they can the pictures of their young age that in old age they may see their youth before their eyes This is but a vanity yet may good use bee made thereof So contrarily the Preacher here draws out to the life the picture of old age that young men may see and consider it together with death that follows it and after death judgement And the strong men shall bow themselves Nutabunt the leggs and thighs shall stagger and faulter cripple and crinkle under them as not able to bear the bodies burden The thigh in Latine is called femur a ferendo because it beareth and holdeth up the creature and hath the longest and strongest bone in the whole body The legg hath a shin-bone and a shank-bone aptly fitted for the better moving The foot is the base the ground and pedestal which sustaineth the whole building These are Solomons strong men but as strong as they are yet in old age they buckle under their burden and are ready to overthrow themselves and the whole body Genua â—abant Virg. Hence old men are glad to betake them to their third legg a staff or crutch Membra levant baculis tardique senilibus annis Hence Hesiod calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them learn to lean upon the Lord as the Spouse did upon her Beloved Cant. 8.5 and hee will stir up some good Job to bee eyes to them when blinde and feet to them when lame chap. 29.15 Let them also pray with David Cast mee not off in the time of old age forsake mee not when my strength faileth Psal 71.9 And the grinders cease because they are few The teeth through age fall out or rot out or are drawn out or hang loose in the gumms and so cannot grind and masticate the meat that is to bee transmitted into the stomach for the preservation of the whole Now the teeth are the hardest of the bones Lactant. de opif. Dei if that they bee bones whereof Aristotle makes question They are as hard as stones in the edges of them especially and are here fitly compared to Mill-stones from their chewing office The seat of the teeth are the jaws where they have their several sockets into which they are mortised But in old men they stand wet-shod in slimy humor or are hollow and stumpy falling out one after another as the coggs of a Mill so that Frangendus misero gingiva panis inermi Juvenal And those that look out at the windows The eyes are dim as they were in old Isaac and Jacob. An heavy affliction surely but especially to those that have had eyes full of adultery evil eyes windows of wickedness for the conscience of this puts a sting into the affliction is a thorn to their blinde eyes 2 Pet. 2. and becomes a greater torment than ever Regulus the Roman was put to Plut. Oculus ab occalendo Turk hist when his eye-lids were cut off and hee set full opposite to the Sun shining in his strength Or than that Grecian Prince that had his eyes put out with hot burning basons held near unto them Vers 4. And the doors shall bee shut in the streets The ears shall grow deaf the hearing weak which hearing is caused by two bones within the inside of the ear whereof one stands still and the other moves like the two stones of a Mill. And hee shall rise up at the voice of the Bird Being awakened by every small noise and this proceeds not from the quickness of the hearing but from the badness of sleeping For as Hierome speaketh Frigescente jam sanguine c. Hieron in hunc vers The blood now growing cold and the moisture being dried up by which matters sleep should bee nourished the old man awakeneth with a little sound and at midnight when the Cock croweth hee riseth speedily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur quia nos a lecto exsuscitat being not able often to turn his members in his bed Thus hee Cocks crowing saith another unto old men is the scholars bell that calls them to think of the things that are in Gods Book every morning And all the daughters of musick shall bee brought low Old men as they cannot sing tunably Nam quae cantante voluptas Juvenal but creak or scream whence Homer compares them to Grashoppers propter raucam vocem for their unpleasant voice so they can take no delight in the melodious notes of others as old Barzillai confesseth 2 Sam. 19.35 they discern not the harmony or distinction of sounds neither are affected with musick They must therefore labour to become Temples of the Holy Ghost in whose Temple there never wants musick and sing Psalms with grace in their hearts for Non vox sed votum non musica chordula sed Cor Non clamans sed amans psâ—llit in aure Dei Vers 5. Also when they shall bee afraid of that which is high Hillocks or little stones standing up whereat they may stumble as being unsteddy and unweildy High ascents also they shun as being short-winded neither can they look down without danger of falling their heads being as weak as their hamms Let them therefore pray for a guard of Angels putting that promise into suit Psal 91. Let them also keep within Gods precincts as ever they expect his protection and then though old Eli fell and never rose again yet when they fall they shall arise for the Lord puts under his hand Psal 37.24 Contrition may bee in their way but attrition shall not Let them fear God and they need not fear any other person or thing whatsoever And the Almond-tree shall flourish The hair shall grow hoary those Churchyard-flowers shall put forth Plin. lib. 16. cap. 25. The Almond-tree blossomes in January while it is yet winter and the fruit is ripe in March. Old age shall snow white hairs upon their heads Let them see that they bee found in the way of Righteousness And the Grashopper shall bee a burden Every light matter shall oppress them who are already a burden to themselves being full of Gowt and other swellings of the leggs which the Septuagint and Vulgar point at here when they render it impinguabitur locusta The Locusts shall bee made fat Let them wait upon the Lord as that old Disciple Mnason did and then they shall renew their strength Act. 11. mount up as Eagles run and not bee weary walk and not faint even then when the youth shall faint and bee weary and the young men utterly fall Isa 40.30 31. And desire shall fail The lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life 1 John 2.15 And this Tully reckons among the commodities and benefits of old age quod hominem a libidinis estu velut a tyranno quodem liberet that it frees a man from the fire of lust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It should bee so doubtless an old Letcher
a potent enemy that comes to dethrone thee then a ceiling of Cedar What if thy Cedar putrify not can it secure thee that thou perish not Ah never think it Did not thy father eate and drink Live chearfully and comfortably enjoying peace and prosperity through his righteousnesse and piety And then it was well with him Heb. then was good to him though he did not flaunt it out in sumptuous buildings But you have great thoughts and will not take it as your father did Ver. 16. He judged the cause of the poor and needy And so took a right course a thriving way Prov. 29.4 Was not this to know me saith the Lord i. e. To shew that he knew me soundly and savingly whilest he exercised his general calling in his particular and observed the first Table of the Decalogue in the second Ver. 17. But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousnesse That 's all thou mindest and lookest after oculis atque animo intentus ad rem Hearts they have saith Peter of such exercised with covetous practices cursed children 2 Pet. 2.14 William Rufus is in story noted for such another Ver. 18. They shall not lament for him By his exactions he had so far lost his peoples affections that none were found either of his Allyes or others that bewailed his death but Jehorâ—m-like as he had lived undesired so he dyed unlamented Edwin-like Daniel Hist Turk Hist as he lived wickedly so he dyed wishedly Mahomet-like he lived feared of all men and dyed bewailed of none See the contrary promised to his brother Zedekiah for his curtesie to Jeremy chap. 34.5 Ver. 19. He shall be buried with the burial of an asse His corps shall be cast out like carryon into some by-corner A just hand of God upon this wicked one that he who had made so many to weep should have none to weep over him he who had such a stately house in Jerusalem should not have a grave to house his carcasse in sed insepulta sepultura elatus Philippic 1. as Tully phraseth it but without the ordinary honour of burial should be cast out or thrown into a ditch or a dunghil to be devoured by the beasts of the earth and fouls of heaven Our Richard the second for his exactions to maintain a great Court and Favourites lost his Kingdome was starved to death at Pomfret-Castle and scarce afforded common burial King Stephen was enterred in Feversham-Monastery but since his body for the gain of the lead wherein it was coffined was cast into the River Let great ones so live as that they meet not in the end with the death of a dog the burial of an asse and the Epitaph of an Ox such as Aristotle calleth that of Sardanapalus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Or that of Pope Alexander the sixth and his Lucrece Hospes abi jacet hic scelus vitium Ver. 20. Go up to Lebanon and cry Johoiakim hath had his doom and his destiny read him Sub icit fata tristissima Jechonia followeth now Jehoiakims part and what for his obstinacy he shall trust to The Prophet beginneth this part of his discourse with a sarcasmae or scoffe at their carnal security and creature confidence Get up saith he into those high mountaines here mentioned Lebanon Bashan Abarim that look all toward Egypt and see if thence by crying and calling for help thou mayst be saved from the Chaldees who are coming upon thee but all shall be to small purpose But thy lovers are all destroyed The Egyptians to whom thou bearest a blind affection contrary to Gods Covenant Ver. 21. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity Heb. in thy prosperities or tranquillities Prosperity rendreth men refractory Demetrius called a peaceable and prosperous life a dead sea because being not tossed with any considerable troubles it slayeth the simple as Solomon hath it Prov. 1.32 Men are usually best when worst and worst when best like the snake which when frozen lyeth quiet and still but waxing warm stirreth and stingeth The parable of the sun and the wind is known Anglica gens est optimae fleus pessima ridens Some of those who in Queen Maries dayes kept their garments close about them wore them afterwards more loosly It is as hard to bear prosperity as to drink much wine and not be giddy It is at least as strong waters to a weak stomack which however they do not intoxicate yet they weaken the brain plus deceptionis semper habet quam delectationis able it is to entice and ready to kill the intangled In rest we contract rust neither are mens eares opened to hear instruction but by correction Job 33.16 God holdeth us to hard meat that he may be true to our souls Psal 119.75 This hath been thy manner from thy youth Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked is an old complaint Deut. 32.15 To have been an old sinner habituated and hardened in iniquity is no small aggravation of it Ezek. 20 13. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wildernesse c. there they murmured against God and Moses ten times forty years was he there grieved with that perverse generation They began as soon as ever they were moulded into a state like as Esau began to persecute Jacob in the very womb that no time might be lost Ver. 22. The wind shall eat all thy Pastors i. e. Vento vanitatis ut chamaleontes aere pascuntur The vain hope that thy Governours have in forreign helps shall deceive them for God will make the strongest sinew in the arm of flesh to crack and break Surely then shalt thou be ashamed When thou shalt see thy self so shamefully disappointed of humane helps which were never true to those that trusted them Ver. 23. O inhabitant of Lebanon Heb. O inhahitresse that is O Jerusalem who hast peirked thy self aloft and pridest thy self in thy strength and stateliness How gratious shalt thou be i. e. How ridiculous when thy lofty and stately roomes wherein thou art roosted shall be to thee but as groaning rooms to women in travel Ver. 24. At I live saith the Lord An oath which none may lawfully take but God himself who is Life it self It is therefore sinful for any one to say Aâ— I live such a thing is so or so That it is Gods oath see Num. 14.21 with Psal 95. ult Though Coniah So Jechoniah or Jehoiakin by an Apheresis is called in scorn and contempt Prepared he was of the Lord as his name signifieth for misery and yet he was now but eighten years old 2 King 24.8 Youth excuseth not those that are wicked This young King was scarce warm in his throne when carryed captive to Babylon Were the signet on my right hand Which is very carefully kept and carryed about See Cant. 8.6 Hag. 2.23 where good Zorobabel the nephew of this Jechoniah is called Gods signet Yet would I pluck thee thence This Nazianzen
on hell Whither shee is hastening and hurrying with her all her stallions and paramours See the Note on Chap. 2.18 19. and where by how much more deliciously they have lived by so much more they shall have of sorrow and torment Rev. 18.7 Vers 6. Lest thou shouldest ponder q. d. Lest thou shouldest perswade thy self that thou mayest imbrace the bosome of a stranger and yet lay hold upon the paths of life by repenting thee of thy folly this was Solomons errour sometimes Eccles 1.17 and 2.3 thou art utterly deceived herein for her wayes are moveable so that thou observest not whither shee tendeth shee wanders here and there and thou with her yet not so wide as to miss of hell lo that is the center whereunto shee is rowling that is the rendezvouz for all her associates in sin Vers 7. O yee children See Chap. 4.1 Shechem though at ripeness of age yet is called a childe Gen. 39.19 Neque distulit puer And the young man or the childe deferred not to do the thing A childe hee is called that is a fool quia non ratione sed affectu rapitur saith an Interpreter because not reason but lust over-ruld him Vereâ— As for thee thou shalt bee as one of the fools in Israel said shee to her libidinous brother Amnon 1 Sam. 23.13 Vers 8. Remove thy way far from her The Jesuits boast but beleeve them who will that they can dally with the fairest women without danger But hee that would not bee burnt must dread the fire Hee that would not hear the bell must not meddle with the rope Quid facies facies Veneris cum veneris ante Non sedeas sed eas ne pereas per eas Rom. 13.13 Exod. 23.7 Chambering and wantonness is a deed of darkness and dishonesty Come not nigh the doors Keep thee far from an evil matter saith Moses The plague and worse is at the Harlots house 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 6. stand off To venture upon the occasion of sin and then to pray Lead us not into temptation is all one as to thrust thy finger into the fire and then to pray that it may not bee burnt Was not hee a wise man that would haunt Taverns Theatres and Whore-houses at London all day Sheph. Sincere convert 232. but yet durst not go forth without private prayer in the morning and then would say at his departure Now Devil do thy worst Vers 9. Lest thou give thine honour i. e. Whatsoever within thee or without thee may make thee honourable or esteemed as the flower of thine age the comeliness of thy body the excellency of thy wit thy possibility of preferment that good opinion that the better sort had of thee c. How was David slighted by his own children and servants after hee had thus sinned Confer 1 Sam. 2.30 with 2 Sam. 12.10 Chastity is a mans honour 1 Thess 4.4 Castus quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ornatus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vâ—â—erabilis Deut. 32.33 And their years i. e. according to some thy wealth that thou hast been many years in gathering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the cruel That is to the harlot and her bastardly brood whom thou must maintain The Hebrews expound it of the Devil To the cruel i. e. Principi gehennae saith Solomon Angelo mortis saith another to the Prince of Hell to this Angel of Death Aczar the Hebrew word properly signifieth saith one the poyson of the Asp which paineth not at first but is deadly Vers 10. Lest strangers bee filled This sin is a purgatory to the purse though a paradice to the desires How soon had the Prodigal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wasted his portion when once hee fell among Harlots those sordida poscinummia Luke 15. those crumenimulgae Ask mee never so much gift and I will give it said Shechem Gen. 34.12 what pledge shall I give thee and shee said Thy signet thy bracelets c. Gen. 37.18 and if shee had asked more shee might have had it Ask what thou wilt and it shall bee given thee said Herod to his dancing Damosel Nay hee sware to her that whatsoever shee should ask hee would give it her to the half of his Kingdome Mar. 6.22 so strongly was hee inchanted and bewitched with her tripping on the toe and wanton dancing This detestable sin is able to destroy Kings as Solomons Mother taught him Prov. 31.