times of the Gospel imported the same Notion And the Government shall be upon his shoulders The Power and Majestie of the Kingdom is committed to him by his Father chap. 22.22 with Matth. 28.18 and he hath strength enough to manage it Princeps est hajulus Reip. The Hebrews call a Prince Nassi because Atlas-like he is to bear up the Common-wealth and not to overload his Subjects Christ both as Prince of his Church and as High-Priest also beareth up and beareth out his people helping their infirmities Rom. 8.26 See the Note And his Name shall be called Heb. He shall call his Name 1. God his Father shall or every true Believer shall call him and count him all this And sure it is had we but skill to spell all the Letters in this Name of Christ Prov. 18.10 it would be a strong Tower unto us better then that of David builded for an Armoury and compleatly furnished Cant. 4.4 Compare this Text with 1 Cor. 1.30 and see all our doubts answered Are we perplexed He is our wonderful Counsellour and made unto us of God Wisdom Are we in depths of distress He is the mighty God our Redemption Want we Grace and his Image He is the Everlasting Father our Sanctification Doth the guilt of sin sting us He is the Prince of peace our Righteousness Wonderful Heb. A Miracle or Wonder viz. in all his Counsels and Courses ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Symmach Ipsa admirabilitas A Lap. especially for his Glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders Exod. 15.11 Counsellour The Septuagint here calleth Him the Angel of the great Counsel Rev. 1.13 He is set forth as cloathed with a garment down to the foot which is the Habit of Counsellors at Law who are therehence called Gentlemen of the long Robe See Rev. 3.17 Prov. 8.14 Jer. 32.19 But because Counsellors are but Subjects it is added in Christs stile The mighty God Able to effect his own Counsels for the behoof of his Subjects Saint Paul calleth him the great God Tit. 2.13 and God above all to be blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 God the Potentate so the Sept. render this Text God the Giant so Oecolampadius The Everlasting Father The Father of Eternity the King Eternal Immortal 1 Tim. 1.17 Ferdinand the Emperour on his death bed would not acknowledge the Title Invictissimus but commanded his Counsellour to call him Ferdinand without more addition Christ is also the Author of Eternity to all his people whom he hath begotten again to an Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for them 1 Pet. 1.3 4. The Prince of peace Pacis omnimodae of all kinds of peace outward inward of countrey and of conscience temporal and eternal Of all these he is the Prince as having full power to bestow them for he is son to the God of peace Rom. 16.20 He was brought from Heaven with that song of peace Luc. 2.14 He himself purged our sins and made our peace Heb. 1.3 Eph. 2.14 Returned up to Heaven with that farewel of peace Joh. 14.27 Left to the world the Gospel of peace Eph. 2.17 Whose Ministers are messengers of peace Rom. 10.15 Whose followers are the children of peace Luk. 10.6 c. Wherefore Christ doth far better deserve then our Hen. 7. did to be stiled the Prince of peace Especially since Ver. 7. Of the increase of his government there shall be no end Here the Mem final in the middle of the word Lemarbeh hath occasioned some to give many guesses at the reason of it yea to conceit many mysteries where wiser men can find no such matter It is a good note which One giveth here viz. that the more Christs government increaseth in the soul the more peace there is See chap. 32.17 Psal 119.136 To establish it Or support it uphold it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quasi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A King hath his name in Greek from being the foundation of the people This King of Kings is only worthy of that name he is not maintained and supported by us our Subsidies but we by him and by the supplies of his Spirit Philip. 1.19 All our springs are in him Psal 87.7 Non amat qui non zelat The Zeal of the Lord of hosts i. e. the philanthropy Tit. 3.4 and free grace of God Dilexisti me Domine magis quam te saith a Father Let us reciprocate by being zealous of good works fervent in spirit serving the Lord. And when Satan telleth us of our no merits tell we him that the Zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do it notwithstanding Ver. 8. The Lord fârâ a word into Jacob He sent it as a shaft out of a bow that will be sure to hit God loveth to premonish but woe be to those that will not be warned The Septuagint render it The Lord sent a plague or Death into Jacob and indeed after the white horse followeth the red and the black Revel 6.2 4 5. Like as Tamerlan that warlike Scythian displayed first a white flag in token of mercy and then a red menacing and threatning blood and then lastly a black flag the messenger and ensign of death was hung abroad And it hath lighted upon Israel 1. They were not ignorant of such a word ver 9.2 They could neither avert nor avoid his wrath Ver. 9. And all the people shall know Know it they do already but they shall know it by wofull experience He that trembleth not in hearing shall be crushed to pieces in feeling said Mr. Bradford Martyr That say in pride and sloutness of heart The Poet could say of his Ajax ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã His pride undid him so doth it many a man especially when come to that height that it fighteth against God as here When earthen pots will needs be dashing against the Rock of ages and doing this or that al despito di Dio as that profane Pope once said whether God will or no divine vengeance doggs at heels such Desperado's Ver. 10. The bricks are fallen down Not thrown down by Providence but fallen down by Fate or blind fortune God is not so far honoured as once to be owned by these Atheists who think they can make their party good against him and mend what he had marr'd whether he would or not Thus this giantlike generation and the like impiety is in the corrupt nature of us all For as in water face answereth to face so doth the heart of a man to a man saith Solomon Prov. 27.19 The Sycomores are cut down c. Another proverbial speech to the same purpose Sycomores were then very common in that countrey and little set by 1 King 10.27 Now they are not to be found there saith Hierom as neither are Cedars in Lebanon Ver. 11. Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin in whom ye trust He shall shortly be destroyed by the Assyrian 2 King 16.9 and then your hopes
which yet if Bellarmine reckoneth right runneth in the eighth part of an hour seven thousand miles others say many more Ver. 7. And their feet were strait feet Importing their right progresse in executing Gods will We must also make straight or even pathes for our feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way Heb. 12.13 See ver 9. And the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calves foot Round Hoc ad agilitatem varietatem cursus spectat and therefore easily turned The Angels as they see every way so they are apt to go every way and this with the greatest facility that can be And they sparkled So swiftly they went that their feet seemed to sparkle or strike fire Like the colour of burnished brasse Burnished not blemished polished not polluted Ver. 8. And they had the hands of a man under their wings Faces wings hands all to expresse saith one the sufficiency of Gods Providence for all means of help A little of the Angels saith another is set forth by these faces wings hands feet but the distinct knowledge of Angels as Angels is reserved till we are like the Angels in heaven Great Angels they are but act invisibly for most part Their hands are under their wings Ver. 9. Their wings were joyned one to another To shew the unity of Angels the uniformity also of their motions in Gods service there is a suteablenesse and agreeablenesse betwixt them They turned not when they went sc Till they had effected that they went for and then they did as ver 14. They went every one straight forward The Angels in the execution of their office keep a straight course without deviating or detrecting without cessation or cespitation Our eyes should also look right on Prov. 4.25 and we should make strait steps for our feet Heb. 12.13 This is Angel-like St. Paul that earthly Angel did so Phil. 3.13 14. Ver. 10. They four had the face of a man and the face of a Lyon Hereby is set forth the wisdom strength serviceablenesse and perspicaciousness of the holy Angels for the Churches good all things requisite to great undertakings neither forbear they to serve us though we have the sent of the earth and hell about us quantumnis cos proh dolor faetore peccatorum mon raro laedamus Deumque offendamus though by the stench of our sins Polan Would any great Prince detend a mean man full of fores and vermin we do frequently annoy them and offend God And they four had the face of an ox Angels are obsequious painful patient useful The ox is of those beasts that are ad esum ad usum and is truely called jumentum à juvando They four also had the face of an Eagle Angels are shard-sighted 2 Sam. 14.20 vigorous and vivacious swift beyond belief Dan. 9.21 and if they be once upon the wing there is no escaping for any wicked people or person Ver. 11. And their wings were stretcht upward Faces and wings are both turned toward God at whose beck and obedience the holy Angels wholly are Psal 103.20 Or hereby may be imported the swiftness sublimeness and equality of their service Two wings of every one See on ver 9. And two covered their bodyes See on Isa 6.2 Ver. 12. And they went every one strait forward See on ver 9. Whither the Spirit was to go they went That is the Spirit of God by whose direction and conduct the Angels do all things He is the great Agent that setteth Angels awork Let us also be led by the Spirit of God so shall we approve our selves sons of God Rom. 8.14 Ver. 13. Their appearance was like burning coules of fire Angels are actuosi efficaces ut ignis of a fiery nature and of a fiery operation as is also the holy Spirit Isa 4.4 Mat. 3.11 Act. 2.3 whereby they are actuated Angels are all on a light fire as it were with zeal for God and indignation against sin Let us be like-affected Paul was an heavenly spark John Baptist a burning and shining light Chrysostom saith that Peter was a man made all of fire walking among stubble Basil was a pillar of fire Latimer cryed out Deest ignis In Bucholcere vivida omnia fuerunt Melch. Adam c. It went up and down among the living creatures The fire and flame did Heb. it made it self to walk of it own accord and pleasure And the fire was bright Let us also labour to kindle and keep quick the fire of zeal upon the harth of our hearts without all smoke or smutch of sin And out of the fire went out lightenings The Lord is known by the judgement which he executeth his noble works done by those instruments of his the holy Angels are quickly noted and noticed as in Sennacheribs army Ver. 14. And the living creatures ran and returned Assoon as ever their work was done they came back to him who sent them out to know his further pleasure and to do him more service When the Angel had lessoned the good women about our Saviours Resurrection he biddeth them go quickly and tell his Disciples c. and then dismisseth them with Loe I have told you Mat. 28.6 7. q. d. Be gone now about your business you have your full errand why linger ye pack away As the appearance of a flash of lightening Which appeareth and disappeareth in an instant Ver. 15. Behold one wheel upon the earth Things here below are exceeding mutable and therefore compared to wheeles because they may seem to run on wheeles and to have no certain course but to be turned upside down eftsoones such is the various promiscuous administration of them to many mens thinking To set us right herein here we have the vision of the four wheeles for each of the four living-wights had a wheel by him ver 16. and chap. 10.9 to shew that God governeth all the four quarters of the world by the ministery of his Angels This the Poets hammered at but hit not on in their foolish fable of Fortunes wheele St. James speaketh of the wheele of nature ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã chap 3.6 And indeed this world is of a wheeling nature moveable and mutable But God who moves this wheel who fuleth the world is unchangeable and eternal Jam. 1.17 and his providence and the ministery of his Angels sets all the wheels in the world in motion Ver. 16. The appearance of the wheeles was like unto the colour of a Beryll Heb. as the eye or colour of Tarshish i. e. the sea or Beryl which is of a sea-colour even sea-green whereby is represented the flux and fluctuating constitution of things here below And they four had one likenesse There is the same instability of things in one place as in another and the same over-ruling providence Their appearance and their work were as it were a wheel in the midst of a wheel God hath a wheel Providence in all the
the Note there And their dark sayings Dark to those that are acute obtusi that have not their senses exercised to discern both good and evil Heb. 5.14 Legum obscuritates non assignemus culpae scribentium sed inscitiae non asse quentium saith hee in Gellius If the Law bee dark to any the fault is not in the Law-giver but in those that should better understand it Vers 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning Or the chief and principal point * The head or first-fruits the head and heigh of wisdome as the word here signifieth yea wisdome it self Job 28.28 This Solomon had learned by the instruction of his Father as it is in the next verse who had taught it him of a childe Prov. 4.4 with Psal 111.10 and therefore sets it here in the beginning of his works as the beginning of all Hoc est enim totus homo As in the end hee makes it the end of all Eccles 12.13 yea the All of man without which hee counts him not a compleat man though never so wise to the world-ward Heathen Sages as Seneca Socrates c. were wise in their Generation and had many excellent gifts but they missed of the main there was no fear of God before their eyes Being herein as Alchimists who miss of their end but yet finde many excellent things by the way These Merchants found goodly pearls but the pearl of price they failed of Mat. 13.45 46. The Prophet calls the fear of God our treasure Isa 33.6 But fools despise Fools so are all such as fear not God being abominable disobedient and to every good work reprobate or injudicious Tit. 1.16 Evil is Hebrew for a fool Nebulâ of Nabal Fool of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã When one highly commended the Cardinal Julian to Sigismund hee answered Tamen Romanus est Yet hee is a Popeling So yet hee is a Fool because void of Gods true fear Behold they have rejected the word of the Lord ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Arist Rheâ and what wisdome is in them Jer. 8.9 Vers 8. Hear the instruction of thy Father c. It is not fit to disobey God thy Father nor thy Teacher saith Aristotle Our Parents said Hierocles are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã our houshold-gods and their words should bee received as Oracles This is a principal fruit of the fear of God which it here fitly followeth like as in the decalogue the Commandement for honouring of Parents is set next of all to those of the first Table nay is indeed as Philo saith of it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a mixt Commandement Vers 9. For they shall bee an ornament Virgil. Plato A mans wisdome maketh his face to shine Eccles 8.1 Tum pietate gravem c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Neither gold nor precious stone so glistereth saith Plato as the prudent mind of a pious person Nothing so beautifies as grace doth Moses and Joseph were fair to God and favoured of all men A Crown of Gold a Chain of Pearl are no such Ornaments as are here commended Vers 10. If sinners entice thee To an ill bargain to a match of mischief as Ahab did Jehosaphat as Potiphers wife would have done Joseph and truly that hee yeelded not was no less a wonder than that those three Worthies burnt not in the midst of the fiery furnace But as the Sun-shine puts out fire so did the fear of God the fire of lust Consent thou not But carry a severe rebuke in thy countenaâce as God doth Psal 80.16 To rebuke them is the ready way to bee rid of them Vers 11. If they say The Dragon bites the Elephants âar and thence sucks his blood because hee knows that to bee the onely place that hee cannot reach with his trunck to defend So deal the red Dragon and his Angels with good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple âom 16.18 With much fair speech shee caused him to yeeld with the flattering of her lips shee forced him Prov. 7.21 Come with mee If sinners have their Come should not Saints much more Come let us go to the house of the Lord Isa 2.3 Come let us walk in the light of the Lord Vers 5. Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of Hosts I will go also Zech. 8.21 should wee not incite intice wheâ and provoke one another ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Heb. 10.24 sharpen and extimulate as Prov 27.17 rouse and stir up each other to love and good works 2 Pet. 1.13 Vers 12. Let us swallow them up alive As the Devil doth 1 Pet. 5.8 2 Tim. 2.26 Homo homini daemon The poor Indians have been heard to say It had been better that their Countrey had been given to the Devils of Hell than to the Spaniards and that if the cruel Spaniards go to Heaven when they dye they for their parts desire not to come there Vers 13. Wee shall finde all precious substance But those that rake together rem rem quocunque modo rem that count all good fish that comes to net will in the end catch the Devil and all Fill our houses with spoil Not considering that they consult shame to their houses by cutting off many people and sinning against their own souls Hab. 2.10 Hee that brings home a pack of plaguy cloaths hath no such great booty of it Vers 14. Let us all have one purse How much better were a wallet to beg from door to door than such a cursed hoard of evil-gotten goods Vers 15. Walk not thou in the way with them God will not take the wicked by the hand Psal 26. Job 8.20 Why then should wee Gather not my soul with sinners saith David O Lord let mee not go to Hell where the wicked are for Lord thou knowest I never loved their company here said a good Gentlewoman when shee was to dye being in much trouble of conscience Vers 16. For their feet run to evil By the abuse of their locomotive faculty given them to a better purpose They run as if they should not come time enough they take long strides toward the burning lake which is now but a little before them Vers 17. Surely in vain the net Which is to say Silly birds pick up the meat but see not the net and so become a prey to the fowler If the fruits of the flesh grow out of the trees of your hearts saith blessed Bradford surely Sermon of Repent pag. 70. surely the Devil is at Inne with you you are his birds whom when hee hath well fed hee will broach you and eat you chaw you and champ you world without end in eternal woe and misery Vers 18. And they lay wait Their sin will surely finde them out No doubt this man is a Murderer Nemo nequitiam gorit in pectâre qui non idem Nemesin in tergo said those Barbarians Act. 28.4 whom though hee had escaped the Sea yet
such an affliction Rebecca was weary of her life by reason of the daughters of Heth brought in to her by Esau Gen. 27.45 If they lye lusking at home mothers have the misery of it if they do worse abroad the worst is made of it to the mother at home by fame that loud lyer Vers 2. Treasures of wickedness Our Saviour calls it Mammon of iniquity Luke 16. â that next odious name to the Devil Most mens care is how to grasp and get wealth for their children rem rem quocunque modo rem Virtus post nummos c. But what saith a grave Author Mr. Bolton Better leave thy childe a Wallet to beg from door to door than a cursed heard of evil-gotten goods There is for most part lucrum in arca damnum in conscientia gain in the purse August but loss in the conscience But righteousness delivereth from death Piety though poor delivereth from the second death and from the first too as to the evil of it For as Christ took away the guilt of sin not sin it self so hee hath taken away not death but the sting of death from all beleevers making it to such of a curse a blessing of a punishment a benefit of a Trap-door to hell a Portal to heaven a Postern to let out temporal life but a Street-door to let in eternal life Vers 3. The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous That refuseth to inrich himself by evil arts and to rise by wicked principles For it might bee objected If I strain not my conscience I may starve for it Ob. Sol. Fear not that saith the Wise-man Faith fears not famine Necessaries thou shalt bee sure of Psal 37.25 26. Psal 34.11 Superfluities thou art not to stand upon 1 Tim. 6.8 The Hebrews by righteousness in the former verse understand Almsdeeds as Dan. 4.24 27. See the Note on Matth. 7.1 and so the sense here may bee ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The righteous though hee give much to the poor shall ââe never the poorer sith not getting but giving is the way to thrive See my Common-place of Alms. But hee casteth away the substance of the wicked For either they lose it or live beside it and are little the better for it Hee that gotteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the middest of his dayes and in his end bee a fool God will make a poor fool of him quickly Quo mihi divitias queis non conceditur âti Jer. 17.11 And the like may bee said of the illiberal and tenacious person See the Note on Chap. 3.27 Niggards fear to lose their wealth by giving but fear not to lose their wealth and souls and all by keeping it Ob. Sol. Vers 4. Hee becometh poor Lest any should say If God do all wee need do the less Doing you must bee saith the Wise-man or else the beggar will catch you by the back Labour also you must with your hands working the thing that is good that yee may have to give to him that needeth Ephes 4.28 But the hand of the diligent Or of the nimble that do motitare saith Kimchi are active and agile that will lose nothing for looking after but take care of smallest matters that all go right being frugal and parcimonious of time husbanding the opportunity of thriving and plenty How did Boaz follow the business himself How were his eyes in every corner on the servants and on the Reapers yea on the Gleaners too Hee doth even lodge in the midst of his husbandry Ruth 2. and 3. as knowing well the truth of that proverbial sentence Columel Procul à villa sua dissitus jacturae vicinus Hee that is far from his business is not far from loss Vers 5. Hee that gathereth in Summer A well-chosen season is the greatest advantage of any action which as it is seldome found in haste so it is too often lost in delay The men of Issachar were in great account with David because they had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do and when to do it 1 Chron. 12.32 So are they in great account with God for their wisdome who observe and use the season of well-doing But hee that sleepeth in harvest i. e. That lets slip his opportunity as Plutarch writes of Hannibal that when hee could have taken Rome hee would not when hee would hee could not And as its storied of Charles King of Sicily and Jerusalem that hee was called Carolus Cunctator Charles the Lingerer not in the sense as Fabius because hee stayed till opportunity came but because hee stayed till opportunity was lost Vers 6. Blessings are upon the head Plentifully and conspicuously they shall abound with blessings Prov. 28.20 As the fear of the Lord is not onely in them but upon them 2 Chron. 19.7 so blessings of all sorts a confluence of all spiritual and temporal comforts and contentments shall bee not onely with them but upon them so that nothing shall hinder it See Gal. 6.16 They are blessed and they shall bee blessed Gen. 27.33 Neither shall any roaring or repining Esau bee able to reverse it But violence covereth the mouth of the wicked They shall bee certainly shamed condemned executed as Haman whose face they covered Esth 7.8 and shortly after strangled And as Sir Gervaise Ellowayes Lieutenant of the Tower hanged on Tower-hill for poysoning Sir Thomas Overbury his prisoner This Sir Gervaise being on the Gallows freely confessed that hee had oft in his playing at Cards and Dice wished that hee might bee hang'd if it were not so and so and therefore confessed it was just upon him Vers 7. The memory of the just is blessed Demetrius had a good report of the truth 3 Joh. 12. In the Hebrew tongue the same word signifieth a good name and a blessing This is one of those blessings mentioned vers 6. that shall bee heaped upon holy men Holy and reverend is his Name Psal 111.9 How comes Gods Name to bee reverend but by being holy Bee good and do good so shall thy name bee heir to thy life yea when thou art laid in thy grave thy stock remains goes forward and shall do till the day of Doom But the name of the wicked shall rot and stink as putrified flesh Hypocrites then must bee detected though they carry it never so clearly how else shall they bee detested and stink above ground Simon Magus so handled the matter that Philip mistook him for a Beleever and baptized him but Peter soon smelt him out and laid him open in his colours Hee that perverteth his wayes shall bee known Prov. 10.9 The Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity for all their cunning contrivances Psal 125.5 Vers 8. The wise in heart shall receive Commandement i.e. Submit to Gods holy Word without replies and cavils This is check to the brave gallants of our age which exercise their ripe heads and
bee soon cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb Vers 29. Hee that troubleth his own house Either by prodigality or excessive parsimony Prodigi singulis auribus bina aut terna dependent patrimonia saith Seneca wee have known great Rents soon turned into great Ruffes and Lands into Laces For parsimony and cruelty see the Note on Chap. 15.27 Shall inherit the wind That is shall bring all to nothing as hee did that having wasted his estate vainly vaunted that hee had left himself nothing praeter coelum coenum Livius His substance shall flye up like smoak into the air and nothing bee left to maintain him on earth And when all his goods are gone his liberty must go after for this fool shall bee servant to the wise in heart if not his life as that notorious unthrift Apicius who having eaten up his estate and finding by his account that hee had no more than two hundred thousand Crowns remaining Dio. thought himself poor and took down a glass of poyson Vers 30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life i. e. The commodities and comforts that one may every way receive from a righteous person for est aliquid quod à viro bono etiam tacente discas Seneca saith Seneca somewhat a man may learn from a good man even when hee sayes nothing are more than can bee imagined Plutarch reporteth that the Babylonians make three hundred and threescore several commodities of the Palm-tree and do therefore greatly honour it Should not wee much more honour the multivarious gifts of God in his righteous ones for our good For whether it bee Paul or Apollo or Cephas All is ours 1 Cor. 3. And hee that winneth souls And useth singular art and industry therein as Fowlers do to take birds for so the Hebrew word imports or Fisher-men fishes Hee is wise and wiseth others as Daniel hath it Chap. 12.3 hee is just and justifieth others hee shall save a soul from death Jam. 5.20 Hee shall shine as a star in heaven And this is instanced as one special fruit of that tree of life mentioned in the former Hemistich This is a noble fruit indeed sith one soul is more worth than a world as hee hath told us who only went to the price of it Matth. 16.26 Vers 31. The righteous shall bee recompensed i. e. Chastened afflicted judged of the Lord that they may not bee condemned with the world for their sufferings are not penal but medicinal or probational and they have it here in the earth which is their house of Correction not in Hell Much more the wicked Nahum 1.9 Non surget hic afflictio these shall bee totally and finally consumed at once See the Note on 1 Pet. 4.17 18. See also my Love-tokens pag. 69. c. CHAP. XII Vers 1. Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge HEre is shewed that Adversity is the best University saith an Interpreter Schola crucis schola lucis Corrections of instruction are the way of life Vexatio dat intellectum Men commonly beat and bruise their links before they light them to make them burn the brighter God first humbles whom hee means to illuminate as Gideon took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them hee taught the men of Succoth Judg. 8.16 See my Treatise on Rev. 3.19 pag. 152. c. Mr. Ascham was a good school-master to Queen Elizabeth but affliction was a better as one well observeth That verse was much in her mouth Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco Virgil. But hee that hateth reproof Whether it bee by the rebukes of men or the Rod of God hee is brutish tardus est hee is fallen below the stirrop of reason hee is a beast in mans shape nothing is more irrational than irreligion That sapless fellow Nabal would hear nothing there was no talking to him no dealing with him but as Horse and Mule that have no understanding Psal 32.9 Basil complains of the Western Churches that they were grown so proud Epist ad Evagr ut quid verum sit neque sciant neque sustineant discere that they neither knew what was truth nor would bee taught better Such are near to ruine and that without remedy Prov. 29.1 See the Note there Vers 2. A good man obtaineth favour of the Lord Or Hath what hee will of God id quod vult a domino impetrat quia ejus voluntas est ipsissima Dei voluntas nec aliud vult Thus Mercer out of Rabbi Levi. Thus it is written of Luther that by his prayers hee could prevail with God at his pleasure When great gifts were offered him hee refused them with this brave speech Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic satiari à Deo I solemnly protested to God that I would not bee put off with these low things And on a time praying for the recovery of a godly useful man among other passages hee let fall this transcendent rapture of a daring Faith Fiat mea voluntas Let my will bee done and then falls off sweetly Mea voluntas Domine quia tua My will Lord because thy will Here was a good man here was a blessed man according to that Rule Beatus est qui habet quicquid vult nihil male vult Blessed is hee that hath what hee will and wills nothing but what hee should But a man of wicked devices Such as no good man is hee doth not plot or plow mischief hee doth not cater and make provision for the flesh Rom. 13. there is no way of wickedness found in him the peace is not broken betwixt God and him because his mind never yeelds to sin Rom. 7.25 Psal 139 hee walks not after the flesh but after the spirit therefore no condemnation Rom. 8.1 If an evil thought haunt his heart as eftsoons it befals it is the device of the man hee is not the man of such devices The wicked on the contrary is wholly made up of sinful thoughts and purposes and is in the midst of them therefore God will call him to an heavy reckoning Jer. 6.19 Rev. 2.23 Vers 3. A man shall not bee established by wickedness For hee laies his foundation upon fire-work and brimstone is scattered upon his house top if the fire of God from Heaven but flash upon it it will bee all on a light flame immediately Hee walks all day upon a mine of gun-powder and hath God with his armies ready to run upon the thickest bosses of his buckler and to hurle him to Hell How can this man bee sure of any thing ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Cain built Cities but could not rest in them Ahab begat seventy sons but not one successor in the Kingdome Phocas having built a mighty wall heard from Heaven Though thy walls were as high as Heaven sin is under it and will subvert it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sin hath no settledness But the root of the righteous
they both seem and are wise whereas Spaniards seem wise and are fools French-men seem fools and are wise Portugals neither are wise nor so much as seem so Thus the Jesuites those great Clerks Politicians and Wisards of the world doe vaunt that the Church is the soul of the World the Clergie of the Church and they of the Clergie But what saith that great Apostle that knew more than twenty of them He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord for not hee that commendeth himself is approved no nor hee whom the world cries up for a wise man but he whom the Lord commendeth 2 Cor. 10.18 But he that is of a perverse heart As all are that are not heavenly-wise and that shew not out of a good conversation their works with meekness of wisdome Jam. 3.13 17. But so did none of those Heathen Sages Rom. 1.26 whom God for their unthankfulnesse gave up unto vile affections and vitious conversation and so set a Noveriât Universi as it were upon them Know all men that these men know nothing aright and as they ought to know Rom. 1.22 professing themselves to be wise they proclaime themselves fools Vers 9. Better is he that is despised Viz. Of others and hath no extraordinary opinion of himself but sticks close to his business and hath help at hand when he pleases a servant at his beck and check This was the case of Galleacius Caracciolus that noble Marquesse in his exile at Geneva for conscience sake See his life set forth in English by Mr. Crashaw Than he that honoureth himself and lacketh bread That standing upon his Pantofles and boasting of his Gentility as those Spanish Hidalgoes ruffle it out in brave apparrel but hath not a penny in his purse yea not sometime food sufficient to put in his belly Spaniards are said to be impudent braggers and extreamly proud in the lowest ebbe of fortune If a Spaniard have but a Capon Hâyl Geog. or the like good dish to his supper you shall find the feathers scattered before his door the next morning Vers 10. A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast There bee beasts ad usum ad esum Some are profitable alive not dead as the Dogge Horse c. Some dead not alive as the Hogge some both as the Oxe There is a mercy to be shewed to these dumb Creatures as wee see in Eleazar Gen. 24.32 And the contrary in Balaam who spurred his Asse till she spake Numb 22.27 Otherwise we shall make them groan under the bondage of our corruption Rom. 8.21 and he that hears the young Ravens may hear them for he is gracious Exod. 22. The restraint that was of eating the bloud of dead beasts declared that hee would not have tyranny exercised on them whiles they are alive But the tender mercies of the wicked If any such thing there were but they have no such bowels left with Judas no such tendernesse scarce common humanity Cannibal-like they eat up Gods people as they eat bread feeding upon them alive and by degrees and dealing by them as the cruel Spaniards doe by the Indians S. Fran. Drakes World encompass They suppose they shew the wretches great favour when they doe not for their pleasure whip them with cords and day by day drop their naked bodies with burning Bacon which is one of the least cruelties that they exercise toward them In the sixth Council of Toledo it was enacted that the King of Spain should suffer none to live within his Dominions that profess not the Roman Catholick Religion In pursuance of which Decree Philip King of Spain said he had rather have no Subjects than Protestants And out of a bloudy zeal suffered his eldest Son Charls to be murdered by the cruel Inquisition because he seemed to favour that profession When the Spaniards took Heidelberg they took Monsieur Mylius an ancient Minister and after they had abused his Daughter before his eyes tied a small cord about his head which with truncheons they wreathed about till they squeezed out his brains What should I speak of the French Massacres and late Irish immane and monstrous murthers equalling it not exceeding that at Athens taken by Sylla which yet saith Appian was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a merciless Massacre Or that of Prolomeus Lathurus King of Aegypt who slew thirty thousand Jews at once and forced the rest to feed upon the flesh of their slain fellows Or lastly that of the Jews committed upon the inhabitants of Cyrene whom they not only basely Butchered but afterwards ate their flesh drank their bloud and cloathed themselves with their Skins as Dio relates in the Life of Trajan the Emperour Vers 11. He that tilleth his Land shall be satisfied c. This is true of all other lawful Callings manual or mental the sweat of the brow or of the brain Sin brought in sweat Gen. 3.19 and now not to sweat increaseth sin Men must earn their bread before they eat it 2 Thess 3.12 and bee diligent in their Callings to serve God and Men themselves and others with the fatnesse and sweetnesse thereof and then they have the promise they shall be fed Psal 37.7 Dum de mor. But he that followeth vain persons c. It is hard to bee a good fellow and a good husband too Qui aequo animo malis immiscetur malus est saith one Hee that delights in bad company cannot be good Vers 12. The wicked desireth the net of evil men i. e. He so furiously pursueth his lusts as if he desired destruction as if he would out-dare God himself as if the guerdon of his gracelesness would not come time enough but hee must needs run to meet it Jun. in loc Thus Thrasonical Lamech Gen. 4.23 thinks to have the odds of God seventy to seven Thus the Princes of the Philistims whilome plagued came up to Mizpeh against Israel who were there drawing water 1 Sam. 7. i. e. weeping abundantly before the Lordâ as it were to fetch their bane Thus Pope Julius the third will have his Pork-flesh al despito de dio And Doctor Story will curse Queen Elizabeth in his daily grace afore meat and yet say in open Parliament Act. Mon. 19â5 that he saw nothing to bee ashamed of much lesse to be sorry for but that he had done no more against the Hereticks yea against the Queen her self in the dayes of her sister Mary This Story escaping out of Prison got to Antwerp and there received Commission under Duke D' Alva to search all ships coming thither for English books But one Parker an English Merchant trading to Antwerp laid his net fair to catch this foul bird causing secret notice to bee given to Story that in his ship were store of heretical books with other intelligences that might stand him instead The Canonist conceiving that all was cock-sure hasted to the ship where with looks very big upon the poor Mariners each
though they bee and set on with some more than ordinary earnestness Better it is that the vine should bleed than dye Sinite virgam coâripientem ut sentitatis malleum conterentem Certes when the Lord shall have done to you according to all the good that hee hath spoken concerning you 1 Sam. 25.30 31. and hath brought you to his Kingdom This shall be no grief unto you or offence of heart as hee said in a like case that you have hearkned to instruction and been bettered by reproof Vers 33. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdome See the Note on Chap. 1.7 And before honour is humility David came not to the Kingdome till hee could truly say Lord my heart is not haughty nor mine eyes lofty c. Psal 131.1 Abigail was not made Davids wife till shee thought it honour enough to wash the feet of the meanest of Davids servants 1 Sam. 25.40 Moses must bee forty years a stranger in Midian before hee become King in Jeshurun hee must bee struck sick to death in the Inne before hee go to Pharaoh on that honourable Ambassage Luther observed that ever for most part before God set him upon any special service for the good of the Church hee had some fore fit of sickness Surely as the lower the ebbe the higher the tyde So the lower any descend in humiliation the higher they shall ascend in exaltation the lower this foundation of humility is laid the higher shall the roof of honour bee over-laid CHAP. XVI Vers 1. The Preparations of the heart in man HEE saith not of man as if it were in mans power to dispose of his own heart but in man as wholly wrought by God for our sufficiency is not in ourselves but in him as wee live so wee move Act. 18.28 understand it of the motions of the minde also It is hee that fashioneth the hearts of men Psal 33.13 shaping them at his pleasure Hee put small thoughts into the heart of Ahashuerosh but for great purposes And so hee did into the heart of our Henry 8. about his Marriage with Katherine of Spain Scult Annal. dec 2. ep dedic the Rise of that Reformation here Quam desperasset atas praterita admiratur praesens obstupescet futura as Scultetus hath it which former ages despaired of the present admireth and the future shall stand amazed at And the answer of the tongue is from the Lord For though a man have never so exactly marshalled his matter in hand ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã disponere ordinare aciem instruere significat as it were in battel array as the Hebrew word here imports and as David using the same word saith hee will marshal his Prayer and then bee as a spy upon a watch-tower to see what became of it whether hee got the day Psal 5.3 though hee have set down with himself both what and how to speak so that it is not only scriptum in animo sed sculptum etiam as the Orator said yet hee shall never bee able to bring forth his conceptions without the obstetrication of Gods assistance The most eloquent Demosthenes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã being sent sundry times in Ambassage to Philip King of Macedony thrice stood speechless before him and thrice more forgot what hee intended to have spoken Likewise Latomus of Lovain a great Scholar having prepared a set speech to bee made before the Emperour Charles the fifth was so confounded when hee came to deliver it that he uttered nothing but non-sense and thereupon fell into a fit of despair So Augustine having once lost himself in a Sermon and wanting what else to say fell upon the Maâichees a point that hee had well studied and by a good Providence of God converted one there present that was infected with that errour Digressions are not alwayes unuseful Gods Spirit sometimes draws aside the doctrine to satisfie some soul which the Preacher knows not But though God may force it yet man may not frame it and it is a most happy ability to speak punctually directly and readily to the point The Corinthians had elocution as a special gift of God And St. Paul gives God thanks for them that in every thing they were inriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge 1 Cor. 1.5 Vers 2. All the wayes of a man are clean in his own eyes Every man is apt enough to think well of his own doings and would bee sorry but his penny should bee good silver They that were born in hell know no other heaven neither goes any man to hell but hee hath some excuse for it Quintilian could say Sceleri nunquam defuisse rationem As covetousness so most other sins go cloaked and coloured August Sed sordet in conspectu judiciis quod fulget in conspectu estimantis All is not gold that glisters A thing that I see in the night may shine and that shining proceed from nothing but rottenness Bern. Melius est pallens aurum quam fulgens aurichalcum That which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight of God Luke 16.15 But the Lord weigheth the spirits Not speeches and actions only as Prov. 5.21 but mens aims and insides Men see but the surface of things and so are many times mistaken but Gods fiery eyes pierce into the inward parts and there discover a new found world of wickedness Hee turns up the bottome of the bag as Josephs steward did and then out come all our thefts and mis-doings that had so long lain latent Vers 3. Commit thy works unto the Lord Depend upon him alone for direction and success this is the readiest way to an holy security and sound settlement Hang not in doubtful suspense as Meteors do in the ayr Luke 12.29 Neither make discourses in the ayr so one renders it as those use to do whose hearts are haunted with carking cares Let not your thoughts bee distracted about these things So the Syriack hath it But cast your burden upon the Lord Psal 55.22 by a Writ of remove as it were Yea cast all your care upon God for hee careth for you 1 Pet. 5.7 I will bee Careless according to my name said John Careless Martyr Commit the matter to God and hee will effect it Psal 37.5 And thy thoughts shall bee established Never is the heart at rest till it repose upon God till then it flickers up and down as Noahs Dove did upon the face of the Flood and found no footing till shee returned to the Ark. This is certain saith a Revered Divine Mr. Case yet living so far as a soul can stay on and trust in God so far it injoyes a sweet settlement and tranquillity of spirit Perfect trust is blessed with a perfect peace A famous instance for this we have in our Saviour Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I to this hour
speak hath not God given us two ears and one tongue to teach us better to precipitate a censure or passe sentence before both Parties bee heard to speak evil of the things that a man knows not or weakly and insufficiently to defend that which is good against a subtle adversary Austin professeth this was it that hardened him and made him to triumph in his former Manichism that hee met with feeble opponents and such as his nimble wit was easily able to overturn Oecolampadius said of Carolostadius that hee had a good cause but wanted shoulders to support it Vers 14. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity Some sorry shift a man may make to bustle with and to rub thorow other aylements and aggrievances disasters or diseases sores or sicknesses of the body as the word here properly importeth Let a man bee sound within and upon good terms at peace with his own conscience and hee will bravely bear unspeakable pressures 2 Cor. 1.9 12. Paul was merry under his load because his heart was cheary in the Lord as an old beaten Porter to the Crosse maluit tolerare quà m deplorare his stroak was heavier than his groaning as Job chap. 23.2 Alexander Aphrodiseus gives a reason why Porters under their burdens go singing because the mind being delighted with the sweetnesse of the musick Problem 1. Numb 78. the body feels the weight so much the lesse Their shoulders while sound will bear great luggage but let a bone bee broken or but the skin rubbed up and raw the lightest load will bee grievous A little water in a leaden vessel is heavy so is a little trouble in an evil conscience But a wounded spirit who can bear q. d. It is a burthen importable able to quail the courage and crush the shoulders of the hugest Hercules of the mightiest man upon earth who can bear it The body cannot much lesse a diseased body And if the soul bee at unrest the body cannot but co-suffer Hence Job preferred and Judas chose strangling before it Bilney and Bainbam Act. Mon. fol. 938. after they had abjured felt such an hell in their consciences till they had openly professed their sorrow for that sin as they would not feel again for all the worlds good Daniel chose rather to bee cast into the den of Lions than to carry about a Lion in his bosome an enraged conscience The primitive Christians cried likewise Ad Leones potiùs quà m ad Lenones adjiciamur What a terrour to himself was our Richard the third after the cruel murther of his two innocent Nephews and Charls the ninth of France after that bloody massacre Hee could never endure to bee awakened in the night without musick or some like diversion But alass if the soul it self bee out of tune these outward things do no more good than a fair shooe to a gowty foot or a silken stocken to a broken legg Vers 15. The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge Such as can keep the bird singing in their bosome and are free from inward perturbations these by meditating on the good Word of God and by listening to the wholesome words ãâã others get and gather knowledge that is great store of all sorts of knowlâââe that which is divine especially and tends to the perfecting of the soul Vers ââ A mans gift maketh roomth for him This Jacob knew well Gen. 43.11 and therefore ââde his Sons take a present for the Governour of the Land though it were but of every good thing a little So Saul 1 Sam. 9.7 when to go to the man of God to enquire about the Asses But behold said hee to his servant if wee go what shall wee bring the man what have wee See more in the Note on Chap. 17. vers 8. 23. Vers 17. Hee that is first in his own cause seemeth just The first tale is good till the second bee heard How fair a tale told Tertullus for the Jews against Paul till the Apostle came after him and unstarcht the Oratours trim speech Judges had need to get and keep that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Alexander boasted of to keep one ear clear and unprejudiced for the defendant for they shall meet with such active Actors or Pleaders as can make Quid libet ex quolibet Candida de nigris de candentibas atra as can draw a fair glove upon a foul hand blanch and smooth over the worst causes with goodly pretences as Ziba did against Mephibosheth Potiphars wife against Joseph c. Hee must therefore ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Athenian Judges were sworn to do hear both sides indifferently and as that Levite said Judg. 19. Consider consult and then give sentence doing nothing by partiality or prejudice Vers 18. The lot causeth contentions to cease As it did Josh 14.2 Where it is remarkable that Joshua that lotted out the Land left none to himself and that portion that was given him and hee content withall was but a mean one in the barren mountains So again Act. 1.26 where it is remarkable that this Joseph called Barsabas seeing it was not Gods mind by lot to make choice of him now to succeed Judas in the Apostleship was content with a lower condition therefore afterwards God called him to that high and honourable office of an Apostle if at least this Joseph Barsabas were the same with that Joseph Barnabas Act. 4.36 as the Centurists are of opinion See the Note on Chap. 16.23 Vers 19. A brother offended is harder to bee won c. Whether it bee a brother by race place or grace Corruptio optimi pessima Those oft that loved most dearly if once the Devil cast his club betwixt them they hate most deadly See this exemplified in Cain and Abel Esau and Jacob Polynices and Eteocles Romulus and Remus Caracalla and Geta the two sons of Severus the Emperour Robert and Rufus the sons of William the Conquerour the Civil dissentions between the houses of York and Lancaster wherein were slain eighty Princes of the blood-royal the dissentions between England and Scotland Daniel 192. which consumed more Christian-blood wrought more spoil and destruction and continued longer than ever quarrel wee read of did between any two people of the world As for Brethren by profession and that of the true Religion too among Protestants you shall meet with many divisions and those prosecuted with a great deal of bitternesse Eucholcer Nullum bellum citius exardescit nullum deflagrat tardius quà m Theologicum No war breaks out sooner or lasts longer than that among Divines or as that about the Sacrament a Sacrament of love a Communion and yet the occasion by accident of much dissention Melch. Adam in vita This made holy Strigelius weary of his life Cupio ex hac vita migrare ob duas causas saith hee For two causes chiefly do I desire to depart out of this world First That I may injoy the
sweet sight of the Son of God and the Church above Next Ut liberer ab immanibus implicabilibus odiis Theologorum that I may bee delivered from the cruel and implacable hatreds of dissenting Divines There is a most sad story of those that fled to Frankford hence in Queen Maries time yet among them there were such grievous breaches that they sought the lives one of another Great care therefore must bee taken that brethren break not friendship Or if they do that they re-unite and peece again as soon as is possible Vers 20. A mans belly shall bee satisfied with the fruit of his mouth See the Notes on Chap. 12.14 and 13.2 And with the encrease of his lips shall hee bee satisfied It is worthy the observing saith an Interpreter here that Salomon doth vary his words Hee speaketh sometimes of the mouth sometimes of the lips sometimes of the tongue as vers 21. to shew that all the instruments or means of speech shall have as it were their proper and just reward Vers 21. Death and life are in the power of the tongue That best and worst member of the body as Bias told Amasis King of Aegypt Plutarch an unruly evil set on fire of Hell saith Saint James of an ill tongue as contrarily a good one is fired with zeal by the Holy Ghost Act. 2. Fire wee know is a good servant but an ill Lord If it get above us once there is no dealing with it Hence it is that as the careful housholder laies a strict charge upon his children and servants to look well to their fire So doth Solomon give often warning to have a care of the tongue For by thy words shalt thou bee justified and by thy words thou shalt bee condemned saith a greater than Solomon Mat. 12. Cave ne fâriat lingua tua cellum tuum Scalig. The Arabians have a Proverb Take heed that thy tongue cut not thy throat A word and a pest grow upon the same root in the Hebrew to shew saith one that an evil tongue hath the pestilence in it It spits up and down the room as the Serpent Dipsas or as a Candle whose tallow is mixt with brine Vers 22. Whoso findeth a wise c. Whoso after much seeking by prayer to God and his own utmost industry as Gen. 24. Isaac went forth to pray and his servant went forth to seek findeth a fit and faithful yoak-fellow called here a wife that is a good wife Hilbah id est umbra ipsius quomodo Menander ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã dixit as Eccles 7.1 a name is put for a good name and as Isa 1.18 wooll is put for white wooll every married woman is not a wife a bad woman is but the shadow of a wife according to Lamechs second wives name Zillah hee findeth a good thing a singular blessing and such as should draw from him abundance of thanks Hee may well say as they were wont to do at Athens when they were married ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I have left a worse condition and found a better Zenodo prov If any bee the worse for a wife for a good wife especially it is from his own corrupt heart that like a Toad turns all it takes into rank poison Vers 23. The poor useth intreaties Speaks supplications comes in a submisse manner uses a low language as a broken man How much more should we do so to God quanta cum reverentia quanto timore Bern. quanta ad Deum humilitate accedere debet è palude sua procedens repens vilis ranuncula creeping into his presence with utmost humility and reverence Vers 24. A man that hath friends c. For Cos amoris amor Love is the whet-stone or load-stone rather of Love Marce ut ameris ama Martial Love is a coin that must bee returned in kind And there is a friend c. Such a friend is as ones own soul Deut. 13.6 a peece so just cut for him as answers him rightly in every joint This is a rare happinesse CHAP. XIX Vers 1. Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity THat poor but honest man that speaks supplications Chap. 18.23 but abuseth not his lips to leud and loose language is better than that rich fool that answers him roughly and robustiously as Nabal did Davids messengers and otherwise speaks ill thinks worse Wee usually call a poor man a poor soul a poor soul may bee a rich Christian and a rich man may have a poor soul Vers 2. Also that the soul bee without knowledge Lib. 3. Eth. it is not good An ignorant man is a naughty man Ignorat sanè improbus omnis saith Aristotle Every bad-minded man is in the dark neither can any good come into the heart but it must pass through the understanding and the difference of stature in Christianity grows from different degrees of knowledge The Romans were full of knowledge and therefore full of goodness chap. 15.14 And hee that hasteth with his feet sinneth Or wandreth out of the way As hee that is out of his way the faster hee rides or runs the farther hee is out so is blinde zeal It is like metal in a blind horse that running upon the rocks and precipices first breaks his hoofs and then his neck Or like the Devil in the possessed that cast him sometimes into the fire and sometimes into the water Vers 3. The foolishness of a man perverteth his way So that all goes cross with him Lev. 26.21 and God walks contrary to him as it befell our King John Queen Mary and Henry the fourth of France King John saw and acknowledged it in these words Mat. Paris Posiquam ut dixi Deo reconciliatus me ac mea regna proh dolor Romanae subjeci Ecclesiae nulla mihi prospera sed omnia contraria advenerunt Ever since I submitted to the Sea of Rome nothing hath prospered with mee And his heart frets against the Lord As the cause of his calamity Birds of prey that have been long kept in the dark when they get abroad are out of measure raging and ravenous so are ignorant spirits they let flye on all hands when in durance especially and spare not to spit their venome in the very face of God as did Pharaoh when that thick darkness was upon him the King of Israel that said Behold this evil is of the Lord and what should I wait for the Lord any longer 2 King 6.33 Mahomet the first Emperour of the Turks being wonderfully grieved with the dishonour and loss hee had received at the last assault of Scodra Turk hist fol. 423. in his choler and frantick rage most horribly blasphemed against God saying that it were enough for him to have care of heavenly things and not to cross him in his worldly actions Vers 4. Wealth maketh many friends Res amicos invenit saith hee in Plautus Wine saith Athenaeus hath ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a
hee will speak of and the dark saying that hee will open And hereunto hee makes a solemn Oyez Hear this all yee people and give ear all yee Inhabitants of the World c. Because hee is poor As the greater fish devour the lesser and as the Mastiff falls upon the Cur and worries him only because hee is bigger than the other This is a brutish ferity See Psal 10. And if those that relieve not the poor shall bee damned surely they that rob them shall bee double-damned Neither oppress the afflicted The poor man must needs bee an afflicted man obnoxious to all manner of injuries and hard usages But God who is the poor mans King more truly so called then James the fourth of Scotland was takes order here that no man oppress or wrong him either at the gate of his house whither hee comes a begging or at the gate of the City where hee sues for redress of injury Gel. l. 11. c. 18. let not might suppress right lest some Cato complain as once and not without cause that poor Theeves sit in the stocks when greater Theeves sit on the seats of Judicature Vers 23. For the Lord will plead their cause Without fee for those that come to him formâ pauperis and without fear of their oppressours against whom hee will plead with pestilence and with blood Ezek. 38.22 as hee did against the house of Saul for the poor Gibeonites and against Ahab for Naboth And spoil the soul or life of those that spoiled them A poor mans livelihood is his life Mark 12. ult Luke 8.43 Hee is in his house as a Snail in his shell crush that and you kill him quite God therefore who loves par pari referre to pay oppressors home in their own coyn will have life for life if they may escape so and not bee cast to hell among those cruel ones Prov. 5.9 See the Note O that these Cannibals would think of this before the cold grave hold their bodies and hot hell hold their souls Vers 24. Make no friendship with an angry man Anger is a short madness it is a leprosie breaking out of a burning Lev. 13.5 and renders a man unfit for civil society for his unruly passions cause the climate where hee lives to bee like the torrid Zone too hot for any to live near him The Dog-dayes continue with him all the year long hee rageth and eateth fire-brands so that every man that will provide for his own safety must flye from him as from a netling dangerous and unsociable creature fit to live alone as Dragons and wilde Beasts or to bee looked on only through a grate as they where if they will do mischief Turk hist they may do it to themselves only As Bajazet the great Turk who being taken by Tamberlain and carried up and down in an iron Cage beat out his own brains against the bars thereof Vers 25. Lest thou learn his wayes As a man is an imitating creature and easily conformed to the company hee keepeth Sin is also very spreading and more infectious than the plague This of rash anger especially whereunto being naturally inclined wee shall easily get an habit of frowardness Intireness with wicked consorts is one of the strongest chains of hell and bindes us to a participation both of sin and punishment And get a snare to thy soul This is all thou art like to get by such mens company An angry man a master of anger as the Hebrew here hath it or rather one that is mastered by his anger and enslaved thereunto is fitly compared by one to a Cock of the game that quarrelsome creature that is still bloody with the blood either of others or of himself he flyes upon his best friends sometimes as Alexander did and slayes those whom hee would revive again with his own heart blood Dogs in a chase bark oft at their best friends Vers 26. Bee not thou of them See the Notes on Chap. 6.1 2 3. Vers 27. If thou hast nothing to pay And yet art gotten into the Usurers furnace hee will leave thee at last neither metal nor matter Vers 28. Remove not the ancient land-mark Unless yee covet a curse Deut. 27.17 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Eccles 10.8 Let Levellers look to it and know that property is Gods Ordinance Act. 5.4 Psal 17.14 That Magistracy is the hedge of a Nation and that hee that breaks an hedge a Serpent shall bite him That the Ministry is Christs own Institution Eph. 4.11 And that Lay-preachers may look to speed as Nadab and Abihu as Uzzah and Uzziah or as other Usurpers See the Note on Deut. 1â 14. Vers 29. Seest thou a man diligent God loves nimbleness what thou dost do quickly said Christ to Judas though it were so ill a businesse that he was about Princes love such and imploy them as Pharoah did Joseph and those that were men of activity among his brethren Salomon also made use of Jeroboam for the same reason though that was not the wisest act that ever he did 1 Kings 11.28 How dear was Daniel to Darius because though sick yet he dispatched the Kings business What Favourites to our Henry 8 were Wolsey Cromwell Cranmer for like reason A diligent man shall not fit long in a low place Or if he do all the days of his life yet if his diligence proceed out of conscience he shall stand before the King of Kings when he dies And surely if Salomons servants were held happy for this and the greatest reward Salomon could promise the diligent is this in the text what an unconceivable honour must it needs be to look for ever upon the face of God and Angel-like stand in his presence CHAP. XXIII Vers 1. When thou sittest to eat SEe my common place of Abstinence Consider diligently what is before thee And feed with fear Iude 12. Lest thou lose by thy luxury that praise and preferment that thou hadst gotten by thine industry chap. 22.9 Non minor est virtus quà m quaerere parta tueri Vers 2. And put a knife to thy throat Put into thy throat as Aben-ezra reads it rather than offend by inordinate appetite Some read it thus For thou puttest a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite Thou shortnest thy life and diggest as it were thine own grave with thine own teeth Meat kills as many as the Musket the board as the sword Chrysost Tennis mensa sanitatis mater but much meat much malady Vers 3. Be not desirous of his dainties It is a shame for a Saint to be a slave to his Palat. Isaac loved venison too too well the Disciples are cautioned by Christ Luk. 21.34 who well enough knew where they were weakest For they are deceitful meat There is a hook under that bait it may prove as dangerous as Ionathans hony of which he had no sooner tasted but his head was forfeited There is a deceitfulness in sin Heb. 3.13 a
lie in vanity Jon. 2.8 transit voluptas manet dolor dolor est etiam ipsa voluptas Vers 4. Labour not to be rich The Courtier is still at his lesson Many gotten into Princes Palaces into places of profit fat offices mind nothing more than the feathering of their own nests raising of their own houses filling of their own coffers Such were Shebna Haman Sejanus of whom Tacitus makes this report Palam compositus pudor intus summa adipiscendi libido Quicquid non acquiritur damnum est Sen. that he made shew of modesty but was extream covetous insomuch saith Seneca that he thought all to be lost that he got not for himself How much better Joseph Nehemiah Daniel c. who being wholly for the publike as they had nothing to lose so they had as little to get but were above all price or sale Cease from thine own wisdome Cast away that carnal policy that would prompt thee to get rem rem quocunque modo rem wealth of any fashion This wisdome is by Saint James fitly stiled earthly sensual devilish Earthly managing the lusts of the eye to the ends of gain Sensual managing the lusts of the eye to ends of pleasure and Devilish managing the pride of life unto ends of power James 3.15 with 1 John 2.14.15 Vers 5. Wilt thou set thine eyes c. Hebr. Wilt thou cause thine eyes to fly after c. Wilt thou fly a fools pitch and go hawking after that that cannot be had or if had will not pay for the pains countervail the cost Wilt thou cast a leering look after such vanities Upon that which is not That hath no solid subsistence though the foolish world call it substance ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7.31 The Greek word there used intimateth that there is nothing of any firmnesse or solid consistence in the Creature Heaven onely hath a foundation Heb. 11.10 Earth hath none but is hanged upon nothing as Job speaketh Ye rejoyce in a thing of nought saith the Prophet to them that drank wine in bowls c. Amos. 6.6 13. For riches certainly make themselves wings As the Heathens feigned of their God Plutus Under these wings let the Master hide himself as Esay 28.15 yet with those wings will they fly away without once taking leave leaving nothing but the print of talons in his heart to torment him Riches saith one were never true to those that trusted them To fly from us they make themselves great Eagles wings to fly to us or after us Ne passerinas quidem Augustin not so much as old sparrows wings Temporals saith another are as transitory as a hasty head-long torrent a shadow a ship a bird Mr Bolton an arrow a post that passeth by or if you can name any thing of swifter wing or sooner gone Vers 6. Eate thou not the bread of him that hath an evill eye That is of a miserly muckworm that wisheth thee choaked for so doing even then when he maketh greatest shew of hospitality and humanity Vers 7. For as he thinketh in his heart so is he Mens cujusque is est quisque The man is as his mind is or as he thinketh in his heart so he speaketh he cannot so dissemble but that eftsoons he blurteth out some word or sheweth some sign of his sordid disposition Some read it thus For as he grudgeth his own soul so he will say unto thee eat drink c. As he starves his own Genius and cannot afford himself a good meals-meat so he grudgeth at his guests whom yet he bids welcome Christ doth not so Cant. 5.1 Vers 8. The morsel which thou hast eaten That is That which thou hast eaten shall be so ill-sauced that thou shalt wish it up again and thou shalt repent thee of thy complements or of whatsoever other good speech thou hast used at table which was the salt wherewith our Saviour used to besprinkle the dishes wherever he dined Daniels hist Vers 9. Speak not in the ears of a fool That is Of a wilfull fool that seldome asketh Counsel but never followeth any as it is said of James King of Scotland See the notes on Prov. 9.7 8. and on Mat. 7.6 Vers 10. Remove not the ancient land-mark See the Note on chap. 22.28 Vers 11. For their Redeemer is mighty The thunder of his power who can understand Iob 26.14 And who knoweth the power of his wrath Psal 90.11 Oh contend not with him that is mightier than thou Eccles 6.10 God Almighty is in a special manner the Guardian of his Orphans and the great Master of the Wards Vers 12. Apply thy heart unto instruction Make thine heart to come to it though never so averse Call in thy scattered thoughts and busie them about the best things Anima dispersa fit minor This is the wise mans Counsel to the younger sort But because surdis plerunque fabulam few youths will be better advised therefore he bespeaks their Parents and Tutors in the next words Vers 13. With-hold not correction from the Childe See the Note on chap. 13.24 He shall not dye Or if he do yet not by thy default Thou hast delivered thine own soul howsoever If a Blackmore enter into the Bath though he become not white by it Yet the Bath-master hath his pay saith Keyserspergius The Physician hath his see whether the Patient recover or dye Vers 14. And shalt deliver his soul from hell Fond and foolish Parents are peremptores potiùs quam parentes rather Paricides than Parents âern Epist 12â sith Qui non cum potest servat occidit by not saving their Children they slay them by cockting them in their sin they pitch them headlong into Hell Vers 15. My son if thine heart be wise Si vexatio det intellectum if either by instruction or correction I may make thee wise or well-spoken Bonum birum dicendi peritum as Quintilians Oratour cotus laetitia dissiliam I shall be a joyful man indeed Saint John had no greater joy than to hear that his children walked in the truth 3 Joh. â And St. Paul could never bee thankful enough for such a mercy 1 Thess 3.9 Even mine Or even as I viz. was a comfort to my Parents Vers 17. Let not thine heart envie sinners Who have they never so much here they have but a pension an annuity a state of life granted them in the utmost and most remote part of our Inheritance But be thou in the fear of the Lord all day long An excellent means to cure one of the fret Probatum est Only it must be used constantly Men must wake with God walk with him and lye down with him be in continual communion with him and conformity unto him This is to bee in Heaven aforehand Vers 18. For surely there is an end Viz. Of their pomp and prosperity dum fanea quadam felicitate temporaliter floreant as Augustine hath it Aug.
