and thankfulnesse of the Elders Sibi victorias non attribuunt sed totum Deo ascribunt qui vires ipsis ad vincendum suggessit They do not attribute their victories to themselves but ascribe all to God who gave them strength to overcome Plinie reports that the Roman Generall after a Victory brought in his Garland and laid it in Jupiters lap in the Capitoll David doth the like speaking of his great preparations for the building of Gods Temple Who am I and what is my People that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee 1 Chron. 29.14 He ascribes all to the true God Non magnum est humilâ—m esse in abjestione sed magna prorsus rara virtus humilitas honorata Bern. in Cant. Ser. 33. It is no great matter to be humble in a low estate but it is certainly a great and a rare vertue for men in honor to be humble Non mirum est si ventus pulverem secum ferat rapiat Nos pulvis sumus Anselm de solitudine No wonder if the wind carry and snatch away the dust with it We are dust 4. Doct. A good man must seek for strength from God not in some of his actions alone but in all even in the least Without me ye can do nothing Ioh. 15.5 Reason The strength to do the least things is from God even to breath He giveth to all life and breath and all things Act. 17.25 And he can take it away when he please and so spoile all our actions His breath goeth forth he returneth to his earth in that very day his thoughts perish Psal 146.4 Use It reproves those who pray not to God for a blessing on their ordinary labours Onely they seek unto him in difficult cases when they are at their wits end as Seamen pray in a storm Psal 107.27 28. It may be they pray not before they work and therefore God lets them be forty years as the Israelites in the Wildernesse about that which might be done in fourty daies 5. Doct. Such as seek for Gods help may expect Gods blessing Cail upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee Psal 50.14 Jabez called on the God of Israel saying Oh that thou wouldest blesse me indeed and enlarge my coast and that thine hand might be with me and that thou wouldest keep me from evil that it may not grieve me And God granted him that which he requested 1 Chron. 4.10 Reason 1. He will make thy waies right 2. He will make them full and compleat 3. He will make them successefull Use See the reason why many mens waies prosper not They go on in their own strength God is not in all their thoughts Ps 10.4 So Pharaoh went desperately into the Sea and was drowned Ps 136.15 They seek not for strength from God and God will not blesse them 6. Doct. The chief director of our waies for good is God I have raised him up in righteousnesse and I will direct his waies he shall build my City Isa 45.13 I will direct their work in truth Isa 61.8 Reason 1. Because the wisest man in the world canot direct his own waies so as to make them alwaies succeed well O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himselfe it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Ier. 10.23 2. God hath wisdom enough to guide us through all difficulties Use Do nothing without Gods direction in his word A man that had an house to build would in all things follow the direction of a skilfull workman lest he lose his cost So let us follow Gods guidance Else all our labour is lost None desires to go astray out of his way except he be first gone out of his wits Every man will rather take a guide to directhim the right way and give money to that end If we be careful to acknowledge God in our waies we shal not wander out of them for we shal have a trusty guide who offereth himselfe freely in the Text to direct our paths God led the Israelites through the wildernesse not the shortest but the safest way So wil God do for all them that make him their guide The Athenians conceived that their Goddess Minerva turned all their evil counsels into good to them the Romans thought their Goddesse Videlia set them again in the right way when at any time they were out All this and more then is undoubtedly done by the true God for all that commit their waies unto him and depend upon him for direction and successe Then may we conclude This God is our God for ever and ever he wil be our guide even unto death Psal 48.14 VER 7. Be not wise in thine own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil IN this verse is a scale of duties consisting of three steps Mans forsaking his own wisdome leads him to the fear of God and the fear of God keeps him from sin A promise of health followes in the next verse for the words Be not wise See on Chap. 1.5 In thine own eyes See on Chap. 1.17 on the word sight For the phrase being wise in our own eyes is being so in our own conceit as the Doway Bible reads it and it comprehends these particulars under it that a man should not think himselfe sufficiently wise so as by that he should be