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tripudiabat Baccharum mâ—re And surely Solomon by the many women that hee kept was so exhausted in his estate for all his great riches that hee was forced to oppress his subjects with heavy taxes and tributes which occasioned the revolt of ten Tribes The whore lyeth in wait for a prey Prov. 23.20 and by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a morsel of bread to extream beggery Prov. 6.26 Vers 11. And thou mourn at the last Heb. And thou roar Zeph. 3.5 as being upon the rack of an evil conscience and in the suburbs of Hell as it were whiles the just Lord makes thee even here possess the sins of thy youth and writes bitter things against thee The word signifies to roar as a Lion or as the Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est mâ—rit agitatio Hom. Iliad H. vide Eustath Venus ab antiquis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicta or as the Devil doth For the Devils beleeve and tremble or roar James 2.19 Grecians ascribe the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the roaring of the Sea When thy flesh and thy body By the word here rendred body there are that understand the radical humor the natural moisture that maintains life and is much impaired by this sensual sin Avicenna doubted not to say that the emission of a little seed more than the body could well bear was a great deal more hurtful than the loss of forty times so much blood Gouts Palsies Epilepsies c. oft follow upon this sin But the French disease is the natural fruit of it such as will stick by men when their best friends forsake them Jesabel is cast into a bed and they that commit adultery with her into great tribulation Rev. 2.20 The Popish libidinous Clergy are smitten with ulcers Rev. 16.11 Their Pope Paul the fourth died ex nimio Veneris usu Runius de vit Pontif. saith the Historian by wasting his strength in filthy pleasure as the flame consumeth the candle Vers 12. And say How have I hated c. When cast out with the Prodigal and hath nothing left him but a diseased body a distressed soul then all too late hee fills the air with doleful complaints of his former folly and cries out as hee did Totum vitae meae tempus perdidi quia perditè vixi Bern. O what a wretch what a beast what a madded Devil
when unchangeably resolved upon their ruine he takes course to silence such pray not for this people Sanctum semen statumen terrae Isa 6.13 The innocent shall deliver the Island Job 22.30 Vers 9. If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man Such fools were the Pharisees though for their worldly wisdome called Princes of this world 1 Cor. 2.8 Matth. 11.16 17. Christ piped to them John mourned to them neither wrought upon them such was their peevishness and pertinacy in evil that they rejected the counsel of God against themselves Luk. 7.30 being ingrati gratiae Dei as Ambrose hath it receiving the grace of God in vain as Paul turning good nourishment into vitious humours as foul stomacks use to doe And as Wine a strong remedy against Hemlock yet mingled with it doubles the force of the poyson so was it with the most powerful means of grace mingled with their obstinacy and unbelief Tigers are enraged with perfumes and Vultures killed with Oyl of Roses as Aristotle writeth Vers 10. The bloud-thirsty hate the upright As Cain did Abel for his goodness 1 Joh. 3.12 and as many bloudy Villains still who bear about and so farre as they dare make use of Cains club to knock on the head Gods righteous Abels All hatred is bloudy but especially the habit of hatred No sight pleased Hannibal better than a ditch running over with mans bloud Nothing would satisfie Farnesius the Popes Champion but to ride his horse up to the skirts in the bloud of the Lutherans Charls the ninth of France Author of the Parisian Massacre looking upon the dead Carkass of the Admiral that stank by being long kept unburied uttered this most stinking speech Quam suavitèr olet cadaver inimici How sweet is the smell of an enemies carcass And the Queen-mother of Scotland beholding the dead bodies of her Protestant Subjects whom she had slain in battel said that she never saw a finer piece of Tapistry in all her life But the just seek his soul In a good sense as Psal 142.4 Seek the salvation of it as Christ did of his deadliest enemies as Paul did of his Country-men the Jews of whom five times he received forty stripes save one 2 Cor. 11.24 As the Disciples did of those spiteful Pharisees that had causelesly accused them Matth. 15.2 12. as that Martyr Master Saunders did My Lord said he to Bishop Bonner you seek my bloud Act. Mon. fol. 1358. and you shall have it I pray God you may be so baptized in it that you may hereafter loath bloud-sucking and so become a better man And another time when Steven Gardiner being prettily nipped and touched by the same Sanders said Carry away this frenzie fool to Prison hee answered that he did give God thanks which had given him at the last a place of rest and quietnesse where he might pray for the Bishops conversion If yee will not hear me speak for my self said another Martyr Ibid. then send mee to my Prison again among my Toades and Froggs which will not interrupt me whiles I pray to God for you Vers 11. A fool uttereth all his mind Hee is full of chinks and can hold nothing his heart lies so near his mouth that all will out suddenly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fool and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suddenly is from the same root He hath little command of himself at any time but especially when hee is angry then hee sputters and spues out all that he hath in his heart The Septuagint here translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A fool uttereth all his anger he pulls out his woodden dagger and cares not whom hee hits Bishop Bonner in his Visitation because the Bells rang not at his coming into Hadham nor the Church dressed up as it should called Doctor Bricket Knave and Heretick and striking at him gave Sir Thomas Josselin who then stood next to the Bishop a good flewet under the ear whereat the Knight somewhat astonied at the suddennesse of the quarrel said What meaneth your Lordship have you been trained up in Will Summers his School to strike him that stands next you The Bishop still in a rage either heard not or would not hear And when Mr. Fecknam would have excused him by his long imprisonment in the Marshalsey whereby he was grown testy he replied merrily Act. Mon. fol. 1340. So it seems Mr. Fecknam For now that he is come forth of the Marshalsey hee is ready to goe to Bedlam See Chap. 14.23 But a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards Or in an inner room Beachor in interiori aliquo loco in ulteriore animi recessu in the bottom and bosome of his mind till he see a fit season as knowing well that all truths are not fit for all times but discretion must bee used and taciturnity counted a vertue The Rabbins have this saying amongst them Masora sepes legi decimae divitiis vota sanctimoniae silentium sapientiae Silence is no less a mound to wisdome than vows are to holinesse tything to riches or their Masorites pains to the Law Open-heartednesse is a fruit of fool-hardinesse Gird up therefore the loyns of your minds with the golden girdle of meekness Dirke Abâ—th of wisdome and keep your mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before you Psal 39. Vers 12. If a ruler hearken to lyes all his servants are wicked Hee shall have his Aiones and Negones that will say as he saies and fit his humour to a hair as Doeg did Sauls as the false Prophets did Ahabs as Herods Courtiers did him on his birth-day-feast c. These were fit helves for such hatchets fit lattice for such lips fit servants for such masters Mobile mutatur semper cum principe vulgus Claudian Like Prince like people The common sort are like a flock of Cranes as the first fly all follow Or as in a beast the whole body follows the head Rulers are the Looking-glasses according to which most men dresse themselves Their sins doe much hurt as by Imputation 2 Sam. 24. the Prince sinned Delirant reges plectuntur Achivi the People suffered so by imitation for man is a creature apt to imitate and is led more by his eyes than by his ears Magis intuentur quid fecerit Jupiter quà m quid docuit Plato saith Augustine Jupiters adulteries drew the people to like wantonnesse Hence Chaerea in Terence Haec ego non facerem quae Jupiter fecit saith he Should I make dainty of doing that which Jupiter did Height of place ever addes two wings to sin Example and Scandal whereby it soars higher and flies much farther Let Rulers therefore look to it Let them not be partakers of other mens sins 1 Tim. 5.22 they have enow of their owne to answer for Potentes potenter torquebuntur let them take heed that the iniquity of their heels of those that follow them at the heels doth not compasse them about Psal
