head lack no oyntment That thou mayst look smooth and handsome See Matth. 6.16 17. Oyntments were much used with those Eastern people in Banquetings Bathings and at other times Luk. 7.46 Mat. 26.7 By garments here some understand the affections as Col. 3.8 12 which must alwayes be white i. e. cheerful even in times of persecution when thy garments haply are stained with thine own bloud By the head they understand the thoughts which must also be kept lithe and lightsome as anoynted with the oyl of gladnesse Crucem multi abominantur crucem videntes sed non videntes unctionem Crux enim inuncta est saith Bernard Many men hate the Crosse because they see the Crosse only but see not the Oyntment that is upon it For the Crosse is anoynted and by the grace of Gods holy Spirit helping our infirmities it becomes not only light but sweet not only not troublesome Aug. but even desirable and delectable Martyr etiam in catena gaudet Paul gloried in his sufferings his spirit was cheered up by the thoughts of them as by some fragrant oyntment Vers 9. Live joyfully with the Wife whom thou lovest As Isaac the most loving Husband in Scripture did with his Rebecca whom he loved Gen. 24.67 not only as his Country-woman Kins-woman a good Woman c. but as his Woman not with an ordinary or Christian love only but with a conjugal love which indeed is that which will make marriage a merry-age sweeten all crosses season all comforts She is called the Wife of a mans bosome because she should be loved as well as the heart in his bosome God took one of mans ribs and having built it into a Wife laid it again in his bosome so that she is flesh of his flesh yea she is himself as the Apostle argues and therehence enforceth this duty of love Ephes 5. Neither doth he satisfie himself in this argument but addes there blow to blow so to drive this nayl up to the head the better to beat this duty into the heads and hearts of Husbands All the dayes of the life of thy vanity Love and live comfortably together as well in age as in youth as well in the fading as in the freshnesse of beauty Which he hath given thee i. e. The Wife not the Life which hee hath given thee For marriages are made in Heaven as the Heathens also held God as he brought Eve to Adam at first so still he is the Paranymph that makes the match Prov. 18.22 and unites their affections A prudent Wife is of the Lord for a comfort as a froward is for a scourge All the dayes of thy vanity i. e. Of thy vain vexatious life the miseries whereof to mitigate God hath given thee a meet-mate to compassionate and communicate with thee and to bee a principal remedy for Optimum solatium sodalitium no comfort in misery can be comparable to good company that will sympathize and share with us For that is thy portion And a very good one too if she prove good As if otherwise Arist in Rhetor. Aristotle saith right he that is unhappy in a Wife hath lost the one half at least of his happinesse on earth And in thy labour which thou takest c. They that will marry shall have trouble in the flesh 1 Cor. 7.28 let them look for it and labour to make a vertue of necessity As there is rejoycing in marriage so there is a deal of labour i. e. of care cost and cumber Is it not good therefore to have a Partner such an one as Sarah was to Abraham a Peece so just cut for him as answered him right in every joynt Vers 10. Whatsoever thy hand findes to doe doe it with thy might Wee were made and set here to be doing of something that may doe us good a thousand years hence our time is short our task is long our Master urgent an anstere man c. work therefore while the day lasteth yea work hard as afraid to be taken with your task undone The night of death comes when none can work That 's a time not of doing work but of receiving wages Up therefore and be doing that the Lord may be with you Praecipita tempus mors atra impendet agenti Silius Castigemus ergo mores moras The Devil is therefore more mischievous because hee knowes he hath but a short time Rev. 12.12 and makes all the haste he can to out work the children of light in a quick dispatch of deeds of darknesse O learn for shame of the Devil as Latimer said once in another case therefore to doe your utmost because the time is short or rolled up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor 7.29 as sayls use to bee when the ship drawes nigh to the harbour This argument prevailed much with St. Peter to bestirre him in stirring up those hee wrote unto because hee knew that hee must shortly put off his tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.13 14. The life of man is the lamp of God saith Solomon God hath set up our lives as Alexander when hee sate down before a City did use to set up a light to give those within to understand that if they came forth to him whiles that light lasted they might have quarter as if otherwise no mercy was to be expected Vers 11. That the race is not to the swift Here the Preacher proveth what hee had found true by experience by the event of mens indeavours often frustrated that nothing is in our power but all carried on by a providence which oft crosseth our likeliest projects that God may have the honour of all Let a man be as swift as Asahel or Atalanta yet hee may not get the goal or escape the danger Speed The battel of Terwin in France fought by our Henry 8. was called the battel of spurres because many fled for their lives who yet fell as the men of Ai did into the midst of their enemies At Muscle-borough-field many of the Scots running away so strained themselves in their race Life of Edw. 6. by Sir John Heywood that they fell down breathlesse and dead whereby they seemed in running from their deaths to run to it whereas two thousand of them that lay all day as dead got away safe in the night Nor the battel to the strong As we see in the examples of Gideon Jonathan and his armour-bearer David in his encounter with Goliah Leonidas who with six hundred men worsted five hundred thousand of Xerxes host Dan. 11.34 They shall be holpen with a little help And why a little that through weaker means we may see Gods greater strength Zach. 4.6 Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord This Rabshakeh knew not and therefore derided Hezekiah for trusting to his prayers Esay 36.5 What can Hezekiah say to embolden him to stand out What I say saith Hezekiah I have words of my lips that is Prayer Prayer saith
wrought all our works in us Or for us Certum est nos facere quod facimus sed Deus facit ut faciamus without Christ we can do nothing Ioh. 15.5 In him alone is our fruit found Hos 14.8 It is well observed by a grave Interpreter that the Church in the Canticles is nowhere described by the beauty of her hands or fingers because God alone worketh all her works for her and had rather that she should abound in good works in silence then to boast of them at all Ver. 13. O Lord our God other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us Or have mastered us Oh that men were so sensible of their spiritual servitude as thus to complain thereof to Jesus Christ But alass they do nothing less for most part delighting on the Devils drudgery which they count the only liberty and dancing as it were to hell in their bolts Will we make mention of thy name For which end we would not be the servants of men much less the slaves of Satan 1 Cor. 7.27 that basest of slaves but the free-men of Christ where the spirit is there is liberty and if the Son set us free Joh. 8. we shall be free indeed Ver. 14. They are dead Those other Lords of ours are ver 13. But seldom lieth the devil dead in a dyke saith our proverb yet he and his agents have their deadly wound and shall be trodden under our feet shortly Rom. 16.20 Oh groan in spirit after that sweet day of full redemption c. Therefore thou hast visited Or because thou hast visited Wo be to a person or people when God taketh them to do Ver. 15. Thou hast increased the Nation That righteous Nation which keepeth the truth ver 2. Some render and sense the words thus Thou hast indeed increased the Nation sc of the Jews thou hadst done it O sweet mercy I am the better to speak of it and therefore I speak it twice but thou wast heavy-laden sc with their sins therefore thou hast removed it far unto all the ends of the Earth Who knoweth not what a dispersed and despised people the Jews are in all places banished as it were out of the world by a common consent of Nations Be not therefore high-minded but fear Ver. 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee Pulcherrimus afflictationum fructus precandi ardor assiduitas Affliction exciteth devotion as blowing doth the fire Christ in his agony prayed most earnestly Luke 22.44 Martha and Mary when their Brother Lazarus was sick sent Messengers to Jesus Joh. 11.3 quos putas nisi suspiria continuata nisi prece◠irremissas saith Scultetus i. e. what were those Messengers but their continued groans and earnest prayers See Hos 5.15 with the Note Prayer is the Daughter of affliction and the Mother of comfort Not dropped but poured not prayers but a prayer one continual act and as in the speaking of three or four words there is much efficacy in a charm so their prayers were very prevalent They poured out Freely and largely and well-watered as 1 Sam. 1.10 7.6 ver 9.1 A prayer Heb. A charm a mussitation a submiss and lowly speech Spels and Enchantments were conceived to be full of efficacy containing much in few think the same of prayer But how much was he mistaken in this kind of charm or spell who would haunt the Taverns Play-houses and Whore houses at London all day but he durst not go forth without private prayer in the morning and then would say at his departure Now Devil do thy worst Ver. 17. So have we been in thy sight Heb. From thy face i. e. By reason of thy wrath So 2 Thes 1.9 who shall be punished from the presence of God that is of God himself present to their terrour Ver. 18. We have been with child With divers devices and hopes which yet have miscarryed and run aslope See Job 15.35 with the Note there We have as it were brought forth wind As did Queen Mary to her own great grief and the disappointment of her Expectants Dale the promoter for instance Well quoth he at the apprehending of Julian Living You hope and hope but your hope shall be aslope For although the Queens conceptions should still fail as they did yet she that you hope for shall never come at it for there is my Lord Cardinals grace and many more between her Act. Mon. fol. 1871. and it But my Lord Cardinals grace departed the very next day after Queen Mary Ib. 1905. having taken as t is thought some Italian Physick and Queen Elizabeth succeeded in the Throne to the great joy of all good men Ver. 19. Thy dead men shall rise So shall not thine enemies ver 14. This may seem to be Christs gracious answer to his poor desponding people and it is say some argumentum à beata Resurrections sumptum an argument taken from the happy resurrection of the righteous the wicked also shall be raised at the last day but not by the like means nor for the like blessed purpose Dan. 12.2 Some read the words thus Thy dead my dead body shall live for the faithful say they are Christs body Eph. 4.12 and therefore to shew this My dead body is here added by Apposition to shew how the faithful being dead and buried are to be accounted of even Christs dead body c. and shall be raised at the last day by vertue of that mystical union which still they hold with Christ Hence they are said to sleep in Jesus to be dead in Christ Phil. 3.21 who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself The Hebrews call a dead corpse Nephesh i. e. a soul Numb 5.2 9 10. 19.11 Hag. 2.14 to note that it shall live again and that the soul shall return to it At this day also they call the Church-yard Bethcaiim the house of the living Leo Modena Hist of Rites of the Iews pag. 238. and as they return from the burial-place every one plucks off grass from off the ground twice or thrice and casts it over his head saying florebunt de civitate tanquam foenum terrae c. Psal 92.12 13. so to set forth their hopes of a resurrection Neither need it seem incredible with any that God should raise the dead Acts 26.8 considering what followeth 1. Together with my dead body shall they arise i. e. with Christs body raised as the first fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15. One of the Rabbins readeth it As my dead body they shall arise 2. The force of Christs all-powerful voice saying Awake and sing ye that dwell in dust Arise and come away lift up your heads for your Redemption is at hand The Resurrection is in the Syriack called the Consolation Joh. 11.24 3. Thy dew is as the dew of herbs
scandal of the weak and scorn of the wicked Lift up a standard for the people q. d. Certa solida omnia constituite settle all things fast and firm that all men may be sure of their way and what they ought to follow It was a sad complaint of holy Melanchton Quos fugiamus habemus quos sequamur non intelligimus but this lasted not long with those first famous Reformers whom the Lord soon set in a course Ver. 11. Behold thy salvation cometh i. e. Christ thy Saviour as Luk. 2.30 Behold his reward is with him See on chap. 40.10 The three Beholds in this verse should be well weighed And his work before him i. e. That which he worketh for us and in us rewarding the work of his own free grace Ver. 12. And they shall call them the holy people Profane persons therefore and persecutors of holinesse are not to be reckoned among the people of the Lord Are not all the Lords people holy said those rebels but that helped them not And thou shalt be called sought out Or much set by contrary to that Jer. 30.17 This is Zion that none seeketh after CHAP. LXIII Ver. 1. WHo is this that cometh from Edom It had been said chap. 62.11 Behold thy salvation thy Saviour cometh Here therefore by an elegant Hypotyposis the Sionidae or Saints are brought in wondring at his coming in such a garb and asking Who 's this what gallant Conquerour have we here Edom or Idumaea signifieth Red Bozrah the chief City of Idumaea a vintage confer ver 2. It may very well be also that this Prophecy was uttered in vintage-time and therehence haply might grow the comparison here used John the Divine representing to us Christs coming to Judgement useth the same Simile Rev. 19.13 Some also of good note do understand this Prophecy of Christs triumphing over all his and our enemies the Romish Edomites especially at the last day Metaph. Ã massa conspersa With dyed garments Heb. leavened i. e. drenched besmeared This that is glorious in his apparel Which is the more glorious because laced or embroidered with the blood of his enemies Walking in the greatnesse of his strength Fortiter grassans walking and stalking going in state Plutarch in Epam gressu grallatorio Emperour like so as Epaminondas marched before his army which when Agesilaus King of Spartans beheld he cryed out O virum magnificum O that 's a gallant man Ye shall see the Son of man coming with great power saith Christ I that speak in righteousnesse Christs answer q. d. Fear not little flock this strange garb and gate of mine portendeth no hurt but good to you to whom whatsoever I have faithfully promised I will powerfully perform As King of Zion I will Parcere subjectis debellare superbos At the last day also I will come to be glorified in my Saints and to be admired in all them that beleeve 2 Thes 1.10 See Rev. 19.11 Mighty to save Sufficiens ad salvandum sive Magister ad salvandum a Master to save This those Lepers had learned and therefore cryed Jesus Master have mercy on us Luk. 17.13 Ver. 2. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel The wondring Church had proposed two questions ver 1. viz. who that was and why so bloodyed To the first she had an answer in few Aug. but very full ver 1. To the second she here again presseth for an answer and the rather because candor magis quam cruor clemency would better he seem a Saviour than cruelty Ver. 3. I have troden the wine-presse alone I the Sole and All sufficient Saviour of my Church have executed Gods just vengeance upon all her enemies spiritual and corporal confer Lam. 1.15 Rev. 14.19 20. and 19.15 and this with as much ease as men tread grapes in a wine-press And of the people there was none with me Christ maketh use of men for the beating down of Satans strong-holds but the power whereby it is done is from Christ alone 2 Cor. 10.4 5. and 4.7 Papists who will needs share with Christ and make him but an half-Saviour have no share in his salvation For I will tread them in mine anger I have already done it and I will much more at that great day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God Rom. 2.5 See Rev. 19.20 21. And their blood shall be sprinkled Or was sprinkled Their blood not his own The Fathers therefore and others who interpret this text of Christs passion were mistaken There is one among the rest who thus descants upon this verse but not so well The wild bull saith he of all things cannot abide any red colour Therefore the Hunter for the nonce standing before a tree puts on a red garment whom when the Bull seeth he runs hard at him as hard as he can drive But the hunter slipping aside the bulls horns stick fast in the tree as when David slipt aside Sauls spear stuck fast into the wall such an hunter is Christ Christ standing before the tree of his Crosse putteth on a red garment dipt and dyed in his own blood as one that cometh with red garments from Bozrah therefore the devil and his Angels like wild bulls of Basan run at him but he saving himself their hornes stick fast in the Cross as Abrahams ram by his horns stuck fast in the briars Thus he Stain my raiment Heb. pollute it for other blood polluteth Chap. 59.3 Lam. 4.14 but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin 1 Joh. 1.7 Ver. 4. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart Or was in mine heart hence I made such havock Christ is the Lord God of Recompences Jer. 51.56 and the Lord God of revenges Psal 94.1 he is jealous and furious Nah. 1.2 See the Note there his feet wherewith he treadeth down his enemies are like unto fine brass as if they burned in a furnace Rev. 1.15 Oh it is a fearful thing to fall into the punishing hands of this living God Heb. 10.31 And the year of my Redeemed is come Their joyful Jubilee It is hail with the Saints when ill with the wicked The deliverance of those is oft the destruction of these Ver. 5. And I looked and there was none to help See on chap. 59.16 Ver. 6. Make them drunk in my fury I will give them large draughts of my displeasure as Psal 75.9 I will infatuate and utterly disable them to rebel and resist yea I will make them drunk with their own blood as with new wine chap. 49.26 See Rev. 16.6 with the Note The perverse Jews as the last destruction of their Citie became a famous instance being buried as it were in a bog of blood And I will bring down their strength Or their blood as it is rendred Oecolam ver 3. eo quod vita virtus hominis in sanguine because life and strength is in the blood Ver. 7. I will mention the loving kindnesses of
4.6 And whereunto I will not do any more the like For where ever read we that the fathers did eat their sons in an open visible way and the sons the fathers Ver. 10. Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons See this fulfilled in the pittiful mothers Lam. 4.10 and may it be thought saith one that their hungry husbands shared not with them in those viands Oh the severity of God Cavebis si pavebis And the whole remnant of thee will I scatter A miserably disjected people the Jews are to this day banished out of the world as it were by a common consent of Nations Ver. 11. Wherefore as I live saith the Lord This is Gods usual oath in this Prophet especially and therefore should not be used as an oath or asseveration by any other sith He only liveth to speak properly Therefore will I also diminish thee Or I will break thee down or I will shave thee as ver 1. Jer. 48.37 Ver. 12. A third part of thee c. See ver 2. Ver. 13. Then shall mine anger be accomplished God is then said to be angry when he doth what men do when angry viz. 1. Chide 2. Smite And I will be comforted This also is spoken after the manner of men who are much comforted when they can be avenged Their song is Oh how sweet is revenge Virgil. animumque explêsse juvabit The same word in Hebrew that signifieth vengeance signifieth comfort also for God wll be comforted in the execution of his wrath But what a venomous and vile thing is sin that causeth the most merciful God to take comfort in the destruction of his creature And they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my zeale That is seriously threatened by my Prophets whom they have vilipended and derided but shall now feel the weight of their words When I have accomplished my fury in them This he doth not usually all at once but by degrees he suffereth not his whole wrath to arise till there be no remedy as 2 Chron. 36.16 Ver. 14. Moreover I will make thee waste In ariditatem a dry and barren wildernesse whose fruitfulnesse and plesantnesse is so much celebrated not only by divine but profane Authors also See Psal 107.34 with the Notes In the sight of all See on ver 8. Ver. 15. So it shall be a reproach and taunt See this fulfilled Lam. 2.15.16 An instruction They shall enjoy thy folly grow wise by thy harms Vulg. Exemplum I will make thee an example to the Heathen An astonishment A terrour some render it Ver. 16. When I shall send upon you tho evil arrows of famine Not to warn you as Jonathans arrows did David but to wound you to the heart and to lay you heaps upon heaps Deut. 32.23 24. And break your staff of bread See chap. 4.16 penuria fiet pecuniae saith Oecolampadius here you shall want mony to buy you bread Ver. 17. Evil beasts and they shall bereave thee Rob thee of thy children destroy thy cattle make thee few in number and thy high-way desolate as was long before threatened Levit. 26.22 See 2 Kings 17.25 I the Lord have spoken it I Jehovah who will give being to my menaces as well as to my promises CHAP. VI. Ver. 1. ANd the Word of the Lord came unto me Junius observeth that this and the two following Prophecies viz. those chap. 7 8. were delivered on the Sabbath day that 's the proper season of preaching Ver. 2. See thy face toward the mountains of Israel i. e. The Jews who are haughty and hard as mountains who are asperi inculti rough and rude as Mountaineirs use to be In Mount Olivet it self besides other mountains they boldly set up their idols even in the sight of the Lord so that he never looked out of the Sanctuary but he beheld that vile hill of abominations called therefore by an elegant Agnomination the Hill of Corruption 2 Kings 23.13 Ver. 3. Behold I even I will bring a sword upon you Because ye are polluted by mans sins and so made hateful unto me For as God thinks the better of the places wherein he is sincerely served yea where his Saints are born Psal 87.5 or make abode Isa 49.16 so the worse of such places where Satans seat is Ver. 4. Your images shall be broken down Heb. your Sun-images whence also Jupiter Hammon had his name which Macrobius saith was the same with the Sun Lib. 1. Sat. cap. 23. See 2 Chron. 23.5 And I will cast down your slain men Cruentatos vulneratos vel interfectos vestros such as when wounded flye to their idols for safety Before your idols Heb. your dâ—i stercorei dunghil-deities more loathsome then any excrements Ver. 5. And I will lay the dead carkasses of the children of Israel c. That in the very places where they have sinned there they may suffer So in the valley of Hinnom and at Pilates Praetorium c. Ver. 6. In all your dwelling-places Omnia everram evertam funditus I will turn all topsy-turvy Your works shall be abolished Those toilesom toies your Mawmets and monuments of idolatry This the Prophet telleth them again and again that he might waken them and work them to repentance Ver. 7. And ye shall know that I am the Lord That I am dicti mei Dominus one that will be as good as my word So shall all not idolaters only but broachers of heresies also quae furere faetere cultores suos faciunt saith Oecolampadius here Ver. 8. Yet will I leave a remnant For royal use See on chap. 5.3 Ver. 9. And they that escape of you shall remember me Here beginneth that true Repentance never to be repented of Psal 22.27 and 20.7 Because I am broken off from their whorish heart i. e. I am troubled saith Piscator I am tired out saith Zegedine and made to break off the course of my kindness I am broken off from their whorish heart so Polanus rendreth it that is saith he I leave them though loth to do it the breach is meerly on their part for they have an Impetus a spirit of whoredoms in them that causeth them to erre and go a whoring from under their God Hos 4.12 9.1 And with their eyes Those windows of wickedness through which the devil who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as saith Synesius doth oft wind himself into the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. And they shall loath themselves They shall displease themselves saith the Vulgar but that 's not enough Pudefient in faciebus suis say others they shall bleed inwardly and blush outwardly deeply detesting their former abominations and not waiting till others condemn them they shall condemn themselves Ver. 10. And they shall know By woful experience He that trembleth not in sinning shall be crusht to peices in feeling said blessed Bradford And that I have not said in vain In terrorem only Ver. 11. Thus saith
â—…a Effigies IOHANNIS TRAPP A. M. Aetat Suae 59. 1660. A COMMENTARY OR EXPOSITION UPON These following Books of holy Scripture Proverbs of Solomon Ecclesiastes the Song of Songs Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Being a Third Volume of ANNOTATIONS Upon the whole BIBLE By John Trapp M. A. once of Christ-Church in Oxford now Pastour of Weston upon Avon in Glocester-shire LONDON Printed by Robert White for Nevil Simmons Bookseller in Kederminster and are to be sold by Henry Mortlock at the Phenix in Pauls Church-yard and by Thomas Basset in Dunstans Church-yard in Fleet-street Anno Dom. 1660. To the Worshipful his much honoured Friends Edward Stephens of Sadbury Esq together with the Worshipful Colonel Thomas Stephens Esq and his thrice-Worthy Consort Mris Katharine Stephens as also to their only Son Mr. Thomas Stephens the younger Much honoured and dearly beloved in the Lord I No sooner bethought me of this Dedication then there came likewise into my mind that Apostolical Distinction of true Christians into Fathers Young men and Little children 1 John 2.12 13. All these taken conjunctim Saint John had by a most kind compellation called Little children ver 1. My little children saith he these things write I unto you as in an Epistle Dedicatory that ye sin not sc sinningly as chap. 3.6 and mortally as chap. 5.16 But if any man do sin as alas we can do no less we have an Advocate with the Father appearing for us as a Lawyer appeareth for his Client Heb. 9.24 even Jesus Christ the just one Vorstius the Judges own Son and he is the propitiation that is the Propitiatour by a Metalepsis for our sins Learn this in general saith the holy Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 1.9 and hold it fast as with both hands for it is of the very foundation As for particulars I have yet somewhat more to say to you divisim severally and asunder And first for you Little children or Babes in Christ who have had your spiritual Conception Gal. 4.19 Birth 1 Pet. 1.23 and are now in your child-hood 1 Cor. 3.12 Heb. 5.13 as well appeareth 1. Because your sins are forgiven you for his names sake ver 12. for an assurance whereof God hath given you the Sacrament of Baptism to signifie as by sign to ascertain you as by seal to convey to you as by instrument Christ Jesus with all his benefits 2. Because ye have known the Father in some degree at least whilest he hath inwardly sealed you up by his Spirit set his mark upon you and sent you word as it were how well he loveth you Now then the lesson that I have to lay before you Little Ones is only this That it is the last hour and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now there are many Antichrists abroad ver 18. look well to your selves therefore that ye be not beguiled as little ones are apt to be that ye fall not from your own stedfastness but for a Preservative grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and for ever Amen 2 Pet. 3.18 Next for you Fathers you that are old Disciples as Mnason is called Acts 21.16 you that are already gray-headed and experienced Christians Saints of the first magnitude Ephes 4.13 such as the Psalmist celebrateth Psalm 92.14 I grant that ye have known him that is from the beginning ver 13. and I say it again for your singular commendation and encouragement Ye have known him that is from the beginning ver 14. even that Antient of daies whose head and hair are white like wool as white as snow Rev. 1.14 You know him I say with a knowledge not only Apprehensive and Disciplinary but also Affective and Directive of your whole life Nevertheless I must friendly forewarn you of this one thing Old Melancthon was much delighted with that saying of Achilles in Philostratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though ye know it already Love not the world neither the things that are in the world ver 15. 'T is strange you should and yet 't is often seen you do dote over impotently on these things here below even then when you have one foot in the grave and should have the other foot in heaven whether ye are hasting The higher the Sun the shorter surely should be the shade The nearer to the Sea the sooner should come in the tide And as in a Piramide the higher you go the lesser compass you find So ought it to be with you Reverend Fathers upon whose heads God hath set a silver crown of hoary hairs already and will shortly set upon them an immarcessible crown of glory Lastly for you Young men that are not only past the spoon but come to a well-grown age in Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have to praise you for this and again I praise you that ye have in a good measure overcome that wicked One the Troubler ver 13 14. because ye are strong and the word of God abideth in you ver 14 But yet as strong as ye are and the glory of young men Heb. of choice young men is their strength Prov. 20.29 well improved by you because made use of against the devil yet let me caution you also as well as Elder Saints to beware of the world a subtile a sly enemy and very insinuative into the best breasts Love not the world neither the things that are in the world is your lesson too ver 15. Divorce the flesh from the world and then your Adversary the Devil can do you no hurt Hitherto worthy Sirs you have heard the beloved Disciple only glossed and paraphrased a little and a better you cannot hear for he was à secretis to the wonderful Counsellour and leaned on his bosom Shall I now take the humble boldness Gentlemen after so great an Apostle to bespeak you severally in like sort only with a little inversion of the Apostles order And first for you Sir the Grand-sire the Antientest and most honourable of this thrice-worthy Ternio besides your singular sagacity and prudence both civil and sacred the holy Apostles character of a Father these four Notes of an old man in Christ are all fairly pensil'd out and exemplified in your religious and righteous life and practice absit verbo invidia as in any mans I know alive at this day 1. Such an one is exceeding humble as Abraham was Gen. 18.27 I am but dust and ashes as Jacob was Gen. 32.10 I am less then the least of thy loving kindnesses Lord as David was Psalm 22.6 I am a worm and no man as Nehemiah was when he prayed for pardon of his Reformations chap. 13 22. As Paul was with his Minimissimus sum so Estius rendereth him Ephes 3.8 as Ignatius was with his Tantillitas nostra our utmost meanness as Austin was with his Non sum dignus quem tu diligas I am utterly unworthy
