerous for Jeremy to say at the Court-gate and in the hearing of so many disaffected Jews who would be ready enough to make the worst of every thing Some say they stoned him with brick-bats for this very prophesie Ver. 11. And when he cometh Being sent and set on by God He shall smite the land of Egypt As for their Idolatry c. so especially for harbouring these perfidious Jews whom divine Vengeance still pursueth hot-foot and will not suffer them to live anywhere sith they would not be perswaded to live in Gods good land and by his good laws Ver. 12. And I will kind's a fire in the house of the gods of Egypt Goodly gods they were that could
dastardly despondency of mind because his rising expectation it seems was frustrated 2. For a vain ambitious self-seeking which was not hid from God Ver. 2. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel unto thee O Baruch Whom he knoweth by name and for whom he hath in store an ample recompence of reward for never yet did any one do or suffer ought for Gods sake that complained of an hard bargain Ver. 3. Thou didst say i. e. Thou didst think like a poor pusillanimous creature as thou art But Jeremy could pitty him in this infirmity because it had sometime been his own case chap. 15. and may befal the best Pray for me I say pray for me said Father Latimer for sometimes I am so fearfull and fainthearted that I could even run into a mouse-hole For the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow So we do oft complain non quia dura sed quia mollâ—s patimur without cause through feeble-mindednesse And when we speak of our crosses we are eloquent oft beyond truth we add we multiply we rise in our discourse as here Ver. 4. Behold that which I have built c. A Metaphor as is before noted ab architectura agricultura I am turning all upside-down and wouldest thou only go free and untoucht of the common calamity T is no whit likely thou must share with the rest Ver. 5. And seekest thou great things for thy self This is saith One as if a man should haue his house on fire and instead of seeking to quench his house should go and trim up his chambers or as if when the ship is sinking he should seek to inrich his cabbin Seek them not For what so great felicity canst thou fancy to thy self in things so fading as the case now stands especially But thy life will I give thee for a prey Which in these killing and dying times in such dear years of time is no small mercy CHAP. XLVI Ver. 1. THe Word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah against the Gentiles God had at first set him over the nations and over the Kingdoms as a plenipotentiary to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant chap. 1.10 This power of his the Prophet had put forth and exercised against his own Nation of the Jews whom he had doomed to destruction and lived to see execution done accordingly Now he takes their enemies the neighbour Nations to do telling them severally what they shall trust to And this indeed the Prophet had done before in part and in fewer words under the type of a cup of wine to be divided among and drunk up by the Nations chap. 25.15 16. c. but here to the end of chap. 51. more plainly and plentifully Isaiah had done the same in effect chap. 13. to 24. Ezekiel also from chap. 25. to 33. that by the mouth of three such witnesses every word might stand and this burthen of the Nations might be confirmed Jeremiah beginneth fitly with the Egyptians who beside the old enmity had lately slain good King Josiah with whom dyed all the prosperity of the Jewish people who were thenceforth known as the Thebanes also were after the death of their Epaminondas only by their overthrows and calamities Ver. 22. Against Egypt First That the Jews might not rely on that broken reed as they did to their ruine because they would never be warned Against the army of Pharaoh Neche Who had beaten Nebuchadnezzar Priscus at Carchemish and gotten all the Country from Egypt to Euphrates but was afterwards himself beaten out again by Nebuchadnezzar the second surnamed Magnus in the first year of his reign which was the fourth year of Jehojakim Joseph l. 10. c. 7. Hypotuâ—ôsis Ironica State galeati loricati lanceati sed frustrà 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pausan who also was glad to become his tributary Now this overthrow of the Egyptian who was driven out of all Syria as far as Pelusium by the Babylonian is here foretold Ver. 3. Order ye the buckler and sheild So Pharaoh is brought in bespeaking his forces when he was going to fight against Nebuchadnezzar Or so the Prophet bespeaketh the Egyptians Ironically and by way of scoff q. d. Do so but all shall be to no purpose see the like Isa 8.9 Congregamini vincemini yea though upon Pharaoh's should should be the same inscription that was once upon Agamemnon This is the terrour of all mortal wights Ver. 4. Harnesse the horses Those warlike creatures but yet vain things for safety Psal 33.17 Prov. 21.31 Egypt was famous for the best horses Deut. 17.16 1 King 10.26 28. but the Lord delighteth not in the strength of an horse c. Psal 147.10 11. Ver. 5. Wherefore have I seen them dismaià Surprized with a Panick terrour And are fled apace Heb. Fled a flight For fear was round about A proverbial form chap. 6.25 Ver. 6. Let not the swift flye away i. e. Think to save themselves by flight Nor the mighty man escape i. e. Think to save himself by his might be he never so stouth-earted Herod lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Toward the North i. e. Toward Carchemish the stage of the war where Pharaoh-Necho had beaten Nebuchadnezzar the elder and is now beaten in the same place by Nebuchadnezzar the younger alterna victoria Ver. 7. Who is this that cometh up like a flood Pharaoh with his forces is here notably described vivo sermonum colore and compared to an impetuous river that threatneth to overflow and swallow up all See Isa 8.7 Ver. 8. Egypt riseth up like a flood Nilus-like the Egyptians were an ancient proud luxurious people And he saith I will go up and cover the earth See the like vain vaunts of this proud people Exod. 1â— 9 10. Ver. 9. Come up ye horses i. e. Ye horsemen all the cavallery of Egypt as Exod. 14.7 And rage Or bestir your selves as if ye were wood or mad instar furiarum discurrite per campâ—s The Ethiopians and the Lybians The Africans that were confederates and Auxiliaries to the Egyptians Ver. 10. For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts See Esay 34.5 6 7 8. Ver. 11. Go up unto Gilead and take balm See chap. 8.22 with Gen. 37.25 q. d. thy calamity is no lesse uncurable then ignominious Ver. 12. The Nations have heard of thy shame Of the shameful defeat given thee so that thou who wast once a terrour to them art now a scorn For the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty And this is the sum of the talk that goeth of thee Ver. 13. The Word that the Lord spake Another Prophecy but against Egypt also God had yet a further quarrel to that Country for the death of good Josiah their delivering up Vriah Gods faithful servant to the sword of Jehoiakim their idolatry pride perfidy c. How Nebuchadnezzar should come and smite the land of Egypt In the five and
6.2 Shall he honour This doubling of the word seemeth to shew the Angels indignation at the indignity of the fact See the like Gen. 49.4 Ver. 31. Ver. 39. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds Heb. in the fortresses of munitions i. e. both in the Temple called elsewhere a strong-hold and in the places of defence near unto the Temple where he set a garrison to force the people to worship his Idols Whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory Or those whom he shall acknowledge to be favourers and furtherers of his abominable idolatry those he shall increase with glory he shall raise and prefer them as he did Jason Menelaus c. And he shall cause them to rule over many In praestantes illos so Piscator rendreth it over the godly Jews Gods Rabbines And he shall divide the land sc Of Judaea For gain Heb. for a price Sic omnia Romae vaenalia All things are saleable and soluble at Rome Ver. 40. And at the time of the end The year before his death Shall the King of the South Ptolomie Philometor And the King of the North Antiochus his third expedition into Egypt see ver 39 in favour of Physcon And shall overflow i. e. Victoriously overrun Egypt Ver. 41. He shall enter also into the glorious land Judaea as ver 16. but for no good In Greece they say Where the Grand Signior once setteth his foot there groweth no more grasse But these shall escape Because they shall side with him Ver. 42. He shall stretch forth his hand also He shall be very victorious toward his latter end that he may be the riper for ruine fatted ware are but fitted for destruction Ver. 43. Shall be at his steps i. e. Obey him as their Captain Ver. 44. But tidings out of the East c. It it seldom seen that God alloweth to the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment but something or other they must have to trouble them still Ver. 45. And he shall plant the Tabernacles of his palace i e 1 Mac. 3.40 4 3. He shall pitch his tent royal in token of full power given to his Captains Lysias and the rest in Emmaus near to Jerusalem to keep the Jews in subjection Between the Seas The Dead Sea and the Midland Sea Polyb. Joseph l. 12. c. 12. which are the bounds of Judaea called here the glorious holy mountain Yet he shall come to his end A loathsome and lamentable one See 1 Maccab. 6.8 2 Maccab. 9. not so much because he would have spoiled the Temple of Diana but because he did spoil the Temple at Jerusalem CHAP. XII Ver. 1. ANd at that time i. e. In the last dayes and toward the end of the World for in this Chapter seemeth to be set forth the State of the Church in the last times that it shall be most afflicted yet she shall be fully delivered by Christs second coming to Judgement Cyprian was in like sort wont to comfort his friends thus Venit Antichristus sed superveniet Christus Antichrist will come but then Christ will come after him and overcome him Shall Michael stand up i. e. The Lord Christ that Prince of Angels and Protector of his people not a created Angel much lesse Michael Servetus that blasphemous heretike burnt at Geneva who was not afraid to say as Calvin reporteth it se esse Michaelem illum Ecclesiae custodem that he was that Michael the Churches Guardian David George also another blackmouthed heretike said that he was that David foretold by the Prophets Jer. 30.9 Ezek. 34.23 Hos 3.5 and that he was confident that the whole World would in time submit to him Which standeth for the children of thy people For all the Israel of God to whom Christ is a fast friend and will he while the government is upon his shoulder Isa 9.6 And there shall be a time of trouble To the Jews by the Romans after Christs ascension Mat. 24.21 to the Christians by the Romists And at that time thy people shall be delivered The elect both Jews and Gentiles shall be secured and saved Every one that shall be found written in the book Called the writing or catalogue of the house of Israel Ezek. 13.9 and the Lambs book of life Rev. 21.27 which is nothing else but conscriptio electorum in mente divina saith Lyra the writing of the elect in the divine mind or knowledge such are said to be written among the living in Jerusalem Isa 4.4 Ver. 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust Many for all as Rom. 5.18 19. these are said to sleep which denoteth the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body The soul liveth in the sleep of death as it doth in the sleep of the body in this life And this the poor Jews when to lose land and life for the truth are here seasonably and plainly told of amidst other things that are but darkly delivered to bear up their sinking spirits Awake they shall as out of a sweet sleep those that are good and then be full of Gods Image Psal 17. â—it The wicked also shall come forth but by another principle and for another purpose they shall come out of their graves like filthy roads against this terrible storm c. Some to everlasting life Which is here first mentioned in the old Testament See Matth. 25.45 Joh. 5.29 And some to shame and everlasting contempt Christ shall shame them in that ample Amphitheatre and doom them to eternal destruction Graevissima paenarum pudor est saith Chrysostom Oh when Christ shall upbraid reprobates and say Ego vos pavi lavi vestivi c. which way will they look or who shall say for them They shall look then upon him whom they have pierced and lament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but all too late they shall be sore ashamed of their sinful practises which shall all be written in their foreheads and this shall be as a bodkin at their hearts that ever they turned their backs upon Christs bleeding embracements whilst they refused to be reformed hated to be healed Ver. 3. And they that be wise And withal do what they can do to wise others to salvation as all wise ones will for Goodnesse is diffusive of itself and would have others to share with it charity is no churl Shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament A good amends for their present sufferings chap. 11.33 with Rom. 8.18 Solomon allowed little or no considerable reward to his workmen Mat. 13.42 Cant. 8.12 but Christ doth For they shall shine as the firmament yea as the Stars yea as the Sun in his strength yea as Christ himself shineth they shall appear with him in glory Colos 3.4 Their souls shall shine through their bodies as the candle doth through the lanthorn their bodies shall also be so light-some and transparent saith Aquinas that all the veins humours nerves and bowels shall be