meet for the work and therefore not examining his religion entertained him into his service yea placed him over the family of Joseph admitted him into so much familiarity and so let loose the bridle of domestical discipline to him that he took state upon him as a young master in the house and soon after turned traitour and would needs be as his sonne and more The like is to be seen in Abner Ishbosheths servant who grew so haughty and haunty that he might not be spoken to 2 Sam. 3. And in Zimre whom his master Elah so favoured and esteemed that he made him captain over the half-part of his charets But this begger thus set on horse-back rides without reigns to the ruin of his master and his whole house 1 King 16.11 So true is that of the Poet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asperius nihil est humili dum surgit in altum Tobiah the servant is so insolent ther 's no dealing with him Vers 22. An angry man stirreth up strife See Chapter 15.18 and 16.21 And a furious man Hebr. A master of fury or one that is mastered and overmatched by his fury that hath no command of his passions but is transported by them or as some make the metaphor and the Original will well bear it is wedded to them as a man is to his wife commanded by them Plutarch as the Persian Kings were by their Concubines being captivarum suarum captivi slaves to their slaves Such a man being big with wrath not onely breeds contention but brings forth transgression in great abundance he sets his mouth against heaven and his tongue walketh through the earth c. Psal 73. he lets fly on both hands and lays about him like a mad man Vers 23. A mans pride shall bring him low For it sets God against him and Angels and men not good men onely but bad men too and those that are as proud as themselves For whereas one drunkard loves another and one thief another c. one proud person cannot endure another but seeks to undermine him that he alone may bear the bell carry the commendation the praise and promotion See chap. 11.12 and 15.33 and 18.12 Vers 24. Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul Sith to hold the bag is as bad as to fill it to consent to sin or to conceal it as bad as â—o commit it By the one as well as by the other a man may easily become as Coraeh did a sinner against his own soul and cruelly cut the throat of it Let our publike theevs look to this See Isa 1.23 He heareth cursing and bewrayeth it not See Levit. 5.1 with the Note To conceal treason is treason so here Have no fellowship therefore with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them Let me be counted proud or pragmatical saith Luther rather than found guilty of sinful silence Luth. Epist ad Staupiâ— whiles my Lord suffereth Vers 25. The fear of man bringeth a snare This cowardly passion expectorates and exposes a man to many both sinnes and sufferings And albeit faith when it is in the heart quelleth and killeth distrustful fear and is therefore fitly opposed to it in this sacred sentence yet in the very best Sense fights sore against Faith when it is upon its own dunghil I mean in a sensible danger Natures retraction of it self from a visible fear may cause the pulse of a Christian that beats truly and strongly in the main point the state of the soul to intermit and faulter at such a time as we see in the exampleâ— of Abraham Isaac David Peter others who shewed some trepiâ—ation and timidity and like fearful birds and beasts fell into the pits and toyls of the Hunter and hazzarded themselves to Gods displeasure The Chameleon is said to bee the most fearful of all Creatures and doth therefore turn himself into so many colours to avoyd danger which yet will not bee God equally hateth the timorous and the treacherous Fearful men are the first in that black bedrole Rev. 21.8 Tectus â—â—tus But he that trusteth in the Lord shall be safe Or set on high as on a rock his place of defence shall be munitions of rocks Isa 33.15 farre out of harms-way he shall be kept safe as in a tower of brass or town of war Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the youngmen shall utterly fall But they that wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as Eagles c. Isa 40.30 31. Like as the Cony that flyes to the holes in the rocks doth easily avoyd the dogs that pursue her when the Hare that trusts to the swiftnesse of her leggs is at length overtaken and tore in peeces So here Vers 26. Many seek the Rulers favour More than the love of God and so cast themselves into a second snare besides that vers 25. But as he that truly trusts in God will easily expel the fear of man so he that looks upon God as Judge of all from whose sentence there is no appeal will rather seek his face than the favour of any earthly Judge whatsoever Especially since whether the Judge clear him or cast him the judgement he passeth is from the Lord. Vers 27. An unjust man is an abomination to the just Who yet hates non virum sed vitium not the person of a wicked man but his sin as the Physician hates the Disease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but loves the Patient and strives to recover him hee abhorres that which is evil perfectly hates it Psal 139.22 hates it as hell so the Greek word signifies Rom. 12.9 hates it in his dearest friends as Asa did in his mother Maacha hates it most of all in himself as having the Divine Nature transfused into him whereby hee resembles God and that life of God whereunto sin he knows is a destructive poyson a sicknesse unto death Arist Rhetor. 1 Joh. 5. Hence his implacable and no lesse impartial hatred of all as well as any sin for all hatred is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle hath it to the whole kind It was said of Antony that he hated a Tyrant not Tyranny it cannot be said of a Saint he hates sinners not sin but the contrary And he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked So there is no love lost betwixt them The Devil hath set his limbes in all wicked people they are a Serpentine seed a viperous brood and the old enmity continues Gen. 3.15 see the Note there Antipathies there are in Nature as between the Elephant and Boar the Lion and Cock the Horse and the Stone called Taraxippe c. But this is nothing to that betwixt the godly and the wicked and why but because the ones works are good and the others evil and because the just man condemnes the unjust by his contrary courses yea hee affrights his heart and terrifies him with his presence and
but fell into a great perplexity of conscience acknowledged his fault to the Owner and promised restitution if ever able to make it And take the name of my God in vain Hee saith not lest I being poor steal and be fined burnt in the hand whipped c. No but lest I take thy name in vain that is cause thy name to stink among the ungodly open their mouths break down the banks of blasphemy by such a base sin committed by such a forward Professor Good men take Gods Name in vain no way so much as by confuting and shaming their Profession by a scandalous conversation such as becometh not the Gospel of Christ Moreover they count sin to bee the greatest smart in sin as being more sensible of the wound they therein give the glory of God than of any personal punishment Vers 10. Accuâ—e not a servant unto his Master Unless it be in an Ordinance for the benefit of both Much lesse may we falsly accuse Wives to their Husbands as Stephen Gardiner and other Court-parasites did King Henry the eighth his Wives to him of Adultery Heresie Conspiracy c. Children to their Parents as the Jesuits the Popes Bloud-hounds did Charls eldest Son of Philip King of Spain for suspicion of Heresie whereupon he was murdered by the cruel Inquisition one friend to another a sin that David could not endure Psal 101. and Christ the Son of David as deeply disliked it in the Pharisees those make-bates that by accusing his Disciples to him one while and him to his Disciples another while sought to make a breach in his Family by setting off the one from the other Lest he curse thee and thou be found guilty Lest to cry quittance with thee he rip up thy faults such as it will be for thy shame Et dici potuisse non potuisse râ—fâ—lli He that speaketh what he should not shall hear of what he would not Put them in mind to speak evil of no man falsly and rashly without cause and necessity And why For we our selves also even I Paul and thou Titus were sometimes foolish disobedient c. Tit. 3.1 2 3. and may haply hear of it to our shame and sorrow if wee irritate others thereunto by way of recrimination Vers 11. There is a generation that curseth their father An evil and an adulterous generation doubtless a bastardly brood as were those in the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 3. a generation of Vipers that make their way into the world by their Dammes death These monsters of men are doomed to destruction Levit. 