though they bee and set on with some more than ordinary earnestness Better it is that the vine should bleed than dye Sinite virgam coâ—ripientem 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Maâ—ichees 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
meet for the work and therefore not examining his religion entertained him into his service yea placed him over the family of Joseph admitted him into so much familiarity and so let loose the bridle of domestical discipline to him that he took state upon him as a young master in the house and soon after turned traitour and would needs be as his sonne and more The like is to be seen in Abner Ishbosheths servant who grew so haughty and haunty that he might not be spoken to 2 Sam. 3. And in Zimre whom his master Elah so favoured and esteemed that he made him captain over the half-part of his charets But this begger thus set on horse-back rides without reigns to the ruin of his master and his whole house 1 King 16.11 So true is that of the Poet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asperius nihil est humili dum surgit in altum Tobiah the servant is so insolent ther 's no dealing with him Vers 22. An angry man stirreth up strife See Chapter 15.18 and 16.21 And a furious man Hebr. A master of fury or one that is mastered and overmatched by his fury that hath no command of his passions but is transported by them or as some make the metaphor and the Original will well bear it is wedded to them as a man is to his wife commanded by them Plutarch as the Persian Kings were by their Concubines being captivarum suarum captivi slaves to their slaves Such a man being big with wrath not onely breeds contention but brings forth transgression in great abundance he sets his mouth against heaven and his tongue walketh through the earth c. Psal 73. he lets fly on both hands and lays about him like a mad man Vers 23. A mans pride shall bring him low For it sets God against him and Angels and men not good men onely but bad men too and those that are as proud as themselves For whereas one drunkard loves another and one thief another c. one proud person cannot endure another but seeks to undermine him that he alone may bear the bell carry the commendation the praise and promotion See chap. 11.12 and 15.33 and 18.12 Vers 24. Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul Sith to hold the bag is as bad as to fill it to consent to sin or to conceal it as bad as â—o commit it By the one as well as by the other a man may easily become as Coraeh did a sinner against his own soul and cruelly cut the throat of it Let our publike theevs look to this See Isa 1.23 He heareth cursing and bewrayeth it not See Levit. 5.1 with the Note To conceal treason is treason so here Have no fellowship therefore with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them Let me be counted proud or pragmatical saith Luther rather than found guilty of sinful silence Luth. Epist ad Staupiâ— whiles my Lord suffereth Vers 25. The fear of man bringeth a snare This cowardly passion expectorates and exposes a man to many both sinnes and sufferings And albeit faith when it is in the heart quelleth and killeth distrustful fear and is therefore fitly opposed to it in this sacred sentence yet in the very best Sense fights sore against Faith when it is upon its own dunghil I mean in a sensible danger Natures retraction of it self from a visible fear may cause the pulse of a Christian that beats truly and strongly in the main point the state of the soul to intermit and faulter at such a time as we see in the exampleâ— of Abraham Isaac David Peter others who shewed some trepiâ—ation and timidity and like fearful birds and beasts fell into the pits and toyls of the Hunter and hazzarded themselves to Gods displeasure The Chameleon is said to bee the most fearful of all Creatures and doth therefore turn himself into so many colours to avoyd danger which yet will not bee God equally hateth the timorous and the treacherous Fearful men are the first in that black bedrole Rev. 21.8 Tectus â—â—tus But he that trusteth in the Lord shall be safe Or set on high as on a rock his place of defence shall be munitions of rocks Isa 33.15 farre out of harms-way he shall be kept safe as in a tower of brass or town of war Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the youngmen shall utterly fall But they that wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as Eagles c. Isa 40.30 31. Like as the Cony that flyes to the holes in the rocks doth easily avoyd the dogs that pursue her when the Hare that trusts to the swiftnesse of her leggs is at length overtaken and tore in peeces So here Vers 26. Many seek the Rulers favour More than the love of God and so cast themselves into a second snare besides that vers 25. But as he that truly trusts in God will easily expel the fear of man so he that looks upon God as Judge of all from whose sentence there is no appeal will rather seek his face than the favour of any earthly Judge whatsoever Especially since whether the Judge clear him or cast him the judgement he passeth is from the Lord. Vers 27. An unjust man is an abomination to the just Who yet hates non virum sed vitium not the person of a wicked man but his sin as the Physician hates the Disease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but loves the Patient and strives to recover him hee abhorres that which is evil perfectly hates it Psal 139.22 hates it as hell so the Greek word signifies Rom. 12.9 hates it in his dearest friends as Asa did in his mother Maacha hates it most of all in himself as having the Divine Nature transfused into him whereby hee resembles God and that life of God whereunto sin he knows is a destructive poyson a sicknesse unto death Arist Rhetor. 1 Joh. 5. Hence his implacable and no lesse impartial hatred of all as well as any sin for all hatred is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle hath it to the whole kind It was said of Antony that he hated a Tyrant not Tyranny it cannot be said of a Saint he hates sinners not sin but the contrary And he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked So there is no love lost betwixt them The Devil hath set his limbes in all wicked people they are a Serpentine seed a viperous brood and the old enmity continues Gen. 3.15 see the Note there Antipathies there are in Nature as between the Elephant and Boar the Lion and Cock the Horse and the Stone called Taraxippe c. But this is nothing to that betwixt the godly and the wicked and why but because the ones works are good and the others evil and because the just man condemnes the unjust by his contrary courses yea hee affrights his heart and terrifies him with his presence and
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 staâ—es 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
ward off his blow to moâ— up ones self against his fire Why should vain man contend with his Maker Why should hee beat himself to froth as the surges of the Sea do against the Rock Why should hee like the untamed Heifer unaccustomed to the yoke gall his neck by wrigling make his crosses heavier than God makes them by crosseness and impatience The very Heathen could tell him that Deus crudelius urit Tibul. Eleg. 1. Quos videt invitos succubuisse sibi God will have the better of those that contend with him and his own Reason will tell him that it is not fit that God should cast down the bucklers first and that the deeper a man wades the more hee shall bee wet Vers 12. For who knoweth what is good for man Hee may think this and that to bee good but is mostly mistaken and disappointed Ambrose hath well observed that other creatures are led by the instinct of Nature to that which is good for them The Lion when hee is sick cures himself by devouring an Ape the Bear by devouring Ants the wounded Dear by feeding upon Dittany c. in ignoras O homo remedia tuo but thou O man knowest not what is good for thee Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good saith the Prophet and what doth the Lord require of thee but this instead of raking riches together to do justly and to love mercy and instead of contending with him to humble thy self to walk with thy God Micah 6.8 For who can tell a man what shall bee after him When the Worms shall bee scrambling for his body the Devils haply for his soul and his friends for his goods A false Jesuite published in print Camd Elis Dilexi virum qui cum corpore solveretur magit de Ecclesiarum statu c. some years after Queen Elizabeths death that shee died despairing and that shee wished shee might after her death hang a while in the air to see what striving would bee for her Kingdome I loved the man said Ambrose of Theodosius for this that when hee died hee was more affected with care of the Churches good than of his own CHAP. VII Vers 1. A good name is better than precious ointment YEa than great riches Prov. 22.1 See the Note The initial letter of the Hebrew word for Good here is bigger than ordinary Majusculum to shew the more than ordinary excellency of a good name and fame amongst men If whatsoever David doth doth please the people Rom. 1.2 if Mary Magdalens cost upon Christ bee well spoken of in all the Churches if the Romans Faith bee famous throughout the whole world if Demetrius have a good report of all good men and St. John set his seal to it this must needs bee better than precious ointments the one being but a perfume of the nostrils the other of the heart Sweet ointment olfactum afficit spiritum reficit cerebrum juvat affects the smell refresheth the spirit comforts the brain A good name doth all this and more For First As a fragrant scent it affects the soul amidst the stench of evil courses and companies It is as a fresh gale of sweet air to him that lives as Noah did among such as are no better than walking dunghills and living sepulchres of themselves stinking much more worse than Lazarus did after hee had lain four daies in the grave A good name preserveth the soul as a Pomander and refresheth it more than musk or civil doth the body Secondly It comforts the conscience and exhilatates the heart cheers up the mind amidst all discouragements and fatteth the bones Prov. 15.30 doing a man good like a medicine And whereas sweet ointments may bee corrupted by dead flies a good name proceeding from a good conscience cannot bee so Fly blown it may bee for a season and somewhat obscured but as the Moon wades out of a cloud so shall the Saints innocency break forth as the light and their righteousness as the noon-day Psal 37.6 Buried it may beee in the open sepulchres of evil throats but it shall surely rise again A Resurrection there shall bee of names as well as of bodies at the last day at utmost But usually a good name comforts a Christian at his death and continues after it For though the name of the wicked shall rot his lamp shall bee put out in obscurity and leave a vile snuff behinde it yet the righteous shall bee had in everlasting remembrance they shall leave their names for a blessing Isa 65.15 And the day of death than the day of ones birth The Greeks call a mans birth-day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginning of his Nativity they call the begetting of his misery Man that is born of a woman is born to trouble saith Job chap. 14.1 The word there rendred Born signifieth also generated or conceived to note that man is miserable even so soon as hee is warm in the womb as David hath it Psal 51.5 If hee lives to see the light hee comes crying into the world Ad Marc. cap. 11. a flet is vitam anspicatur saith Seneca Insomuch as the Lawyers defined 〈◊〉 by crying and a still-born childe is all one as dead in Law Onely Zoâ—â—staâ— is said to have been born laughing but that laughter was both monstrous and ominous Justin lib. 1. For hee first found out the black Art which yet profited him not so far as to the vain felicity of this present life For being King of the Bactrians hee was overcome and slain in battel by Ninus King of the Assyrians St. Austin who relates this story saith of mans first entrance into the world Nondum loquitur tamen prophetat Ere ever a childe speaks hee prophesies by his tears of his ensuing sorrows Nec prius natus quam damnat no No sooner is hee born but hee is condemned to the Mines or Gallies as it were of sin and suffering Hence Solomon here prefers his Coffin before his Cradle And there was some truth in that saying of the Heathen Optimum est non nasci proximum quam celorrime mori For wicked men it had been best not to have been born or being born to dye quickly sith by living long they heap up first sin and then wrath against the day of wrath As for good men there is no doubt but the day of death is best to them because it is the day-break of Eternal Righteousness and after a short brightness as that Martyr said gives them Malorum ademptionem bonorum ademptionem freedome from all evil fruition of all good Hence the antient Fathers called those daies wherein the Martyrs suffered their birth-daies because then they began to live indeed sith here to live is but to lye a dying Eternal life is the onely true life saith Austin Vers 2. It is better to go to the house of mourning To the terming-house as they term it where a dead corps is laid forth for
Caveatur osculum Iscarioticum consign their treachery with so sweet a symbol of amity yet those that love out of a pure heart fervently do therefore kiss 1 Pet. 1.22 as desiring to transfuse if it might bee the souls of either into other and to become one with the party so beloved and in the best sense suaviated That therefore which the Church here desireth Heb. 1.1 is not so much Christs coming in the flesh that God who at sundry times and in divers manners had spoken in times past unto her by the Prophets would now speak unto her by his Son as some have sensed it as that shee may have utmost conjunction to him and nearest communion with him here as much as may bee and hereafter in all fulness of fruition Let him kiss mee and so seal up his hearty love unto mee even the sure mercies of David with the kisses of his mouth Not with one kiss onely with one pledge of his love but with many there is no satiety no measure no bounds or bottome of this holy love as there is in carnal desires ubi etiam vota post usum fastidio sunt Neither covers mee to kiss his hand as they deal by Kings or his feet as they do the Popes but his mouth shee would have true kisses the basia the busses of those lips whereinto grace is poured Psal 45.3 and where hence those words of grace are uttered Prov. 31.26 Mat. 5.2 3 c. Hee openeth his mouth with wisdome and in his lips is the Law of kindness Hence her affectionate desires her earnest pantings inquietations and unsatisfiablenesses Shee must have Christ or else shee dies shee must have the kisses of Christs mouth even those sweet pledges of love in his word or shee cannot bee contented but will complain in the confluence of all other comforts as Abraham did Gen. 15.2 Lord God what wilt thou give mee seeing I go childeless Or as Artabâ—zus in Xenophon did when Cyrus had given him a cup of gold and Chrysantas a kiss in token of his special favour saying that the cup that hee gave him was nothing so good gold as the kiss that hee gave Chrysantas The Poets fable that the Moon was wont to come down from her orb to kiss Endymion It is a certain truth that Christ came down from Heaven to reconcile us to his Father to unite us to himself and still to communicate unto our souls the sense of his love the feeling of his favour the sweet breath of his holy Spirit For thy Love is better than Wine Heb. Loves The Septuagint and Vulgar render it Ubera Thy breasts but that is not so proper sith it is the Church that here speaks to Christ and by the sudden change of person shews the strength and liveliness of her affection As by the Plural Loves shee means all fruits of his love righteousness peace joy in the Holy Ghost assurance of Heaven which Mr. Latimer calls the sweet-meats of the feast of a good conscience There are other dainty dishes at that feast but this is the banquet this is better than Wine which yet is a very comfortable creature Psal 104.15 and highly set by Psal 4.7 Plato calls wine a musick miseriarum humanarum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief allayments of mens miseries Vers 3. Because of the savour of thy good ointments Or To smell to thy ointments are best Odoratissimus es As the Panther casts abroad a fragrant savour as Alexander the Great is said to have had a natural sweetness with him by reason of the good temperament of his body So and much more than so the Lord Christ Euseb that sweetest of sweets Hee kisseth his poor persecuted people as Constantine once kissed Paphnutius his lost eye and departing for here hee comes but as a suter onely till the marriage bee made up in Heaven hee leaves such a sweet scent behinde him such a balmy verdure as attracts all good hearts unto him so that where this all-quickning carkass is there would the Eagles bee also Mat. 24. The Israelites removed their tents from Mithcah which signifies sweetness to Cashmonah which signifies swiftness Numb 33.29 To teach us saith one that the Saints have no sooner tasted Christs sweetness but they are carried after him presently with incredible swiftness Hence they are said to have a nose like the Tower of Lebanon Cant. 7. for their singular sagacity in smelling after Christ and to flee to the holy Assemblies where Christs odors are beaten out to the smell as the clouds Isa 60.8 or as the Doves to their windaws For why they have their senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil Heb. 5.14 and their love abounds yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement Phil. 1.9 Thy name is as ointment poured forth There is an elegant allusion in the Original betwixt Shem and Shemen that is Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Ointment And Christ hath his name both in Hebrew and Greek from ointment for these three words in signification are all one Messias Christ Anointed See the reason Isa 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord that oil of gladness Heb. 1.9 is upon mee because hee hath anointed and appointed mee to preach good tidings to the meek 2 Cor. 2.2 14 15 16 c. Now when this is done to the life when Christ crucified is preached when the Holy Ghost in the mouth and ministry of his faithful servants shall take of Christs excellencies as it is his office to do Joh. 16.14 and hold them out to the world when hee shall hold up the tapestry as it were 2 Tim. 2.5 and shew men the Lord Christ with an Ecce virum Behold the man that one Mediatour betwixt God and Man the Man Christ Jesus See him in his Natures in his Offices in his Works in the blessed Effects of all This cannot but stir up wonderful loves in all good souls with hearty wishes 1 Cor. 16.22 that If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ hee may bee Anathema Maranatha accurst upon accurst and put over to God to punish Therefore the Virgins love thee i. e. All that are adjoyned to mee in comely sort as chast Damosels to their Mother and Mistress The elect and faithful are called Virgins for their spiritual chastity They are Gods hidden ones as the word here used signifieth as they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paellae absconditae propter secretiorem educationem Riv. Speed 1236. Psal 83.3 they are not defiled with the corruptions that are in the world through lust for they are Virgins Rev. 14.4 Else the Bride would not suffer them about her Psal 45.14 Of Queen Elizabeth it is said that shee never suffered any Lady to approach her presence of whose stain shee had but the least suspition These follow the Lamb wheresoever hee goeth ib. as the other creatures follow the Panther for his sweet odors as birds
lovely though not pure so is the Church comely though not clear The Coy Daughters of Jerusalem might make a wonderment that so black a doudy as the Church appeared to them that saw not her inward beauty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 7. should ever hope to have love from the fairest among men Wee read how Aaron and Miriam murmured against Moses who was fair to God because of the Tauny-Moor-woman whom hee had married Numb 12.1 For answer to whom the Spouse here grants that shee is black or blackish at least 1 As having some hypocrites in her bosome that as that blasted corn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frumentum adustum Mat. 13.25 smutcheth and sullieth the better sort 2 As being not fully freed from sin till after death Sin is dejected indeed in the Saints but not utterly ejected while they are here For why it is in them as the spots of the Leopard not by accident but by nature which no Art can cure no water can wash off because they are not in the skin but in the flesh and bones in the sinewes and the most inward parts Job 30.30 Lam. 4.8 Jer. 8.21 Howbeit the Church is freed from the damning and domineering power of sin And whereas 3 Shee is looked upon as black because of her afflictions those fruits of sin and seems to have lain among the pots as the Psalmist hath it places where Scullions use to lye and so are black and collied yet shall shee bee as the wings of a Dove that are covered with silver c. Psal 68.13 though shee sit in darkness the Lord shall give her light Micah 7.8 And as black soap makes white cloathes so do sharp afflictions make holy hearts Act. Mon. 1486. Where God is pleased to set in with his battle-door as that Martyr said Puriores coelo afflictione facti sunt saith Chrysostome of those that were praying for Peter Act. 12. And some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them white saith the Prophet of those suffering-Saints Dan. 11.35 The face of the Church is never so beautiful as when it is washed with its own tears as some faces appear most orientally fair when they are most instampt with sorrow Christ did so Isa 52.14 But comely Or goodly lovely desirable delectable viz. For my double Righteousness those righteousnesses of the Saints Rev. 19.8 imputed and imparted Hence the Church may better sing than Sappho did Si mihi difficilis formam natura negavit Ovid. Epist Justitia formae damna rependo meae Ingenio formae damna rependo meae As the tents of Kedar as the curtains of Solomon Kedar signifieth black Plin◠lib. 6. cap. 28. Solin cap. 26. Isa 13.20 and the Kedarens a people of Arabia descended of Ismael dwelt in black tents made of hair-cloath and had no other houses they also dwelt not far from the Ethiopians or Black-moors 2 Chron. 21.16 As the curtains c. i. e. As his costly tapestry Joseph Antiq. lib. 8.5 and other sumptuous houshold-stuff whereof read 1 King 10.1 2 c. Josephus also makes mention of the Babylonish rich furniture wherewith Solomons rooms were hanged These are to set forth the Churches comeliness as the other did her homeliness Let none be despised for his outward meanness for within that leathern purse may bee a Pearl Christ himself was hidden under the Carpenters son and a poor outside Isa 53.2 Saepe sub attrita latitat sapientia veste Vers 6. Look not upon mee because I am black Look not upon mee viz. with a lofty look with a coy countenance fix not your eyes upon mine infirmities and miseries so as to disdain mee or to disesteem mee for them Blackish I am I confess tanned and discoloured The old Latine translation renders it brown lovely brown wee call it belle brunette the French Others somewhat black q. d. My blackness is not so much as you may think for Judge not therefore according to the appearance Stumble not at my seeming deformities A faithful man may fall far but the seed abideth in him the new nature cannot bee lost the oyl of Gods Spirit wherewith hee is anointed setteth the colours which are of his own tempering so sure on and maketh them cleave so fast together that it is impossible hee should ever return to his own hiew to bee coal-black as before Howbeit hee is subject to much affliction anguish and distress as it were to the scorching of the Sun and that with many that have not senses exercised to discern good and evil renders him despicable but that should not bee Of Queen Elizabeth it is said Camb. Elis that shee hated no less than did Mithridates such as maliciously persecuted vertue forsaken of fortune as when a Deer is shot the rest of the Herd push him out of their company Because the Sun hath looked upon mee By Sun here some have understood the Sun of Righteousness whom when the Church looks intently upon shee is bedazled and sees her own nothingness in comparison of his incomparable brightness Others by Sun here will have original sin to bee meant which indeed hath brought the blackness of darkness upon the spirit of our minds and bored out the eye of our understandings The same Original pravity they understand by the following words Sons of the same Mother and by being kindled with wrath they understand sin encreasing and raging as it were And by appointing the Church to keep other Vineyards they understand the committing of the works of the flesh and the deeds of darkness with which shee was as it were holden so that shee could do nothing else till the Lord had loosed her out of these chains But they do best that by Sun in this place understand the heat of persecution and the parching of oppression according to Mat. 13.6 21. Lam. 1.6 13 14 c. What Bonefires were here made in Queen Maries daies burning the dear Saints of God to a black coal lighting them up for tapers in a dark night as they did in Neroes daies After John Husse was burnt his adversaries got his heart which was left untouched by the fire and beat it with their staves The story of the Maccabees persecutions prophecied of Dan. 11.36 and recorded Heb. 11.35 to the end is exceeding lamentable Opposition is as Calvin wrote to the French King Evangelii Genius Luth. in Gen. 29. and Ecclesia est haeres crucis saith Luther The Church hath its cross for its inheritance All that will live godly in Christ Jesus if they bee set upon it so to do shall suffer persecution there is no avoiding of it 2 Tim. 3.12 When Ignatius came to the wilde Beasts Now Act. and Mon. saith hee I begin to bee a Christian and not till now That Christian saith Mr. Bradford hath not yet learnt his ABC in Christianity that hath not learned the lesson of the Cross Luth.