had with wishing Nemo casu fit Sapiens Epist 77. saith Seneca Some have a kinde of willingness and velleity a kinde of wambling after the best things but it doth not boyl up to the full height of resolution for God Pers Virtutem exeptant contabescuntque relictâ Carnal men care not to seek after him whom yet they would fain finde saith Bernard Cupientes consequi sed non sequi have heaven they would but stick at the hard conditions like faint Chapmen they bid money for heaven but are loath to come up to the full price of it Balaam wished well to heaven so did the young Pharisee in the Gospel that came to Christ hastily but went away heavily Herod of a long time desired to see Christ but never stirred out of doors to see him Pilate asked Christ What is truth but never stayed his answer The sluggard puts out his arm to rise and pulls it in again hee turns upon his bed as the door doth upon the hinges which yet comes not off for all the turnings but hangs still and this is his utter undoing Men must not think that good things whether spiritual or temporal will drop out of the clouds to them Aemuli ipsius dormientem pinxeram Plut. in Sylla as Towns were said to come into Timotheus his toyl while hee slept Now perform the doing of it saith Saint Paul to those lazie Corinthians 2 Cor. 8.12 A thirsty man will not only long for drink but labour after it A covetous man will not only wish for wealth but strive to compass it Yet not every covetous man I confess For in the next verse it is said of the sluggard Vers 26. Hee coveteth greedily all day long But these greedy constant covetings come to nothing hee makes nothing of them Meteors have matter enough in the vapours themselves to carry them above the earth but not enough to unite them to the element of fire therefore they fall and return to their first principles So is it with our wishers and woulders Many came out of Egypt that never came into Canaan And why the Land they liked well but complained with those Spies of the strength of the Anakims and the impossibility of the Conquest therefore their Carcases fell in the wilderness their sluggishness slew them They lusted and had not they killed themselves with coveting as in the former verse and desired to have as here but could not obtain Jam. 4.2 But the righteous giveth and spareth not Neither necessity nor niggardise hindreth him hee hath it and hee holds that hee hath no more than hee giveth Hee is both painful and pittiful and what hee cannot do for the poor himself hee stirs up others to do so far is hee from forbidding or hindring any from shewing mercy Some render the words thus The righteous giveth and forbiddeth not Give a portion saith hee to his richer friend to seven and also to eight for thou knowest not what evil shall bee up on the earth Eccles 11.2 See the Note there Vers 27. The sacrifice of the wicked c. See the Note on Chap. 15.8 How much more when hee bringeth it c As Balaac and Balaam did Num. 23.1 2. As those that present ex rapina holocaustum a sacrifice of what they have got by rapine and robbery And as those likewise that ask good things at Gods hand that they may consume them upon their lusts Jam. 4.3 Let the wicked bring his sacrifice with never so good an intention hee is an abomination but if with an evil minde his dissembled sanctity is double iniquity As if a man think by observing the Sabbath to take out a license to walk licentiously all the week long or by praying in a morning to get a dispensation to do evil all day after Mr. Shepherds Sincere convert p. 232. Breerwood Enquire I have read of one that would haunt the Taverns Theaters and Whore-houses at London all day but hee durst not go forth without private prayer in the morning and then would say at his departure Now Devil do thy worst The Circassians are said to divide their life betwixt rapine and repentance The Papists many of them make account of confessing as Drunkards do of vomiting Sands his relat of West Religion When wee have sinned say they wee must confess and when wee have confessed wee must sin again that wee may also confess again and make work for new indulgences and jubilees Vers 28. A false witness shall perish See the Note on Chap. 19.5 The Scythians had a Law that if any man did duo peccata contorquere binde two sins together a Lye and an Oath hee was to lose his head because this was the way to take away all faith and truth amongst men But the man that heareth speaketh constantly Hee testifieth confidently what hee knoweth assuredly hee is alwayes also in the same tale as Paul was in the plea to the chief Captain to Felix to Festus and to Agrippa Not so Bellarmine How oft doth that loud Lyer forget himself and write contradictions As for instance In one place hee affirmeth that it can by no means bee proved by Scripture that any part of Scripture is the very word of God Par. in Apoc. 22.16 Bel. de verb. Dei l. 1. c 2. Sed mendax redarguit seipsum saith Pareus But the Lyer confutes himself by saying elsewhere Besides other arguments to evince the divinity of the Canonical Scripture it giveth sufficient testimony to it self Vers 29. A wicked man hardeneth his face Procacitèr obfirmat vultum suum so the Vulgar renders it The false witness vers 28. impudently defends or at least extenuates and excuses his falsities Frontem perfricat assuens mendacium mendacio as the Hebrew hath it Psal 119.69 Hee thinks to make good one lye by another to outface the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 27. to overbear it with a bold countenance It seems to bee a metaphor from a Traveller that sets his face against the wind and weather and holds on his journey though hee bee taking long strides toward destruction But as for the upright hee directeth his way Hee proceeds warily weighs his words before hee utters them and delivers nothing but the naked truth And truth is like our first Parents most beautiful when naked Some Interpreters take this verse as setting forth the difference between the wicked and the godly without any relation to the false and true witness vers 28. And then it is Sententia sapiente digna saith one Tam paucis verbis tam profundum sensum cumulans a sentence worthy of Solomon as having so much in a little Vers 30. There is wisdome against the Lord That is they are all to no purpose If God deny concourse and influence the arm of humane power and policy as Jeroboams shrinks up presently See Psal 2.1 2 3. 33.10 11. 62.3 See the Note on Chap. 19.21 Excellently Gregory Divinum consilium dum
and plainly without all fear of death adventuring his own life to discharge his Conscience so boldly to so mighty a Prince in such a dangerous case against the Kings Law and proclamation set out in such a terrible time durst take upon him to write and to admonish that which no Counsellor durst once speak unto him in defence of Christs Gospel c. That take Counsel but not of me Though I am the Wonderful Counsellor chap. 9.6 and though they profess to be my children but unruly rebellious ones I must needs say they are such as like petty-gods within themselves run on of their own heads and lean to their own understanding Prov. 3.5 as if I were nothing to them or as if Consilii satis est in me mihi were their Motto See the like folly Josh 9.14 That cover with a covering But it will not reach Et ordiremini telam chap. 28.20 God will make the strongest sinew in the arm of flesh to crack and the fairest blossoms of humane Policies to wither That they may add sin to sin i. e. Thereby adding sin to sin as Devt 29.19 Job 34.37 See the Notes there Ver. 2. That walk to go down into Egypt This they were flatly forbidden to do But State-policy doth sometimes carry it against express Scripture to the formalizing and enervating of the power of truth till at length they have left us an heartless and sapless Religion as One well observeth This is no thriving course certainly here we have a dreadful Woe hang'd at the heels of it The Grecian Churches first called in the Turks to their help who distressed them and then through fear of the Turks Anno 1438. sent and subjected themselves to the Bishop of Rome that they might have the help of the Latine Churches but shortly after they were destroyed their Empire subdued c. teaching all others by their example not to trust to carnal Combinations not to seek the association of others in a sinful way Ver. 3. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame They that consult not with God consult shame to their own houses Hab. 2.10 and because they despise him they shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2.30 When any came to Bacon and Burleigh Q. Elizabeths gravest Counsellors with a project or design of raising her revenue or promoting her interest they would ask him how much reputation would redound unto her by it Moses who was faithful in all Gods house had the like care of Gods glory Exod. 32.10 12. and is therefore renowned to all posterity But these Apostates in the Text for carnal policy and contempt of God are justly branded and threatned with disgrace and disappointment Ver. 4. For his Princes were at Zoan where Pharaoh kept his Court and Moses had done his Miracles And his Embassadors came to Hanes This was saith Hierom a famous City in the utmost part of Egypt toward Aethiopia Oecolampadius saith it lay beyond Egypt so far did these men travel and trouble themselves in seeking forrein help when they might have staid at home to better purpose Ver. 5. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them Either could not or would not for fear of provoking the Assyrian so potent and formidable a Prince When Queen Elizabeth undertook to protect the Netherlanders against the Spaniard the King of Sweden hearing of it said That she had taken the Crown off her own head and set it on the head of fortune Ver. 6. The burden i. e. the gifts and presents wherewith the Hebrews beasts were laden to carry southward to hire help from Egypt A mans gift maketh room for him Prov. 18.10 Philip was wont to say that he doubted not of taking any town or tower if he could but thrust into it an ass laden with Gold But these Jewish Ambassadors lost both their labour and their treasures carried upon the shoulders of many young Asses and upon the bunches of Camels to a very great quantity See what a present was sent to a poor Prophet even of every good thing of Damascus forty Camels burden 2 King 8.9 and guess by that what a deal of wealth went now to Egypt to procure help Into the land of trouble and anguish that great and terrible wilderness of Arabia wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions Deut. 8.15 and other fell-creatures not a few Thorough that waste howling desert Deut. 32.10 that lay between Judea and Aegypt travelled these beasts with their burdens but all was labour in vain and cost cast away because God was not of the counsel Ver. 7. For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose Heb. in vanity and inanity such are creature-comforts if relyed on a very magnum nihil Therefore have I cryed but could not get audience Their strength is to sit still to bide at home and behold the salvation of the Lord for the Prophet here seemeth to relate to that Exod. 14.14 Contented godliness is great gain saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.6 and quiet godliness is great strength saith the Prophet here Their strength is to fit still as good sit still saith our English proverb as rise and fall The word here rendred strength is Rahab which signifieth pride and power and is sometimes put for Egypt her self Psal 86. Hence the Vulgar translation here is Superbia tantum est quiesce Egypt is but a flask or a piece of proud flesh she is all in ostentation but will not answer thine expectation therefore keep home and be quiet Others rendring the Text as we do set this sense upon it your Rahab or Egypt is to sit still and to hold you content by so doing you shall have an Egypt whatsoever succour you might think to have that way you shall have it and better this way si tranquillo sedato sitis animo if you can compose your selves and get a Sabbath of spirit Ver. 8. Now go write it before them in a table and note it in a book He had proclaimed it before ver 7. but with ill success now he is commanded to commit it to writing for a testimony against them to all posterity viz. that they had been told in two words what were their best course to take for their own security and safegard but they thought it better to trot to Egypt then to trust in God Now therefore if they suffer and smart as they must for their contempt and contumacy the blame must be laid upon themselves alone who else can be faulted when as they were so fairly forewarned Ver. 9. That this is a rebellious people Isaiae concepta verba praeit Deus God dictateth to the Prophet Isaiah what very words he shall set down So he did to Moses to Jeremy chap. 36. to Habakuk chap. 2. to John the Divine Rev. 14.13 the whole Scripture was inspired by God not for matter only but for words also 2 Tim. 3.16 and is therefore more then a bare commonitory as Bellarmine calleth it a
is our Judge Ours in all relations therefore we shall not dye or do amiss See Habak 1.12 with the Note Our Judge will do us right Our Law-giver will give us the best direction See Nehem. 9.13 with the Note Our King will see to our safety Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King Psal 149.2 Ver. 23. Thy Tacklings are loosed Thy shipping O Assyrian is wracked and dissipated Vbi per funes tentoria per vela vexilla intelliguntur The Prophet elegantly expresseth the matter in Sea-mens termes Ver. 24. And the inhabitant shall not say I am sick Sc. by reason of the long and streight seige None shall be so lame ver 23. or sick and in pain as here but that he shall be in case to pursue and prey upon the enemies The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity Jehovah Rophe or the Physician shall heal them on both sides make them whole every whit This is a most sweet Promise and highly to be prized by all that are heires of the Promises Optandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano CHAP. XXXIV Ver. 1. COme near ye Nations In this Chapter and the next the Prophet for the terrour of the wicked and comfort of the godly summeth up what he had said before concerning the destruction of the enemies and the restauration of the Church Lib. 11. de praep Evang. Eusebius with many other Ancients will have this Chapter to be understood of the end of the world and the last judgement and further saith that Plato hath taken this place of the Prophet Isaiah into his writings and made it his own Litera vero hujus vaticinii de extremo judicio non loquitur but this cannot be the literal sense of the text saith Scultetus The Jew-Doctours will needs understand these two Chapters as a Prophecy of their return into the holy land when once Idumea shall be destroyed and for this they alledge Lam. 4.22 which yet proveth it not Ver. 2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all Nations Is or shall be upon all the Churches enemies whether of former or latter time even his boyling wrath as the Word signifieth He hath utterly destroyed them Or he will make an Anathema of them as ver 5. the people of my curse devoted to destruction Ver 3. Their slain also shall be cast out Buried with the burial of an Asse Jer. 22.19 which Cicero somewhere calleth sepulturam insepultam This may also befall such as for Gods sake are slain all the day long but to them it is no such judgment Caelo tegitur qui caret urna And their stink shall come up out of their carcasses They stink alive as Goates as whited Tombes as walking dunghils and now their dead carcasses also shall stink above-ground And the mountaines shall be melted with their blood Justè omnino because they moistened the earth with the blood of Gods people and dunged the land with their dead carcasses Ver. 4. And all the host of Heaven shall be dissolved Inusitati supplicii atrocitas sic designatur So great shall be the slaughter of the Nations that the heavenly bodies shall seem to be sensible of it and amazed at it and the whole heaven to be rolled together as a scroll lest it should be forced to behold it In a bloody fight between Amurath the third King of Turkes and Lazarus Despot of Servia many thousands fell on both sides the Turkish Histories to express the terrour of the day vainly say that the Angels in Heaven amazed with that hideous noise for that time forgot the heavenly hymnes wherewith they alwayes glorifie God Ver. 5. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven Heb. drunk or drenched i. e. In caelo decretum est ut inebrietur whence-soever the sword comes it is bathed in Heaven hath its commission from God Jer. 47.6 7. See Jer. 46.9 and as a drunken man reeleth to and fro so the sword when once in commission roveth up and down and rideth circuit usually Ezek. 14.17 Behold it shall come down upon Idumea i e. Upon the Edomites who were assidui acerrimi hostes Judaeorum bitter enemies to the Jews though both Nations came of Isaac both were circumcised so are now the Romish Edomites to the Churches of Christ with whose blood they are red all over Rev. 17. The Hebrews understand here by Idumea Rome Ver. 6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood c. That is it maketh clean work as the blood and fat were in sacrifices consumed Levit. 1.16 17. and this execution was no less pleasing to God than some solemn sacrifice For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah The Metropolis of Idumea Ptolomy calleth it Botsra And it prefigured Rome saith Piscator the chief City and seat of Antichrists Kingdom Ver. 7. And the Vnicornes shall come down Monocerotes qui interimi possunt capi non possunt creatures of untameable fierceness or Rhinocerotes as the Margent hath it he meaneth the Great ones Ver. 8. For the controversie of Zion i. e. Of the Church both Jewish and Christian saith Piscator Confer Rev. 18.2 Alludit ad vicinam sâ—tu scelere clade Sodomam lib. 5. de bell Jud. Geog. l. 16. Ver. 9. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch Like the Lake of Sodom which is near to Idumea and whereof Josephus writeth that an Ox having all his legs bound will not sink into it the water is so thick and pitchy Strabo though a stranger to this Prophecy attesteth the accomplishment of it Lyra saith that in some part of Idumea there is still ascending a smoke of fire and brimstone as out of Mount Aetna in Sicily And Hyperius thinketh that the Edomites are here further threatned with hell-torments It should seem so by the next words Ver. 10. It shall not be quenched night nor day the smoak of it shall go up for ever See Revel 14.11 and 18.18 and 19.3 And observe how John the Divine picks out the choicest passages of the Old Testament and polisheth therewith his Revelation None shall passe thorough it for ever i. e. Incolendi animo to dwell there passengers did passe through it and wondred at Gods dreadful judgments thereon Jer. 49.17 Ver. 11. The cormorant and the bittern shall possesse it God cannot satisfie himself in saying what he will do to the Edomites because they had dealt by revenge and had taken vengeance with a despightful heart to destroy the Church for the old Satanical hatred as Ezek 25.15 He will turn in those animalia faeda fera terribelia to dwell in their land whereby is noted extream devastation which is here in many exquisite words more propemodum Poetico described And he shall stretch out upon it So that men shall in vain think of rebuilding and repeopling it Ver. 12. They shall call the Nobles thereof to the Kingdom The Venetians have Magistrates called Pregadi because at first men
brutish for want of knowledge so the words may be rendred the heathen idol-makers especially Brutescit homo prae scientia so Vatablus 1. Every man is brutish in comparison of knowledge viz. of Gods knowledge whil'st he goeth about to search into the causes of rain lightening wind c. which God only understandeth Ver. 15. They are vanity Vanity in its largest extent is properly predicated of them And the work of errours Meer mockeries making men to embrace vanity for verity In the time of their visitation See on Isa 46.1 Ver. 16. The portion of Jacob is not like them God is his peoples portion they are his possession Oh their dignity and security this the cock on the dunghil understands not Ver. 17. Gather up thy wares out of the land Make up thy pack and prevent a plundering Reculas tuas sarcinas compone Ver. 18. Behold I will fling out the inhabitants of this land I will easily and speedily sling them and fling them into Babylon so God will one day hurle into hell all the wicked of the earth Psal 9.17 And will distresse them that they may find it so Just so as they were foretold it would be but they could never be drawn to beleeve it Ver. 19. Wo is me for my hurt my wound is grievous This is the moane that people make when in distresse and they find it so But what after a while of pausing Truly this is my grief and I must bear it i. e. Bear it off as well as I may by head and shoulders or bear up under it and rub through it wearing it out as well as I can when things are at worst they 'l mend again Crosses as they had a time to come in so they must have a time to go out c. This is not patience but pertinaecy the strength of stones and flesh of brasse Job 6.12 it draweth on more weight of plagues and punishments God liketh not this indolency this stupidity this despising of his corrections as he calleth it Heb. 12.5 such shall be made to cry when God bindeth them Job 36.11 as here Ver. 20. My Tabernacle is spoiled I am irreparably ruined like as when a camp is quite broken up not any part of a tent or hut is left standing Ver. 21. For the Pastours are become brutish The corrupt Prophets and Priests who seduced the people from the truth were persons that made no conscience of prayer hence all went to wrack and ruine Ver. 22. Behold the noise of the bruit is come This doleful peal he oft rung in their eares but they little regarded it See chap. 9.11 Ver. 23. O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself He is not master of his own way but is directed and over-ruled by the powerful providence even this cruel Chaldaan also that marcheth against us It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps We know not what to do or which way to turn our selves only our eyes are toward thee Behold we submit to thy justice and implore thy mercy This text doth mainly make against free-will saith Oecolampadius and yet the Pelagiam would hence gather that man can by his own strength walk in the way to heaven but he must be holpen say they by Gods grace that he may be perfect Cum ratione seu modo Leniter discretè Lap. Ver. 24. O Lord correct me but with judgement i. e. In mercy and in measure Correction is not simply to be deprecated the Prophet here cryes Corret me David saith It was good for me Job calleth Gods afflicting of us his magnifying of us chap. 7.17 Feri Domine feri clementer ipse paratus sam saith Luther Smite Lord smite me but gently and I am ready to bear it patiently King Alfred prayed God to send him alwayes