able to guide himselfe in all his actions to know what is right what wrong what successe will follow good or bad and that he hath a deeper reach then other men and is able to dive into the greatest matters Solomon doth not say be not wise for then should he contradict other scriptures and himselfe too that bid us labour for wisdome his meaning is not then that we should not seek to understand scripture and to be able to give a reason of all we do and know when we judge aright of things and when not for that were to make a man a beast but that he should not think himselfe wiser then other godly men nor at any time oppose his own wisdom to God take heed alwaies that his judgment be not blinded by natural ignorance or selfe-love it differs a little from leaning to our own understanding Verse 5. This is the cause that the effect we lean to our own understanding because we are wise in our own eyes This is in the judgment that in the affection of confidence this is Theorical that is Practical There may also be a Meiofis in it think meanly of thy selfe take notice of thine own ignorance and think other men wiser then thy selfe fear the Lord. See on Chap. 1.7 And depart The word signifies to turn away from a thing which a man dislikes From evil It is put 1. for evil of sin which is the cause 2. of trouble which is the effect He that avoides the first shal escape the last the first is
had if it had a being and who can alter the form of that which is eternall And so by consequence God made not the world And scoffers will grow more bold and say All things continne not as they were from the beginning of the Creation 2 Pet. 3.3 4. But as they were before the Creation from eternity 2. Doct. The wolrd was made by God Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth Job 38.4 By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth Ps 33.6 Reason 1. Because it was not from eternity as appears by the changes in it 2. It made not iâ— self That were a contradiction It could not be in fieri facto made and to be made both at one time It must then work before it be 3. There was none else before the world was to make it but God onely If an house be found in an Island wherein never any man but one was hee must needs build that house 4. None else had wisdom enough to do such a work if there had been men or Angells before the world As no beast could build the foresaid house if there had been many in the Island Use Give God the glory of it and of all the comforts ye enjoy here or shall in heaven 3. Doct. God sheweth wonderfull wisdom in making the world O Lord how manifold are thy workes in wisdom hast thou made them all Psal 104.24 To him that by wisdom made the Heaven Ps 136.5 Reason 1. Because he made this spacious world out of nothing The wisest man in the world or Angell in Heaven cannot work without matter But God made the whole world of nothing Onely his infinite wisdome could doe such a work 2. That excellency that is in the world shews the Makers infinite wisdom What is the most curious picture of a man beast tree star to the thing it self Like a dark shadow to the shining Sun So low do mens best works lie below Gods This shews that the foolishnesse of God is wiser then men 1 Cor. 1.25 For that work of God in which he shews least wisdom argues more then that wherein the wisest man in the world shews most 3. Because of the variety of these excellent workes both of severall kinds and of severall dispositions in each kind Stars Rivers Trees Beasts Men Angells Hills Vallies what thosands of each No created wisdom can number them much lesse make them How many thousands of men are in the world yet every face differs from one another 4. Because of their excellent order The stars are above our heads to give light the air about us to breath in the Earth under us to tread on Severall grounds for corn pasture gardens orchards What not Vse 1. Let us in the view of the creatures not onely take delight in the fight and use of them but also take notice of the wisdome of the Creatour and praise him for it The Earth is a Colledge built by God that in it we may study his wisdom The Heavens a Common-wealth or Kingdom established by him The Sun the King the Moon the Queen the Starrs the Nobility Clouds the commons Spheres the Provinces So we see a mans wisdom in his workes and books and God shews us his in the Heavens and in his Law Psal 19.1 7. Comparata omnia creata ad Deum sicut artificia ad artificem Recuperus All created things compared to God are as artificiall works to the cunning workman As they shew the workmans wisdom so do these Gods Yea much more For if we admire a watch made by the art of man for the rare workmanship and frame of the wheels and their motions how much more should we admire the wisdom of God in making the glorious lights of Heaven with their revolutions without which no