nor the worlds opposition As for the former Christ blots out the thick cloud as well as the cloud Isa 44.22 that is enormities as well as infirmities Hee casts all the sins of his Saints into the bottom of the Sea which can as easily cover mountains as mole-hills And for the second Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey meaning than all the Churches enemies called for their ravenousness mountains of Lions and Leopards Cant. 4.8 The stout-hearted are spoiled c. Psal 76.4 5. And who art thou O great mountain before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain Zech. 4.7 And whereas mans soul hath naturally many mountains of pride and prophaneness in it there is that Leviathan Psal 104.26 and creeping things innumerable as the Psalmist saith of the Sea And for his body there is not a vein in it that would not swell to the bigness of the highest hill to make resistance to the work of grace every such mountain and hill is made low before the Lord Christ Isa 40.4 and every high thing cast down that exalts it self against the knowledge of God 2 Cor. 10. Hee comes with authority and reigns over all impediments Vers 9. My Beloved is like a Roe or a young Hart Viz. For sweetness and swiftness as in the former verse His help seems long because wee are short In the opportunity of time hee will not bee wanting to those that wait for him The Lion seems to leave her young ones till they have almost killed themselves with roaring and howling but at last shee relieves them and hereby they become the more couragious God seems to forget his people sometimes but it is that they may the better remember themselves and reminde him Hee seems as here to have taken a long journey and to bee at a great distance from them when as indeed hee is as near us as once hee was to Mary Magdalen after his Resurrection but shee was so bleared shee could not see him If hee at any time absent himself for trial of our Faith and love to him and to let us know how ill wee can bee without him yet hee is no further off than behinde some wall or screen Or if hee get out of doors from us yet hee looks in at the window to see how wee take it and soon after shews himself thorow the Lattess that wee may not altogether despond or despair of his return 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apparuit instar floris exoricutis Yea hee flourisheth or blossometh thorow the Lattesses like some flower or fruit-tree that growing under or near unto a window sends in a sweet sent into the room or perhaps some pleasant branches to teach that Christ cometh not to his without profit and comfort to their souls Vers 10. My Beloved spake and said Heb. Answered and said Shee had sighed out belike some such request unto her Beloved as David did Psal 30.19 Return O Lord how long Lovers hours are full of eternity Hee replieth Even now my Love behold here I am for thy help Now will I rise now will I bee exalted Isa 33.10 now will I lift up my self Rise thou therefore out of the ashes wherewith thou hast been covered Lam. 3.16 and come away to a better condition Or Rise out of sin wherein by nature thou sittest Luk. 1.79 Stand up from the dead come away to Christ and hee shall give thee light Ephes 5.14 Come for the Master calleth as they said to blinde Bartimeus Mark 10.49 Come for it is high time to come sith now is our salvation nearer than when we beleeved The night is far spent the day is at hand c. Rom. 13.11 12. The winter is past the flowers appear c. Up therefore and come with mee to my Country-house as it were to take the pleasure of the Spring-tide In Heaven there is a perpetual Spring and here the Saints have hansel of heaven those first-fruits of the spirit even as many as are holy Brethren partakers of this heavenly calling Heb. 3.1 Vers 11. For loe the winter is past the Rain is over and gone In winter the clouds commonly return after the Rain Eccles 12.2 A showre or two doth not clear the air but though it rain much yet the sky is still over-cast with clouds and as one showre is unburthened another is brewed Loe such is the doleful and dismal condition of such as are not effectually called by Christ Omnis illis dies hybornus est it is ever winter with them no spring of grace no Sun-shine of sound comfort It is with such as it was with Paul and his fellow-sailers Act. 27.20 when as neither Sun nor Stars in many daies appeared and no small tempest lay on them all hope that they shall bee saved was then taken away All the hope is that God who by all his all-quickening voice raiseth the dead and calleth things that are not as if they were Rom. 4.17 that calleth those his people that were not his people and her Beloved which was not Beloved Rom. 9.25 Together with his voice there goeth forth a power as Luk. 5.17 as when hee bade Lazarus come forth hee made him rise and come away so here Of carnal Christ makes us a people created again Psal 102.18 Ephes 2.10 of a wilde Asse Colt hee makes a man Job 11.12 and of an hollow person as empty and void of heart as the hollow of a tree is of substance hee makes a solid Christian fit to bee set in the heavenly building This is as great a work as the making of a world with a word God plants the Heavens and laies the foundation of the Earth that hee may say to Zion Thou art my people Isa 51.16 Hence Christ is called the beginning of the Creation of God Rev. 3.14 And the Apostle Rom. 5.10 argues from Vocation to Glorification as the lesser Vers 12. The flowers appear on the Earth Here wee have a most dainty description of the Spring or prime time as the French call it far surpassing that of Horace and the rest of the Poets Prim-tempe who yet have shewed themselves very witty that way For the sense by flowers made rather to smell to than to feed upon are understood saith an Interpreter the first-fruits of the Spirit whereby the Elect give a pleasant smell and therein lyeth sweetness of speech and words going before works even as flowers before fruits For the which cause as the Apostle exhorteth that our speech bee gracious alwaies ministring Edification to the hearer Col. 4.6 so the Prophet calls it a pure language which the Lord will give to as many as love him as are called according to his purpose Zeph. 3.9 The time of the singing of birds is come Hic autem garritus avium plurimum facit ad veris commendationem this chirping of birds makes much to the Springs commendation saith â—â—nebrard How melodiously sing the Ministers of the Gospel whiles they aâ— unto
with earth as Core and his complices were that they cannot resent or savour the things of the Spirit but as vultures they hunt after cation carcases and as Tygers they are enraged with the sweet smell of the Churches spices Let my Beloved come and eat his pleasant fruits For who plants a Vineyard or Orchard and eats not of the fruit thereof 1 Cor. 9.7 The Garden is Christs the pretious graces of his Spirit and all acts of grace those pleasant fruits are all his Hee alone is the true proprietary for of him Rom. 11.36 and through him and to him are all things Of him as the efficient cause Through him as the administring cause and to him as the final cause Well therefore may it follow to whom bee glory for ever Christ counts the fruits that wee bear to bee ours because the judgement and resolution of will whereby we bear them is ours This he doth to encourage us But because the grace whereby wee judge will and work aright comes from Christ ascribe wee all to him as the Church doth in the former verse Gen. 43.11 Cedren ad an 32. Justin. and presenting him with the best fruits as they did Joseph say as David and after him Justinian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of thine own have wee given thee 1 Chron. 29.14 CHAP. V. Vers 1. I am come into my Garden SO ready is the Lord Christ to fulfill the desires of them that fear him Sometimes hee not onely grants their prayer Psal 145.19 but fulfills their counsel Confess l. 5. c. 1. Psal 20.4 fits his mercy ad cardinem desiderii as Austin hath it lets it be to his even as they will Or if he cross them in the very thing they crave they are sure of a better their prayers they shall have out either in money or moneys worth Christ though he be a God that hideth himself yet hee scorns to say unto the seed of Jacob Seek yee mee in vain Isaiah 45.15 19. that's enough for the Heathen Idols vers 16 18. Hee is not like Baal who pursuing his enemies could not hear his friends or as Diana that being present at Alexanders birth could not at the same time rescue her Ephesian Temple from the fire Non vacat exiguis c. Hee is not like Jupiter whom the Cretians painted without ears as not being at leisure to attend small matters and whom Lucian the Atheist feigneth to look down from heaven through certain crevisses or chincks at certain times at which time if Petitioners chance to pray unto him they may have audience otherwise not No no the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are always open to their prayers Psal 34.15 Flectitur iratus voce rogante Deus Basil compares prayer to a chayn the one end whereof is linked to Gods ear and the other to mans tongue Sozomen saith of Apollonius that hee never asked any thing of God in all his life that hee obtained not And another saith of Luther Iste vir potuit apud Deum quod voluit That man could do what hee would with God it was but ask and have with him I have gathered my myrrhe with my spice i.e. I have highly accepted of thy graces and good works these are to bee gathered onely in Christs Garden Hedge-fruits and wilde-hearbs or rather weeds are every where almost to bee had Moral vertues may bee found in a Cato who was homo virtuti similimus a man as like vertue as may be saith Velleius And he addes but I am not bound to beleeve him Qui nunquam recte fecit ut facere videretur sed quia aliter facere non poterat vell lib. 2. that Cato never did well that hee might seem to do so but because hee could not do otherwise than well But why then might a man have asked the Historian did your so highly extolled Cato take up the trade of griping usury Why did he so shamefully prostitute his wife so cowardly kill himself Was it not because he lived in the wilde Worlds waste and grew not in the Churches garden hence his fruits were not genuine his moral vertues are but shining sinnes beautiful abominations a smoother way to hell Civil honest men are but Wolves chained up tame Devils Swine in a fair meadow c. Operam praestant natura fera est as the Civil Law saith of those mixt Beasts Elephants and Camels they do the work of tame Beasts yet have the nature of wilde ones They are cryed up for singularly honest as ever lived by such as are strangers to the power of Godliness and aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel like as in Samaria's famine a cab of Doves dung was sold at a great rate and an asses head at four pound But Christ and such as have the minde of Christ are otherwise minded they look upon an unregenerate man though sober just chaste liberal c. as a vile person Psal 15.4 and upon all their specious works as dead works when as contrarily they honour them that fear the Lord and set an high price as Christ here doth upon their good parts and practices Myrrhe and spices or aromatical fruits are but dark shadows and representations of them I have eaten mine hony-comb with mine hony As it were crust and crumb together not rejecting my peoples services for the infirmities I finde cleaving unto them but accepting what is good therein and bearing with the rest I take all well a worth and am as much delighted therewith as any man is in eating of hony whereof hee is so greedy that withall hee devours the comb too sometimes Mr. Dudley Fenner Christ feedeth saith an Expositour here upon all the fruits of his garden hee so much delighteth in it as hee eateth not onely the hony as it were the most excellent duties or works of the Church see Heb. 13.15 16 21. but also the hony-comb as it were the baser services and fruits of his Spirit of least account that hee receiveth of all sorts most sweetly mingled together both the common and daily fruits of godliness understood in milk and the more rare of greater price as solemn fasts and feasts signified by wine both which hee drinketh together that is accepteth of them all Eat O friends That is O you holy Angels saith the former Interpreter which as my Nobles accompany mee the King of Glory in Heaven and have some communion with me in the gifts I bestow on you Mr. Diodate also thinks the same But I rather encline to those that by Christs friends here understand those earthly Angels the Saints see John 15.14 Isa 41.8 Jam. 2.23 whom hee cheareth up and encourageth to fall to it lustily and by a sancta crapula as Luther calls an holy gluttony to lay on to feed hard and to fetch hearty draughts till they bee even drunk with loves as the Hebrew here hath it being ravished in the love of God where they are
countenance when hee stood before the Council It should suffice for the present that the Church looketh for or is looked for so some render this Text at first as the morning somewhat dark and duskish Shee shall bee fair as the Moon at least in regard of Sanctification and for Justification shee is clear as the Sun so that God seeth no sin in her or if hee do yet as the Sun hee blots out the thick cloud as well as the cloud the thickest mist as well as the thinnest vapour Isa 44.12 And therefore to the Devill and his Angells shee must needs bee terrible as an Army with Banners 2 Cor. 10.4 because as shee marcheth under the banner of Christs mercy and love chap. 2.4 so the weapons of her warfare are not carnal but mighty through God c. and do strike as great a terrour into her enemies as once Christ did into those ruffian souldiers that came to apprehend him Greg. Orat. de laude Basil or as Basil did into Valens the Emperour that came to disturb him when hee was in holy exercises See the Note on v. 4. of this chapter Vers 11. I went down into the garden of Nuts Or Nutmegs Tremellius and those that follow him render it the well-dressed or pruned Gardens These are the particular Churches and several Saints Christs mystical and spiritual garden that need much pruning and trimming Of all possessions Nulla majorem operam requirit saith Cato none requireth so much pains to bee taken with it as a Garden or Orchard Corn comes up and grows alone ripeneth and commeth to perfection the husbandman sleeping and waking c. Mark 3. hee knows not how But Gardens must bee dressed trimmed pruned pared almost every day or else all will bee out of order Christ therefore as a careful Gardiner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Putat purgat amputat weeds lops prunes his garden John 15.2 Be careful therefore saith a Worthy Divine Christ walks in his Garden spies how many raw unripe indigested prayers c. hang on such a branch What gum of pride what leaves or luxuriant sprigs and rotten boughes there are and with his pruning-knife cuts and slashes where hee sees things amiss c. Thus hee Neither may wee think that Christ doth this or any of this in ill-will but out of singular love and faithfulness to our souls which else would soon bee wofully over-grown with the weeds of wickedness as a neglected garden The wicked God never meddleth with as I may so say till hee come with his ax to hew them down to the fire because hee findes them incorrigible Hos 4.17 Isa 1. Let him alone faith God concerning Ephraim And why should yee be smitten any more sith yee revolt more and more They have a great deal of freedome for present but the end is utter extirpation Non surget hic afflictio Nehem. 1.9 they shall totally and finally bee consumed at once To see the fruits of the valley Green valley-plants that is the humble spirits which tremble at Gods Word and present him with the first ripe fruits which his soul desireth Mic. 7.1 And to see whether the Vine flourished These Vines and Pomegranates are the faithful who are compared to thâ—se trees for the plenty and sweetness of their fruits Christ came to see whether the former were flowring and the latter budding to see if there were any hopes of ripe fruit in due time for hee liketh not those out-landish plants that every year bud and blossom but never bring any fruit to its perfection No when hee hath done all that can be done for his Vineyard hee looks for fruit Isa 5.2 Matth. 21.34 1 Cor. 9.7 For who saith hee planteth a Vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof Danda igitur est opera ut hujus agricolae votis respondeamus Answer Christs expectation or else hee will lay down his Basket and take up his Axe Luk. 13.7 Vers 12. Or ever I was aware my soul c. Heb. I knew not So Christ speaketh after the manner of men And it is as if hee should say I could not conceive that my people were in so good a forwardness as indeed I found them for they have over and above answered mine expectation being full of goodness as those beleeving Romans chap. 15.14 filled with all knowledge and alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord from whom therefore they shall bee sure to receive a full reward 2 John 8. Or thus I know not that is I perceived not that the Vines flourished the Pomegranates budded that all was ripe and ready therefore I withdrew my self for a season O my Spouse And therein I dealt with thee no otherwise than as good Gardiners and Vinedressers do who coming perhaps before the time of fruit to look for fruit and finding none depart for present till a more convenient season But that thou mayest know my dear love and tender care of thy comfort behold my haste to call thee to thy former feelings again for dicto citius my soul set mee on the Charrets of Amminadib who may seem to bee some famous Charret-driver of Solomons that could out-drive all the rest There is another sense given of these words and perhaps a better For by some these are thought to bee the words of the Church confessing her ignorance I knew not Lord saith shee that thou wast gone down into the Garden to do those things I thought rather that thou hadst departed in great anger against mee for my negligence and therefore I sought thee carefully I made out after thee with all my might my soul made mee like the Charrets of Amminadib Amor addidit alas I drove furiously till I had found thee I was like unto those two women in Zachary that had wings and wind in their wings chap. 5.9 This was well that missing her Spouse shee followed so hard after him Psal 63.8 My soul cleaveth after thee saith David thereby shewing his love constancy and humility But then that was not so well that shee so far mistook Christ as to think that hee went away from her in deep displeasure and kept away from her as loathing her company Such hard conceits of Christ and heavy conceits wee are apt to have of our selves as if hee had forsaken us because wee cannot presently finde him when as hee is onely gone down in his Garden to prune it or to see how things thrive there as it hee had cast off the care of us because finding us too light hee make us heavy as there is need with manifold temptations 1 Cor. 11. 1 Pet. 1.6 Wee are therefore judged of the Lord that wee may not bee condemned with the world Hee leaves us on the other side the stile as Fathers sometimes do their children and then helps us over when wee cry To say God hath cast us off because hee hath hid his face is a fallacy fetcht out of the Devils Topicks Non est
Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 See the Notes on chap. 4.14 6.11 Neither can she be long kept under by any pressure of persecution or heavy affliction Premi potest opprimi non potest As Paul when stoned started up with Sic petitur coelum Sic Sic oportet intrare Tyrants might curse the Saints as hee did that cryed out to those ancient Confessours O miseri num vobis desunt restes rupes O wretches cannot you hang or drown your selves but that I must bee thus troubled with you to put you to death but crush them they never could The valour of the patients the savageness of the persecutors have striven together till both exceeding nature and belief bred wonder and astonishment in beholders and readers Hence Trajan forbade Pliny to seek after Christians But if any were brought to him to punish them Antoninus Pius set forth an Edict in Asia that no Christian should bee persecuted For said hee it is their joy to dye they are conquerours and do overcome you c. Trucidabantur multiplicabantur saith Augustine of the ancient Martyrs they were Martyred and yet they were multiplied Plures efficimur quoties metimur saith Tertullian the more we are cropt the more we are increased as the Lilly is increased by its own juyce that flows from it Plin. Hence Rev. 7.9 the Saints that by their victorious faith overcame the world are brought in with palm-branches in their hands in token of victory Plutarch tells us that the Babylonians made three hundred and sixty commodities of the palm-tree and did therefore very highly honour it The world hath a great deal of benefit by the Church could they but see it For Absque stationibus non staret mandus were it not for the Saints a short work would the Lord make upon the earth and cut it short in righteousness Rom. 9.28 And great is the gain of godliness even an hundred fold here and life eternal hereafter Who would not then turn spiritual merchant who would not pass from strength to strength and flourish in Gods house like a palm-tree Psal 29.12 till hee attain to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4.13 And thy breasts to clusters of grapes Not well-fashioned onely as Ezek. 16.7 but full-strutting with milk yea with wine plenty and dainty to lay hunger and slake thirst to nourish and cherish her children even as the Lord doth the Church Eph. 5.29 See the Note on chap. 4.5 Vers 8. I said I will go up to the palm-tree c. I said it and I will do it for Christi dicere est facere together with Christs word there goes forth a power as it did Luk. 5.17 David said hee would confess his sins and take heed to his waies Psal 32.5 39.1 and accordingly hee did it Shall Christ purpose and promise mercy to his people and not perform it Is hee yea and nay 2 Cor. 1.19 can hee say and unsay doth not the constant experience of all ages fully confute any such fond conceit of him The Saints will not lye Isa 63.8 Christ cannot Tit. 1.2 Hee will not suffer his faithfulness to fail nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 89.33 All his sayings are the issue of a most faithful and right will void of all insincerity and falshood Now when Christ promiseth to climb his palm-tree and to take hold of the boughes thereof hee meaneth that hee will dwell most familiarly with his Church even in the branches thereof pruning and trimming it and accepting the fruits of his Spirit in his Spouse Or thus Hee will so joyn himself unto his Church as hee may cause her to bee fruitful hee will lay hold on her boughes which are very fit and apt to climb so covertly and elegantly noting the work of spiritual generation The effect follows Now also thy breasts shall bee as clusters of the vine Whatsoever they have been heretofore now at this time and for ever hereafter they shall be delightful to mee and nourishable to thy children who shall suck and be satisfied Isa 66.11 Albeit some Interpreters of good note conceive that all this is nothing else but a figurative description of Christs perfect conjunction with his Church in the Kingdom of heaven and of the unspeakable pleasure which Christ will take in her for ever And the smell of thy nose like apples i. e. The breath that comes out of thy nostrils is sweet as spice-apples The breath that the Church draweth into her lungs and sends out again is the spirit of grace without which shee can as little live as wee can without ayr This sweet Spirit is the joy of her heart and the breath of her nostrils and thereby shee draws many into her company If that bee true that one here noteth that the fruit of the palm partaketh of the nature both of the grape having a sweet and pleasant juyce and of the apple for pleasant meat it may well signifie that the Word of God is both meat and drink to the soul Vers 9. And the roof of thy mouth like the best vine Her word and doctrine for the palate is an instrument of speech often before commended by Christ Instrumenta novem c. and here again like as shee comes over it in him the second time chap. 3.13.16 See the Note there This hee resembleth to the best and most generous wine Such the Word of Gods grace is to those that have Spiritual palates that do not carry fel in aure their galles in their ears as some creatures are said to do that have their ears healed as Demosthenes said of his Athenians and their inward senses habitually exercised to discern good and evill The doctrine of the Church seems to some bitter and grievous it goeth down like the waters of Marah Pausanias Aristot or that water that caused the curse in case of jealousie Numb 5. It becomes a savour of death unto him as the viper is killed with palm-branches and vultures with oyl of roses But this is meerly their own fault For doth not my Word do good to them that are good saith the Lord Micah 2.6 Excellently St. Austin Adversarius est nobis quamdin sumus ipsi nobis quamdiu tu tibi inimicus es inimicum habebis sermonem Dei Gods Word is an enemy to none but to such as are enemies to themselves and sinners against their own souls This holy word in the mouths of Gods Ministers is like Moses his rod which while held in his hand flourished and brought forth almonds but being cast to the ground it became a serpent The application is easie See the Note on chap. 1.2 For my Beloved These are Christs words but hee speaks as if the Church spake to shew her great affection that had dedicated all her good things to him Some read it thus which goeth straight to my
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 quaâ—i 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 Châ—ld 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 4â—0 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