some sicknesse whereby his body might be tamed and he the better disposed and affectioned to God-ward Ecclesiastical history telleth of one Servulus who sick of a palsie so that his life was a lingering death said ordinarily God be thanked Ver. 25. Pour out c. This is not more votum then vaticinium a prayer then a prophecy And upon the families Neglect of family-prayer uncovers the roof as it were for Gods curse to be rained down upon mens tables meat enterprizes c. CHAP. XI Ver. 1. THe Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord To him it came but to be imparted to other Prophets say some Priests of Anathoth say others ver 2. which might be the reason why they were so enraged against him and fought his life ver 18 19. as the Popish Priests did Mancinels Savanarolas and other faithful Preachers for exciting them to do their duties Ver. 2. Hear ye the words and speak ye Ye Priests whose ordinary office it is to teach Jacob Gods judgements and Israel his Law Deut. 33.10 Ver. 3. And say thou unto them Thou Jeremy whether the rest will joyn with thee or not Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this Covenant It is probable that Jeremy when he said thus held the book in his hand viz. the book of Deuteronomy which the Rabbines call Sepher Tochechoth because of the many increpations and curses therein contained Ver. 4. From the iron furnace Where iron is melted and a fierce fire required Obey my voyce See chap 7.23 Ver. 5. A land flowing with milk and honey With plenty of dainties The City of Aleppo is so called by the Turkes of Alep milk for if the via lactea were on earth it would be found there saith one So be it O Lord Amen Fiat Fiat Oh that there were an heart in this people to obey thy voyce And oh that thou would'st still continue them in this good land c. Our hearts should be stretched out after out Amen and we should be swallowed upon God say the Rabbines Ver. 6. Hear ye the words of this Covevant and do them Else ye hear to no purpose as the Salamander liveth in the fire and is not made hot by the fire as the Ethiopian goeth black into the Bath and as black he cometh forth Ver. 7. Rising early i. e. endeavouring earnestly See chap. 5.8 Ver. 8. Yet they obeyed not See chap. 7.24 Therefore I will bring Heb. and I brought upon them Ver. 9. A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah A combination in sinful courses this is not Vnity but Conspiracy See Ezek. 22.25 Hos 6.9 such is the unity of the Antichristian crew Rev. 17.13 The Turkes have as little dissension in their religion as any yet are a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven Ver. 10. They are turned away to the iniquities of their fore-fathers Shewing themselves herein to be a race of rebels as good at resisting the holy Ghost as ever their Fathers were and are therefore justly chargeable with their iniquities which needeth not Ver. 11. Which they shall not be able to escape To avert avoid or abide I
fearlesnesse of death in so good a cause and with so good a conscience Ver. 13. Amend your wayes Fall out with your faults and not with your friends See chap. 7.3 And the Lord will repent him of the evil This he often inculcateth Ideo minatur Deus ut non puniat See chap. 18.8 Ver. 14. As for me behold I am in your hand See here how God gave his holy Prophet a mouth and wisedome such as his adversaries were not able to resist The like he did to other of his Martyrs and Confessours as were easie to instance If the Queen will give me life I will thank her if she will banish me I will thank her Act. Mon. 1462. if she will burn me I will thank her c. said Bradford to Creswel offering to intercede for him To do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you But this I can safely say Non omnis moriar all that ye can do is to kill the body kill me you may but hurt me you cannot Life in Gods displeasure is worse then death Eutipid in Aul de I am not of their mind who say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Better live basely then dye bravely Faxâ—t Deus ut quilibet nostrum epilogum habeat galeatum God grant that whether our death be a burnt offering of Martyrdome or a peace offering of a natural death it may be a free-will-offering a sweet sacrifice to the Lord. Ver. 15. Ye shall surely bring innocent blood c. So Mr. Rogers our Protomartyr in Queen Maryes dayes If God said he look not mercifully upon England the seeds of utter destruction are sown in it already by these hypocritical tyrants Act. Mon. and Antichristian prelates double traitours to their native countrey Ver. 16. Then said the Princes and all the people The Mobile vulgus See on ver 9. The good Prophet is acquitted as Athanasius afterwards was often for if to be accused were enough to make a man guilty none should be innocent Ver. 17. Then rose up certain of the Elders Vâ—ri illi admodum venerabiles erant saith Oecolampadius these were very worthy men whether Princes or pleaders well read in the Annals of the times as great men ought to be Ver. 18. Micah the Morashite See on Mic. 1.1 Zion shall be plowed like a field See Mic. 3.12 Ver. 19. Did Hezekiah King of Judah Laudable examples are to be remembred and as occasion requireth imitated That was a very good one of Constantine the Great when the Arrians brought accusations against the Orthodox Bishops as here the false Prophets did against Jeremy he burnt them and said These accusations will have proper hearing at the last day of judgement Sozomen Ver. 20. And there was also a man This seemeth to be the plea of the adverse party producing an example opposite to the former and shewing what the way was now whatever it had been heretofore New Lords new Laws According to all the words of Jeremiah Whose Contemporary he was and his memory was yet fresh bleeding Ver. 21. And when Jehoiakim This Tiger laid hold with his teeth on all the excellent spirits of the times See chap. 36.26 He was afraid and fled Not out of timorousnesse but prudence Tertullian was too rigid in condemning all kind of flight in times of persecution God hath not made his people as standing but markes to be shot at c. See Mat. 10.23 Ver. 22. And Jehoiakim sent men into Egypt Where he might have any thing for he was Pharaohs feudatary and vassal Ver. 23. And they fet forth Vriab out of Egypt As they did here Sir John Cheek out of the Low-countries and frightened him into a Recantation Not so this Vriah And they fet forth Vriah out of Egypt En collusio Principum mundi in parricidio Who slew him with the sword Without all law right or reason So John Baptist was murthered as if God had been nothing aware of him said that Martyr But Jehojakim got as little by this as he did afterwards by burning Jeremy's Book or as Vespasian afterwards did by banishing all the Philosophers of his time because they spake boldly against his vices and tyranny Ver. 24. Neverthelesse the hand of Ahikam Who had been one of Josiah's Councellours 2 King 22.12 By this mans authority and help Jeremiah was delivered and God rewarded him in his son Gedaliah made Governour of the Land 2 Kings 25.22 CHAP. XXVII Ver. 1. IN the beginning of the raign of Jehojakim By the date of this Prophecy compared with ver 12. of this Chapter and chap. 28.1 it should seem that it lay dormant for fourteen or fifteen years ere it was recited Ver. 2. Make thee bonds and yokes i. e. Yokes with bonds such as they are wont to be fastened with A Lapide And put them upon thy neck This was to the Prophet saith the Jesuite molesta probrosa poenitentia a troublesome and disgraceful pennance but this was no will-worship say we and much handsomer then the pennances they put the people to in Italy Bee-hive of Rome where you may see them go along the streets saith mine Author with a great rope about their necks as if they were dropped down from the Gallowes and sometimes they wear a Sawsedge or a Swines-pudding in place of a silver or gold chain for a sign of their mortification and that they may merit Ver. 3. By the hand of the messengers i. e. Embassadours of those neighbouring States who might come to Zedekiak to confederate with him against Nebuchadnezzar's growing greatnesse but all in vain and to their own ruine Deus quem destruit dementat The wicked oft run to meet their bane as if they were even ambitious of destruction Ver. 4. Go tell your Masters But they would not be warned and were therefore ruined So true is that of an Ancient Divinum consilium dum devitatur impletur humana sapientia dum reluctatur comprehenditur Ver. 5. I have made the earth And am therefore the great Proprietary and Lord Paramount of all to transfer Kingdoms at my pleasure This Nebuchadnezzar after seven years prentiship served among the beasts of the field had learned to acknowledge Oecolamp Dan. 4. Ver. 6. And now have I given all these lands Nebuchadnezzar shall be Monarch contra Gentes Dicunt nugatores equitasse Nabuchodonosor super Leonem infraenasse Draconem Ver. 7. And all Nations shall serve him All the neighbouring Nations and some others more remote but never was any man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vniversal Monarch though some have stiled themselves so as did Sesostris King of Egypt Qui Pharios currus regum cervicibus egit Vntil the very time of his land come The greatest Monarchies had their times and their turns their rise and their ruine And then many Nations and great Kings shall serve themselves of him As the Chaldaeans had served themselves of the Assyrians so did the Persians of the Chaldaeans the
Doeg may set his foot as far within the Sanctuary as a David And sat before me Demurely and to see to devoutly But why could they not stand to hear the Word of God for reverence sake Balac did so Num. 23.18 though a King And Eglon though unweildy Judg. 3.20 and a better man then they both Constantine the Great as Eusebius recordeth and further telleth us that being pressed after long time of hearing to sit down De vâ—ta conâ— with a stern countenance he answered It were a great sin in me not to hear with utmost attention when God is speaking Ver. 2. And the word of the Lord came Lest the Prophet seeing these seniors coming thus unto him should favour them too far God uncaseth them as he doth mostly such grosse hypocrites in this present life Jerobâ—am and his wife Ananias and Sapphirah Simon Magus and others for instance How else indeed should the name of such wicked wretches rot as they must Prov. 10. Ver. 3. These men have set their Idols in their hearts Though they would seem to abhor idols yet the devil is at inne with them and their hearts are no beter then so many Idol-temples as thou wouldest easily perceive hadst thou but my fiery eyes and couldest see their insides as I do Piscat Sustulerunt stercoreos deos suos super cor suum they have laid their dungy-deities upon their very hearts a place where I only should be by right for it is the bridal-bed And put the stumbling-block of their iniquity i. e. They are impudent sinners as the Scholiast interprets it and resolved of their course whatever comes of it Hoc significat crassum Dei contemptum quali professam rebellionem Should I be enquired of at all by them q. d. No never I scorn the motion I abhor such ludibrious devotion as this is Away with it Piscator rendereth the words An ergò seriò interrogor ab eis Thinkest thou that I am seriously sought unto by these q. d. Nothing lesse Ver. 4. I the Lord will answer him Or as I am the Lord oath-wise I will answer him but with bitter answers According to the multitude of his idols i. e. As by his abominations he hath well deserved or concerning the multitude of his idols that 's a sin he shall be sure to hear of and to suffer for Ver. 5. That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart Vt deprehendam or as others ut reprehendam that I may convince their consciences of their impieties and sting them to the heart with unquestionable conviction and horrour Because they are all estranged from me And fallen in with the devil who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as saith Synesitu a great promoter of idolatry Idola sunt prima saliva Oecolamp initium deficiendi à Deo Idolatry paveth the way to utter Apostacy Ver. 6. Repent and turn your selves Or turn others for true converts will be converting their brethren They like not