not as the rest did kisse the consecrated Charger the Cardinal I say that sung Masse being displeased thereat cried out Si non vis benedicticum Anno Dom. 1559. Bucholcer habeas tibi maledictionem in aeternum If thou wilt not have the blessing thou shalt have Gods curse and mine for ever Let them curse but blesse thou when they arise let them be ashamed but let thy servants rejoyce Psal 109.28 Vers 3. A whip for the horse Viz. To quicken his slow pace A bridle for the asse wherewith to lead him in the right way for he goes willingly but a foot-pace and would be oft out but for the bit and besides he is very refractory and must be held in with bit and bridle Psal 32.9 And a rod for the back of fools ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A fool will be the better for beating Vexatio dat intellectum Due punishment may well be to these horses and asses so the Scripture terms unreasonable and wicked men both for a whip to incite them to good and for a bridle to reign them in from evil God hath rods sticking in every corner of his house for these froward fools and if a rod serve not turn he hath a terrible sword Esay 27.1 So must Magistrates Cuncta prius tentanda If a rod will do they need not brandish the sword of Justice nor do as Draco did who punished with death every light offence This was to kill a fly upon a mans forehead with a beetle to the knocking out of his brains Vers 4. Answer not a fool according to his folly When either he curseth thee as verse 2 or cryeth out upon thee for giving him due correction verse 3. for every publike person had need to carry a spare handkerchief to wipe off the dirt of disgrace and obloquy cast upon him for doing his duty Pass such an one by in silence Chrysost as not worthy the answering Sile et funestam dedisti plagam say nothing and you pay him to purpose Hezekiah would not answer Rabshakeh nor Jeremy Hananiah chap. 28.11 nor our Saviour his adversaries Mat. 26.26 John 19.9 he reviled not his revilers hee threatned not his open opposites 1 Pet. 2.23 Lest thou also be like unto him As hot and as head-long as he for a little thing kindles us and we are apt to think that we have reason to be mad if evil-intreated to talk as fast for our selves as he doth against us and to give him as good as he brings so that at length there will be never a wiser of the two and people will say so Vers 5. Answer a fool according to his folly Cast in somewhat that may sting him and stop his mouth Stone him with soft words but hard arguments as Christ dealt with Pilat lest he lift up his crest and look upon himself as a conquerour and be held so by the hearers In fine when a fool is among such as himself answer him lest he seem wise If he be among wise men answer him not and they will regard rather quid tu taceas quam quod ille dicat thy seasonable silence than his passionate prattle Vers 6. He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool The worth of a faithfull messenger he had set forth Chap. 15.13 here the discommodity of a foolish one Such as were the Spies Moses sent Num. 13. and 14. So when the Prophet proves a fool the spiritual man is mad Hos 9.7 things go on as heavily as if feet were wanting to a traveller or as if a messenger had lost his legges Rodulph Bain Vers 7. The legs of the lame are not equal Locum habet proverbium cum is qui male vivit bene loquitur saith an Interpreter This Proverb hits such as speak well but live otherwise Uniformity and Ubiquity of obedience are sure signs of sincerity but as unequal pulse argues a distempered body so doth uneaven walking shew a diseased soul A wise mans life is all of one colour like it self and godliness runs thorow it as the woof runs thorow the warp But if all the parts of the line of thy life be not straight before God it is a crooked life If thy tongue speak by the talent but thine hands scarce work by the ounce thou shalt pass for a Pharisee Mat. 23.3 They spake like Angels lived like Devils had heaven commonly at their tongues end but the earth continually at their fingers end Odi homines ignavâ operà Philosophâ sententiâ said the Heathen that is I hate such Hypocrites as have mouths full of holiness hearts full of hollowness A certain stranger coming on Embassage to the Senate of Rome and colouring his hoary hair and pale cheeks with vermillion hiew a grave Senatour espying the deceit stood up and said What sincerity are we to expect at this mans hand whose locks and looks and lips do lye Vers 8. As he that bindeth a stone in a sling A precious stone is not fit for a sling where it will soon be cast away and lost no more is honour for a fool See vers 1. Aben-Ezra saith that Margemah here rendered a Sling signifies Purple and senseth it thus As it is an absurd thing to wrap a Pibble in purple so is it to prefer a fool as Saul did Doeg as Ahasuerosh Human. Vers 9. As a thorn goeth up into the hand c. He handleth it hard as if it were another kind of wood and it runs into his hand So do prophane persons pervert and pollute the holy Scriptures to their own and other mens destruction By a Parable here the Hebrews understand either these Parables of Salomon or the whole Book of God At this day no people under Heaven doe so abuse Scripture as the Jewes doe For commending in their familiar Epistles some Letter they have received they say Eloquia Domini eloquia pura The words of my Lord are pure words When they flatter their friends Pateat say they accessus ad aditum sanctitatis tuae Weemse Let me have accesse to the sanctuary of thy holinesse When they would testifie themselves thankful Nomini tuo psallam I will sing praise to thy Name When they complain friends forsake them Lord say they thou goest not forth with our armies When they invite their friends to a Banquet or a Wedding In thee have I trusted let me not be put to confusion Loe thus doe these witlesse wicked wretches abuse Gods Parables and take his Name in vain Whereas the very Heathen could say Non loquendum de Deo sine lumine God is not to be talked of lightly loosely disrespectively Thou shalt fear that glorious and fearful Name Jehovah thy God saith Moses their own Law-giver Deut. 28.58 Vers 10. The great God that formed all things As he made all so hee maintains all even the evil and the unthankful God deals not as that cruel Duke of Alva did in the Netherlands Grimston some he rosted to death saith
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. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 âo 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 trepiâation 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 ââtus 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
you to take two But God heaps mercies upon his Suppliants and blames them for their modesty in asking Hitherto you have asked me nothing Nothing to what you might have done and should have had Ask that your joy may be full Thou shouldst have smitten five or six times said the Prophet to the King of Israel 2 King 14 18.19 that smote thrice only then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it Before I dye q. d. I intend to be a daily Suter for them whilst I live and when I dye I shall have no more to doe in this kind Every one as hee hath some special grace or gift above others and as he is dogged with some special temptation or violent corruption so he hath some great request And God holds him haply in hand about it all his life-long that he may daily hear from him and that a constant entercourse may bee maintained Thus it was with David Psal 27.4 and with Paul 2 Cor. 12.8 9. In this case wee must resolve to give God no rest never to stand before him but ply this Petition and yet take heed of prescribing to him of limiting the holy one of Israel say with Luther Fiat voluntas mea Let my will be done but then he sweetly falls off with Mea voluntas Domine quia tua My will Lord but because it is and no further than it is thy will too Vers 8. Remove farre from me vanity and lyes i. e. All sorts of sins those lying vanities that promise much happiness to those that pursue them but perform little enough shame at the best but usually death Rom. 6.21 23. Free me both from the damning and from the domineering power of sin both from the sting and staine of it from the guilt and filth from the crime and curse from the power and punishment Let my person be justified and my lusts mortified Forgive me my trespasses and deliver me from evil Give me neither Poverty nor Riches So that God must give to be poor as well as to be rich He makes holes in the Money-bag Hag. 1.6 and hee stops the secret issues and drains of expence at which mens estates run out they know not how nor when Agur would have neither Poverty for the many inconveniences and discomforts that attend it nor yet riches for the many cares cumbers and other evils not a few that follow them but a mediocrity a competency a sufficiency without superfluity A state too big hee knew is troublesome as well as a shooe too bigge for the foot They say it is not the great Cage that makes the Bird sing sure we are it is not the great estate that brings alwayes the inward joy the cordial contentment Glass keeps out wind and rain but le ts in the light and is therefore useful in building A moderate estate is neither so mean as to expose a man to the injuries nor so great as to exclude a man from the influence of heaven A staff may help a Traveller but a bundle of staâes may be a burden to him so may too great an estate to a godly man Feed me with food convenient for me Heb. with food of mine allowance or which thou seest fit to allow me so much as my demensum comes to the piece that thou hast cut for me the portion that belongs unto me the bread of the day for the day Give me daily bread that I may in diem vivere as Quintilian saith the Birds doe the little Birds that have their meat brought in every day by their Dams without defeatment And hereunto the original here seems to allude Pomponius Atticus thus defineth riches Divitiae sunt ad legem naturae composita paupertas Riches are such a Poverty or Mediocrity as hath enough for Natures uses If I may have but offam aquam a morsel of meat a mouthful of water and convenient cloathing I shall not envie the richest Craesus or Crassus upon earth See the notes on Matth. 6.11 and 1 Tim. 6.8 Vers 9. Lest I be full and deny thee c. Fulness breeds forgetfulness saturity security Deut. 32.15 See the note there and 1 Tim. 6.17 with the note Every grain of riches hath a vermin of pride and ambition in it A man may desire them as one desires a ship to passe over the Sea from one Country to another But to many they prove hinderances to Heaven remora's to religious practices Many in their low estate could serve God but now resemble the Moon which never suffers eclipse but at her full and that is by the earths interposition between the Sun and her self Even an Agur full fed may grow wanton and bee dipping his fingers in the Devils sauce yea so farre may he forget himself as to deny the Lord or as the Hebrew hath it belye him disgrace his house-keeping and cast a slur upon his work and wages by his shameful apostacy yea as Pharaoh-like to ask who is the Lord as if such were petty-gods within themselves and could by the help of their Mammon doe well enough without him Salomons wealth did him more hurt than his wisdome did him good Eccles 2. It was his abundance that drew out his spirits and dissolved him and brought him to so low an ebbe in grace Or lest I be poor and steal Necessity is an hard weapon wee use to say Hunger is an evil Counsellour Necessitas durum telum Fames malesuada audax paupertas and Poverty is bold or daring as Horace calls it The baser sort of people in Swethland doe alwayes break the Sabbath saying that it is only for Gentlemen to keep that day And the poorer sort amongst us some of them I mean that have learned no better hold theft in them Petrilarceny at least a peccadillo an excusable evil for either we must steal say they or starve the belly hath no ears our poor children must not pine and perish c. And truly men doe not despise i. e. not so much despise a Thief if he steal to satisfie his soul when he is hungry saith Salomon Prov. 6.30 in his argument that an Adulterer is worse than a Thief though a Thief be bad enough shut out of Heaven 1 Cor. 6.9 But if he steal for necessity ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith the Greek Proverb there is no remedy but a barking stomack must be quieted men doe the more excuse him Job 36.21 à tanto though not à toto But God saith flat and plain Thou shalt in no case steal Let him that stole steal no more but let him labour with his hands and depend upon Gods Providence let him preferre affliction before sin and rather dye than doe wickedly But want is a sore temptation as Agur feared and that good man felt mentioned by Master Perkins who being ready to starve stole a Lamb and being about to eat of it with his poor Children and as his manner was afore-meat to crave a blessing durst not doe it
between Him and thee therefore see to it that thou come to him with all possible reverence humility and self-abasement See Job 42.6 1 King 18.42 Matth. 26.38 It is observable that when the great Turk comes into his Mosche or Temple he lays by all his State and hath none to attend him all the while Therefore let thy words bee few But full as the Publicans were Luk. 18.13 O quam multa quam paucis Oh how much in a little said Tully of Brutus his Epistle so may wee say of that Publicans prayer how much more of the Lords prayer set in flat opposition to the Heathenish Battologies and vain repetitions usual with Pagans and Papagans c. See the Note on Mat. 6.7 8 9. It is reported of the ancient Christians of Aegypt Quod brevissimis raptim jaculatis orationibus uti voluerint ne per moras evanesceret hebetaretur intentio August that they made very short prayers that their devotion might not bee dulled by longer doings Cassian also makes mention of certain religious persons in his time Qui utilius censebant breves quidem orationes sed creberrimas fieri c. who thought it best that our prayers should bee short but frequent the one that there might bee continual intercourse maintained between God and us the other that by shortness wee might avoid the Devills darts which hee throws especially at us while wee are praying These bee good reasons and more may bee added out of Matth. 6. as that our Heavenly Father knows what wee need c. That which the Preacher here presseth is the transcendent Excellency and surpassing Majesty of Almighty God I am a great King saith Hee Mal. 1. And I look to bee served like my self Hos 14.2 Therefore take unto you words neither over curious nor over careless but such as are humble earnest direct to the point avoiding vain bablings needless and endless repetitions heartless digressions tedious prolixities wilde and idle discourses of such extemporary petitioners as not disposing their matter in due order by premeditation and withall being word-bound are forced to go forward and backward like Hounds at a loss and having hastily begun they know not how handsomly to make an end Vers 3. For a dream commeth through the multitude of business When all the rest of the senses are bound up by sleep the soul entreth into the shop of the fancy and operates there usually according to the businesses and imployments of the day past Tertull. de anima cap. 49. fierividentur quae fieri tamen non videntur saith Tertullian those things seem to bee done in a dream which yet are not seen to be done at all these are but vanae jactationes negotiosae animae the idle toffings of a busy minde In like sort a fool a heartless sapless fellow that being sensual and void of the spirit of grace and supplications hath neither the affections nor expressions of holy prayer multiplies words without knowledge thinks to make out in words what hee wants in worth being ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Plutarch saith of Alcibicdes one that could talk much but speak little His voyce is known by multitude of words It is but a voyce that is heard it is but a sound that is made like the uncertain sound of a Trumpet that none can tell what it meaneth what to make of it Corniculas citius in Africa quam res rationâsque solidas in Turriani scriptis reperias saith one Beringer Contra Id. Cum. Lauret Aristot De divinat per insom So here If there be any worth of matter in the fools words it is but by chance as Aristotle saith that dreams doe by chance fore-tell those things that come to passe Let it be our care to shun as much as may be all lavish and superfluous talkativenesse and tediousnesse but especially in prayer lest wee offer the sacrifice of fools and God be angry with us For as it is not the loudnesse of a Preachers voyce but the weight and holiness of his matter and the spirit of the Preacher that moves a wife and intelligent hearer so it is not the labour of the lips but the travel of the heart that prevails with God The Baalites Prayer was not more tedious than Elijah's short yet more pithy than short And it was Elijah that spake loud and sped in heaven Let the fool learn therefore to shew more wit in his discourse than words lest being known by his voyce hee meet as the Nightingale did with some Laconian that will not let to tell him Vox in es praeterea nihil Thou art a voyce and that 's all Vers 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God deferre not to pay it See the Note on Deut. 23.21 It is in thy power to vow or not to vow Vovere nusquam est praeceptum saith Bellarmine We have no command to vow That of David Lib. 2. de Monac cap. 15. Vow and perform to the Lord your God is not purum praeceptum saith Mr. Cartwright a pure precept but like that other Be angry and sin not where anger is not commanded but limited So neither are wee simply commanded to vow but having voluntarily vowed we may not deferre to pay it delayes are taken for denials excuses for refusals For he hath no pleasure in fools He needs them as little as King Achish did 2 Sam. 22.15 he abhors them Psal 5.5 as deceitful workers as mockers of God Jephta in vovendo fuit stultus in praestando impius Jephta was a fool in vowing Hieron and wicked in performing But he that vowes a thing lawful and possible and yet de-deferres to perform it or seeks an evasion is two fools for fayling sith Vers 5. Better it is that thou shouldest not vow q. d. Who bad thee bee so forward Why wouldst thou become a voluntary Votary Dicta factis deficientibus erubescunt and so rashly ingage to the losse of thy liberty and the offence of thy God who expected thou shouldst have kept touch and not have dealt thus slipperily with him Thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God Acts 5.4 As the truth of Christ is in me saith Paul 2 Cor. 11.10 so he bindes himself by an oath as the learned have observed And as God is true our word toward you was not Yea and Nay 2 Cor. 1.19 20 for the Son of God who was preached among you by mee was not Yea and Nay but in him all the promises of God are Yea and Amen Why what of that might some say and what 's all this to the purpose Very much for it implieth that what a Christian doth promise to men how much more to God he is bound by the earnest penny of Gods Spirit to perform He dares no more alter or falsifie his word than the Spirit of God can lye And as he looks that Gods promises should bee made good to him so is hee careful to pay that
he hath vowed to God sith his is a Covenant of Mercy ours of obedience and if hee shall be All-sufficient to us we must be Altogether his Cant. 2.16 Vers 6. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin Heb. Nec des Give not liberty to thy mouth which of itself is so apt to over-flow and run riot in sinful and superfluous language Reign it in therefore and lay Lawes upon it lest it cause thy flesh to sin thy self to become a sinner against thine own soul Say to it in this case as Christ did to those Pharisees in the Gospel Why temptest thou me thou hypocrite or as the Witch said to Saul that sought to her Wherefore layest thou a snare for my life to cause me to dye 1 Sam. 28.9 Shall my prayer become sin and my religious vowes through non-payment a cause of a curse Psal 109.7 When thou art making such an ill bargain say to thy mouth as Boaz said to his Kinsman At what time thou buyest it Ruth 4. Rom. 6. ult thou must have Ruth with it so thou must have Gods curse with it for that 's the just hire of the least sin how much more of thy crimson crime And let thy mouth answer No I may not doe it I shall mar and spoyl a better inheritance I shall anger the Angel of the Covenant who if his wrath be kindled yea but a little he will not pardon my transgression for Gods anâ is in him Exod. 23.21 Who as he is Pater miserationum the Father of mercies so he is eus ultionum the God of recompences Psal 94.1 True it is that Anger is not properly in God Fury is not in me Isa 27.4 but because he chides and smites for sin as angry men use to doe therefore is Anger here and elsewhere attributed to him that men may stand in awe and not sin sith sin and punishment are linked together with chains of Adamant Vers 7. For in the multitude of dreams and in many words i. e. As in the multitude of dreams so in many words c. There may bee some matter in some of either but neither of either wants their vanities Dreams are of divers sorts See the Note on Gen. 20.3 Epicurus judged them all vain The Telmisenses Tertul. de anima c. 46. nulla somnia evacuabant saith Tertullian made no dreams to bee vain But that some dreams are Divine some diabolical and some natural Peculiare solatium naturalis oraculi as one speaketh good symptomes and indications of the natural constitution no wise man ever doubted That of the Philosopher hath a truth in it Aristot Ethic. Justum ab injusto non somno sed somnio discerni that a good man may be distinguished from a bad though not by his sleep yet by his dreams in his sleep But fear thou God And so eschew this evil of fond babbling in Gods service especially which is no lesse a vanity than plain doting and procures Divine displeasure Fulgent Deum siquis parum metuit valde contemnit He that fears not Gods wrath is sure to feel it Psal 90.11 Vers 8. If thou seest the oppression of the poor And so mayst bee drawn to doubt of Divine providence and to with-draw thine awful regard to the Divine Majesty to forgoe godlinesse and to turn flat Atheist as Diagoras and Averroes did Horat. Marvel not at the matter Nil admirari prope res est una Numici A wise man wonders at nothing he knows there is good cause why God should suffer it so to be and gives him his glory Opera Dei sunt in mediis contrariis saith Luther Luther in Genes Nazian Cypr. Gods works are effected usually by contraries And this hee doth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he may be the more marvelled at saith Nazianzen Hence he commonly goes a way by himself drawing light out of darkness good out of evil Exod. 15.11 heaven out of hell that his people may feelingly say Who is like unto thee O Lord glorious in holinesse fearful in praises doing Wonders Verily there is a reward for the righteous verily he is a God that judgeeth in the earth Psal 58.11 For he that is higher than the highest regardeth And wherein they deal proudly Psal 76.12 he is above them Exod. 18.11 and over-tops them Psal 2.4 sets a day for them and sees that their day is coming Psal 37.16 The most High cuts off the spirit of Princes hee slips them off as one should slip off a flower between his fingers or he cuts them off as Grape-gatherers doe the clusters off the Vines such a Metaphor there is in the Original He is terrible to all the Kings of the earth those dread Soveraigns those Hammers of the earth and Scourges of the world as Attilas stiled himself such as Sennacherib Mundi flagellum whom God so subdued and mastered that the Aegyptians in memory of it set up his statue in the Temple of Vulcan with this inscription Heredot ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let all that behold me 2 Chro. 19.6 learn to fear God It was therefore excellent counsel that Jehoshaphat gave his Judges Take heed what you doe for yee judge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the judgement Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord our God bee upon you take heed and doe it Look upon him that over-looks all your doings saith he and then learn to sit upon the Tribunal in as great though not in so slavish a fear of doing wrong as Olanes in the History did upon the flayed skin of his Father Sisannus nayled by Cambyses on the Judgement-Seat or as a Russian Judge that fears the boyling Caldron or open battocking or the Turkish Senate when they think the great Turk to stand behind the Arras at the dangerous door In fine let the Grandees and Potentates of the Earth know and acknowledge with Constantine Valentinian and Theodosius three great Emperours as Socrates reports it of them that they are but Christi Vasalli Christs Vassals and that as he is Excelsus super Excelsos High above all even the highest so hee hath other high ones at hand viz. the Holy Angels who can resist the King of Persia as Michael the Prince did Dan. 10.13 Fright the Syrians with a pannick terrour 2 King 7.6 smite the Assyrians with an utter destruction Isa 37.36 deliver Peter from the hand of Herod and from the expectation of the Jewes Exod. 12. Acts 12.11 make a wonderful difference in the slaughter of the first-born of Aegypt Tyrants shall be sure sooner or later to meet with their match Look what a hand the Ephori had over the King of Sparta the Tribunes had over the Roman Consuls and the Prince Palsgrave of Rhine ought by the ancient orders to have over the Emperour of Germany Palatino haec dignitatis praerogativa est ut ipsum Caesarem judicare damnare possit Parci
onely that delivereth from death The wicked may make a covenant with death but God will disanul it Shall they escape by iniquity saith the Psalmist What have they no better medium's No in thine anger cast down the people O God Isa 28.15 Psal 50.7 Every man should dye the same day that hee is born the wages of death should bee paid him presently but Christ beggs their lives for a season Hee is the Saviour of all men 1 Tim. 4.10 not of eternal preservation but of temporal reservation that his Elect might lay hold on eternal life and reprobates may have this for a bodkin at their hearts one day I was in a fair possibility of being delivered Vers 9. One man ruleth over another to his own hurt Not only to the hurt of his subjects but to his own utter ruine though after a long run haply vers 12 13. Ad generum Cereris c. What untimely ends came the Kings of Israel to and the Roman Caesars all almost till Constantine Vespasianus unus accepto imperio melior factus est Vespasian was the only one amongst them that became better by the Office Whiles they were private persons there seemed to be some goodnesse in them But no sooner advanced to the Empire than they ran riot in wickednesse listening to flatterers and hating reproofs they ran head-long to Hell and drew a great number with them by the instigation of the Devil that old Man-slayer whose work it was to act and agitate them for a common mischief Vers 10. And so I saw the wicked buried With Pomp and great solemnity funeral Orations Statues and Epitaphs c. as if he had been another Josiah or Theodosius so doe men over-whelm this mouse with praises proper to the Elephant as the Proverb hath it Who had come and gone from the place of the Holy That is from the place of Magistracy Seat of Judicature where the Holy God himself sits as chief President and Lord Paramount Deut. 1.17 2 Chron. 19.6 Psal 82.1 And they were forgotten in the City where they had so done A great benefit to a wicked man to have his memory dye with him which if it be preserved stinks in keeping Pemble and remains as a curse and perpetual disgrace as one very well senseth it Vers 11. Because sentence against an evil work c. Ennarrata sententia a published and declared sentence So that it is only a reprieve of mercy that a wicked man hath his preservation is but a reservation to further evil abused mercy turning into fury Hieron in Ierem Aeripedes dictae sunt Furia Aries quo altius erigitur hoc figit fortius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã De utroque Dionysio Val. l. 1. cap. 2. Bucholc Morae dispendium fauoris duplo pensatur saith Hierom Gods forbearance is no quittance he will finde a time to pay wicked men for the new and the old The Lord is not slow as some men count slownesse 2 Pet. 3.9 Or if he be slow yet he is sure Hee hath leaden heels but iron hands the farther he fetcheth his blow or draweth his arrow the deeper hee will wound when hee hitteth Gods Mill may grind soft and slow but it grindes sure and small said one Heathen Tarditatem supplicii gravitate compensat he recompenseth the delay of punishment with an eternity of extreamity saith another He hath vials of vengeance Rev. 16.1 which are large vessels but narrow mouthed they pour out slowly but drench deeply and distill effectually Caveto igitur saith one ne malum dilatum fiat suplicatum Get quickly out of Gods debt lest yee be forced to pay the charges of a sute to your pain to your cost Patientia Dei quo diuturnior eo minacior God will not alwayes serve men for a sinning-stock Poena venit gravior quo mage sera venit Adonijah's feast ended in horrour Ever after the meal is ended comes the reckoning Therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set Heb. is full So full of wickednesse that there is no room for the fear of Gods wrath till wrath come upon them to the utmost Intus existens prohibet alienum God offers and affords them heart-knocking time Rev. 3.20 but they ram up their hearts dry their tears as Saul and are scalded in their own grease stewed in their own broath The sleeping of vengeance causeth the over-flowing of sin and the over-flow of sin causeth the awakning of vengeance Vers 12. Though a sinner doth evil an hundred times Commit the same sin an hundred times over which is no small aggravation of his sin as numbers added to numbers are first ten times more then an hundred then a thousand c. And truly a Sinner left to himself would sin in infinitum which may be one reason of the infinite torments of Hell hee can set no bounds to himself till he become a brat of fathomless perdition The Devil commits that sin unto death every day and oft in the day His Imps also resemble him herein Hence their sins are mortal saith St. John rather immortal 1 Joh. 5. as saith St. Paul Rom. 2.5 And his dayes bee prolonged By the long sufferance of God which is so great that Jonah was displeased at it chap. 4. Averroes turned Atheist upon it But Micah admires it chap. 7.18 and Moses makes excellent use of it when he prays Exod. 34. O Lord let my Lord I pray thee goe along with us for it is a stiff-necked people As who should say None but a God is able to endure this perverse people my patience and meekness is farre too short and yet Moses by Gods own testimony was the meekest man upon earth That the vilest of men may live a long while is evident but for no good will that God bears them but that heaping up sin they may heap up wrath and by abuse of Divine patience be fitted for the hottest fire in Hell Rom. 9.22 as stubble laid out a drying Nah. 1.10 or as Grapes let hang in the Sun-shine till ripe for the Wine-press of wrath Rev. 15.16 Surely as one day of mans life is to be preferred before the longest life of a Stagge or a Raven so one day spent religiously is farre better than an hundred years spent wickedly Non refert quanta sit vitae diuturnitas sed qualis sit administratio saith Vives The businesse is not how long but how well any man liveth Hierom reads this verse thus Quia peccator facit malum centies elongat ei Deus ex hoc cognosco ego c. Because a sinner doth evil an hundred times and God doth lengthen his dayes unto him from hence I know that it shall bee well with them that fear God c. And he sets this sense upon it Inasmuch as God so long spares wretched sinners waiting their return he will surely bee good to pious persons Symmachus Aquila and Theodotion read it thus Peccans enim malus mortuus est long
salvation when a Cardinal I feared my self but now that I am Pope I am almost out of hope And if the tree fall toward the South i. e. Which way soever it groweth it fructifieth so should rich men bee rich in good works 1 Tim. 6.18 and being fat Olive-trees Psal 52. â they should bee as David green Olive-trees full of good fruits Or thus trees must down and men must die and as trees fall South-ward or North-ward so shall men bee set either at the right hand of the Judge or at the left according as they have carried themselves towards Christs poor members Matth. 25. Up therefore and bee doing whiles life lasteth and so lay hold upon eternal life Mors atra impendet agenti Where the boughs of holy desires and good deeds are most and greatest on that side no doubt the tree will fall but being fallen it can bear no fruit for ever Vers 4. Hee that observeth the wind shall not sow In sowing of mercy hee that sticks in such objections and doubts as carnal men use to frame out of their covetous and distrustful hearts neglects his seeds-time by looking at winds and clouds which is the guize of a lewd and lazy seeds-man A word in season saith Solomon so a charitable deed in season how good is it Hee that defers to do good in hope of better times or fitter objects or fewer obstacles or greater abilities c. it will bee long enough ere hee will do any thing to purpose When God sets us up an Altar wee must offer a sacrifice when hee affords us an opportunity wee must lay hold on it and not stand scrupling and casting perils lest wee lose the sowing of much seed and reaping of much fruit lest wee come with our talent tied up in a napkin and hear Thou idle and therefore evil servant Vers 5. As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit Or Of the wind as some render it grounding upon the former verse q. d. why should any so observe the wind the nature whereof hee so little understands John 3.8 and the inconstancy whereof is grown to and known by a common proverb But by spirit I rather think is meant the soul as by bones the body Who can tell when and how the body is formed the soul infused The body is the souls sheath Dan. 7.15 an abridgement of the visible world as the soul is of the invisible The members of the body were made all by book Psal 139.16 and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth that is in the womb Homo est ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Eurip. as curious work-men when they have some choice peece in hand they perfect it in private and then bring it forth to light for men to gaze at What an admirable peece of work is mans head-peece Gods Master-peece in this little world the chief seat of the soul that cura divini ingenii as one calls it There is nothing great on earth but man nothing in man but his mind said the Philosopher Favârin Many locks and keyes argue the price of the Jewel that they keep and many papers wrapping the token within them the worth of the token The Tables of the Testament First Laid up in the Ark Secondly The Ark bound about with pure gold Thirdly Overshadowed with Cherubims wings Fourthly Inclosed with the veil of the Tabernacle Fifthly With the compass of the Tabernacle Sixthly With a Court about all Seventhly With a treble covering of Goats Rams and Badgers-skins above all must needs bee precious Tables So when the Almighty made mans head the seat of the reasonable soul and over-laid it with hair skin and flesh like the threefold covering of the Tabernacle and then incompassed it with a skull of bones like boards of Cedar and afterwards with divers skins like silken curtains and lastly Enclosed it with the yellow skin that covers the brain like the purple veil which Solomon calls the golden Ewre Eccles 12.6 hee would doubtless have us to know it was made for some great treasure to bee put therein How and when the reasonable soul is put into this curious Cabinet Philosophers dispute many things but can affirm nothing of a certainty as neither how the bones do grow in the womb how of the same substance the several parts as bones nerves arteries veins gristles flesh and blood are fashioned there and receive daily increase This David looks at as a just wonder Psal 139.14 15. Mirificatus sum mirabilibus operis tuis Montanus saith hee I am fearfully and wonderfully made and Galen a prophane Philosopher could not but hereupon sing an hymn to mans most wise Creator whom yet hee knew not Even so thou knowest not the work of God i. e. The rest of his works of creation and providence which are very various and to us no less unknown than uncertain Do thou that which God commandeth and let things fall out as they will Prov. 3.5 Isa 58.7 there is an over-ruling hand in all for the good of those that love God Trust therefore in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding Hide not thine eyes from thine own flesh Hee that doth so shall have many a curse The Apostle useth a word for liberality ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 2 Cor. 8.2 which properly signifieth simplicity and this hee doth in opposition to that crafty and witty wiliness of the covetous to defend themselves from the danger as they take it of liberality Vers 6. In the morning sow thy seed c. At all times bee ready to every good work as the Bee is abroad so soon as ever the Sun breaks forth Tit. 3.1 Sow mercy in the morning sow it likewise in the evening as those bountiful Macedonians did to the shame of those richer but harder Corinthians sending once and again to Pauls necessities 2 Cor. 8.3 with Phil. 4.16 Oh sow much and oft of this unfailable seed into Gods blessed bosome the fruit whereof you are sure to reap at your greatest need Men may bee thankful or they may not Perraro grati reperiuntur saith Cicero it is ten to one if any cured Leper turn again to give thanks But God is not unrighteous to forget your labour of love in ministring to his Saints Heb. 6.10 Haply you may not sow and reap the same day as the widow of Sarepta did haply the seed may lye under ground some while and not bee quckned except it dye but have patience nothing so sure as a crop of comfort to those that are duely merciful Up therefore and bee doing lose no time slip no season It but a morning and an evening one short day of life wherein wee have to work and to advance your blessedness Sow therefore continually blessed is hee that soweth besides all waters Acts and Mân Blessed Bradford held that hour lost wherein hee had not done some good with his hand tongue or pen.