will reckon with you though by your greatness you can bear out your wrong dealing because it is facinus majoris abollae Yet God will arraign you one day for an Abaddon and in the mean while Of a truth many houses shall be desolate You shall be driven out of your great and fair houses aut à milite aut à morte either by the enemy or by Death who shall come upon you with a firmae ejectione and then the place of your habitation shall know you no more a poor fool God will make of you Jer. 17.11 Luk. 12.20 If many houses be not desolate never trust him more if they be not left for Cadowes and Jack-dawes to dwell in Ver. 10. Yea ten acres of Vineyard shall yeeld one Bath viz of wine a poor proportion not a gallon of wine for an acre of ground planted with vines And the seed of an homer shall yeild an Ephah and no more the earth shall yeild but the tenth part of what was fown so little joy shall you have either of your enlarged houses or fields laid to fields by evil arts Et signanter decem ponit jugera saith Oecolampadius here neither is it for nothing that the Prophet saith ten acres of Vineyard c. and that they shall have but the tyth of their seed again to teach them how angry God is with such as thorough covetousness refuse to pay their tythes duely and truly c. Ver. 11. Woe unto them that rise up early Heb. the early risers Osor in loc but for an ill purpose O intolerandum flagitium saith one homines inertia somnique plenissimos c. O intolerable wickedness that men so lazy and more sleepy then dormise should be up and at it so very betimes they rise early to corrupt their actions saith another Prophet Zeph. 3.7 and should have their brains crowing before day Neither are they so soon up alone but they call up others as the Hebrew word here signifieth to serve them and sit with them on their Alebench for they are good fellows they say and must have company That they may follow strong drink pursue it eagerly as the worlding doth his gain Studium ebrietatis illis objicit Lib. 14. cap. ult the hunter his game Their Motto is Take away our liquour ye take away our life By strong drink here understand any inebriating liquour whereof besides wine the Italians have twenty distinct Species to please the Gusto Pliny cries out Hei mirâ vitiorum solertiâ inventum est quemadmodum aqua quoque inebriaret Portentosum sanè potionis genus c. That continue unto night All the live-long-day these Ale-stakes stick to it quaffing and carousing Diem noctemque continuare potando nulli probrum saith Tacitus of the old Germans to drink whole dayes together is amongst them no disgrace neither is it among many of their posterity to this day About the midst of Q. Elizabeths raign that cursed sin was first brought over into England say some Fullers Church hist 61. out of the Low-Countries before which time there was neither general practice nor legal punishment of that vice in this Kingdom Till wine enflame them By which expression omnem ebriorum insaniam intelligit saith Oecolampadius he meaneth all the drunkards mad pranks when heated with wine and yet more with lusts and passions See Prov. 23.29 34. Tyrone the Rebell 1567. was such a drunkard Camd. Eliz. pag. 89. that to cool his body when it was immoderately inflamed with wine and Vskabagh he would many times be buried in the earth up to the chin Ver. 12. And the harp and the viol To make themselves the more mad upon pleasure they had their musick of all sorts that thereby they might banish all seriousness and be lulled faster asleep in carnal security Fescenninis cantibus omnia personabant a practice still in use among drunkards to drown the noise of their consciences like as the old Italians to drown the noise of the heavens when it thundred were wont to ring their greatest bels beat up their drums and tabers c. So Amos 6.4 6. Are in their feasts Or are their feasts or drinkings But they regard not the work of the Lord that is the first making whether of themselves to glorify God in some honest employment and not to make drunkeness their occupation or of other creatures wherein they might find much of God as Pliny did in the musick of the Gnat Saculum est speculum rerum invisibiliâ—m Trismeg and the curious paint of the Butter-fly as Galen did in the double motion of the Lungs called Systole and Diastole but especially as David did in the contemplation of the Universe Psal 8. and as Mr. John Dad did in the flower he had in his hand at Holdenby where being invited by an honourable person to see that stately house he answered In this flower I can see more of God then in all the beautiful buildings in the World Thus if these drunkards had done they would not have so abused Gods good creatures But whoredom and wine and new wine had taken away their hearts Hos 4.11 Neither regarded they any thing but the sparkling of the wine in the cup Prov. 23.31 and the beauty of the strange woman ver 33. in the flagrancy of their beastly lust Neither consider the operation of his hands the present disposing of his creatures either by way of mercy or judgment They passe by his providences unobserved his late judgments upon the ten Tribes Am. 6.6 his heavy plagues hanging over their own heads called his work and the counsel of the holy One of Israel ver 19. Nihil omnino sapiunt nisi luxum suum they minde nothing but their luxury and looseness Ver. 13. Therefore my people are gone into captivity i. e. they are sure to go So Am. 6.7 Because they have no knowledge Heb. Propter non-scientiam i. e. ut ita dicam non-curantiam for their brutish oscitancy and inconsiderateness as having buried their wits in their guts and being miserably besotted by their daily sensualities Jer. 5.4 Surely they are poor they are foolish for they know not the way of the Lord nor the judgment of their God And their honourable men are famished Heb. are men of hunger or famine Congrua huic malo lues They had abused their meat and drink to surfetting and drunkenness now they shall know the worth of those good creatures by the want of them And their multitude dryed up with thirst The common sort also shall taste of the common calamity Ioseph Egesip as they did very deeply when besieged by Vespasian for the space of five moneths Ox dung was then a precious dish unto them and the shreddings of pot-hearbs cast out and trodden under foot and withered were taken up again for nourishment yea some to prolong their lives would not stick to eat up that that others had vomited and cast up See Isa 9.19 20. Ver. 14. Therefore
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 fâ—râ— 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
and other under-Officers such as were those Persian Scribes and Posts Esth 3.12 13. who should in such a case have obeyed God rather then men Ver. 2. To turn away the needy from judgment To put them beside their right because indigent and overweighed by the wealthy ones quorum aureae literae apud tales judices possunt omnia Judex injustus latro cum privilegio est Columel l. 1. And to take away the right Heb. to tear it away by force And that they may rob the fatherless rob the Spittle as we use to say Unrighteous ruledom is but robbery with authority Ver. 3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation that is of vastation by the Assyrians To whom will ye flee for help Who have denied help to the poor that fled unto you but sped no better then the Sheep that flieth to the Bush for defence in weather where he is sure to lose part of his fleece And where will ye leave your glory Where will ye betrust or bestow your wealth power and worldly pomp purchased by you at too dear a rate who paid your honesty to get it O magno emptas parum proficuas divitias and must now lose not it onely but your liberties and lives also in the next verse Ver. 4. Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners i. e. Without any fault of mine as Hos 13.9 Or as some render it Ne corruat inter vinctos inter occisos cadant that it your glory should not bow down under the prisoners and they fall under the slain i. e. that ye be not some of you captivated and others slain by the enemy And yet behold a worse matter For all this his anger is not turned away Endless torments will follow Hoc oratione vir sanctus impios cruentat vulnerat Osor unless ye prevent them by repentance and all your present sufferings are nothing else but a typical hell Ecce quot mala à contemptu Dei proveniunt Ver. 5. O Assyrian the rod of mine anger Or Woe to the Assyrian Or Heu Assur Alass the Assyrian q. d. Alass that I am forced by this sharp and iron rod to correct my people whom I have bred so choicely Dolentis vocem assumit Deus saith Oecolamp The rod of mine anger Or my rod of anger A rod of anger to beat the little ones and a staffe of indignation to bastinado the bigger and more stubborn Oecolamp Ira Dei ego sum orbit vastitas Act. Mon. fol. 1544. So Nebuchadnezzar is called the hammer of the whole earth Jer. 50.23 Tamerlan called himself The wrath of God and the Desolation of the world Attilas stiled himself King of Huns Medes Gothes Dacians the Terrour of the world and Gods scourge The wicked are Gods rod said that Martyr whom when he hath worn to the stump he will cast into the fire Ver. 6. I will send him I will give him a charge Non patefactâ quidem voluntate sed arcanâ providentiâ I will stir him up by a secret providence which being nothing else but the carrying on of the divine decree is that Helm that turneth about the whole Ship of the Vniverse Against an hypocritial nation Pretenders only to religion see chap. 9.17 qui toti ex hypocrisi sunt conflati such as are wholly made up of hypocrisie God was near in their mouth and far from their reins Jer. 12.2 Nemo tam propè proculque Deo Mat. 15.8 hot Meteors they are saith One shooting yet shewing like stars shaming goodness by seeming good virtutis stragulam pudefaciunt as Diogenes said to Antipater who being vitious wore a white cloke the ensign of innocency These are little better then Devils wrapt up in Samuels mantle odious therefore to God whom they would cozen of Heaven if they could tell how And against the people of my wrath Who are therefore the worse and shall fare the worse because they ought to have been better Indignation and wrath shall be upon the Jew first because of his priviledges and then upon the Gentile Rom. 2.9 To take the spoil and to take the prey As had been foretold in Maher-shalal-hash-baz his name chap. 8.1 And to tread them down like mire in the streets To make morter of them as we use to say Gens simulatrix tota terrena is trodden under foot as unsavoury salt which is not good enough for the dunghil Ver. 7. Howbeit he meaneth not so He is otherwise minded and affected then I am and doth my will merely beside and against his own will As in applying of leeches the Physician seeketh the health of his Patient the leech only the filling of his gorge so is it when God turneth loose a bloody enemy upon his people He hath excellent ends which they think not on But it is in his heart to destroy and cut off This was to exceed his Commission which was only to take the spoil and to take the prey ver 6. not to cut off Nations and to make havock of all How much better our King Edward the Confessor Camd. Rem p. 214. who when his Captains promised for his sake they would not leave one Dane alive thought it better to lead a private and unbloody life then to be a King by such bloody butcheries Of Charls 5. Emperour we read Parei Hist prof Med. p. 895. that when Antonius Leva and other of his chief Commanders commended Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar for their great exploits in over-running and destroying nations not a few to their great renown and on the other side complained that Charls made not the like use of his power and victories as he might and ought to do for such a purpose he gravely replyed that Alexander and Julius had in waging wars nothing else to aime at besides Honour and glory but that Christian Princes were in all their enterprizes to mind the glory of God and the salvation of their own souls Ver. 8. For he saith Sennacherib saith See Chap. 36.9 15 18 20. and 37.10 13 24 25. A great part of this whole book of Isaiah concerneth Sennacherib Are not my Princes altogether Kings Behold a right Pyrgopolynices * Perhaps he had made some of his chief commanders Kings our Hen. 6. crowned Hen. Beauchamp E. of Warw. King of the Isle of Wight when as he was set a work by God exalting himself both against God and man And saith not the Pope the same when he claims to be Dominus feudi Lord paramount in spirituals and temporals And when in creating his Cardinals he useth these words Estote confratres nostri Principes mundi Be ye fellow-brethren to us and Princes of the world The Assyrian stiled himself King of Kings and accounted his Commanders Compters to Hezekiah chap. 36.9 So Cardinal Bellarmine held himself King James his Mate Ver. 9. Is not Calno as Carchemish Here in a vaunt he reckoneth up six royal Cities vanquished by
Calvin readeth it thus Shall be esteemed as the Potters clay i. e. is as easily effected as he maketh a vessel at his pleasure For shall the work say of him that made it He made me not It should say so upon the matter by denying his knowledge of it The Watch-maker knoweth every pin and wheel in it so the Heart-maker knoweth every turning and winding in it were they more then they are Ver. 17. Is it yet not a very little while Nonne adhuc paululum paululum or an hundred years hence the Gentiles shall be called by the preaching of the Apostles for here beginneth the Consolatory part of this Chapter see on ver 1. and that 's but a very small time with God He speeds away the generation that he may finish the calling of his elect and so put an end to All. And Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field Heb. Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel Sylvestria corda electorum inter gentes Piscator the wide world the wilde waste of the Gentiles confer Isai 22.15 the Elect amongst them shall be made Gods husbandry or vineyard Eph. 2.12 Rom. 11.17 è contra Carmelus fiet Libanus The fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forrest The obstinate Jews with their seeming fruitfulness shall be rejected Lo here is a turning of things upside down that you dream not of this is that marvellous work ver 14. Ver. 18. In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book i. e. the deaf and blind Gentiles being by the preaching of the Gospel drawn out of darkness into Gods marvellous light shall see and hear that which eye never saw nor ear heard neither hath entred into the heart of any natural man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 They shall first be illightened secondly accheared ver 19. so Act. 13.48 Rom. 14.17 The words of the book the holy Scriptures that book which the proud would not read the ignorant could not ver 11. 12. Shall see out of obscurity see their Saviour as Simeon see that blisful vision Eph. 1.18 19. See Joh. 9.39 Ver. 19. The meek also shall increase their Joy in the Lord All sincere Converts such especially as have mastered and mortified their unruly passions and are cured of the Fret these shall add Joy these shall have Joy upon Joy they shall over-abound exceedingly with Joy 2 Cor. 7.4 The poor amongst men the poor in spirit These shall greatly rejoyce both for the mercy of God to themselves and for the Justice of God exercised upon others ver 20 21. Ver. 20. For the terrible one is brought to nought This is part-matter of the Just mans joy where observe the contrary Characters given to the godly and the wicked those are said to be lowly meek poor in spirit these to be tyrants scorners sedulous in sin catch-poles incorrigible such as turn aside the Just c. ver 20.21 And all that watch for iniquity Surgunt de nocte latrones they also break their sleep to devise mischief Psal 36.4 Mic. 2.1 but they should watch for a better purpose Mar. 13.37 as Seneca also could say and Pliny qui vitam mortalium vigiliam esse pronunciat Proaem nat Hist who calleth mans life a watch Ver. 21. That make a man an offendor for a word when he meant no hurt or by perverting and misconstruing his speeches Thus they sought to trap Christ in his speeches and thus they dealt by many of the Martyrs and Confessors To say The Lord Act. Mon. fol. 1116. and not Our Lord is called by Stephen Gardner symbolum haereticorum a note of an Heretick Dr. Stories rule to know an heretick was they will say The Lord and We praise God and The living God Robert Cook was abjured for saying that the blessing with a shoo-sole was as good as the Bishops blessing Ibid. 1803. Another for saying that Alms should not be given untill it did sweat in a mans hand Mrs. Catismore for saying that when men go to offer to images Ib 952. Ib. 765. they did it to shew their new geare and that images were but Carpenters Chips and that folks go on pilgrimage more for the green way then for devotion Ib. 763. Philip Brasier for saying that when any miracle is done the Priests do noint the images and make men believe these images sweat in labouring for them Ib. 952. c. Every day they wrest my words saith David of his enemies Psal 56.5 As the spleen is subservient to the liver to take from it only the most putrid and feculent blood so do Detractors pick out the worst of every thing to lay it in a mans dish or alledge it against him And lay a snare for him that reproveth See the Note on Amos 5.10 Freedom of speech used by the Waldenses in blaming and reproving the vices and errors of great ones Girard offecit ut plures nefariae affingerentur eis opiniones à quibus omnino fuerant alieni made them hardly thought and spoken of Ver. 22. Who redeemed Abraham sc out of his Idolatry that pulled him as a brand out of Up of the Chaldees Josh 24.2 3. The Rabbins say that his Father Terah was a maker and seller of Images Concerning the house of Jacob i. e. The calling of the Jews confer Rom. 11.25 Ver. 23. The work of mine hands Created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2.10 and now sanctifying Gods name in their hearts and lives and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost Thus as it were ex profâ—sso doth the Prophet Isaiah here handle the doctrine of Regeneration which and other like places whiles Nicodemus had not noted he was worthily reproved Joh. 3. Ver. 24. They also that erred in spirit Erroneous opinions and muttering against Ministers are here instanced as two special Opposites to effectual Conversion Those that relinquish not these two evils are far enough from Gods Kingdom and yet now adayes nothing more ordinary hence so few Converts so many Apostates CHAP. XXX Ver. 1. WOe to the rebellious children Vae filiis desertoribus vel Apostatis so he boldly calleth the Politicians of his time the Counsellors of State Est species quadam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliunde quam à Deo auxilium petere Shebna and others who gave good Hezekiah ill counsel to send to Egypt for help when Sennacherib invaded him Well might St. Paul say Esaias is very bold Rom. 10.20 Consurgens enim Proceres inquit quid hoc rei est quod occeptatis malè omnino factum vae vohis vae reip toti such another bold Court-preacher was Elias Amos John Baptist Chrysostom Latimer Deering c. See Latimers letter to King Henry the eighth after the proclamation for abolishing English Books Act. Mon. fol 1591. where we may see and marvel at his great boldness and stoutness saith Mr. Fox who as yet being no Bishop so freely
of death was to this good man bitter bitternesse and yet Christ had taken away from him the sting or gall of death so that he might better say then Agag did Surely the bitternesse of death is past or then Lucan doth of the Gaules and Britones animaeque capaces Mortis But thou hast in love to my soul Or thou hast embraced my soul out of the corrupting pit Complectendi verbum affectum planè paternum studium juvandi singulare exprimit For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back As an old oreworn evidence that 's out of date and of no use Here it is well noted that we must set our sins before our face if we would have God to cast them behind his back Psal 50 2◠and 51.3 Ver. 18. For the grave cannot praise thee i. e. Palam cum aliis openly and exemplarily See Psal 6.5 with the Notes David desires to live for no other end and so Hezekiah then to be glorifying of God They that go down into the pit Of the grave so of despair It is a sin for any man to say I am a reprobate for it keeps him in sin and cuts the sinews of endeavour Ver. 19. The living the living he shall praise thee Those that live the life of nature if withall they live the life of Grace and so are living living and not dead whilst they live for the wicked cannot praise God they can say God a thank and that 's all But as it is with the hand-diall the finger of the diall standeth at twelve when the dial hath not moved one minute so though their tongues are forward in praises yet their hearts stand still What they do this way is but dead work The Father to the Son shall make known and for this end Parents may desire to live longer Hezekiah did his part no doubt by wicked Manasseh who also at length repented and was saved Ver. 20. The Lord was ready to save Heb. The Lord to save Servati sumus ut serviamus Hezekiah was the better for his sickness God had brought health out of it as he doth out of all his by bringing the body of death into a consumption Therefore we will sing my songs Quales quae so illi saith Scultetus what kind of songs would he sing in the house of the Lord and in the hearing of all the people as long as he bad a day to live Surely this here recorded among and above the rest though it set forth his queritations and infirmities Deprimunt se sancti ut Deus exaltetur The Saints gladly abase themselves if thereby God may be exalted Ver. 21. Let them take a lump of figs Commendatur hic usus Medicinae The Patient must pray but withall make use of means trust God but not tempt him See the Note on 2 King 20. Ver. 22. See on 2 King 20.8 CHAP. XXXIX VErse 1 2 3 c. See 2. King 20.12 13 14 c. with the Notes thereon CHAP. XL. Ver. 1. COmfortye comfort ye my people Hitherto hath been the Comminatory part of this Prophecy followeth now the Consolatory Here beginneth the Gospel of the Prophet Isaiah and holdeth on to the end of the book The good people of his time had been forewarned by the foregoing Chapter of the Babylonian Captivity Those in after-times not only during the Captivity but under Antiochus and other Tyrants were ready to think themselves utterly cast off because heavily afflicted See ver 27. of this Chapter with Lam. 5.22 Here therefore command is given for their comfort and that Gospel be preached to the penitent the word here used signifieth first to repent then to comfort 1 Sam. 5. 35. 1 Sam. 12.24 This our Prophet had been a Boanerges a thundering Preacher all the fore-part of his life see one instance for all chap. 24. where Pericles-like fulgurat intonat totam terram permiscet c. Now toward his latter end and when he had one foot in the grave the other in Heaven he grew more mellow and melleous as did likewise Mr. Lever Mr. Perkins Mr. Whately and some other eminent and earnest Preachers that might be named setting himself wholly in a manner to comfort the abject and feeble minded Sunt eutem omnia plena magnis adfectibus Hyp. which also he doth with singular dexterity and efficacy This redoubled Comfort ye is not without its Emphasis but that which followeth ver 2. is a very hive of heavenly honey Ver. 2. Speak ye comfortably Speak to the heart as Gen. 34.3 Hos 2.14 Chear her up speak to her with utmost earnestness that your words may work upon her and stick by her do it solidly not frigidly That her warfare is accomplished Militiam not Malitiam as the Vulgar hath it The word signifieth also a set term of time See Dan. 9.2 and Gal. 4.4 God hath limited the Saints sufferings Rev. 2.10 Some by warfare here understand that hard and troublesome Pedagogy of Moses Law that yoke importable Act. 15.10 taken away by Christ That her iniquity is pardoned Heb. her iniquity is accepted Perfectam esse paenam ejus so Piscator rendreth it She might be under Gods hand though her sins were pardoned The Palsy-man heard Son thy sins are forgiven thee some while before he heard Take up thy bed and walk That she hath received of the Lords hand double i. e. Abundantly and in a large measure satis superque so much as to her merciful Father seemeth over and above more than enough She hath received double for all her sins and yet death is the just hire of the least sin Rom. 6.23 But this is the language of Gods compassions rolled together and kindled into repentings Jerusalem her self was of another judgement Ezra 9.13 Our God hath punished us lesse than our sins and yet he reckoneth that we fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ Col. 1.24 Ver. 3. The voyce of him that cryeth See Mat. 3.3 John 1.25 with the notes there but Luke citeth this text more fully than the other Evangelists applying it to the Baptist crying in the wildernesse sc of Judea where he first preached or as some sense it in the ears of a waste and wild people Hereby is meant the world saith one word of Gods grace barren in all vertue having no pleasing abode Diod. nor sure direction of any good way in it being full of horrour and accursed Ver. 4. Every valley shall be exalted Termes taken from the custome of Princes coming into a place viz. to have their way cleared and passages facilitated See on Mat. 3.4 Ver. 5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed i. e. Jesus Christ the Lord of glory Jam. 2.1 shall appear in the flesh Some interpreters understand this whole Sermon ad literam concerning Christ and Redemption wrought by him yet with an allusion to the Jewes deliverance out of Babylon for this was a type of that like as Cyrus also was of
115.1 2. The Saints after all other arguments used hunc quasi arietem admovent minde God of his glory engaged and then doubt not to prevail with him Ver. 12. I am he Heb. Hu this the Rabbines make to be one of the names of God Sanchez here observeth that by this threefold I is meant the holy Trinity the Deity of Jesus Christ is rightly proved from this text compared with Rev. 1.11 and 22.13 Ver. 13. My hand hath also laid the foundation of the earth My left hand Oecolamp in loc say the Rabbins as my right hand spanned the heavens that is meted them out as a workman doth his work God did but call unto them both and they stood up together Vain therefore and needless was the disputation of the Samerites and the Hillelites among the Jews Whether was first created the heaven or the earth Ver. 14. The Lord hath loved him i. e. Cyrus He so loveth his people that for their sakes he loveth all their Benefactours and well-wishers See Gen. 12.3 He will do his pleasure See chap. 43.14 Ver. 15. I have brought him Heb. made him to go or caused him to come who of himself had no such mind to come on such a designe Herodotus telleth us that Cyrus had once resolved to let alone the siege of Babylon as unfeisable but God altered his mind as we here read and prospered his work Ver. 16. Come ye near unto me and hear this God calleth often for audience as knowing our dulness and crosseness our oscitancy and inadvertency a good mirrour for Ministers I have not spoken in secret See chap. 41.26 From the time that I was there am I Viz. At the Creation as Prov. 8.22 23. Diod. Or I have from everlasting been the Authour of that counsel by which all these things have had as is were their first beginning and afterwards in their appointed time I have brought them forth by my power And now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me i. e. Me Isaiah the Prophet whose writings should therefore be prized and beleeved by us as most authentike and authoritative because he was commissionated by the blessed Trinity Ver. 17. I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit And do therefore so oft call upon thee to hear me not for any benefit to my self but to thee alone And the truth is In all the Commandements of God if they were open to us if we did see the ground of them we should see there were so much reason for them and so much good to be got by them that if God did not command them yet it would be best for us to practise them Which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go Heb. making thee to tread in the way thou shalt walk carefully chusing thy steps for thee and setting thy foot right thus he led Joseph like a sheep Psal 80.2 and Israel through the deep as an horse in the wildernesse that they should not stumble Isa 63.13 Thrice happy are the Saints in such a guide The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way Psal 37.23 Ver. 18. Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my Commandements See the like wishes Deut. 32.29 and 5.29 Psal 81.13 implying that so they might have redeemed many sorrows escaped many miseries Then had thy peace been as a river Great peace have all they that love Gods Law and nothing shall offend them Psal 119 105. they shall have a confluence of all comforts and contentments yet ever with an exception of the cross as need requireth And thy righteousnesse as the waves of the sea Which are perpetual fluctus fluctum trudit Ver. 19. Thy seed also had been as the sand As was promised to Abraham and performed to his posterity Such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is in godliness and in doing of Gods Commandements so great reward His name should not have been cut off As it was of old among the heathens see Horace Juvenal Martial c. and is at this day among the Turkes who usually swear Judaeus sim si fallam c. See Zach. 8.13 with the Note Ver. 20 Go ye forth of Babylon The word among the Jews that despaired of ever returning from Babylon but the Prophet by an unexpected alarum commandeth them to return shewing how and why they should do so and carrieth himself no otherwise than as if he had been a Captain in the midst of those captives c. Ver. 21. And they thirsted not when he led c. Your Fathers did not of old nor shall you now in your return homeward The Jews tell us of many miracles then wrought also but we read of no such matter in Ezra and we know that Gods pilgrims shall want no necessary accommodation that he will be sure to see to Ver. 22. There is no peace saith the Lord unto the wicked Babylons best dayes are past therefore go ye forth of her ver 20. The wicked of what Nation soever that hearken not to Gods Commandements as ver 18. well they may have a truce Liv. Hist lib. 9. but no true peace certainly That which they have is pax infida pax incertae as that of the Romanes with the Samnites a peace no peace and how can it be better so long as their wickednesses and witchcrafts are so many 2 King 9.22 Tranquillitas illa tempestas erit as after a South-wind arose Euroclydon Act. 27.13 14. so after a false peace storm and tempest everlasting this shall be the portion of their cup Psal 11.6 See chap. 57.20 21. CHAP. XLIX Ver. 1. LIsten O Isles unto me i. e. Ye forreiners for wicked Israel will not and therefore have no true peace chap. 48.22 with Psal 119.165 Vnto me Understand it of Isaiah but especially of Christ for from hence to the end of this book as the Jew-Doctours also acknowledge are visions and Sermons set down concerning Christs twofold Kingdome viz. of Patience and of Power See Act. 13.47 2 Cor. 6.2 Rev. 7.10 The Lord hath called me from the womb Called me and qualified me appointed and annointed me to the office of a Mediatour This those that attend not though never so remote are deeply guilty before God Deut. 18.18 19. Act. 3.22 23. Ver. 2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword He hath added efficacy to my doctrine and will protect my person till I have finished the work that he gave me to do And made me a polished shaft That being well pointed will pierce at a distance and either prick Converts at the heart as Act. 2.37 or cut refractories to the heart as Act. 7.54 Christ will pursue his enemies both with the terrours of his words his mouth being made like a sharp sword and with the plagues of his hands being made like a polished shaft Ver. 3. Thou art my servant O Israel i. e. O Christ who best deservest to be called by that name who