to go to heaven alone And turn away your faces Alii dicunt uxores vestras saith Lavater here your wives which are according to your hearts like as in water face answereth to face Wean them from their idols and win them over to the true God Ver. 7. For every one of the house of Israel The same over again and yet no vain repetition duris enim illis capitibus res non potuit satis inculcari to these dizzards nothing could be said too much Or of the stranger But proselyted to the Jewish religion as Jethro who was the first of that kind that we read of Which separateth himself from me As an harlot doth from her husband See Hos 4.14 9.10 I the Lord will answer him by my self Non verbis sed verberibus not with words but with blows Or according to my most holy Truth and Justice Or by my self sc do I swear that I will do it See ver 4. Ver. 8. And I will set my face against that man I will look him to death Or Vultuosè torveque illum intuear laying aside all other businesse I will see to it that he be soundly paid And will make him a sign and a proverb That when men would expresse a great punishent upon any Ier. 29.22 Tantalus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut vult Plato they shall resemble it to his as the Jews did to Ahab's and Zedekiah's that naughty couple and the Heathens to that of Tantalus and Tityus And I will cut him off from the midst of my people This is yet a further and a more formidable menace this is far worse then to be a by-word to the people Ver. 9. I the Lord have deceived that Prophet I had not only a permissive but an active hand in that imposture not as a sin but as a punishment of other sins See 1 Kings 22.20 Job 12.16 Jer. 4.10 2 Thes 2.11 And I will stretch out mine hand upon him i. e. Upon that false-prophet who although he hath thus acted not without my providence yet hath sinned against my Law which is the rule men must walk by or else suffer for their transgression Aut faciendum aut patiendum Now God hath long hands as we use to say of Princes neither may any think to live out of the reach of his rod. Ver. 10. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity Neither shall excuse other but as they have sinned together so shall they suffer together quia volentes scientes errabant they wilfully went astray Quandoquidem hic populus vult decipi decipiatur they shall infallibly perish An evil Pilot may easily drown himself and all that are with him on the same bottom Ver. 11. That the house of Israel may go no more astray Thus when Gods Judgements are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousnesse Isa 26.9 Those elect that were bad will become good and they that were good will be made better Paena ad paucos metus ad omnes Ver. 12. The Word of the Lord came again to me The utter destruction of this perverse people is once again denounced and declared to be inevitable Ver. 13. Son of man See on chap. 2.1 When the land sinneth against me i. e. The Inhabitants of the land not as if the land it self were alive and endued with reason as Origen doated and as Plato held that the Spirit of God was the soul of the world Hom. 4. in loc By trespassing grievously Praevaricando perfidè by doing evil as men could Then will I stretch out my hand See ver 9. And will break the staff See chap. 4.16 5.26 And I will send famine Extream famine a heavy Judgement as hath elsewhere been shewed out of sacred and profane history Ver. 14. Though these three men See on Jer. 15.1 Noah Daniel and Job What could not these three so mighty with God have done if the matter had been feâ—sible Daniel was now
two immutable things wherein it was impossible for God to lye his people might have strong consolation Heb. 6.18 Ver. 6. Into a land that I had espied for them Humanitus dictum Finding it out as it were by diligent search Num. 10.33 Look how a father findeth out for his son an habitation fit for him a help meet for him other things necessary for his comfortable subsistence so dealt God by his Israel He brought them to a land which himself had carefully sought out his eyes were alwayes upon it from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year Deut. 11.12 Flowing with milk and honey i. e. Abounding with choice and cheap commodities Which is the glory of all lands Or flower decorem disiderium It was so then it is not so now since the Jews were dispriviledged and disjected But as in the earthly paradise after man fallen cecidit rosa mansit spina the rose fell off the briar whereon it grew remained so here See on Dan. 8.9 11.16 Ver. 7. Then said I unto them Viz. Whilest yet in Egypt This we find not in Exodus 't is enough that we find it here See Joh. 5 9. with the Note Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes The idols to which your eyes are lifted up chap. 18.6 and which are or should be to you as Alexander called the Persian maides dolores oculorum eye-griefes Ver. 8. But they rebelled against me I might say what I would but they would do what their list Good they were ever if I may call it so at resisting the Holy Ghost obstinate idolaters from the very first so that God had even as much ado to forbear killing them as ever he had Moses in the same country for neglecting to circumcise his childe Exod. 4.24 Neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt This we read not of in Exodus neither t is enough that we have it here The ingratitude of these Israelites was the greater because God had done much for them and was dayly admonishing them of better things Then said I I will pour out my fury It was not therefore for nothing that Israel suffered so much in Egypt Many now marvel at their own miseries but think not of their sins the cause Ver. 9. But I wrought for my names sake Lest the Heathens should say to my dishonour me non voluisse aut valuisse eos educere that I either would not or could not bring them out of the house of bondage Ergo quod nomen suum in nobis servandis asserat sperandum est It is also well to be hoped that God will deal favourably with the reformed Churches though ill deserving for the dâ—shonour that else would redound to himself Fiat Fiat Ver. 10. Wherefore I caused them With a strong hand and an outstretcht arm I caused it against all the force of Egypt Exod. 13.18 God hath also mightily brought England out of Egypt spiritual and dealt with it not according to his ordinary rule but according to his prerogative And brought them into the wildernesse Where I was not any wildernesse unto them or land of darknesse Jer 2.31 but a God All-sufficient raining bread from heaven upon them and setting the flint abroach rather then they should pine and perish Ver. 11. And I gave them my statutes Which were far beyond the laws of the twelve Tables in Rome whereof yet Tully affirmeth that they were far beyond all the libraries of Philosophers And shewed them my judgements Statutes and Judgements are usually put in Scripture for one and the same though the Lawyers make a difference of them Prospers conceit was that this people were called Judaei because they received jus Dei Which if a man do But that he can never do exactly Evangelically he may and that sufficeth to life eternal Ver. 12. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths A sweet mercy without which the best would even grow wild What a wretch then was that Egyptian in Phagius who said that those Jews and after them the Christians had a loathsome disease upon them and were therefore fain to rest the seventh day To be a sign between me and them A distinctive sign of my distinguishing grace to Israel above others who jeared them for sabbatizing as those that lost a seventh part of their precious time To be also both a sign of a godly person Anciently when the question was propounded Servasti Dominicum hast thou kept the Lords day The answer was returned I am a Christian and can do no lesse and a means of conveying more holinesse into his heart Ver. 13. But the house of Israel rebelled They did little else they made it their trade for forty years long Psal 95. And my Sabbaths they greatly polluted They vehemently violated either they rested only thereon or else they shamelesly troubled and disquieted that sanctified day of Gods rest B. King on Jon. The world saith one is now grown perfectly profane and can play on the Lords day without book Then I said I would pour out my fury Gods sayings are of two sorts some are the sayings of his eternal counsel and these are immutable Others of his threatening only and these oft are conditional God therefore threateneth that he may not punish saith an ancient Ver. 14. But I wrought for my Names sake Oh how oft are we beholden to this Motive and do escape fair by this Means See on ver 9. Ver. 15. Yet also I lifted up mine hand Here we have an Epitome of Exodus and Numbers Flowing with milk and honey See on ver 6. If it be not so fertile and desireable now Joseph it is for the Jews inexpiable guilt in crucifying the Lord of glory The like befell Sodom once as the garden of God now a dead sea where nothing can live Ver. 16. For their heart went after their idols Heb. their dungy-deities those dirty delights carried them sheer away from God and goodnesse Any beloved sin will do so Ver. 17. Neverthelesse mine eye spared them It was by a Non-obstante of Gods mercy and by a prop of his extraordinary patience that they subsisted Ver. 18. Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers With this text Frederike the fourth Prince Palatine answered another Prince who pressed him to be of his late Noble Fathers Religion Laban swore by the god of Nahor or Abram and of their idolatrous Fathers but Jacob sware by the Fear of his Father Isaac his immediate Father more right in Religion Gen. 31.53 Joshua would not follow the footsteps of his forefathers chap. 24. but a better precedent Christ saith ego sum Veritas non Vetustas and contradicteth that which was said of old by those Kadmonim who had corrupted the letter of the law by their false glosses Mat. 5.21 Antiquity must have no more authority then it can maintaine Ver. 19. Walk in my statutes This is a surer and safer way Lâ—x Lux Prov. 6.23
to hold the remnant that returned And they shall be there a base Kingdom Reditum regnum illis promittit sed humile a Kingdom God promiseth them but base and abject because subject and tributary to the Persian so that the Israelites shall no more lean upon it God oft removeth occasions of sin from his people taketh away their stumbling blocks that they may not fall under his heavy displeasure Ver. 15. It shall be the basest of the Kingdoms And worthily for their worshiping the basest creatures See Rom. 1.23 24. but especially for their faithlesnesse to Gods Israel Turk Hist For I will diminish them As God hath likewise done the Persians at this day who have undone their confederates the Egyptians and Georgians and the Grecians no lesse who have now lost their liberty and are so degenerate by means of the Turkish oppression Ib. 260. that in all Graecia is hardly to be found any small remembrance of the glory thereof Ver. 16. And it shall be no more the confidence For I will cut them and keep them short enough I will pull their plumes so that they shall not stretch their wings beyond the nest they shall have nothing so many clients and adherents Which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance Creature-confidence is so hated of God that it inmindeth him of former miscarriages also and causeth him to plague men for the new and the old together Ver. 17. In the seven and twentieth year Of Jeconiah's captivity as Ezekiel ordinarily counteth or of Nebuchadnezzar's reign say the Jew-doctours when as Tyre was overthrown some part of Egypt wasted Jeremy and Baruch taken into his protection Sedar-olam The Word of the Lord came This was Ezekil's last sermon his swan-like song shewing wherefore and whereby Egypt should be so laid waste Ver. 18. To serve a great service For thirteen years together as saith Josephus Every head was made bald sc By continual carrying upon their heads and shoulders earth wood and stones for which they were much laughed at by the Tyrian souldiers to fill up that strait of the Sea which separated Tyre from the Continent before it could be taken Yet he had no wages The Tyrians when they saw they could hold out no longer had sent