yonker thus bespeaking himself Rejoyce my soul in thy youth c. and then nips him on the crown again with that stinging But in the end of the verse Or else which I rather think by an ironical Concession hee bids him rejoyce c. yeelds him what hee would have by way of mockage and bitter-scoff like as Elias jeered the Baalites bidding them cry aloud unto their drowsie or busie God or as Micaiah bade Ahab by an holy scoff go up against Ramoth Gilead and prosper Mark 14.41 Or as our Saviour bade his drowsie Disciples Sleep on now and take your rest viz. if you can at least or have any minde to it with so many Bills and Halberds about your ears And let thine heart chear thee in the daies of thy youth In diebus electionum tuarum so Arias Montanus reads it in the daies of thy chusings that is Luke 12. when thou followest the choice and the chase of thine own desires and dost what thou wilt without controll Walk in the way of thine heart Which bids thee Eat drink and bee merry and had as lief bee knockt on the head as do otherwise Hence fasting is called an afflicting of the soul and the best finde it no less grievous to go about holy duties than it is to children to bee called from their sports and set to their books And in the sight of thine eyes Those windows of wickedness and loop-holes of lust But know Here is that which marrs all the mirth here is a cooler for the yonkers courage sowre sauce to his sweet meats for fear hee should surfeit Verbahaet Solomonis valde emphatica sunt saith Lavater there is a great deal of emphasis in these words of Solomon Let mee tell thee this as a Preacher saith hee And oh that I could get words to gore the very soul with smarting pain that this Doctrine might bee written in thy flesh That for all these things These tricae as the world accounts them these trifles and tricks of youth which Job and David bitterly bewailed as sore businesses God will bring thee to judgement Either in this life as hee did Absolom and Adoniah Hophni and Phinehas Nadab and Abihu or infallibly at thy deaths-day which indeed is thy dooms-day then God will bring thee perforce bee thou never so loth to come to it hee will hale thee to his tribunal bee it never so much against thy heart and against the hair with thee And as for the judgement what it shall bee God himself shews it Isa 28.17 Judgement will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters shall over-flow the hiding-place Where what is the hail saith One but the multitude of accusations which shall sweep away the vain hope that men have that the infinite mercy of God will save them howsoever they live And what is the hiding-place but the multitude of excuses which men are ready to make for themselves and which the waters of Gods justice shall quite destroy and overthrow Young men of all men are apt to make a Covenant with death and to put far away from them the thought of judgement But it boots them not so to do for Senibus mors in januis adolescentibus in insidiis saith Bernard Death doth not alwaies knock at door but comes often like a lightning or thunderbolt it blasteth the green corn and consumeth the new and strong building Now at death it will fare nothing better with the wilde and wicked youngster than with that theef that having stollen a Gelding rideth away bravely mounted till such time as being overtaken by hue and cry he is soon afterwards sentenced and put to death James 4.8 Vers 10. Therefore remove sorrow from thine heart One would have thought hee should have said rather considering the premises Remove joy from thy heart Let thy laughter be turned into mourning and thy joy into heaviness turn all the streams into that chanel that may drive that Mill that may grind the heart But by sorrow here or indignation as Tremellius renders it the Preacher means sin the cause of sorrow and so hee interprets himself in the next words Put away evil from thy flesh i. e. Mortifie thy lusts For childe-hood and youth are vanity The Septuagint and Vulgar render it Youth and pleasure are vain things They both will soon bee at an end CHAP. XII Vers 1. Remember now thy Creatour HEB. Creatours scil Father Son and Holy Ghost called by Elihu Eloa Gnosai God my Makers Job 35.10 and by David the Makers of Israel Psal 149.1 so Isa 54.5 Thy Makers is thine Husbands Let us make man Gen. 1.26 and verse 1. Dei creavit Those three in One and One in Three made all things but man hee made fearfully and wonderfully Psal 139.14 The Father did it Ephes 3.9 The Son Heb. 1.8 10. Col. 1.16 The Holy Ghost Psal 33.6 and 104.30 Job 36.13 and 33.4 To the making of Man a Council was called Gen. 1.29 Sun Moon and Stars are but the work of his fingers Psal 8.3 but Man is the work of his hands Psal 139.14 Thine hands have made mee or took special pains about mee and fashioned mee saith Job chap. 10.8 thou hast formed mee by the book saith David Psal 139.16 Hence the whole Church so celebrates this great work with Crowns cast down at the Creators feet Rev. 4.10 11. And hence young men also who are mostly most mindless of any thing serious for childe-hood and youth are vanity are here charged to remember their Creatour that is as dying David taught his young Son Solomon to know love and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind 1 Chron. 28.9 for words of knowledge in Scripture imply affection and practice Tam Dei meminisse opus est quam respirare To remember God is every whit as needful as to draw breath sith it is hee that gave us being at first and that still gives us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã life and breath Act. 17.25 Let every thing therefore that hath breath praise the Lord even so long as it hath breath yea let it spend and exhale it self in continual sallies as it were and egressions of affection unto God till it hath gotten not onely an union but an unity with him Of all things God cannot endure to bee forgotten In the daies of thy youth Augustus began his speech to his mutinous souldiers with Audite senem juvenes quem juvenem senes and ierunt You that are young hear mee that am old whom old men were content to hear when I was but young And Augustine beginneth one of his Sermons thus Ad vos mihi sermo O juvenes flos aetatis periculum mentis To you is my speech O young men the flower of age the danger of the mind To keep them from danger and direct them to their duty it is that the Preacher here exhorts them to remember
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 âabant 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 psâllit 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It should bee so doubtless an old Letcher
being little less than a Monster What so monstrous as to behold green Apples on a tree in winter and what so indecent as to see the sins of youth prevailing in times of age among old decrepit Goats that they should bee capering after capparis ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the fruit of Capers as the Septuagint and Vulgar render it here Because man goeth to his long home Heb. to his old home scil to the dust from whence hee was taken Or to the house of his eternity that is the grave that house of all living where hee shall lye long till the Resurrection Tremellius renders it in domum saeculi sui to the house of his generation where hee and all his contemporaries meet Cajetan in domum mundi sui into the house of his world that which the world provides for him as nature at first provided for him the house of the womb Toward this home of his the old man is now on gate having one foot in the grave already Hee sits and sings with Job My spirit is spent my daies are extinct the graves are ready for mee Job 17.1 And the mourners go about the streets The proverb is Senex âos non lugetur An old man dies unlamented But not so the good old man Great moan was made for old Jacob Moses Aaron Samuel The Romans took the death of old Augustus so heavily that they wished hee had either never been born or never died Those indeed that live wickedly dye wishedly But godly men are worthily lamented and ought to bee so Isa 57.1 This is one of the dues of the dead so it bee done aright But they were hard bestead that were fain to hire mourners that as Midwives brought their friends into the world so those widows should carry them out of it See Job 3.8 Jer. 9.17 Vers 6. Or ever the silver cord bee loosed Or lengthened i. e. before the marrow of the back which is of a silver colour bee consumed From this Cord many sinews are derived which when they are loosened the back bendeth motion is slow and feeling faileth Or the golden bowl be broken i. e. The heart say some or the Pericardium the Brain-pan say others or the Piamater compassing the brain like a swathing-cloath or inner rind of a tree Or the pitcher bee broken at the fountain That is the veins at the Liver which is the shop of sangnification or blood-making as one calls it but especially Vena porta and Vena cava Read the Anatomists Or the wheel bee broken at the cistern i. e. The head which draws the power of life from the heart to the which the blood runs back in any great fright as to the fountain of life Vers 7. Then shall the dust return to the earth c. What is man saith Nazianzen but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Soul and Soil Breath and Body a puff of wind the one a pile of dust the other no solidity in either Zoroaster and some other antient Heathens imagined that the soul had wings that having broken these wings shee fell headlong into the body and that recovering her wings again shee flies up to Heaven her original habitation That of Epicharmus is better to bee liked and comes nearer to the truth here delivered by the Preacher Concretum fuit discretum est rediitque unde venerat terra deorsum spiritus sursum It was together but is now by death set asunder and returned to the place whence it came the Earth downward the Spirit upward See Gen. 2.7 God made man of the dust of the earth to note our frailty vility and impurity Lutum enim conspurcat omnia sic caro saith one Dirt defiles all things so doth the flesh It should seem so truly by mans soul which coming pure out of Gods hands soon becomes Mens oblita Dei vitiorumque oblita coeno Bernard complains not without just cause that our souls by commerce with the flesh are become fleshly Sure it is that by their mutual defilement corruption is so far rooted in us now that it is not cleansed out of us by meer death as is to bee seen in Lazarus and others that died but by cinerification or turning of the body to dust and ashes The spirit returns to God that gave it For it is divinae particula aurae an immaterial immortal substance that after death returns to God the Fountain of life D. Prest The soul moves and guides the body saith a worthy Divine as the Pilot doth the ship Now the Pilot may bee safe though the ship bee split on the rock And as in a chicken it grows still and so the shell breaks and falls off So it is with the soul the body hangs on it but as a shell and when the soul is grown to perfection it falls away and the soul returns to the Father of spirits Augustine after Origen held a long while that the soul was begotten by the Parents as was the body At length hee began to doubt of this point and afterward altered his opinion confessing inter caetera testimonia hoc esse praecipuum that among other testimonies this to bee the chief to prove the contrary to that which hee had formerly held Vers 8. Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher Who chose for his Text this Argument of the vanity of humane things which having fully proved and improved hee here resumes and concludes Vide supra Vers 9. And moreover because the Preacher was wise Hee well knew how hard it was to work men to a beleef of what hee had affirmed concerning earthly vanities and therefore heaps up here many forcible and cogent Arguments as First that himself was no baby but wise above all men in the world by Gods own testimony therefore his words should bee well regarded ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Our wise men expound to day said the Jews one to another Come let us go up to the house of the Lord c. Cicero had that high opinion of Plato for his wisdome that hee professed that hee would rather go wrong with him than go right with others Averroes over-admired Aristotle as if hee had been infallible But this is a praise proper to the holy Pen-men guided by the Spirit of Truth and filled with wisdome from on high for the purpose To them therefore and to the word of prophecy by them must men give heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place c. 2 Pet. 1.19 Hee still taught the people knowledge Hee hid not his talent in a Napkin but used it to the instruction of his people Have not I written for thee excellent things or three several sorts of Books viz. Proverbial Penitential Nuptial in counsels and knowledge Prov. 22.20 Synesius speaks of some ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Synes that having great worth in them will as soon part with their hearts as with their conceptions And Gregory observeth that there are not a few who being enriched with spiritual gifts
a diaphanous body as the word there signifies before the judgement-seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.20 all shall bee laid naked and open the Books of Gods Omniscience and mans Conscience also shall bee then opened and secret sins shall bee as legible in thy fore-head as if written with the brightest Stars or the most glittering Sun-beams upon a wall of Crystal Mens actions are all in print in Heaven and God will at that day read them aloud in the ears of all the world Whether it bee good or evil Then it shall appear what it is which before was not so clear like as in April both wholesome roots and poisonable discover themselves which in winter were not seen Then men shall give an account 1 De bonis commissis of good things committed unto them 2. De bonis dimissis of good things neglected by them 3. De malis commissis of evils committed by them 4. Lastly De malis permissis of evils done by others suffered by them when they might have hindered it LAUS DEO A COMMENTARY OR EXPOSITION UPON THE CANTICLES OR Solomons Song of Songs CHAP. I. Vers 1. The Song of Songs NOt a light Love-song as some prophane persons have fancied and have therefore held it no part of the sacred Canon Theodoret. lib. 5. de Provid Sic coena a Dionysio caeremonia caeremoniarum ab alio Pascha celebritas celebritatum dicitur But a most excellent Epithalamium a very divine Ditty an heavenly Allegory a Mystical-marriage-song called here The Song of Songs as God is called the God of Gods Deut. 10.7 as Christ is called the King of Kings Rev. 19.16 as the Most Holy is called the Holy of Holies to the which the Jew-doctors liken this Canticle as they do Ecclesiastes to the Holy place and Proverbs to the Court to signifie that it is the treasury of the most sacred and highest mysteries of holy Scripture It streams out all along under the parable of a Marriage Hieron prooem in Ezech. that full torrent of spiritual love that is betwixt Christ and the Church This is a great mystery saith that great Apostle Ephes 5.32 It passeth the capacity of man to understand it in the perfection of it Hence the Jews permitted none to read this sacred Song before thirty years of age Let him that reads think hee sees written over this Solomons porch Holiness to the Lord T. W. on Cantiâ Procul hinc procul este profani nihil hic nisi castum If any think this kind of dealing to bee over-light for so grave and weighty a matter let them take heed saith one that in the height of their own hearts they do not proudly censure God and his order who in many places useth the same similitude of marriage to express his love to his Church by and interchangeably her duty toward him as Hos 2.19 2 Cor. 11.2 Ephes 5.25 with vers 22 23 24. where the Apostle plainly alludeth and referreth to this Song of Songs in sundry passages borrowing both matter and frame of speech from hence Which is Solomons Hee was the Pen-man God the Author Of many other Songs hee was both Author and instrument 1 King 4.32 Not so of this which therefore the Chaldee Paraphrast here entituleth Songs and Hymns in the plural for the surpassing excellency of it which Solomon the Prophet the King of Israel uttered by the spirit of Prophecy before the Lord the Lord of all the Earth A Prophet hee was and is therefore now in the Kingdome of Heaven notwithstanding his foul fall whereof hee repented Luk. 11.28 For as it is not the falling into the water that drowns but lying in it So neither is it the falling into sin that damns but dying in it Solomon was also King of Israel and surpassed all the Kings of the Earth in wealth and wisdome 2 Chron. 9.22 yea hee was wiser than all men 1 King 4.31 And as himself was a King Psal 45.2 so hee made this singular Song as David did the 45 Psalm concerning the King Christ and his spiritual marriage to the Church who is also called Solomon Cant. 3.11 and greater than Solomon Matth. 12.42 If therefore either the worth of the writer or the weightiness of the matter may make to the commendation of any book this wants for neither That is a silly exception of some against this Song as if not Canonical because God is not once named in it for as oft as the Bridegroom is brought in speaking here Rom. 9. â so oft Christ himself speaketh who is God blessed for ever Besides whereas Solomon made a thousand Songs and five 1 King 4.32 this onely as being the chief of all and part of the holy Canon hath been hitherto kept safe when the rest are lost in the Cabinet of Gods special providence and in the chest of the Jews Gods faithful Library-keepers Rom. 3.2 Joh. 5.39 It being not the will of our heavenly Father that any one hair of that sacred head should fall to the ground Vers 2. Let him kiss mee with the kisses of his mouth It must bee premised and remembred that this Book is penitus allegoricus parabolicus as one saith allegorical throughout and aboundeth all along with types and figures with parables and similitudes Quot verba tot sacramenta So many words so many mysteries saith Hierome of the Revelation Apocalypsin fateor me nescire exponere c. exponat cui Deus concesserit Cajet Possev in Biblioth select which made Cajetan not dare to comment upon it The like may bee truly affirmed of the Canticles nay wee may say of it in a special manner as Possevinus doth of the whole Hebrew Bible tot esse sacramenta quot literae tot mysteria quot puncta tot arcana quot apices Hence Psellus in Theodoret asketh pardon for presuming to expound it But difficilium facilis est venia In magnis voluisse sat est In hard things the pardon is easie and in high things let a man shew his good will and it suffiseth The matter of this Book hath been pointed at already as for the form of it it is Dramatical and Dialogistical The chief speakers are not Solomon and the Shulamite as Castalio makes it but Christ and his Church John 3.29 Christ also hath his Associates those friends of the Bridegroom viz. the Prophets Apostles Pastors and Teachers who put in a word sometimes As likewise do the fellow-friends of the Bride viz. whole Churches or particular Christians The Bride begins here abruptly after the manner of a Tragedy through impatience of love and an holy impotency of desire after not an union onely but an unity also with him whom her soul loveth Let him kiss mee c. Kissing is a token of love 1 Pet. 5.14 Luk. 7.45 and of reconciliation 2 Sam. 14.33 And albeit ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Philo observeth Love is not alwaies in a kiss Joab and Judas could kiss and kill
c. Omnis Christianus Crucianus This the worldling cannot away with and although he make a fair shew in the flesh or set a good face on it as the word signifies as if hee had set his face toward Sion ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã yet when it comes to a matter of suffering hee stumbles at the Cross and falls backwards hee will not suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ Gal. 6.12 Hee looks at the Church with a Vultures eye as though hee would behold nothing in her but corruption and carrion Hee makes an ill construction of her infirmities and will not stick to say if hee have a mind to shake her off that shee is black and despicable that shee provides but poorly for her followers that the great ones favour her as little as the Lords of the Philistims did David Cic. pro. L. Flavio c. Cicero veram religionem splendore imperii gravitate nominis Romani majorum institutis fortunae successibus metitur Cicero's marks of the True Religion were the largeness of the Roman Empire their spreading fame their Ancestours Ordinances and their singular success The Papists have the like Arguments for proof of their Church Luth. T. 2 But what saith Luther Ego non habeo aliud contra Papae regnum robustius argumentum quam quod sine cruce regnat I have no stronger argument against the Popes Kingdome than this that hee reigns without the Cross My Mothers children were angry with mee i. e. Worldly men that are of the same humane race that I am these fretted at mee as Moab did at Israel because they were of a different Religion Numb 22.3 4. or as Tobiah and his complices did at Nehemiah and his Jews Neh. 6.1 it was quarrel enough to Jerusalem that it would not bee miserable Hypocrites and Hereticks especially are here understood as some conceive such as pretend to bee children of the Church and her greatest friends as the Donatists would bee the onely Christians and after them the Rogation Hereticks called themselves the onely Catholicks So did the Arians and so do the Papists whose anger against the true children of the Church is far hotter than Nebuchadnezzars Oven after it had been seven times heated for those three constant Worthies Hypocritis nihil est crudelius impatientius vindictae cupidius saith Luther who had the experience of it plane sunt serpentes c. there is not a more cruel creature more impatient and vindictive than an hypocrite Hee is as angry as an Asp as revengeful as a Serpent c. Hee is of the Serpentine seed and carries the old enmity Gen. 3.15 Cains club Gen. 4.8 with 1 John 3.12 Your Brethren that hated you that cast you out for my names sake said Let the Lord bee glorified Isa 66.5 Here was a fair glove drawn upon a foul hand Act. Mon. In nomine Domini incipit omne malum was grown to a Proverb here in times of Popery They made mee the Keeper of the Vineyards No marvel therefore that I am Sun-burnt sith I have born the burden and heat of the day as Matth. 20.12 it hath been my task to keep out Boars Foxes and other noisome creatures yea it hath been my lot to bee put upon some servile offices as those poor Vinedressers were 2 King 25.12 not so suitable to my place and station assigned mee by God Yea although I am dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world yet as though living in the world ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I have by these Impostours and Impositours been made to dogmatize after the commandements and doctrines of men Col. 2.20 22. But mine own Vineyard have I not kept q. d. Being burdened with humane rites and traditions and having been the servant of men 1 Cor. 7.23 I have departed from the duty that God prescribed unto mee Sane bene Full well truly have I rejected or slighted the commandement of God that I might keep mens tradition Mark 7.9 Thus shee shames and shents her self shee blusheth and bleedeth before the Lord for her carelesness in duty Yea shee tells the world the true reason of her present blackness somewhat shee had to say against others but most against her self After I was made known to my self Postquam ostensum fuerit mihi Trem. laid Ephraim scil by looking in the glass of Gods Law I repented Jer. 31.19 Get thee this Law as a glass to look in said Mr. Bradford so shalt thou see thy face foul arrayed and so shamefully sawcy mangy pocky and scabbed Serm. of Repent pag. 26 that thou canst not but bee sorry at the sight thereof Thus hee Physicians in some kinde of unseemly Convulsions wish their Patients to look themselves in a Glass which will help them to strive the more when they shall see their own deformities It is fit wee should oft reflect and see every man the plague of his heart the errour of his life keeping our hearts soft 1 King 8. Psal 19. supple and soluble for softness of heart discovers sin as blots do run abroad and seem biggest in wet paper When the Cockatrices egg is crushed it breaks out into a viper Isa 59.5 Vers 7. Tell mee O thou whom my soul loveth The sins of Gods Elect turn to their good Venenum aliquando pro remedio fuit saith Seneca De Benef. l. 2. c. 18. Poison is by Art turned into a Medicine make them cry more upon Christ love him more with all their soul desire more earnestly to bee joyned unto him use all holy means of attaining thereunto and that with such affection that when others are at their rest or repast the Christian can neither eat nor rest unless hee bee with Christ Where thou feedest This Book of Canticles is a kind of Pastoral a song of a Beloved concerning a Beloved The Church therefore gives and Christ takes oft herein upon himself the tearm and carriage of a loving and skilful Shepheard that feeds his flock daily and daintily feedeth them among the Lillies and beds of spices makes them to lye down in green pastures Ezek. 24.13 John 10.1 1 Pet. 5.2 Jer. 3.10 13 Rev. 13.1 and leads them beside the still waters Psal 23.2 his Word and Sacraments makes them also to lye down at noon i. e. as the chief Pastor of his sheep hee wholly ordereth them in all their spiritual labours toils and afflictions giving them safe repose in the hottest seasons Isa 49.10 For why should I bee as one that turneth aside q d. This would bee no less to thy dishonour than my disadvantage If I miscarry thou wilt bee no small loser by it Exod. 32 To urge God with the respect of his own glory lying now at stake is a most effectual way of speeding in prayer If thou destroy this people what will the Egyptians say how will the very banks of blasphemy bee broken down Josh 7.9 and they speak evil of thee with open
Champion as Christ who is in love with her and will take her part fight her quarrel and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn Isa 54.17 As the ecclipsed Moon by keeping her motion wades out of the shadow and recovers her splendour So it shall bee with the Spouse Yea shee shall bee able to answer those that reproach and cast dirt upon her for her keeping close to Christs colours and suffering hardship for him as the Emperour Adrian did the Poet Florus who sate on an Ale-bench and sang Nolo ego Caesar esse Ambulare per Britannos Rigidas pati pruinas c. The witty Emperour replied upon him assoon as hee heard of it Melanchthon in Chron. Carion Nolo ego Florus esse Ambulare per tabernas Latitare per popinas Pulices pati rotundos Vers 5. Stay mee with flaggons Not with cups or bowls onely but with flaggons larger measures of that Wine that was set before her in Christs Wine-house Comfort mee with Apples such as fall from Christs Apple-tree spoken of in the former verse the precious mellifluous promises which are sweet like the Apples of the Garden of Eden as the Chaldee here hath it Boulster mee up with these for I am even sinking and swooning with an excess of love with an exuberancy of spiritual joy in God my Saviour such as I can hardly stand under Stay mee therefore saith shee to the Ministers Poly. hist cap. 56. Smells are applied to the nostrils of them that faint those pillars to support the weak Gal. 2.9 and to comfort the feeble minded 1 Thes 5.14 Stay mee or sustain mee with flaggons comfort mee with Apples Solinus tells of some near the River Ganges that live odore pomorum sylvestrium by the smell of Forrest Apples which is somewhat strange For I am sick of love Surprized with a love-qualm as an honest Virgin may bee meeting her Love unawares enjoying him in the fulness of joy and fearing the loss of his company for a long season Lomb. Seât lib. 3. distine 34. Vide August Epist 121. ad Hoxorâ This is timor amicalis which Lombard thus describeth ne offendamus quem diligimus ne ab eo separemur The fear of love is lest wee should offend him whom our soul loveth and so cause him to withdraw Hic timor transit in charitatem saith Gregory This fear passeth into love and overwhelms the spirit sometimes This was it that made Jacob when hee saw nothing but visions of love and mercy cry out How dreadful is this place This made that mixture of passions in those good women that coming to look Christ Gosr in Vit. Bern. departed from the grave with fear and great joy From this cause it was that Bernard for a certain time after his conversion remained as it were deprived of his senses by the excessive consolations hee had from God Cyprian writes to his friend Donatus that before his conversion hee thought it impossible to finde such raptures and ravishments as now hee did in a Christian course Epist l. 1. Confess l. 6. c. 22. Hee begins his Epistle thus Accipe quod sentitur antequam discitur c. Augustine saith the like of himself What unconceiveable and unutterable extasies of joy then may wee well think there is in Heaven where the Lord Christ perpetually and without intermission manifesteth the most glorious and visible signs of his presence and seals of his love Hee pours forth all plenteous demonstrations of his goodness to his Saints and gives them eyes to see it minds to conceive it and then fills them with exceeding fulness of love to him again so that they swim in pleasure and are even overwhelmed with joy a joy too big to enter into them they must enter into it Mat. 25.21 Oh pray pray with that great Apostle that had been in Heaven and seen that which eye never saw that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened Verbis exprimi non potest experimento opus est Chrys you may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints Ephes 1.18 3.19 A glory fitter to bee beleeved than possible to bee discoursed An exceeding excessive eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Such a weight as if the body were not upheld by the power of God it were impossible but it should faint under it How ready are our spirits to expire here when any extraordinary unexpected comfort befalls us The Church is sick of love Jacobs heart fainted when hee heard of Josephs life and honour in Egypt The Queen of Sheba was astonied at Solomons wisdome and magnificence so that shee had no spirit more in her Viscount Lisley in Henry the Eighths time died for joy of an unexpected pardon What then may wee think of those in Heaven and should not wee hasten in our affections to that happy place Oh do but think saith one though it far pass the reach of any mortal thought what an infinite inexplicable happiness it will bee to look for ever upon the glorious body of Christ shining with incomprehensible beauty far above the brightest Cherub and to consider that even every vein of that blessed body bled to bring thee to Heaven Think of it I say and then exhale thy self in continual sallies as it were of most earnest desires to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ which is far the better Phil. 1.23 As in the mean while let thy soul sweetly converse with him in all his holy Ordinances but especially at his Holy Table where hee saith unto thee as once to Thomas Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and bee not faithless but beleeving Let thy soul also there reciprocate and say My Lord and my God! Whom have I in Heaven but thee and in Earth Psa 73.25 none in comparison of thee Rabboni Come quickly Vers 6. His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace mee As if shee should have said I called unto you my friends to relieve and raise mee falling into a spiritual swoon but behold the consolation that is in Christ Phil. 2.1 2 the comfort of love the fellowship of the Spirit the bowels and mercies of my dear Husband hee hath fulfilled my joy hee hath prevented your help or at least hee hath wrought together with the means and made it successeful You have stayed mee with flaggons Psal 23.2 but hee hath restored my soul You have bolstered mee up with Apples but when that would not do hee hath put his left hand under my head as a pillow to rest upon and with his right hand hee hath embraced mee as a loving Husband cherisheth his sick wife and doth her all the help hee can Ephes 5.29 The whole virtue and power of the Ministry cometh from Christ They do their worthy indeavour to stay and under-prop our Faith but
mighty and so malicious are the Churches enemies that shee dare scarce peep out or appear abroad with the Dove but shee is in danger to become Hawks-meat Hence Hilary saith of the Primitive Christians that they were not to bee sought in tectis exteriori pompa in Palaces and outward pomp but rather in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth as the Apostle also hath it Heb. 11.38 Concerning the Christian Congregation in Queen Maries time saith Mr. Fox there were sometimes forty sometimes an hundred sometimes two hundred came together as they could in some private place in London Act. Mon. fol. 1881. for mutual edification They are utterly out therefore that hold that the true Church must bee evermore glorious and conspicuous for her outward splendour Shee is eft-soons like the Moon in her ecclipse which appeareth dark toward the earth but is bright and radiant in that part which looks toward Heaven The Papists would have this Moon alwaies in the full And if shee shew but little light to us or bee ecclipsed they will not yeeld shee is the Moon And yet except it bee in the ecclipse Astronomers demonstrate that the Moon hath at all times as much light as in the full But oftentimes a great part of the bright side is turned to Heaven and a lesser part to the earth And so the Church is ever conspicuous to Gods eye though it appear not alwaies to ours In the secret places of the stairs Whither thou art retired as for security so for secrecy that thou mayest the more freely and without suspition of hypocrisie pour out thy heart before mee and seek my protection Or where thou lyest close out of modesty or conscience of infirmity not daring to shew thy face Shew mee thy face Or Let mee see thy countenances leave none of thy particular Congregations or Members behinde thee but present your selves before the Lord come boldly to the Throne of Grace Heb. 4.16 in full assurance of Faith Heb. 10.22 Quid enim per faciem nisi fidem qua â Deo cognoscimur saith Gregory upon this Text. Heb. 11.6 What can wee understand by the face but Faith sith by it wee are known of God and without it it is impossible to please God For hee that cometh to God that shews his face before the King Eternal Immortal Invisible c. 1 Tim. 1.17 must come in his best must beleeve that hee is scil Optimus Maximus and more particularly that hee is a rewarder of all that diligently seek him that seek him out as the Greek hath it viz. that fetch him out of his retiring-room as the Syrophenisse by the force of her Faith did Mark 7.24 and as the Spouse here would never give him over till shee had recovered him out of the Country and drawn from him this sweetest invitation to go along with him and incitation to make bold with him Let mee hear thy voice In holy exercises preaching prayer conference c. See here how the Lord Christ wooes attendance solicits suters The Father seeketh such to worship him John 4.24 Hitherto yee have asked mee nothing saith the Son nothing to what you might have done and should do well to do hereafter Ask that your joy may bee full John 16.24 Pray that yee may joy draw waters with joy out of this well-spring of Salvation Ply the Throne of Grace follow your work close It was more troublesome to Severus the Emperour to Christ you may bee sure it is to bee asked nothing of his Courtiers than to grant them much Ask and you shall have saith Christ And is not hee worthily miserable that will not make himself happy by asking Sweet is thy voice Because uttered by the Spirit of grace and supplication whose very breath prayer is and without whom prayer is no better than a sounding brass or tinckling cymbal And thy countenance is comely scil By reason of the Image of God repaired in thee clearly shining in thy heart and life This renders thee comely indeed so that I am the better to see thy face and to hear thy voice To Lovers nothing can bee more pleasing than mutual converse and conference Vers 15. Take us the Foxes the little Foxes i. e. The Hereticks and Schismaticks For as Fox-cubbs will bee Foxes one day and of little will become great so Schismaticks if not timely taken will turn Hereticks Whence it is that the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.18 19. having said I hear that there bee divisions or Schisms among you hee presently subjoyns For there must bee also Heresies among you God having so fore-appointed and foretold it that they which are approved may bee made manifest among you Now these Hereticks and Schismaticks are fitly called Foxes both here and Ezek. 13.4 Herod is also called a Fox Luk. 13.32 as being a Sect-Master Mat. 22.16 and as it is thought to still the noise of his conscience a Sadducee first for their craft secondly for their cruelty Foxes are famous for their craftiness even to a Proverb As subtle as a Fox Persius Astutam vapido servans sub pectore vulpem They are passing cunning to deceive those that hunt them feigning themselves simple when there is nothing more subtle and looking pittifully when taken in a snare but it is onely that they may get out there is no trusting to their looks for Vulpes pellem mutat non naturam saith the Proverb the Fox may alter his countenance but not his condition And for cruelty besides the hurt Foxes do among Lambs and Fowls for lacking meat they feign themselves dead and so the birds hasting down as to a carkase volucres rapiunt devorant Isidor Etym. lib. 12.1 saith Isidore they seize upon the birds and devour them they are noted here to mar the Vineyards Vulpes vitibus maximè nocivae saith one And for Grapes the Fox loves them exceedingly yea though they bee but tender and unripe Hence the Latines call him Legulus a Gatherer namely of Grapes and wee ironically say of a man The Fox loves no Grapes hee will not eat them but it is because hee cannot get them howbeit by his leering one may know hee loves them Hereticks and Schismaticks are therefore to bee taken by the Vine-dressers that is detected refuted 1 Tim. 1.20 and if need bee delivered up to Satan by the Ministers chased out of the Vineyard and pursued to death if incorrigible by the Magistrate as Jehu dealt by the Baalites and after him Josiah The sword is put into their hands for such a purpose Rom. 13.4 and our Saviour with a civil whip expelled those Church-Foxes the Mony-merchants giving therein a taste of that civil authority which hee naturally derived from David as one observeth The Apostles being convented before civil authority about matters of Religion never pleaded You have no power to meddle with us in these things that belong to Jesus Christ No their plea was only 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
unto her beloved and presuming upon his patience Heu rara hora parva mora Dern was in good hope to have had him at hand But patientia laesa fit furor Christ will not always bear with our evil manners but hide his face from us like as we have behaved our selves evil in our doings Micah 3.5 And whereas spiritual desertions are of three sorts 1 Cautional for preventing of sinne as Pauls seems to be 2 Probational for trial and exercise of grace as Jobs 3 Penal for chastisement of spiritual sloth and sluggishness as here in the Church this last is farre the heaviest My soul failed when hee spake Or because of his speech that sweet speech of his when hee so passionately wooed her ver 2. Then hee could have no audience nor admittance now if he would but offer himself hee might bee sure of both The word spoken doth not always presently take effect in the hearers but lies long as the seed under a clod till Christ the good husbandman come with some temptation as with his clotting-beetle and give it room to rise Then as the water casts up her dead after a time so do their memories cast up that which seemed buried therein by the help of the Holy Ghost their remembrancer John 14.26 John 2.22 The new birth of some the recovery of others out of their relapses is like the birth of the Elephant fourteen years after the seed is inserted into the womb Peter remembred Christs words and repented Mat. 26.75 If wee remember not what hath been preached unto us all is lost 1 Cor. 15.2 If we leak ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and let slip actum est de nobis Heb. 2.1 If we keep the Word the Word will keep us Prov. 6.22 I sought him So soon as recovered out of my swoon I set to seek him The Church went not to bed again to sleep as before neither stays she longer within than to cast her veyl or her scarf over her head without any further dress abroad shee gets to seek him whom her soul loveth She sought him by serious and set meditation of the word and promises but after all that royl and travell shee took therein shee found him not This is the greatest grief that can befall a good heart in this present world it is to such little better than hell it self Thou hiddest thy face and I was troubled saith David Psal 30.8 Non frustra praedicant meptes hominum nitere liquido die coactanube flaccescere saith Symmachus Mens mindes are either clear or cloudy as the weather is but more truly good mens mindes are as Gods countenance is It is with the godly in desertion as with vapours drawn up by the Sun which when the extracting force of the Sun leaves them fall down again to the earth And as in an Eclipse of the Sun there is a drooping in the whole frame of nature so it is with the Saints when Christ withdraws himself Hell it self is said to bee a separation from his presence the pain of loss there is worse than the pain of sense the tears of hell are not sufficient to bewail the loss of heaven Bern. Laetemur igitur in Domino sed caveamus a recidivo I called him but hee gave mee no answer And it was but just for shee had dealt so by him ver 2. Christ loves to retaliate Such a proportion many times one may see between sins and punishments that you may say such a sin brought forth this affliction it is so like the father Howbeit his ear is not heavy that hee cannot hear but your iniquities have hid his face from you that hee will not hear Isa 59.1 2. And this the Saints take as well they may for a sore affliction Lam. 3.8 when to all other their miseries hee addeth this that hee will not come at them that hee casteth out their prayers that hee deals by them as the Lionness doth by her young ones which shee seems sometimes to leave till they have almost killed themselves with roaring This is to make them more carefull another time None look at the Sunne but when it is in the eclipse Neither prize we for most part Gods loving countenance till we have lost it In this case the course is to set up a loud cry after him as Micah did after his Gods Judg. 18.23 Or rather as the Church here doth after her beloved in many strong cries and bitter tears continuing instant in prayer ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rom. 12.12 The Greek word imports a metaphor from hunting dogges that give not over the game till they have got it For incouragement See the happy success the Church here had and further take that saying of Brentius Etiamsi fides tuae nec lucem hominibus nec calorem cordi tuo afferat tamen non abjicit Christus modo incrementum ores i. e. Although thy faith as smoaking flax yield neither light to others nor heat to thine own heart yet Christ will not cast thee off so thou pray for more and follow thy work close till thou have gotten it Vers 7. The Watch-men that went about the City c. See the Note on Chap. 3.3 The Ministers that walk the round that watch for mens souls Heb. 13.17 Isa 61.6 that know how to time a word Isa 51.4 these smote her with the tongue they buffeted her by just and sharp reproofs for her negligence they unveiled her for being abroad at that time of night which she needed not to have been but for her own slothfulness they dealt little better with her than as if shee had been some light and lewd woman and all this they might well do out of zeal to God and godly jealousie for her souls good Unless it were that Hypocrisie of jealousie exercised by the false Apostles over the Galatians Chap. 4.17 Not Pastours but Impostours not Over-seers Non Episcopi sed Aposcopi but By-seers potius grassatores quam custodes homonymâs tamen sic dicti out-throats rather than Keepers wicked men taking upon them to bee Watch-men Church-officers in name but Church-robbers in deed Such were those Isa 66.5 that hated and cast out the true worshippers under a pretence of Let the Lord bee glorified Such an one was Diotrephes that prating prelate ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that villanously intreated Gods faithful people 3 John 9.10 And such is that Man of sinne that Antichrist of Rome who for so many hundred years together hath smitten with the fist of wickedness hath wounded and drawn blood from Christs dearest Spouse and despoiled her of her veyl that is laboured to dispriviledge her and deprive her of that purity and soundness of Doctrine that hee hath committed unto her as a means to hold her in the duty of all holy obedience and subjection unto him 1 Cor. 11.5 6 10. Of these false friends and deadly enemies the Church here heavily complains and might well have proceeded against them as
Away then with all such mock-stays See the fruit of creature-confidence Job 6.17 8.15 and know that no man trusts Christ at all that trusts him not alone Hee that stands with one foot on a rock and another foot on a quick-sand will sink and perish as certainly as hee that standeth with both feet on a quick-sand See Psal 6.2.2.5 6. I raised thee up under the Apple-tree c. Here the Bride answereth to the Bridegrooms question Who is this or What woman is this that cometh up from the Wilderness c that goes in a right line to God leaning on her Beloved that will not break the hedge of any commandment to avoid any peece of foul way I am shee saith the Church even the very same that raised thee up under the apple-tree c. viz. by mine earnest prayers When thou wast asleep under the apple-tree and I had straightly charged the Damosels of Jerusalem not to disquiet thee by their sins yet I took the boldness to arouse thee and say as Psal 44.23 Awake why sleepest thou O Lord arise cast us not off for ever and with those drowning Disciples Master earest thou not that wee perish Sometimes saith one God seems to lose his mercy and then wee must finde it for him as Isa 63.10 sometimes to sleep and then wee must waken him quicken him Psal 40.17 Isa 62.7 God will come but he will have his peoples prayers lead him Dan. 10.12 I come for thy Word Christ himself is the apple-tree here mentioned as Cant. 2.3 Though there are that interpret it of the Cross that tree whereon hee bare our sins in his own body 1 Pet. 2.24 Others better of the tree of offence the forbidden fruit Gen. 2. And that when Eve tasted of that fruit which they here-hence conclude to have been an apple though the word bee more general Nux enim pomum dicitur then as Christs mother shee brought him forth by believing the promise there made unto her that Messiah of her seed should break the Serpents head Look how the Virgin Mary conceived Christ when shee yielded her assent When the Angel spake to her what said shee presently Be it as thou hast said Let it bee even so shee yielded her assent to the promise that shee should conceive a son and shee did conceive him So Eve believed the promise of pardon and salvation shee saw it afar off was perswaded of it and embraced it Heb. 11.13 and is therefore said here to bear and bring forth Christ yea to travell of him with sorrow as the word signifies for as there is no other birth without pain so neither is the new birth Those that have passed through the narrow womb of repentance and been born again will say as much See Isa 26.17 If God brake Davids bones and the Angels back saith one hee will break thy heart too if ever hee save thee No sound heart ever went to heaven as in another sense none but sound could ever come thither Cor integrum cor scissum Rent your hearts c. Vers 6. Set mee as a seal upon thine heart i. e. Bee thou as a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God Heb. 2.17 with Exod. 28.21 29. Remember mee for good and make mention of mee to thy Father Have mee also in pretious esteem as great men have the signets upon their right hands and as whatsoever is sealed with a seal that is excellent in its own kinde as Isa 28.25 hordeum signatum excellent barly Christ wears his people as a signet or as great men wear their jewels to make him glorious in the eyes of men neither will hee bee plundered of them by the Churches enemies to touch them Zech. 2.8 is to touch the apple of his eye that tenderest piece of the tenderest part The Proverb is Oculus fama non patiuntur jocos The eye and the good name can bear with no jests As the Saints are in Christs heart ad commoriendum convivendum so they are also upon his arm so that if they do but come and say in any danger or difficulty Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord awake as in the ancient days c. Isa 51.9 hee will redeem his people with his arm Psal 77.15 yea with his out-stretcht arm Exod. 6.6 that is with might and open manifestation of his love hee will awake as one out of sleep and like a man that shouteth by reason of wine Psal 78.65 For love is strong as death And yet death is so strong that it passeth over all men Rom. 5.12 and devoureth them as sheep Psal 49.14 as a rot it over-runneth the whole flock having for its Motto Nulli cedo I yield to none Onely love is strong as death nay stronger Jonathan would have died for the love of David David of Absolom Arsinoe interposed her self between the Murtherers weapons sent by Ptolomy her brother to kill her children Priscilla and Aquila for St. Pauls life laid down their own necks Rom. 16.4 Paul was in deaths often for Jesus sake Those primitive Martyrs loved not their lives unto the death Rev. 12.11 Certatim gloriosa in certamina ruebatur saith Sulpitius they were prodigal of their dearest lives and even ambitious of Martyrdome that thereby they might seal up their entire love to the Lord Jesus If every hair of mine head were a man Act. Mon. fol. 1438. I would suffer death in the opinion and faith that I am now in said John Ardley Martyr to Bishop Bonner Ignis crux bestiarum conflictationes ossium distractiones c. Let mee suffer fire cross breaking of my bones quartering of my members crushing of my body and all the torments that men or devils can devise so I may enjoy my Lord Jesus Christ said holy Ignatius whose Motto was Amor meus crucifixus my love was crucified Love is it self a passion and delights to shew it self in suffering for the party beloved yea though it were to pass through a thousand deaths for his sake And this is here yielded as a reason why the Spouse first awakened Christ and now desires to bee so nearly knit unto him to bee set as a seal upon his hand yea upon his heart the love of Christ constrained her and lay so hard upon her that she could do no less than beg such a boon of him than covet such a courtesie as a compensation of her dearest love to him And surely to account Christ precious as a tree of life although wee bee fastned to him as to a stake to bee burned this is love and this our labour of love cannot be in vain in the Lord. Jealousie is cruel as the grave Or zeal is hard as hell This follows well upon the former Contra Adamant c. 13. for Non amat qui non zelât saith Augustine Zeal is the extream heat of love and other affections for and toward any whom wee esteem burning in our love to him desire
Sermon preached by Mr. Paul Bains Mr. Whateley by Mr. Dod. In Righteousness or by Gods faithfulness in fulfilling his promises whereby they are made partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the World through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 Ver. 28. And the destruction Heb. the shivering or shattering Tremelius rendereth it the fragments or scraps sc of the dross above mentioned these shall be broken and burnt together Shall be together As well the sinners in Zion or Hypocrites as the Transgressors or notorious offendors shall be destroyed without distinction Such as turn aside unto their crooked wayes stealing their passage to Hell as it were the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity with openly prophane persons Psalm 125.5 The Angels also shall bundle them up together to be burnt Mat. 13.30 Ver. 29. For they shall be ashamed of the Okes Pudefient peribunt ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they shall be ashamed of their false wayes of worship but not with a godly shame such as was Ephraims Ier. 31.19 that made him say What have I do any more with Idols Hos 14.8 See Ezek. 16.61 36.31 Dan. 9.5 2 Thess 3.14 Of this holy shame Chrysostom saith that it is the beginning of Salvation as that which drives a man into himself makes him fall low in his own eyes shame and shent himself in the presence of God seek for covering by Christ that the shame of his nakedness may not appear Rev. 3.18 c. But the shame here mentioned is of another nature unseasonable unprofitable not conducing at all to true Repentance such as was that of Cain and of those Jews in Jeremy Chap. 2.26 and of Reprobates at the Resurrection Dan. 12.2 Which ye have desired Or have delighted in as Adulterers do sin their sweet sin Alludit verecunde ad scortationem qua est in idolorum cultu Oecolamp as they call it And the Gardens where you have wickedly worshipped Priapus or Baal-peor That ye have chosen Where ye have had your sacra electitia which now ye see cannot help you Ver. 30. For ye shall be as an oak Peccato poenam accommodat By oaks they sinned and by a withering oak is their punishment set forth Infelicissime marcesceth exarescetis Jun. as also by a garden that wanteth water wherein every thing fadeth and hangeth the head as suffering a Marasus Well might God say Hos 12.10 I have multiplied Visions and used similitudes by the Ministery of the Prophets such as are very natural plain and proper Ver. 31. And the strong shall be as tow The Idol is here called the strong one either by an Irony sicut siquis scelestum bonum virum dicat as if one should say to a knave You are a right honest man or else according to the Idolaters false opinion of it and vain expectation of it like as 2 Chron. 28.23 the gods of Damascus are said to have smitten or plagued Ahaz not that they did so indeed for an Idol is nothing in the world and this strong in the Text is weak as water Ier. 10.5 2 Cor. 8.4 but he thought they did so like as the silly Papists also think of their He-saints and She-saints whereof they have not a few but are shamefully foyled and frustrated besides that they are here and elswhere threatned with unquenchable fire Hierom following Symmachus for tow hath the refuse of tow which is quickly kindled And the maker of it Or and his work that is all your pains taken to no purpose in worshipping your mawmets and bringing your Memories as they are called and presents to them And they shall both burn together As one saith of Aretines obscene book that it is opus dignum quod cremetur cum Authore Boissard Biblioth Rev. 19.20 fit for nothing but to make a bone-fire to burn the Author of it in The Beast and his Complices shall be cast alive into the burning lake And none shall quench them Hell-fire is unquenchable chap. 30. ult Mat. 3.12 This Origen denied and is therefore justly condemned by all sound Divines CHAP. II. Ver. 1. THe word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw An august Title or inscription such as is not to be found in the whole book again unless it be in the former Chapter There alass he had laboured in vain and spent his strength for nought and in vain as chap. 49.4 Howbeit he will try again as considering that he had lost many a worse labour and although his Report were not believed chap. 53.1 yet he would bestow one more Sermon upon them the short Notes and general Heads whereof we have in this and the two following Chapters I say the general Heads For Calvin in his Preface to this Book telleth us that it was the manner of the holy Prophets to gather a compendious summ of what they had preached to the people and the same to affix to the gates of the Temple that the Prophesie might be the better viewed and learned of all after which it was taken down by the Priest and put into the Treasury of the Temple for the benefit of after-Ages Ver. 2 3 4. And it shall come to pass c. See for these three Verses what I have noted on Micah 4.1 2 3. where we shall find that that Prophet hath the self-same words with this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So hath Obadiah the same with Jeremy St. Mark with St. Matthew St. Iude with St. Peter the blessed Virgin in her Magnificat with holy Hannah in her Canticle c. Ver. 5. O house of Jacob So Mic. 2.7 O thou that art called the house of Jacob and the house of Israel Isa 5.7 Thou that art called a Jew and makest thy boast of God Per aemulaticnem provocat Oecolamp Rom. 2.17 This Rupertus maketh to be the voyce and advice of the converted and Christian Gentiles to the Iews others of our Prophet to his perverse Country-men to joyn with the Gentiles or rather to go before them as worthy Guides in Heaven-wayes and not to lie behind those whom they have so much slighted Let us walk in the light of the Lord that is in the Law of the Lord for Lex est Lux Prov. 6.23 and not by the sparks of our own Tinder-boxes Isa 50.11 not by the Rush-candle of Philosophical prescriptions Let us walk in the fear of the Lord ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã est in Apostrophe and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost as Acts 9.31 Ver. 6. Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people Or But thou hast c. By a sad Apostrophe to God he sets forth the Iews dereliction and destruction irrecoverable together with the causes of it their impiety cruelty c. but especially their contempt of Christ and his Kingdom Let us beware and be warned by their example Rom. 11. To be forsaken of God is the greatest mischief Lay hold upon him therefore with Mary Magdalen and say nobiscum