7.16 Neither shall the heat nor Sun smite them As Psal 121.6 See the Note there For he that hath mercy on them He saith not Pastor but Miserator a sweeter title Even by the springs See Psal 23.3 with the Note Ver. 11. And I will make all my mountaines I will remove all rubs and lay all level pacifica erunt omnin foecunda suavia who would not then take up Christs so easie a yoke c Ver. 12. Behold these shall come from far The Jews from all parts whither they have been dispersed the Elect from all quarters of the earth Mat. 8.11 with the Notes And these from the land of Sini Or of the Sinites that is of the Chinois saith Junius and others whom the Greek Geographers call Sinois Arias Mont. Osorim A Lapide Mr. Cotton a very populous Nation Botterus saith that there are reckoned seventy millions of men which are more than are to be found in all Europe and who knows but many of those of the ten tribes of Israel are there Enthusiastico jubilo c. Oecolamp Ver. 13. Sing O heaven The Prophet having thus foretold the Saints happiness in and by Christ cannot hold but breaketh forth into Gods praises calling into consort all creatures which since the Fall have lain bed-ridden as it were looking with stretcht-out neck for their full deliverance Rom. 8.23 For the Lord hath comforted his people This is just matter of general joy Ver. 14. But Zion said The Church hath her vicissitudes of joy and sorrow mercies and crosses are interwoven God checkereth his Providences white and black he speckleth his work as Zach. 1.8 The Lord hath forsaken me No never Non deserit Deus etiamsi deserere videatur Aug. non deserit etiamsi deserat God may withdraw but not utterly desert his he may change his dispensation not his disposition toward them My Lord hath forgotten me My Lord still though little enjoyed at present So Psal 22.1 Plato could say that a man might beleeve and yet not beleeve I beleeve saith he in the Gospel help mine unbelief that is my weak and wavering faith Ver 15. Can a woman forget her sucking child T were a wonder she should grow out of kind as to be so unkind The mother fasteth that her childe may eat waketh that he may sleep is poor to make him rich slighted to make him glorious Occidar modo imperet said she in story Gods love to his is more than maternal All the mercies of all the mothers in the world being put together would not make the tythe of his mercy David saith much Psal 103.13 As a Father pittieth his children c. great was Jacobs love to Benjamin Davids to Absolom so that Job upbraideth him with it 2 Sam. 19 6. But God here saith more Can a woman forget c. The harlot could not yield to have her child divided Arsinoe interposed her own body betwixt the sword of the murtherer and her dear children Chronic. l. 5. Melancthon telleth of a Countesse of Thuringia who being compelled by her husbands cruelty to go into banishment from her children when she took leave of her eldest son she bit a piece of his cheek out amoris notam cruento morsu imprimens and so marked him for her own This is somewhat but what 's all this to the infinite Was there ever love like Gods love in sending his son to dye for sinners Christ himself wondreth at it Joh. 3.16 this was a sic without a sicut there being nothing in nature wherewith to parallel it See Rom. 8.32 Yea they may forget They may put off natural affection as some did in times of Popish persecution Julius Palmers mother for instance King Edward the Martyr was basely murthered by his own Mother Egelred succeeded him and much mourned for his brother being but ten years old which so enraged his mother that taking wax-candles which were readiest at hand she therewith scourged him so sore that he could never after endure wax candles to be burnt before him Ver. 16. Behold I have graven thee So that as oft as I look upon mine own hands I cannot but think on thee Non descripsit sed sculpsit quidem in manibus utraque scilicet Sculter We read of one who had written the whole history of Christs passion upon the nailes of his hands in small letters The signet on his finger a man cannot lightly look beside See Cant. 8.6 Jer. 22.24 Some think here is alluded to that precept given by God of binding the Commandements to their right hand Deut. 6. Thy walls are continually before me The Lord doth so delight in his servants that their walls are ever in his sight and he loveth to look upon the houses where they dwell See on Psal 87.6 Ver. 17. Thy children shall make haste People shall come in a main to the Church Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus sancti gratia God can make a Nation to conceive and bring forth in a day chap. 66.8 How quickly was the Gospel divulged and darted all the world over as the beams of the Sun so in the late blessed Reformation begun by Luther And they that made thee waste Tyrants and hereticks shall be cashiered as Zach. 13.2 Fiat Fiat Ver. 18. Lift up thine eyes round about and behold As those use to do which look upon ought with wonder and delight Thou shalt surely cloath thee with them as with an ornament The good sons of Zion are a great honour to their mother as the two Scipio's were to Cornelia and as that Elect Ladies children were to her Joh. 2. A godly man is a gallant man but the wicked are botches and blots to a Church Ver. 19. For thy waste and thy desolate places Heb. thy wastnesses and thy desolations The true Church then may lye waste and desolate and not be so gloriously visible as the Papists falsely say it alwaies is Shall even now be too narrow A Metaphor from Cities that being over-full send out colonies into other Countries And they that swallowed thee up See ver 17. Ver. 20. The children Heb. the children of thine orbity such as are not yet received into the Church Give place to me that I may People shall offer violence to heaven and the violent stall take it by force valde avide quasi ambitiose accessuri sunt Ezekiel describeth the Church of the New Testament to be very large and spacious and yet she shall be so crouded as is a bee-hive out of the mouth whereof the bees oft hang on heaps for want of room within Ver. 21. Then shalt thou say in thine heart Est artificiosa fictio color rhetoricus A Captive and removing too and fro The condition of Gods Church on earth to be afflicted and tossed from post to pillar having no settled aboad as neither had the Ark but was transportative till settled at length in Solomons Temple Ver. 22. Behold I will lift up my hand c. i.
said once of his Gods Non sic deos coluimus ut iste nos vinceret We have not served our gods that they should serve us no better then to suffer our enemies to get the better of us so were these proud pretenders ready to say of God Almighty We have better deserved then to be so served rated by these Prophets and evil intreated by our enemies beaten on both sides A rich Chapman that hath had a good stock and trading is loth to be a journey-man again hee 'l be trading though it be but for pins so we bankrupt in Adam yet will be doing and think to be saved for a company of poor beggerly duties dead prayers formal fastings c. and to set off with God by our good deeds for our bad as the Papists do and not a few Ignorants amongst us Behold in the day of your fast which is called a day of Restraint because therein you should amerce your selves and abridge your selves of all sorts of delights Ye find pleasure Ye find your own desire pleasure or will ye gratify your flesh pursue your sinful lusts and purposes Grande malum propria voluntas saith Bernard qua fit ut bona tua tibi bona non sint Chephers significas id quod libet A mans own will or pleasure proves a great evil to him many times making his good duties fastings prayers and the like no way good to him In vain is the body maceraâ—ed if mens lusts be not mortified And exact all your labours i. e. Your debts and dues with rigour and extremity not considering that utmost righ is utmost wrong and that howsoever you should take another time for such work Feriu jurgia amovento brawl not on an holy-day was one of the laws of the twelve Tables in Rome Ver. 4. Behold Take notice whence it is that ye so miscarry in your services and leave muttering against me Ye fast for strife and debate Or unto strife and debate i. e. On your Fast-dayes ye contend and quarrel being hungry you are angry as emptinesse whetteth choler Sed quid prodest pallor in ore si sit livor in corde to what purpose is a pale face and a spiteful spirit and what is an humbling day without an humbled heart not only an irreligious incongruity but an high provocation like Zimries act when all the Congregation were weeping before the door of the Tabernacle Get thee behind said Jehu to the messenger what hast thou to do with peace Confessions and prayers are our messengers but if the heart be not broken there is no peace to such wicked And to smite with the fist with wickednesse sc Your servants or your debtours as Matth. 18.28 They should have had on such a day especially Pacem cum hominibus cum vitiis bellum which was Otho 2. His Motto peace with men and war with their wickednesses Ye shall not fast as ye do this day For ye fast not to God Zech. 7.5 11 12. but bear fruit to your selves like that empty Vine Ephraim Hos 10.1 and so are not a button the better for all you doe Jer. 14.1 2. When they fast I will not hear their cry To make your voyces to be heard on high Out of ostentation of Devotion but secrecy here were a better argument of sincerity Or do ye think to be heard on high i. e. in Heaven for such outside services Ver. 5. Is it such a fast that I have chosen No for God hates that mar-good formality and displeasing service is double dishonour A day for a man to afflict his soul i. e. His body a whole day at least from evening till evening Rous his Archaeol Attica Levit. 23.32 or from morning till evening Judg. 20.26 2 Sam. 3.35 Yet so as that nature be chastised not disabled for service and that we take not the more liberty afterwards to pamper the flesh which we have pined as those dames of Athens did in their Thesmophoria a feast of Ceres to the which they prepared themselves with fasting but after that took their liquor more freely then was fit And as the Turks do at this day in their solemn Fasts they will not so much as taste a cup of water Turk hist 777. Voyage into the Levant or wash their mouths with water all the day long before the stars appear in the sky but then they lay the reins in the neck and run riot Is it to bow down the head as a bulrush Whiles the heart is unbowed and stands bolt upright Hypocrites like bulrushes hang down their heads for a day while some storm of trouble is upon them But when a fair sun-shine day is come to dry it up again they lift up their heads as before Fitly saith a grave Divine is formality compared to a bulrush the colour is fresh the skin smooth he is very exact that can find a knot in a bulrush but if you pill it what is under but a kind of spungious unsubstantial substance of no use in the world worth the speaking of Such are hypocrites a fair outside specious pretences of piety c. all the rest not worth a rush Pictures saith another are pretty things to look on and that 's all they are good for Christ looked on and loved the young Pharisee c. And to spread sack-cloth and ashes under him The Jews did so usually in their solemn mournings Esth 4 3. Jer. 6.26 The Heathens also did the like Jonah 3.5 Matth. 11.21 Wilt thou call this a fast Is it not a meer mock-fast as was that of the Pharisees and is that of the Papists who pride themselves that day with opinion of merit for their meer outward abstinence Some Protestants also fast but they had need to send as God speaks for mourning-women that by their cunning they may be taught to mourn Jer. 19.17 and for reformation the main businesse of a fast they mind it not And an acceptable day to the Lord Heb. a day of good-will or well-liking therefore called elsewhere a day of Atonement or Expiation and hath most excellent promises made to it Joel 2.12 18. Only there must be withall a turning from wicked workâ— without which God seeth no work or worth in a Fast Jon. 3.10 nor can it be an acceptable day to the Lord. Ver. 6. Is not this the Fast that I have chosen There is a three-fold Fast from meat mirth sin this last crowns both the former and yet we say not as the Papists falsely say we hold that fasting is no more but a moral temperance a fasting from sin a matter of policy To lose the bands of wickednesse i. e. Juramentum literariam cautionem vincula carceres servitutem the unjust bonds and obligations of Usurers and oppessors whereby poor non-solvents were imprisoned or imbondaged These are also here further called heavy burdens and yokes as elsewhere nets Psal 10.9 that is saith Chrisostom bonds debts morgages And to let the oppressed go free Heb. the
obedient ye shall eat the good things of the land chap. 1.21 which that we may be Nolentem praevenit Deus ut velit Aug. volentem subsequitur ne frustra velit God worketh in us both to will and to doe of his own good pleasure Howbeit he expecteth that we shouâ—d go as far as we can naturally if ever we look that He should meet us graciously Though the Miller cannot command a wind yet he will spread his fails be in the way to have it if it come In those is continuance i. e. In those sins of ours and shall we be saved Or in those wayes of thine thy wayes of mercy and fidelity is permanency therefore we shall be saved our sins notwithstanding Ver. 6. But we are all as an unclean thing Both our persons and our actions are so for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean What a mercy is it then that God should look upon such walking dunghils as we are and accept the work of our hands And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Or as a coat of patches Panno ancumulenta Scultet a beggers coat vestis centonum vestis è vilibus paniculis consuta Heb. a cloth of separations a matury rag a menstrous clout nauseons and odious such as a man would loath to touch much more to take up Such are our best works as they proceed from us when there springeth up any sweet fountain of grace within us our hearts closely cast in their filthy dirt as the Philistines dealt by Isaac they drop down from their impure hands some filth upon that pure web the Spirit weaveth and make it a menstruous cloth Where then are Justitiaries our Merit-mongers c. Those that seek to be saved by their works Luther fitly calleth the Devils Martyrs they suffer much and take great pains to go to Hell We are all apt to weave a web of righteousness of our own to spin a thred of our own to climb up to Heaven by but that cannot be We must do all righteousnesses rest in none but Christs disclaiming our own best as spotted and imperfect And we all fade as a leaf That falleth to the ground in Autumn The Poet could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom And our iniquities like the wind have taken us away Out of thy presence and will hurry us to Hell if thou foresend not Ver. 7. And there is none that calleth upon thy Name i. e. Very few for that God had then a praying people this very prayer declareth Apparent rari nantâ—s in gurgite vasto but they were drowned in the multiude being scarce discernable That stirreth up himself to take hold of thee That rouseth up himself and wrastleth with God laying hold on him by faith and prayer resolved to retain him Let us go forth as Sampson did and shake up our selves against that indevotion and spiritual sloth that will creep upon us in doing good See for this Mr. Whitfield's Help to stirring up an excellent Treatise written upon this text For thou hast hid thy face from us Or though thou hast hid thy face Ne tuis quidem ferulis caesi resipuimus Ver. 8. But now O Lord thou art our Father Or Yet now O Lord thou art our Father therefore we shall not dye say they Hab. 1.12 boldly but warrantably See on chap. 63.16 We are the clay and thou art our potter This was grown to a Proverb among the Heathens also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man is a clod of clay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a piece of clay neatly made up saith Arrian upon Epictetus Fictus ex argilla luto homulus Orat. ad Pison saith Cicero And Nigidius was sirnamed Figulus or the Potter saith Augustine because he used to say that man was nothing else but an earthen vessel See 2 Cor. 4.7 5.1 We are all the work of thy hands Both as made and re-made by Thee therefore despise us not Job 10.8 9 Psal 138.8 Look upon the wounds of thy hands and forsake not the work of thine hands prayed Queen Elisabeth Ver. 9. Be not wroth very sore O Lord Neither over-much nor over-long but spare us as a man spareth his own son that serveth him This is commended for the best line in all Terence Pro peccato magno paululum supplicii satis est Patri Ver. 10. Thy holy Cities are a Wilderness And is that for thine honour Behold see we beseech thee Ver. 11. Our holy and our beautiful house The Church riseth higher and higher in her complaints to God we must do likewise Where our Fathers praised thee Their own praises there they mention not as not holding them worth mentioning Ver. 12. Wilt thou refrain thy self for these things Or Canst thou contain thy self at these things No he cannot witness his answer hereunto chap. 65.1 The obstinate Jews do in vain still recite these words in their Synagogues as Hierom here noteth Wilt thou hold thy peace And by thy silence seem to consent to the enemies outrages and our calamities Habet acrimonianâ— saith Hyperius there is some sharpness in these short questions and yet because they were full of faith and fervency they were highly accepted in Heaven And afflict us very sore Heb. Vsque valde unto very much or unto extremity CHAP. LXV Piscat Ver. 1. I Am sought of them that asked not for me I am sought that is I am found as Eccles 3.6 Or I am sought to by those that asked not of me viz. by the Gentiles who knew me not enquired not of me See Rom. 10.20 21. where the Apostle then whom we cannot have a better Interpreter expoundeth this verse of the calling of the Gentiles and the next verse of the rejection of the Jews and herein Esaias was very bold saith St. Paul so bold say Origen and others that for this cause among others he was sawn asunder by his unworthy Countrey-men See on chap. 1.10 I am found of them that sought me not The first act of our Coversion then the infusion of the sap is of God our will prevents it not but followes it See 2 Cor. 3.5 Rom. 8.7 Joh. 6.44 1 Cor. 12.3 Deut. 29.3 4. Psal 36.10 Note this against the Patrons of Nature Free-will men Papists especially who not only ascribe the beginning of salvation to themselves in coworking with God in their first conversion but also the end and the accomplishment of it by works of condignity meritorious of eternal life I said Behold me behold me We are not easily arroused out of that dead Lethargy into which sin and Satan hath cast us hence this Lo I Lo I. And here we have both Gods answer to the Churches prayer chap. 64. and the scope of the whole book as Oecolampadius observeth set down in the perclose viz. the coming in of the Gentiles and the casting off of the Jews for their many and mighty sins Amos 5.12 Prov. 1.24 Act. 26.1 Ver. 2. I have
de re rust or a countrey be brought forth in one day a Nation be born at once Cardinal Pool abused this Scripture in a letter to Pope Julius 3. applying it to the bringing in of Popery again here so universally and suddainly in Queen Maryes dayes So he did also another when at his first return hither from beyond sea he blasphemously saluted the same Queen Mary with those words of the Angel Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee Ver. 9. Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth i. e. Shall I set upon a work and not go through with it God began and finished his work of Creation Christ is both Authour and finisher of his peoples faith Heb. 12.2 The holy Ghost will sanctifie the Elect wholly and keep them blamelesse unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5.23 Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus sancti gratia saith Ambrose Otherwise his power and mercy would not equally appear to his people in regeneration as the power and mercy of the Father and the Son in Creation and Redemption Ver. 10. Rejoyce ye with Jerusalem As friends use to do with her that is newly made a mother Luk. 1.58 Rejoyce for joy with her Out of the Church there is no solid joy See Hos 9.1 with the Note Others may revel the godly only rejoyce their joy is not that of the mouth but of the heart nec in labris nascitur sed fibris it doth not only smooth the brow but fills the breast wet the mouth but warm the heart c. Ver. 11. That ye may suck and be satisfied with the brests of her consolations Zion is not only a fruitful mother but a joyful nurse God giveth her the blessings both of the belly and of the brests and these brests of hers are full-strutting with the sincere milk of the Word that rational milk 1 Pet. 2.2 the sweet and precious promises of the Gospel These brests of consolation we must suck as the babe doth the mothers dug as long as he can get a drop out of it and then sucks still till more cometh Let us suck the blood of the Promises saith one as a dog that hath got the blood of the bear he hangs on and will hardly be beaten off Let us extort and oppress the Promises saith another descanting upon this text as a rich man oppresseth a poor man and getteth out of him all that he hath so deale thou with the Promises for they are rich there is a price in them consider it to the utmost wring it out The world layeth forth her two breasts or botches rather of Profit and Pleasure and hath enow to suck them though they can never thereby be satisfied And shall almamater Ecclesia want those that shall milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory Ver. 12. Behold I will extend peace to her This and the following Promises are the delicious milk spoken of before sc pax copiosa pâ—rennis peace as a river as the waters cover the sea joy unspeakable and full of glory Gods fatherly care motherly affection c. all that heart can wish or need require Like a river As Euphrates saith the Chaldee Like a flowing stream Or overflowing as Nilus Claudian Qui cunctis amnibus extat Vtilior Ye shall be born upon her side Humanissime suavissime traÌ„ctabimini ye shall be born in the Churches armes laid to her brests set in her lap dandled on her knees c. Hac Similitudine nihil fierà potest suavius See Num. 11.12 Ver. 13. And as one whom his mother comforteth Her darling and dandling especially when she perceiveth it to make a lip and to be displeased mothers also are very kind to and careful of their children when they are grown to be men A Lapide in Isai 56.20 as Monica was to Austin and as Matres Hollandicae the mothers in Holland of whom it is reported quod prae aliis matribus mirè filios suos etiam grandaevos ament ideóque eos vocant tractant ut pueros See Isa 46.4 with the Note Ver. 14. And when ye see this your heart shall rejoyce Videbitis gaudebitis you shall see that I do not give you good words only but that I am in good earnest ye shall know it within your selves in the workings of your own hearts as Heb. 10.34 And your bones shall flourish like an herb i. e. They shall be filled again with moisture and marrow See Ezek. 37.10 11. you shall be fair-liking and reflourish And the hand of the Lord i. e. His infinite power tantorum beneficiorum in piis operatrix the efficient cause of all these comforts Ver. 15. For behold the Lord will come with fire With hell-fire say the Rabbines here with the fire of the last day say we whereof his particular judgements are as pledges and preludes And with his charrets like a whirlwind As he did when he sent forth his armies the Romans and destroyed those murtherers the Jews and burnt up their City Mat. 22.7 And when they would have reedified their City and Temple under Julian the Apostate who in hatred to Christians animated them thereunto balls of fire broke forth of the earth which marred their work and destroyed many thousands of them Ver. 16. For with fire Then which nothing is more formidable And with his sword Which is no ordinary one chap. 27.1 Ver. 17. In the gardens Where these Idolaters had set up Altars offered sacrifices Donec me flumine vivo Abluero Virg. Qui noctem in flumine purgas Pers i. e. nocturnam Venerem and had their ponds wherein when they were about to sacrifice heathen-like they washed and purified themselves one after another and not together which they held to be the best way of purifying This they did also not apart and in private but in the midst ut hoc modo oculos in nudis lavantium praesertim muliercularum corporibus pascerent that they might feed their eyes with the sight of those parts which nature would have hid for your Pagan superstitions were oft-times contrary to natural honesty Behind one tree in the midst Or as others render it after or behind Ahad which was the name of a Syrian Idol Saturnal lib. 1. cap. 23. representing the Sun as Macrobius telleth us calling him Adad Ver. 18. For I know or I will punish their works and their thoughts Or yea their thoughts which they may think to be free See Jer. 6.19 It shall come to passe that I will gather It is easie to observe that this Chapter consisteth of various passages interwoven the one within the other of judgments to the wicked of mercyes and comforts to the godly c. All Nations and tongues A plain Prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles to the Kingdom of Christ for which purpose the miraculous gift of tongues was bestowed upon the Apostles And they shall come and see