much of their wealth away to Carthage and other places much of it also they cast into the Sea saith Lyra so that Nebuchadnezzar at his entrance found nothing but a bare rock saith Hierom out of an old Assyrian Chronicle Ver. 19. Behold I will give the land of Egypt As pay for his pains at Tyre God is a liberal pay-master and his retributions are more then bountiful Serve him therefore with chearfulnesse Turk Hist 345. lb. 227. Ver. 20. I have given him the land of Egypt As the great Turk gave his souldiers the rich spoil of Constantinople and as Tamerlan never forgat the good service of his servants nor left the same long unrewarded often saying that day to be lost wherein he had not given them something Because they wrought for me By mine instinct though beside their own intent Ver. 21. The horn i. e. The strength power and authority in the Kingdom of Christ especially Luke 1.69 The opening Occasion to blesse my Name They shall know Nebuchadnezzar also and his Babylonians CHAP. XXX Ver. 1. THe Word of the Lord See chap. 18.1 Ver. 2. Woe worth the day Ah de die ista This shall be the voice much more of reprobates at that last day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgement of God Rom. 2.5 Enoch foretold this dreadful day before Noah the deluge That day is longer before it comes but shall be more terrible when it is come Ver. 3. A cloudy day Heb. a day of a cloud which was rarely seen in Egypt Ver. 4. Great pain Heb. pain upon pain as the throws in childbirth Ver. 5. Chub Certain Africans who shall be worse put to 't then were those succeeding Africans who had a prophecy but not of like credit with this of Ezechiel that when the Romans sent an army into their country Mundus cum tota sua prole periret which made them think the world should then be at an end But afterwards the Romans sent an army thither under the conduct of one Mundus who in battle was slain together with his sons by the Africans Lib. 15. and discovered the illusion of the devil The Septuagint render Chub Spaniards which I like the better saith Lavater because Strabo saith Nebuchadonoser came with his victorious army as far as Spain Ver. 6. They that uphold Egypt shall fall i. e. Their confederates or as some their Tutelar gods Herodotus writeth that Cambyses wasted with the sword Egypt and Ethiopia killed their god Apis and defaced all their idols This he did doubtlesse rather in scorn of all religion then hatred of idolatry And the pride of her power shall come down Tumbling down as a great and weighty bullet from a very high and steep mountain From the tower of Syene See chap. 29.10 Ver. 7. And they shall be desolate See chap. 29.10 Non est Perissologia repetitur cum fructu Lavat Ver. 8. And they shall know that I am the Lord Men will not take knowledge of this till they have paid for their learning Vexatio dat intellectum smart makes wit When I have set a fire in Egypt War is fitly compared to fire it feeds upon the people See Esa 9.19 with the Note Ver. 9. In that day shall messengers go forth from me i. e. The Chaldeans by an instinct from me to subdue Ethiopia also In ships For Nilus was navigable Lene fluit Nilus Claudian To make the carelesse Ethiopians Heb. confident Cush Security ushereth in calamity As in the day of Egypt That cloudy day ver 3. when clouds of blood were dissolved upon them Or that dismal day of old when they perished in the red sea Exod. 15.14 Ver. 10. I will also make the multitude Or the great noise and hurry They shall have no more cause to complain that they are too many of them so that they cannot one live by another Ver. 11. The terrible of the nations Tyranni gentium Homo homini lupus Ver. 12. And I will make the rivers dry The Chaldees shall drink them up as 2 King 19.24 or I will dry them up for a punishment of your vain trust in them and boasting of them chap. 29.3 9. And sell the land Passe it away utterly from you The earth is the Lords he is the true Proprietary Ver. 13. I will also destroy their idols He did so by Cambyses See on ver 6. he doth so still by the Turkes when they invade Popish countries they break down their mawmets Out of Neph Called also Moph Hos 9.6 afterwards Memphis the Metropolis of idolatry Nazianzen calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mad City because mad-set upon idols Apis especially afterwards Babylon and now Aleair 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the Lords great goodnesse who being so shamefully slâ—ghted by the sinful sons of men doth yet swear his readinesse to receive them graciously who have revolted grievously Well might Nazianzen say that God delighteth in nothing so much as in mans conversion and salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil i. e. he would we should fear him Suffâ—ndere mavult sanguinem quam effundere Tertul. not fall by his hand redire nos sibi non perire desiderat as Chrysologus phraseth it return unto him not perish from the way Psal 2.12 For why will ye dye Turn ye must or burn See chap 18.31 32. Ver. 12. Say unto the children The same as before only with a Proviso of Perseverance in well-doing for else all 's lost Non enim quaeruntur in Christianis initia sed finis saith Hierom The end is better then the beginning Ver. 13. When I shall say to the righteous See on chap. 18.24 If he trust to his own righteousnesse As thinking that he hath thereby purchased a license to commit iniquity Ver. 14. Thou shalt surely dye Viz. Except thou repent for that altereth the case Poenitency is almost as good as innocency If he turn from his sin and do These two parts make up true Repentance Ver. 15. Give again that he had robbed Quod rapuit reddideret The law for restitution see Num. 5.6 7. Ver. 16. None of his sins This is point-blank against the doctrine of Purgatory Ver. 17. Yet the children of the people say This was a second cavil of theirs See ver 10. and chap. 18.25 Archesilas was surnamed Cavillator so might these well have been Their way is not equal There is no equity at all in this causelesse quarrel of theirs Ver. 18. When the righteous turneth To set them down if right reason would do it and man should be mancipium rationis a slave to reason he repeateth what he hath said before Ver. 19. He shall live thereby Provided that he rest not in his righteousnesse but learn to live by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. Ver. 20. Yet ye say But therein ye lye which is not the guise of Gods children Isa 63.8 I will judge you every one after his wayes And so wring a testimony if not from your mouthes yet from your consciences of mine impartial Justice such as is that Deut. 32.4 A God of truth and without iniquity just and right is He. Ver. 21. In the twelfth year Some read the eleventh year and indeed it was wonder that such ill news came no sooner for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Sophocles Superstes stragis That one that had escaped This God had promised chap. 24.26 The City is smitten i. e. Sacked and burnt This man spoke much in few Ver. 22. The hand of the Lord i. e. The Spirit of the Lord which acted me and caried me out 2 Pet. 1.21 See 1 Cor. 12.3 And my mouth was opened As God had promised chap. 24.27 And this fell out before the messengers narration This was much for the prophets honour Ver. 23. Then the Word of the Lord See chap. 18.1 Ver. 24. They that inhabit those wasts of the land of Israel Those poor few now left in the land 2 King 25.12 22. Jer. 40.5 c. Surely they are poor they are foolish they have lost the fruit of their affliction miserrimi facti sunt pessimi permanent as Austin saith of some in his time they are never the lesse wicked for being wretched Verba facis populi recitat Abrahae se conferre imò praeferre audebant Speak Bubbles of words Antiquum obtinent They are no changelings not at all crest-faln Abraham was one And no such one but that we may match him Thus these proud hypocrites set up their counter for a thousand pound and stand upon their comparisons without all shame or sense The land is given to us And here we will hold our own for we are well worthy Ver. 25. Ye eat with the blood Which wicked Saul would not do 1 Sam. 14. much lesse would righteous Abraham have done it sith it was against the light and letter of the Law Gen. 9.4 Levit. 7.26 Deut. 12.16 Nay ye do worse things and are you Abraham's children and heirs of the promised land together with that faithful Patriarch I trow not See a like manner of reasoning Mic. 2.7 Joh. 8.39 So the learned Linaker having read our Saviours Sermon in the mount and considering how little it is lived amongst us brake out into these words Certainly either this is not Gospel or we are not right Gospellers Ver. 26. Ye stand upon your sword Vivitur ex rapto He that hath the longest sword carrieth it amongst you ye are also very revengeful ready to say with him in the Poet Caparene ap Statum Theb. 2. Mezent ap Virg. Aeneid 10. Martin VI. vald in candelab virtus mihi numen ensis Quem teneo Dextra mihi deus telum quod missile libro Ye work abomination This R. Solomon understandeth de Venere obscaeniore It is in the original ye women work abomination as prostituting your selves to an unnatural filthinesse as the Casuists complain still of some Spanish Curtezans And shall ye possesse the land q. d. Ye shall be set up what should you expect better then exilium excitium banishment and destruction Ver. 27. They that are in the wastes Ver. 24. Shall dye of the pestilence Or else of the famine which is worse When where and how this was fulfilled upon them we read not In Egypt likely whither they went after Gedaliah's death if not sooner at home as Jeremy also had fore-prophecyed chap. 42 43 44. Ver. 28. For I will lay the land most desolate Heb. desolation desolation God made clean work there there was not a Jew left in the Country See Zach. 7.14 Ver. 29. Then shall they know By woful experience Ver. 30. The children of thy people These Captives in Babylon no whit better then those in Jury Still are talking Detracting from thee and deriding thee By the walls Susurros miscentes clancularios Vti otiosi sanniones in foro facere solent fearing left any one behind them should hear them they get the walls at their backs Come I pray you and hear Thus they jear and there are too many such scoffers at this day Ver. 31. And they come unto thee Very goodly And they sit before thee Very demurely and to see to devoutly taking up all the seats They hear thy Words But they were as heartlesse in hearing as they were listlesse in praying ver 10. They will not do them Of the Athenians also it was said of old that they knew well what was good and right but would do neither Their heart goeth after their covetousnesse Their heart is on their half-penny as we say neither can the Load-stone of Gods Word hale them one jot from the earth It should be Sursumcorda but when