20. Hell gapes for them as also it doth for such as revile or denigrate their Masters Magistrates Ministers Benefactours Ancients There is a certain Plant which our Herbalists call Herbam impiam or wicked endweed whose younger branches still yeeld flowers to over-top the elder Such weeds grow too rife abroad It is an ill soyl that produceth them But of this before Vers 12. There are a generation that are pure c. As the ancient Puritans the Novatians Donatists Catharists Illuminates Non habeo Domine cui ignoscas said one Justitiary I have done nothing Lord that needs thy pardon Yee are those that justifie your selves saith Christ to the Pharisees All these things have I done from my youth what want I yet said one of them that farre over-weened his own worth and raâ—ed himself above the market In all my labours they shall finde none iniquity in me saith guilty Ephraim that were sin Hos 12.8 that were a foul businesse to find iniquity in Ephraim whose iniquities were yet grown over his head as appears throughout that whole Prophecy That Man of Sin the Pope will needs be held sinless and sundry of his Votaries say they can supererrogate And are there not amongst us even amongst us such Sinners before the Lord that stand upon their Pantofles and proudly ask who can say black is their eye There is a generation of these that is a continual succession of them Such dust-heaps you may finde in every corner And yet is not washed from their filthinesse Either of flesh or spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 they wallow in sin like Swine and welter in wickednesse which is filth and bloud Isa 4.4 the vomit of a Dog 2 Pet. 2.22 the excrement of the Devil the superfluity or garbage of naughtinesse and the stinking filth of a pestilent Ulcer as the Greek words used by St. James chap. 1.21 doe signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole world lyeth in wickednesse 1 Joh. 5.19 as a Lubber in a Lake as a Carcase in its slime Nil mundum in mundo and yet who so forward to boast or their good hearts to God-ward Vers 13. Oh how lofty are their eyes The eyes are the seat of pride and disdain which peep out at these windows The Hebrews have a saying that a mans minde is soonest seen in oculis in loculis in piculis in his eyes expences cups See chap. 6.17 Vers 14. There is a generation whose teeth c. These are sycophants and greedy gripers Speed of whom before often in this book In the year 1235. there were spread through England certain Roman usurers called Caursinâ— quasi capientes ursi devouring bears quoth Paris who had intangled the King Nobles and all that had to do with them These were called the Popes Merchants Sanguisuga Hirudo ab haerendo Non missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 15. The Horse-leech hath two daughters That is two forks in her tongue whereby she first pricketh the flesh and then sucketh the blood Hereunto Salomon seemeth to resemble those cruel cormorants spoken of in the former verse By the horse-leech some understand the devil that great red Dragon red with the blood of souls which he hath sucked and swallowed 1 Pet. 5.8 seeking whom he may let down his wide gullet whiles he glut-gluts their blood as the young Eaglets are said to do Joh. 39.30 by a word made from the sound By the horse-leeches two daughters they understand Covetousness and Luxury whom the devil hath long since espoused to the Romish Clergy Jegna legundum Cujus avaritiae totus non sufficit orbis Cujus luxuriae meretrix non sufficit omnis Vers 16. The grave Which in Hebrew hath its name of craving It is a Sarcophagus feeds on flesh and it as little appears as once in Pharaohs lean kine or as in those that having a flux take in much but are neither fuller nor fatter The word here used may be rendered Hell called by the Latins Infernus ab Inferendo from the devils continual carrying in souls to that place of torment And the barren womb Barren women are most desirous of children which yet are certain cares but uncertain comforts How impatient was Rachel how importunate was Hannah One hath well observed that the barren women in Scripture had the
sure to finde it as in hony-pots the deeper the sweeter Such as so eat are called Christs friends by a specialty and such as so drink his beloved as Gregory here well observeth and they onely do thus that hear the Word with delight turn it in succum sanguinem concoct it incorporate it as it were into their souls and are so deeply affected with it that like drunken men they forget and let go all things else that they may retain and practice it These are not drunk with wine wherein is excess but filled with the Holy Ghost Ephes 5.16 Vers 2. I sleep but my heart waketh It was no sound sleep that she took Shee did not short aloud in the Cradle of security as those do whom the Devil hath cast into a deep Lethargy but napped and nodded a little and that by candle-light too as those wise Virgins did Matth. 25.5 Shee slept with open eyes as the Lion doth shee slept but half-sleep the Spirit was willing to wake but the flesh was weak and overwayed it as it fared with those sleepy Disciples Matth. 26.41 Fain would this flesh make strange of that which the Spirit doth embrace O Lord how loth is this loitering sluggard to pass forth into Gods path said Mr. Sanders in a letter to his wife Act. Mon. fol. 1359. a little afore his death with much more to like purpose As in the state of Nature men cared not for grace but thought themselves well enough and wise enough without so in the state of Grace they are not so carefull as they should Heaven must bee brought to them they will scarce go seek it 1 Pet. 1.13 And as the seven tribes are justly taxed by Joshua for their negligence and sloth in not seeking speedily to possess the Land God had offered them Josh 18.2 So may the most of Gods people be justly rebuked for grievous security about the heavenly Canaan They content themselves with a bare title or hang in suspense and strive not to full assurance they follow Christ but it is as the people followed Saul trembling they are still troubled with this doubt or that fear and all because they are loth to be at the pains of working out their salvation Phil. 2.12 Something is left undone and their conscience tells them so Either they are lazy and let fall the watch of the Lord neglecting duty or else they lose themselves in a wilderness of duties by resting in them and by making the means their Mediatours or by pleasing themselves with the Church here in unlawful liberties after that they have pleased the Lord in lawful duties The flesh must bee gratified and such a lust fulfilled A little more sleep a little more slumber in Jezabels bed as Mr. Bradford was wont to phrase it Solomon must have his wine Act. Mon. and yet think to retain his wisdome Eccles 2.3 Samson must fetch a nap on Dalilahs knees till God by his Philistims send our summons for sleepers wake them in a fright cure security by sorrow as Physicians use to cure a Lethargy by casting the Patient into a Burning Feaver Cold diseases must have hot and sharp remedies The Church here found it so And did not David when hee had sinned away his inward peace and wiped off as it were Psal 51. all his comfortables It is the voyce of my beloved that knocketh Shee was not so fast asleep but that the hidden man of the heart as St. Peter calls him 1 Ep. 3.4 was awake and his ears arrect and attent so that shee soon heard the first call or knock of Christ whose care was to arrouse her that though shee slept a while through infirmity of the flesh yet shee might not sleep the sleep of death Psal 13.3 dye in her sins as those Jews did John 8.21 In the sweating sickness that reigned for many years together in this Kingdome those that were suffered to sleep as all in that case were apt to do they died within a few hours The best office therefore that any one could do them was To keep them waking though against their wills Sembably our Saviour solicitous of his Churches welfare and knowing her present danger comes calling and clapping at the door other heart and sweetly wooes admission and entertainment but misseth of it Hee knocketh and bounceth by the hammer of his Word and by the hand of his Spirit see Revel 3.20 with 2 Pet. 1.13 and if the Word work not on his people they shall hear the rod and who hath appointed it Mic. 6.9 that they may by some means bee brought to summon the sobriety of their senses before their own judgements and seeing their danger to go forth and shake themselves as Sampson did Judg. 16. Open to mee my Sister my Love c. What irresistible Rhetorick is here what passionate and most pithy perswasions Ipsa Suada credo si loqui posset non potuisset 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ubi quot verba tot tela quae sponsae animum percellant fodicent lancinent shee was not so dead asleep but that shee could hear at first and tell every tittle that he said And this she doth here very finely and to the full that shee may aggravate against her self the foulness of her fact in refusing so sweet an offer in turning her back upon so blessed and so bleeding an embracement the tearms and titles hee here giveth her are expounded before Vndefiled or perfect hee calleth her for her Dove-like simplicity purity and integrity For mine head is filled with dew i. e. I have suffered much for thy sake and waited thy leisure a long while and must I now go look my lodging Doest thou thus requite repulse thy Lord O thou foolish woman and unwise Is this thy kindness to thy friend Jer. 13.27 Wo unto thee O Jerusalem wilt thou not bee made clean when shall it once bee It is the ingratitude that makes the Saints sinnes so hainous which otherwise would bee far less than other mens sith his temptations are stronger and his resistance is greater Oh when Gods grace shall come suing to us nay kneeling to us when Christ shall come with Hat in hand and stand bare-headed as here and that in foul weather too begging acceptance and beseeching us to be reconciled and we will not what an inexcusible fault is this Vers 3. I have put off my Coat Thus the flesh shews itself not onely weak but wayward treacherous and tyrannical rebell it doth in the best and reign it would if it might bee suffered This bramble would fain bee playing Rex and doth so other-whiles till hee be well buffeted as St. Paul served it 1 Cor. 9.27 and brought it into subjection But what a silly excuse maketh the Church here for her self Trouble mee not for I am in bed as hee said to his friend Luk. 11.7 My cloathes are off my feet are washed and I am composed to a settled rest But are you so might