And of Ambrose Stilico the Earle said that he was the walls of Italy Peter and John are called Pillars Gal. 2.9 Athanasius the Churches Champion Virg. Ille velut pelagi rupes immota resistit Against the Kings of Judah against the Princes c. There was a general defection of all sorts and Jeremy was to declaim against them all and proclaim their utter destruction in case they repented not Well might Luther say for he had the sad experience of it Praedicare nihil aliud est quà m totius mundi furorem in se derivare To preach is nothing else but to derive upon a mans self the rage of all the world Vt jam quatuor clementa ferre nequeant He met with some even at Wittenberg where he lived who were so wicked and uncounselable that the four Elements could not endure them So did good Jeremy c. Ver. 19. They shall not prevail against me They shall not take thy Crown from thee no nor thy precious life for thou shalt survive them So Luther dyed in his bed maugre the malice of Rome and of hell For I am with thee And what can all the wicked do against one Minister armed with Gods presence and power CHAP. II. Ver. 1. MOreover the word of the Lord came to me saying The Prophet being thus called and confirmed as chap. 1. sets forthwith upon the work Est autem hoc caput plenum querelae quasi continuum pathos In this chapter the Lord heavily complaineth of Jerusalems unworthy usage of him convincing them thereof by sixteen several arguments as Alapide hath observed and all little enough for they put him to his proofs as is to be seen ver 35. Ver. 2. Go thou and cry For if I my self should do it immediately from heaven my stillest Rhetorike would be too loud for them Deut. 5.27 28. I remember thee Who hast forgot thy first love and loyalty to me Or I remember that is I put thee in mind of the kindness that hath been betwixt us Augustus might have some such meaning in those last words of his to his wife when he lay a dying O Livia remember our marriage and adeiu 'T is thought she had a finger in setting him going and that she was over-familiar with Eudemus the Physician qui specie artis frequent secretis saith Tacitus Peccatum est Deicidium The kindnesse of thy youth When thou camest out of Egypt after me and wast espoused unto me at the giving of the Law We use highly to prize nettle-buds when they first put forth so doth God our young services Others render it thus I record the mercy shewed to thee in thy youth and the love of thine espousals sc when as I loved thee because I loved thee and for no other reason Deut. 7.7 8. When thou wentest after me in the wildernesse God takes it kindly when men will chuse him and his wayes in affliction as did Moses Heb. 11.25 Cant. 8.5 Who is this that cometh from the wilderness from troubles and afflictions leaning on her beloved Ver. 3. Israel was holinesse unto the Lord A people consecrated and set apart for his peculiar Exod. 19.5 Psal 114.2 holy with a federal holiness at least And the first-fruits of his increase Yea his first-born and therefore higher than the Kings of the earth Psalm 89.27 All Gods people are so Heb. 12.23 James 1.18 All that devour them shall offend Rather thus all that devoured them trespassed evil befell them witness the four latter books of Moses Ver. 4. Hear ye the word of the Lord This is often inculcated in both Testaments to procure attention 1 Cor. 11.23 I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you 1 Thes 4.15 This we say unto you by the Word of the Lord. Thus to preach is to preach cum privilegio Ver. 5. What iniquity have your Fathers found in me How unreasonable was their Apostacy and how senseless is your pleading of their example nothing is more irrational then irreligion That they are gone far from me Are ye weary of receiving so many benefits by one man said Themistocles to his ungrateful Country-men And have walked after vanity An Idol is nothing at all but only in the vain opinion of the Idolater And are become vain sc In their imaginations Rom. 1.21 as vain as their very Idols Psal 115.8 Ver. 6. Neither said they In their minds or with their mouths Cicero That signal deliverance was obliterated and even lost upon them Plerique omnes sumus ingrati Through a land of deserts and of pits Per terram campestrem sepulchralem where we talked of making our graves neither was it any otherwise likely but that God gave us pluviam escatilem petram aquatilem all manner of necessaries Tertul. Ver. 7. And I brought you into a plentiful Countrey You lived in my good land but not by my good Laws you had aequissimajura sed iniquâ—ssima ingenia as was said of the Athenians as if I had hired you to be wicked so have you abused my mercies to my greatest dishonour Ver. 8. The Priests said not Where is the Lord Ignorant they were and idle Dixerunt Vbi victimae ubi nummi triobotarium Deum faciunt subque hastam mittunt Oecol they would not be at the paines of a serious inquisition after God and his will though he be a rewarder of all that diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 And they that handled the Law That expounded and applyed it A Metaphor from such as are trained in the war who are said tractare bellum to handle their armes The Pastours also transgressed against me What marvel therefore that the people did so too For as in a fish the corruption of it beginneth at the head so here And the Prophets prophesied by Baal And taught others to worship Idols We see then 't is nothing new that stars fall from heaven that Church-chieftaines should fall from God and draw others after them It went for a Proverb a little afore Luther stirred Qui Theologum scholasticum videt videt septem peccata mortalia he that seeth a Divine seeth the seven deadly sins Ver. 9. I will yet plead with you i. e. Debate the case with you and set you down by sound reason So he did to our first Parents when they had sinned but doomed the serpent without any more ado Ver. 10. For passe over the isles of Chittim The Western parts of the World Greece Italy Cyprus c. And send unto Kedar The Eastern parts where dwell Kedarens Arabians Saracens c. Ver. 11. Hath a Nation changed their Gods No they are too pertinacious in their superstitions Xenophon saith it was an oracle of Apollo that those Gods are rightly worshipped which were delivered them by their ancestours and this he greatly applaudeth Cicero also saith that no reason shall ever prevaile with him to relinquish the religion of his fore-fathers Heyl. Cosm That Monarch of Morocco
friends in Judah 1 Sam. 30.26 Great Alexander when he had prevailed at the river Granicum and was now ascended into the upper parts of Asia sent back many gifts to assure them of his love in Macedonia The like doth God to his Church by sending them Pastours with such two adjuncts as are here 1. Adherent his own approbation 2. Inherent skill to teach the people See Eph. 4.8 with the Notes Ver. 16. They shall say no more the Ark c. When the Gospel shall be preached Paulus ea vocat stercora rudera the ancient ceremonies shall be abolished This was not so easily beleeved and is therefore here again and again assured Ver. 17. They shall call Jerusalem i. e. The Church Christian The throne of the Lord The throne of glory chap. 4.21 So Exod. 17.16 because the hand upon the throne of the Lord that is say some Amalecks hand upon the Church which is elsewhere also called the Temple of God Neither shall they walk any more c. i. e. Not at random but by rule Eph. 5.15 Heb. not any more after the sight of their heart i. e. as themselves thought good but as God directeth them Ver. 18. In that day shall the house of Judah walk with the house of Israel All the Elect shall be reunited in Christ unless we shall understand it of the last reduction of the Nation into one Isa 11.13 Ezek. 37.16 22. Hos 1.11 And they shall come together out of the land of the North i. e. Out of the place of their captivity whereby was figured our spiritual captivity c. Ver. 19. But I said How shall I put thee among the children How but by my free grace alone sith thou hast so little deserved it the causes of our Adoption see Eph. 1.5 6. And give thee a pleasant land The heavenly Canaan which is here fitly called a land of desire or delight an heritage or possession of goodliness a land of the Hâ—sts or desires of the Nations And I said thou shalt call me My Father And My Father affectionately uttered is an effectual prayer As Pater I brevissima quidem vex est sed omnia complectitur saith Luther i. e. Ah Father is but a little word but very comprehensive it is such a piece of eloquence as far exceedeth the rowlings of Demosthenes Cicero or whatsoever most excellent Orator Ver. 20. Surely as a treacherous wife c. This ye have done but that 's your present grief and now you look upon your former disloyalties with a lively hatred of them holding that the time past of your life may suffice to have wrought the will of the Gentiles c. 1 Pet. 4.3 Ver. 21. A voyce was heard upon the high places Where they were wont to worship Idols now they weep for their sins and pray for pardon For they have perverted their wayes This is it that now draweth from them prayers and teares See Chap. 31.18 Lam 5.14 Oi nalanu chi chattanu Wo worth us that ever we thus sinned Some understand those words A voyce is heard as shewing Gods readiness to hear penitent sinners so soon as they begin to turn to him even before they speak as the Father of the Prodigal met him c. Ver. 22. Return ye backsliding children Give the whole turn and not the half-turn only So Act. 2.38 Peter said to them that were already prickt at heart Repent ye even to a transmentation and chap. 3.19 Repent ye and be converted that your sins may be blotted out Repent not only for sin but from sin too be through in your repentance set it be such as shall never be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 It is not a slight sorrow that will serve Apostates turn it must be deep and down-right And I will heal your back slidings Pardon your sins and heal your natures I will love you freely and cause your broken bones to rejoyce Hos 14.4 Isa 19.22 Oh sweetest promise I what wonder then that their hard hearts were forthwith melted by it into such a gracious compliance as followeth Behold we come to thee See Zach. 13.9 with the Note Ver. 23. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills Heb. Truly in vain from the hills the multitude the mountaines it is like to that Hos 14.3 Ashur shall not save us neither will we say any more to the works of our hands Ye are our gods See the Notes there Truely in the Lord our God They trust not God at all that not alone Ver. 24. For shame hath devoured the labour of our Fathers That shameful thing Baal hath done it Chap. 11.13 Hos 9.10 he hath even eaten up our cattle and our Children of whom if any be left yet there is nothing left for them And this we now see long and last poenitentia ducti nostro malo edocti having bought our wit and paid dear for our learning And may not many ill husbands amongst us say as much of their drunkenness and wantonness See Prov. 5.9 10 11 12. with the Notes Ver. 25 We lye down in our shame We that once had a whores forehead ver 3. and seemed past grace are now sore ashamed of former miscarriages yea our confusion covereth us as Psal 44.15 because we have sinned against the Lord our God we and our Fathers from our youth unto this day and have not obeyed the voyce of our God Lo here a dainty form and pattern of penitent confession such as is sure to find mercy Haec sanè omni tempore Christiana est satisfactio non meritoria aliqua Papistica atque nugivendula Only we must not acknowledge sin with dry eyes Zegedia but point every sin with a teare c. CHAP. IIII. Ver. 1. IF thou wilt return O Israel As thou seemest willing to do and for very good reason Chap. 2.22 23 24. Thou art but a beaten rebel and to stand it out with me is to no purpose thou must either turn or burn Neither will it help thee to return fainedly for I love truth in the inward parts and hate hypocrisie halting and tepidity If therefore thou wilt return Return unto me Return as far as to me not from one evil course to another chap. 2.36 for that is but to be tossed as a ball from one of the devils hands to the other but to me with thy whole heart seriously sincerely and zealously for Non amat qui non zelat To a tyrant thou shalt not turn but to one that will both assist thee Prov. 1.23 and accept thee Zach. 1.2 And if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight i. e. Thine Idols out of thine house and out of thine heart Ezek. 14.3 4. Then shalt thou not remove But still dwell in the land and do good feeding on faith as Tremellius rendreth that Psal 37.3 Ver. 2. And thou shalt swear The Lord liveth Not by Baal shalt thou swear or other Idols but by the living God or by the
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 wâ—th 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
Ezek. 17.16 2. That he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord 2 Chron. 36.12 13. Hitherto he had not but now in his distresse he seeketh to this Prophet yea sendeth an Embassage Kings care not for souldiers said a great Commander till their crowns hang on the one side of their heads Sure it is that some of them slight Gods Ministers till they cannot tell what to doe without them as here Kingdomes have their cares and Thrones their thornes Antigonus cried out of his diadem O vilis pannus O base rag not worth taking up at a mans feet Julian complained of his own unhappinesse in being made Emperour Dioclesian laid down the Empire as weary of it Thirty of the ancient Kings of this our Land saith Capgrave resigned their crowns such were their cares crosses and emulations Zedekiah now could gladly have done as much But sith that might not be He sendeth to Jeremiah whom in his prosperity he had slighted and to gratifie his wicked Counsellours wrongfully imprisoned He sent unto him Pashur Not that Magor-missabib chap. 20.1 but another of his name though not much better as it afterwards appeared when seeing Jeremies stoutnesse for the Truth he counselled the King to put him to death Chap. 38. And Zephaniah the son of Maasciah Of whom see further chap. 29.25 29. 37.3 Ver. 2. Enquire I pray thee of the Lord for us He seeketh now to the Lord whom in his prosperity he regarded not so doth a drowning man catch at the tree or twig which before he made no reckoning of Rarae fumant felicibus arae In their affliction they will seek me early Hos 5. ult When he slew them then they sought him and enquired earely after God Psal 78.34 Pharaoh when plagued calleth earnestly for Moses to pray for him and Joab when in danger of his life runneth to the horns of the Altar If so be the Lord will deal with us according to his wondrous works Or it may be the Lord will deal with us c. sc As he did not long since with Hezekiah when invaded by Sennacherib Thus wicked wretches are willing to presume and promise themselves impunity See Deut. 29.19 with the Note Ver. 3. Then said Jeremiah unto them He answereth them modestly and without insultation but freely and boldly as a man of an heroik spirit and the Messenger of the King of Kings Ver. 4. Behold I will turn back the weapons of War i. e. I will render them vain and uselesse as it is God who in battel ordereth the ammunition chap. 50.25 and maketh the weapons vain or prosperous Isa 54. ult Jer. 50.9 This was plainly seen at Edge-hill-fight Ver. 5. And I my self will fight against you This was heavy tidings to Zedekiah and his Courtiers Optassent sibi Prophetas qui dixissent laeta saith Oecolampadius they could have wished for more pleasing Prophecies but those that do what they should not must look to hear what they would not Such bitter answers as this they must look for who seek to God only in a time of necessity silence or else sad answers they shall be sure of Ver. 6. They shall dye of a great Pestilence See chap. 16.4 18.21 Hippocrates calleth the Pestilence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the divine disease Sr. Jo. Heyw. Life of Edw. the sixth because there is much of Gods hand in it like as there was here in the sweating sicknesse wherewith the English only were chased not only in England but in all Countries Ver. 7. And afterward saith the Lord This is noted by the Hebrew Criticks for a very long verse as having in it two and forty words which consist of one hundred and threescore letters and it sounds very heavily all along to the Courtiers especially Potentes potenter torquebuntur Ver. 8. Behold I will set before you the way of life and the way of death They should have their option but a very sad one Saved they could not be from their enemies but by their enemies nor escape death but by captivity which is a kind of living death and not much to be preferred before death Only life is sweet as the Gibeonites held it and therefore chose rather to be hewers of wood and drawers of water then to be cut off with the rest of the Canaanites Ver. 9. His life shall be unto him for a prey And lawful prey or booty is counted good purchase Isa 49.24 He shall save his life though he lose his goods And it should not be grievous to any man to sacrifice his estate to the service of his life why else did Solomon make so many hundreds of targets and sheilds of gold Ver. 10. For I have set my face against this City I have looked this City to destruction I have decreed it and will do it When our Saviour set his face to go towards this City Luke 9.51 he was fully resolved on it and nothing should hinder him See Levit. 17.10 20.5 Ver. 11. And touching the house of the King of Judah say i. e. His Courtiers and his Counsellours which probably were now as bad or worse then they had been in his Father Josias dayes Zeph. 3.3 Her Princes within her were roaring Lions her Judges evening wolves See the Notes Ver. 12. O house of David But much degenerated from the piety of David So Mic. 2.7 O thou that art named the house of Jacob are these his doings c. See the Notes there To be a degenerate plant of so noble a vine is no small discommendation Thus saith the Lord After that the Court had sent to him he is sent to the Court with these Instructions Execute justice in the morning As David your Progenitour and pattern did Psal 101.8 Be up and at it betime and make quick dispatch of causes that poor men may go home about their businesses who have other things to do besides going to Law It is a lamentable thing that a suit should depend ten or twenty years in some Courts Oecolamp quo saturentur avarissimi rabulae omnia bona pauperum exugentes through the avarice of some Pleaders to the utter undoing of their poor Clients This made one such when he was perswaded to patience by the example of Job to reply Mane i. e. Maturè What do ye tell me of Job Job never had any suits in Chancery Jethro adviseth Moses Exod. 18. to dismsse those timely whom he cannot dispatch presently Ver. 13. Behold I am against thee I who alone am a whole army of men Van and Reare both Isa 52.12 and may better say then any other How many reckon you me at O inhabitant of the valley i. e. Of Jerusalem called elsewhere the valley of vision It stood high but yet was compassed about with mountains that were higher Psal 125.2 See there And rock of the plain The bulwark and beauty of the whole adjacent Country Pliny saith that it was the most famous of
with beetles to threaten heavy punishments for light offences Ver. 40. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you Contempt of the Word is such an enraging sin that God cannot easily satisfy himself in saying what he will do to such as are guilty of it CHAP. XXIV Ver. 1. THe Lord shewed me By shewing as well as by saying hath God ever signified his minde to his people by the visible as well as by the audible Word as in Sacrifices and Sacraments for their better confirmation in the Faith And behold two baskets Dodaim so called from Dodim Breasts because these two baskets resembled two breasts Were set before the Temple Either visionally or else actually there set whether presented for first-fruits as Deut. 26.2 or set to be sold in such a publike place Before the Temple To shew that the Jews of both sorts gloried in the same God but were differently regarded by him and accordingly sentenced After that Nebuchadnezzar This then was shewed to Jeremy about the beginning of Zedekiah's raign Had carried away captive Jeconiah Who was therefore and thenceforth called Jeconiah Asir 1 Chron. 3.16 that is Jeconiah the Prisoner He was a wicked Prince and therefore written childlesse and threatened with deportation chap. 22. Howbeit because by the advice of the Prophet Jeremy he submitted to Nebuchadnezzar who carried him away to Babylon where say the Rabbines he repented and was therefore at length advanced by Evil-merodâ—h as chap. 5â— he and his company are here comforted and pronounced more happy however it might seem otherwise then those that continued still in the land And this say the Hebrews was not obscurely set forth also by those two baskets of figs whereof that which was worst shewed best and the other shewed worst till they came to be tasted Raban Hugo Lyra. With the Carpenters Or Craftsmen 2 King 24.14 16. And Smiths Heb. Inclosers that is say some Gold-smiths whose work it is to set stones in gold And these thus carried away are as a type of such saith Oecolampadius as are penitent and patient till the Lord shall turn again their captivity as the streams in the south Ver. 2. One basket had very good figs Maturas praeâ—oquas ripe and ready betimes bursas melle plenas as one once called such good Figs purses full of Hony Passerat Ficus habet lactis nivei rutilique saporem Mellis ambrosiae similes cum nectare succos The other basket had very naughty figs Sowr and ill-tasted because blasted haply or worm-eaten In vit Dion c. Of the Athenians Plutarch saith that they were all very good or stark naught no middle-men like as that Country also produceth both the most excellent hony and the most deadly poyson Sure it is that non sunt media coram Deo neque placet tepiditas before God every man is either a good tree yielding good fruit or an evil tree bearing evil fruit He that is not with Christ is against him He acknowledgeth not a mediocrity he detesteth an indifferency in Religion hot or cold he wisheth men and threateneth to spue the lukewarm out out of his mouth Rev 3.15 16. The best that can be said of such Neuter-Passives is that which Tacitus saith of Galba Magis extra vitia quam cum virtutibus that they are rather not vitious then vertuous their goodnesse is meerly negative The world cryeth them up for right honest men but God decryeth them for naught stark naught they may not be endured they are so naught See Luke 16.15 Ver. 3. What seest thou Jeremy See on chap. 1.11 The good figs very good See on ver 2. Ver. 4. Again the Word of the Lord Transitio ad Anagogen the interpretation followeth whereby will appear the different judgement made of persons and things by God and men Ver. 5. Like these good figs Quas sic dat arbor aura when once God hath made the tree good the fruit will be good So will I acknowledge Heb. know that is own or take special notice of and this made the difference Whom I have sent out of this place for their good It is for their good temporal and eternal that God chastiseth his children Jehoiachin was preferred at length and as the Jew-Doctours say converted as Manasseh had been before him Daniel and his associates were set over the Kingdome The Jews got good estates and respect in the land of their captivity Jer. 29.4 Esth 9. and were at length sent back with many favours and priviledges c. Ver. 6. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good I will see to their safety and provide for their necessities See Psal 34.15 with the Note Ver. 7. And I will give them an heart to know me This was better then all the rest sc a sanctified use of their afflictions This we should highly prize Promissio Evangelica ut infra 31. 33. and pray for And they shall be my people This falling out of lovers shall but be a renewing of love betwixt us For they shall return unto me God must sometimes whip his people to duty and galter them from evil as well as entice them ut uvae dulces sint non labruscae Ver. 8. And as the evil figs Zedekiah and his subjects who were lookt upon as the happier because at home and derided likely Jechoniah and his concaptives as cowards Sure it is that they were not bettered by their brethrens miseries Ver. 9. And I will deliver them As men throw out naughty figs rotten apples or the like All the figs were carried out but in diverse baskets and for diverse purposes To be a taunt and a curse As when they were called in scorn by the heathen Verpi Apellae Recutiti c. and were noted as they are still for a nasty people Ver. 10. And I will send the sword So chap. 14.15 and 34.17 CHAP. XXV Ver. 1. IN the fourth year of Jehoiakim See on chap. 1.2 Above twenty years had Jeremy spent his worthy paines upon them illi vero ne teruntio quidem meliores facti sunt but they were nothing the better here therefore is their doom most deservedly denounced That was the first year This first year of Nebuchadnezzar raigning alone after his fathers death fell out part of Jehoiakims third and part of the fourth Dan. 1.1 Ver. 2. Vnto all the people of Judah The circumstances both of time when and of persons to whom is thus set down for the reason given on ver 1. Ver. 3. Rising early and speaking A diluculo indesinenter as good husbands use to do taking the best times Ver. 4. But ye have not hearkened See chap. 7.24 26. Ver. 5. They said Turn ye again This was the sum of all the Prophets Sermons as of the Apostles Repent and beleeve the Gospel Mark 1. Ver. 6. And I will do you no hurt Heb. I will not do evil to you as else I must The Romans honoured their Vejoves that