watch could exactly measure time And in the variety of earthly creatures without which our lives could afford us no comfort 2. Use Take heed of finding any faults in the workes of God They were all made in wisdom though thy shallow brain cannot reach them 4. Doct. God upholds the Earth strangely The world is established that it cannot be moved Ps 93.1 No man can tell whereupon the Foundations of the Earth are fastned God poses Job with this question Iob 38.6 and may pose all the world They must answer with him God hangeth the Earth upon nothing Job 26.1 And that 1. Because there is nothing above it or under it to uphold it It is the lowest Element and the Heavens above cannot uphold it 2. Because it is above the power of nature to do it or to know how it is done Use When we tread on the earth let us take notice who upholds it and makes it able to uphold us No creature can do it The earth would sink under us if God did not strangely uphold it for us Give God the glory then of your sustentation 5. Doct. God preserves the heavens and heavenly creatures in their motion It is God that in them hath set a Tabernacle for the Sun to run a race Psal 19.4 5. Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to rejoyce Psal 65.8 Reason 1. Because the Heavens and the Sun Moon and stars have no principle of life in them whereby to move themselves much lesse of reason to direct them in their various courses 2. Because no creature either man or angell hath wisdom or power enough to do it Use Take occasion from the daily motion of the heavenly bodies to blesse God our spirits are comforted and bodies directed by them they are watches to keep time for us God keeps them in their motion else would they deceive us and deprive us of their light and comfort Doct 6. All manner of wisdom is in God It is expressed by divers words in the Text Wisdome and Vnderstanding We may well cry out with the Apostle O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God Rom. 11.33 Reas 1. His word shews it to us in which are the grounds of all arts and sciences and higher things then they 2. His works shew it none hath wisdom to do the like Use Be humble and see thine own folly be thou never so wise thou art but a fool in respect of God thou wantest some wisdome he hath all Thou mayest say of thy wisdom as David of his age Psal 39.5 My wisdome is nothing before thee Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity Selah VER 20. By his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew GODS infinite wisdome was set out in the former verse by the higher parts of the world the heavens and by the lower the earth or as was mentioned in the former verse by setling solid substances there and liquid ones here and by ordering the two middle elements aire and water For the words By his knowledge Not by
yeers of age But it is put for the time when they are first marriageable and married young And the Husband is called the guide of her youth because she chooseth him to guide her and promiseth to be guided by him which guidance she hath most need of in her younger yeers and he is set over by Gods appointment as a guide and therefore she ought to be guided by him Here is meant the first Husband to whom she is first married and first love useth to be strongest And she that will be false to him to whom she first gave her heart will make no scruple to be so to any succeeding Husband So a Husband loves the first Wife best commonly being taught to rejoyce with the wife of his youth ch 5.18 Affection is hottest in youth Virgins use to be more ready to preserve faithful love as Virgin-wax is purest Yet this unchaste young woman leaving her guide and Husband to whom she was married being a young Virgin follows the adulterer Magnum impudicitiae impudentiae argumentum Bain A great argument of impudicity and impudence And forgetteth Negligently as the word imports 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The covenant It comes from a word which signifies to choose It is an agreement between two choosing one another and tying themselves by covenant one to another upon such tearms as both parties like Of her God Whom she professeth to worship For Solomon writes to the people of God For the word see on v. 5. It is called the covenant of God 1. Because God instituted marriage 2. Because God is a witnesse of the mutuall promise of fidelity which is made in marriage and takes especial notice of the breach of it to punish it although the husband know it not The Lord hath been witnesse between thee and the wife of thy youth against whom thou hast dealt treacherously yet is she thy companion and the wife of thy covenant Mal. 2.14 The sin of the adulteresse is aggravated by every word She not onely fails in her duty to her Husband but forsakes him and deals falsly with him She forsakes her guide that took care of her