Christe maneto Extingui lucem nec patiare tuam Because they be replenished from the East Or they are fuller then the East that is more superstitious then the Syrians and Mesopotamians Balaams Country-men Ethnicismum illis improperat Antiq. lib. 16. cap. 10. Josephus telleth us that a little before Christ came in the flesh Herod had brought into Judea many superstitions of the Gentiles and it appeareth by the first of Macchabees that the Greeks had their Schools at Ierusalem and by the Gospel that the Pharises held Pythagoras his transanimation and many other Paganish Traditions Augurium quaâi avigerium And are Southsayers like the Philistins These were West of Judaea chap. 9.12 The Syrians before and the Philistins behind These were great Southsayers Sorcerers and the Jews were tainted with that Contagion as sin is more catching than the plague The vanity of this practice Cicero saw when he said Potest Augur Augurem videre non ridere Adhaeserunt Vulg. In usu habent Châld And they please themselves in the children of strangers They applaud and approve of their customs commerces Some think they are there taxed of Paederastie or Sodomy and that they boasted of it as that odious Johannes a Casa did in print Ver. 7. Their land also is full of silver They had forsaken the Fountain of Living Waters and now they hew them out broken Cisterns they have made their gold their God which is a more subtile kind of Idolatry Col. 3.5 dum sibi ipsis numen quoddam lararium conflant But though their houses were full of silver and gold their hearts were not for they were vext with the curse of unsatisfiableness Eccles 5.10 Auri nempe fames parto fit major ab auro Prudentius Neither is there any end of their Treasures Josephus saith that there was a world of money found at Ierusalem when taken by the Romans so there was at Constantinople when taken by the Turks and therefore taken because the Inhabitants could not find in their heatts to part with it though for their own defence Their land also is full of horses and their hearts of creature confidence trust in the arm of flesh as Josephus testifieth that the Jews were this way very faulty about the time of the last devastation Ver. 8. Their land also is full of Idols As Babylon a land of Idols Jer. 50.38 As Athens wholly given to Idolatry Act. 17.16 As China is said to have in it at this day an hundred thousand gods And what shall we think of Popish mawmets the word here rendred Idols signifieth Nihilitates nothingnesses for an Idol is nothing in the world 1 Cor. 8.4 They worship the work of their own hands Scelestum immane facinus dirum scelus execrandum effraenata praeceps amentia See chap. 44.15 18. Ver. 9. And the mean man boweth down There is a general conspiracy and they are altogether become abominable Lords and losels Kings and caytifes all sorts were Idolaters Some render it shall be brought down and shall be humbled God loveth to retaliate to abate and abase mans pride by pulling down whatsoever height or strength they confide in Therefore forgive them not A pious prayer doubtless proceeding from true zeal which is an extream heat of all the affections for Gods glory Vt pius sit in Deum durus sit in proximum saith Oecolampadius Like another Elias he maketh Intercession to God against Israel Rom. 11.2 whom he saw to be incorrigible and their sin to be irremissible their Judgement unavoidable Ver. 10. Enter into the Rock and hide thee q. d. Do if thou canst go where thou thinkest thou mayest be most secret and secure but Gods hand will surely find thee and ferret thee out as it did the five Kings of Canaan hid in the cave of Makkedah Josh 10. and as it did the wretched Jews who were by the Romans pulled out of their privies and other lurking-holes to the slaughter at the last destruction of Jerusalem Hoc autem perpetuo invenies apud peccatores saith Oecolampadius here This is ever usual with sinful persons to desire to flie from God but he meeteth them at every turn as he did Adam Cain Jonas Dr. Rain c. The safest way is to flie fron Gods anger to Gods grace Blood-letting is a cure of bleeding and a burn a cure against a burn and running to God is the way to escape him as to close and get in with him that would strike you doth avoid the blow For fear of the Lord and for the glory Heb. from before the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his Majesty so the Chaldaean and Roman forces are called See 2 Thess 1.9 which seemeth to be taken from this Text. Ver. 11. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled Ipsi antea tumidi cervicosi Deum ultorem agnoscent God shall bring down the haughty from their lofty tops where they have perked themselves and shall take them a link lower as they say Pride must have a fall and no wonder for whereas other sins flee from God pride le ts flie at him and hence it is He is so utter an enemy to it And the Lord alone shall be exalted This the Heathens also understood De consen Evang. lib. 1. cap. 18. and therefore the Romans would never receive the God of Israel saith Austin because they understood that He would be worshipped alone Let the gods of the Heathens be good fellows the true God is a jealous God and will not share his glory with another In that day Nempe statis quasi comitiis ver 17. at the set-time in it implyeth also saith One that God will keep his time to a day we have a saying like our selves A day breaks no square but it is not so with God Exod. 12.40 41. the first born were slain at mid-night because just then the 400. or 4â0 years of their sojourning in Aegypt were expired Dan. 5.30 In that night was Belshazzar slain because then exactly the Seventy years of their Captivity were ended Ver. 12. For the day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud These he knoweth afar off Psalm 138.6 these he resisteth as it were in battel-array Jam. 4.6 these he casteth down to the ground Psalm 147.6 One of the seven Wise men of Greece said that God made it his business to humble the proud and to lift up the lowly Ver. 13. And upon all the Cedars of Lebanon which was to the North Ab Aquilone nihil boni That are high and lifted up No mans might or height whether of State or of Stature can secure him in the day of Gods displeasure And upon all the Oaks of Basan which was to the East by which way the Chaldees were to come upon them Ver. 14. And upon all the high Mountains Optimates dynastas designat Hereby he meaneth the Grandees and Magnificoes and all that are puft
hell hath inlarged herself c. To swallow up those insatiable Helluones and Lurcones Drunkards and Epicures These Swilbowles and Sensualists Cerberi instar tria guttura pundebant Diotimus of Athens was surnamed Tunbowl and yong Cicero Tricongius because he could take off three pottles of wine at a draught Therefore Death and Hell Have opened their mouth without measure hiante rictu amplissimo helluones istos absorbere to devour such pests and botches of mankind Oh that the carousers were perswaded as Mahomet told his followers that in every grape there dwelt a devil and Oh that they would foresee and prevent a worse punishment in hell then befell that poor Turk who being found drunk had a ladleful of boyling lead poured down his throat by the command of a certain Bashaw And their glory their great ones those men of honour ver 13. And their multitude The meaner sort Nos numeri sumus And their pomp Or their noise or tumult their revel-rout as they call it when they have drunk all the Out 's and are now a singing and hallowing Ver. 15. And the mean man shall be brought down c. Here the Prophet before he comes to the third denunciation for this part of the chapter like Ezekiels roule is full of lamentation and mourning and woe chap. 2.10 inserteth three good effects of the fore-threatened punishments 1. that the wicked shall be thereby tamed Piscat in this vers 2. that Gods glory shall be asserted ver 16. and 3. that Gods poor people shall be graciously provided for ver 17. See for this ver chap. 29. And the eyes of the haughty See on chap. 2.11 Ver. 16. But the Lord of Hosts shall be exalted See chap. 2.11 And God that is holy shall be sanctified He shall be religiously acknowledged Dio i. approved of and worshipped as an enemy to sin and an upright judge because of his most righteous judgments It shall be said Certainly there is a God that ruleth in the earth Psal 58.12 Ver. 17. Then shall the Lambs feed after their manner i. e. freely and quietly by Lambs here understand the godly poor those Lambs with golden fleeces who shall be graciously provided for And the waste places of the fat ones Medullatorum of those fat Buls of Bashan who had oppressed the poor and laid waste their dwellings but are now served in like sort by the enemy Shall the strangers eat Such as had been strangers at home because held captive in a far countrey but are now returned and repossessed of all Ver. 18. Woe unto them that draw iniquity that draw sin to them as a beast draweth a cart after it Here the Prophet reproveth and threateneth such Nihil agitantes nisi malum omni studio suo Jun. Qui datâ operâ peccant Scultet saith an Interpreter as sin without any strong temptation or occasion drawing them thereunto yea they draw sin to themselves as with ropes quodammodo velut invitum repugnans cogunt not remembring that sin haleth hell at the heels of it Let such get from under sins cart assoon as they can Otherwise they shall be holden with the cords punishments of their iniquity they shall dye without instruction c. Pro. 5.22 The Devils as they sinned without a tempter so they perish without a Saviour Cavete Ver. 19. That say Let him make speed That jear when they should fear jest at Gods judgments and mock at his menaces as if they were onely bug-bear terms devised on purpose to affright silly people but that themselves had more wit then to regard them This also was the guise of those Atheists in after-ages Jer. 17.15 Ezek. 12.23 Am. 5.18 2 Pet. 3.3 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they made childrens play of Gods direfull threats as the Greek word signifieth and that they may not plead ignorance the Apostle addeth ver 5. that they were willingly ignorant they choaked their natural light and contradicted the testimony of their own consciences Magna corum hodieque seges est such dust-heapes are found in every corner And let the counsel of the Holy one of Israel Verba ludificantium Deum Prophetas ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã These scoffers are here brought in deriding the very name whereby the holy Prophets for more reverence sake commonly called the Lord viz. The Holy one of Israel Oecolamp Or thus God is the Holy one of Israel which Israel we are and thinkest thou that he will do us hurt Hereupon the Prophet addeth Ver. 20. Woe unto them that call evil good c. that can make Candida de nigris de candentibus atra and go about to invert the nature of things and to change the very names of them whilest they call not out of ignorance or infirmity but out of base calumny or gross flattery evil good and good evil cleping drunkenness good fellowship covetousness good husbandry prodigality liberality swearing with a grace a gentleman like quality fornication a trick of youth adultery an enjoyment of the fellow-creature as Ranters call it c. Thus the Athenians flattered their own vices calling ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In Catll c. Cicero said it was an ill omen of the overthrow of the Commonwealth that the true names of things were lost And in Divinity it is a rule Qui fingit nova verba nova gignit dogmata David Par. vlta He that affecteth new terms would bring in new opinions That saying of Luther was oft in Pareus his mouth Theologus gloriae dicit malum bonum bonum malum Theologus Crucis dicit id quod res est Not long before our late unhappy troubles the Martyrs of the Protestant religion were disgraced the Conspiratours in the Powder-treason excused in a Sermon at St. Maries in Cambridge by one Kemp of Queens Colledge The schools press and pulpit began to speak Italian apace Myst of iniq p. 15. and to perswade to a Moderation to a Reconciliation with Rome which now was said to be a true Church the Pope not Antichrist c. The great Elixar called State-policy hath with some at least so transmutative a faculty as to make copper seem gold right wrong and wrong right But let us pray with good David Psal 119.66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge give me senses habitually exercised to discern betwixt good and evil Heb. 5. Vlt. and then take heed that we neither make Censures whip nor Charities cloak too long we may offend in both Ver. 21. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes wiser then Daniel as the proud Prince of Tyre thought himself Ezek. 28.3 or than any Prophet of them all This self conceitedness is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã said that Heathen the hinderance of all true Proficiency and a mischievous marre-good here is a Woe hanged at the heels of it And left any should hold that to be a small matter let them consider what befell Meroz after that bitter
may be a vassal to us both Thus the Pope gave away England Primo occupaturo to him that should first take it in Henry the eighths dayes but he reckoned without his Host as they say Even the son of Tabeel A Syrian likely as Tabrimmon 1 King 15.18 a good Rimmonite 2 King 5.18 So Tabeel a good God Rimmon was the Syrians God The Chaldee expoundeth it Good or Right for us Ver. 7. It shall not stand The Counsel of the Lord that shall stand Psal 33.11 when the worlds Wizzards shall be taken in their own craftiness 1 Cor. 3.19 It shall not be All their projects are dashed by a word Video Rideo saith He that sitteth in Heaven Psalm 2. I look and laugh and wherein they dealt proudly I am above them Exod. 18.11 Ver. 8. For the head of Syria is Damascus Not Jerusalem as they haply had contrived it looking upon Jerusalem as a City fatally founded to bear Rule as One saith of Constantinople And the head of Damascus is Rezin Let him set his heart at rest and not reach after the Dominion of Judah lest falling from his high hopes he lose that he hath already and cry out with that Ambitionist Sic mea fata sequor And within threescore and five years sc from the time that Amos foretold it Chap. 5.27 7.8 that is from the twenty fourth year of Vzziah to the sixth of Hezekiah when as the ten Tribes were carried away by Salmaneser 2 King 17. Thus Hierom out of Seder-Olam But I like better Piscators computation which is thus within 65. years that is from the fourth year of Ahaz now current to the 23. of Manasseh when Ephraim ceased indeed to be a people by the command of Esarhaddon Son of Senacherib whereof see Ezra 4.2 Ver. 9. And the head of Samariah Remaliah's son In contempt he hath neither his Name nor Title of a King given him but is fairly warned to keep within his bounds he is not like to hold long that he hath It is dangerous medling with Jerusalem Zech. 12.2 3 6. Valde brevis sententia est sed gravis admodum Oecolamp If ye will not believe surely ye shall not be established Jehosaphat said as much 2 Chron. 20.20 and our Saviour somewhat like John 8.20 Isaiah saw the King and people still fluctuating and trembling notwithstanding the divine Promise and telleth them what to trust to unless they will trust in God they will never be soundly settled Faith quelleth and killeth distrustful fear and maketh a man walk about the world like a Conquerour There is an Elegancy here in the Original that cannot be Englished Ver. 10. Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz Wicked though he were and under the power of unbelief yet he shall see that he hath to do with a very gracious and long-suffering God who by a wonderful condescension will needs give him a sign Inauditum vero dari signum incredulo Christ would not so far gratifie the unbelieving Pharisees but calleth them an evil and bastardly brood for seeking a sign from Heaven Mat. 12.39 Ver. 11. Ask the sign of the Lord not of any other God to whom thou art addicted Thy God From whom thou hast deeply revolted but of whom thou mightest upon thy return be graciously re-accepted Ask it either in the depth This was a fair offer to so foul a sinner but all would not do no though he should have had a sight of Heaven or of Hell for a sign And yet Bellarmine thinketh that one glimpse of Hell were enough to work upon the most hard-hearted sinner in the world and to make him yield to any thing Ver. 12. I will not ask Ah lewd losel I will not ask what a base answer was this of a Bedlam Belialist what a wretched entertainment of such an over-bounding Mercy He doth upon the matter say I le ask no Asks I le try no signs I know a trick worth two of that God shall for me keep his signs to himself I crave no such curtesie at his hands I can otherwise help my self viz. by sending to the Assyrian If the Lord could and would have helped how happeth it that so lately no less then an hundred and twenty thousand of my Subjects were cut off in one day by this Remaliah's son as you contemptuously call him Neither will I tempt the Lord Or neither wâll I make tryal of the Lord as in the former Note Ambrose was mistaken who thought that Ahaz refused to ask or try the Lord out of modesty and humility rather it was out of pervicacy or at best Hypocrisie Hic descendamus in nostras conscientias saith good Oecolampadius Here let us each descend and dive into his own conscience to see whether we also have not matched Ahaz in his madness or at least wise coasted too near upon his unkind usage of the Lord by rejecting his sweet offers of Grace and motions of Mercy by slighting his holy Sacraments those Signs and Seals of the Righteousness that is by Faith Adsit fides aberit periculum Ver. 13. Hear ye now ye House of David But shamefully degenerate from your thrice-worthy Progenitours and strangely forgetful of Gods Promises for a perpetual Succession which if ye remembred and believed ye would not be so causlesly terrified Is it a small thing for you How heartily angry is the Prophet how blessedly blown up in this case of so great dishonour done to God we should be so too To weary men to vex and molest the Septuagint have it to strive Agoneus redditis or wrestle a fall with men By men he meaneth himself and his fellow-Prophets whom Ahaz and his Courtiers slighted and misused Let this comfort Gods faithful Ministers under the worlds indignities and injuries See Matth. 5.11 12. But will ye weary my God whom I serve in my spirit and now no more thy God as ver 11. sith thou hast refused to be Ruled by him Non autem tuum ô rex Ahase Piscat and that after manifest conviction and greatest importunity to bring thee to a better temper Ver. 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign Give it you ingratiis vestris without your leave of his own proffer If we believe not yet God remaineth faithful 2 Tim. 2.13 Rom. 3.3 The House of David was as it were great with child with Christ and with Gods promises in him therefore to be sure it could not be rooted out as these two Kings designed before Christ were come into the world Hence his wonderfull Conception and Birth is made here a Sign of his peoples Safety here and Salvation hereafter And had Ahaz and his people believed this latter they would not have much doubted of the former but rather argued with St. Paul Having given us his Son Rom. 8.32 how shall he not with him give us all things also A sign A singular sign a sign both from above and from beneath for he joyned lumen
Hezekiah then they had been under Ahaz 2 King 16.10 Hos 14.3 Ver. 21. A remnant shall return sc to the Lord by true repentance from whom they had deeply revolted But of these there is but as a remnant a poor few in comparison of the whole piece of cloth Ver. 22. Yet a remnant of them shall return i. e. Shall be saved from Sennâcherib but especially from Satan that old manslayer Rom. 9.27 29. and 11.5 The greater part of the Jews were then cut off by the Assyrians and so they are spiritually still by the evil spirits which hold them in their hardness of heart and hinder them from embracing the Christian faith But this befalleth them by Gods holy decree Rom. 9.27 28. and just judgment The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness i. e. The utter destruction of this perverse people both temporal and spiritual Rom. 9.27 for the generality of them is not to be accounted cruelty but overflowing righteousness For God could not in justice but thus rigorously deal with them and then for his promise sake to Abraham Isaac and Jacob reserving a remnant shew favour to them again Ver. 23. For the Lord God of hosts shall make c. Here the same thing is repeated by way of asseveration because not easily believed or digested but would lye heavy as hard meat Behold the severity of God Rom. 11.22 and stoop to it Ver. 24. O my people that dwellest in Zion be not afraid Quà m paternè omnia As a father bespeaketh his little son passing with him thorow a dark entry c. Non occidet te quamvis vapules Oecol He shall smite thee with a rod Chasten thee but not slay thee Sinite virgam corripientem ne sentiatis malleum conterentem And shall lift up his staffe against thee Or but he shall lift up his staffe for thee so some render it i.e. God shall and that after the manner of Egypt as of old he did for thy Fathers against Pharaoh Ver. 25. For yet a very little while Heb. a little little or a little of a little Yet a little modicum and wrath shall be at an end Oecolampadius rendreth it adhuc paululum minus quà m paululum Hold out therefore faith and patience Ver. 26. And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him Far worse then that rod ver 24. this scourge was that Angel that slew to many Assyrians in a night according to that slaughter of Midian Judg. 7.22 Psal 83.9 11. At the rock of Oreb Where Oreb was slain like as was Sennacherib after this in his Temple at Niniveh And as his rod was upon the sea As Moses by his rod or staffe held over the red Sea made way for Israel but brought destruction on the Egyptians Exod. 14.26 Ver. 27. And the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing That is because or for the sake of Messiah the Prince Dan. 9.25 the Lord Christ our ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and Sospitator the foundation of all the Churches deliverances The whole 11th Chapter following is a comment on this sweet promise Ver. 28. He is come to Aiath Elegans hypotyposis a dainty description of Sennacheribs ingress into the Land and progress with his army toward Jerusalem thorough the tribe of Benjamin He is passed to Migron 14. Cities are here set down in order as distressed by this Poliorcetes of whom it might be truly said as it is now of the Grand Signior that no grass groweth on that ground where he hath set his foot once At Michmash he hath laid up his carriages i.e. He shall but the Prophet speaketh of it as if presently done or as if himself had been marching along with them Ver. 29. They are gone over the passages i. e. The streights between two rocks 1 Sam. 13.23 Ver. 30. Lift up thy voice Heb. Hinni i. e. claram vocem ede âamque lugubrem make a grievous out-cry ejula quiritare Nam certa tibi imminet vastitas for thou art undone O poor Anathoth Jeremies countrey poor because plundred Ver. 31. Madmena is removed i.e. Fled for fear as Gibeah ver 29. Ver. 32. He shall shake his hand Viz. at Jerusalem as threatning her destruction but she shall shake her head at him in contempt chap. 37.21 God oft lets his enemies go to the utmost of their tedder and then pulls them back to their tasks with shame enough as he did Pharaoh Ver. 33. Behold the Lord shall top the bough i.e. Those of greatest state and stature in the Assyrian army And the haughty shall be humbled See chap. 2.11 17. Per Magnificum Ver. 34. By a mighty one That is by an Angel as chap. 37.36 See Psal 78.25 and 89.5 6. CHAP. XI Ver. 1. ANd there shall come forth a rod i. e. Christ shall be born whom our Prophet having called the annointing or Messiah chap. 10.27 maketh him and his Kingdom hence forward the chief matter of his discourse to the end of his book Here he beginneth with his Nativity calling him a Rod or Twig springing not out of the stock of David but out of the stump of Jesse a mean man and that then when the Royal Family was sunk so low as from David the King to Joseph the Carpenter Well might Chrysostom say that the foundation of our Philosophy was humility And another that at Bethlehem brake forth that well of Salvation Scultet which in the type once David so thirsted after 2 Sam. 23.15 And a branch Or the Nazaren born at Nazareth saith Junius which signifieth a branch for so it was generally deemed and our Saviour stileth himself Jesus of Nazareth Act. 22.8 and on his Cross they wrote Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews wherein that Prodigie faith A Lapide seemeth to have fallen out concerning which the Poet enquireth Dic quibus in terris inscripti nomine Regis Nascantur flâres For Nazareth he interpreteth a Flower or something flowry and for shall grow others render shall bud or bear fruit Ver. 2. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him After such a description of Christs person as ver 1. followeth here a Declaration of his Kingdom which is set forth to be First Spiritual ver 2. Secondly Just ver 3 4.5 Thirdly Peaceable ver 6.7 8 9. Fourthly Ample as made up of Gentiles and Jews ver 11 c. Shall rest upon him His Humanity shall be filled topful with the Gifts and Graces of the Holy Ghost Diodat Annot. to be as it were an Everlasting Treasure and Cistern full of them for the use of the Church John 1.16 3.34 Acts 2.33 And this was typified by the Holy Ghosts descending in the likeness of a Dove at the time of his Baptism and resting upon him Matth. 3.16 John 1.32 33. The spirit of wisdome and understanding These six Princely Vertues for the Schoolmen misled by the vulgar Translation falsly found their septiformem gratiam spiritus sancti were eminently and
Called the Jews language chap. 35.11 13. the Hebrew tongue wherein were written the lively Oracles of God This Language therefore the Elect Egyptians shall learn and labour for that pure lip Zeph. 3.9 to speak as the Oracles of God 1 Pet 4.11 Wholsom words 2 Tim. 1.13 Right words Job 6.25 Words of wisdom Prov. 1.6 Of truth and soberness Act. 26.25 to be Examples to others not only in faith and conversation but also in words and communication 1 Tim. 4.12 And swear to the Lord of hosts Devote themselves to his fear and service Nempe susceptione baptismi Piscat taking a corporal oath for that purpose as in baptisme and other holy covenants whereupon haply they might be inabled to speak with tongues the holy tongue especially as most necessary for Christians Here then we have a description of a true Christian not such as the Jesuites in their Catechisme give us viz. A Christian is he who believeth whatsoever the Church of Rome commandeth to be believed swearing fealty to Her One shall be called the City of destruction i. e. Nevertheless there shall be a few cities that shall despise Christian Religion and shall therefore be destroyed for neglecting so great salvation It shall be easier for Sodom one day then for such Others render the text Heliopolis or the city of the Sun shall be accounted one sc of those 5 converted cities and become consecrated to the Sun of righteousness Joseph Ant. lâb 13. cap. 6. Ver. 19. In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord A spiritual altar for spiritual sacrifices as ver 20. Heb. 13.10 Onias the Jewish Priest who hereupon went and built an altar at Heliopolis in Egypt and sacrificed to God there was as much mistaken as the Anabaptists of Germany were in their Munster which they termed new Jerusalem and acted accordingly sending forth Apostles casting out orthodox Ministers c. And a pillar in the border thereof that is saith One the Gospels and writings of the Apostles that pillar and ground of truth Or a publike confession of the Christian faith Rom. 10 9. An allusion to Josh 22.10 25. See Zech. 14.9 20 21. Ver. 20. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness The doctrine of Christs death is a clear testimony of Gods great love and kindness to mankind Rom. 5. and 8. For they shall cry unto the Lord for their oppressours As the Israelites sometimes had done under the Egyptian servitude Exod. 3.9 And he shall send them a Saviour not Moses but Messias that great Saviour Servatorem magnatem vel magistrum for God hath laid his peoples help on One that is mighty Psal 89.19 See Tit. 2 13. Ver. 21. And the Lord shall be known to Egypt They shall both know the Lord Christ and be known of him as Gal. 4.9 See Rom. 10.20 And shall do sacrifice and oblation Perform reasonable service Rom 12.1 such as whereof they can render a reason Not a Samaritan service Joh. 4.22 or Athenian Act. 17.23 Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship c. God will have no such blind sacrifices Mal. 1.8 Yea they shall vow a vow c. That in baptisme especially Facit opus aâtenum ut faciat proprium Isa 28. Ver. 22. And the Lord shall smite Egypt That he may bring it into the bond of the covenant Ezek. 20.37 Heb. 12.9 Hos 6.1 He shall smite and heal it Heb. smiting and healing Vna eademque manus c. Vna gerit bellum monstrat manus altera pacew as it was said of Charles 5. And shall heal them Pardon their sins heal their natures and make up all breaches in their outward estates Ver. 23. In that day there shall be an highway c. All hostility shall cease and a blessed unanimity be settled amongst Christs subjects of several nations Hereunto way was made by the Roman Empire reducing both these great countries into Provinces And the Egyptiant shall serve Serve the Lord with one shoulder as Zeph. 3.9 Ver. 24. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt The posterity of Sem Ham and Japhât shall concur in the communion of Saints the pale and partition-wall being taken away Even a blessing in the middest of the earth The Saints are so Absque stationibus non staret mundus If it were not for them the world would soon shatter and fall in pieces Jun. Ver. 25. Whom the Lord of hostes shall bless Or For the Lord of hostes shall bless and then he shall be blessed as Isaac said of Jacob Gen. 27.33 Blessed be Egypt my people A new title to Egypt and no less honorable Vide quantum profecerit Aegyptus flagellis saith Oecolampad here i e. See how Egypt hath got by her sufferings See ver 22. She who was not a people but a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven is now owned and taken into covenant And Assyria the work of my hands For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2.10 And Israel mine Inheritance This is upon the matter one and the same with the former every regenerate person whether Jew or Gentile is all these three in conjunction O the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the heaped up happiness of all such Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Zion be joyful in their King Psalm 149.2 For the Lord her God in the midst of her is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over her with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over her with singing Zeph. 3.17 CHAP. XX. Ver. 1. IN the year that Tartan A certain Commander under Sennacherib 2 King 18.17 who came against Ashdod among other Cities of Judah about the twelfth year of King Hezekiah Came to Ashdod Called also Azotus Act. 8.40 and much praised by Herodotus in Euterpe When Sargon That is Sennacherib most likely who had seven Names saith Hierom eighth say some Rabbins Commodus the Roman Emperour took unto himself as many names as there are months in the year 1 âon which also he changed ever and anon but constantly kept that of Exuperans because he would have been thought to excel all men The like might be true of Sargon Herod l. 2. And fought against Ashdod and took it Psammetichus King of Egypt had before taken it after a very long siege now it is taken again from the Aegyptian by the Assyrian to teach them and others not to trust to Forts and fenced Cities Ver. 2. At the same time spake the Lord Against Egypt and Ethiopia whom he had comforted ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. Per Isaiam tanquam organum disâensatorem suoâum myster Oecolamp Vestimentum âi losum ver 18. 19 and yet now again threateneth shewing by an ocular demonstration what miseries should befall them This was done in Jury but the report thereof might easily come to these confederate Countreys and the Jews howsoever were given hereby to
into the world that whosoever believeth on him should not abide in darkness Joh. 12.46 Faith freeth from blindness we no sooner taste of the bread of life by Faith but the vail of ignorance which naturally covereth all flesh is torn and men are suddenly brought out of darkness into a marvelous light 1 Pet. 2.9 This is the first Elogy and noble commendation of the doctrine of the Gospel Light there follow two more viz. Life and Joy spiritual chap. 35.6 which is the life of that life ver 8. Ver. 8. He will swallow up death in victory As the fire swalloweth up the fuel or as Moses's Serpent swallowed up the Sorcerers Serpents The kisses of Christs mouth have sucked out the sting of death from a justified believer so that his heart doth live for ever as Psal 22.6 and if so then in death it self which made Cyprian receive the sentence of death with a Deo gratias as did also Bradford and many more Martyrs accounting the dayes of their death their Birth-days and welcoming them accordingly Hierom insults over death as disarmed and devoured Illius morte tu mortua es Animasque in vulnere ponunt Vââg devorasti devorata es c. Ever since Death ran through the veins of Jesus Christ who is Life Essential it is destroyed or swallowed up like as the Bee dieth when she hath left her sting in the wound Hence Saint Paul doth so crow over death and as it were call it craven 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. And the Lord God wâll wipe away A Metaphor from a Mother And the rebuke of his people Or the reproach their afflictions and persecutions for which the world reproacheth them Ver. 9. Lo this is our God sc Jesus Christ our sole Saviour who is God blessed for ever and our God by a specialty Wait for him for he waiteth to be gracious chap. 30.18 Ver. 10. For in this mountain In the Church as ver 6 7. Shall the hand of the Lord rest i. e. settle for their safeguard Junius And Moab shall be trodden down i. e. Contumax quisque perversus hostis Dei Ecclesiae Piscator thinketh Papists are here meant by these Moabites who were nearly allied to Gods Israel but Ardeliones bitter and brutish enemies skilful only to destroy as Ezek. 21.31 As straw for the dung-hil Or as straw in Madmenab Jer. 48.2 God will make an hand of all his peoples adversaries as is here and in the following verses set forth by three several Metaphors Ver. 11. And he shall spread forth his hands c. i. e. He shall destroy them with greatest facility The motion in swimming is easie not strong for strong strokes in the water would rather sink then support Vatablus referrs this to Christ stretching out his hands upon the Cross whereby he overcame Satan and his Imps. Together with the spoyls Or wiles of his hands i. e. his wealth gotten by wrench and wile as we say Ver. 12. Shall he bring down c. To shew that there is no strength against the Lord the true ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã CHAP. XXVI Ver. 1. IN that day Before the morrow and while the mercy was yet fresh We are not to take day for return of thanks but to do it forthwith In that same day shall this song be sung As an evidence and effect of their spiritual joy and security mentioned chap. 25.9 Is any man merry let him sing Psalms James 5.13 and so set an edge upon his praises and thanksgivings Thus Israel sang Exod. 15.1 Numb 21.7 Spring up O well sing ye unto it Thus in the Apostles times Rom. 15.9 and afterwards Justin Tertullian Athanasius others Socrates lib. 7. c. 22. voce praeiverunt gave the Note Constantine and Theodosius ever sang Psalms with their Souldiers before they gave battle They knew that it is a good thing to sing praises to our God it is pleasant and praise is comely Psal 147.1 We have a strong City The Church is invincible hell-gates cannot demolish it whatever became of Moabs munitions chap. 25.12 Salvation will God appoint All manner of health help and safety Satan cannot have so many means to foyl and spoil the Saints as Jesus to whose sweet name our Prophet here and elsewhere oft alludeth as much delighted therewith hath means to keep and hold them up For walls and bulwarks pro muris antemurali for walls and rampart or counterscarf So Scipio was said to be fossa vallum the wall and trench to the Romans against Hannibal If Salvation it self cannot save Jerusalem let her enemies triumph and take all If her name be Jehovah-shammah as Ezek. 48.35 The Lord is there let her enemies do their worst Ver. 2. Open ye the gates Room for the Righteous for such only are free-men of this City Rev. 22.14 such only are written among the living in Jerusalem chap. 4.3 4. Psal 118.19 And this seemeth spoken to those door-keepers the Ministers to whom God hath committed the keyes of his kingdom setting them as upon a watch-tower to keep out enemies and to let in the true Citizens That the righteous nation which keepeth the truth Heb. the truths or faiths as Peter hath Godlinesses 2 Pet. 3.11 that both observeth Christs Law and preserveth it striving together for the Faith of the Gospel Phil. 1.27 and accounting every particle of Truth precious Jude 3. And here we have a true definition of a right Church-member Civil righteousness is but a beautiful abomination If men men lay not Faith for a foundation to their vertue 2 Pet. 1.5 it is no better then a glistering sin Ver. 3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace Heb. peace peace that is a multiplied peace with God with himself and with others or a renewed continued peace or a perfect sheer pure peace as One senseth it What the old Translatour here meaneth by his Vetus error abiit is hard to say An excellent description of true saving Faith may be taken from this Text and Mr. Bolton maketh mention of a poor distressed soul relieved by fastening stedfastly in his last sickness on these sweet words saying that God had graciously made them fully good to him Because he trusteth in thee So far as a soul can stay on and trust in God so far it enjoyeth a sweet peace and calm of spirit perfect trust is blessed with perfect peace We have a famous instance for this in our blessed Saviour Joh. 12.27 28. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind be sober and hope perfectly for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.13 Ver. 4. Trust in the Lord for ever To trust in God is to be unbottom'd of thy self and of every creature and so to lean upon God that if he fail thee thou sinkest For in the Lord Jehovah Heb. for in Jah Jehovah in him who is the all-powerful Essentiator and faithful promise-keeper c. Here then look
kind of storehouse for advice in matters of Religion We account them the surest Rule of life the divine beam and most exact ballance But the Papists see well enough that whiles the authority of the Scriptures standeth Divina slatera Aug. Exactissima trutina Chrysost the traditions of their Popes cannot be established which they account the touchstone of doctrine and foundation of faith And in favour of their unwritten verities as they call them they tell us but falsly that Christ commanded his Apostles to preach but not to write Lying children and therefore not Gods children chap. 63.8 Ver. 10. Which say to the Seers See net c. strang impudency but in thus reciting their words the Prophet rather expresseth their spirit then their speeches And yet it may be that the Polititians of those times blamed the Prophets Isaiah and the rest ââââragmatical for interposing and medling in State-matters and pressing the Law so strictly sith in cases of necessity as now it was they must make bold to borrow a little Law of the holy one of Israel Speak unto us smooth things Heb. smoothnesses toothless truths and such as may speak you No-medlers Ver. 11. Get ye out of the way If that be the way which you so much insist upon warp a little remit of your rigour Religiosum opertet esse sed non religentem Cause the holy one of Israel to depart from us Desinat ille nos per Prophet as obtundere let 's hear no more of him molest us not with so many messages from him see Mic. 2.6 Ver. 12. Wherefore thus saith the holy one of Israel The Prophet doth on purpose repeat this title so much disrelished by them to cross them Ministers must not be men-pleasers Ver. 13. Therefore this iniquity shall be unto you q. d. your Commonwealth is tumbling down apace and ye are hastening the utter ruin of it as if ye were ambitious of your own destruction which will be as suddain so total ver 14. Ver. 14. And he shall break it as the breaking of a Potters vessel Collige ex hoc loco saith Oecolampadius Gather we may from this text that remediless ruin wil befall such as resist the Holy Ghost and sin against light Ver. 15. The Holy one of Israel A stile much in the mouths of Gods Prophets in those times But how great arrogancy is it in the Pope to take unto him the title of His Holiness In returning and rest shall ye be saved This is the same in effect with that before ver 7. Preachers must be instant stand to their work and not be baffled out of their unpleasing messages The Septuagint here have it Si conversus ingemueris tunc salvaberis Ver. 16. But ye said No we will not return or rest This is a golden rule of life In silentio spe fortitudo vestra but these refractaries would none of it they knew a better way to work then all that came to Politicians are like tumblers that have their heads on the earth and their heels against heaven Cross-gtain'd they are for most part to all good For we will flee upon horses whereof Egypt was full and for which it was famous of old and so is yet for the Mamalukes horses especially Therefore shall ye flie but in another sense sc fusi fugatique ab hoste with the enemy at your heels Ver. 17. One thousand shall flee See Deut. 32.30 with the Note Vntill ye be left at a beacon Heb a mast i. e. a very poor few or all alone shred of all you had This was fulfilled when Sennacherib wasted the Country even to the very walls of Jerusalem Paucitatem salvandorum nobis insinuat saith Oecolamp Ver. 18. And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you This it a wonderful condescension i. e. God tarrieth looking for thee to shew thee mercy Serm. of Repent as Mr. Bradford rendreth it if thou wert ripe he is ready But never think that he will lay cordials upon full and foul stomachs faith another grave Divine D. Harris that he will scarf thy bones before they be set and lap up thy sores before they be searcht God chooseth the fittest times to hear and help his suppliants Isa 49.8 with Psal 69.13 opportunitatem opitulandi expectat Be patient therefore brethren untill the coming of the Lord Jam. 5.7 Let your equanimity your longanimity be known to all men the Lord is at hand Phil. 4 5. And therefore will he be exalted He will get up to his tribunal or throne of grace that if ye repent ye may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Heb. 4.16 For the Lord is a God of jugdement i. e. He is a wise God that knoweth best when to deal forth his favours and where to place his benefits Blessed are all they that wait for him Wait his leasure non cerebri sui sectantur consilia and seek not to get off by indirect courses Those though they should die in a waiting condition yet cannot but be happy because God hath said here Blessed are all they that wait for him Ver 19. For the people shall dwell in Zion c. Or For thou the people of Zion that dwell in Jerusalem shalt weep no more Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur At the voice of thy cry Thou shalt pray thou shalt also hear the word of God ver 20.21 and reform thy life ver 22. so shall good be done unto thee When he shall hear it he will answer thee yea before chap. 65.24 before thy prayer can get from thy heart to thy mouth it is got as high as heaven Ver. 20. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity Though he hold you to hard-meat and give you but prisoners pitrance so much as will keep you alive only and that you eat your meat with the peril of your lives emendicato pane hic vivamus saith Luther in our Fathers house is bread Gods plenty Yet shall not thy Teachers be removed into a corner Non alis se induent they shall not take wing and flie from thee The Ministry is a sweet mercy under what misery soever men do otherwise groan and labour Corporeal wants are not much to be passed on so the spiritual food be not wanting a famine of the word is the greatest Judgement Amos 8. when the Gospel was first preacht there was great scarcity of bodily food Rev. 6.6 Act. 11.28 but that was scarce felt by those holy souls who did eat their meat such as it was with gladness and singleness of heart Greenham accounting that bread and cheese with the Gospel was good chear Thine eyes shall see thy Teachers A description of holy hearers their eyes are intent on the preachers Scultet their ears arrect their whole course conformed to the rule quando lapsus tam in proclivi est ver 21. their dearest sins abandoned ver 22. Oh for such hearers
never went from God without God And holy Bradford would never give over any good duty till he found something coming in as in confession till his heart melted in begging pardon till it was quieted in seeking grace till it was quickened c. Ver. 4. He shall not fail nor be discouraged Non erit tristis nec turbulentus so the Vulgar hath it he shall be master of his passions and keep an even state of his looks and motions whatever befall as they report of Socrates He shall not knit his brows or chide which was Eli's fault 1 Sam. 3.13 but is Christs commendation so Lud. de Dieu rendereth it He shall not make to smoke so Junius from ver 3. nor shall he bruise any one Vntil he have set Judgement See on ver 3. And the Iles shall wait for his Law Heb. shall with desire expect his doctrine Ver. 5. Thus saith God the Lord he that created the Heavens and streched them out Heb. and they that streched them out noting the Trinity in Unity as Deut. 6.4 See there Some Pagans concluded the world must needs have had a beginning otherwise we could not know whether the egge or the bird the seed or the plant the day or the night the light or the darkness were first Ver. 6. I the Lord have called thee To the Mediatorship And will hold thine hand working wonders by thee and with thee And will keep thee That thou be not crucified till thine hour be come and that thou despair not when thou sufferest And give thee for a Covenant of the people i. e. For that Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3.1 and that thou mayest reconcile all the Elect in one body to me by thy crosse c. Eph. 2.16 For a light to the Gentiles See chap. 9.2 Ver. 7. To open the blind eyes By the preaching of the Gospel Acts 26.18 2 Cor. 4.4 5 6. Rev. 3.18 To bring out the prisoners from the prison To free poor souls from the Tyranny of sin and terrour of hell This should make us say to Christ as one did once to Augustus for a deliverance nothing so great Effecisti Caesar ut viverem morerer ingratus let me do mine utmost I must live and dye in thy debt Ver. 8. I am the Lord I and no Heathen petty god as I have plainly and plentifully proved nemine contradicente That is my Name God though he be above all name when Manoah enquired after his name the answer was 'T is wounderful i. e. far above thy conception yet here we have his proper name Jehovah which is also called his glory because incommunicable to any creature And my glory will I not give to another To his Son Christ he hath given it Joh. 17.2 who although he is Alius yet he is not Aliud from the Father but of the same nature and essence God hath given being to all things life to many sense to others reason to men and Angels his glory he will not give to any Excellently hereupon Bernard My glory I will not c. what then wilt thou give us Lord Ser. 13. in Cant what wilt thou give us My peace saith he I give you my peace I leave unto you It 's enough for me Lord I thankfully take what thou leavest and leave what thou keepest to thy self c. Ver. 9. Behold the former things are come to passe The Prophecies are fulfilled Before they spring forth I tell you of them Therefore I am the true God undoubtedly and the doctrine of my Prophets is true assuredly veriora quam qua ex tripode Siquidem Satan etsi semel videatur verax millies est mendax semper fallax Ver. 10. Sing unto the Lord a new song The disputation being ended and God having clearly got the better the Prophet singeth this Gratulatory song and calleth upon others to bear a part with him therein and especially for Christ and his benefits aforementioned Ye that go down to the sea i. e. That dwell toward the West of Judea Ver. 11. Let the wilderness Ye that dwell Eastward It was called the wilderness because but thinly inhabited The Villages that Kedar doth inhabit The most fierce and savage people cicurated and civilized by the Gospel preached among them as it is with us at this day De nat deor whose Ancestours were most barbarous and brutish as Tully testifieth Let the inhabitants of the rock Or of Petra the chief City of Arabia Petraea Ver. 12. Let them give glory See ver 10. Ver. 13. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man Or as a Gyant And here by an elegant Hypotyposis the fierce wrath of God against his foes is set forth to the life and appointed also to be sung for a second part of the ditty viz. Christs conquest over sin death and hell whereby we are made more than Conquerours He shall cry yea roar Jubilabit atque etiam barriet he shall make an hideous and horrible noise such as the Roman souldiers did of old when they began the battle Vegerius and as the Turks do at this day on purpose to affright their enemies Ver. 14. I have long time holden my peace As a travelling woman biteth in her pain as long as she is able So had God for causes best known to himself forborn a long while to appear for his people and to avenge them of their enemies But now Patientia laesa fit furor Deique patientia quo diuturnior eo minacior now down goeth Dagon and the devils whole Kingdom before this jealous Gyant Now will I cry like a traevelling woman Which when she can bear no longer sets up her note and is heard all the house over This is very comfortable God is pained as it were for his people in all their afflictions he is afflicted he longs for their deliverance which therefore shall not be long ere it come Ver. 15. I will make waste mountains and hills I will rather invert the order of nature and mingle heaven and earth together than my Church shall want seasonable help I will also remove all obstacles by sending fire upon the earth Luk. 12.49 and bring every high thought into an holy obedience 2 Cor. 10.5 Ver. 16. And I will bring the blind by a way This was fulfilled in the letter to the Jews brought back from Babylon where they had been close prisoners and in the mystery to all Christs converts more especially to that blind boy presented to Bishop Hooper Martyr the day before his death at Glocester Act. Mon. where the boy also had not long before suffered imprisonment for confessing the truth I will make darkness light before By bringing them out of darknesse into my marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 Ver. 17. They shall be greatly ashamed Heb. be ashamed with shame because disappointed and defeated as the Papists oft have been when they have fought against Prorestants in that Bellum Hussiticum in Germany especially And yet Bellarmine
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 vulâes 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
for Cyrus signifieth the Sun saith Plutarch Lord say others in the Persian as in Hebrew it seemeth to signifie an heir or possessour Some derive our word Sir from it Cyrus was at first called Achzadat and Space being the son of Cambyses a noble Persian and Mandane the daughter of Astyages King of Medes De Cyro fluvio scricit trabo l. 15. The name of Cyrus he took when he entred upon the Kingdom and that from Cyrus a river of Persia as some hold I have sirnamed thee Or I have entitled thee sc My Shepherd mine annointed c. Though thou hast not known me sc Savingly For albeit he knew the true God in part and acknowledged him to be great above other gods yet he forsook not his Idols saith Hierom Scultet and therefore perished miserably by the hands of the Scythianâ Nevertheless others are of opinion that he was instructed by Daniel and brought to a true belief as was also Darius Ver. 5. I am the Lord and none else None of thy Persian gods to whom thou didst offer solemn sacrifice Xenoph. Cyr. lib. 1. 8. both at the beginning of thy raigne and likewise at thy death if Xenophon may be beleeved saying Jupiter patriae Sol c. magnas ago vobis gratias quod vestram de me curam intellexi c. Though thou hast not known me Or when as yet thou wast altogether ignorant of me That he afterwards beleeved the immortality of the soul Tully testifieth in his Cato Major and that he beleeved in Christ for the salvation of his soul Scultetus thinketh because he was a type of Christ as was also Solomon saith he which to me is one good argument that he was saved Ver. 6. That they may know from the rising of the Sun i. e. All the world over by thy Proclamation Ezra 1.1 2. That there is none besides me Quia nihilum praeter me ego Dominus nihil âiltra so Oecolampaedius rendreth it and saith further that it is oppido profunda sententia a very profound sentence teaching us that where God is not there is nothing for in him we are move and live and it is he who worketh all in all things Ver. 7. I form the light and create darknesse sc By withdrawing the light whence darkness succeedeth so doth misery when God withholdeth mercy But what an odd or rather mad conceit was that of the Manichees that there were two beginnings of things a good one and an evil that the latter was the God of the Old Testament and the former of the New that the God of the Old Testament did good by accident and occasionally but created evil of himself even evil of sin for so they mistook this text which is to be understood of evil of punishment only see Am. 3.6 Lam. 3.38 which he inflicteth on evil-doers for the manifestation of his justice and power ac propterea recte Vide Aug. contra Julian l. 3. c. 8. non male eo pacto quo per nos mala male fiunt I make peace and create evil Evil that is war by a specialty and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã O mega nostrorum Mors est Mars Alpha malorum Sin Satan and War have all one name evil is the best of them The best of sin is deformity of Satan enmity of War misery Ver. 8. Drop down ye heavens from above A prayer of the poor captives in Babylon say some for a speedy performance of their promised deliverance and this the rather because else Christ could not come of them teach in their Country work miracles and fulfill the office of a Mediatour as the Prophets had foretold Whereunto God immediately answereth I the Lord have created him or will create him that is send him in due time doubt ye not Others make it a description of Cyrus his just and happy raign see the like of Solomon Psal 72.6 7. And indeed Cyrus is famous in Heathen Histories for his wisdom justice temperance magnanimity and liberality It is not the custome of Cyrus to hoard up money Cyrop l. 8. saith Xenophon for he taketh more delight in giving than in getting or possessing But it seemeth rather to be a command from God of plenty and prosperity opposite to that countermand chap. 5.6 The Papists apply it to Christ and his Mother and hence their roaring out of Rorate in their solemn service a moneth before the feast of the Nativity and then they call for their carousing cups Ver. 9. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker That chats against him Rom. 9.20 or presumes to prescribe to him as some impatient spirits among the Captives may seem to have done We may not measure Gods dealings by our Models nor murmur against his counsels sith his holy will is the most perfect rule of right Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth And not dash against the Rock of ages Let him meddle with his match and not contend with a mightier than he Eccles 6.10 What though God create him darknesse and evil as ver 7. let him wait upon God for better times and not think to mend himself by murmuring against his Maker as too severe Shall the clay say c. q. d. This were an intolerable petulancy Or thy work it hath no hands Or he hath no hands sc to fashion me aright Thus the work seemeth to make answer to the clay for as the clay said to the Potter Quid fecisti what hast thou made So the work saith by way of jear He had no hands sc to make me as he should have done Ver. 10. Wo unto him that saith to his Father Are these fit words to a Father Is it not an impious morosity to talk unto him in this sort Why hast thou begotten me at all or if at all why not rich fair wise c. And to the woman i. e. To his Mother as chap. 49.15 but such as he can hardly find in his heart to call Mother Ver. 11. Thus saith the Lord c. q. d. Leave off such insolent and unbecoming language and learn of me about what ye should rather busie your selves Ask me of things to come Me and not your Wizzards Have recourse to my Prophets beleeve them and ye shall prosper Let your patient mind be known to all men the Lord is at hand for your deliverance Command ye me This is a wonderful expression and doth notably set forth the power of prayer Mr. Burr Luther it seemeth well understood the latitude of this royal Charter saith One when praying for the recovery of a godly useful Preacher who was far gone in a consumption amongst other passages he let fall this transcendent rapture of a daring faith Let my will be done but then he falls off sweetly My will Lord because thy will Ver. 12. I have made the earth q. d. I am the mighty Maker and Monarch of the world therefore pray on and patiently wait for a