focum keeping himself warm in his winter chamber and carelesse of calling upon God whiles the people cold and empty were fasting and praying in the Temple and hearing the Word read by Baruch In the ninth moneth sc Of the sacred year which moneth was part of our November and part of December a cold season but that thing of nought his body which he now made so much of was shortly after to be cast out unburied in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost ver 30. Quintillan Ver. 23. When Jehudi had read three or four leaves Vespasian is said to have been patientissimus veri very patient of truth so was good Josiah whose heart melted at the hearing of the Law 2 Chron. 34.27 but so was not this degenerate son of his Jeboiakim but more like Tiberius that Tiger who tore with his teeth all that displeased him Lib. 3. hist or like Vitellius the Tyrant of whom Tacitus saith Ita formatae principis aures ut aspera quae utilia nec quidquam nisi jucundum non laesurum actiperet that his cares were of that temper that he could hear no counsel though never so profitable unless it were pleasant and did suit with his humours He cut it with the penknife Why what could he dislike in that precious piece Of Petronius his Satyricon one said well Tolle obscaena tollis omnia Of Jeremies prophecies I may safely say Tolle sancta tollis omnia But this brutish Prince could not away with downright-truth c. Oecolamp And cast it into the fire O stultitiam quid innocentes chartae commeruerant O madnesse what evil had those innocent papers deserved that they must dye this double death as it were Those Magical books at Ephesus were worthily burnt Act. 19. Aretines love-books are so lascivious that they deserve to be burned saith Boissard Bois biblioth together with their Authour Many seditious Pamphlets are now committed to Vulcan to be corrected and more should be But O sancta Apocalypsis as that Martyr once said when he took up the book of the Revelation cast into the same fire with himself So O holy Jeremy what hast thou said or written to be thus flasht and then cast into the fire Jehoiakim is the first we read of that ever offered to burn the Bible Antiochus indeed did the like afterwards and Dioclesian the Tyrant and now the Pope But though there were not a Bible left upon earth yet for ever O Lord thy Word is stablished in heaven saith David Psal 119 89. Vntill all the roll was consumed So far was he from repenting of that his wickednesse that he fed his eyes with such a sad spectacle and was ready to say as Solon did when he burnt the Usurers bonds in Athens that he never saw a fairer or clearer fire burn in all his life Ver. 24. Yet they were not afraid Ne paulum quidem perculsi sunt The King and his servants those Court-parasites were not stirred at all at such a Bible-bone-fire but jeared when they should have feared c. Nor rent their garments Such was their stupor seu non-curantia their security and insensibleness of that high offence for which their posterity keep a yearly fast See on ver 6. Rending of garments in token of grief was in use also among the Heathens Homer saith Priamus rent his clothes when he heard of the death of his son Hector The like hath Virgil of his Aeneas Tam pater Aeneas humeris abscindere vestem Auxilioque vocate deos Suetonius saith the like of Jalius Caesar c. Pro concione fidem militum flens veste à pectore dicissâ imploravit Suet. c. 55. Ver. 25. Neverthelesse Elnathan Who had before been active for the King in apprehending and slaughtering the Prophet Vriah chap. 26.22 but now haply touched with some rremorse for having any hand in so bloody an act Had made intercession to the King Verum frigide admodum but very coldly and such cold friends the truth hath still not a few at Kings Courts especially Ver. 26. But the King commanded Jerameel the son of Hammelech Or the Kings son whom he might employ against these two servants of God as once the King of France sent his son and heir with an Army against the Waldenses It is not for nothing therefore that the curse is denounced against Jehojakim and his posterity ver 30 31. But the Lord hid them i. e. He provided for them a hiding place in some good mans house and there safe guarded them from these blood-hounds who hunted after their precious lives There in no fence but flight nor counsel but concealement to secure an innocent subject against an enraged Soveraign Ver. 27. Then the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah Jehojakim took an ill course to free himself forom trouble as he counted it by burning the Roll for Gods Word cannot be burnt no more then it can be bound 2 Tim. 2.9 And shall they thus escape by iniquity No verily for it followeth and it is not more votum then vaticinium a wish then a Prophecy In thine anger cast down the people O God Psal 56.7 Ver. 28. Take thee again another roll Revertere accipe Gods Ministers must be stedfast and unweariable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as they know that their labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. ult And write in it all the former words If all the Tyrants on earth should fight against the very paper of the Scriptures striving to abolish it yet they could not possibly do it There will be Bibles when they shall be laid low enough in the slimy valley where are many already like them and more shall come alter them Job 21.31 32. Ver. 29. And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim i. e. Add this doleful doom of his to the new written roule and direct it to Jehojakim Some think the Prophet told him these things to his face like as Eliah presented himself to Ahab whom before he had fled from and dealt freely with him but that is not so likely Ver. 30. He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David i. e. None to make any reckoning of for his son Jeconâ—ah raigned but three moneths and ten dayes And Zedekiah is not looked upon as his lawful successour because he was his Uncle and set up likely by Nebuchadnezzar for a reproach to Jehojakim and Jeconiah Of Jehojakim it may be said as was afterwards of Ethelred King of England Ejus vitae cursus saevus in principio miser in medio turpis in exitu asseritur Malms lib. 2. cap. 10. and in as great spite as once Attilus King of Suesia made a dog King of the Danes in revenge of a great many injuries received by them appointing Councellours to do all things under his title And his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat This was that infamous burial
to enter into Egypt This was to go out of Gods blessing as we use to say into the worlds warm sun-shine this was to put themselves into the punishing hands of the living God Ver. 18. Because of the Chaldaeans for they were afraid of them But they should rather have sanctified the Lord God in their hearts and made him their dread as Esay 8.13 The fear of man bringeth a snare but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Prov. 29.25 See the Notes there Ob incustodiaÌ„ Because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah And together with him many Chaldaeans whom Johanan and his captaines should have cautioned and better guarded as the King of Babylon would better tell them they thought and withall punish them for their neglect CHAP. XLII Ver. 1. THen all the Captains of the forces and Johanan Or even Johanan he among the rest and above the rest Ille huic negotio non interfuit modo sed etiam praefuit And Jezaniah the son of Hoshajah Brother belike to that Azariah chap. 43.2 a noble pair of brethren in evil And all the people Who follow their Rulers as in a beast the whole body followeth the head Drew near They came as clients use to do for learned counsel Ver. 2. Let we beseech thee our supplication be accepted before thee Here they seem to humble themselves before Jeremiah the Prophet which because King Zedekiah did not he came to ruine 2 Chron. 26.12 And pray for us unto the Lord thy God Good words may be found even in hell-mouth sometimes Who would think but these men had spoken what they did unfainedly and from their very hearts when as it soon after appeared that all was no better then deep dissimulation They had made their conclusion aforehand to go down to Egypt only in a preâ—ence of piety and for greater credit they would have had Gods approbation which sith they cannot they will on with their design howsoever fall back fall edge O most hateful hypocrisy O contumacy worthy of all mens execration Ver. 3. That the Lord thy God may shew us the way But they had set themselves in the way to Egypt before they came with this request to the Prophet why went they else to Geruth Chimham the rode toward Egypt chap. 41.17 why were they also so peremptory when they knew Gods mind to the contrary chap. 43. And the thing that we may do Good words all along but those we say are light cheap Quid vero verba quaero facta cum videam they were as forward to speak fair as their ancestours were in the wildernesse but oh that there were a heart in this people saith God to do as they have said Ver. 4. I have heard you behold I will pray The wisdom from above is perswasible easie to be intreated Jam. 3. ult and good men are ready to every good work Tit. 3.1 Jeremy hoped they might speak their whole hearts and promiseth to do his best for them both by praying and prophecying Whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you I will declare Sic veteres nihil ex se vel potuerunt vel protulerunt The Prophets spake as they were inspired by the Spirit of truth Christ spake nothing but what was consonant to the holy Scriptures The Apostles delivered to the Churches what they had received of the Lord Irenaeus lib. 3. Eccles hist lib. 4. cap. 14. 1 Cor. 11.23 Polycarp told the Churches that he delivered nothing to them but what he had received of the Apostles c. Ver. 5. The Lord be a true and faithful witnesse between us Did these men know what it was so solemnly to swear a thing Or were they stark Atheists thus to promise that with an oath which they never meant to perform At sperate Deum memorem fandi atque nefandi Their King Zedekiah paid dear for his perjury to God and men Ver. 6. Whether it be good or whether it be evil i. e. Whether it please us or crosse us Veniat veniat verbum Domini submittemus ei sexcenta si nobis essent colla said a good man once that is Let Gods Word come to us once and he shall be obeyed whatever come of it These in the text seem to say as much but they say it only neither was it much to be liked that they were so free of their promises and all in their own strength without any condition of help from heaven as if the matter had been wholly in their own hands and they had had free-will to whatsoever good purpose or practice O coecas mentes hominum We will obey the voyce of the Lord Yes as far as a few good words will go Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest Ovid. Ver. 7. And it came to passe that after ten dayes So long God held his holy Prophet in request and so he doth still his best servants many times thereby tying as it were the sacrifice to the hornes of the Altar How impatient those wretched Roysters were of such a delay we may well imagine the Chinois use to whip their gods when they will not hear and help them forthwith but God held them off as unworthy of any answer and seemed by his silence to say unto them as Ezek. 20.3 Are ye come to enquire of me As I live saith the Lord God I will not be enquired of by you Ver. 8. And all the people from the least unto the greatest For the Word of God belongeth to all of all sorts and as the lesser fishes bite soonest so the poor are Gospellized Mat. 11.5 when the richer stand out Ver. 9. Vnto whom ye sent me to present your supplication Heb. to make your supplication fall in his presence This I have not ceased to do ever since but had no answer till now and it may be that now you may the better regard it Cito data cito vilescunt Ver. 10. Then will I build you Promittitur felicitatio parabola ab architectura agricultura desumpta God promiseth to blesse and settle them by a two fold similitude used also by the Apostle 1 Cor. 3.9 ye are Gods husbandry ye are Gods building See chap. 24.6 For I repent me of the evil A term taken from men Gen. 6.6 though repentance in men is a change of the will but repentance in God is only the willing of a change mutatio rei non Dei See chap. 18.8 Ver. 11. Fear not the King of Babylon See on chap. 41.18 For I am with you to save you Not only to protect you from the Babylonian but also to encline his heart to clemency toward you ver 12. Ver. 12. And I will shew mercyes unto you Tender mercyes such as proceed from the bowels and of a parent nay a mother This was more then all the rest Ver. 13. But if ye say We will not dwell in this land Because more barren then Egypt and besides beset with many and mighty enemies Neither
twentieth year of his reign as Jeremy also had set forth by a sign chap. 44.30 Ver. 14. Publish in Noph and in Tahpanes See chap. 44.1 For the sword shall devour round about thee Egypt was no whit amended by the former discomfiture at Carchemish therefore is now wholly subdued by the Babylonian Conquerour about three and twenty years after And the like befell the Greek Empire overturned by the Turks Ver. 15. They stood not because the Lord did drive them He struck a Panick terrour into them and then no wonder that men flee at the noise of a shaken leaf Ver. 16. Yea one fell upon another See ver 12. in a confused flight it is wont so to be And they said The Auxiliary and Stipendiary souldiers said so when once they saw that there was no good to be done for the Egyptians Nebuchadnezzar having so wasted all Steperus est Ver. 17. Pharaoh King of Egypt is but a noyse A meer flash one that vaunteth and vapoureth and that 's all So of Charles the eighth King of France Guicciardin saith that in his expedition to Naples he came into the field like thundering and lightning but went out like a snuffe more then a man at first and lesse then a woman at last He hath passed the time appointed He let slip his best opportunity which in giving battle is sometimes the losse of all Charles King of Sicily and Jerusalem was for this fault called Carolus Cunctator i. e. the Delayer Ver. 18 As I live Formula jurandi Elliptica Deo propria let none presume to swear in that sort Surely as Tabor is among the mountains As Tabor surmounteth and commandeth the little hills round about it and Carmel the adjoyning sea over which it hangeth a promontory so shall Nebuchadnezzar come into Egypt and subdue the whole Country Ver. 19. O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt But not likely long to dwell there Furnish thy self to go into captivity Heb. make thee instruments or implements of captivity Sarcinis reculisque collectis prepare to be packing Ver. 20. Egypt is like a very fair heifer Vitula elegans a trim bullock Juvenca petusca worshipping Apis the Bull and Mnenis the Cow and unaccustomed to the yoke of subjection as Hos 10.11 but I shall bring her to it Destruction cometh Or excision from the North cometh cometh certo cito penitus venit Ezek. 7.6 there come those that shall cut up this fair heifer or fat calf Ver. 21. Also her hired men in the midst of her like fatted bullocks Heb. bullocks of the stall not like to do much good service in respect of their luxury and petulancy Fat Eglon had but sluggish souldiers Campania with her delicacies matred Hannibals forces These mercenaries carried themselves as if hired non ad militiam sed saginam not to fight but to fat themselves Ver. 22. The voyce thereof of Egypt shall go like a serpent Submissa voce loquetur she shall hisse and whisper as being daunted and damped Vox trepida prae metu instar serpentuÌ„ stâ—idula scarce able to mutter or utter ought for fear Esa â—9 4 Ver. 23. They shall cut down her forrest i. e. Her many Cities Herodotus telleth of one thousand and twenty Cities that were in the land of Egypt in the dayes of King Amasis Because they are more then the grashoppers The Babylonian fellers are Lib. 2. Diodor. l. 1. c. 31. and those many hands will make light work Ver. 24. The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded This is in plain termes Subjungit Epiphonema the sum of all that had been said before Ver. 25. The Lord of hosts the God of Israel saith And shall he say and not do Num. 23.19 shall the Word of God be broken Joh. 10.35 Ver. 26. Behold I will punish the multitude of No Called populous No Hâ—die dicitur Alexandria Nah. 3.8 populous as Nineveh so Galilee of the Gentiles some render it nourishing No. And their Kings Here Calvin conjectureth that Pharaoh had made many of his Princes Kings for his greater magnificence but this came down soon after A bulging wall is near unto a downfal And Pharaoh Hophra chap. 44.30 And all them that trust in him As the Jews in Egypt did Ver. 26. And afterward it shall be inhabited Fourty years after Ezek. 29.13 sc in the dayes of Amasis whom Cambyses the Persian conquered after which it remained subject to the Persian Monarchs 150. years saith Eusebius being but a base and tributary Kingdom Ver. 27. But fear not thou O my servant Jacob If Egypt find so much favour as ver 26. what mayst not thou hope for See the same chap. 30.10 Ver. 28. Fear thou not O Jacob c. See chap. 30.11 But correct thee in measure c. God dealeth much otherwise with his own people then he doth with unbeleevers whose prosperity as it is full of thornes so their adversity is but a foretaste of eternal torment whereas all things even afflictions also work together for good to them that love God c. CHAP. XLVII Ver. 1. BEfore that Pharaoh smote Gaza Called also Gazer and Gazera having its name not from the Persian Gaza signifying wealth or treasure but from an Hebrew word signifying strength It was first smitten by Pharaoh at his return from Carchemish likely after he had slain Josiah and afterwards worsted the Babylonian at Euphrates Next by Nebuchadnezzar this and the four other satrapies of the Philistines were overrun then when he came against Egypt After that it was besieged and taken by Alexander the great who laid it waste Yet was it built again and called Constantia after the name of Constantine the great his sister being one of the chief Cities in Syria and having received the faith Euseb de vit Constant l. 4. Ver. 2. Behold waters rise up out of the North The Chaldaean as a mighty torrent shall overflow the whole Country and bury all as it were in one universal grave of waters as once at the deluge So Esa 8.7 This seemeth to have been done somewhat before Egypt was destroyed when Moab Ammon and Syria and therein Palestine drank of the same cup. Ver. 3. The Fathers shall not look back to their children Though never so dear to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greeks call them and the Latines have their Filius of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but shall be sollicitous of their own lives only qui de Deo ne tantillum quidem fuerant solliciti For feeblenesse of hands Through fear and fail of vital spirits so as to forget natural affection also Ver. 4. Because of the day that cometh to spoile all the Philistines God will find a time of vengeance to fall upon the wicked enemies of his people though he bear long with them Patientia Dei quo diuturnior eo minacior The wicked practiseth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth The Lord shall laugh at him for he
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 Aâ—iopolis dâ—cta Adudit sâ—â—è 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 Hâ—shbon 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 symbâ—lum 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
gracelesnesse She remembreth not her last end i. e. What a black tail of plagues sin draweth after it Plura de extremis loqui pars ignaviae est Tacit. lib. 2. Hist and that for all these things she must come to Judgment Memorare novissima is a good preservative from sin but most men are of Otho the Emperours mind who thought it a piece of dastardy to speak or think much of death whereas Moses assureth us that by keeping out the thoughts of death we keep our spirits void of true magnanimity and that one of those that will consider their latter end would chase a thousand Deut 32.30 Therefore she came down wonderfully Heb. with wondermentâ— Her incogitancy and inconsideratnesse together with the licentious wickednesse following thereupon being more heavy then a talent of lead Zach. 5.7 brought her down with a powder as we say ita ut ad miraculum corruerit O Lord behold mine affliction If not me as utterly unworthy yet mine affliction as thou once didst Hagar's Gen. 16.13 and if I may obtain no favour yet why should the enemy insult to thy dishonour Deut. 32.27 Psal 35.26 38.16 Jer. 48.26 42. Zeph. 2.20 Ver. 10. The adversary The common enemy both of God and us out of hatred of the truth and the professors thereof Hath spread out his hand His plundring and sacrilegious hand Vpon her pleasant things But especially those that were consecrated to the service of God in the Temple The Rabbines here by pleasant or desirable things understand principally the book of the Law which say they the Moabites and the Ammonites sought for in the Temple that they might burn it because therein was forbidden their admission into the Church for ever Ver. 11. All her people sigh And so think to ease their grief They shall seek bread The staff of life which without repaire by nutrition would be soon extinct so in the spiritual life which made Job prefer the word before his necessary food There is a famine of the Word which is much worse Amos 8. Isa 5. Pray against it and prevent it They have given their pleasant things for meat Which must be had at any rate much more must the food of the soul Act. Mon. 750. Keckerm praefat Geograph Our forefathers gave five Markes or more for a good book a load of hay for a few Chapters of St. James or of St. Paul in English saith Mr. Fox The Queen of Castile sold her jewels to furnish Columbus for his discovering voyage to the West Indies when he had shewed his Maps though our Henry the seventh loth to part with mony slâ—ghted his proffers and thereby the golden mines were found and gained to the Spanish Crown Let no man think much to part with his pleasant things for his precious soul or to sacrifice all that he hath to the service of his life which next to his soul should be most dear unto him Our ancestours in Queen Maries dayes were glad to eat the bread of their souls in peril of their lives To relieve the soul Heb. to make the soul come again For Animantis cujusque vita in fuga est Life must be fetcht again by food when it is fainting away See O Lord and consider Quam delicata epulatrix facta sim to what hard meat I am held to how strait an allowance See it and be sensible of my prisoners pittance and how I have made many a meals meat upon the promises when I have wanted bread as that good woman once said Ver. 12. Is it nothing to you all ye that passe by the way Siste viator Stay passenger hast not a tear to shed c. Sanchez thinks that this is Jerusalem's Epitaph made by her self as to be engraven on her tomb to move compassion The Septuagint have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hei ad vos subaudi clamo Woe and Alasse cry I to you Make ye nothing of my misery I wish the like may never befal you Ne sit super vos for so some render the words Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow What we see in the water seemeth greater then it is so in the waters of Marah See chap. 3.1 T is sure that no temptation taketh us but what is humane or common to man 1 Cor. 10.13 But what did the man Christ Jesus suffer All our sufferings are but chips of his cross saith Luther not worthy to be named in the same day c. Wherein the Lord hath afflicted me This was yet no smal allay to her grief that God had done it The Stoicks who held that all came by destiny were noted for their patience or rather tolerance and aequanimity in all conditions Ver. 13. Form above hath he sent fire into my bones Like as when the marrow and natural moisture is dryed up by a violent fever or rather as when the solid parts of bodies below are lightening-struk from above and scorcht by these sulphureous flames that pierce unto them And it prevailed against them Or. And he ruled it viz. the fire i. e. he directed and disposed it He hath spred a net for my feet And so hamperd me an unruly creature ut constricta fuerim in ruinam that there is no escaping from him yea the more I strive to get out the faster I stick He hath turned me back Laid me on my back He hath made me desolate and faint My calamities come thick one in the neck of another words are too weak to utter them and yet here is very great copy and variety of words so that Paschasius saith this book may well be called the Lamentations of Lamentations like as Solomon's Song is called for its excellenty The Song of Songs Ver. 14. The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand Compactum est Or is bound upon his hand that is the Lord carrieth them in his continual remembrance They are wreathed Wrapped and wreathed together as a strong cord My sins are twisted together saith One and sadly accented so are the punishments of my sins saith the Church here neither can I get free but as the heifer by wriggling against the yoke galleth her neck so do I. And come up upon my neck Praeclarum scilicet monile torques mearum virtutum index insigne He hath made my strength to fall Heb. he hath caused my power to stumble i. e. so to stumble as to fall for he who stumbleth and yet falleth not getteth ground From whom I am not able to arise Only God can raise me and it is a work worthy of God who Dejicit ut relevet premit ut solatia praestet Ver. 15. The Lord hath trodden under foot As unsavory salt that is he hath covered with the greatest contempt All my mighty men Vulg. My Magnifico's or Gallants in whom I too much trusted In the midst of me In the very bosom of their mother as Caracalla killed his brother Geta consecrating the sword wherewith he
1.20 21. One of Austin's wishes was to have seen Christ on earth Bede comes after and wisheth rather to have seen Christ in his glory and on his heavenly throne Ver. 27. And I saw as the colour of amber See ver 4. Heb. chashmal which being read backward as the Cabbalists observe is Lammashach or Lammashiach i. e. Messias As the appearance of fire Christ is very terrible in his executions and even our God as well as the Jews God is a consuming fire Heb. 12. ult See Exod. 23.20 From the appearance of his loyns even upward This may well be understood of Christs Divinity as the parts downward of his Humanity partaking of the same most resplendent glory by virtue of the hypostatical union and having partner-agency with the Godhead according to its measure in the works of redemption and mediation Ver. 28. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud Here as in the salt sea or as in a pot of hony the deeper the sweeter The Rainbow was set for a sign of the Covenant of mercy to mankind Gen. 9.12 Isa 54.12 See Rev. 10.1 with the Note This was the appearance c. For no more of God can be seen by any mortal wight Exod. 33.20 This and other Prophets saw the Charret but not the Rider in in it as the Rabbines say Quasi fasees suos submittens I fell upon my face As astonished and as adoring the Divine Majesty And I heard a voice This the Vulgar Latin prefixeth before the next Chapter CHAP. II. Ver. 1. ANd he said unto me Christus solio sic infit ab alto Christ from his lofty throne thus bespake me who had now my mouth in the dust and had no more to say but this Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Son of man So this Prophet is called almost an hundred times in this Book four times in this short Chapter The reason hereof I take to be this saith a judicious Divine He had visions both more in number and more rare in kind revealed unto him then any other Prophet had Now D. Gouge lest he should be exalted out of measure through the abundance of Revelations the Lord often putteth him in mind of his estate by nature that he was but a son of man a mortal man even a worm Stand upon thy feet God for good ends casteth down sometimes those that are dearest to himself but then he comforteth the abject 2 Cor. 7.6 Dejicit ut relevet premit ut solatia praestet And I will speak unto thee So Dan. 10.11 Oracles are for standers not prostrate ones they require utmost attention of body intention of mind and retention of memory See Num. 23.18 Judg. 3.20 with the Notes Ver. 2. And the Spirit entred into me This was right when Word and Spirit went together See Isa 59.21 with the Notes And set me upon my feet Called me off from earthly cares and made me hear savingly In the Scriptures the Holy Ghost speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 4.1 Let him that hath ears to hear hear c. Let him draw up the ears of his mind to those of his body that one and the same sound may pierce both Ver. 3. I send thee to the children of Israel So they will needs call themselves But what saith God Mic. 2.7 O thou that art named the house of Jacob is the Spirit of the Lord straitened are these his doings See the Notes there To a rebellious nation Heb. Gentiles so the Jews call us Christians in scorn The Jews call the Turkes Ishmaelites the Ethiopians Cushites but Christians that call Gojim an abominable Nation and Mamzer-goll a bastard people so God calleth them here in great contempt a rebellious nation See Amos 9.7 Gentes Apostatrices as the Vulgar here hath it They and their fathers have transgressed against me A serpentine seed they are a race of rebels neither good egg nor bird but Mali corvi mala ova Even unto this very day being nothing bettered by all that they have suffered See Jer. 16.13 Isa 1.5 Ver. 4. For they are impudent children Heb. hard of face Sin hath oaded such an impudency in their faces that they can blush no more then a a sack-but Os tuum ferreum saith Cicero to Piso that brazen face of thine and Durus hic vultus lachrymare nescit Thou canst not blush much lesse bleed for thine offences saith Seneca to one And stiff-hearted Duri-cordes incurvi cervicati quosque citius fregeris quà m flexeris such as will sooner break then bend Many of our hearers alasse are no better We do even wash a tile-sheard draw water with a seive c. Bern. I do send thee unto them About hard service sed curam exegerit non curationem it is the care and not the cure of the charge that is charged upon thee Thou shall say unto them Proficiscere Prophetato Thou shalt be as my mouth Jer. 15.19 Ver. 5. And they whether they will hear or whether they will forbear Some refractaries will not so much as hear a Minister of God but bid him as those old Italians once did the Roman Embassadour ad quercus dicere se interim alia acturos speak to the posts they had somewhat else to do then to give ear to them See 1 Cor. 1.22 Of those also that do hear scarce the hundreth man believeth our report saith Calvin nay scarce the thousandth man saith Chrysostom For they are a rebellious house This was small encouragement Hence Prophets have so hung off as Moses Isay Jonah Jeremy c. Knox when called first to preach burst forth into abundance of tears Bradford was hardly perswaded by Bucer to enter into the Ministery c. Act. Mon. Yet shall know that there hath been a Prophet amongst them Let them prove incorrigible they shall also prove inexcusable and self-condemned See 2 Cor. 2.16 with the Notes Hieronym Convinced they shall be if not converted and who knows how the word now slighted may hereafter work upon them Saepe fit ut audientes verbum moleste Act. Mon. suscipiant fructuose they may better bethink themselves Ver. 6. Be not afraid of them Of their lordly looks such as Steven Gardiner set upon Dr. Taylour and was well told of it of their bitter scoffs dreadful threats as if they could undoe us at their pleasure Our times are in Gods hands kill us they may but hurt us they cannot See Jer. 1.17 Matth. 10.25 When Bonner said to Hawkes A faggot will make you turn Act. Mon. 1443. No no said Hawkes a point for your faggot you shall do no more then God permitteth you c. A Minister of God should live by faith and not dye by fear he should make his hearers afraid of him rather as Herod was of the Baptist Vâ—lens of Basil c. When Eudoxia the Empresse threatned Chrysostom Go tell her said he that I fear nothing but sin I will