7.38 39. Vet. 20. The beasts of the feild shall honour me i. e. In their kind they shall so shall brutish and savage persons Lib. 3. de Rep. Lib. 31. Mor. c. 5. when tamed and turned by the word of Gods Grace The malignities of all creatures are in man as Plato also observed in doloso enim est vulâ—es in crudeli leo in libidinoso amica luto sus c. Gregory by Dragons here understands profane and carnal people by Owls or Ostriches hypocrites These being converted shall sing Halleluja's to God but let them take heed that they turn not with the dog to their own vomit again c. 2 Pet. 2.22 For Ver. 21. This people I have formed for my self Even the Gentiles now as well as the Jews They shall shew forth my praise They shall preach forth the virtues or praises of him who hath called them out of darknesse into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 Ver. 22. But thou hast not called upon me O Jacob During the captivity they prayed not to any purpose as Daniel also acknowledgeth chap. 9.13 All this evil is come upon us yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth Nevertheless of his free Grace God brought them back again But thou hast been weary of me O Israel Accounting my service a burthen Non Mihi sed Deo fictitio and not a benefit See on Mal. 1.13 Ver. 23. Thou hast not brough me c Not Me but a God of thine own framing such a one as would take up with external heartless services formal courtings and complements Ver. 24. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane or calamus whereof see Plin. lib. 12. cap. 22. Neither hast thou filled me with the fat The Heathens had a gross conceit that their Gods fed on the steam that ascended from their fat sacrifices And some Jews might haply hold the same thing See Deut. 32.38 Psal 50.13 But thou hast made me to serve with thy sins With thine hypocrisy and oppressions especially Isai 1. The Seventy render it Thou hast stood before me in thy sins as outbraving me Thou hast tried my long patience in seeing and suffering thy sins to my great annoyance so Diodate paraphraseth And hast wearied me Exprimit rei-indignitatem cum iniquitate conjunctam God had not wearied them but they had wearied him sufficiently Some make these to to be the words of Christ to his ungratefull Country-men Ver. 25. I even I am he Gratuitam misericordiam diligentissime exprimit God diligently setteth forth his own free grace and greatly glorieth in it shewing how it is that He freeth himself from trouble and them from destruction viz. for his own sake alone That blotteth out thy transgressions Heb. am blotting out constantly and continually I am doing it As thou multiplyest sins so do I multiply pardons chap. 55.7 So Joh. 1.27 he taketh away the sins of the world Dulcis Metaph. One may with a pen cross a great summe as well as a little it s a perpetual act like as the Sun shineth the Spring runneth Zech. 13.1 Men gladly blot out that which they cannot look upon without grief Malunt enim semel delere quam perpetuo dolere so here we are run deep in Gods debt book but his discharge is free and full For mine own sake Gratis propter me Let us thankfully reciprocate and say as he once did Propter te Domine Propter te For thy sake Lord do I all Peccata non redeunt And will not remember thy sins Discharges in Justification are not repealed or called in again Pardon proceedeth from special love and mercy which alter not their consigned acts Ver. 26. Put me in remembrance sc of thy merits if thou hast any to plead Justitiaries are here called into Judgement because they slighted the Throne of Grace Ver. 27. Thy first Father Adam or Abraham say some And thy Teachers Heb. thine Interpreters Oratours Embassadours that is thy Priests and Prophets Ver. 28. Therefore I have profaned the Princes of the Sanctuary Or of holinesse that is those that under a pretence of Religion affected a kind of Hierarchy as did the Scribes and Pharisees who with the whole Jewish Politie were taken away by the Romans both their place and their Nation as they had feared Joh. 11.48 CHAP. XLIV Ver. 1. YEt now hear Hear a word of comfort after so terrible a Thunder-crack chap. 43.28 But there it is bare Jacob and Israel who are threatned here it is Jacob my servant and Israel whom I have chosen it is Jeshurun or the righteous Nation who are comforted And because we forget nothing so soon as the consolations of God as is to be seen in Christs Disciples and those believing Hebrews chap. 12.5 therefore doth the Prophet so oft repeat and inculcate them like as men use to rub and chafe in Ointments into the flesh that they may enter and give ease Ver. 2. Thus saith the Lord that made thee See on chap. 43.1 7 21. and observe how this Chapter runneth parallel with the former yea how the Prophet from chap. 41. to chap. 47. doth one and the same thing almost labouring to comfort his people against the Babylonian captivity and to arm them against the sin of Idolatry whereunto as of themselves they were over-prone so they should be sure to be strongly tempted amongst those Idolaters And thou Jeshurun Thou who art upright or righteous whith a twofold righteousness viz. Imputed and Imparted The Septuagint render it Dilecte or Dilictule my dearly beloved Ver. 3. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty Or upon the thirsty place hearts that hunger and thirst after righteousness Matth. 5.6 See the Notes there I will pour my Spirit and my blessing When God giveth a man his holy Spirit he giveth him blessing in abundance even all good things at once as appeareth by Matth. 7.11 with Luke 11.13 Here are three special operations of the Spirit instanced 1. Comfort 2. Fruitfulness 3. Courage for Christ ver 5. Ver. 4. As willows by the water-courses Not only as the grass but by a further growth as the willows which are often lopped sed ad ipso vulnere vires sumunt Vberius resurgunt altiusque excrescunt but soon thrust forth new branches and though cut down to the bottom yet will grow up again so will the Church and her Children Ver. 5. One shall say I am the Lords When God seemeth to cry out Who is on my side who then the true Christian by a bold and wise profession of the truth answereth as here After the way that they call heresy so worship I the God of my Fathers said that great Apostle We are Christians said those Primitive Professours and some of them wrot Apologies for their Religion to the persecuting Emperours as did Justin Martyr Athenagoras Arnobius Tertullian Minutius Felix and others The late famous
without a mystery fith we are all strangers in this world Epist ad Diog. neither have we here any continuing City Justin Martyr saith of the Christians of his time that every strange Land was to them a Country and every Country a strange Land they looked upon themselves as Citizens of the new Jerusalem M. Fuller hist of Cambridge p. 28. Ver. 3. For thou shalt break forth i. e. Bring forth abundantly and beyond belief Margaret Countesse of Henneberg brough forth at a birth in Holland 365 children one skul whereof I have seen saith mine Author no bigger then a bead or bean The Church brought forth three thousand at one birth Acts 2.41 and some whole Nations at another Isa 66.8 Rom. 10.18 And thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles Shall spiritually become Lords of the world peopling it with a new and holy generation of such as seek Gods Face this is Jacob Psal 24.6 This text the Jews and Millenaries carnally construe Ver. 4. Fear not for thou shalt not be ashamed As widdows and barren women wont to be Thou hast been without God and without Christ in the world but henceforth thou shalt be married to him who is raised from the dead that thou maist bring forth fruit unto God Rom. 7.4 Ipse enim quod vult jubet Act. Mâ—n 1490. dat quod jubet When you would and should be certain and quiet in Conscience saith Mr. Bradford Martyr in a sweet letter of his to a woman troubled in mind then should your faith burst through all things until