gracious answer he that beleeveth maketh not haste Ver. 13. I have raised him up i. e. Cyrus Ezra 1.1 And I will direct all his wayes sc When he cometh against the Babylonians Lydians c. on mine errand But when moved by his ambition he invaded Scythia and cruelly wasted the Country God took no further charge of him as I may say He that is out of Gods precincts is out of his protection Ver. 14. Thus saith the Lord the labour of Egypt Here he turneth his speech to Cyrus promising him that he should be no loser by his generous carriage toward the poor people of God his captives whom he freely dismissed without ransom ver 13. Gods retributions are more than bountiful Agatharch lib. 5. cap. 20. vel proceri i. e. potentissimi agro mercib Trem. In Psal 37. Men of stature The Arabians are reported to have been goodly personable men by Agatharchides an ancient writer from whom Plutarch and Pliny borrowed much They shall come over unto thee Commodissime dicemus promissionem hanc referendam ad tempus revelati Evangelii This was fulfilled chiefly when the Gospel was preached and Nations thereby converted See Psal 45.5 and 149.6 8. The bonds of the holy Spirit are stronger than Adamant saith Ambrose Surely God is in thee Or with thee and hence thou O Cyrus so prevailest and prosperest Thus these conquered Kings shall supplicate and say to Cyrus And there is none else there is no God Hence Mahometans seem to have taken that which out of their Alchoran they dayly proclaim in their Moschies or meeting-houses There is no god but God and Mahomet his Counsellour Thus those Kings but what saith the Prophet Hac approbatio est Prophetae Scultet Ver. 15. Verily thou art a God that hidest thy self As thou art invisible and dwellest in light inaccessible so in thy dispensations thou goest a way by thy self and thy judgements are unsearchable Thou hidest thy self and standest off a while sometimes from the help of thy poor people but wilt appear to them and for them in due time The Septuagint here translate Tues Deus nescitbamus Thou art God and we knew thee not And this the Fathers interpret concerning Christ and hence the Jews seem to have drawn that speech of theirs Christ when he cometh no man knoweth whence he is Ver. 16 That are makers of Idols The Word rendred Idols signifieth properly Tormina cruciatus paines and throws and straits Idolaters heap up sorrows to themselves and terrours of conscience See Psal 16.4 with the Note Ver. 17. But Israel with an evelasting salvation By Cyrus they were not so for not long after Antiochus afflicted them Herod gat the Scepter from them the Romans came and took away both them and their Nation But the Israel of God were and are still saved by Jesus with an everlasting salvation Ver. 18. He created it not in vain Therefore never think that he will forsake it or not take care of his Church therein for whose sake he made it at first and still upholdeth it by the word of his power 1 Cor. 3.22 23. Now if God created not the earth in vain much less the heavens wherein he hath shewed his greater skill Heb. 11.10 See the Note there but that his people might there inhabit for ever And here it is that they shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation Yea they shall not be ashamed or confounded world without end ver 17. Ver. 19. I have not spoken in secret As the Sibylls did out of their dens as the Idol-priests did out of their holes and under-ground vaults as hereticks and seducers who creep into corners and there vent their false wares as Vincentius Lirinensis long since observed Epiphanius fitly compareth them to Mouls who do all their mischief by working under ground But God as he delivered his Law openly on Mount Sina so his Gospel he commanded to be preached on the house-top and in Mount Zion Christ spoke openly to the world Joh. 18.20 Truth seeketh no corners I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ Rom. 1.16 But what was this word that was delivered so plainly and pespicuously Seek ye me And for your encouragement ye shall not do it in vain for I am a rewarder of all those that diligently seek me Heb. 11.6 Let Heathen deities disappoint and delude those that seek to them Jacobs God scorneth the motion he is better to his people then their prayers better then their hopes and when with Gehezi they ask but one talent he like Naaman forceth them to take two I the Lord speak righteousnesse I declare the things that are right Or even so doth not the Devil but things sinful and obscene as humane sacrifices promiscuous uncleannesses ut in nefariis Priapi Veneris sacris Contrariwise all the words of Gods mouth are in righteousnesse ther is nothing froward or perverse in them Prov. 8.8 Ver. 20. Ye that are escaped of the Nations That have escaped the sword of Cyrus and well proved how little your gods can do for you That set up the wood of their graven Image Qui levant lignum carrying them in pomp and procession upon their shoulders as Papists now do their pictures their breaden god especially and crying to it Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbaoth Ver. 21. Who hath declared this sc that the people of God should be set at lilerty by Cyrus Ver. 22. Look unto me and be ye saved Whiles the Moon looketh directly upon the Sun she is bright and beautiful but if she once turn aside and be left to her self she looseth all her glory and enjoyes but only a shadow of light which is her own so while men look to Christ the Sun of righteousnesse and toward the stars in his right-hand c. For I am God and none else This Judas Maccabeus acknowledged in his Ensigne wherein this Motto was written Mi Camoca Belohim Jehovah Godw. Heb. Antiqu. i. e. Who is like unto thee among the Gods O Lord from the capital letters of which Motto he took his name Maccabi Ver. 23. That unto me every knee I will be known and obeyed all the world over sc by Christians Of the Jews Hierom noteth quod mentis superbiam demonstrantes genu non flectunt that they bow not the knee in Gods service but only stand up at times Ver. 24. Surely shall one say This shall be the Christian Confession In the Lord have I righteousnesse c. righteousnesse i. e. Mercy to those that come over to him and strength to enable them to come as the Sea sendeth out waters to fetch us to it c. Ver. 25. Shall be justified by faith in Christ Rom. 5.1 And shall glory Having peace of Conscience they shall glory in tribulation Rom. 5.1 3. Note this against Meritmongers CHAP. XLVI Ver. 1. BEl is bowed down Jupiter Belus as Pliny calleth him Babels chief God is now become a prey to the
words there went forth a power and he could perswade as he pleased for why God had blessed him ib. The toung of the learned A learned and elaborate speech it had need to be that shall affect the heart Matth. 13.52 Not every dolt can do it but he who is an Interpreter one amongst a thousand 1 Thes 5.14 Job 33.23 who can speak as the Oracles of God 1 Pet. 4.11 sell oyle to the wiser Virgins Matth. 25.9 comfort the feeble-minded support the weak be patient or for bearant toward all men O quam hoc non est omnium Such a choice man thus taught of God is worth his weight in gold Such an one was Luther such was Latimer who was Confessour general to all Protestants troubled in mind Bradford Greenham Dod Sibbs c. That I might know how to speak a word in season Tempestivare to time or season a word to set it on the Wheels as Solomon phraseth it Prov. 25.11 that it may be as apples of gold in pictures of silver not only precious for matter but delectable for order Eccles 12.10 Surely such a speaker hath joy by the answer of his mouth and a word spoken in his season how good is it Prov. 15.23 This is the right Physick for the soul as Heathens also hammered at far beyond all Philosophical discourses or any other consolatiunculae creaturulae as Luther fitly expresseth it Indesinenter me informat spiritu non autem per momenta ut omnes Prophetas alios Jun. He awakeneth morning by morning He constaintly calleth me up betime as a Master doth his scholar to his book and business for the which the morn is fittest Christs indefatigable assiduity in teaching his perverse Country-men left them without all excuse Joh. 15.22 To hear as the learned i. e. Attentively as those that would be learned and are therefore ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã desirous to hear Aristotle calleth hearing the learned sense Ver. 5. The Lord God hath opened mine ear Removing all lets and making the bore bigger as it were thereby speaking home to my heart and making me morigerous and obedient against all affronts and misusages For here our Saviour setteth forth his active obedience as in the next verse his Passive De Temp. ser 114. Ver. 6. I gave my back to the smiters Ecce pro impio Pietas flagellatur c. saith Ambrose Behold the man as Pilat once said the just man scourged for the unjust 1 Pet. 3.18 wisdom derided for the fools sake truth denied for the lyars sake mercy afflicted for the cruel mans sake life dying for the dead mans sake What are all our sufferings to his how oft have we been whipped depiled despitefully spit upon c. for his sake Oh that I might have the maiden-head of that kind of suffering said One of the Martyrs in the Marian times for I have not heard that you have yet whipped any Bishop Bonner afterwards with his own hands whipped some and pulled a great part of their beards off I hid not my face from shame and spitting That is from shameful spitting See Matth. 26 47. 27 3â with the Notes Discamus etiam hoc loco saith Oecolampadius Learn here also what is the character of a true Christian Minister namely to express Christ to the world as much as may be viz by apt utterance seasonable comforts divine learning ready obedience constant patience exemplary innocence discreet zeal c. Ver. 7. For the Lord God will help me And again ver 9. Behold the Lord God will help me This lively hope held head above water Hope we also perfectly or to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.13 Therefore shall I not be confounded Heb. ashamed notwithstanding the shame they seek to cast upon me ver 6. I am as marble to which no dirt will stick Therefore I have set my face as a flint Or as steel which is medulla sive nucleus ferri saith Pliny I have steeled my countenance as Luke 9.51 See Ezek. 3.8 9. So did Luther when he resolved to appear at Wormes before the Emperour though he were sure to encounter as many devils there as were tiles upon the houses Act. Mon. 776. See Acts 21.13 Ver. 8. He is near that justifieth me i. e. God the Father will shortly clear up mine innocency and declare me to be the Son of God my only crime now with power by the resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 Who will contend with me So Joh. 8.46 Rom. 8.33.34 where the Apostle Paul as a stout souldier and imitatour of Christ the Captain of his salvation useth the same argument and teacketh us to do likewise ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ver. 9. Behold the Lord God will help me See ver 7. Who is he that shall condemn me If Libanius could say of his friend Basil though of a different Religion Let but him praise me and I care not who dispraiseth me how much better might Christ and may every good Christian say the same of God! Lo they shall all wax old as a garment The Scribes and Pharisees those old cankered carles shall for of them Hierom Cyril and others understand it The Romans according as they feared and therefore crucified Christ Joh. 11.48 came upon them and toke away both them and their Nation The moth shall eat them up i. e. They shall be irrecoverably ruined being once laid aside by God as an old ore-worn garment which is made thereby meat for mothes Thus it befel Pilat saith Lyra here banished by Tiberius and thus it besel the Priests who were burnt by Titus in the Temple who also added that it was fit that those which served in the Temple should perish together with it Ver. 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord This Question implyeth that there were not many such among them See the like Hos 14. ult That obeyeth The fear of God frameth the heart to the obedience of faith Eccles 12.13 That walketh in darkness and hath no light That being for the time deserted are in a mist so as that ye cannot read your own graces see your own comforts but walk in darkness though children of light and are in such a state as Paul and his company was Acts 27.20 when they saw neither Sun nor Stars for many daies together but were almost past hope Let him trust in the name of the Lord Let him do as those above-mentioned did cast anchor even in the darkest night of temptation and pray still for day and it will dawn at length before day-break the darkness is greatest so is it oft in this case Here then as a child in the dark clasps about his father so let the poor deserted soul about God Distrust is worse then distress and although the liquour of faith is never pure in these vessels of clay without the sees of distrust yet true faith will trust in God where
Priestly office had been spoken chap. 53. here of his Prophetical and Princely These were frequently set forth even in the Old Testament by the Crown or golden plate on the high-Priests head was signified Christs Kingly office by the breast plate his Priestly and by the bells his Prophetical Ver. 5. Behold thou shalt call a Nation Yea all Nations that yet dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death being utterly ignorant of God and his will of themselves and their duties But now when they shall know God or rather be known of him they shall run to Christ and yea flye as a cloud and flock into the Church as doves scour into their columbaries rushing into the windows chap. 66.8 Because of the Lord thy God Through the mighty operation of his Spirit by the preaching of his Word The Philosophers though never so able could hardly perswade some few to embrace their Tenents Plato went thrice into Sicily to convert Dionysius but could not do it Socrates could not work upon Alcibiades nor Cicero upon his own son because God was not with them nor was willing to glorify his Son Christ by them as he did afterwards by his holy Apostles Ver. 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found Seek not his Omnipresence for that ye need not do sith he is not far from any one of us Acts 17.27 but his gracious presence his face and favour seek to be in the fear of the Lord and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost in communion with him and conformity unto him and give not over till you find it Seek him seriously seek him seasonably There is a time when men shall seek the Lord with their flocks and heards and yet not find him when once he hath withdrawn himself from them Hos 5.6 Call ye upon him while he is near In a time of acceptance Psal 32.6 before he hath sworn that he will not be spoken with Psal â5 11 God is but a while with men in the opportunities of grace Prov. 1.24 28. Ver. 7. Let the wicked forsake his wayes Or else never think of finding favour with God or of calling upon him to any purpose The Leapers lips should be covered according to the Law A good motion from an ill mouth will never take with God Pura Deus mens est purâ vult mente vocari Et puras jussit pondus habere preces And the unrighteous man his thoughts See Jam. 4.8 with the Note A Pilat may wash his hands a Pharisee clense the outside of the platter Castae manus sunt sed mens habet piacula said an Heathen who saw by the light of nature that clean hands and foul hearts did not suit well And let him return unto the Lord See the Notes on Zach. 1.2 Joel 2.12 13. For he will abundantly pardon Heb. he will multiply to pardon as we multiply sins Epist 7. ad Venant he will multiply pardons God in Christ mollis est misericors not an austere man implacable inexorable but multus ad ignoscendum as the Vulgar here rendereth it and Fulgentius thus descanteth upon it In hoc multo nihil deest in quo est omnipotens misericordia omnipotentia misericors c. In this much nothing is wanting how can there say sith there is in it omnipotent mercy and merciful omnipotence A pardon of course He giveth us for involuntary and unavoidable infirmities this we have included in that general pardon which we have upon our general repentance And for other sins be they blasphemies Matth. 12.13 God hath all plaisters and pardons at hand and ready made and sealed for else we might dye in our sins while the pardon is in providing He hath also hanged out his tables as I may say in the holy Scriptures shewing what great sinners he hath pardoned Act. Mon. 109. as Adam that Arch-rebel Manasseh who was all manner of naughts David Peter Paul Magdalen c. The Lord Hungerford of Hatesby was beheaded for buggery in Henry the eights time The Lord Thomas Cromwel a better man but executed together with him cheared him up and bad him be of good comfort for said he If your repent and be heartily sorry for that you have done there is for you also mercy with the Lord who for Christs sake will forgive you therefore be not dismaid God seemeth to say to sinners as once the French King Francis the first did to one that begged pardon for some ill words spoken against his Majesty Do thou learn to speak little so to sin no more and I will not fail to pardon much I can remit whatsoever you can commit never doubt it Ver. 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts q. d. You may think it impossible likely that such great and grievous sinners as you have been should ever be received to mercy but what talk you of your thoughts mine are infinitely above them neither may you measure my mercies by your own models Bring broken and bleeding hearts to my Mercy-seat and I shall soon think all the meritorious sufferings of my Son all the promises in my Book all the comforts of my Spirit all the pleasures of my kingdom but enough for you Ver. 9. For as the heavens are higher then the earth And that 's no small deal see the Note on Psal 103.11 12. Lo such is the proportion that my mercy beareth to your mercy even the very best of you that the heaven doth to the earth i. e. That a most vast circumference doth to one little point or center Ver. 10. For as the rain cometh down Simile omnium elegantissimum pariter notissimum Of the use and efficacy of fit similitudes See the Note on Hos 12.10 Ver. 11. So shall the word be that goeth out of my mouth The word in general but specially the word of Promise it shall surely give seed to the sower and bread to the eater comforts of all sorts both for the present and for the future Onely we must see that we be good ground and then pray that the heaven may hear the earth as Hos 2.21 But it shall accomplish that which I please It shall produce the sweet fruits of righteousnesse Rom. 8.13 14. There is saith a good Author a certan shell-fish that lyeth alwaies open towards Heaven as it were looking upward and begging one fruitful drop of dew which being fallen it shutteth presently and keepeth the door close against all outward things till it hath made a pearl of it In reading or hearing the Promises if we open our shells our souls the Heaven will drop the fruitful dew of grace to be employed worthily in making pearles of good works and solid virtues Who is she that commeth out of the wildernesse to joyn her self to her well-beloved Cant. 6.9 Ver. 12. For ye shall go out with joy sc Out of your spiritual bondage worse then that of Babylon The mountains and the hills The mute and brute creatures as they
seem to groan together with the fathfull Rom. 8. so here by a Prosopopâia they are brought in as congratulating and applauding their deliverance Ver. 13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree There shall be a blessed change of men and of manners those who before were stark naught or good for naught yea vexatious and mischievous shall become fruitful and beneficial Spinis paliurus acutis Virg. Eclog. The Fir-tree is good for many uses the Myrtle brings berriers of excellent taste as Pliny tells us The Chaldee thus paraphraseth here Just men shall rise up instead of sinners and such at fear the Lord in the room of the unrighteous Sed cave ne hic somnies saith Oecolampadius but be warned you dream not as some do that in this world and before the day of Judgement the wicked shall all be rooted out For there will alwaies be Cains to persecute Abels c. And it shall be to the Lord for a name i. e. For an honour it shall be much for his glory which is the end that he propoundeth to himself in all that he doth and well he may sith 1. He is not in danger of doing any thing through vain-glory 2. He hath none higher then himself to whom to have respect For an everlasting sign In monumentum non momentaneum Heb. for a sign of pepetuity or eternity That shall not be cut off Or that it the Church shall not be cut off CHAP. LVI Ver. 1. Thus saith the Lord Keep ye judgement and do justice i. e. Repent ye as ye were exhorted chap. 55.6 7. and bring forth fruits meet for repentance as Matth. 3.8 for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Matth. 3.1 Tit. 2.12 Christ came to call sinners to repentance Mar. 2.17 and to good works of all sorts which are here called Judgement and Justice as he himself is here called not only Gods salvation but his righteousnesse Ver. 2. Blessed is the man that doth this And withal layeth hold on that i. e. That performeth the duties of both Tables of Piety and of Charity that maketh conscience of keeping the Sabbath especially the fourth Commandement standeth fitly in the heart of the Decalogue and betwixt the two tables of the Law as having an influence into both From polluting it Either by corporal labour or spiritual idlenesse spending the holy time holily And keepeth his hand from doing any evil That is righteous as well as religious not yielding his members as instruments of unrighteousnesse unto sin Rom. 6.13 Ver. 3. Neither let the son of the stranger If a Proselite let not him interline the Covenant of Grace in Christ and say It belongeth not to me Let not him turn the back of his hand to the promise as if he were not concerned in it because no Jew born for now the partition-wall is by Christ to be broken down and the rigour of that old prohibition taken away Acts 10.34 35. Gal. 3.28 Colos 3.11 Ezek. 47.22 Neither let the Eunuch See the Note on Mat. 19.12 Ver. 4. For thus saith the Lord Who comforteth those that are cast down 2 Cor. 7.6 those that are forsaken of their hopes Jer. 30.17 That keep my Sabbaths Which who so do not are worthily deemed to have no true goodnesse in them at all And choose the things that please me Chuse them upon mature deliberation and good advice as Moses did Heb. 11.25 By a free election as Psal 119.30 so shewing themselves wise Eunuchs Ennius such as have their name ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Scaliger deriveth it i. e. well-minded men egregiè cordati homines And take hold of my Covenant By a lively faith which is said to have two hands one wherewith she layeth hold on Christ and another whereby she giveth up her self unto him and although the Devil rap her on the fingers for so doing yet she is resolute and holds her own Ver. 5. Even unto them will I give in mine house In the Church of the New Testament Ephes 2.19 20 21. A place Heb. a hand A door-keepers place in Gods House is worth having Psal 84. this was that one thing that he so dearly begged Psal 27.4 And a name That new name Rev. 2.17 that power or prerogative royal that heavenly honour Nonnus there calleth it Joh. 1.12 viz. to be the Sons of God and so to be called 1 Joh. 3.1 to have both the comfort and the credit of it this is nomen in mundo prastantissimum none to this 2 Cor. 6. ult for if sons then heirs c. Rom. 8.16 17. Ver. 6. Also the sons of the stranger that joyneth Relinquishing his heathenish superstition and devoting himself to my fear The Levites had their name from the word here used and Leviathan whose scales and parts are so fast joyned and joynted together To love the name of the Lord to be his servants Plato could say Parere legibus est Deo servire haec summa est libertas To obey the laws is to serve God and this is the chiefest liberty this is perfect freedom But Plato never knew what it was to love to be Gods servant In Psal 1. Lex voluntarios quaerit saith Ambrose All Gods Souldiers are volunteires all his people free-hearted Psal 110.3 they wait for his Law Isa 42.8 See Deut 10.12 Every one that keepeth the Sabbath See on ver 2. Ver. 7. Even them will I bring unto my holy mountain i. e. Into my Church and Church-Assemblies Quaere whether Eunuches and strangers were made partakers of all holy services in the second Temple according to the letter Sure we are that that holy Eunuch Acts 8. and the rest of the Gentiles had and still have free admission under the Gospel And will make them joyful in mine house of prayer by their free accesse unto me and all good successe in their suits Pray that your joy may be full Joh. 16.24 Draw water with joy out of this well of salvation Isa 12. Rejoyce evermore and that you may so do Pray without ceasing 1 Thes 5.16 17. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine Altar Their Evangelical Sacrifices of prayer praise alms obedience c. shall be accepted through Christ Heb. 13.10 15. who is the true altar that sanctifieth all that is offered on it Rev. 8.3 4. For mine house shall be called c. See on Mat. 21.13 Ver. 8. Which gathereth the out-casts of Israel According to that ancient promise of his Deut. 30.4 None of his shall be lost for looking after he will fetch back his banished as that witty woman said 2 Sam. 14.14 Yet will I gather others to him Strangers Eunuches all mine other sheep that are not yet of this fold Joh. 10 16. together with all my straglers those that are relapsed will I recover Ver. 9. All ye beasts of the field come to devour Statim quasi vehementer ira accensus c. All upon the suddain as one much enraged against
On the contrary our Henry the third for his ill managing of matters was called Regni dilapidator and Richard the third The Calamity of his Country Ver. 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabboth If thou abstain from Journies and all secular businesses as much as may be Ezek. 22.26 Otherwise God will sue thee upon an action of waste and the superstitious Jew will rise up and condemn thee who if in his journy he be overtaken by the Sabbath he must stay though in the midst of a field or wood though in danger of theeves storms or hunger he may not budge From doing thy pleasure on mine holy day Plutarch thought Sabbath was from Sabbos a name of Bacchus that signifieth to live jocundly and jovially The Sabbath that many pleasure mongers keep may well have such a derivation and their Dies Dominicus be called dies Daemoniacus for they make it as Bacchus his Orgies rather then Gods holy solemnity as doing thereon things no day lawful but then most abominable And call the Sabbath a delight Counting it so and making it so The Jews call it Desiderium dierum the desireable day they meet it with these words Veni sponsa mea come my Spouse Of old they blessed God for it Neh. 9.14 and gave the whole week the denomination from it Luk. 18.12 they strictly and spiritually kept it but now they think the Sabbath is not sufficiently observed Buxt Synag except they eat and drink largely and give themselves to other sensual delights After dinner the most of their discourse is about their use-money and other worldly businesses c. They pray indeed but it is that Elias would hasten his coming even the next Sabbath if he please that he might give them notice of the Messiah's his coming c. Let us take heed of being weary of the Sabbath and wishing it over as they did Am. 8.5 Mal. 1.12 13. walk into Gods garden taste how good the Lord is in his Ordinances feel a continual encrease of sweetnesse in the pleasure and dainties of holy duties whereof we have such variety that we cannot easily be sated so little need is there that we should with the Râbbines expound this delight in the text of dainty and delightful meats to be eaten on this day The holy of the Lord honourable And therefore honourable because holy as it is said also of the Lord of the Sabbath Holy and reverend is his name Psal 111.9 A holy convocation the Sabbath is called Levit. 23.3 See Levit. 19.30 and 26.2 Let us sanctifie this holy Rest else it will degenerate into idlenesse which is a sin any day one of Sodoms sins but on the Lords day a double sin Better not do our own work any day than not Gods work on his day Debât totus dies festivus à Christiano expendi operibus sanctis saith Rob. Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln In decalog praec 3. The whole Sabbath should be spent in holy duties Debemus die Dominico solummodo spiritualibus gandiis repleri we should be in the spirit on the Lords day and be filled with spiritual delights only saith the Council of Paris held Anno Dom. 829. Christ hath for this purpose made us an holy Nation and a Kingdom of Priests Exod. 19.9 that is holy and honourable and God hath sanctified it for a day of blessing to those that sanctifie it Exod. 20.11 Ezek. 20.12 He hath called it an everlasting Covenant by way of eminency Exod. 31.16 as if nothing of Gods Covenant were kept if this were not kept holy Not doing thine own wayes Ea tantum facias quae ad anima salutem pertinent saith Hierom. Those things only are then to be done that pertain to thy souls health works of piety of charity and of necessity none else Tantum divinis cultibus serviamus saith Austin What meant then that good King Edward 6. and where were those that should have better instructed him Cranmer Ridley c. to deliver to his Council these Articles following Life of Ed. 6. by Sr. J. Heyn that upon Sundayes they intend publick affaires of the Realme dispatch answers to letters for good order of the State and make full dispatches of all things concluded in the week before Provided that they be present at Common-Prayer c Nor speaking thine own words Those words of vanity or vexation ver 9. but words of wisdom and sobriety suitable to the holinesse of the day Ver. 14. Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord Find such inexplicable sweetnesse in communion with God use of his heart-ravishing ordinances meditation on his word and works especially that of our Redemption as far far exceedeth all the dirty delights of profane Sensualists and Sabbath-breakers Job 27.10 Prov. 14.10 And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Yea upon the heights of heaven where thou shalt keep an everlasting Sabbath in which all Sabbaths meet and whereof there is no evening And feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy Father i. e. With heavenly Manna such food as eye hath not seen ear heard or mouth of natural man ever tasted For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it The Lord cujus ego sum os organon will certainly do all this you may build upon it CHAP. LIX Ver. 1. BEhold the Lords hand is not shortened That their Fasts were not regarded their Sabbath-keeping rewarded as chap. 58.3 14. their prayers answered chap. 59.1 2. according to expectation the fault is not at all in God saith the Prophet as if he were now grown old impotent deafish or bison as they were apt to conceit it but meerly in themselves as appeareth by the following catalogue of sins which he therefore also in his own and their names confesseth to God and assigneth for the cause of their so long-lasting calamity Ver. 2. But your iniquities have severed i. e. Have set you at a very great distance hinted also by the redundancy of speech that is here in the Original or rather defiance Psal 5.5 Prov. 15.29 chap. 29.13 Nothing intricates our actions more than our sins which do likewise ensnare our souls whiles they are as a wall of separation between God and us Ezek. 43.8 and as an interstitium such as is the firmament that divideth the upper and the lower waters Gen. 1.6 Mimus And your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear Crudelem medicum intemperant aeger facit Sin is as a devil in the ayre saith one to hinder our prayers turning from sin will charm the devil and make him fall from heaven Ver. 3. For your hands are defiled with blood The Prophet well knew that these perverse Jews would stand upon their justification and put God to his proofs as their posterity also did Jer. 2.35 catalogum ergo bene longum texit therefore he here brings in a long bedrol of their sins wherein their
Prophets Panegyrick to the Church saith Hyperius by way of congratulation for her felicity and dignity in Christ her head and husband as also his resolution to be earnest and importunate with God and men for her deliverance and restitution Terentius that noble General under Valens the Emperour aâked nothing but that the Church might be freed from Arrians and when the Emperour tore his Petition he said that he would never ask any thing for himself if he might not prevail for the Church Vntil the righteousnesse thereof go forth as brightnesse Till Christ come in the flesh if I should live so long as long as I have any being howsoever See the like 1 Tim. 6.14 and after that by my writings which shall continue to the worlds end Ver. 2. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousnesse The Prophet here very artificially turneth his speech to the Church her self as if he would pronounce his Panegyrick in her presence and presently celebrateth her dignity and happiness herein that the Gentiles should worship her and be joyned unto her Some read it And the Gentiles shall see thy righteous one i. e. Christ who came of the Jews was preached to the Gentiles beleeved on in the world received up to glory 1 Tim. 3.16 And thou shalt be called by a new name Viz. Hephzibah i. e. My darling and Beulah i. e. a married woman ver 4. There are that by this new name will have to be understood the name of sons and daughters of the Almighty Rev. 2.17 2 Cor. 6. ult Others the name of the Church Catholick And others again the honourable name of Christians which yet is at this day in Italy and at Rome a name of reproach Fulk âhâm Test on Act. 11. and usually abused to signifie a Fool or a Dolt as Dr. Fulk proveth out of their own Authours Ver. 3. And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord Or a glorious crown by the hand the good hand of the Lord upon thee The Saints are Gods glory chap. 46.13 the house of his glory ch 60.7 a crown of glory and a royal diadem here the throne of glory Jer. 4.21 the ornament of God Ezek. 7.20 the beauty of his ornament and that also set in Majesty ib. Oh learn and labour to live up to such high preferment Ver. 4. But thou shalt be called Hephzibah i. e. My delight is in her as if Christ should say to his Church as Judg. 14.3 Tu mihi sola places Ovid. de Arte Am. Redameuâus ergo sponsum thou art mine only joy The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him Psal 147.11 Let us reciprocate love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity not only with a love of Desire as Psal 42.1 3. but also of Delight and complacency solacing our selves in the fruition of him as Psal 16.5 6. and of his people those excellent ones of the earth who were Davids Hephzibam ver 3. in whom was all his delight Ver. 5. For as a young man marrieth a Virgin so shall thy Sons marry thee This translation saith one who preferreth the Vulgar The young man shall dwell with the Virgins marreth the sense sith it is improper to say of sons that they shall marry their mother But I say that the Church never flourisheth more than when the son marrieth the mother and doth his utmost to beautifie and amplifie her See 2 Cor. 11.2 And as the Bridegroom rejoyceth over the Bride so shall thy God rejoyce over thee Communicating with our souls his sweetest favours in his Ordinances as in the Bridal-bed and making us to be conceived with the fruits of righteousnesse to everlasting life It is therefore a most unworthy thing that men should go a whoring from under him Hos 4.12 and seek to themselves among the creatures alias delieias amasias other sweet-hearts Ver. 6. I have set watchmen upon thy walls i. e. Angels say some who are called watchers Dan. 4.13 33. See the Note there Prophets and Pastors say others who are as watchmen upon the walls to admonish thee by their preaching and to preserve thee by their prayers to God Chap. 21.11 Ezek. 13.17 and 31.7 Which shall never hold their peace Never but be either praying or preaching as Act. 6.4 Deut. 33.10 Austin desired that death might find him aut precantem aut praedicantem Of Pauls uncessancy see Act. 20.31 1 Thes 3.10 Ye that make mention of the Lord Or ye that are the Lords rememberancers that jogge him as it were and mind him of his peoples necessities and miseries The Kings of Israel Persia and of other Nations had their Mazkirim or Remembrancers to mind them of those matters that concerned the weale publick and to these he here alludeth All the Saints are such-like Officers and must be active Keep not silence Be still suing and soliciting Ver. 7. And give him no rest Heb. no silence the same word as before to quicken their diligence and to set forth the necessity of the work Continue instant in prayer Rom. 12.12 give not in but persevere without remission or intermission Till he establish till he make Jerusalem a praise Till he send the Messiah who may restore Zion set up and illustrate his Church c. Such lawful petitions from honest hearts have unmiscarrying returnes Ver. 8. The Lord hath sworn by his right hand i. e. By his Almighty power or as Oecolampadius holdeth by his Son by whom he made the worlds and upholdeth all things Heb. 1.2 3. Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies Or if I do yet I will give you to suffer with joy the spoyling of your goods as knowing in your selves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance Heb. 10 34. Spiritual security and safety from the devil and all the enemies of our souls is also signified by this similitude of protection against corporal enemies and plunderers saith Piscator Ver. 9. But they that have gathered it shall eat it A sufficiency of outward comforts they shall be sure of together with righteousnesse and peace and joy in the holy Ghost so much at least as shall support their spirits Mr. Paul Bain saith thus of himself I thank God in Christ Sustentation I have Baines letters but suavities spiritual I taste not any Shall drink it in the courts of my holinesse He alludeth to their manner of feasting before the Lord when they brought thank offerings and the like is still done by us at the Eucharist or Lords supper especially Ver. 10. Go thorow go thorow the gates Thus the Prophet bespeaketh the Teachers and Keepers of the Church with great alacrity of Spirit and most ardent affection being as it were in a spiritual rapture That which he exhorteth them to do is rightly and faithfully to teach the people and next to take out of the way stumbling-blocks as chap. 57.14 such as are heresies foul offences c. to the
and other external priviledges Though Abram be ignorant of us Ipsi nunc sua quiete fruuntur they are at rest and know nothing of our affaires The Monks tell us that the Saints departed see things done here in the face of God as in a glass But this is a meer fiction of theirs See Psal 27.10 2 King 22.20 Augustine saith of his mother Monica deceased Lib de curae pro mortuis agenda cap. 13. Eccius in locis that she did now no longer yeeld him comfort because she knew not what befel him The greatest Popish Clerkes themselves confess that the invocation of Saints departed hath neither precept promise nor precedent in the Book of God Moreover they cannot determine how the Saints know our hearts and prayers whether by hearing or seeing or presence everywhere or by Gods relating or revealing mens prayers and needs unto them All which wayes some of them hold as possible or probable and others deny and confute them as untrue Mortons Appeale lib. 2. cap. 12. sect 5. The Syriack and Arabick render the text thus Thou art our Father we are ignorant of Abraham and we acknowledge not Israel Thou O Lord art our Father c. Agreeable whereunto is that of the Heathen Contemno minutos istos Deos moao Jovem mihi propitium habeam I care not for those petty-gods so that Jupiter will stand my friend And that better saying of a devout Christian Vna est in trepida mihi re medicina Jehova Cor patrium os ver ax omnipotensque manus Nathan Chytraeus It hath been well observed that the defeat given to the Spanish Fleet Anno 1588. fell out to be on St. James his day whom the Spaniards pray to as their Patrone or St. Tutelar Thy name is from eternity i. e. This name of thine our Redeemer Some read the text thus Our Redeemer is from of old thy Name Our Redemption was not of yesterday but verily fore ordained before the foundation of the world 1 Pet. 1.20 Ver. 17. O Lord why hast thou made us to erre from thy waies c. i. e. Given us up to errour and obstinacy Why dost thou thus punish sin with sin for the illustration of thy Justice and jealousy against us who have rebelled and vexed thine holy Spirit ver 10. Oh be pleased to deal with us rather according to thy mercy Return for thy servants sake the good people that are yet left amongst us give us hearts of flesh and lead us in the way everlasting Here observe that Gods best children may find in themselves hardness of heart Hos 4.16 yet not total but mixt with softness and tenderness in every part so that though they resist neglect profit not as they might do through pride worldliness voluptuousness Mat 13.22 Luke 21.34 hypocritical hiding of any sin Psal 32.3 4. Prov. 28.14 letting fall the watch of the Lord 2 Chron. 32.25 yet it is not done with full consent but with reluctance now and repentance afterwards The tribes of thine inheritance q. d. Wilt thou abhor thy people in covenant with thee and abandon thine own inheritance How few are there that thus urge the seale and enter a suit with the Lord Ver. 18. The people of thine holiness have possessed it but a little while viz. In respect of that perpetuity promised them by Thee Gen. 17.8 26.3 28.13 Exod. 32.13 Besides the many calamities that have befaln us whereby we have had small enjoyment of this thine inheritance All the daies of the afflicted are evil Prov. 15.15 their life lifeless and not to be reckoned on Our adversaries have trodden down thy Sanctuary This they did in the daies of Antiochus but especially about the time of our Saviours incarnation when the scepter departed from Judah Pompey with his Army entered into the Sanctuary Herod got the governement the Romans sat up their Ensignes and Statues in the holy of holies c. This desolation of the second Temple the Jews do here bewail but we have cause to rejoyce for that by Christ the whole world is now become a Temple and every place a goodly Oratory 1 Tim. 2.8 Ver. 19. We are thine And shouldest thou then deal with us as some profane idolatrous Nation See here the holy boldness of Faith standing upon interrogatories 1 Pet. 3.21 and filling her mouth with arguments of all sorts Thou never barest rule over them No such reason or relation is there of children servants subjects wherefore they should thus be favoured and we disowned Amos 3.2 See on ver 17. CHAP. LXIV Ver. 1. O That thou wouldest rent the Heaven That Thou wouldest lie no longer hid there as to some it may seem but making thy way through all impediments and obstacles Lyra. Alex. Ales. thou wouldest powerfully appear for our help as out of an engine Vtinam lacerares coelos descenderes Some take the words for a hearty wish that Christ would come in the flesh others that he would make haste and come to Judgement laté fisso coelo ad percellendum impios The Metaphor seemeth to be taken from such as being desirous suddainly and effectually to help others in distress do break open doors and cast aside all lets to make their way to them That the mountains may flow down As Judg. 5.5 By mountains some understand the enemies kingdoms Ver. 2. As when the melting fire burneth So let the mountains burn and boyl at thy presence Aristotle reporteth that from the hill Aetna there once ran down a torrent of fire De mundo cap. 6. So Hecla and Hogla in Iseland that consumed all the houses thereabout The like is recorded of Vesuvius and of Peitra Mala a mountain in the highest part of the Apenines which perpetually burneth Ver. 3. When thou didest terrible things Or As when thou diddest c. as thou didst of old for our Forefathers Which we looked not for See Deut. 4.32 33. where God himself extolleth them Ver. 4. For from the beginning of the world men have not heard sc The mysteries of the Gospel revealed by the Spirit whereunto the Angels also desire to look as the Apostles witness 1 Cor. 2.9 1 Pet. 1.12 Neither hath the eye seen O God besides thee or a God beside thee i. e. That can do as thou doest For him that waiteth for him For them that love him saith the Apostle It is by faith and hope that we wait upon God now Faith Hope and Charity are near of kin and never severed All that truly love God are well content to wait for him yea to want if he see it fit being desirous rather that God may be glorified than themselves gratified Ver. 5. Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh righteousness That doth thy work diligently and with delight that being acted by thee acteth vigorously for thee Tantum velis Deus tibi praeoccurret saith an Ancient as the Prodigals Father met him upon the way If ye be willing and
his heat in Venery and ill savour saith Plutarch He that offereth an oblation Unless withal he present his body for a sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God as Rom. 12.1 Is as if he offered swines blood Blood was not to be offered at all in an oblation or meat-offering but meal oyle wine Levit. 2. much less swines blood See Levit. 11.7 He that burneth incense In honour of me unless his heart ascend up withal in those pillars of sweet smoke as Manoahs Angel did in the smoke of the sacrifice Is as if he blessed an Idol i. e. Gave thankes to an Idol called here by a name that signifyeth vanity or vexation as if he were a God in doing whereof God holdeth himself less dishonoured then by their hypocritical services performed to himself Ezek. 20.39 Beân Yea they have chosen their own wayes Which must needs be naught Nemo sibi de suo palpet Are ye not carnal and walk as men saith Paul that is as naughty men Horreo quicquid de meo est ut meus sim Ver. 4. I also will chuse their delusions As they have had their will so will I have mine another while I will make them to perish by their mockeries idque ex lege talionis See chap. 65.11.12 They thought to cozen me by an out-side-service but it shall appear that they have cozened themselves when I bring upon them mercedem multiplicis petulantiae corum as Piscator rendereth it the reward of their manyfold petulancies and illusions And will bring their fear upon them Inducam nivem super eos qui timuerunt à pruina They have feared the coming of the Chaldees and come they shall So their posterity feared the Romans Joh. 11. and they felt their fury See Prov. 10.24 with the Note Because when I called c. See chap. 65.12 Ver. 5. Hear the Word of the Lord ye that tremble c. Here 's a word of comfort for you who being lowly and meek-spirited are the apter to be trampled on and abused by the fat bulls of Basan where the hedge is lowest those beasts will leap over and every crow will be pulling off wooll from a sheeps sides Your brethren By race and place but not by Grace That hated you For like cause as Cain hated Abel 1 Joh. 3.12 for trembling at Gods judgements whilst they do yet hang in the threatnings And cast you out Either out of their company as not fit to be conversed with chap. 65.5 or out of their Synagogue by excommunications as fit to be cut off See 1 Thes 2.14 Papists at this day do the like whence that Proverb In nomine Domini incipât omne malum Ye begin in a wrong name said that Martyr when they began the sentence of death against him with In the name of God Amen Let the Lord be glorified With such like goodly words and specious pretences did those odious hypocrites palliate and varnish over their abominations they would persecute godly men and molest them with Church-censures and say Let the Lord be glorified So do Papists and other Sectaries deal by the Orthodox Becket offered but subdolously to submit to his Sovereign salvo honere Dei so far as might stand with Gods glory Speed 508. Anno 1386. The Conspiratours in King Richard the seconds time endorsed all their letters with Glory be to God on high on earth peace good-will towards men The Swenck feldians stiled themselves The Confessours of the glory of Christ and Gentiles the Antitrinitarian when he was called to answer said that he was drawn to maintain his cause through touch of conscience and when he was to dye for his blasphemy he said that he did suffer for the glory of the most high God so easy a matter it is to draw a fair glove upon a foul hand c. Some for Let the Lord be glorified render it Gravis est Dominus The Lord is burdensom or heavy and they parallel it with those sayings in the Gospel This is an hard saying Thou art an austere man We will not have this man to reign over us c. But he shall appear to your joy Parallel to that your sorrow shall be turned into joy How did some of the Martyrs rejoyce when excommunicated degraded c. Diod. Ver. 6. A voice of noise from the City This is a Prophetical description of the last destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans A voice from the Temple Wherin they so much gloryed where they had oft heard Christ and his Apostles preaching repentance unto life but now have their ears filled with hideous and horrid outcries of such as were slain even in the very Temple which they defended as long as they were able and till it was fited That which Josephus reporteth of Jesus the son of Ananis a plain Country-fellow is very remarkable viz. that for four years together before the last devastation he went about the City day and night crying as he went in the words of this text almost A voice from the East Lib. 7. Bâlli cap. 12. a voice from the West a voice from the four Winds a voice against Jerusalem and the Temple a voice against all the people Woe woe woe to Jerusalem and thus he continued to do till at length roaring out louder then ordinary Woe to Jerusalem and to me also he was slain upon the wall with a stone shot out of an Engin as Josephus reporteth That rendereth recompence to his enemies So they are here called who pretended so much to the glorifying of God ver 5. False friends are true enemies Ver. 7. Before she travelled she brought forth Quum nondum parturiret paperit understand it of Zion or of the Church Christian which receiveth her children that is Converts suddainly on a cluster before she thought to have done Subito ac simul Margaret Countesse of Henneburg and in far greater numbers then she could ever have beleeved That Lady that brought forth as many as a birth as are dayes in the year was nothing to her nor those Hebrew women Exod. 1.10 She was delivered of a man-child For the which there is so great joy Joh. 16.21 and which is usually more able and active than a woman-child so good and bold Christians strong in faith unless he meaneth Christ himself saith Diodaâ who is formed by faith in every beleevers heart Gal. 4.19 Ver. 8. Who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such things The birth of a man would seem a miracle were it not so ordinary miracula assiduitate vilescunt but the birth of a whole Nation at once how much more Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day Yes if the day be long enough as among the Hyperboreans of whom it is written that they sow shortly after the Sun-rising and reap before the Sun-set because the whole half year is one continual day with them But the words here should be rather read Can a land Heresbach