shall shine as the Sun in his strength Rom. 2.7 Mat. 13.43 Ver. 30. Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them They shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord Psal 107.43 they shall know the salvation of their God Psal 50.23 they shall have a plerophory of faith as Rom. 8.38 Ver. 31. And ye my flock are men Sheep ye are but rational sheep having your spiritual senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil Heb. 5.14 so that ye take and see my goodness Psal 34.8 CHAP. XXXV Ver. 1. MOreover the Word of the Lord Chap. 18.1 Ver. 2. Set thy face Chap. 6.2 Against mount Seir Inhabited by the Edomites And prophecy against it This had been done before chap. 25.12 but not enough God hath a further saying to them and that for the comfort of his poor people who might thus object Peace and security from danger is promised us in the foregoeing Chapter but we have still many deadly enemies and none worse then our near allies and next neighbours the Edomites Here therefore they are heavily threatened with utter desolation for their malignity against Israel and their blasphemy against God Ver. 3. Behold O mount Seir I am against thee Ecce ego ad te have at thee And I will stretch out my hand against thee I will have my full blow at thee I will make thee most desolate Heb. desolation and desolation I will make an utter end desolation shall not rise up the second time Nahum 1.9 I will make short work Rom. 9.28 4. I will lay thy Cities waste Even Theman Dedan Bozra mentioned in Scripture besides many others mentioned by Geographers Maresa Rhinocorura Raphia Gaza Anthedon c. And thou shall know To thy small comfort That I am the Lord A Lord of Lords a God of Gods a great God a mighty and a terrible which regardeth not persons nor taketh reward Deut. 10.17 Ver. 5. Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred An hereditary deadly feud against Israel Heb. an enemy of ages yea of many ages continuance such as is as we use to say of Runnet the older the stronger And hast shed the blood of the children of Israel Vt diffluant hast let out their life-blood all malice is bloody In time of their calamity Watching the worst time to do them the most mischief In the time that their iniquity had an end When I had in a manner done with them yet thou hadst not done with them but didst stir up Nebuzaradan to burn the City and Temple with fire This was to help forward the affliction Zach. 1.15 See the Note there Ver. 6. I will prepare thee unto blood Thou shalt have blood thy bellyful which thou hast so greedily sought and sucked Satiabis te sanguine quem sitiisti cujusque insatiabilis semper fuisti as the Scythian Queen said to Cyrus's head Even blood shall pursue thee As a bloodhound It shall it shall believe me it shall Ver. 7. Most desolate See ver 3. Iterum repetit ne excidisse videatur I am in good earnest Ver. 8. And I will fill his mountains Oh the woe of war 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bellum à belluis the Greek word for it signifies much blood Ver. 9. I will make thee perpetual desolations For thy perpetual hatred ver 5. And thy Cities See ver 4. Ver. 10. Because thou hast said Ungodly men must answer for their ungodly speeches also Jude 15. These two Nations Israel and Judah Shall be mine Such was their avarice and ambition that they made account all was their own they had in their hopes devoured these two Countries which God had reserved for a better purpose He kept the room empty till the rerurn of the natives and the land kept her Sabbaths resting from tillage c. And yet these miscreants added Whereas the Lords was there Or be it that the Lord is there Though it be a Jehovah shammah as chap. 48 3◠sc to keep possession against us we will out him and have it in despite of him O tongues worthy to be puld out cut in gobbets and driven down their throats that did thus blaspheme Ver. 11. I Will do even according to thine anger Let the Romish Edomites expect the like punishment their malice and mischief will come home to them And according to thine envy That quick sighted and sharp-fanged malignity which none can stand before Prov. 27.4 Ver. 12. And that I have heard all thy blasphemies Of both sorts those in the first table against my self and those in the second table against my people They are said desolate And we have helpt after They are given us to consume Heb. to devour Nay but stay till they be and then know that ye may devour that on earth that ye shall disgest in hell Ver. 13. Thus with your mouth ye have boasted Heb. magnified setting your mouths against heaven your tongues also have walked thorough the earth Psal 73.9 See the Notes there And have multiplied your words against me When it would have better become you to have multiplied your words before me in prayer and praises 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Hebrew word here used mostly signifieth Ver. 14. When the whole earth rejoyceth sc For my peoples deliverances Or when the whole land sc of Israel rejoyceth as it is sometimes hail and well with the Church when the wicked are in the suds Judea was the world of the world as Athens was the Epitome of Greece the Greece of Greece Ver. 15. As thou didst rejoyce As thou wast sick of the devils disease rejoiceing at other mens harms so by a strange turn of things others shall rejoyce at thy just destruction and revel in thy ruines and at the last day espcially when thou shalt be awarded thy portion with the devil and his angels 2. Thes 1.6 7 8. Thou shalt be desolate O mount Seir This was accordingly effected shortly after by Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldees Lib. 12. cap. 11. as Josephus testifieth and is daily executed on the Churches enemies who shall all be ere long in the place that is fittest for them sc under Christs feet And all Idumea even all of it The Edomites that thought of seizing on others lands lost their own They who covet all do oft lose all yea even the pleasure of that they possesse as a greedy dog swalloweth the whole meat that is cast him without any pleasure as gaping still for the next morsel CHAP. XXXVI Ver. 1. PRophesie to the mountains of Israel Better things then thou didst to Mount Seir in the foregoing Chapter See Isa 3.10 11. with the Notes Ye mountains That is ye Mountainers qui fere asperi atque inculti Sed Nemo aedeò ferus est qui non mitescere possit Hor. Si moaò culturae patientem accommodet aurem Ver. 2. Because the enemy hath said The Church fareth the better for her enemies petulancies and insolencies against her Even the
ancient high-places Or the everlasting Altitudes Judaea lay high the Church is much higher Are ours in possession Thus the Edomites triumphed before the victory So did the Spaniards in 88 and God heard them as chap. 35.13 for he is All-ear All-eye c. He is jealous for his people Zach. 1.14 and jealousy is quick-sighted quick-conceited Ver. 3. Because they have Heb. Because and Because importing earnestnesse and heat of indignation So Levit. 26.43 And ye are taken up in the lips of talkers Heb. Ye are made to ascend upon the lip of the tongue and upon the evil fame of the people God takes it extream ill that his people should be traduced and diffamed which yet hath been their lot in all ages but he will not fail to vindicate them and to avenge them Ver. 4. Therefore thus saith the Lord God to the mountains For men there were hardly any left or not very fit to be dealt with See ver 1. Which became a prey To those man-eaters ver 3. qui diruerunt devoraverunt who did eat up Gods people as they eat bread Psal 14.4 making themselves merry with their misery Ver. 5. Surely in the fire of my jealousy Jealousy is hot as hell Cant. 8 6. it is implacable Prov. 6.34 35. and very vindictive See Zech. 1.14 with the Notes Here God swears he will be even with these Edomites Which have appointed my land This the Lord hath never done with so ill he took it Ver. 6. Say unto the mountains and to the hills To those lifelesse creatures he directeth his speech to shew that every creature groaneth and waiteth for the redemption of our bodies It fareth the better also in this life present for the Elects sake as it was once cursed for mans sin and hath lain bed-ridden as it were ever since Because ye have born the shame of the Heathen This the Lord could not bear with any patience Ver. 7. I have liftd up mine hand Sworn solemnly Men when they sweare do so as taking God to witnesse Three fingers they do oft lift up and hold down two to signify saith Lavater that God who is Three in One hath prepared a place in heaven for such as swear rightly but will thrust down to hell those that forswear themselves They shall bear their shame They shall be paid home in their own coyn be overshot in their own bow be covered with their own confusion Ver. 8. Ye shall shoot forth your branches Re-flourish and fructify the Christian Churches those spiritual mountains shall especially Rev. 22.2 For they are as hand to come To come home out of Captivity or to return to God by repentance The fall of Antichrist cannot be far off Ver. 9. For behold I am for you Or I come to you and I come with a Cornucopia in mine hand Ver. 10. All the house of Israel even all of it The Israel of God in the Kingdom of the Messiah totum totum quantum quantum not one of them shall be missing Ver. 11. And will do better unto you This must necessarily be understood of spiritual blessings by Christ for temporals they never had the like to those in the dayes of Joshua David Solomon Hezekiah c. Ver. 12. Thou shalt be their inheritance Yea a type and pledge of that heavenly inheritance 1 Pet. 1.4 Rev. 21. 22. And thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them Provoke God to bereave them Terra abortiens populos Ver. 13. Thou land devourest up men sc By pestilence famine sword evil beasts thou art an unlucky land an unblest country Girald Cambrens feral and fatal to thine inhabitants Hesiod saith the like of his country Ascrâ— and Another of St. David's in Wales that it is a place neither pleasant fertile nor safe Strabo saith the like of Judaea but with a despightful mind as ver 5. Those malevolent Spyes said no less Numb 13. Ver. 14. Neither bereave thy nations any more Either by consuming them or spewing them out as Levit. 18.28 20.22 26.20 22. See what is said of heaven Rev. 22.3 4 5. Ver. 15. Neither will I cause men to hear I will cut off all occasions and remove all such stumbling-blocks as whereat the nations dash and split themselves Ver. 16. Moreover the word See chap. 18.1 Ver. 17. When the house of Israel Vbique Scriptura vindicat gloriam Dei maxime autem hoc loco Oecol This place of Scripture doth singularly set forth the glory of Gods grace whilst it sheweth that mans destruction is wholly of himself his help only of God As the uncleannesse As a menstruous clout abhorred by all Ver. 18. For the blood which they had shed These two grosse sins are instanced viz. murther and idolatry lest they should plead as Jer. 2.35 I have not sinned or as Hos 12.8 In all my works they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin Ver. 19. And I scattered them among the Heathen Whose idols they had worshipped and whose manners they had imitated Ver. 20. These are the people of the Lord And these are the fruits of their religion Are these the holy people c. Lactantius complaineth of his times Lactant. de opific. Dei. prâ—aem Erasm in Lactant. that Gods Truth was evil spoken of by the Heathen because Christians lived loosly and leudly Whereupon Erasmus cryeth out O rem miseram Oh lamentable Even in those purer times the piety of Christians was so much abated that the Gospel was therefore evil spoken of for the evil lives of many that professed it What marvel then saith he that Turkes cry out upon us that the banks of blasphemy are broken down in persons disaffected to the power of godliness Ver. 21. But I had pitty for my holy name So he hath still or else it would be wide enough with us Some render it I spared or tendered mine holy name and to free it from those imputations I freely forgave my people and reestablished them Ver. 22. I do not this for your sakes To do good without respect of desert is royal yea it is divine But for mine own holy names sake God maketh our utter unworthiness a foile to set forth the freenesse of his love in makiâ—g us worthy whom he found not so Ver. 23. And I will sanctifie my great Name I will recover my reputation among the heathen by declaring my justice in your punishment and my mercy in your restauration God as he is moved by his own grace to do his people good so he aimeth therein at his own glory Ver. 24. For I will take you c. I will effectually call you out of darkness into my marvellous light and cull you out from this wicked world And this is the first thing that God here promiseth to his Covenanters More then this he promiseth them in the following verses Justification Sanctification and Preservation or Provision of temporal blessings that nothing may be wanting to them that may make them
appointeth his Ministers their several stations together with the bounds of their habitations Shall eat the most holy things Ministers must eat as well as others they are not of the Camelion-kind cannot live upon air and the Lord Christ hath ordained that as they which waited at the Altar were partakers of the Altar so also should they that preach the Gospel live of the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.13 14. And the meat-offering and the sin-offering i. e. The Priests share out of them For besides their tithes and glâ—be or subburbs the Priests had many rich revenues and were far better provided for then now-adays Gospel-ministers are however begrudged that little that is allowed them Ver. 14. Then shall they not go out of the holy place Ministers may not leave their station lay aside their holy calling entangle themselves with worldly cares and businesses but Hoc agere make their Ministry their businesse giving themselves wholly to it Verbi Minister es hoc age this was Mr. Perkins his Motto And say to Archippus Take heed to the Ministry which thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfil it Coloss 4.17 But there they shall lay their garments And not go amongst the people in them lest they make themselves over-cheap or the people superstitious by placing holinesse in their seeing or touching those holy vestments And shall put on other garments Ministers Oecol as in doing their office they must use all becomming gravity and authority as the Embassadours of Christ so at other times they must familiarize themselves with their people becoming all things to all men in Paul's sense that they may win some Ver. 15. Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house The inner part of the Church the Church invisible is first and chiefly to be looked into rather then the external adjuncts as multitude prosperity clarity antiquity c. the Substantials rather then the Accidentals The Church of Rome borrows her mark from the market Plenty or cheapnesse c. Vilissimus pagus saith Luther the meane stvilage seems to me to be an ivory Palace if there be but in it a faithful Pastour and a few true believers Ver. 16. Five hundred reeds Loe here the large extent of the holy Catholike Church the Communion of Saints See the Note on chap. 40.1 Ver. 17.18 He measured the North-side five hundred reeds To shew that many should come from all coasts and quarters to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 8.11 See the Note there Ver. 20. He measured it by the four sides The Church is fair and firm for it is quadrangular so is every true member thereof homo quadratus four-square stedfast and unmovable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 always abounding in the Work of the Lord c. 1 Cor. 15. ult his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psal 112. He quits himself well in all estates and comes of a gainer Gold is purged in the fire shines in the water as on t'other side clay is scorcht in the fire dissolved in the water The new Jerusalem is said to lye four-square Rev. 21.16 See the Note there CHAP. XLIII Ver. 1. AFterwards he brought me Non nisi dimenso prius montis ambitu The Prophet saw not the glory of God till he had first seen the Mount measured the Temple restored Men must usually wait upon God in the use of means ere they see the King in his glory Even the gate that looketh toward the East Men must awake out of the West of wickednesse and stand up from dead courses and companies if Christ the day-star from on high shall give them light Ephes 5.14 Luke 2.78 79. Ver. 2. And behold the glory i. e. The vision of the glory God who by the East-gate had left the Temple and the City chap 10. doth now the same way return and filleth the house with the glory of his presence And his voice was like a noise of many waters Importing the multitude of his attendants and his irresistible power in his Gospel especially which is the power of God to salvation and like a mighty torrent bears down all before it And the earth shined with his glory How can it do otherwise when the Sun of righteousnesse cometh in place and irradiateth both Organ and Object 2 Cor. 4.6 Into Solomons Temple God came in a thick cloud not so here Light is now more diffused then ever woe be to those that wink or who seek straws to put out their eyes withal as Bernard hath it Ver. 3. And it was according to the vision Being so much the sweeter and the welcomer to me Hence he so oft repeateth it And the Jew-doctours observe that eight times in this one Verse Visionis ac videndi vocabulum repetitur the word for Vision and to see it is made use of When I came to destroy the City i. e. To foretel the destruction of it chap. 9.2 5. from which time forth it was a done thing See Jer. 1.10 with the Note And I fell upon my face In reverence to his Majesty in admiration of his mercy and in the sense of mine own unworthinesse The nearer any one cometh to God the lower he falleth in his own eyes and the more doth rottennesse enter into his bones Ver. 4. And the glory of the Lord See ver 2. By the way of the gate The ordinary entrance into the Temple There if anywhere God is to be found where should a man be sought for but at his house Say he be from home a while yet thither he returneth So here Ver. 5. So the Spirit took me up Who was fain upon my face The lowly shall be lifted up And brought me into the inner court As being a Priest so is every true believer 1 Pet. 2.9 Rev. 1.6 Filled the house Gods presence is the full glory of each good soul See Hag. 2.7 Ver. 6. And I heard him speaking unto me The man Christ Jesus standing by Here then is a meeting and the mystery of the blessed Trinity yea here is a double mystery to be taken notice of viz. those two wonderful unions of three persons in one God and of Christs two natures in one person Ver. 7. The place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet i. e. My Church which is unto me instead of heaven and earth Behold the place of my throne c. so some read it others as for the place of my throne c. Isa 66.1 No more defile But hallow for negative holiness alone is little worth Nor by the carcasses of their Kings i. e. Their idols not unfitly called carcasses Piscat 1. Because void of life 2. Stinking stuffe See Levit. 26.30 Jer. 16.18 These were oft brought in and countenanced by their Kings Ver. 8. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds By broaching falshoods for truth and setting humane devices in competition with the good Word of God That
it be considered whether they be not Spain Germany and France or whether this prefigured not saith One his triple crown And behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man In respect of his feined curtesy and profound policy To be sharpsighted is commendable but to be wittily wicked is to do the devil doubty service And a mouth speaking great thing Big swoln with blasphemies both against God and his Vicegerents upon earth Pope Boniface wrot to Philip the Fair King of France Volumus te scire te in temporali spirituali nobis subjacere We would you should know Sir that you are to subject your selves to us Alsted Chron. both in temporals and spirituals c. Accordingly he took upon him to overtop and command at pleasure all Christian Kings and Emperours The application that the malicious Jew-doctours blasphemously make of this little horn to our Lord Jesus Christ is worthy of all execration Ver. 9. I beheld till the thrones were cast down All these tyrannous dominions overturned Some read it till the thrones were set up for till the last Judgement Antichrist is to continue ver 21 22 25 26. And the Ancient of dayes did sit i. e. God Almighty whom Thales also an Heathen Philosopher called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most Ancient of all that are The Poets say also that Saturn the father of their gods had his name from his fulnesse of years Gods Eternity and Wisdom is set forth by this his Title here Laert. in vlt. Thalet Saturnus est appellatus quòd saturetur annâ— Cic. de nat deor lib. 2. like as also is by his white garments his Majesty and Authority by his hair as pure wooll his Innocency and Integrity in Judgement by his throne like the fiery flame his just Anger and Severity against the man of sin especially by his wheels or the wheels thereof viz. of his Throne for Princes thrones used in those dayes to be set upon wheels as burning fire is set forth his Facility and Dexterity in executing his Judgements his Efficacy also sith all things are fiery Ver. 10. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him The last and great Judgement must needs be very dreadful when as beside that wicked men shall give account with all the world flaming about their ears the Law they shall be judged by is a fiery Law Deut 32.2 the tribunal of fire Ezek. 1.27 the Judge a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 His Attendants flaming Seraphims his pleading with sinners shall be in flames of fire 2 Thes 1.7 The trial of their works shall be by fire 1 Cor. 3.13 The place of punishment a lake of fire fed with tormenting temper and kindled by the breath of the Lord Isa 30 33. Well may the sinners in Zion be afraid and fearfulnesse surprize hypocrites well may they run away if they can at least tell whither with these words in their mouths Who among us shall dwell with this devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Isa 33.14 Thousand thousands ministred unto him There is an innumerable company of Angels Heb. 12.22 and when Christ cometh to judge the world he shall bring them all with him not one being left behind him in heaven Mat. 16.27 that he may have their assistance in the sentence and execution of Judgement 1 Cor. 6.2 3. Sedendo quiescendo animasit prudens Aristot Physic lib. 6. The Judgement was set and the books were opened Terms taken from judgements amongst men wherein inditements are read proofs are produced Laws also are considered The books that shall here be opened are Gods Records and Consciences Register quae scripta sunt non atrameâ—â—o sed flagitiorum inquinamento saith Ambrose which are written not with ink but with sins filth I beheld then because of the voice of the great words As Antichrist shall be judged for his blasphemies so shall all ungodly men for their hard speeches Jude 12. yea for their waste words Mat. 12. Cotton the Jesuite confesseth that the authority of the Pope is incomparably lesse then it was and that now the Christian Church is but a diminutive Ver. 11. I beheld even till the beast was slain Till the whole body of the monster and with it the Papal kingdom came to ruine This Bellarmine confesseth and lamenteth that ever since we began to call the Pope Antichrist the Church of Rome hath suffered losse And his body destroyed and given to the burning flame The Revelation which is an heavenly Commentary upon this Prophecy hath it thus The beast and the false Prophet were cast alive for more torment into a lake of fiâ—e burning with brimstone Chap. 19.20 Ver. 12. As concerning the rest of the beasts The four great Monarchies as was before noted had their times and their turns their rise and their ruine Yet their lives were prolonged for a season Such is the Lords lenity respiting his enemies for a time 1 Kings 21.29 The Persian and Turk are yet puissant Princes The successe that the Antichristian rout yet hath in some places maketh good that which was sometime said of dying Carthage Morientium nempe bestiarum violentiores esse morsus i. e. The bites of dying beasts are more violent then ordinary Ver. 13. I saw in the night visions c. Here comes in the fifth Monarchy properly so called the kingdom being wrested from the fourth tyrant Well might Hierom call Daniel Polyhistora the general Historian And behold one like the son of man So Christ shewed himself oft to the Fathers before his Incarnation for their confirmation in that Article which being the ground of his Passion was to be especially believed for the foundation of Christian faith Christs Godhead also another main Article is here not obscurely deciphered whilest he is said to be like the son of man therefore he is more then a mere man Again he came with the clouds confer Mat. 24.30 Then shall they see the son of man coming in the clouds as in his charet of State Adde hereunto his solemn glorious accesse unto the Father that Ancient of dayes that is the Eternal God as being his Coâ—qual of the same nature power glory c. with his Father and Coeternal unto him So the Lamb is said to approach to him that sat upon the Throne to receive the Book Rev. 5.7 Et qui assistebaâ—â— ei abtulerant eum sic Cyprian legit And they brought him near before him The Angels did as great mens Attendants are said to bring their Masters to the Court. Ver. 14. And there was given him dominion Christ hath a manyfold right to the kingdom it is his by Inheritance conquest donation c. This is comfortable to consider of forasmuch as he will not reign without his Members who all hold all in capite and have all already 1. In precio 2. In promisso 3. In primitiis That all people nations and languages c. Christs Kingdiom is
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 Versâ—tulus 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 Tâ—tro 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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