it come to Christ crucified and the eternal sweet mercies and goodnesse of God in Christ Here here is the bridal-bed here is you Spouses resting-place creep into it and in your armes of faith embrace him Bewail your weaknesse your unworthinesse your diffidence c. and you shall see he will turn to you what said I you shall see nay I should have said you shall feel he will turn to you Ver. 5. For thy Maker is thine husband Heb. thy Makers as Job 35.10 See the Note there De sancta Trinitate dictum saith Junius Mariti tui factores tui Isaac hath the name of the most loving husband we read of in holy Writ but his love to Rebecca was not comparable to this of Christ to his Church Ephes 5.25 26. where I doubt not but the Apostle Paul had respect to this passage in Isaiah The Lord of Hosts is his name Therefore thou his wife art sure of Protection and provision of all things necessary to life and godlinesse for he hateth putting away Mal. 2.16 and will bear with more then any husband else would Jer. 3.1 Joh. 13.1 Surely as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him Psal 103.11 The God of the whole earth Of the Church universal Ver. 6. For the Lord hath called thee Or recalled thee As a woman fosaken grieved in spirit Because forsaken This the Lord out of his conjugal affection cannot endure And a wife of youth Which can least of all bear such a rejection as being in her prime and likely to be longtime desolate and disconsolate If the Church in this condition can but say as that Dutchesse Douager of Millain once did Sola facta solum Deum sequor he will say as Jer. 2.2 I remember thee the kindnesse of thy youth the love of thine espousals Ver. 7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee I have made thee believe so at least by suffering thee to fall into manifold temptations Jam. 1.2 but for thy greatest good Heb. 12.11 as 1. For Probation 2. For Prevention 3. For Purgation 4. For Preparation to mercy And although it should last as long as life yet that were but for a moment for what is life but a spot of time betwixt two eternities And God therefore taketh liberty to do it because he hath such an eternity of time to reveale his kindnesse in time enough for kisses and embraces But usually God taketh off the smarting plaister as soon as it hath eaten away the proud flesh But with great mercies Heb. with great tender mercies such as the mother beareth towards the babe of her own body 1 King 3.16 Gods Mercies are more then maternal Will I gather thee Or take thee up as Psal 27.10 See the Note there Ver. 8. In a little wrath God can let forth his wrath in minnums in little bubbles as the word here rendered wrath properly signifieth This wrath to the Saints is but love displeased and soon pacified again I hid my face from thee God sometimes concealeth his love out of increasement of love he departeth from us but then turneth again and looketh through the chinkers as that Martyr phrased it to see how we take it Fathers leave their children saith One the other side the stile and help them over when they cry they seem to leave them sometimes in a throng and then reach them the hand again upon their complaint So is it here To say God hath cast me off because he hath hid his Face is a fallacy fetcht out of the devils Topicks When the Sun is eclipsed foolish people may think it will never recover light but wise men know it will As during the Eclipse Dr. Goodwin though the earth wanteth the light of the Sun for a time yet not the influence thereof for the mettals that are ingendred in the bowels of the earth are concocted by the Sun at the same time so doth Gods favour visit mens hearts in the power heat and vigorous influence of his grace when the light and comfort of it is intercluded But with everlasting kindnesse See a like elegant Antithesis with a double Hyperbole to boot 2 Cor. 4.17 Ver. 9. For this is as the waters of Noah Gen. 9.9 11 For as I have sworn i. e. I have said it Gods Word is as good as his oath See the like Exod. 32.13 with Gen. 12.7 So have I sworn And given thee the Sacraments for thy confirmation like as I gave him the Rainbow Ver. 10. For the mountains shall depart See Mat. 24.35 Psal 46.2 with the Notes But my kindnesse shall not depart from thee This sweet Promise comforted Olevian at the point of death Although sight hearing speech depart from me said he yet Gods loving-kindnesse shall never depart This was somewhat like that of David Psal 73.26 my flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Neither shall the Covenant of my peace God is in a league with his people offensive and defensive such as was that of Jehosophat with Ahab and this Covenant is an hive of heavenly honey Ver. 11. O thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted This is the Churches stile and state in this present life Ecclesia est haeres crucis Luth. None out of hell have suffered more than Saints Behold I will lay thy stones with fair
integrity good of a little child a young Saint and an old Angel an admirable Preacher as Keckerman rightly calleth him Keck de Rhet. Eccl. cap. ult and propoundeth him for a pattern to all Preachers of the Gospel Nevertheless this incomparable Prophet proved to be a man of many sorrows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 1. Epist 198. as Isidor Pelusiot a most calamitous person as appeareth by this Book and one that had his share in sufferings from and fellow-sufferings with his ungrateful Country-men as much as might be Nazianzen saith most truly of him Prophetarum omnium ad commiserationem propensissimus Orat. 17. ad cives Nazi n. that he was the most compassionate of all the Prophets witness that Pathetical wish of his chap. 9.1 2 3. Oh that my head were waters c. and that holy Resolve chap. 13.17 But if ye will not hear it my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride and mine eye shall weep sore and run down with tears because the Lords flock is carried away captive It was this good mans unhappiness to be a Physician to a dying State Tunc etenim doctâ plus valet arte malum Long time he had laboured amongst this perverse people but to very small purpose Vide Oecol as himself complaineth chap. 27.13 14. after Isaiah chap. 49. whom he succeeded in his office of a Prophet some scores of years between but with little good successe For as in a dying man his eyes wax dim and all his senses decay till at length they are utterly lost so fareth it with Common-wealths quando suis fatis urgentur when once they are ripe for ruine the nearer they draw to destruction the more they are overgrown with blindness madness security obstinacy such as despiseth all remedies and leaveth no place at all for wholesome advice and admonition Loe this was the case of those improbi reprobi reprobate silver shall men call them chap. 6.30 with whom our Prophet had to do Moses had not more to do with the Israelites in the wilderness then Jeremy had with these stifnecked and uncircumcised in in heart and ears Acts 7.51 as good at resisting the Holy Ghost as ever their Fathers were The times were not unlike those described by Tacitus concerning which Casaeubon saith quibus nulla unquam aut virtutum steriliora aut virtutbus inimiciora that no times were ever more barren of virtues or greater enemies to virtues And to say sooth how could they be much better when the Book of the Law was wanting for above sixty years and the whole land overspred with the deeds of darknesse Josiah indeed that good young King by the advice of this Prophet Jermy Josias à zelo ignis divini nomen babet Significat autem Jeremias Altitudinem Dei vel Exaltatum à Deo who was younger then himself but both full of zeal did what he could to reform both Church and State but he alass could not do withall the Reformation in his dayes was forced by him and there was foul work in secret as appeareth by Zephany who was our Prophets Contemporary it met with much opposition both from Princes Priest and People who all had been wofully habituated and hardned in their idolatry under Manasseh and Amon c. Unto which also and other abominations not a few they soon relapsed when once Josiah was taken away and his successours proved to be such as countenanced and complied with the people in all their impieties and excesses This Prophet therefore was stirred up by God to oppose the current of the times and the torrent of vices to call them to repentance and to threaten the Seventy years captivity which because they believed not neither returned unto the Lord came upon them accordingly as is set forth in the end of this Prophecy Whence Procopius Isidor and others have gathered that besides this Prophecy and the Lamentations Jeremiah wrot the first and second Book of Kings But that is as uncertain as that he was stoned to death by the Jews in Egypt Isidor Doroth. Epiphan or that the Egyptians afterwards built him an honourable Sepulcher and resorted much unto it for devotion sake when as