and that in her youth when she had most need of a guide She quite forgets not onely a promise but a covenans and that solemnly made not onely in the sight of men but of the great God the instituter of marriage witnesse of the contract whereby she bound her self to cleave to him onely so long as they lived together the judge and the avenger of the breach But now without regard of the love and benefit past or of the strong binding covenant of God she breaks thus shamefully out not onely to the endangering of her own soul but of them also that are allured by her The young man also is here by strong reasons moved to take heed of her for though she might flatter him and professe much love to him yet questionlesse she that had been false to her Husband her first Love and durst violate the covenant of her God would never be true to him but make use of him till she had wasted his body and estate and then leave him Figures none Note 1. Her sin 2. The aggravation of it In the former note 1. The act Which forsaketh 2. The object the guide 3. The adjunct of her youth In the latter observe 1. The act And forgetteth 2. The object the covenant 3. The adjunct of her God 1. Doct. There is no trusting of them that will fail God and their neer friends If Absolon abuse his God and in duty fail his Father 2 Sam. 15. the people that follow him perish So in Adonijah What got Joab and Abiathar by following him 1 King 2. Naboth is condemned by two false witnesses that dealt unjustly with God and him 1 King 21.10 Reason Because they that have broken the greater bands will not stick at the lesser If they fail God they will fail men for their advantage If they sail friends much more strangers or enemies Qui semel verecundiae limites transilierit gravitèr fit impudens He that once is gone beyond the bound of shamefastnesse becomes very impudent Tully If Samson can carry away the gates of Gaza he will make no bones of the beam and web Judg. 16. Vse 1. It reproves such as keep company with those who are notoriously false to God and their parents or neerest friends 2. Those who imploy such in businesses of weight What good can they expect from them They will be left in the lurch 3. Those that marry such persons If they knew their falshood to God or their Parents before it is in vain to complain afterwards of their falshood to them Who will pity them 2. Doct. No bridle will keep in wantonnesse where it reigns Neither fear of God nor loving Husband in this vers None will serve Tamar but Judah her Father in Law Gen. 38. None will serve Amnon but his Sister Tamar 1 Sam. 13. None will serve Herâ—d but Heredâ—as his Brother Philip's Wife Matth. 14. Neither Fathers counsell chap. 5. nor Mothers chap. 31. will keep Solomon from strange women 1 King 11. The incestuous person must have his Fathers Wife 1 Cor. 5. Reason Because where lust reigns it over-rules all civill and naturall bands as a great river overflowing hides all the neighbouring streams Such to satisfie their lusts regard not friends kindred parents children See Pope Alexander's strumpets Epitaph Conditur hoc tumulo Lucretia nomine sed re Thais Alexandri filia sponsa nurus Within this Tombe Luerece by name Thais indeed here lies Pope Alexander's Daughter Wife Daughter in law likewise Vse We need not marvell then to hear of Adulteries Incests Sodomies in the world where lust is let loose it breaks all bands 3. Doct. Many arguments may be given against Adultery Two out of the text Unkindnesse to her Husband and falshood towwards God which shall be handled severally Add the breach of the Marriage-band which should be a strong band to chastity She should go to no mans bed but to her Husbands But Adulterium quasi ad alterum or ad alterius torum Beeman To another man or to another mans bed The wanton never wants one though her Husband be never so near Add also the defiling of her owne body which is a great infamy the diseases that follow that sin the wants when all is consumed upon lust death by partners rage or others violence the disgracefull name of Bastards stamped upon children and Hell it self in the verses following Vse Let these things scare men and women from Adultery and bring such to hearty sorrow and repentance in time who are guilty of it lest they eternally destroy themselves and others Many think adultery to be but a small sin but they forget these many arguments against it Let us remember the dangers and take heed 4. Doct. Adultery in a Wife is a great wrong to the Husband Every one neighed after his neighbours wife Jer. 58. The