consider what sin will cost us at last we durst not but be innocent Ver. 20. For of old time I have broken thy yoke Or For when of old I broke thy yoke c. sc in Egypt Psal 81.5 6 10. whilst the deliverance was fresh thou hadst very good resolutions And thou saidst I will not transgress Or I will not serve sc other Gods Good words hadst thou been as good as thy word But what followeth When upon every high hill and every green tree c. No sooner did her old heart and her old temptations meet but they presently fell into mutual embraces When men have made good vows let them be as careful to make good their vows unto the Lord Psal 76.11 Thou wanderest playing the harlot Thou runnest a madding and a gadding after Idols ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ver. 21. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine Heb. a Sorek or with slips of Sorek Judg. 16.4 See Esa 5.3 a parallel text Exod. 15.17 Psal 44.3 and 80.9 Wholly a right seed That should have yielded a right crop but it proveth otherwise nec votis respondet avari Agricolae How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant How is that slips of Sorek prove slips of Sodom Deut. 32.32 See on Isa 5.4 7. Ver. 22. For though thou wash thee with nitre Much used of old by Fullers and neat Landresses say Isidore and Athanasius now not known in these parts Lib. 16. Etym. Lib. de Virg. Nitrum sordes erodit expurgat Plin. Apothecaries use Salt-peter instead of it Sin leaveth behind it a deep stain so ingrained that it will hardly ever be gotten out not at all by blanching extenuating excusing c. or by any legal purifications hypocritical lotions All which notwithstanding Thine iniquitie is marked before me Nitet iniquitas tua splendet instar auri Piscat it glisters like gold before me whose eyes thou canst not blind or bleer with any of thy colourable pretexts and pretences Ver. 23. How canst thou say I am not polluted q. d. With what face but that sin hath oaded an impudence in thy face I have not gone after Baalius The whole crew of Heathen-dieties Lords or Masters the word signifieth which Cicero saith were but men De not deor their Temples were their sepulchers and their religion superstition He further wisheth that he could as easily discern the true religion as discover the false See thy way in the vally Of Ben-Hinnom Where thou hast sacrificed thy children to Moloch thy chief Baal Sol homo generant hominem that is say some to the Sun as to the universal cause strongly concurring to the generation of their children so sacrificed Thou art a swift Dromedary That runneth a madding after her mate so dost thou after Idols Confer 1 Cor. 12.2 Ver. 24. A wild Asse used to the wildernesse Untamable and untractable Job 39.8 especially when proud and in the heat of lust as these were after their Idols That snuffeth up the wind When she windeth the male so this people when acted by a spirit of fornications In her moneth they shall finde her i. e. In her last moneth when she is so big with young that she cannot weild her self So sinners be they never so stubborn so stiff and high in the instep that there 's no dealing with them yet when they are in straits and distresses it will be otherwise God said Mr. Marbury is fain to deal with wicked men as men do with frisking jades in a pasture that cannot be taken up till gotten to a gate so till he seize upon them by some judgement or summons to dye c. Ver. 25. Withold thy foot from being unshod c. Cease thy vain vagaries to the wearing out of thy shooes and exposing thy self to extream thirst Or rather take a timely course to prevent captivity and the miseries that attend it Isa 20.2 4. and 47.2 But thou saidst There is no hope viz. Of reclayming us we are resolved on our course and will take our swing in sin whatsoever come of it Isa 28.14 15. 57.10 Some grow desperately sinful saith a Reverend modern Writer like those Italian Senatours Mr. Sheph. Sincere Convert 222. that desparing of their lives when upon submission they had been promised their lives yet being conscious of their villany made a curious banquet and at the end thereof every man drank up his glasse of poyson and killed himself so men feeling such horrible hard hearts and privy to such notorious sins they cast away souls and all for lust and so perish wofully because they lived desperately and so securely Ver. 26. As the thief is ashamed when he is found As usually he is at length notwithstanding all his slights and wiles That was a cunning thief indeed of whom Dio writeth in the life of Severus Bulas he calleth him an Italian who having gotten together six hundered such as himself robbed many in Italy under the Emperours nose for two years together and although he was diligently sought for by the Emperour and his Armies yet he could not be caught Visus enim non videbatur non inveniebatur inventus deprehensus non capiebatur saith the Historian he was too hard for them all So is the house of Israel ashamed They are or ought to be so but Nihil est audacius illis Deprensis vires animosque à crimine sumunt Ver. 27. Saying to a stock Thou art my Father i. e. My God Isa 44.17 We are not the children of fornication said those boasting Jews Joh. 8.41 that is we are not Idolaters who say as here to a stock Thou art my Father The Samaritans they called bastards But in the time of their trouble they will say Arise and save us Thus in their moneth they will be found ver 24. When they had run themselves barefoot in following their lovers ver 25. who answered their expectation with nothing but fear and sent them away with shame instead of glory then God was thought upon and sought unto Let us make God our choise and not our necessity and labour to maintain such constant couse with him that he may know our souls in adversity and not turn us off as he doth these with Ver. 28. But where are thy Gods that thou hast made thee Thou hast sure no need of my help Quisi tu hujus indigeas patris See the like Judg. 10.14 with the Note there For according to the number of thy Cities are thy gods Enough of them thou hast and near enough The Papists also have their Tutelar-Saints to whom they seek more then to God himself And when the Ave-Mary-bell rings which is at Sun-rising Noon and Sun setting all men in what place soever house field Spec. Europ street or market doe presently kneel down and send up their united devotions to heaven by an Ave-Maria Ver. 29. Wherefore will ye plead with me Putting me to my proofs Is not the case clear enough
non esse impudentem Aug. that can blush no more then a sackbut We have heard saith a Reverend writer of Virgins which at first seemed modest blushing at the motions of an honest love who being once corrupt and debauched have grown flexible to easie intreaties to unchastity and from thence boldly lascivious so as to sollicit others Dr. Halls Remedy of Prophan p. 179. so as to prostitute themselves to all comers yea as the Casuists complain of some Spanish stews to an unnatural filthiness The modest beginnings of sin will make way for immodest proceeding Let men take heed of that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. inverecundia shamelesness that Caligula liked so well in himself and that the heriticks called Effrontes professed 'T is an hard thing to have a brazen face and a broken heart Ver. 4. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me And is not this extream impudence hast thou a face thus to collogue Hypocritis nihil impudentius hypocrites are impudent flatterers they would if they could cozen God of his heaven Thou art the guide of my youth i. e. My dear husband Prov. 2.17 Fair words are light-cheap and may make fooles fain But God is not to be so courted and complemented Ver. 5. Will he reserve his anger for ever Will he not Nah. 1.2 and is there not good reason he should do so so long as you speak and do evil things as you can obstinately persisting in thy sinful practises He that repenteth with a contradiction saith Tertullian God will pardon him with a contradiction Thou repentest and yet continuest in thy sins God will pardon thee and yet send thee to bell There 's a pardon with a contradiction As thou couldest i. e. To thine utmost Nolunt solita peccare saith Seneca of some they strive to out-sin themselves and others Ver. 6. The Lord also said unto me in the dayes of Josiah This is the beginning of a new Sermon as most hold Josiah was a religious Prince and a zealous reformer and hypocrisie raigned exceedingly in his dayes as we see here and as holy Bradford in his letters complaineth that it did likewise in King Edward the sixths dayes who was our English Josiah among the great ones especially who were very corrupt She is gone up upon every high mountain sc Ever since Solomons mind began to be corrupted 1 King 11.4 and now she smarteth for it yet is not Judah warned by her example Ver. 7. And I said after she had done Or yet I said but I lost my sweet words upon her Ver. 8. And I saw That which others could not so easily discern viz. their hypocrisie and hollow-heartednesse their incorrigiblenesse also and refusing to he warned by what had befallen their brethren God looked that Israels corrections should have been Jerusalems instructions and that by their lashes she should have been lessoned which because she was not he is highly displeased and speaks of it here in a very angry dialect Yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not But slighted the kindness of such a caution and despised the counsel that was written to her in her sisters blood But went and played the harlot also Being therefore the worse because she should have been the better of the two Ver. 9. And it came to passe through the lightnesse of her whoredome Or better through the vocalnesse of it the loudnesse of her leudnesse Heb. The voyce or noise of her whoredome the fame and bruit of it for it is talked of far and near And committed adultery with stones and with stocks Haec ferae omnia in coecum erroneum meretrioiumque Papatum apte hodie torqueri possunt Do not Idolatrous Papists even the same Ver. 10. Hath not turned unto me with her whole heart Josiah did but the people did not as soon appeared when in the next Kings raign they fell off as fast as leaves do in Autumn And so they did here when Queen Mary set up Popery Ver. 11. The back sliding Israel hath justified her self That is she is less guilty and faulty of the two because Judah sinned against more means and mercies and because she received not instruction by her sisters destruction Therefore shall she feel what she feared not at a distance therefore shall she taste of Israels rod because she would not hear it she that would not tremble at her sisters divorce must her self be divorced and be judged as women that break wedlock Ezek. 16.38 bearing her own shame for her sins that she had committed more abominable then theirs ver 52. Ver. 12. Go and proclaim these words toward the North i. e Toward Assyria and Media into which Countries the ten tribes had been carryed captive And although they cannot hear thee yet in time this prophecy may be brought to their hearing and the men of Judah mean while may be wrought upon thereby And I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you Heb. I will not make my face to fall I will not further frown upon you or deal hardly with you I will not keep anger for ever Heb. I will not keep for ever There is nothing that a man is more ready to keep than his wrath Therefore the Hebrews put keep for keep wrath so Psal 103.9 Levit. 19.18 See Ver. 5. Ver. 13. Only acknowledge thine iniquity Thus favour is promised to the ten captivated tribes sed per modulum unius poenitentiae but upon condition of their true repentance Facit peccator confitendo propitium quem non facit negando nescium Aug. one part whereof is confession of sin Prov. 28.13 Psal 32.4 When thy sins and Gods wrath meeting in thy conscience saith one make thee deadly sick then pour forth thy soul in confession and as it will ease thee as vomiting useth to do so also it will move God to pitty and to give thee cordials and comforts to restore thee again Ver. 14. Turn O backsliding children See on Zach. 1.3 For I am married unto you And as I hate putting away Mal. 2.16 so I can receive to favour a wise that hath been disloyal ver 1. and after a divorce And I will take you one of a City i. e. Though but a few as Isa 10.11 12. and 17.6 and 24.3 all the rest hardening their hearts by unbelief This hath been principally fulfilled in the dayes of the Gospel Ver. 15. And I will give you Pastours according to my heart God gives faithful Pastours oft for the sake of but a few that are there to be converted vilissimus pagus est palatium eburneum Luth. tom 3. pag. 81. a. in quo est Pastor credentes aliqui saith Luther the poorest village is an Ivory Palace if there be but in it a Pastour and some few beleevers Such Pastours as God here promiseth and more largely describeth chap. 23. and Ezek. 34. are special gifts of God I will give you Pastours David after he had discomfited the Amalekites sent gifts to his
the seats they sit on the pillars they lean to the dead bodies they tread upon So shall ye serve strangers God loves to retaliate Ver. 20. Declare this in the house of Jacob c. Cease not to ring it in their ears whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for it is a rebellious people ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and of the number of those who wink willingly that they may not see when some unsavory potion is ministred to them as Justin Martyr expresseth it Ver. 21. Hear now this O foolish people They were strangely stupified and were therefore thus rippled up Those that are in a Lethargy must have a double quantity of Physick to what others have And without understanding Heb. Without an heart Cor sapit pulmo loquitur c. The heart is the symbol and seat of wisdom See Hos 7.11 with the Note Which have eyes and see not c. See Esay 6.9 and 42.20 which have not senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil Heb. 5. ult Ver. 22. Fear ye not me saith the Lord What not me whom the sea it self that tumultuous and unruly creature feareth and obeyeth See Psal 65.7 and 93.4 Who have placed the sand for a bound to the sea A weak bound for so furious an element Vis maris infirmissimo sabuli pulvere cohibetur But so I will have it and then who or what can gainstand it Now who can but be moved at such miracles Know you not that I can soon make your arable sailable and that I can shake the earth as oft as there is a tempest in the Ocean sith the earth is founded not upon solid rocks but fluid waters See 2. Pet. 3.5 By a perpetual decree Heb. by an ordinance of antiquity or of perpetuity clapping it up close prisoner Ver. 23. But this people have a revolting and rebellious heart Cor recedens amaricans gone they are and return they will not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sept. Apostates are dangerous creatures and mischievous above others witnesse Julian once a forward professour Lucian once a Preacher at Antioch Staphylus and Latomus once great Lutherans afterwards eager Popelings Harding was the Target of Popery in England saith Peter Moulin against which he had once been a thundering Preacher in this land wishing he could cry out against it as loud as the bells of Oseney Act. Mon. fol. 1291. The Lady Jane Gray whose chaplain he had sometimes been gave him excellent counsel in a letter but he was revolted and gone past call Ver. 24. Neither say they in their hearts God understands heart language and expects a tribute there Let us now fear the Lord Fear him for his goodness as well as for his greatness ver 22. See Hos 3.5 and Notes That giveth rain Which God decreeth Job 28.26 prepareth Psal 147.8 withholdeth Am. 4.7 bestoweth Deut. 28.12 Mat. 5.41 for a witness Acts 17.14 of his general goodness Mat. 5.45 and special providence as a good housholder Act. 14.17 He reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of harvest Which if he should deny us but one year only how easily might he starve us all See his love and fear his Name Ver. 25. Your iniquities have turned See on Isa 59.1 2. Ver. 26. For among my people are found wicked men This was as bad as to find a nettle in a garden unchastity in a Virgin or the devil in Paradise All the Lords people are or ought to be holy They lye in wait Or watch or prey See on Mic. 7.2 They set a trap they catch men To spoil them or slay them Such a one was Otto the Popes Muscipulator as the story stileth him i. e. Mice-catcher sent hither by Gregory 9. to take and take away our money Tecelius sent by Leo 10. into Germany was another Ver. 27. As a cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceit i. e. Of ill-gotten goods which will prove no such catch in the close as they count upon Ver. 28. They are waxen fat they shine Pingues nitidi sunt cutem curant ut Epicuri de grege porci fat they are and fair liking slick and smooth Yea they overpasse the deeds of the wicked They out-sin others Or as some sense it they escape better then others Psal 73.5 Ver. 29. Shall I not visit See ver 9. Ver. 30. A wonderful and horrible thing Res stupenda horrenda an abhorred filth such as may well draw from us an hen hen Domine Deus Is committed in the Land Heb. in this land where men are therefore the worse because they should be better Ver. 31. The Prophets phophecy falsely and the Priests bear rule The chief Priests bearing rule in the causes and consciences of the people had suborned their abbettours ambitious Prophets who applauded their greatness for preferment teaching the people to dote on the titles of Moses chair High-Priests the Temple of the Lord Mat. 15. Aposiopesis de extremo tam deploratae policiae exterminio c. as if there were not many a goodly box in the Apothecaries shop without one dram of any drug therein Such false Prophets were those Pharisees factours for the Priests with their Corban and such also for the Pope are the Jesuites and Seculars which differ only as hot and cold poison both destructive to the State What will ye do Alass what will become of you at last CHAP. VI. Ver. 1. O Ye children of Benjamin These were the Prophets Country-men for Anathoth was in that tribe so was also part of Jerusalem it self He forewarneth them of the enemies approach and bids them be gone The Benjamites were noted for valiant but vitious Judg. 19. Hos 9.9 and 10 9. And blow the trumpet in Tekoah A place that had its name from trumpetting so there is an eleganâ in the Original See the like Mic. 1.10 14. It was twelve miles from Jerusalem and six from Beth-haccerem Here dwelt that wise woman suborned by Joah 2 Sam. 14.2 Life of Ed. 6. by S J. Heyw. Set up a sign of fire A Beacon or such as the fire-crosse is in Scotland where for a signal to the people when the enemy is at hand two fire-brands set across and pitched upon a spear are carried about the Countrey Ver. 2. I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman Certatim amatae Bucolicae puellae some fair Shepherdess to whom the Kings with their armies make love but for no love that they may destroy and spoil her Ver. 3. The Shepherds See on ver 2. Ver. 4. Prepare ye warre against her Say those Chaldean sweet-hearts this is their wooing language like that of the English at Muscleborough Let us go up at noon Let us lose no time why burn we day-light by needless delays Ver. 5. Let us destroy her Palaces Where we shall find all precious substance we shall fill our hands with spoile as Prov. 1.13 Ver. 6. For thus hath the
rusheth with as much violence as an overflowing flood Hinc apparet fructus liberi arbitrii saith Oecolampadius See here the fruit of free-will and what man will do being left to himself Carnal affections are forcible and furious Plato himself saw and could say as much In Phadâo when he compared concupiscence to an headstrong horse that runneth away with his rider and cannot be ruled Ver. 7. Yea the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed time These fouls though wanting reason know well when to change quarters whether against summer as the stork turtle and swallow or against winter as the crane But my people know not the judgement of the Lord Whether his summer of grace offered or his winter of punishment threatened to embrace the one or to prevent the other See a like dissimilitude and opposition Isa 1.3 Ver. 8. How do ye say We are wise If ye were so ye would never say so Surely I am more brutish then any man said holy Agur Prov. 30.2 This only I know that I know nothing said Socrates Neither know I so much as this that I know just nothing said a third How could these in the text say We are wise when the fouls of the ayr outwitted them confer Job 35.11 The Law of the Lord is with us Vox est Pharisaeorum So the Jesuites at this day as of old the Gnosticks will needs be held the only knowing men The Empire of learning belongeth to the Jesuites say they a Jesuite cannot be an heretick Casaub ex Apologista Jungantur in unum dies cum nocte lux cum tenebris c. i. e. Let day and night be jumbled together light and darkness heat and cold health and sickness life and death so may there be some likelihood that a Jesuite may be an heretick saith one of them The Church is the soul of the world the Clergy of the Church and we of the Clergy saith another Lo certainly in vain made he it i. e. The Law for any good use that this people or their leaders put it to See Hos 8.12 Rom. 2.17 25. Ver. 9. The wise men are ashamed They have cause to be ashamed of their grosse ignorance and folly ver 7 8. and greater cause then ever humble Austin had to say Scientia mea me damnat my knowledge undoeth me Lo they have rejected the word of the Lord As to any holy practice their knowledge is only Apprehensive and notional not Affective and practical And what wisdom is in them q d. None worth speaking of they lose their civil praises because not wise to salvation Ver. 10. Therefore will I give their wives For a punishment of their rejecting my Word which ought to be received with all reverence and good affection Dilher Elect. lib. 1. cap. 2. The Turkes do so highly respect the Alchoran which is their Bible that if a Christian do but sit upon it though unwittingly they presently put him to death For every one c. See chap. 6.13 Ver. 11. For they have healed See chap. 6.14 Ver. 12. Were they ashamed See chap. 6.15 Ver. 13. I will surely consume them saith the Lord Texitur hic quasi tragoediae scena here followeth a kind of Tragedy saith an Expositour God is brought in threatening the Prophet bewailing the people despairing and yet bethinking themselves of some shelter and safeguard if they knew where to find it c. There shall be no grapes on the vine nor figs But instead thereof I will give them waters of gall to drink ver 14. Tremellius and Piscator read it thus There are no grapes on the vine nor figs on the figtree yea the leaves are fallen that is say they there is no power of godlinesse found among them no not so much as any profession neither fruit nor leafe And the things that I have given them shall passe away I will curse their blessings Mal. 2.2 and destroy them after that I have done them good Josh 24. Ver. 14. Why do we sit still Here the people speak see on ver 13. being grievously frighted upon the coming of the Chaldees and thereupon consulting what course to take but all would not do ver 16. Let us be silent Sic silent pavidimures coram fele For the Lord our God hath put us to silence Hath expectorated our courage and stopped our mouths And hath given us waters of gall to drink Succum cicutae our bane our deaths-draught so that now we know by woful experience what an evil and bitter thing sin is for a drop of honey we have now a sea of gall Ver. 15. We looked for peace but no good came Our false Prophets have merely deluded us So poor souls when stung by the Friers Sermons were set to pennances and good deeds which stilled them for a while but could not yeeld them any lasting comfort The soul is still ready to shift and shark in every by-corner for ease but that will not be till it comes to Christ Ver. 16. The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan See chap. 4.15 this caused in the Jews hearts a motion of trepidation confer Job 39.20 It is the priviledge of believers in nothing to be terrified by their adversaries Phil. 1.28 but with the horse spoken of Job 39.22 to mock at fear and not to turn back from the dint of the sword Ver. 17. Behold I will send Serpents Cockatrices i. e. Chaldees no lesse virulent then serpents as violent as horses Serpentum tot sunt venena quot genera tot pernicies quot species tot dolores quot colores saith an Ancient Serpents are of several sorts Isidor lib. 12. cap. 2. but all poisonful and pernicious The Basilisk or Cockatrice here instanced the worst sort of serpents say the Septuagint here goeth not upon the belly as other serpents but erect from the middle part and doth so infect the aire that by the pestilent breath coming therefrom fruits are killed and men being but lookt upon by it and birds flying over it stones also are broken thereby and all other serpents put to flight Dlod Pisc And they shall bite you There is an elegancy in the original Ver. 18. When I would comfort my selfe c. Or as some render it O my comfort against sorrow i. e. O my God others my recreation is joyned with sorrow Ver. 19. Behold the voyce of the cry This was it that broke the good Prophets heart the shrieks of his people Haec est querela hypocritarum Oecol Is not the Lord in Zion Thus in their distresse they leaned upon the Lord as Mic. 3.11 and enquired after him whom in their prosperity they made little reckoning of Why have they provoked me to anger q. d. The fault is meerly in themselves who have driven me out from amongst them by their Idolatries Ver. 20. The harvest is past the summer is ended They had set God a time and looked for help that summer at farthest but the Lord as he
will not hearken unto them See Prov. 1.28 Zech. 7.13 with the Notes Ver. 12. Then shall the Cities of Judah go and cry unto the Gods Or Let them go and cry unto them q. d. Let them for me This is one of those bitter answers that God giveth to wicked suitors Ezek. 14. See Judg. 10.14 Or if he give them better at any time it is in wrath and for a mischief to them Ver. 13. For according to the number of thy Cities See chap. 2.28 And according to the number of thy streets See Ezek. 16.31 Ver. 14. Therefore pray not thou for this people See on chap. 7.16 When they cry unto me for their trouble It is not the cry of the spirit for grace but of the flesh only for ease it is but the fruit of sinful self-love In thee indeed it proceedeth from a better principle but I am at a point Ver. 15. What hath my beloved to do in mine house i. e. Mine once-beloved people which had the liberty of mine house and was welcome thither Vatab. but is now discarded and discovenanted as if an husband should say to his adulterous wife What maketh this strumpet in my bed sith she hath so many paramouts And the holy flesh The sacrifices sanctified by the Altar Is passed from thee Shall be wholly taken away from you together with the Temple When thou doest evil then thou rejoycest Thou revellest in thine impurities and sensualities as dreading no danger but slighting all admonition Ver. 16. The Lord called thy name a green Olive-tree Green all the year long fair and fruitful this was thy prosperous and flourishing condition but now thy best dayes are over For With the noise of a great tumult Barritu militari such as souldiers make when they storm a City Ver. 17. For the evil of the house of Israel That evil by a specialty that land-desolating sin of Idolatry Ver. 18. And the Lord hath given me knowledge of it i. e. Of the treacherous plot of my country-men of Anathoth against me who should never have dreamt of any such danger Dius pro suis excubat Ver. 19. But I was like a lamb or an Ox Harmlesse and blamelesse busied in my function and not in the least suspecting any such evil designe against me Mât. 10. I send you forth as lambs amongst wolves saith Christ who himself being the Lamb of God was slain from the beginning of the world his servants also are slain all the day long and counted as sheep to the slaughter Rom. 8. Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof Let us poison his food so the Chaldee senseth it Ponamus lignum taxi in sorbitiunculam Others let us destroy the Prophet and his prophecyes together Others let us make an end of him either by sword or by famine as the punishment threatned ver 22. pointeth us to That his name may be no more remembred Sic veritas odium peperit So the Papists have given order that wheresoever Calvins name is found it shall be blotted out and by a most malicious Anagram they have turned Calvin into Lucian One of them lately took a long journey to Rome only to have his name changed from Calvin to some other and that out of devilish hatred of that most learned and holy man Ipsa à quo virtus virtutem discere posset Ver. 20. But O Lord of hosts Thou who art potentissimus liberrimus a most powerful and free Agent That tryest the reines and the heart And so knowest with what mind I make this complaint and request Let me see thy vengeance upon them A prophetical imprecation guided by Gods Spirit and not lightly to be imitated So the Church prayed against Julian the Apostate whom they knew to be a desperate enemy and to have committed that sin unto death So perhaps had these men of Anathoth Ver. 21. Of the men of Anathoth that seek thy life Where shall a man find worse friends then at home A Prophet is nowhere so little set by as in his own countrey Epist famil lib. 7. ep 6. Mat. 13.57 Probatissimus optimus quisque peregrè vivit saith Ennius in Tully Saying Prophecy not in the Name of the Lord A desperate speech proceeding from an height of hatred and coasting upon the unpardonable sin Ver. 22. Behold I will punish them Sic tandem bona causa triumphat The visible vengeance of God followeth close at the heels the persecutors of his faithful messengers Ver. 23. And there shall be no remnant Behold the severity of God their bloody design was to destroy Jeremies stock and fruit stalk and grain together ver 19. God meteth unto them the self-same measure leaveth them not a remnant This is not ordinary justice chap. 4.27 Isa 1. and 10. A remnant shall be left saith he here not so Let Rome that shambles of the Saints and Prophets especially look to it God is now coming to make inquisition for blood c. CHAP. XII Ver. 1. RIghteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee Or though I should contend with thee Est elegans ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This the Prophet fitly premiseth to the ensuing disceptation that he might not be mistaken Thy judgements saith he are sometimes secret alwayes just this I am well assured of though I thus argue Yet let me talk with thee of thy judgements Let me take the humble boldnesse so to do that I may be further cleared and instructed by thee Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper Viz. Whil'st better men suffer as now the wicked Anathothites do whil'st I go in danger of my life by them This is that noble question which hath exercised the wits and molested the minds of many wise men both within and without the Church See Job 21.7 13. Psal 37.1 and 73.1 2 12. Hab. 1.4 5. Plato Cicero Seneca Epictetus Claudian against Ruffin c. Wherefore are they all happy Heb. at ease Not all neither for some wicked have their payment here their hell afore-hand To this question the Lord who knoweth our frame Psal 103. being content to condescend where he might have judged calmly maketh answer ver 5. like as Christ in like case did to Peter Joh. 21.21 22. Ver. 2. Thou hast planted them and they have taken root All goes haile with them they have more then heart can wish Psal 73.7 And in lieu of Gods goodnesse to them they professe largely and pretend to great devotion but that 's all Thou art near in their mouth and far from their reines That is from their affections Tit. 1.16 Hypocrites are like that heap of heads 2 King 10.8 that had never a heart among them they have vocem in chorâ mentem in foro virtutem non colunt sed colorant That Persian Embassadour of whom before when conversing with Christians he had so oft in his moth Soli Deo Gloria made believe that he gave glory to the only true God when as he meant the
inditement written against us within and without and spred before Thee Do it for thy Names sake Heb. Do. A short but pithy petition so ver 9. leave us not Ver. 8. O the hope of Israel the Saviour thereof In prayer to pitch upon such of Gods Attributes as wherein we may see an answer is an high point of heavenly wisdom Why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land As a stranger at home and as one that is loth to be too busie in aliena republica where he hath least to do That turneth aside Into some diversorium Inne Ver. 9. Why shouldest thou be as a man astonished That knows not which way to take first he goes one way and by and by he returns again Tremellius rendreth it ut vir fatiscens as one that fainteth hath done his utmost and can do no more Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us leave us not Extingui lucem nec patiare tuam This was to stirre up himself to take hold of God Ver. 10. They have loved to wander Therefore now they shall have enough of it yet not wander so wide as to misse of hell Psal 95.10 11. what wonder that God seemed a stranger to them who had so far estranged themselves from him Ver. 11. Pray not for this people See on chap. 7.16 Ver. 12. When they fast I will not hear their cry At their fasts they were wont to pray earnestly and to make their voyces to be heard on high Sed defuit aliquid intus their hearts cryed not Ver. 13. Ah Lord God The Vulgar Latine hath it A a a Vide diligentissimam intercessionem He seeketh somewhat to excuse the people by laying the blame upon their false Prophets Like whereunto were those Popish Priests in Gersons time who preached publikely to the people that whosoever would come to hear a Masse he should not be struck blind on that day neither should he dye a suddain death nor want sufficient sustenance c. But I will give you assured peace Heb. Peace of truth Thus these deluders had learned to speak the language of Gods true Prophets of the high-soaring pretended spiritual language of Familists and some other Sectaries one saith well That it is a great deal too high for this world and a great deal too low for the world to come Ver. 14. The Prophets prophesie falsely in my name c. These are certain signs of Impostors in the Church in all ages against whom now if ever the Temple-doors had need be well guarded and the Pulpit-doors have written on them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let no unworthy wight presume to come here Ver. 15. Yet they say Heb. they are saying this is all their song though the present famine doth in part confute them but the people were willing enough to be deceived and were therefore worthily punished Being infatuated they were seduced and being so seduced they were justly judged as Austin somewhere The blind led the blind and both fell into the ditch though it befel the blind guides to lye nethermost Ver. 16. And the people to whom they prophecy shall be cast out They shall be no more excused by their having been deluded then he that in his drink committeth adultery or murther is excused by his drunkenesse A drunkard saith Aristotle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ethic. l. 3. c. 5. deserveth double punishment first for his drunkennesse and then for the sin committed in and by his drunkennesse so here See on ver 15. Ver. 17. Let mine eyes run down This the Prophet did doubtlesse in good earnest like as Samuel mourned for the rejection of Saul and our Saviour wept over Jerusalem And let them not cease Heb. be silent for teares also have a voice Psal 39.12 and doe oft prove very effectual Oratours Ver. 18. If I go forth into the field The Prophet here sets forth the seige as present though it was many years after the more to affect the people Yea both the Prophet and the Priest goe about into a Land that they know not Or go about the land sc begging their bread or flying these miseries and men know them not though men of such rank and quality Ver. 19. Hast thou utterly rejected Judah So as that I may not put up one prayer more for them I cannot hold whatever come of it Let not my Lord be angry if I shoot this arrow also after the former Ver. 20. We acknowledge O Lord our wickednesse We the better sort of us do so and so the Saints have ever done in their interdealings with God falling low at his foot-stool for pardoning and prevailing mercy Ver. 21. Do not abhor us for thy Names sake This was to continue instant in prayer Rom. 12.12 This was to pray on and not faint Luke 18.1 If thy suit be not honest never begin it and if it be never leave it Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory The Temple and the Ark in it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Dion Hailcar l. 2. The Romans held the extinction of the Vestal fire a signe of the destruction of their City be the cause thereof what it will We may well think the same of the losse of Gods Ordinances which therefore we must deprecate as here with all our might For as Bodin said well of obtaining so likewise for retaining Religion Non disputationibus sed regationibus c. the businesse will be the better effected by requests then disputes Pray therefore for the peace of Jerusalem yea take no nay Deus ipse qui nullis contra se viribus superari potest preâibus vincitur Hieron The invincible God is overcome by the power of prayer there is a kind of Omnipotency in it saith Luther Remember break not thy Covenant with us Lo this is to be Gods faithful Remembrancer Isa 62.6 7. suggesting unto him seasonable Items Ver. 22. Are there among the vanities of the Gentiles i. e. The Heathen Idols wickedly worshipped by the Jews That can cause to rain Pluit ningit supple Deus These Impersonals imply that the Ancient Romans looked upon Rain Snow c. as Gods work Sure it is that they come by a Divine decree Job 28.26 Not Jupiter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whatever the Poets fable nor the Heavens themselves without the Divine concurrence can give rain but it is God Almighty who both prepareth it Psal 147.8 and withholdeth it at his pleasure Amos 4.7 the second causes do but serve the Divine Providence in these common occurrents Therefore we will wait upon thee For seasonablâ showers in this our great necessity We will wait or if thou see fit want of our will so that thy will may be done for that 's best For thou hast made all these things Both the constellations and rain or drought caused thereby CHAP. XV. Ver. 1. THen said the Lord unto me In answer to my prayer he replyed Thou hast well prayed sed stat sententia I am set I am
is our iniquity Nature sheweth no sin it is no causelesse complaint of a grave Divine that some deale with their souls as others do with their bodies when their beauty is decayed they desire to hide it from themselves by false glasses and from others by painting so their sins from themselves by false glosses and from others by excuses Ver. 11. Because your fathers See chap. 2.5 and 7.24 25. Ver. 12. And you have done worse See chap. 7.26 For behold ye walk See chap. 9.13 and 11.8 and 13.10 Ver. 13. Therefore I will cast you Chap. 10.18 Because ye have sinned wilfully and willingly ye shall be cast out of this land though full sore against your wills And there shall ye serve other gods Will ye nill ye for a just punishment of your voluntary idolatries being compeld by your imperious enemies so to do Notatur poena talionis except ye will taste of the whip as now the Turkes gally-slaves Where I will not shew you favour This was a cutting speech and far worse then their captivity like as that was a sweet promise Zech. 10.6 They shall be as if I had not cast them off and I will hear them Ver. 14 Therefore behold Or notwithstanding sc these grievous threatnings and extream desolations Thus the Lord still remembreth his Remnant and the Covenant made with them Ministers also must comfort the precious as well as threaten the vile and vicious Evangelizatum non maledictum missus es laudo zelum modo non desideretur mansuetudo said Oecolampadius to Farellus in a certain Epistle Thou wert sent to preach Gospel and not Law only to poure oyle as well as wine into wounded consciences I commend thy zeal so it be tempered with meeknesse of wisdom That it shall no more be said i. e. Not so much be said the lustre of this deliverance shall in some sort dimme the lustre of that but both must be perpetually celebrated Ver. 15. But the Lord liveth c. Or let the Lord live and let the God of our salvation be exalted Psal 18.46 See the Notes there How much more then should our Redemption from Sin Death and Hell by Jesus Christ obscure all temporal deliverance See for this chap. 23.7 8. Confer also chap. 3.16 Ver. 16. Behold I will send for many fishers c. sc To inclose in their ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã large and capacious nets whole shoales of them together These were the Chaldees whom God sent for arcano instinctu cordium by putting it into their hearts to come up against Jerusalem Howbeit some by fishers understand the Egyptians who lived much by fishing and by hunters the Chaldeans as Gen. 10.8 9. And they shall hunt them Out of all their starting holes and lurking places as the Romans afterwards pul'd them out of their privies c. Ver. 17. For mine eyes are upon all their wayes And though they hide me from themselves yet can they not hide themselves from me possibly nor from my hunters who shall ferret them out Paenarum abundâ Jun. Ver. 18. And first i. e. Before I restore them I will recompence their iniquity and their sin double i. e. Abundantly I will have my full pennyworths of them not double to their deserts as Isa 40.2 and 60.1 With the carcasses i. e. With their Idolatries more odious and loathsome then any stinking carcasses can be Ver. 19. My refuge Better then those of the fugitive Jews out of which they were hunted and murthered The Gentiles shall come to thee By faith and repentance Ver. 20. Should a man make gods to himself Nonne res haec stupore digna Is not this a strange sottishnesse The Gentiles here see it and yet the Papists will not Ver. 21. I will for this once And this once shall stand for all Affliction shall not rise up the second time Nah. 1.9 And I will make them to know Effectu magis quam affectu My hand and my might i. e. My mighty hand mine irresistible power in their just punishment CHAP. XVII Ver. 1. THe sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron The foure first verses of this Chapter are left out by the Septuagint Hierom saith they omitted them in gratiam honorem populi sui in favour and for the honour of their country-men the Jews but that was no just reason For ever O Lord thy Word is setled in heaven Psal 119.89 though there were not a Bible left on earth These sinners against their own souls had their Idolatry so deeply engraven on their hearts that they could not get out the stamp and the guilt thereof stuck so fast to their consciences that they could hardly get off either the sting or the stain thereof It is graven upon the Tables of their hearts Their sin lay there where the law should have lain Ezek. 31.33 Like as Queen Mary when she dyed told those about her that the losse of Callice lay at her heart a place far fitter for Jesus Christ And upon the hornes of your Altars Whereon the blood of your sacrifices are sprinkled and so your sin proclaimed Ver. 2. While their children remember their Altars Or as they remember their children so they remember their Altars and their Groves sc with greatest love and delight The Greeks call children ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Comedian Charissima so were their Idols to these Jews Ver. 3. O my mountain in the field Or O my mountain and field i. e. O ye mountaneirs and fieldlings Montani fere asperi sunt inculti molliores corpore atque moribus pratenses they should all be spoiled one with another for the sin of their high-places Ver. 4. And thou even thy self shalt discontinue Or intermit sc the tillage of thy land See Exod. 23.11 with Levit. 26.33 34. it shall keep her Sabbaths Ver. 5. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man Disserit hic de summo bono de summo malo saith one here the Prophet discourseth of the chief good and of the chief evil This later he pronounceth to be to depart from God and to depend upon the creature for help for such a man seem he never so manly a man haggheber is accursed of God whom he robbeth of his chief jewel that which giveth him the soveraignty and setteth as it were the crown upon his head See Judg. 9.15 Psal 78.22 and 52.7 And maketh flesh his arm i. e. His strength for in brachio est robur Now three wayes saith a Reverend man we make flesh our arm Mr. Case 1. By sitting down in a faithlesse sullen discontent and despair when we can see no second causes 2. By rising up in a corky frothy confidence when we see sufficient humane help 3. When we ascribe the glory of our good to it sacrificing to our own net Habak 1. This is to pull the curse upon our heads with twisted wrath and indignation Whose heart departeth from God He trusteth not God at all who trusteth him
2.13 32. Ver. 14. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon See chap. 2.13 which may stand for a Commentary on this Verse The rocks of Lebanon were still covered with Snow whence also it was called Lebanon i. e. white Now the Lord was to the Jews as this snow was to the thirsty traveller cooling and comforting and therefore in no wise to be left Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken Heb. shall strange cool flowing water be forsaken or fail Ver. 15. Because my people hath forgotten me Not forsaken me only Of all things God cannot abide to be forgotten this is that very horrible thing ver 13. this is filthinesse in Virgin Israel which is most abominable From the ancient paths Chalked out by the Law and walked in by the Patriarches and Prophets Vepreta avia Heb. paths of antiquity or of Eternity Set a jealous eye upon novelties and shun untrodden paths as dangerous Ver. 16. To make their land desolate Not intentionally so but yet eventually Idolatry is a land-desolating sin Ver. 17. I will scatter them Wherry and whirle them up and down as chaff before the force of the enemy I will shew them the back and not the face This was woful but just upon them for their unworthy dealing in like sort with the Lord 2 Chron. 29.6 chap. 2.27 32.33 Ezek. 8.16 Every transgression and disobedience hath a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 Ver. 18. Then said they Come let us devise devices Words savouring of a most exulcerate spirit against God and his faithful Prophet quem toto coelo hic explodunt whom they shamefully slight and desperately oppose both with their virulent tongues and violent hands Hence his ensuing complaint and not without cause For the Law shall not perish from the Priest c. As he would perswade us it shall We shall have Priests Sages and Prophets still berter then he is any let us therefore stop his mouth or make him away there will be no great losse of him Come let us smite him with the tongue By loading him with slanders and laying false accusations against him Some men have very sharp tongues He that was famous for Abuses stript and whipt had nothing but his tongue to whip them with Some render it Let us smite that tongue of his that is tie it up and tamper it that he reprove us no more Or if he do yet Let us not give heed to any of his words If we cannot rule his tongue yet let us rule our own ears and say Tu linguae nos aurium domini And is not this the very language of the Romists Non tam ovum ovo simile c. Ver. 19. Give heed to me O Lord Though they will not yet do thou I beseech thee This is ordinary with good men when wearied out with the worlds misusages to turn them to God and to seek help of him Ver. 20. Shall evil be recompensed for good q. d. That 's greatest disingenuity and unthankfulnesse To render good for evil is Divine good for good is humane evil for evil is bruitishâs but evil for good devilish Lo with such breathing devils had Jeremy here to do and indeed what good man hath not See 1 Sam. 24.17 Psal 35.12 109.5 Ver. 21. Wherefore deliver up their children to the famine He who had prayed so hard for them could and did pray here as earnestly against them yet not out of private revenge but by a prophetick spirit whereby he foretelleth their calamities auxesi verborum per hypotyposin This is usual with the Psalmist and other Prophets And let their men be put to death Heb. be killed with death See Rev. 2.23 with the Note Ver. 22. When thou shalt bring a troop The Vulgar rendereth it Latronem a thief or robber viz. Nebuchadnezzar that arch-thief whose Monarchy was grande latrocinium and whose regiment without righteousnesse was robbery by authority Ver. 23. Yet Lord thou knowest all their counsel Though I know it not yet thou art privy to it and canst prevent it for wisdom and might are thine Dan. 2.20 To slay me All malice is bloody Forgive not their iniquity He knew their sin to be unpardonable and therefore prayeth for vengeance upon them unavoydable This was fulfilled upon the Jews by the Babylonians in respect of Jeremy and by the Romans in respect of Christ Neither blot out their sin from thy sight A heavy curse Woe to such as whose debts stand uncrossed in Gods book Their sins may sleep a long time like a sleeping debt not called for of many years as Sauls sin in slaying the Gibeonites was not punished till forty years after as Joabs killing of Abner slept all Davids dayes Mens consciences also may sleep in such a case for a season but their damnation sleepeth not nor can their condition be safe till God have wiped out their sins for his own sake till he have crossed out the black lines of our iniquities with the red lines of his Sons blood and taken out of his coffers so much as may fully satisfie c. CHAP. XIX Ver. 1. THus saith the Lord By the former Type of a Potter and his Vessel God had shewed the Jews what he could do to them viz. break them at his pleasure and remake them upon their repentance Here by a like prophetical paradigme is set forth what the Lord now will do to them viz. break them so for their obstinacy as that they should never be repaired and restored to their ancient lustre and flourish And this the Prophet Jeremy fortissimus ille Dei athleta as One calleth him that valiant Champion of the Lord telleth them freely though he kissed the flocks and was well beaten for his boldnesse chap. 20.2 Where it is worthy our observation that as the Prophets task was more and more increased so was his strength and courage Deus gratiam multiplicat onere ingravescente So it was with Athanasius Luther Latimer Calvin c. Goe and get a Potters earthen bottle Called in Hebrew Bakbuk Onomatopaejae either from the emptinesse and hollownesse of it or else from the gugling sound that it made when it was either filled or emptyed By a like figure it is said of the vulturine Eagle Jegnalegnudam Job 39.30 that they doe glutglut blood And take of the ancients Of both sorts for witnesses Ver. 2. And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom See chap. 7.3 that where the Jews had sinned there they might be sentenced Which is by the entry of the East-gate Or as others render it Portam fictilem seu testaceam the Potters gate because the Potters dwelt near to it and thereby carried forth their potsheards called also the dung-gate saith the Chaldee Paraphrase an allusion being hereby made both to the pot he carried and to the pieces of it when broken which should be cast to the dunghil Inde ad gehennam via erat This
Greeks of the Persians the Romans of the Greeks the Gothes and Vandals and now the Turks of the Romans such an aestuaria vicissitudo there is in earthly Kingdoms such a strange uncertainty in all things here below Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly feare Heb. 12.28 Let us serve Him and not serve our selves upon him as self-seekers do Ver. 8. And it shall come to passe that the Nation c. It is better then to serve a forrein Prince then to perish by the sword famine or pestilence It should not be grievous to any man to sacrifice all his outward comforts to the service of his life And that will not put their neck under the yoke The Lord disposeth of the Kingdoms of the Heathens also though in such a way as may seem to us to be meer hap-hazard That Nation will I punish By seeking to shun a lesse mischief they shall fall into a greater if they escape frost the shall meet with snow Ver. 9. Therefore hearken not ye to your Prophets Whom the devil setteth a work to perswade you otherwise to your ruine as he is an old man-slayer and hath his breathing devils abroad as his agents such as are here mentioned Ver. 10. To remove you far from your Land So it would prove and such would be the event of their false prophecies Ver. 11. But the Nations that bring their neck When God bids us Yoke it is best to submit In all his commands there is so much reason for them that if God did not enjoyn them yet it were best in self-respects for us to practise them sith in serving him we shall have the creatures to serve us c. Ver. 12. I spake also to Zedekiah See on ver 1. Bring your necks under the yoke Better do so then worse if ye will not be active in it ye shall be passive and that because ye would not take upon you the lighter yoke of mine obedience Deus crudelius urit Quos videt invitos succubuisse sibi Tibul. Eleg. 1. Ver. 13. Why will ye dye thou and thy people Ecquae haec pertinacia If thou hast no mercy on thy self yet pitty the State which is like to perish by thy pertinacy Josephus highly commendeth Jeconiah for his yeelding to go into captivity for the safety of the City Tertullian giveth this counsel to Scapula the Persecutor If thou wilt not spare us yet spare thy self or if not thy self yet thy Country Carthage which is like to smoke for thy cruelty for God is the avenger of all such Ver. 14. Therefore hearken not unto the words of the Prophets Quantâ opus operâ saith Oecolampadius what a businesse it is to beat men off from fale Prophets and Seducers but let the end and the evils they lead to be remembred Cavete à Melampygo Ver. 15. For they prophesy a lye When they speak a lye they speak of their own as it is said of their father the devil Joh 8.44 See chap. 23.21 22. Ver. 16. Behold the vessels of the Lords house c. Notorious impudency but it hath ever been the lot of the Church to be pestered with such frontlesse rake-shames who dare affirm things flat opposite to the truth and flatter men in their sin to their utter ruine Those who are of God can do nothing against the truth but for the truth 2 Cor. 13.8 Ver. 17. Harken not unto them Life and death is let in by the eare Isa 55.3 Take heed therefore what ye hear Serve the King of Babylon And so long as ye may have liberty of Conscience upon any reasonable terms be content and not as the bird in the cage which because pent up beateth her self Ver. 18. Let them make intercession to the Lord of hosts Let them pray in the Holy Ghost by whom they pretend to be inspired Let us see what answer So Elias called upon the Baalites to call aloud unto their god and forasmuch as he heard them not the people were satisfied that they were false Prophets God will fulfil what he hath foretold but then he looketh that his servants should make intercession Elias had foretold Ahab that there should be store of rain after a long drought but then he went up into Mount Carmel to pray for that rain I came for thy prayer said the Angel to Daniel Gods Prophets are his favourites and may have any thing of him Ver. 19. Concerning the sea and concerning the pillars c. Of these see 1 King 7.15 23 27. And concerning the residue of the vessels All the goodly plate whether sacred or prophane that the moderation of the Conquerour had lest in the City Ver. 20. Which Nebuchadnezzar took not See on ver 19. Diod. Ver. 21. Vntil the day that I visite them Till by my providence I appoint a great part of them to be brought back again and to be new consecrated to my service Ezr. 1.7 7.19 CHAP. XXVIII Ver. 1. ANd it came to passe the same year sc Wherein Jermiah spake to Zedekiah and the Priests cap. 27 12. In the beginning In his first year dividing his reign into three parts That Hananiah the son of Azur the Prophet i. e. The pretended Prophet Dictum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Priest he seemeth to have been by his Country Gibeon Josh 21.13 17. and a Prophet he taketh upon him to be preacheth pleasing things through flattery and for filthy lucre likely He saw how ill Vriah and Jeremy had sped by telling the truth He resolveth therefore upon another course These false Prophets would ever with the Squiril build and have their holes open to the Sunny-side ever keep in with the Princes and please the people Ver. 2. Thus speaketh the Lord of Hâsts the God of Israel Thus this wretch makes over-bold with that Nomen Majestaâivum holy and reverend Name of God whom he entileth also to his falsities with singular impudence that he may passe for a Prophet of the Lord when as the root of the matter was not in him Ver. 3. Within two full years Jeremy had said seventy Hananiah a man of prime authority some say High-priest within two years This was some trial to good Jeremy to be thus confronted Jeremy's discourse was so much the more distasted because he not only contradicted Hananiah and his complices but also perswaded Zedekiah to submit to the King of Babylon and afterwards to yield up the City when as the Prophet Isay not long before had disswaded Hezekiah from so doing Ver. 5. Then the Prophet Jeremiah said Without gall or guilt Like the waters of Siloah at the foot of Sion Isa 8 6. which run softly he made but small noise though he heard great words and full of falsehood In the presence of the Priests and in the presence of the people Publikely he took him up though mildly because he had publickly offended See Gal. 2.14