R. Solomon thinketh from chap. 44.28 that Jeremy together with Baruc returned out of Egypt into Judaea and there dyed The son of Hilkiah The High-priest who found the Book of the Law say the Chaldee Paraphrast and others but many think otherwise and the Prophet himself addeth Isal 10. Of the Priests that were at Anathoth Poor Anathoth renowned as much by Jeremy Ex praepositis Templi Iunuitur in ipsum rectius potuisse competere Propheticum munus quam in multos alios vel ex aula vel ex caula vocatos as little Hippo was afterwards by great Austin Bishop there The Targum tels us that Jeremy was one of the twenty four Cheiftains of the Temple A Priest he was and so an ordinary Teacher before he acted as a Prophet but his Country-men of Anathoth evil-intreated him In the land of Benjamin Some three miles from Jerusalem Ver. 2. Vnto whom the Word of the Lord came in the dayes of Josiah Woe be to the world because of the Word The Lord keepeth count what Preachers he sendeth what pains they take and how long to how little purpose they preach unto a people He saith that it was the Word of the Lord for authority sake and that none might despise his youth sith he was sent by the Ancient of dayes In the thirteenth year of his reigne Eighteen years then he prophecyed under good Josiah who was too blame doubtlesse in not sending to advise with this or some other Prophet before he went forth against Pharaoh-Necho sometimes both grace and wit are asleep in the holiest and wariest breasts Ver. 3. It came also in the dayes of Jehoiachim Called at first Eliachim by his good Father Josiah from whom he degenerated cutting Jeremies roul with a pen-knife and burning it chap. 36. at which his Fathers heart would have melted as 2 Chron. 34.27 Vnto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah Jehoahaz and Jehoiachim are not mentioned because their raign was so short hardly half a year By this computation it appeareth that Jeremy prophecyed forty years at least And the Holy Ghost setteth a special mark as a Reverend Writer hath well observed upon those forty years of his prophecying Lightfoots Harmony Chron. of old Test Ezek. 4.6 where when the Lord summeth up the years that were betwixt the falling away of the ten Tribes and the burning of the Temple three hundred and ninety in all and counteth them by the Prophets lying so many dayes upon his left-side he bids him to lye forty dayes upon his right-side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty dayes a day for a year Not to signify that it was forty years above three hundred and ninety betwixt the revolt of the ten Tribes and
friends in Judah 1 Sam. 30.26 Great Alexander when he had prevailed at the river Granicum and was now ascended into the upper parts of Asia sent back many gifts to assure them of his love in Macedonia The like doth God to his Church by sending them Pastours with such two adjuncts as are here 1. Adherent his own approbation 2. Inherent skill to teach the people See Eph. 4.8 with the Notes Ver. 16. They shall say no more the Ark c. When the Gospel shall be preached Paulus ea vocat stercora rudera the ancient ceremonies shall be abolished This was not so easily beleeved and is therefore here again and again assured Ver. 17. They shall call Jerusalem i. e. The Church Christian The throne of the Lord The throne of glory chap. 4.21 So Exod. 17.16 because the hand upon the throne of the Lord that is say some Amalecks hand upon the Church which is elsewhere also called the Temple of God Neither shall they walk any more c. i. e. Not at random but by rule Eph. 5.15 Heb. not any more after the sight of their heart i. e. as themselves thought good but as God directeth them Ver. 18. In that day shall the house of Judah walk with the house of Israel All the Elect shall be reunited in Christ unless we shall understand it of the last reduction of the Nation into one Isa 11.13 Ezek. 37.16 22. Hos 1.11 And they shall come together out of the land of the North i. e. Out of the place of their captivity whereby was figured our spiritual captivity c. Ver. 19. But I said How shall I put thee among the children How but by my free grace alone sith thou hast so little deserved it the causes of our Adoption see Eph. 1.5 6. And give thee a pleasant land The heavenly Canaan which is here fitly called a land of desire or delight an heritage or possession of goodliness a land of the Hâ—sts or desires of the Nations And I said thou shalt call me My Father And My Father affectionately uttered is an effectual prayer As Pater I brevissima quidem vex est sed omnia complectitur saith Luther i. e. Ah Father is but a little word but very comprehensive it is such a piece of eloquence as far exceedeth the rowlings of Demosthenes Cicero or whatsoever most excellent Orator Ver. 20. Surely as a treacherous wife c. This ye have done but that 's your present grief and now you look upon your former disloyalties with a lively hatred of them holding that the time past of your life may suffice to have wrought the will of the Gentiles c. 1 Pet. 4.3 Ver. 21. A voyce was heard upon the high places Where they were wont to worship Idols now they weep for their sins and pray for pardon For they have perverted their wayes This is it that now draweth from them prayers and teares See Chap. 31.18 Lam 5.14 Oi nalanu chi chattanu Wo worth us that ever we thus sinned Some understand those words A voyce is heard as shewing Gods readiness to hear penitent sinners so soon as they begin to turn to him even before they speak as the Father of the Prodigal met him c. Ver. 22. Return ye backsliding children Give the whole turn and not the half-turn only So Act. 2.38 Peter said to them that were already prickt at heart Repent ye even to a transmentation and chap. 3.19 Repent ye and be converted that your sins may be blotted out Repent not only for sin but from sin too be through in your repentance set it be such as shall never be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 It is not a slight sorrow that will serve Apostates turn it must be deep and down-right And I will heal your back slidings Pardon your sins and heal your natures I will love you freely and cause your broken bones to rejoyce Hos 14.4 Isa 19.22 Oh sweetest promise I what wonder then that their hard hearts were forthwith melted by it into such a gracious compliance as followeth Behold we come to thee See Zach. 13.9 with the Note Ver. 23. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills Heb. Truly in vain from the hills the multitude the mountaines it is like to that Hos 14.3 Ashur shall not save us neither will we say any more to the works of our hands Ye are our gods See the Notes there Truely in the Lord our God They trust not God at all that not alone Ver. 24. For shame hath devoured the labour of our Fathers That shameful thing Baal hath done it Chap. 11.13 Hos 9.10 he hath even eaten up our cattle and our Children of whom if any be left yet there is nothing left for them And this we now see long and last poenitentia ducti nostro malo edocti having bought our wit and paid dear for our learning And may not many ill husbands amongst us say as much of their drunkenness and wantonness See Prov. 5.9 10 11 12. with the Notes Ver. 25 We lye down in our shame We that once had a whores forehead ver 3. and seemed past grace are now sore ashamed of former miscarriages yea our confusion covereth us as Psal 44.15 because we have sinned against the Lord our God we and our Fathers from our youth unto this day and have not obeyed the voyce of our God Lo here a dainty form and pattern of penitent confession such as is sure to find mercy Haec sanè omni tempore Christiana est satisfactio non meritoria aliqua Papistica atque nugivendula Only we must not acknowledge sin with dry eyes Zegedia but point every sin with a teare c. CHAP. IIII. Ver. 1. IF thou wilt return O Israel As thou seemest willing to do and for very good reason Chap. 2.22 23 24. Thou art but a beaten rebel and to stand it out with me is to no purpose thou must either turn or burn Neither will it help thee to return fainedly for I love truth in the inward parts and hate hypocrisie halting and tepidity If therefore thou wilt return Return unto me Return as far as to me not from one evil course to another chap. 2.36 for that is but to be tossed as a ball from one of the devils hands to the other but to me with thy whole heart seriously sincerely and zealously for Non amat qui non zelat To a tyrant thou shalt not turn but to one that will both assist thee Prov. 1.23 and accept thee Zach. 1.2 And if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight i. e. Thine Idols out of thine house and out of thine heart Ezek. 14.3 4. Then shalt thou not remove But still dwell in the land and do good feeding on faith as Tremellius rendreth that Psal 37.3 Ver. 2. And thou shalt swear The Lord liveth Not by Baal shalt thou swear or other Idols but by the living God or by the