his dominion without dimension Ver. 3. A portion for Naphthali There are many portions of inheritance in Christs Kingdom there are also in heaven many mansions Joh. 14.2 all which shall be divided among the Elect. Ver. 4. A portion for Manasseh Which they do not of their own accord and as they see good seize upon but take their share set them out of the divine sentence Ver. 5. A portion for Ephraim An equal portion with his elder brother Manasseh In Christs Kingdom all is of grace nothing of merit Ver. 6. And by the border of Ephraim There is a continuity and conjunction of all the portions to set forth the communion that is betwixt the Saints a sweet mercy a heaven aforehand Ver. 7. A portion for Judah Who is set next to the sanctified oblation of the Lord wherein were the portions of the Priests Levites City and Prince He must be a Jew inwardly a confessour and witness of the truth who shall have part and portion in the priviledges of Gods people Ver. 8. Shall be the offering Whereof see chap. 45.1 2 3 c. Of 25000. reeds Which being exactly cast up saith one come to 45. miles and therefore cannot be meant of any City to be built by the Jews again after their return from Babylon but must be understood of the Church under the Gospel Ver. 9. Vnto the Lord As distinguishing it from other oblations here stood the Sanctuary Ver. 10. And for them even for the Priests No mention is here made of Cities of refuge as of old for they shall not hurt nor destroy in all Gods holy mountain but the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Esa 11.9 Ver. 11. Of the sons of Zadok See chap. 44.15 16 c. Which went not astray To be faithful with God in a common defection is a singular praise See my Righteous mans Recompense pag. 695. Ver. 12. And this oblation of the land Ministers of Gods Word may lawfully take maintenance of the Church 1 Cor. 9. Ver. 13. The Levites shall have But after the Priests There are degrees of officers in the Church and good order must be well observed there Five and twenty thousand in length These several portions set together make up a perfect square which serveth well to set forth the beauty and firmity of the Church of Christ Ver. 14. And they shall not sell of it This law is here occasionally and by the way inserted It seemeth to hold forth that lands given to the Ministers of Christ under the New Testament may never be again taken away or put to any other use but to their maintenance for ever See Mr. Clarks Mirrour chap. of Sacriledge The first-fruits of the land i. e. This part thus consecrated to God as the first-fruits of the earth were Ver. 15. Shall be a profane place i. e. A common place and so all Israel were profane in a sense sc as compared to the Priests and Levites those consecrated persons Symmachus and Theodotion reader it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Deut. 20.6 And the City shall be in the midst thereof Ten miles at least distant from the Temple some say many more to shew say they what a long way he must go that would attain to eternal life he must get above the world howsoever who would serve God acceptably Ver. 16. And these shall be measures thereof This representation is meerly figurative and mystical shewing us how specious and spacious the Church of Christ is Ver. 17. And the suburbs of the City These were much larger then the suburbs of the Temple as may be observed by comparing chap. 40. See chap. 45.2 Ver. 18. For food to them that serve the City To all the Citizens who all are to turn servitours to their fellow-brethren that come to the publike meetings to serve one another in love which they that do shall not lose their reward but verily they shall be fed Ver. 19. Shall serve it out of all the tribes i. e. At the common charge and by a general contribution Ver. 20. Ye shall offer the holy oblation foure square See on ver 13. All our dealings must be square or else we are not of the holy portion Epilogus est of the new Jerusalem Rev. 21.16 Ver. 21. And the residue shall be for the Prince His occasions are many and therefore his proportion is very large yet must he not be Regni dilapidator the Waster of the Kingdom by his profuseness as our Henry the third was called whereby he became ill beloved of his people Ver. 22. Being in the midst of that which is the Princes The Prince was taught by this position of his portion to have an equal care of Church and State Ver. 23. Benjamin shall have a portion The division of the land as it ended with Judahs portion in speaking of the seven former tribes ver 8. so here it beginneth with Benjamins in speaking of the five following Ver. 24 25 26 27. See the Notes on ver 2 3 4 5 6 7. Ver. 28. Even from Tamar Not Jericho but Palmira called afterwards Adrianople of the Emperour Adrian who rebuilt and beautified it And to the river The river of Egypt called Sihor Josh 13.3 Ver. 29. This is the land This is the Epilogue of the whole chapter as to the greatness of the holy City It remaineth only to touch at the situation and measures thereof the gates also and the Ministers together with their use and maintenance the elegancy lastly and perpetuity of the City For inheritance Not from the brook as Tremellius mis-translateth it Ver. 30. And these are the goings out of the City That is the utmost bounds as Rabbi Solomon glosseth Ver. 31. And the gates of the City Through which all the Israel of God both Jews and Gentiles from all parts Qua data porta ruunt do enter into the Church of Christ flowing and flocking thereto as waters do to the sea and as the doves to their windows Three gates Northward Twelve in all the reason whereof see in the Note on Rev. 21.13 One gate of Levi Who though he had no lot in the land yet he had a gate into the City as Vatablus here noteth Ver. 32. Four thousand and five hundred And the like on each side of all which are made up fifty and four miles at the least so large is the City of God Niniveh was nothing to it no more is Alcair Scandereon or Cambalu the Metropolis of Tartary which yet is said to be twenty eight miles about Ver. 33. One gate of Simeon Here all along the tribes are reckoned not as they were before in this Chapter but as they are set down in Numbers at the marching of the Tabernacle in the midst of them saving that whole Joseph hath here but one gate and Levi is taken into the number of the twelve tribes And forasmuch as it entreth not into the heart of man what God hath
for it came up four notable horns i. e. Four potent Princes out of the shipwrack of his Empire which four in processe of time came to two Dan. 11.5 6. Ver. 9. And out of one of them Out of the posterity of Seleucus King of Syria Came forth a little horn This was Antiochus sirnamed Epiphanes Illustrious Polybius called him Epimanes the mad man He is here called a little horn because he was vile and base from the very first to the last of him Indeed he was born a Prince but without a Kingdom a meer Nullatenensis till he became an V surper He was sent for an hostage to Rome by his father Antiochus Magnus whom the Romans had â—ndgeld into a treaty taking away from him the best part of his Kingdom After his fathers death he stole away from Rome and seized upon the Kingdom of Syria casting out of it his nephew Demetrius who was the right heir Afterwards he got into his hands also the Kingdom of Egypt under colour of Protectour to his young nephew Ptâ—lomy Philometor And being therehence discharged by the Romans and made to answer Parebo I will be gone he went thence in a rage and like a mad man recked his teem as we say upon the poor Jews playing the devil amongst them Toward the South i. e. Egypt And toward the East Persia which he also conquered And toward the pleasant land i. e. Judaea called here Decus Capreolus the delectable and desireable Country by reason of its great prerogatives So Ezek. 20.6 Psal 48.2 See there Ver. 10. And it waxed great even to the host of heaven Or against the host of heaven so the Church militant is called The Saints are the worlds great luminaries yea the only earthly Angels although wicked people count and call them the filth and off couring of all things And of the stars Such as shone in the light of holy doctrine Rev. 1.10 Persecutors spite is specially against such Zach. 13.7 Ver. 11. Yea he magnified himself extolled or extended himself such was his insolency Even to or against the Prince of the host Christ the Captain of his peoples sufferings and of their salvation Heb. 2.10 he bare an hostile spirit against the God of the Jews such an hell-bound hardly ever was born casting him out of his place and setting up in his room Jâ—piter Olympius that is the devil he defaced also and burnt up the books of the Law all he could light on 1 Mac. 1.59 Ver. 12. And an host was given him Or the host was given over for the trasgression against the daily sacrifice The Jewes were grown to a great height of profanesse even in Malachies dayes as is to be seen chap. 1 2 3. And by this time doubtlesse they were become much worse God therefore for punishment turned this Tiger loose upon them And it cast down the truth to the ground The doctrine of truth together with the Professors thereof The like whereunto is still done by the Romish Antichrist to whom some apply all this part of the Chapter as the proper and genuine sense of the Text. See the visions and Prophecies of Daniel expounded by Mr. Thomas Parker of Newbery in New-England pag. 43 44 c. And it practised and prospered Wicked practises against Religion may prosper for the time Acts 12.1 2 3. It was therefore no good argument that the Earl of Darby used to George Marsh Martyr telling him that the Dukes of Northumberland and of Suffolk and other of the new perswasion had ill luck Act. Mon. 1421. and were either put to death or in danger so to be And again he rehearsed unto him the good hap of the Queens highnesse and of those that held with her and said that the Duke of Northumberland confessed so plainly Ver. 13. And I heard one Saint speaking i. e. One holy Angel for they are sollicitous of Gods glory and sensible of the Saints sufferings whereof they would have a speedy end and should not we be so too weeping with those that weep and rejoycing with those that rejoyce And another Saint said unto that certain Saint which spake Anonymo illi qui loquebatur so Piscator rendereth it others To the wonderful Numberer who spake i. e. who commanded Gabriel to declare the vision to Daniel ver 16. This was Jesus Christ the Wisdom and Word of God He who knoweth all the secrets of his Father as perfectly as if they were numbred before him How long shall be the vision It appeareth then that Angels know not all secrets but that their knowledge is limited they know not so much but they would know more Ephes 3.10 1 Pet. 1.12 Concerning the daily sacrifice The losse whereof was a just matter of lamentation to godly minds See Zeph. 3.18 And the transgression of desolation Transgression is a land-desolating evil Lam. 1.9 And the host to be trodden under foot i. e. The Professors of the truth were over-turned some by perswasion others by persecution Ver. 14. And he 〈◊〉 unto me Not to the Angel but to me who should have proposed the question the holy Angel did it for me Vnto two thousand and three hundred dayes Heb. to the evening and morning two thousand and three hundred i. e. to so many natural dayes consisting of 24. hours which in all do make up six years three moneths and twenty dayes This point of skil Daniel here learneth of the Wonderful Numberer Christ who hath all secrets in numerato and will put a timely period to his peoples afflictions Not full seven years did they suffer here much lesse Seventy as once in Babylon How he moderateth the matter See on Rev. 2.10 How this Prophecy was fulfilled See 1 Maccab. 1.12 13 14. 2 Maccab. 4.12 c. with 1 Maccab. 4.52 Ver. 15. And it came to passe when I even I Daniel Not another as that black-mouthed Porphyry slanderously affirmed that not the Prophet Daniel saw Porphyr cont Christian l. 12. Hieronym and uttered these Prophecyes so long before they fell out but another who lived after the reign of Antiochus wrot an history of things past and entitled it falsely to Daniel as a prophecy of things to come Oâ—durum Then behold there stood before me They who seriously and sedulously seek after divine knowledge shall finde means to attain unto it Rev. 13.1 Ver. 16. And I heard a mans voice This was the Man Christ Jesus the great Doctour of his Church and Commander of Angels viro similis quia incarnandus Make this man to understand Angels and Ministers make men to understand secrets give the knowledge of salvation to Gods people Luke 1.77 not by infusion but by instruction Ver. 17. So he came near where I stood Let our obedience be like that of the Angels prompt and present I was afraid Through humane frailty and conscience of sin Vnderstand O son of man Ezekeil and Daniel only of all the Prophets are so called haply lest they should be exalted