religious brothers of love and the Bramines successours to the Brachmanni among the Indians who are extremely impure and libidinous claiming the first nights lodging of every bride Heyl. Cosmog c. having nothing of a man but the voyce and shape and yet these are their Priests Even I know and am a witnesse saith the Lord Let them carry their villany never so cleanly and closely with their Si non caste saltem caute yet I know all am now an eye-witnesse and will be one day a swift witnesse against them Vtinam animadverterent haec Principes ille qui non in sede Petri sed in prostibulo Priapi Lampsaeceni sedens fornicationes tegit sancta conjugiae vetat mera somnia vendit Dei oculos claudit saith one Ver. 24. Thus shalt thou also speak to Chemajah the Nehelamite Or Dreamer dream-wright Enthusiast such as were the Messalanian heretikes of old and some of the same stamp loaves of the same leven now-adayes Ver. 25. Because thou hast sent letters in thy name Such as Sadoletus a Popish Bishop sent to Geneva in Calvins absence to bring them back again to the obedience of the See of Rome and as we have many from the Romish factors sent hither to the seducing of not a few a subtle and shrew'd way of deceiving the simple Act. Mon. And to Zâphaniah The second under the High-Priest Seraiah and successour likely to that Pashur chap. 20. who was deposed for some misdemeanour like as Dr. Weston was here in Queen Maries dayes put by all his Church-dignities for being taken in bed with an harlot Of this Zephaâiah see 2 Kings 25.18 his office was to judge of prophecies and to punish such as he found to be false Prophets And to all the Priests Who were too too forward of themselves to bandy against Gods true Prophets chap. 26.8 and did as little need by letter to be excited thereunto Clarkes Martyr l. 136. as Bishop Bonner did to be stirred up to persecute Protestants and yet to him were letters sent from King Philip and Queen Mary complaining that heretikes were not so reformed as they should be and exhorting him to more diligence c. Ver. 26. The Lord hath made thee Priest instead of Jehoiada the Priest That heroical Reformer in the dayes of Joash 2 King 11. Therefore as he did by Mattan the Baalite so do thou by Jeremiah the Anathothite But neither was Zephaniah Jehoiada nor Jeremiah Mattan Shemaiah himself was more like a Baalite and better deserved that punishment which shortly after also befell him as was foretold ver 32. A hot-spirited man he was and a boutefeau being therefore the more dangerous He also seemed to himself to be so much the more holy by how much the Prophet whom he set against was more famous for his holinesse For every one that is mad Maniacus arreptitius fanaticus so Gods zealous servants have alwayes been esteemed by the mad world ever besides it self in point of salvation See 2 King 9.11 Act. 26.24 Jer. 43.2 That thou shouldest put him in prison As chap. 20.2 Ver. 27. Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Or restrained Jeremiah Alasse what had the righteous Prophet done he taxed their sin he foretold their captivity he deserved it not he inflicted it not yet he must smart and they are guilty Zephaniah also is here blamed for his lenity as bloody Bonner once was by the rest of the Popish Bishops who made him their slaughter-slave Ver. 28. For therefore he sent to us in Babylon And is this all the thank he hath for his friendly counsel haec est merces mundi Ver. 29. And Zephaniah the Priest read this letter For ill-will likely and with exprobration Vbi insignis elucet Dei tutela saith an Interpreter where we may see a sweet providence of God in preserving his Prophet from the rage and violence of the people so incensed Ver. 30. Then came the Word of the Lord Or Therefore came c. In the five former verses we had narrationem causae Shemajah's crime In these three last we have dictionem sententiae Shemajah's doome Ver. 31. Send to all them of the captivity Send the second time let not so good a cause be deserâed Vincâs aliquando pertinax bonitas Truth will take place at length Because Shemajah hath prophesied unto you He hath rewarded evil thereby to himself and to his seed after him his posterity shall rue for it saith Jeremy who was irrefracti plane animi orator a man of an invincible courage and might better have been called Doctor resolutus then was afterwards Bacon the Carmelite Ver. 32. Behold I will punish Shemajah and his seed As being part of his goods and walking likely in his evil wayes He shall not have a man to dwell among his people Viz. At the return from Babylon but both he and his shall perish in this banishment which he prophesied should be shortly at an end but shall prove it otherwise See the like Amos 7.17 Neither shall he see the good He nor any of his See the like threatned to that unbeleeving Prince 2 King 7.2 Because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord So chap. 28.16 See chap. 23.27 Mat. 5.19 To be tuba rebellionis is no small fault Luther was so secundum dici sed non secundum esse so may the best be but let not the sins of Teachers be teachers of sins c. CHAP. XXX Ver. 1. THe Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord This Chapter and the next are Jeremyes thâ teenth Sermon as some reckon them and it is wholly Consolatory The Authour of it he sheweth to be the God of all Consolation and this the Prophet inculcateth six several times in the five first verses pro majori efficaciae that it may take the better Ver. 2. Write thee all the Words that I have spoken to thee in a book For the use of posterity as Hab. 2.2 and that the consolations may not be forgotten as Heb. 12.5 Vox audita perit littera scripta manet Ver. 3. I will bring again the captivity of Israel and Judah This promise Oecolampadins thinketh was written in the book in greater letters then the rest it was fulfilled according to the letter in carnal Israel sent back by Cyrus upon Daniels prayer who understood by that book here mentioned that the time of deliverance Convertam conversionem Vulg. yea the set time was come Dan. 9 2 but more fully in those Jews inwardly Rom. 2.29 those Israelites indeed who are set at liberty by Christ Joh. 8. and shall be much more at the last day Ver. 4. And these are the words These are the contents of this precious book every leafe nay line nay letter whereof droppeth myrth and mercy That the Lord spake See on ver 1. Ver. 5. We have heard a voyce of trembling We were at first in a pittiful plight sc when the City was taken and the Temple burnt and
this is elegantly here set forth and in the two next verses but better times are at hand Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur Ver. 6. Ask ye now and see c. Was it ever heard of in this world that a male did bear The Poets indeed fable that Minerva was born of Jupiters brain Pictoribus atque poetis Quidlibet audendi fas est Wherefore do I see every man Heb. Every strong or mighty man With their hands on their loynes And not on their weapons And all faces turned into palenesse Through extream fear the blood running to the heart and the heart faln into the heeles The Septuagins for palenesse have the yellew jaundise the Vulgar gold-yellownesse Piscator Morbus regius the Hebrew properly implyeth the colour of blasted corn Deut. 28.22 It importeth that the most stout-hearted warriours should be enervati exangues more parturientium bloodlesse and spiritlesse as travelling women Ver. 7. Alasse for that day is great i. e. Troublesome and terrible somewhat like the last day the day of judgement which is therefore also called the Great day because therein the great God will do great things c. It is even the time of Jacobs trouble Such as never befell him before Those very dayes shall be Affliction so Mark expresseth the last desolation chap. 13.19 not Afflicted only but Affliction it self But though it be the time of Jacobs troubles let it be also the time of his trust for there will be shortly a day of his Triumph But he shall be saved out of it Not from it but yet out of it the Lord knoweth how to deliver his 2 Pet. 2.9 and though Sense say it will not be Reason it cannot be yet Faith gets above and sayes it shall be I descry land Ver. 8. I will break his yoak from off thy neck The forementioned misery did but make way for this mercy that it might be the more magnified Let the Saints but see from what to what and by what Jesus Christ hath delivered them and they cannot but be thankful Ver. 9. But they shall serve their Lord their God Without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of their lives Luk. 1.74 75. See Joh. 8. Rom. 8. And David their King i. e. Zorobabel of Davids line Hag. 2.23 but especially Christ the King of Saints as the Jew-Doctours also expound it Whom I will raise up to them To be Messiah the Prince Dan. 9.25 Christ the Lord Act. 5 31. Ver. 10. Therefore fear thou not O my servant Jacob This is Isay-like and indeed the Prophet here setteth himself verbis consolantissimis as one saith with most cordial comforts to chear the hearts of Gods poor afflicted Ver. 11. For I am with thee To preserve thee and to provide for thee to support thee and to supply thee Though I make a full end of all Nations See Isa 27.7 8. with the Notes See also on chap. 5.10 18. But I will correct thee in measure Heb. According to judgement not summo jure rigidâ justitiâ not as I might but in mercy and with moderation Aliqui reddunt Mundando non mundabo te id est non excoquam te exacte ad purum putum And will not leave thee altogether unpunished Heb. Et innocentando non innocentabo te in very faithfulnesse I will afflict thee that I may be true to thy soul and not cruel to thy body Ver. 12. Thy bruise is incurable i. e. Inevitable by Gods irrevocable decree Or it is incureable in it self but not to me who am an Almighty Physician or Chirurgion See Ezek. 37.11 they seemed free among the dead free of that company Ver. 13. There is none to plead thy cause Thou art friendlesse That thou mayst be bound up Thou art helplesse Ver. 14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee Thy sweet-hearts thine Idols thy carnal friends thy Priests Prophets riches pleasures all these have given thee the bag as we say they stand aloof from thy help They seek thee not Sink thou mayst or swim for them thou art no part of their care For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy As if I cared not where I hit thee or how much I hurt thee Crudelem medicum intemperans aeger facit With the chastisement of a cruel one So it may seem and so Job thought chap. 30.21 but that was his errour See here what a passe a Saint may be at and how deeply he may suffer when his sins are increased God out of love displeased may lay upon him and not spare leave bloody wailes on his back c. For the multitude of thine iniquities Because thy sins are many and mighty or hony See Am. 5.12 with the Note Ver. 15. Why cryest thou for thine affliction And not rather for thy sins cry not perii but peccavi not I am undone but I have done very foolishly See Lam. 3.39 40. Ver. 16. Therefore all they that devoured thee shall be devoured Or neverthelesse or yet all they that devoured thee c. q. d. That thou mayst experience that in love I corrected thee and for thy good though to thy so great grief I will have my penny worths on thine enemyes measuring to them as they have done to thee Ver. 17. For I will restore health It goes best with the Church when worst with her enemies It shall do so much more when all Christs foes shall be made his footstool Because they called thee an outcast Concluding so from thine afflictions Quam chara dus esset docuit quod est victa quod elocata quod servata Cic. pâo Flacco The Jewish Nation saith Tully shew how well God regards them that have been so oft subdued by the Chaldees Greeks Romans c. This was but a slender argument only God is moved by the enemies insolencies and insultations to look in mercy the rather upon his poor despised and despited people Saying This is Zion whom no man seeketh after Illusio ex allusione this was a jear by playing upon her name as if Zion signified a dry or waste place Per ludibrium blasphemam contumeliam and therefore not much to be desired Strabo indeed saith as much of Judaea And Mount Zion at this day nihil habet eximium nihil expetendum hath no great desireablenesse in it But certainly Judea was once a land flowing with milk and honey and Mount Zion was in no small request Howsoever none ought by their bitter taunts to add affliction to the afflicted but rather to weep with those that weep be pittiful be courteous 1 Pet. 3.8 Ver. 18. The captivity of Jacobs tents i. e. The poor captives that now live at Babylon as strangers in tents or huts And the City shall be builded upon her own heap Or hill sc in Mount Moriah Jerusalem shall be inhabited in Jerusalem Zech. 12. All this was prolusio perfectae liberationis in Christo saith Junius a type and pledge
drunkennesse so he may pray away his perturbations It was Jobs restraining of prayer Eliphaz thought that made him so far to forget himself and to out-lash chap. 15.4 Ver. 17. Ah Lord God This Interjection in the beginning of his prayer sheweth that his heart was greatly grieved and perplexed Neverthelesse he reigneth in his passions and runneth not out into a brawle instead of a prayer as Jonas did chap. 4.1 See the Notes there Thou hast made the heaven and earth by thy great power God 's Might and mercy are the good souls Jachin and Boaz whereon it ever resteth These two doth Jeremy in this prayer of his chiefly plead and fly to And there is nothing too hard for thee Heb nothing is hidden from thee or wonderful with thee But for my part I am at a great stand neither know I how to bring both ends together Ver. 18. Thou shewest loving kindnesse See on ver 17. And recompensest the iniquity Thou art not made all of mercy neither as silly folk are apt to conceit it Into the bosom of their children Who have it in full measure long though it be first sometimes Such Parents are parricides The Great the mighty God Surgit hic oratio Let us learn to represent the Lord to our selves in prayer under fit notions and attributes This will both increase faith and inflame affection Ver. 19. Great in counsel and mighty in work See on Esay 9.6 and 28.29 For thine eyes are upon all the wayes of the sons of men Oh that we could alwayes look upon these eyes of God as looking on us it would be a notable retentive from evil and incentive to good To give unto every one according to his wayes Gods providence which is nothing else but the carrying on of his decree is that helm which turneth about the whole ship of the universe Ver. 20. Who hast set signes and wonders Psal 74.43 and 106.22 and 135.9 Oâos lib. 1. cap. 10. Even unto this day Orosius writeth that the tracks of Pharaohs charet-wheeles are yet to be seen at the red-sea Fides sit penes Authorem And hast made thee a name As Esay 63.12 ver 21 22 23. See Psal 136.10 11 12 c. and 105.44 Neh. 9.24 26. Ver. 24. Behold the mountaines Raised by the enemies as high as the walls that they might fight with the besieged upon even ground Ver. 25. And thou hast said unto me Which now I cannot but seriously wonder at seeing how things are carried yet I have obeyed thee without sciscitation For the City is given Or though the City be given Ver. 26. Then came the Word of the Lord See on ver 1. Ver. 27. Behold I am the Lord the God of all flesh Yea of the spirits of all flesh Num. 16.22 but what can weak flesh do against the Almighty Is there any thing too hard for me See on ver 15.17 Still God is careful to confirm and comfort his Ministers And here he doth Jeremy much what in his own words Ver. 28. Behold I will give this City as ver 3. Ver. 29. With the houses upon whole roofes Such was their impudence and so far was this now from being as once the holy City It was become a very Poneropolis excessively superstitious as was afterwards Athens Acts 17.22 Ver. 30. Have only done evil before me Have made it their whole practice to provoke me like as ver 23. they are said to have done nothing of all that God commanded them to do so crosse-grained they were and to every good work reprobate Ver. 31. From the day that they built it Ever since Solomon beautified it and made it the Metropolis Neverthelesse Hegesippus was out in saying that Jerusalem was so called quasi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Solomon made it famous by his magnificence but odious by his idolatry there Ver. 32. Because of all the evil Their omissions ver 23. and commissions ver 30. doing evil as they could Ver. 33. And they have turned unto me See chap. 2.27 Though I taught them See chap. 7.13 and 25.3 and 26.3 Ver. 34. In the house which is called by my Name Templi Periphrasis haec est emphatica atque argumentosa Ver. 35. And they built See chap. 7.31 and 19 5. Ver. 36. And now therefore Or yet now notwithstanding when God thus cometh in with his Non-obstante what may not he do Ver. 37. Behold I will gather them See chap. 16.15 and 23.3 This was fulfilled especially in that golden age and perpetual Jubily of the Gospel that began five hundred years after Ver. 38. And they shall be my people See chap. 24.7 and 31.33 Ver. 39. And I will give them one heart Onenesse or singlenesse of heart in my service and unanimity among themselves untill they all come unto that onenesse of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man c. Eph. 4.13 That they may fear me for ever This the Jews say but falsly a man may do by the power of nature See ver 40. and Ezek. 36.26 27. Ver. 40. And I will make See chap. 31.31 Ezek. 39.29 Ver. 41. Yea I will rejoyce over them Volupe mihi erit it shall be as great a pleasure to me to bless them as it can be to them to obey me See chap. 24.7 Ps 119.2 10. Ver. 42. So will I bring upon them chap. 29.10 and 31.28 Ver. 43. And fields shall be bought For an assurance whereof I have caused thee to buy this field now Ver. 44. Men shall buy fields for money All shall be statu quo prius in that great restauration of all things And with this Chapter endeth the Commentary of Hierom upon Jeremy CHAP. XXXIII Ver. 1. MOreover the Word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time To the same purpose with the former chap. 32. which is reckoned his fourteenth Sermon as this his fifteenth by both we see that the Word of God is not bound though the Preacher may 2 Tim. 2.9 It runs and is glorified is free and not fettered 2 Thes 3.1 While he was yet shut up God forsaketh not his Prisoners but giveth them oft extraordinary comforts Philip Lantgrave of Hesse being a long time held prisoner by Charles the fifth for the defence of the Gospel was demanded what upheld him all that time he answered Divinas Martyrum consolationes se sensisse that he felt in his soul the divine consolations of Martyrs in whom as the afflictions of Christ do abound so do comforts by Christ abound much more 2 Cor. 1.5 Ver. 2. Thus saith the Lord the Maker thereof i. e. Of the promise of restauration chap. 32. Or of Jerusalem which he is said to make in the sense that he made Moses and Aaron 1 Sam. 12.6 that is advanced them The Lord is his Name Jehovah the Essectiator who giveth being to all things and particularly to his Word Ver. 3. Call unto me and I will answer thee Thou hast a promise and I will
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 preâence 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
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
seeth that his day is coming Psal 37.12 13. And to cut of from Tyrus and Sidon The inhabitants whereof were the Philistines kinsmen and confederates but could not rescue them or deliver themselves from the Chaldean Conquerour The remnant of the Country of Caphtor These Caphtorius were neither the Cappadocians the Cyprians nor the Colchians as sundry make them but as of the same lineage with the Philistines Gen. 10.13 14. so their complices and confederates with whom therefore they were to fare alike Levit. 19.27 28. Jer. 16.6 Ver. 5. Baldnesse is come upon Gaza i. e. Extreme grief which might have been prevented had she profited by her former calamity ver 1. But till God come in with sanctifying grace Afflictions those hammers of his do but beat upon cold iron Adrichom Askelon is cut off Or is silenced which was wont to be full of singing dancing and loud luring Here was born they say Herod the insanticide sirnamed therefore Ascalonita With the remnant of their valley Palestine lay most of it low and was yet to be laid lower Ver. 6. O thou sword of the Lord So called because whencesoever it cometh it is bathed in heaven Isa 34.5 See chap. 25.29 Judg. 7.18 20. How long will it be ere thou be quiet Erisne in opere semper wilt thou ever be eating flesh and drinking blood war the shorter the better Of the Pirates war as the Romans called it Aug. de Civit. Dei Augustine reporteth to the just commendation of Pompey that it was by him incredibili celeritate temporis brevitate confectum quickly dispatcht and made an end of Ver. 7. How can it be quiet Heb. How shalt thou be quiet Here the Prophet quieteth himself howsoever by an humble submission to his holy will who had put the sword in commission Gods will is the rule of right neither can force or entreaty prevaile ought against it in this world much lesse in the world to come where each one must hold him to his doom which is irreversible CHAP. XLVIII Ver. 1. AGainst Moab That bastardly brood infamous for their inveterate hatred of Gods Israel at whom they were anciently irked fretted vexed though no way provoked Num. 22.3 whom also they outwitted by the counsel of Balaam in the businesse of Baal-peor Num. 25. had been plagued and judged by the Kings of Israel by David especially as also by Sennacherib Isa 15 and 16. but were no whit amended and are therefore here and Ezek. 25.9 threatned with utter destruction by the Chaldeans and that very much in a scoffing way like as they were a proud petulant scornful people despisers of all other Nations but especially of the Jews their near neighbours and Allyes Woe unto Nebo Their oracular City as it may seem by the name See Esa 15.2 Eipolis Kirjathaim is confounded It is of a dual forme and so seemeth to have been a double City as was of old Jerusalem and as are now Rome Prague Cracovia Misgab is confounded It signifieth the high place and is the same say some with Bamoth Num. 21 20. Selah Isa 16.1 Ver. 2. There shall be no more praise of Moab This may be taken either of a City so called or of the whole Country as now Muscovia is oft put for all Russia Aâiopolis dâcta Adudit sââè Propheta ad singularum civitatum nomina Jun. In Heshoâ they have devised evil against it Or better thus De Heshbone c. As concerning Heshbon they the Chaldees have devised evil against it There is an elegant allusion in the original to the names of the places both in Hâshbon and in Madmen Ver. 3. A voice of crying They would not cry for their sins they shall therefore cry for their miseries with desperate and bootlesse tears and yet worse one day Ver. 4. Moab is destroyed i. e. Shall be shortly Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard Whilst they either are forsaken of their parents as chap. 47.3 or else see them to be slain or carried away captives Ver. 5. Continual weeping shall go up Heb. weeping with weeping shall go up i. e. They shall weep abundantly Ver. 6. Flee save your lives Whatever else ye lose And be like the heath in the wildernesse Which is little worth See chap. 17.6 Sit there sad and solitary Ver. 7. For because thou hast trusted in thy works Thy creature-confidence and thine idolatry have undone thee Chemosh shall go forth into captivity Chemosh unde ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was the Moabites God and is thought to be the same with Bacchus or Priapus He is here called Chemish by way of contempt Ver. 8. And the spoiler shall come i e. Nebuchadnezzar As the Lord hath spoken Who hath given him a commission and made him his executioner Ver. 9. Give wings unto Moab Let him flee his utmost addat timor alas but the Chaldaean Eagle will easily overcatch him Ver. 10. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully Or slackly or hastingly to the halves Latè patet haec sententia The work of destroying Moab is here mainly meant But the text taketh in all lawful employments these are Gods works and must be done vigorously with all our might in obedience to God and for his greatest glory Not Souldiers only that have a good cause and in a good calling must likewise take a good courage and do execution lustily but Magistrates also who are Keepers of both Tables of the Law must do right to all without partiality accounting it better to be counted a busy Justice then an honest Gentleman Ministers must look to the Ministry which they have received of the Lord Verbi minister es hoc age Perkinsi hoc erat symbâlum to fulfil the same Every man in his particular place and station must be not slothful in businesse but fervent in Spirit serving the Lord non tanquam canis ad Nilum sed ut Cygnus ad Thamesin in Gods immediate service especially men must stir up themselves to take hold of him minding the work and not doing it in a customary formal bedulling way A very Heathen could say Aristides Ignavia in rebus divinis est nefaria Dulnesse in divine duties is abominable And Numa King of the Romans made a Law that none should be carelesse or cursory in the service of God and appointed an Officer to cry oft to the people at such a time Hoc agite Mind what ye are about and do it to your utmost He that is ambitious of Gods curse let him do otherwise Ver. 11. Moab hath been at ease from his youth And his ease hath destroyed him as Prov. 1.32 He dwelleth near the Mare mortuum and is become a very mare mortuum i. e. a dead Sea Because he hath had no changes therefore he feareth not God Psal 55.19 Sibi constat in facultatibus c. he is rich and resty here 's good booty for the Souldiers who should therefore bestir
thitherward As intent upon it and minding nothing else in comparison Accurate sciscitabuntur It is good for a man to have his face set towards heaven and to make Religion his businesse looking at other things by the by and out at the eyes end as it were Come and let us joyn our selves to the Lord Be so joyned to the Lord Iudivulse adhâreâunt Domino so glewed unto him as to be one Spirit with him in a conjugal perpetual covenant Ver. 6. My people have been lost sheep Per avia peccatorum aberrantes lost in the maze of sin and misery Their shepherds have caused them to go astray True also of Papists and Sectaries miserably misled by their pretended Pastours Impostours rather Ver. 7. All that found them have devoured them As ravenous creatures do wandring sheep Straglers are a fit prey for Seducers And their adversaries said We offend not i. e. God will have it so Jer. 40.2 but this was no good plea Jer. 2.3 The habitation of justice Or in the habitation of justice in a land of uprightness have they dealt unjustly Esa 26.10 which was no small aggravation of their sin Even the Lord the hope of their Fathers But these as degenerate children have no such hope Ver. 8. Remove out of the midst of Babylon Ho Ho come forth as Zach. 2.6 Away this is not your rest for it is polluted Mic. 2.10 See Esay 48.20 Rev. 18.4 Be as the hee-goates That lead the flocks generosè festinanter freely and readily Sheep are fearful and therefore go behind goates are not so and therefore go before There is good hope saith one that we are going out of Babylon when the hee-goates go before the flock when men of publick place and authority are active for reformation Ver. 9. From the North country See on ver 3. Their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man Or of a potent prosperous man that can hit where he pleaseth and that without faile None shall return in vain No shaft shall or no souldier shall misse of booty for whereas Babylon like a sea had taken in the wealth of all Nations so it was meet that it should be exhausted like as Rome was by the Gothes and Vandals and as Constantinople was by the Turks and Tartars Ver. 10. And Chaldaea shall be a spoyle See on ver 9. Ver. 11. Because ye were glad because ye rejoyced sc In a thing of naught Causam ponit petulantiam dicacitatem Oecol as Am. 6.13 and in the miseries of my people ye were madly merry therefore shall ye be let blood in the vena cava Because ye are grown fat Ye have laughed your selves fat you have fatted your selves as in a duy of slaughter or of good chear It was at a feast that Babylon was taken And bellow as bulls Or neigh as steeds lusty steeds Ver. 12. Your mother shall be sore confounded i. e. Babylon your mother-City or Babylonia your countrey or your Monarchical greatnesse which being in the last place laid waste after other Nations as Jer. 25. was foretold shall with shame cry out Hui tam cito me qua primas obtinebam c. How is it that I who was the head of Nations am now the taile c Ver. 13. It shall not be inhabited but be wholly desolate Babylon standeth not now in the same place as of old not is there hardly any ruines of the old City remaining as travellers tell us Pausanias saith that in his time there was naught to be seen of it but the walls only Lib. 8. In Isa 13. and Hierom saith that in his it was turned into a park for deare Omne in medio spacium solitudo est See on ver 3. Ver. 14. For she hath sinned against the Lord Yea she is a sink of sins the contagion of the world the shop of Satan the adversary of the Saints c. So and much more then so is spiritual Babylon cito itidem casura si essetis viri said Petrarch long since that groaneth for a downfal Dediâionis est sâgnum Dare manus est fateri se victum victum âeadere palmas Ausoniividere Virg. Ver. 15. Shout against her round about As they did once at Jericho she shall come down assuredly She hath given her hand i. e. She hath yeilded and cryed quarter add hereunto that two Princes of Babylon being displeased by Baltashar sent for Cyrus to take the City and shewed him how he might best do it This was giving the hand saith Calvin As she hath done do unto her Neque enim lex justior ulla est See Judg. 1.5 with the Note Ver. 16. Cut off the sower Leave not so much as an husbandman alive who yet are generally spared as harmlesse and useful they were left and let alone by the Chaldaeans when they carried away the Jews 3 King 25.12 But here is enjoyned a more severe execution Ver. 17. First the King of Assyria hath devoured him Many Assyrian Kings successively but especially Sennacherib Hath broken his bones Heb. hath boned him hath left nothing of him but the bare bones Ver. 18. As I have punished the King of Assyria And accordingly so he did for as Sennacherib first lost his army and then his life and then soon after that Monarchy was dissolved so after that Baltasar was slain the Empire was translated unto the Persians Ver. 19. And I will bring Israel again to his habitation Or to his fold or his pastures See ver 6 17. Ver. 20. The iniquity of Jacob shall be sought for and there shall be none Because to the justified no sin is imputed Nihil oblivisci solet praeter injurias He forgetteth nothing but injuries only said Cicero of Cesar flatteringly say we of God truely This to have known is to feed in those soul-fatting pastures ver 19. For I will pardon them whom I reserve Tegam quod fuit quod erit regam Ver. 21. Go up against the land of Merathaim and against the inhabitants of Pekod Two Babylonian Provinces Ezek. 23.23 Calvin rendreth it The land of exasperators and the inhabitants of visitation i. e. that deserve to be punished This is Gods commission to Cyrus Vtterly destroy after them i. e. Their posterity as Dan. 4.11 Ver. 22. A sound of battle is in the land Barritus militaris this is not the joyful but the woful sound Sequitur executie Oecol for war is a woe which no words how wide soever can sufficiently set forth Ver. 23. How is the hammer of the whole earth out asunder Babylon was the mawle of many Nations Nimrod began it and his successours took after him Charles Martel King of France was so called for like cause Augustine also was worthily stiled Haereticorum malleus the hammer of hereticks and Mr. Arthur Hildersam Schismaticorum malleus the mawle of Schismaticks Ver. 24. I have laid a snare for thee Thou wild-bull ver 27. Babylon was unexpectedly taken by a stratagem whiles they were
28. He sitteth alone Sessio solitaria as being much in meditation according to that counsel of the Preacher In the day of adversity consider And keepeth silence When Gods hand is upon his back his hand is upon his mouth See on ver 26. Because he hath born it upon him Or When he hath taken it upon him taken up his crosse as being active in suffering Ver. 29. He putteth his mouth in the dust He lyeth low at Gods âeet putting himself into the hands of Justice yet in hope of mercy See 1 Cor. 14 25. If so be there may be ââpe Heb. Peradventure there is hope q. d. doubtlesse there is however I will try sith I have lost many a worse labour Ver. 30. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him Humility the product of affliction sanctified is still at her lesson or rather practising what she hath learned David having suffered by Absolom can well enough bear with Shimei's tongue smitings and the Apostles after they had been in prison departed from the Council rejoycing that they were so far graced as to be disgraced for the name of Jesus Acts 5.41 He is filled full of reproach He can bravely bear all contumelies and contempts for his conscience taking them as crowns and confirmations of his conformity to Christ Ver. 31. For the Lord will not cast off for ever No nor at all however he may seem to some so to do Non deserit etiamsi deserat saith a Father He doth not put his poople far from him as the word here signifieth Ver. 32. For though he cause grief As sometimes he doth in very faithfulnesse and that he may be true to his peoples souls Yet he will have compassion He will repent and return and leave a blessing behind him that 's certain Joel 2.14 Ver. 33. For he doth not afflict willingly Heb. From the heart Non nisi coactus Non est Deo volupe proprium aut per se intentum Paenas dat dum paenas exigit Sen. de Augusto Justu etiam supplietis illacâymavit ingeâuit De Vespas Sueton. as that Emperour said when he sealed a writ for execution of a condemned person I would not do it but upon necessity It goeth as much against the heart with God as it can do against the hair with us Ille dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox Ver. 34. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth i. e. All those that are in misery to lay more load upon them and so to crush them to pieces yea to grind them to powder This he could as easily do as bid it be done but he takes no such delight in severity and harshnesse Ver. 35. To turn aside the right of a man To wrest his right by false witnesse and corrupt means as wicked men use to do before the face of the most High or of a Superiour under colour of law God liketh none of all this though eftsoones for excellent ends he suffereth it so to be and ordereth it when so it is Ver. 36. To subvert a man in his cause By legerdemain to tilt the ballance of Justice on t 'one side The Lord approveth not Heb seeth not Non videt i. e. non ei visum est it seemeth not good unto him he liketh it not Ver. 37. Who is he Tam imprudens imperitus Can any one be so simple as to think that the enemy could do ought against us but by the divine permission and appointment God as he made all by his power so he manageth all by his Providence This the Egyptians hieroglyphically set forth by painting God 1. As blowing an egge out of his mouth that is as making the round world by his Word 2. As compassing about that Orb with a girdle that is keeping all together and governing all by his Providence Ver. 38. Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good i. e. Prosperity and adversity q. d. Who doubteth of that Amos 3.5 Isa 45.7 Talk not then of âate and blind Fortune Ver. 39. Wherefore dâth a living mân complain Mourn immoderately or murmure causelesly If he mourn let him mourn for his sin as the cause of his suffering let him revenge upon that If he be tempted to murmure let him remember that he is yet alive and that 's more then his part cometh to sith it is the Lords mercy that he is not consumed and sent packing hence to hell Life in any sence is a sweet mercy even that which to the afflicted may seem a lifelesse life as Prov. 15.15 Let this patient us that we are yet alive A man for the punishment of his sine Heb. man for his sin for sin doth as naturally draw and suck punishments to it as the Laod-stone doth Iron or Turpentine fire wherefore also the same word in Hebrew signifieth both Ver. 40. Let us search and try our wayes i. e. Make accurate enquiry into them so shall we soon find out selves to be a whole new-found world of wickedness Search we therefore and do it throughly Many either search not at all âhey cannot endure these domestical Audits its death to them to reflect and recognize what they have done or as though they desired not to find they search as men do for their bad mony they know they have it but they would gladly have it passe for currant among the rest Heathens will rise up in judgement against such for they prescibed and practised self-examination Pythagoras once a day Non prius in dulcem declines lumina somnum Quam prius exactae reputaveris acta diei c. Phocyllides thrice a day if Stobaeus may be believed Serm. And turn again to the Lord Let self-examination end in reformation else sin will be thereby but imboldened and strengthened as idle vagrants and lawlesse subjects are if questioned only and not punished and restrained Of turning again to the Lord. See the Notes on Zach. 1.2 Ver. 41. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands Holy hearts pure hands Instead of wrangling with God as ver 39. let us wrastle with him in prayer this is the only way to get off with comfort Nazianzen saith that the best work we can put our hands unto is in coelos eas extendere ad precesque expandere to lift them up to God in prayer But then it must be with a true heart Heb. 10.22 See Job 11 13. with the Notes Ver. 42. We have transgressed and have rebelled We have committed evil and omited good and failed in the manner and are therefore justly punished Let God hear such words fall from our mouths set a work by our hearts and then we may have any thing Ver. 43. Thou hast covered with anger Overwhelmed us with thy Judgements None out of hell have ever suffered more then the Saints they have felt the sad effects of displeased Love Ver. 44. Thou hast covered thy self with a cloud Hid thy face from us and secreted
was quite gone from the City then followed the fatal calamity in the ruine thereof But that he went away by degrees and not soon and at once was an argument of his very great love and long-suffering He left them step by step as it were and plaid Loth to depart but that there was no remedy Tyed he is not to any place as these fond Jews thought he was to their visible Temple which now he is about therefore to abandon and to make their very Sanctuary a slaughter-house Ver. 4. And the Lord That great Induperator Goe through the midst Discriminate make a difference take out the precious from the vile God will sever his Saints from others in common calamities and deliver them if not from the common destruction yet from the common distraction And set a mark upon the foreheads Vulg. Et signa Thau Whatever this mark was it was signum salutare The letter Tau some think it was as part of the word Tichieh i. e. Thou shalt live according to that The just shall live by his faith or as part of the word Torah i. e. The Law to shew that these had the Law of God written in their hearts and this made them mourn to see it so little set by Howsoever it is not the sign of the crosse as Papists would have it but rather the blood of the crosse wherewith when believers are sprinkled from an evil conscience as the houses of the Israelites in Goshen were with the blood of the Paschal-lamb they are sure of safety here and salvation hereafter The Election of God is sure and hath this seal The Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2.19 and it shall appear by them Psal 91. Tau is the basis of the Hebrew Alphabet saith One and marking by Christ is the basis of all true comfort and sound profession Tau endeth and closeth up the Alphabet saith another so he who persevereth to the end shall be saved The mark here mentioned was not corporal but spiritual even the Merit and Spirit of Christ the Value and Virtue of his death and sufferings Of the men that sigh and cry That sigh deeply and cry out bitterly for their own and other mens sinnes and miseries and this out of Piety and Pitty These are not many yet some such are found in all ages Rev. 11.3 Inter vepres rosa nascitur inter feras nonnullae mitescunt Ammian Le us mourn in time of sinning so shall we be marked in times of punishing Ver. 5. Goe ye ofter him Goe not till he hath marked the Mourners so chary and choise is God of his jewels Mercy is his first-born saith One and visites the Saints ere Judgements break out Isa 26.20 21. Ver. 6. Slay utterly old and young A dreadful commission see it fully executed 2 Chron. 36.17 all sorts sexes and sizes of people were corrupted Immedicabile vulnus Ense recidendum and sith there was no hope of curing there must be cutting But come not near any upon whom is the mark These were the precious sons of Zion the excellent ones of the earth as whatsoever is sealed is excellent in its kind Isa 28.25 hordeum signatum these are the darlings the favourites handle them gently therefore for my sake touch not mine anointed come not near any such to fright them but keep your distance And begin at my Sanctuary From whence went forth prophanesse into the whole land Jer. 23.15 These Sanctuary-men were an ill generation at them therefore begins the Judgement God will be sanctified in all that draw near unto him Nadab and Abihu found the flames of jealousy hottest about the Altar Vzza and the Bethshemites felt that justice as well as mercy is most active about the Ark. Murtherers must be drawn from the Altar to the slaughter Exod. 21.14 Holy places were wont to be refuges not so here but the contrary Then they began at the Ancient men At those seventy Seniours chap. 8.11 whose foul offences had flown far upon the two wings of evil example and scandal Ver. 7. Defile the house Once hallowed by my self but now abhorred and rejected as a stews or sty of filthiness Fill the courts That where they have sinned there they may suffer as did Ahab 1 King 22.38 2 King 9.26 Ver. 8. And I was left And as I was apt to think alone Rom. 11.3 I fell upon my face and cryed This is the guise of the gracious in evil times as may be seen in Moses Jeremy Paul Athanasius Ambrose c. Ah Lord God Adonai Jehovi not Jehova as elsewhere usually so the Saints have sometimes prayed Polan tanquam singultientes in patheticis precibus or rather sighed out their most earnest suits to God as Gen. 15.28 Deut. 3.24 and 9.26 Lavat Wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel Brevis quidem est haec querimonia Prophetae at multa complectitur This is a brief but a complexive complaint and hath much in it Nimis valde Ver. 9. The iniquity of Israel is exceeding great Still there is a cause to be sure and Gods judgements are sometimes secret ever just And as swift rivers when they once fall into lakes or seas are at rest so are our restlesse minds when once they fall into the depth of the Divine Justice duely considered Declinatione detorsione judicii ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And the City full of perversenesse Or wresting of judgement Mutteh id est mishpat din Mitteh saith the Hebrew Scholiast that is judgement turned from the biasse as it were when the ballance of Justice is tilted o' t 'one side as Pauls word importeth 1 Tim. 5.21 For they say The Lord hath forsaken the earth See on chap. 8.12 Hic est fons omnium scelerum saith à Lapide hinc ruunt homines in scelerum abyssum saith Theodoret When men are once turned Atheists what will they not dare to do what should hinder them from laying the reines in the neck and running riot in wickednesse Ver. 10. And as for me also Quapropter etiam ego wherefore also I and there 's a stop by an elegant Aposioposis Mine eye shall not spare Chap. 5.11 7.4 8.18 See a just Commentary upon these words Jer. 9.3 4 5. 17. Ver. 11. And behold the man reported the matter The Vulgar hath it Respondit verbum as if he had been asked before whether he had done as was bidden I have done as thou hast commanded me So did David Psal 119.112 Act. 13.22 and the son of David Joh. 17.4 14.51 and Paul witnesse his famous vox ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. Let every of us so carry the matter toward God that at death we may say with that servant Luk. 14.22 Lord it is done as thou hast commanded CHAP. X. Ver. 1. THen I looked and behold in the firmament Heb. In that expanse or firmament mentioned chap. 1.22 That was above the head of the Cherubims Called before
alive and in his prime Ezekiel his contemporary and fellow-Prophet envyeth him not but celebrateth him as also Peter doth Paul 2 Epist 3. They should deliver but their own souls Because the decree was past an end was come chap. 7.2 4 5 6 10. Ver. 15. If I cause noisom beasts As Lyons Wolves Bears Serpents c. Great hurt hath been done not only by such as Num. 21.6 2 Kings 2.24 17.25 26. Josh 24.12 but also by tamer creatures Aug. whem set on by God Rebellis facta est quia homo numini creatura homini Rats Coneys Frogs Wasps Moths have done much mischief Ver. 16. Though these three men were in it All alive and lustily tugging yet it would not do In common calamities Heathens had their supplications and sacrifices Papists have their Letanies and Processions though to smal purpose Let us in the like ease up and be doing that the Lord may be with us Formula jurandi eâsiptica They shall deliver neither sons Heb. if they deliver sons c. q. d. then never trust me more Ver. 17. Or if I bring a sword The sword whensoever it comes is bathed in heaven Esa 34.5 Omnis pestilentiae coeca delitescens est causa Fernel Sword go through the land When the sword rideth circuit as a Judge it is in commission See Jer. 47.67 Ver. 18. Neither sons nor daughters Though never so dear to them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Greeks call them Ver. 19 Or if I send a pestilence Which Hippocartes calleth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because God hath a special hand in it Physicians can give no good reason of it In blood i. e. In great slaughter laying heaps upon heaps Ver. 20. Neither son nor daughter Though it were an only one and so more dear to them They shall but deliver Howbeit a good man also may dye of the Plague as did Oecolampadius Greenham c. Ver. 21. My four sore Judgements Every of the four Cardan reckons three more of like nature viz. earthquakes inundations and great winds are sore judgements indeed each of them is pessimum i. e. perniciosum Cavete Ver. 22. Yet behold See a thing suddain and serious They shall come Be Captives here as you are And ye shall see their way How wicked it was and worthy of punishment Ver. 23. And they shall comfort i. e. Quiet and qualify your spirits CHAP. XV. Ver. 1. ANd the Word of the Lord came unto me This shortest Chapter is added to all the foregoing as a Corollary In consisteth of a Type or Simile and the Application thereof It is Gods usual way and should be ours to teach by Similitudes See Hos 12.10 with the Note Ver. 2. What is the vine-tree more then any tree The Jews took upon them because a vine brought out of Egypt and such as Gods own righ-hand had planted But insomuch as they were now become fruitlesse and also uselesse trees twice dead plucked up by the roots Jude 12. what had they to glory in above other Nations surely they were therefore worse then others because they ought to have been better True it is that a Vine in it self considered with the fruit it beareth is no contemptible tree But if it be withered or pull'd out of the earth Lignum tenus gibbosum tortuosum it is no way comparable to other trees or shrubs which when felled are put to sundry good uses that the Vine a crooked low writhen thing will never serve to as to make spears doors tables ships houses c. Ver. 3. Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work No hardly t is good for nothing no not so much as to make a pin or a peg of to hang a hat or bridle on because it is a sappy and brittle wood Think the same of that empty vine the profligate Professour being abominable disobedient and unto every good work reprobate Tit. 1. ult Ver. 4. Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel But then it must be taken afore it be over-dry and so Corn. Ã Lapide testifieth that they burn little else in Italy but faggots made of vine-branches See Joh. 15.6 with the Note The midst of it is burnt Vstulatum scorcht and seared so that it is altogether unuseful and is therefore cast again into the fire out of which for some other purpose it had been pulled Woe to Apostates the hottest fire in Hell abideth them Ver. 5. Behold when it was whole The Jews when at best were too too bad a foolish people and unwise disobedient and gainsaying all the day long how much more then now that they are hardened and seared with so many Judgements Ver. 6. As the Vine-tree Adaptat parabolam Here beginneth the Apodosis or Application of the parable That which is not for fruit is for the fiâe Salt which hath lost the savour is thrown out So will I give the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Those sinners in Sion Isa 33.14 those sacrificing Sodomites Isa 1.10 I will make them as a fiery oven in the time of mine anger I will swallow them up in my wrath Psal 21.9 besides that hell gapeth for them Ver. 7. And I will set my face against them See chap. 14.8 Levit. 17.10 They shall go out from one fire And then think themselves safe and happy but this is but gaudium lachrymosum their preservation is but only a reservation for Another fire shall devour them A man pulleth a brand out of the fire sometimes and then presently casteth it in again he gathereth up the sticks-ends but it is to cast them into the middle of the fire So dealeth God oft-times with the wicked to whom also whatsoever they suffer here is but a typical Tophet See Amos 5.19 Jer. 48.43 And ye shall know that I am the Lord i. e. True of my word and terrible in mine executions The Prophets could not get you to believe that your sins were so hainous that my wrath was so hot that your judgements were so heavy c. but now ye shall surely feel what you would not then believe and cry out Nos insensati c O we fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets had spoken unto us When I set my face against them As being fully resolved to have my full blow at them and to pay them home Ver. 8. And I will make the land desolate The land it self oft suffereth propter incolarum inemendabilem malitiam Psal 107.4 for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein Idolatry especially is a land-desolating sin Because they have committed a trespasse A grand trespasse a wickednesse with a witnesse they have deeply revolted and backsliden with a perpetual back-sliding Apostates as they sin not common sins so with Core and his complices they dye not common deaths many times CHAP. XVI Ver. 1. AGain the Word of the Lord came unto me For the better setting on of what had been said in the foregoing Chapter
Joh. 11.24 But whether in this world and at this time that was the question The Jew-doctours boldly but groundlesly answer that these dead bones and bodies did then revive and that many of them did return into the land of Israel and married wives and begat children But this is as true as that other dotage of theirs that the dead bodies of Jews in what Country so ever buried do by certain under-ground passages travel into Judaea and there rest untill the general resurrection O Lord God thou knowest And he to whom thou art pleased to reveale it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Russians in a difficult question use to answer God and our great Duke know all this Ver. 4. Prophesie upon these bones Be thou the interpreter of my Will who by mine all-powerful Word do quicken the dead and call things that are not as if they were Rom. 4.17 And say unto them O ye dry bones Together with Gods Word many times there goeth forth a power Luk. 5.17 as when he said Lazarus come forth Joh. 11.43 So it is in the first resurrection and so it shall be at the last Joh. 5.25 28 29. See the Notes Ver. 5. Behold I will cause breath to enter into you i. e. Into each number of you that belong to each body Neither need the resurrection of the dead be held a thing incredible Act. 26.8 considering Gods Power and Truth The keeping green of Noahs Olive-tree in the time of the flood the blossoming of Aarons dry rod the flesh and sinews coming to these dry bones and the breath entring into them what were they all but so many lively Emblems of the Resurrection Ver. 6. And cover you with skin Superindam that the flesh may not look gastly The word rendred cover is Chaldee and found only here and ver 8. And put breath in you and ye shall live As when man was first created Gen. 2. and cannot God as easily remake us of something as at first he made us of nothing Ver. 7. So I prophesied He might have said why should I speak to these bones will it be to any purpose but Gods commands are not to be disputed but dispatched without sciscitation And there was a noise A rattle perhaps a thunderclap And behold a shaking Perhaps an earthquake as was at Christs resurrection God will one day shake both the heavens and the earth The heavens shall passe away with a great noise 2 Pet. 3.10 the earth also and the workes therein shall be burnt and fall with a great crack Then shall the Lord descend from heaven with a shout c. 1 Thes 4.16 such as is that of Mariners in a storm or of Souldiers when to joyn battle with the enemy Ver. 8. Lo the sinews and the flesh came up upon them The body is the souls sheath Dan. 7.15 the souls suit the upper garment is the skin the inner the flesh the inmost of all bones and sinews Ver. 9. And say to the wind To the reasonable soul that breath of God Gen. 2.7 divinae particula aurae as one calleth it In this better part of man he is not absolutely perfect till after the resurrection for though the soul do in heaven enjoy an estate free from sin pain or misery yet two of the faculties or operations of the soul viz. that of Vegetation and of sense are without exercise till it be reunited to the body Here we have a representation at least of the Resurrection which the Hebrews call Gilgul the Revolution Come from the foure winds O breath i. e. From God that gave you return again at his command to your own numerical bodies wherever they lye And to this text our Saviour seemeth to allude Mat. 24.31 Ver. 10. And the breath came into them Deforas from without as at first they were infused by God so they are still This Austin sometime and for some space of time doubted of and was therefore censured boldly but unadvisedly by one Vincentius Victor as Chemnitius relateth it And they lived and stood up upon their feet As life will shew it self by sense and motion Live things will be stirring Arida etiam peccatorum corda Deus gratia vitali vegetabit Ver. 11. These bones are That is they signifie and betoken And here we have the Accommodation or Application of the preceding Parable or Type where also we may soon see that this chapter is of the same subject and method with the former only that which is there plainly is here more elegantly discoursed viz. the deplorable condition of the Israelites in Babylon together with their wonderful deliverance and restitution in this and the three next verses Our bones are dryed We lye in Babylon as in a sepulchre we are buried alive as it were we are free among the dead free of that company We are cut off for our parts q. d. Let them hope as hope can we have hanged up all our hopes now that the City and Temple are destroyed Thus carnal confidence as it riseth up into a corky frothy hope when it seeth sufficient help so it sitteth down in a faithless sullen discontent and despair when it can see no second causes Ver. 12. Behold O my people God owneth them still though they had little deserved it Shall mens unbelief make the faith of God without effect Rom. 3.3 Tumulos desperationis aperit he openeth the graves of desperation and lets in a marvellous light So the Lord did for his poor Church by this blessed Reformation begun by Luther whose book de Captivitate Babylonica did abundance of good Scultet Annal. dec 2. ep dedic As for that wrought here in England a forreiner saith of it that it is such as the ages past had despaired of the present worthily admireth and future ages shall stand amazed at O beatos qui Deum ducem è spirituali Babylonia eos educentem secuti sunt Ver. 13. And ye shall know that I am the Lord Ye shall experiment it The Reformed Churches have done so abundantly Gloria Deo in excelsis When I have opened your graves This is spoken over and over for their confirmation who were apt to think the news was too good to be true Ver. 14. And shall put my spirit in you Even my Spirit of Adoption that soul of the soul this was more then all the rest Thrice happy are they that are thus spirited they shall live and live comfortably Ver. 15. And the Word of the Lord See chap. 18.1 Ver. 16. Take thee one stick A cleft stick which is res vilis exilis a poor business in it self but if God please to make use of so slender a thing it may serve for very great purpose as here by the uniting of two sorry stickes in the hand of the Prophet is prefigured the uniting of Judah and Israel yea of Jews and Gentiles in the hand of the Lord that is in Christ Jesus who is the hand the right hand and the Arm of God