of Syria went to Jerusalem and in thankfulness to the God of the Jews offered his oblations at the Temple there Antiq. l. 12. c. 2 Of his father Philadelphus also he reporteth that he redeemed one hundred and twenty thousand Jews that were slaves in Egypt and sent them home and bestowed many rich gifts upon the Temple at Jerusalem Ver. 10. But his sons Callinicus his sons viz. Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus Magnus quasi duo fulmina belli Shall be stirred up At not enduring that Ptolomy Philepator son of Euergetes should possesse any part of Syria under their noses Lib 5. Shall assemble a multitude of great forces Seventy thousand footmen and fifty thousand horsemen saith Polybius Ceraunius id est fulminem quod audaci veloci ingenio praeditus Justin And one shall certainly come One not both because Ceraunus who seemed to be as swift and as irresistible as Lightning and therehence had his name was slain by Nicanor so that Antiochus Magnus was King alone And shall overflow and passe thorough To wit against the Captains of Ptolomy in Syriae Attalus and Theodatus And he shall be stirred up even to his fortresse To Ptolomies fortress or fortified City Raphia which lyeth in the entrances of Egypt saith Hierom. Ver. 11. And the King of the South Ptolomaeus Philopator so called say some per Antiphrasin because he killed his father he slew also his both sister and wife Eurydice and was otherwise very vicious and yet victorious Even with the King of the North i. e. With Antiochus Magnus who was so called perhaps saith one for undertaking much and performing little Pausan lib. 5. Spoliavisset regno Antiochum si fortunam virtute juvisset Justin And he shall set forth a great multitude Sixty two thousand footmen and six thousand horsemen And the multitude Antiochus his army himself hardly escaping with life through the deserts Ver. 12. His heart shall be lifted up So that he shall flight his enemy and not pursue his victory but give himself up to a luxurious life Vincere scis Annibal victoriauti nescis said that Roman General Ver. 13. For the King of the North Antiochus Magnus Shall return After Philopators death to fight against his yong son and successor Epiphanos Hierom. And shall set forth a multitude greater then the former Gathered out of the upper parts of Babylon He called in the help also of Philip King of Macedon and other Princes His army is said to have consisted of three hundred thousand footmen besides horse and Elephants And shall certainly come Heb. by coming he shall come i. e. surely swiftly suddenly but to small purpose Lib. 2. c. 8. Lib. 5. c. 5. And with much riches Gold silver purple silkes ivory at Florus and Gâ—llius testifie Ver. 14. And in those times there shall many stand up against the King of the South Many of the Jews who supplyed Antiochus in this expedition of his against Egypt Effractores Praevaricatoâ—es both with men and other warlike provision Howbeit sundry Jews called here robbers or refractories fierce furious and desperate fellows adhered to Ptolomy Epiphanes who gave them leave to build a Temple in Egypt which was accordingly also done by Onias not far from Memphis upon pretence of fulfilling that prophecy Isa 19.19 called here establishing the vision But they shall fall As they did afterwards by the Romans who destroyed the Jews there in great multitudes and burnt their mock Temple Ver. 15. So the King of the North shall come i. e. Not the Romans as some would have it but Antiochus Magnus still He had been foiled at Raphia now he greatly prevaileth against the Egyptians If we Princes said our Henry the seventh shall take every occasion that is offered the world shall never be quiet but wearied with continual wars And the armes of the South shall not withstand Scopas the Egyptian General though very skilful and valiant shall be beaten by Antiochus into Sidon besiged there and forced to yeild all the power of Egypt being not able to raise the siege and relieve Scopas The battle is not alwayes to the strong Eccles 9.11 Ver. 16. And he shall stand in the glorious land Heb. the land of ornaments that is Judaea which lying betwixt these two potent Princes was perpetually afflicted as corn is ground asunder lying betwixt two heavy milstones Now Judaea is called the glorious or beautiful land Ezek. 20.6 15. it is called the comeliness of all countries not so much for the fertility thereof Babylon was much more fertile nor for the miracles done therein many great works had been likewise done in Egypt as for the sincere service of God there set up This is the beauty and bulwark of any Nation Forrain writers have termed England The fortunate Island the Terraflorida the Kingdom of God the Paradise of pleasure c Plato commendeth the Attick Country for this that the Inhabitants were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the right Natives that grew out of it at first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thucyd. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato but especially for this that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a place that loved God and was interchangeably beloved of God May that be evermore Englands commendation Which by his hand shall be consumed Gods Church goes to wrack both by South and North. All she comfort is that whether North or South-wind blow on Gods garden they shall blow good to it at length Cant. 4.16 Ver. 17. He shall also set his face Antiochus longed sore to be Lord of Egypt and therefore undertook a third expedition against Epiphanes but that not succeeding to his mind he seweth the Foxes skin to the Lyons hide and seeketh to get that by treachery which by open hostility he could not And upright ones with him Or equal conditions with him he shall palliate his treachery with very fair pretences he shall seem to do righteous things drawing a fair glove over a foul hand Thus shall he do And he shall give him the daughter of women The fair Cleopatra his beautiful daughter like as Saul gave Michal to David to be a snare to him Filiam è mulieribus selectamâ— Munera pulchrae quidem mittis sed mittis in hamo Martial Corrupting her Suborning her to make away her husband Ptolomaeus Epiphanes This was devilish policy Simulata necessitudo duplex simultas but it took not But she shall not stand on his side neither be for him As became a good wife she â—lave to her husband so did the above-mentioned Michal in whom though we find no great store of religion for both she had an image in the house and afterwards mocked David for his devotion yet nature had taught her to prefer an husband to a father Ver. 18. After this he shall turn his face unto the Isles Missing of his design for Egypt and losing also much in Asia Minor which Epiphanes got of him by means
to enter into Egypt This was to go out of Gods blessing as we use to say into the worlds warm sun-shine this was to put themselves into the punishing hands of the living God Ver. 18. Because of the Chaldaeans for they were afraid of them But they should rather have sanctified the Lord God in their hearts and made him their dread as Esay 8.13 The fear of man bringeth a snare but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Prov. 29.25 See the Notes there Ob incustodiaÌ„ Because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah And together with him many Chaldaeans whom Johanan and his captaines should have cautioned and better guarded as the King of Babylon would better tell them they thought and withall punish them for their neglect CHAP. XLII Ver. 1. THen all the Captains of the forces and Johanan Or even Johanan he among the rest and above the rest Ille huic negotio non interfuit modo sed etiam praefuit And Jezaniah the son of Hoshajah Brother belike to that Azariah chap. 43.2 a noble pair of brethren in evil And all the people Who follow their Rulers as in a beast the whole body followeth the head Drew near They came as clients use to do for learned counsel Ver. 2. Let we beseech thee our supplication be accepted before thee Here they seem to humble themselves before Jeremiah the Prophet which because King Zedekiah did not he came to ruine 2 Chron. 26.12 And pray for us unto the Lord thy God Good words may be found even in hell-mouth sometimes Who would think but these men had spoken what they did unfainedly and from their very hearts when as it soon after appeared that all was no better then deep dissimulation They had made their conclusion aforehand to go down to Egypt only in a preâ—ence of piety and for greater credit they would have had Gods approbation which sith they cannot they will on with their design howsoever fall back fall edge O most hateful hypocrisy O contumacy worthy of all mens execration Ver. 3. That the Lord thy God may shew us the way But they had set themselves in the way to Egypt before they came with this request to the Prophet why went they else to Geruth Chimham the rode toward Egypt chap. 41.17 why were they also so peremptory when they knew Gods mind to the contrary chap. 43. And the thing that we may do Good words all along but those we say are light cheap Quid vero verba quaero facta cum videam they were as forward to speak fair as their ancestours were in the wildernesse but oh that there were a heart in this people saith God to do as they have said Ver. 4. I have heard you behold I will pray The wisdom from above is perswasible easie to be intreated Jam. 3. ult and good men are ready to every good work Tit. 3.1 Jeremy hoped they might speak their whole hearts and promiseth to do his best for them both by praying and prophecying Whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you I will declare Sic veteres nihil ex se vel potuerunt vel protulerunt The Prophets spake as they were inspired by the Spirit of truth Christ spake nothing but what was consonant to the holy Scriptures The Apostles delivered to the Churches what they had received of the Lord Irenaeus lib. 3. Eccles hist lib. 4. cap. 14. 1 Cor. 11.23 Polycarp told the Churches that he delivered nothing to them but what he had received of the Apostles c. Ver. 5. The Lord be a true and faithful witnesse between us Did these men know what it was so solemnly to swear a thing Or were they stark Atheists thus to promise that with an oath which they never meant to perform At sperate Deum memorem fandi atque nefandi Their King Zedekiah paid dear for his perjury to God and men Ver. 6. Whether it be good or whether it be evil i. e. Whether it please us or crosse us Veniat veniat verbum Domini submittemus ei sexcenta si nobis essent colla said a good man once that is Let Gods Word come to us once and he shall be obeyed whatever come of it These in the text seem to say as much but they say it only neither was it much to be liked that they were so free of their promises and all in their own strength without any condition of help from heaven as if the matter had been wholly in their own hands and they had had free-will to whatsoever good purpose or practice O coecas mentes hominum We will obey the voyce of the Lord Yes as far as a few good words will go Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest Ovid. Ver. 7. And it came to passe that after ten dayes So long God held his holy Prophet in request and so he doth still his best servants many times thereby tying as it were the sacrifice to the hornes of the Altar How impatient those wretched Roysters were of such a delay we may well imagine the Chinois use to whip their gods when they will not hear and help them forthwith but God held them off as unworthy of any answer and seemed by his silence to say unto them as Ezek. 20.3 Are ye come to enquire of me As I live saith the Lord God I will not be enquired of by you Ver. 8. And all the people from the least unto the greatest For the Word of God belongeth to all of all sorts and as the lesser fishes bite soonest so the poor are Gospellized Mat. 11.5 when the richer stand out Ver. 9. Vnto whom ye sent me to present your supplication Heb. to make your supplication fall in his presence This I have not ceased to do ever since but had no answer till now and it may be that now you may the better regard it Cito data cito vilescunt Ver. 10. Then will I build you Promittitur felicitatio parabola ab architectura agricultura desumpta God promiseth to blesse and settle them by a two fold similitude used also by the Apostle 1 Cor. 3.9 ye are Gods husbandry ye are Gods building See chap. 24.6 For I repent me of the evil A term taken from men Gen. 6.6 though repentance in men is a change of the will but repentance in God is only the willing of a change mutatio rei non Dei See chap. 18.8 Ver. 11. Fear not the King of Babylon See on chap. 41.18 For I am with you to save you Not only to protect you from the Babylonian but also to encline his heart to clemency toward you ver 12. Ver. 12. And I will shew mercyes unto you Tender mercyes such as proceed from the bowels and of a parent nay a mother This was more then all the rest Ver. 13. But if ye say We will not dwell in this land Because more barren then Egypt and besides beset with many and mighty enemies Neither