crafty malice to be shaven And indeed it is so bald and heathenish a ceremony that some Priests in France are ashamed of the mark Spec. Eur. and few of them have it that can handsomely avoid it Nor suffer their lockâ to grow long As womens some heathen-Priests nourished their heir to a great length A shag-haired Minister is an ugly sight bushes of vanity become not such of any men They shall only poll their heads Or round them Certainly saith one the devil forgât this text Mr. Burroughs when he raised up that reproach of Roundheads To have hairy scalpes is the garb of Gods enemies Psal 68.21 Ver. 21. Neither shall any Priest drink wine Wherein is excesse Eph. 5.18 See Levit. 10.9 Ver. 22. Neither shall they take for their wives Ministers of all men should be careful whom they wed for many reasons Hear what good counsel one Minister of mine acquaintance gave another Quaere tebi uxorem quae sit Pia Pulchra Pudica Mr. Thomas Dugard Provida verborum Parca Parere parata Ver. 23. And they shall teach Ministers must be able and apt to teach 1 Tim. 3.2 Tit. 1.9 Act. 20.28 Ver. 24. They shall stand in judgement i. e. Stand to the right and not stir from it in matters of Religion especially accounting every parcel of truth precious They shall keep my laws Not observe them only but preserve them from the violations of others Ver. 25. And they shall come at no dead person Not defile their consciences with dead works Mens è luctu eluctetur They may defile themselves So they keep a mean Something they may yeeld to nature nothing to impatience Ver. 26. And after he is clensed This is a new sanction in the new Temple as Vatablus observeth Ver. 27. He shall offer his sin-offering Because we do easily overshoot our selves in things permitted Licitis perimus omnes Ver. 28. And it shall be c. This that followeth shall be their inheritance ver 29 30 31. and whatsoever they want more shall be made up in Me. Ver. 29. They shall eat See on ver 28. Ver. 30. That he may cause the blessing Tythe and be rich See Mal. 3.10 with the Notes Ver. 31. The Priests shall not eat c. They shall not be greedy of filthy lucre nor oppressive Popish Priests made so much gain of the dead and so devoured widdows houses under a pretence of Dirges Trentals Masses for the dead c. that there was a necessity in this Kingdom of a statute of Mortmain to restrain them CHAP. XLV Ver. 1. MOreover when ye shall divide by lot As chap. 48. where we have the division of the land and the several seats assigned to each Tribe Here we have first provision made for the Church-service which Christs people are most zealous of and do therefore allot before any divident a portion for the Lords house and servants and that very large to prefigure the largeness of the Church of the New Testament See Rev. 7.9 10 c. Here Hierom acknowledgeth himself to be in a Labyrinth the Jews call again for their Elias Oecolampadius comes in with his Hujus loci mysteria tacitus veneror and thinks this part of the Prophecy such as no humane understanding can fathom Howbeit Nil desperandum Christo duce auspice Christo The length shall be See the Note on chap. 40.1 Ver. 2. For the suburbs Which hath its name in Hebrew from its being severed from the City and as it were cast out of it It is better rendred as in the margin void places Ver. 3. The length of five and twenty thousand Here the same again is repeated as ver 1. and further is shewed how this holy portion of ground was to be employed to the use of the Priests Ver. 4. And it shall be a place for their houses Ministers should be resident upon their charges and as incumbent dwell near and as it were lean over their work Ver. 5. For twenty chambers i. e. For twenty rows of chambers Ver. 6. And ye shall appoint the possession of the City After the Church-service settled and the Ministry provided for Polit. l. 7. c. 8. Aristotle his advice is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã first take care of divine things that 's the best policy It shall be for the whole house of Israel A Rendezvous for them at festival-times Ver. 7. And a portion shall be for the Prince See on chap. 44.3 Understand it of the civil Magistrate who is Lord-Keeper of both Tables of the Law and ought to have a special care of the Churches welfare Here his portion is said to lye on both sides of the oblation of the holy portion and Cant. 8.9 Magistrates are required to hem Ministers in with boards of Cedar i. e. to provide for their security that they may be without fear among them as Timothy 1 Cor. 16.10 Ver. 8. And my Princes shall no more oppresse my people As Samuel foretold they would do 1 Sam. 9. and accordingly they did But in the Christian-Commonwealth it should be better as indeed it was in the dayes of Constantine the Great Valentinian and Theodosius which three godly Emperours called themselves the Vassals of Christ and is now blessed be God amongst us at this day Ver. 9. Let it suffice you Be content with your double portion your so large a lot and that ye may be so hear the laws that I lay upon you remove violence and spoil execute judgment and justice Take away your exactions c. See that ye have just balances and a just Ephah Let these things be done or you will be quickly undone Is it not enough to be above men but you must needs be above mankind as those Princes would be that would not be under the Law Ver. 10. Ye shall have just balances Levit. 19 35 36. Prov. 11.1 16 11. 20.10 23. Mic. 6.10 11. See the Notes on those places The Gospel-rule is whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them Mat. 7.12 And Let no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because that the Lord is the avenger of all such and the civil Magistrate is his Minister a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil either by force or fraud Rom. 13.4 Ver. 11. The Ephah and the Bath shall be of one measure Of the same capacity only the Ephah is the measure of dry things and the Bath of moist Ver. 12. And the Shekel shall be twenty Gerah's Exod. 30.13 Lev. 27.25 Num. 3.47 Fifteen Shekels shall be your Maneh Or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mina pound-weight Ver. 13. This is the oblation After order taken that both Prince and people might have whereof to make oblations ver 9 10 11 12. here follow laws concerning these matters also Ver. 14. Out of the Cor which is an Homer Only Cor is the Chaldee word Homer the Hebrew Ver. 15. Out of the
to his choice by the French King whether to go to Masse to suffer death or to endure perpetual imprisonment answered As for the first by the grace of God I will never do it And for the two last I humbly submit to his Majesty let him do with me what he pleaseth That he would not defile himself with the portion of the Kings meat That which Scaliger saith of Matthew Beroaldus Vir doctus quod familiam ducit pius that he was a learned man but that which was his chief commendation he was also a godly man may be better said of the Prophet Daniel Godly he was betimes and of a childe as was also his Master Jeremy in whose works he was well read Dan. 9.2 Samuel Timothy Athanasius Beza who amongst many other things blessed God chiefly for this in his last will and Testament that at the age of sixteen years He had called him to the knowledge of the truth Daniel had this happinesse at twelve or thirteen De vita obitu Sanct. neither was he like rath-ripe fruit that are soon rotten Hermogenes was old in his childhood and a childe in his old age but although he lived 110 years as Isidor reckoneth some say 130 yet he was best at last and may very well passe for a Martyr though he came again safe out of the Lions den like as John the Evangelist also did out of the caldron of scalding oyle wherein he was cast by the command of Domitian in contempt of Christianity Daniel's piety appeareth in this that he maketh conscience of smaller evils also such as most men in his case would never have boggled at He would not defile himself with the portion of the Kings meat he scrupled the eating of it and why 1. Because it was often such as was forbidden by the Law of God Levit. 11. Deut. 14. 2. Because it was so used Ante câbum sua habebant prothymata laudabant deos suos Jun. as would defile him and his fellows against the Word of God for the Heathens to the shame of many Christians had their Grace afore meat as it were consecrating their dishes to their Idols before they tasted of them Dan. 5.4 1 Cor. 8.10 3. They could not do it without offence to their weaker brethren with whom they chose rather to sympathize in their adversity then to live in excesse and fulnesse Amos 6.6 4. They well perceived that the Kings Love and provisions were not single and sincere but that he meant his own profit to assure himself the better of the land of Judah and that they might forget their Religion Lastly They know that intemperance was the mother of many mischiefs as in Adam Esan the rich glutton c. That 's a memorable story that is recorded by William Schickard concerning eleven Jew doctors whom the Heathen King of Pirgandy having in his power Schickard Jus reg Hebr. c. 5. p. 149. put them to this hard choice either to eat swines-flesh or to drink wine that had been consecrated to idols or to lie with certain harlots They chose rather to drink the wine then to do either of the other two But when they had drunk wine liberally they were easily drawn to do the other two things also Any one of these five reasons had been of force enough to prevail with Daniel and the other three to forbear They knew well that the least hair casteth its shaddow a barly-corn laid on the sight of the eye will keep out the light of the Sun as a mountain The eye of the soul that will see God must be kept very clear Matth. 5.8 c. Therefore he requested Modstly and prudently he propounded it non convitiando sed supplicando and petitioneth for liberty of conscience confessing his religion Ver. 9. Now God had brought Daniel into favour God is never wanting to the truly conscientious let them chuse rather to offend all the world then to do things sinful and they shall be sure of good successe The Prince of the Eunuchs durst not yield to Daniel's request but he connived at the Sewards yieldance Ver. 10. I fear my Lord the King This made him stand off as he did in pretence at least Tertullian taxeth the Heathens for this Tert. cont Act. 4.19 quòd majore formidine Caesarem observarent quam ipsum de Olympo Jovem that they feared Caesar more then they did their greatest god Jupiter But he who truly feareth God needeth not fear any else Ver. 11. Then said Daniel to Melzar Or to the Steward alimentator the Purveyour for the Pages of honour The Prince of the Eunuchs might haply give him an hint to go to this Melzar who might do it with lesse danger Ver. 12. Prove thy servants I beseech thee ten dayes All good means must be used for the keeping of a good conscience and then God must be trusted for the issue But did not Daniel herein tempt God No for besides that he had a word 1. Of precept Deut. 14. And 2. Of Promise Exod. 23.25 ex arcana revelatione certior factus est it might be revealed unto him that no inconvenience should follow upon this course And let them give pulse to eat and water to drink Poor fare for Noble-mens sons but such as they were well apaid of Nature is contented with a little Te ver innoc cap. 56. Grace with lesse The sobriety of Democritus and Demosthenes is much celebrated among the Heathen But what saith Austin Omnis vita infidelium peccatum est nihil bonum sine summo Bono Whatsoever is not of faith is sin c. Daniel's sobriety was of another nature of a better alloy Papists crack much of their abstinence from certain meats and drinks at certain times But Daniel's and Papists Fasts agree as harp and harrow See my Common-place of Abstinence Ver. 13. Then let our countenances be looked upon See the Note on ver 12. And as thou seest deal with thy servants Thus humbly they bespeak the Butler or Purveyour though themselves were nobly descended God had made them Captives and they now carry their sails accordingly Ver. 14. So he consented to them in this matter This had been well done if done for Gods sake but it was nothinglesse he had a hawks eye herein to his own profit he favoured them because he meant to finger something from them These four made a messe Ver. 15. Their countenances appeared fairer They had both better health for Tenuis mensa sanitatis mater saith Chrysostom Gustato spiritu de sipit omnis caro Bern. Spare diet is very healthful and their good conscience or merry heart was a continual feast to them They had also Gods blessing upon their courser fair and this was the main matter that made the difference Ver. 16. Thus Melzar took away See on ver 14. And gave them pulse This slender diet was some help to their studies ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for
locum Heyl. Geog. that it should not be lawful for housholders to pray with their families and that of the Jesuites at Dola forbidding the common people to say any thing at all of God either in good sort or in bad That whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man What not of their own gods nor yet of Cyrus who was compartner with Darius in the Kingdom But like enough these complotters might think hereby the rather to ingratiate with the old dotard Darius who feared the virtue and valour of his Nephew and colleague Cyrus and would say with tears as Xenophon reporteth that Cyrus was more glorious then he and had more applause of the people Ver. 8. Now O King establish the decree Confirm it that it may receive the force of Law According to the Law of the Medes and Persians that altereth not This was too much to be given to any law made by man so mutable a creature I have read of a people whose laws lasted in force but for three dayes at utmost This was a fault in the other extream The Persians laws were therefore irrepealable because they worshipped Truth for a goddesse to whom Inconstancy and Change must needs be opposite and odious But this was no good reason neither unless the Lawmakers shall be supposed such as cannot erre nor will any thing unjust which can be truely attributed to none but God only Ver. 9. Wherefore King Darius signed the writing As well enough content to be so dignified yea deified So was Alexander the Great Antiochus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Herod Domitian Dominus Deus noster Papa Vah scelus Ver. 10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed Which he knew not belike till it was proclaimed and published and then it may be he did as much against it as Latimer did herein like case by writing his mind unto King Henry the eighth after the Proclamation for abolishing English books See his letter in the book of Martyrs and marvel at his heroical boldnesse and stoutnesse Act. Mon. 1591. who as yet being no Bishop so freely and fearlesly adventuring his life to discharge his conscience durst 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 take upon him to write and to admonish that which no counsellor durst once speak unto him in defence of Christs Gospel He went into his house He left the Court as no fit aire for piety to breath in and get him home Exeat Aulâ qui vâlit esse pius where he might more freely and comfortably converse with his God Tutissimus est qui rarissime cum hominibus plurimum cum Deo colloquitur saith a good Divine that is he is safest who speaketh seldom with men but oft with God And his windows being open in his chamber This was his wont belike at other times and now he would not break it to the scandal of the weak and the scorn of the wicked who watched him and would have charged him with dissimulation should he have done otherwise Say not therefore What needed he thus to have thrust himself into observation could he not have kept his conscience to himself and used his devotions in more secrecy our Politick-Professours and Neuter-passives indeed could and would have done so But as Basil answered once to him that blamed him for venturing too far for his friend Non aliter aware didici I never learned to love any otherwise so might good Daniel here have done his zeal for God would not suffer him to temporize or play on both hands It shall well appear to his greatest enemies that he is true to his Principles and no flincher from his religion His three companions were alike resolved chap. 3. and Paul Act. 21.13 and Luther when to appear at Wormes and many more that might here be mentioned Toward Jerusalem For the which he was now a petitioner sith the time to favour her yea the set time was come Psal 102.13 There also sometime had stood the Temple not without a promise of audience to prayers made in or toward that holy place 1 King 8.43 which also was a type of Christ c. He kneeled upon his knees Constantino the Great as Eusebius telleth us would have this as his portraiture a man on his knees praying to shew that that was his usual practice and posture Three times a day At morning noon and night thus constantly beside other times also upon emergent occasions All the power and policy of Persia could not keep God and Daniel asunder no not for a few dayes Philip. 3.20 Ephes 2.19 't is a part of our ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã our City-employment or spiritual-trading with God to pray and if prayer stand still the whole trade of godliness standeth still too Clean Christians therefore typed by those clean beasts in the law Levit. 11.3 must rightly part the hoof rightly divide their time giving a due share thereof to either of their callings as Daniel did sanctifying both by prayer and at hours of best leisure Psal 55.17 And prayed and gave thanks before his God Chald. Confessed either his sins that he might get pardon thereof or else Gods benefits the glory whereof he thankfully returned unto him Prayers and praises are like the double motion of the lungs Let every breath praise the Lord. As he did aforetime An excellent custome doubtlesse and most worthy to be kept up Arist Ethic. lib. 8. cap. 5. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ver. 11. Then these men assembled But for ill purpose as did also our Saviours enemies Luk. 22.6 and Stevens Act. 7. the Popish Councels at Rome they have a meeting weekly de propaganda fide for the propagating of the Romish Religion and abolishing of heresie as they call it And found Daniel praying The Sun shall sooner stand still in heaven then Daniel give over to pray to his Father in heaven Ver. 12. Hast thou not signed a decree But should wickednesse be established by a law Psal 94.20 See on ver 7. So in France there was published an edict whereby the people were forbidden on pain of death D. Arrowsus Tact. Sacr. p. 89. to have in their houââ any French book wherein the least mention was made of Jesus Christ Ver. 13. That Daniel He was principal president and deserved a better attribution then That Daniel But ill will never speaketh well of any Which is of the Captivity This also is terminus diminuens q. d. This royal slave whom thou hast preferred above us all and hast moreover some thoughts to set him over the whole realm ver 3. New men shall be much spighted 'T was therefore no ill counsel Fortunam reverenter habe quieunque repââte Auson Dives ab exili progrediere loco Regardeth not thee O King Chald. putteth no respect on thee This is common falsely to accuse Gods most faithful servants as
above measure with the abundance of the revelations For at the time of the end shall be the vision i. e. That this vision of the daily sacrifice intermitted for so many years and the abomination of desolation the picture of Jupiter Olympius set up in the Sanctuary shall be toward the end of the Greek Monarchy Ver. 18. I was in a deep sleep In a Prophetical ecstasy or Traunce wherein I was laid up fast losing for the time all manner of action and motion that my soul might be more free to receive divine revelations But he touched me and set me upright Heb. made me stand upon my standing who was yet all the while in a deep sleep The touch of the Angel kept him from reeling to and fro and made him stand firmly Ver. 19. In the last end of the indignation In the final end of the Greek-persecution which shall not passe the Lords appointed time Ver. 20. The ram which thou sawest See ver 3. Ver. 21. And the rough-goat Hircus hircus See on ver 5. Ver. 22. Now that being broken See ver 8. Ver. 23. And in the latter time of their kingdom In the 137 year of the Greek-Monarchy When the transgressours are come to the full Heb. are accomplished when the Jewes are grown stark naught This was the reason why God set over them such a breathing-devil as was Antiochus for a punishment of their open impiety and formal Apostasie When Phocas the traytour had slain Mauricius the Emperour there was an honest poor man saith Cedrenus who was earnest with God in prayer to know why that wicked man so prospered in his design To whom answer was returned by a voice that there could not be a worse man found and that the sins of Christians and of Constantinople did require it A King of fierce countenance Heb. hard of face that is brazen-faced impudent and withal Acutus astutus acute subtile and of a deep reach Antiochus Julian the Duke of Alva were such Ver. 24. Not by his own power but by his policy-rather and by the persidy of others Dan. 11.23 And he shall destroy wonderfully Mirificentissime In three dayes he slew fourscore thousand in Jerusalem forty thousand were put in bands and as many sold And shall prosper and practise Shall do whatsoever he listeth as if he were some petty-god within himself And shall destroy the mighty So the Jews are called because stout and undaunted and whiles they kept close to God insuperable as when otherwise weak as water See Hos 13 1. with the Note And the holy people Federally holy at least Versâtulus varsatilis Ver. 25. And through his policy also Incumbens intelligentiae suae leaning on his own wit and that great Elixar called Reasan of State which can make for a need Candida de nigris de candentibus atra And by peace shall destroy many Undoe them by promises of prosperity and preferment which are dangerous baits Marke 4.9 they were sawn asunder they were tempted Heb. 11.37 Julian the Apostate went this way to work and prevailed to make many Apostates He shall also stand up against the Prince of Princes God almighty by destroying the daily sacrifices and by setting up idolatry in the Temple Tâtro morbo But he shall be broken without hand i. e. By the visible vengeance of God See 1 Maccab. 6.8 c. and 2 Maccab. 9.5 c. who laid upon him a loathsom disease and wrapt him up in the sheet of shame Ver. 26. And the vision of the evening See ver 14. Lyra by the the morning would have understood the time of Antiochus by the evening the time of Antichrist who was prefigured by Antiochus Is true Heb truth and so plain that I need say no more of it Wherfore shut thou up the vision Keep it to thy self in sacred silence and reserve it in writing for posterity See chap. 12.49 Isa 8.16 For it shall be for many dayes i. e. For about 300 years hence The Lord would have visions concealed till toward the accomplishment Ver. 27. And I Daniel fainted and was sick So deeply affected was he with the vision and should we be with the word preached it should work upon our very bowels and go to the hearts of us Jer. 4.19 Acts 2.37 Afterwards I rose up and did the Kings businesse Viz. King Belshazzar's with whom though he was out of grace yet not out of office under him and will not therefore be indiligent Malo mihi malè esse quam molliter Seneca Let us not neglect the work of the Lord though lesse able to perform it A sick childs service is double-accepted But none understood it Daniel dissembled his sorrow for Sion before scorners Esth 5.1 Taciturnity is no contemptible vertue CHAP. IX Ver. 1. IN the first year of Darius i. e. Of Darius Priscus who together with Cyrus the Persian took Babylon and with it the kingdom or Monarchy of the Chaldaeans chap. 5.31 by the consent of Cyrus who married his daughter and had the Kingdom of Media with her for a dowry after Darius his death Cyrop l. 8. as Xenophon testifieth The son of Ahasuerus Called Cyaxares by the Greek historians Both these names signify a great Prince an Emperour like as now we say the Great Turk the Great Cham of Cataia c. Ver. 2. I Daniel understood by books Consideravi in libris Daniel was a great student in the Scriptures and well knew that there was no readier way to speed in heaven then by putting the Promises in suit The like also was done by Jacob. Gen 32.9 12. See the Notes there by David 2 Sam. 7.19 25. by Eliah 1 Kings 18.42 and others If we speak in our Prayers no otherwise then the Lord doth in his Promises there shall be a sweet consort of voice begun by the Spirit in the Promises seconded in the spirit of faith by the Saints prayers and answered by God in his gracious Providences Daniel here took this course and had not only what he begged but a revelation concerning the Lord Christ beyond expectation Ver. 3. And I set my face unto the Lord God i. e. Toward the habitation of his holinesse at Jerusalem but especially in heaven I looked up unto the hills ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from whence I looked for help This Daniel did dayly chap. 6.10 but now with more then ordinary intention and devotion he presenteth an inwrought prayer as St. James calleth it chap. 5.16 edged with fasting and downright humiliation He doubteth not thereby to set God to work as David did Psal 119.126 He knew that a long look toward God speedeth Psal 34.4 5. Jon. 2.4 7. how much more an extraordinary prayer Ver. 4. And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession The Saints themselves when they sin against God are suspended from the Covenant hence it is their custom when they seek the Lord for any special mercy to begin with
died saw a list of their names who conspired with the King of France and Earl Richard his sonne and successor against him And finding therein his son John whom hee had made Earl of Cornwal Sommerset Nottingham Derby and Lancaster and given him a vast estate to bee the first he fell into a grievous passion both cursing his sons and the day wherein himself was born Dan. hist 112. and in that distemperature departs the world which so often himself had distempered Vers 20. Therefore I went about to cause my heart c. i. e. I set my self to take off the edge of my affections from these outward comforts that are so uncertain ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Symmachus Metaph. ab equis quos qui agitant circumagunt and so unsatisfactory and to take another course for the attaining of true happinesse The Hebrew word signifies I set a compass I turned round or I turned short again upon my self by a reflex act of my mind as Ephraim did Jer. 31.19 20. as the prodigal did when hee came to himself who before had been besides himself in point of salvation and as Solomon elsewhere prays that the captive people may bethink themselves or as the Hebrew hath it bring back to their heart 1 King 8.47 return and discern between the righteous and the wicked Mal. 3.18 Thus David examined his ways and finding all to be naught and stark naught contrary to that of God who reviewing his works found all good and very good hee bethought himself of a better course hee turned his feet to Gods testimonies Psal 119.59 Set not thy heart upon the asses said the Prophet to Saul forasmuch as better things abide thee the desire of all Israel is to thee Vers 21. For there is a man whose labour is in wisdome This seemed to Solomon whose own case it was like to be so unworthy a thing and such a vexation of spirit that hee can never say enough of it but could find in his heart to cry out with the Poet ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I am thrice miserable nay ten times nay an hundred nay a thousand times so that am born to be a provident and a perfect drudge of an idledrone or perhaps of a meer stranger This is also vanity and a great evill Not privation of good onely a nothing but a position of evill a sad thing an inconveniency not to bee avoided by the most circumspect prudence ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for it is written Hee taketh the wise in their own craftiness And again The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise their inward disceptations ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã their debating the matter with themselves that they are vain 1 Cor. 3.19 20. The rich fool talked to himself as fools use to do and set down how every thing should be Luke 12.17 but it proved somewhat otherwise ere he was a day elder Vers 22. For what hath a man of all his labour What makes hee of it every thing reckoned see chap. 1.3 what takes hee with him when hee dies more than a poor winding sheet as that Great Emperour of Egypt caused to bee proclaimed at his funeral Caron Chron. that that shirt of his there hanged up for the purpose was all that hee now had of all his labour and great atchivements Saladine the mighty Monarch of the East is gone and hath taken no more with him than what you see said the bare Priest that went before the bier Carion Chron. See the Note on 1 Tim. 6.7 Vers 23. For all his days are sorrows c. All the days of the afflicted are evil Prov. 1â 15 and every day hath a sufficient evil laid upon it by God Matth. 16.34 Few and evil were the days of Jacobs pilgrimage Gen. 47.9 God gave him not a draught only of the cup of affliction but made him a diet-drink Man is born to trouble saith Eliphaz Job 5.7 as the spark flyes upward ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Isocr Man and Miserable are in a manner terms convertible He that remembers that himself is a man will not think much of any sorrow betides him saith the Heathen Oratour For Si nisi res cujus nulla est contraria votis Vivere nemo potest vivere nemo potest Yea his heart taketh no rest in the night As a clock can never stand still so long as the plummets hang thereat so neither can a worldlings heart for cares and anxieties These gnats will not suffer him to sleep these flyes of Aegypt are continually stinging him Nocte ac die non dabunt requiem as those Tyrants Jer. 16. Night and day he is disquieted with them he lyes upon a pillow stuft with thorns Not so the godly man he contracts his cares into a narrow compasse communes with his own heart upon his bed and having made all even with God sleeps undisturbed Psal 3. 4. Jacob rests sweetly when his head lay upon a hard stone at Bethel Ahasuerosh cannot rest though upon a Bed of Doun but calls for the Chronicles It was wisely done of Burleigh L. Treasurer to put off his cares together with his clothes Camden when he laid by his Gown he would commonly say Lye there Lord Treasurer and so quietly compose himself to take his sleep In nothing be careful saith the Apostle but let the peace of God guard your hearts and mindes in Christ Jesus Phil. 4.6 7. Vers 24. There is nothing better for a man c. This may seem to savour of Epicurisme as may also some following passages of this book For which cause some of the old Jew-Doctors were once in a minde to hide this whole book out of the way and not suffer the common sort to ãâã any more But this they needed never to have done for the Preacher expresly calls carnal mirth madnesse in this very chapter and sheweth that the happiness of a man stands in fearing God and keeping his Commandements chap. 12. All which is poynt-blank against Atheisme and Epicurisme And whereas here and elsewhere the liberal use of the Creatures is commended and commanded this is done in opposition to and detestation of such parsimonious penny-fathers as deny themselves that necessary and honest affluence that God hath permitted and afforded them living sordidly that they may grow rich suddenly although they know not how soon they may leave all nor yet to whom This also I saw that it was from the hand of God It is he that fills our hearts as with food so with gladnesse Acts 14.17 He can curse our blessings make our table a snare sauce that we eat spice that we drink with his fierce wrath as he did the Quails to those Israelites He can dissweeten our Delicates either with sicknesse Job 33.20 or sorrow Psal 107.17 18. or sudden terrour 1 Sam. 30.16 17. 1 King 1.41 Adoniah's feast ended in horrour astonishment was served up for their last dish Let God therefore bee
sought for a comfortable use of the Creature and then be merry at thy meat and put sorrow from thy heart chap. 9.7 Eat the fat and drink the sweet c. for the joy of the Lord is your strength Nehem. 8.10 Vers 25. For who can eat or who can hasten c. And yet I have found and so shall you that tranquillity and true happiness the Kindgom of God doth not consist in meats and drinks A Turk may beleeve sensualities in his fools paradise but no servant of God is a slave to his palate Vers 26. Wisdome and knowledge To get these things rightly and to use them comfortably To gather and to heap up Converrere congerrere to rake and scrape together the muck-worms occupation That he may give As he did the Aegyptians goods to Israel Nabals to David Hamans to Mordecai CHAP. III. Vers 1. To every thing there is a season A Set time such as we can neither alter nor order This is one of those keys that God carries under his own girdle Act. 1.7 To seek to doe or get any thing before the time is to pull apples before they are ripe saith a Father which set the teeth on edge Fomâ importuni tempore decerpunt Tertul. and breed stomack-worms They labour in vain that would prevent the time prefixed by God as those hasty Ephraimites in Aegypt 1 Chron. 7.22 with Psal 78.9 those heady Israelites in the Wilderness Numb 14.40 Moses would be acting the Judge before his time Exod. 2.12 he is therefore sent to keep sheep in Midian vers 15. David staid Gods leisure for the Kingdom those in Esther for deliverance they knew that God would keep his day exactly as he did with the Israelites in Aegypt Exod. 12.40 41. Evân the self-same day when the four hundred and thirty years fore-told were expired Gods people were thrust out of Aegypt So Dan. 5.30 In that night was Belshazzar slain because then exactly the seventy years were ended And as God fails not his own time so he seldome comes at ours Jâr 8.20 for he loves not to be limited We are short-breath'd short-sighted apt to antedate the promises in regard of the accomplishment Hab. 2.2 And no less apt to out-stand our own markets to let slip opportunities of grace which are ever head-long and once past irrecoverable O if thou hadst known at the least in this thy day Heb. 2.3 Psal 32.6 c. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Therefore shall every one that is godly seek thee in a time when thou mayst be found There is a certain time set for men to come in and be saved as Alexander set up a Taper when he besieged a Town as Tamerlan hang'd out first a white flag and then a red Many a man loseth his soul as Saul did his Kingdome by not discerning his time Esau came too late so did the foolish Virgins If the gate of grace be over-past the gate shut the draw-bridge taken up there is no possibility of entrance Heb. 4.1 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us and an overture made us of entring into Gods rest any of us should seem to fall short or come late a day after the fair an hour after the feast God who in his eternal Counsel hath appointed things to be done hath also ordained the opportunity and time wherein each thing should bee done which to neglect is such a presumption as hee usually punisheth with final hardning Ezek. 24.13 Vers 2. There is a time to be born and a time to dye Wee doe not hear the Wise-man say There is a time to live What is more fleeting than time yet life is not long enough to be worthy the title of time Death borders upon our birth and our cradle stands in our grave Orimur Morimur Multos ostendunt terris bona faeta nec ultra Esse siâunt Finisque ab origine pendet How many have we seen carried from the Womb to the Tomb from the birth to the burial Ab utero ab urnam And what a short cut hath the longest liver from the grave of the womb to the womb of the grave Men chop into the earth before they are aware many times like as he that walks in a field covered with snow falls suddenly into a marle pit A time to plant c. In point of good husbandry fit seasons are to be observed or else little increase can bee expected God also the great vine-dresser plants and plucks up more Churches or particular persons at his pleasure Esay 5.1 to the 8. Mat. 15.13 Jerusalem that plant of renown is now of an Eden become a Sodom and that which Moses threatned Deut. 28.49 c. fulfilled to the utmost Susa in Persia signifies a Lilly and was so called for the beauty and delectable sight Now it is called Valdac of the poverty of the place Niniveh that great City that once had more people within her walls than are now in some one Kingdome is at this day become a sepulture of it self a little Town of small Trade where the Patriarch of the Nestorians keeps his âeat at the devotion of the Turks Frid. secund Imper. Roma diu titubans variis erroribus acta Corruet mundi desinet esse caput Vers 3. A time to kill viz. To cut off corrupt members by the sword of Justice or of War ne pars sincera trahatur There is a cruel mercy saith one there is a pious cruelty saith another But cursed is hee that doth the Lords work negligently and cursed is hee that in a good cause and upon a good calling keepeth back his sword from blood Jer. 48.10 But that souldier can never answer it before God that striketh not more as a Justice of Peace than as a souldier of fortune A time to break down and a time to build up This and the rest though every one knows to be so in common experience yet one and the same thing in effect is oft repeated that it may be once remembred viz. that this whole world is nothing else but a mass of mutabilities that every man every State every thing is a planet whose spherical revolutions are some of longer some of shorter continuance Omnia versantur in perpetuo ascensu descensu there is a perpetual ascending and descending of life and state Vers 4. A time to weep and a time to laugh Onely wee must not invert the order but weep with men that wee may laugh with Angels lay godly sorrow as a foundation of spiritual joy Surely out of this eater comes meat out of this strong sweet strong and sweet refreshments follow upon penitential performances these April showers bring on May flowers Tertullian saith that he was nulli rei natus nisi poenitentiae born for no other purpose but to repent but then he that truly repenteth de peccatis dolet de dolore gandet is grieved for his
Lord of hosts said q. d. It is he who setteth thesâ Chaldaean warriours awork and giveth them these words of command So Totilas Gensericus and others were the scourge in Gods hand as now also the Turkes are She is wholly oppression She was full of judgement righteousnesse lodged in her but now nothing less Nomen Alexandri ne te fortasse moretur De Alex. 6 Papa Pasquil Hospes abi jacet hic scelus vitium Ver. 7. As a Fountain casteth out her waters Incessantly and abundantly In Jeremia est continua quasi declamatio contra peccatum c. Before me continually This sheweth their impudency Ver. 8. Be thou instructed Affliction is a School-Master or rather an Vsher to the Law Maturant aspera mentem which the Apostle calleth a School-Master to Christ Afflâction bringeth men to the Law and the Law to Christ Affliction is a Preacher saith one blow the Trumpet in Tekoah what saith the Trumpet Ee instructed O Jerusalem Least my soul depart from thee Heb. be loosed or disjoynted least I loath thee more then ever I loved thee and so thy ruine come rushing in as by a sluce Ver. 9. They shall throughly glean the remnant They shall make clean work of them as Judg. 20.45 Ver. 10. To whom shall I speak and give warning Heb. protest q. d. I know not where to meet with one teachable hearer in all Jerusalem Behold their ear is uncircumcised Obstructed and stopped with the superfluity of naughtinesse worse then any ear-wax or thick film overgrowing the organ of hearing Tanquam monstra marina surda aure Dei verba praetereunt The Word of the Lord is unto them a reproach They take reproofes for reproaches as Luk. 11.45 Ver. 11. Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord i. e. of curses and menaces against this obstinate people as chap. 4.19 I am weary with holding in As hitherto I have done and could still in compassion but that of necessity I must obey Gods will and be the messenger of his wrath It is a folly to think that Gods Ministers delight to fling daggers at mens breasts or handfuls of hell-fire in their faces Non nisi coactus said he I will pour it forth I will denounce it and then God will soon effect it See on chap. 1.10 Ver. 12. With their fields and wives together These are mentioned as most dear to them who could haply say as he did Haec alii capiant liceat mihi paupere cultu Secure chara conjuge posse frui Heb. Ver. 13. Every one is given to covetousnesse Avet avaritia is coveting covetise Lib 11. cap. 34. cryeth still give give with the horseleech of which creature Pliny observeth and experience sheweth that it hath no thorough passage but taketh much in and letting nothing out breaks and kills it self with sucking So doth the covetous man Every one dealeth falsely Heb. each one is doing falshood as if that were their common trade Ver. 14. They have healed also the hurt of slightly Heb. Vpon a slight or slighted thing secundum curationem mali leviculi Secundum leviculum Jun. as men use to cure the slight hurts of their children by blowing on them only or stroking them over Thus these deceitful workers dealt by Gods people dallying with their deep and dangerous wounds which they search not neither cauterize according to necessary severity Saying peace peace Making all fair weather before them when as the storm of Gods wrath was even breaking out upon them such a storm as should never blow over Ver. 15. Were they at all ashamed Their shamelesness was no small aggravation of their sin Ita licet mult as abominationes commiserunt Papistae sine verecundia verecundari tamen non possunt saith Dr. John Raynols De idololat Rom. p. 85. Papists are frontless and shameless Dr. Story for instance I see nothing said he before the Parliament in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth to be ashamed of so less I see to be sorry for but rather because I have done no more c. wherein he said there was no default in him but in the higher powers who much against his mind had laboured only about the young and little sprigs and twigs whiles they should have struck at the root and rooted it out meaning thereby the Lady Elizabeth whom also he afterwards dayly cursed in his grace afore meat And concerning his persecuting and burning the Protestants Act. Mon. f. 1925. he denyed not but that he was once at the burning of an herewig for so he termed it at Vxbridge Mr. Denley Martyr where he tossed a faggot at his face as he was singing Psalmes and set a wine-bush of thornes under his feet a little to prick him c. Ver. 16. Stand ye in the wayes and see Duely deliberate and take time to consider whether you are in the right or not Ask for the old pathes Chalked out in the word and walked in by the Patriarches Think not as some do now-adayes by running through all religions to find out the right for this is viam per avia quaerere as Junius phraseth it to seek a way where none is to be found How many religions are there now amongst us So many men so many minds Non est sciens hodie qui novitates non invenit as one complained of old He 's Nobody that cannot invent a new way but as old wine is better so is the old way hold to it therefore Quod primum verum Alnar Pelagius That which was first is true but beware of new truths that cannot be proved to be old as 1 Joh. 2.7 Qui veteres linquit calles sequiturque novatos Saepius in fraudes incidet ille suaes But they said We will not walk therein So ver 17. but they said We will not hearken See the like resolute answers chap. 22.21 and 44.16 savouring of a self-willed obstinacy It is easier to deal with twenty mens reasons then with one mans will A wilfull man stands as a stake in the midst of a stream le ts all passe by him but he stands where he was Luther saith of some of his Wittembergians that so great was their obstinacy so headstrong and headlong they were that the four elements could not bear it Jeremy seems here to say as much of his Hierosolymitanes See ver 18 19. Ver. 17. Also I set Watchmen over you i. e. Priests and Prophets to watch for your welfare Hearken to the sound of the trumpet See on ver 8. We will not hearken See on ver 16. Ver. 18. Therefore hear O ye Nations For this people will not hear me though I speak never so good reason Scaliger telleth us that the nature of some kind of Amber is such Exercit. 140. Num. 12. that it will draw to it self all kind of stalks of any herb except Basilisk an herb called Capitalis because it makes men heady filling their braines with black exhalations
blows It speaketh deceit See Psal 52.2 with the Notes One speaketh peaceably but in his heart he layeth his wait Such a one was the tyrant Tiberius and our Richard 3. who would use most complements and shew greatest signs of love and curtesie to him in the morning Dan hist 249. whose throat he had taken order to be cut that evening Ver. 9. Shall I not visit them See on chap. 5.9 Ver. 10. For the mountains will I take up a weeping Accingit se Propheta ad luctum Jeremy was better at weeping then Heraclitus and from a better principle Lachrymas angustiae exprimit Crux lachrymas poenitentiae peccatum lachrymas sympathiae affectus humanitatis vel Christianitatis lachrymas nequitiae vel hypocrisis vel vindictae cupiditas Jeremies tears were of the best sort Because they are burnt up The Rabbines tell us that after the people were carried captive to Babylon the land of Jury was burnt up with sulphur and salt But this may well passe for a Jewish fable Both the fowl of the heaven See chap. 4.25 Ver. 11. And I will make Jerusalem heaps So small a distance is there saith Seneca betwixt a great City and none The world is as full of mutation as of motion And a den of Dragons Because she made mine house a den of theeves chap. 7.11 Ver. 12. Who is the wise man that he may understand this This who and who denoteth a great paucity of such wise ones as consider common calamities in the true causes of them propter quid pereat haec terra for what the land perisheth and that great sins produce grievous judgements The most are apt to say with those Philistines It is a chance to attribute their sufferings to Fate or Fortune to accuse God of injustice rather then to accept of the punishment of their iniquity And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken q. d. Is there never a one of your Prophets that will set you right herein but the dust of covetousnesse hath put out their eyes and they can better sing Placentia then Lachrymae c. Ver. 13. And the Lord saith Or therefore the Lord saith q. d. Because neither your selves know nor have any else to tell you the true cause of your calamities hear it from Gods own mouth Ver. 14. But have walked after the imagination of their own heart Then the which they could not have chosen a worse guide sith it is evil only evil and continually so Gen. 6.5 See the note there Which their fathers taught them See chap. 7.18 Ver. 15. Behold I will feed them with wormwood i. e. With bitter afflictions Et haec poena inobedientiae fidei respondet The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own wayes Prov. 14.14 he shall have his belly full of them as we use to say See chap. 8.14 Ver. 16. And I will scatter them also among the heathen As had been forethreatned Deut. 28. Lev. 26. But men will not beleeve till they feel They read the threats of Gods law as they do the old stories of forreign wars and as if they lived out of the reach of Gods rod. Ver. 17. Consider ye Intelligentes estote Is not your hard-heartednesse such as that ye need such an help to do that wherein you should be forward and free-hearted The Hollanders and French fast saith one but without exprobration be it spoken they had need to send for mourning-women Spec. bel sac 209. Vt flerent oculos erudiere suas Ovid. that by their cunning they may be taught to mourn And call for the mourning women In planctum omne pathos faciles such as could make exquisite lamentation and cunningly act the part of mourners at funerals so as to wring teares from the beholders These the Latines called Praeficas quia luctui praeficiebantur because they had the chief hand in funeral mournings for the better carrying on whereof they both sang doleful ditties See 2 Chron. 35.25 and played on certain heavily-sounding instruments Mat. 9.23 whence the Poet Cantabit maestis tibia funeribus Ovid. Ver. 18. And let them make haste and take up a wailing for us Of this vanity or affectation God approveth not as neither he did of the Olympick games of usury of that custome at Corinth 1 Ep. 15.29 which yet he maketh his use of Ver. 19. For a voyce of wailing is heard out of Zion How are we spoiled Ponit formulam threnodiae Quis tragoediam aptius magis graphice depingeret what tragedy was ever better set forth and in more lively expressions Ver. 20. Yet hear the Word of the Lord O ye women For souls have no sexes and ye are likely to have your share as deep as any in the common calamity you also are mostly more apt to weep then men and may sooner work your men to godly sorrow then those lamentatrices Ver. 21. For death is come up into our windows i. e. The killing Chaldees break in upon us at any place of entrance doors or windows Joel 2.9 Joh. 10.1 The Ancients give us warning here to see to our senses those windows of wickednesse that sin get not into the soul thereby and death by sin Ver. 22. Speak Thus saith the Lord Heb. Speak it is the Lords saying and therefore thou mayst be bold to speak it So 1 Thes 4.15 For I say unto you in or by the Word of the Lord. And as the handful after the harvest man Death shall cut them up by handfuls and lay them heaps upon heaps Ver. 23. Let not the wise-man glory in his wisdom q. d. You bear your selves bold upon your wisdom wealth strength and other such seeming supports and deceitful foundations as if these could save you from the evils threatned But all these will prove like a shadow that declineth delightful but deceitful as will well appear at the hour of death Charles the fifth whom of all men the world âudged most happy cursed his honours a little afore his death his victories trophees and riches saying Abite hinc abite longe get you far enough for any good ye can now do me Abi perdita bestia quae me totum perdidisti be gone thou wretched creature that hast utterly undone me said Corn Agrippa the Magician to his familiar spirit when he lay a dying So may many say of their worldly wisdom wealth c. Let not the wise man glory Let not those of great parts be head-strong or top-heavy let them not think to wind out by their wiles and shifts Let not the mighty man glory Fortitudo nostra est infirmitatis in veritate cognitio Aug. in humilitate confessio Nor the rich man glory in his riches Sith they availe not in the day of wrath Zeph. 1.18 See the Note there Ver. 24. But let him that glorieth glory in this And yet not in this neither unlesse he can do it with self-denial and lowlymindednesse Let him glory
only in the Lord saith Paul The pride of Virginity is as foul a sin as Impurity saith Austin so here Ver. 25. That I will punish all them c Promiscuously and impartially That are circumcised Some read it The circumcised in uncircumcision Unregenerate Israel notwithstanding their circumcision are to God as Ethiopians Am. 9.7 Ver. 26. That are in the utmost corners Heb. Praecisos in lateribus polled by the corner Tempora circumradunt which was the Arabian fashion saith Herodotus See chap. 49.32 For all these Nations are uncircumcised sc In heart though circumcised in the flesh as now also the Turks are CHAP. X. Ver. 1. HEar ye the Word which the Lord speaketh Exordium simplicissimum saith Junius A very plain preface calling for attention 1. From the authority of the Speaker 2. From the duty of the hearers O house of Israel The ten Tribes long since captivated and now directed what to do say some The Jews say others and in this former part of the chapter those of them that had been carried away to Babylon with Jeconiah Vide Selden de diis Syris Ver. 2. Learn not the way of the heathens Their sinful customes and irregular religions meer irreligions And be not dismayed at the signes of heaven Which the blind heathens feared and deified and none did more then the Syrians the Jews next neighbours Of the vanity of judicial Astrology see on Esa 47.13 He who feareth God needs not fear the stars for All things are yours saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 3.21 Muleasses King of Tunis a great star-gazer fore-seeing by them as he said the losse of his Kingdom and life together left Africa that he might shun that mischief but thereby he hastened it Anno 1544. God suffereth sometimes such fond predictions to fall out right upon men for a just punishment of their curiosity For the heathen are dismayed at them Therefore Gods people should not if it were for no other reason but that only See Mat. 6.32 Let Papists observe this Caeremoniae populotum Ver. 3. For the customes of the people are vain Their rites confirmed by custome their imagery for instance a very magnum nihil whether ye look to the Efficient Matter Form or End of those mawmets For one cutteth a tree out of the Forrest See Isa 40.2 and 44.12 17. which last place Jeremy here seemeth to have imitated Ver. 4. They deck it wâth silver and with gold Gild it over to make it sightly goodly gods therewhile See Esa 4.4 That it move not Vt non amittat saith Tremellius that it lose not the cost bestowed upon it Ver. 5. They are upright as the Palm-tree Which it straight tall smooth and in summo prosert fructus and beareth fruits at the very top of it Ver. 6. Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee None of all these dii minutuli these dunghil deities are worthy to be named in the same day with thee Thou art great God is great Psal 77.13 Greater Job 33.12 Greatest Psal 95.3 Greatnesse it self Psal 145.3 He is a degree above the superlative Think the same of other his names and attributes many of which we have here mentioned in this and the following verses which are therefore highly to be prized and oft to be perused Leonard Lessius a little before his death finished his book concerning the fifty Names of Almighty God Ex vita Lessii often affirming that in that little book he had found more light and spiritual support under those grievous fits of the stone which he suffered then in all his voluminous Commentaries upon Aquinas his summs which he had well-nigh fitted for the Presse Ver. 7. Who would not fear thee O King of Nations Tremble at thy transcendent greatnesse thy matchlesse Majesty power and prowesse See Mal. 1.14 Rev. 15.4 Psal 103.19 with the Notes Forasmuch as among all the wise men of the Nations Who used to deifie their wise men and their Kings Ver. 8. But they are altogether brutish and foolish The wise men are for that when they knew there was but one only true God as did Pythagoras Socrates Plato Seneca c. they detained the truth in unrighteousnesse and taught the people to worship stocks and stones Rom. 1.21 22 23. The Nations are because they yeeld to be taught devotion by images under what pretext soever Considerentur hic subterfugia Papistarum Pope Gregory first taught that images in Churches were Laey-mens books A doctrine of devils Ver. 9. Silver spread into plates See Isa 40.19 Is brought from Tarshish From Tarsus or Tartessus Ezek. 27.12 from Africa saith the Chaldee Idolaters spare for no cost And gold from Vphaz The same with Phaz Job 28.17 Or with Ophir as some Aurum Obzyrum They are all the work of cunning men Quaerunt suos Phidias Praxiteles but how could those give that deity which themselves had not Ver. 10. But the Lord is the true God Heb. Jehovah is God in truth not in conceit only or counterfeit He is the living God and an everlasting King See on ver 6. At his wrath the earth shall tremble The earth that greatest of all lifeless creatures And the Nations shall not be able Lesse able to stand before him then a glasse-bottle before a Cannon-shot Ver. 11. Thus shall ye say unto them Confession with the mouth is necessary to Salvation This verse written therefore in the Syriack tongue which was spoken at Babylon is a formulary given to Gods people to be made use of by them in detestation of the Idolatries of that City The Gods that made not the heaven and the earth The vanity of Idols and heathenish-gods is set forth 1. By their impotency 2. Frailty Quid ad haec respondebunt Papistae aut qualem contradictoriae reconciliationem afferent Ver. 12. He hath made the earth by his power Here we have the true Philosophy and right original of things Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Almighty God made the earth the main bulk and body of it Gen. 1.1 He alone is the powerful Creatour the provident disposer the prudent preserver of all things both in heaven and in earth therefore the only true God Ver. 13. When he uttereth his voyce Again when he thundereth Ps 29.3 it raineth a main lighteneth in the midst of the rain which is a great miracle and bloweth for life as we say no man knowing whence or whither Joh. 3.8 All which wondrous works of God may well serve for a Theological Alphabet and cannot be attributed to any god but our God And he causeth the vapours to ascend See Psal 135.7 with the Notes Ver. 14. Every man is brutish in his knowledge Or Every man is become more brutish then to know That was therefore an hyperbolical praise given by Philostratus to Apollonius Non doctus sed natus sapiens that he was not taught but born a wise man See Job 11.12 Rom. 1.22 with the Notes Every man is become