body businesse and societie of friends yea and in Soul also for the Soul hath a fellow-feeling of the bodies joy or sorrow in regard of the neer conjunction of them 2. From the contrary because sicknesses and diseases are threatned as crosses and sometimes as curses See Deut. 28.29 c. The leprosie of Naeman shall sleave unto thee and unto thy seed for evers 2 Kings 5.27 3. Because health fits us for duty to God and men sicknesse makes us unserviceable to both Use To inform us that we may lawfully pray for health because in it self it is a blessing Spirituall blessings are best worth asking yet temporall not to be despised 5. Doct. Prosperity also is a blessing in it self the Devill confesses it to be so to Iob. Thou hast blessed the work of his hands his substance is encreased in the land Job 1.10 Abraham's servant confesses it in his Master The Lord hath blessed my Master greatly and he is become great and he hath given him flocks and heards and silver and gold and men-servants and maid-servants and Camells and Asses Gen 24.35 Reason 1. Because it is a gift of God I will give thee riches and wealth and honor 2 Chron. 1.12 2. He hath given it to some of his choisest servants as to Abraham Joseph David Solomon Use Abuse it not to luxury or oppression To be naught thy self more freely or to hurt others more powerfully Remember outward prosperity is Gods gift use it then to Gods honor and bless him for it Take heed it proves not as Tertullian calls it Campus quo ambitio decurrat A field in which ambition may run his course 6. Doct. Long life health prosperity are sometimes the rewards of well doing and obedience If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land Isa 1.19 O that thou hadst hearkened to my Commandments then had thy peace been as a river Isa 48.18 That is thy prosperity as was shewed in the exposition of the Text. Reason 1. Because of Gods bounty who besides Heaven often gives comforts to his here 2. Because of mans frailty who is by prosperity much encouraged to obedience and discouraged by the contrary 1. Object Godly men oftentimes live but a while and in much pain and and poverty Answ Besides what was said before on the third Doctrine I answer 1. That their obedience is but in part and the reward is answerable 2. Promises of outward things are but conditionall And God by short life or sorrows keeps them from corruption or persecution and trouble 3. God gives them a longer and better life in Heaven So God verifies his promise with advantage As if a man should promise twenty shilling a week for a year and at the first months end void the bargain and give the party a thousand pound What cause had the receiver to complain either of falshood in the promiser or of losse to himself 4. Their short life have more sun-shiny daies and true and spirituall comforts there then any wicked mans long life Summer fruit may be as ripe as winter fruit though gathered some months before Use 1. It blames those who think that the study of wisdom and piety shortens their childrens daies They say they are too wise or too good to live long Such bring up their children foolishly and impiously and so shorten their daies which they would prolong 2. It encourages us to get wisdom and obedience Ungodly men think there is no better way in the world to make them live long then to be merry and to put away sorrow by letting slip the bridle to all manner of concupiscence but let us remember that a long healthfull prosperous life is the reward of obedience and live accordingly VERSE 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee bind them about thy neck write them upon the Table of thine heart NOw follow particular duties to bee performed to God and Man enterlarded with many excellent promises and rewards for encouragement to obedience And first the wise man begins with two duties to men setting the Exhortation to mercy and truth in this Verse and the encouraging promise in the next For the words Let not mercy and truth These two are oft enjoyned together in Scripture and it is pitty that they being so nearly joyned in themselves should ever be separated Sometimes they are jointly attributed to God His mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations Psal 100.5 His merciful kindness is great towards us and the truth of the Lord eudureth for ever 117.2 Sometimes to man Mercy and truth preserve the King Chap. 20.28 When they are attributed to God then Gods mercy is shewed in promising or giving man any good that deserves nothing but ill of him His truh is shewed in performance of his promises When they are spoken of man then is mercy seen in giving freely to the poor who deserve nothing of us yea to enemies who deserve ill of us Truth is manifested in doing what we owe by promise or debt to men Misericordia est gratia qua ex nostro libero animo benefacimus alteri non ex debito non ex passione Veritas quâ exclusa omni fictione adaequamus facta dictis verba cordi cordebitis Gratia qua gratuita veritas qua debita exhibemus Cajeetan Mercy is favour whereby out of our own free mind we doe good to another man not out of debt not out of passion Truth is that vertue whereby shutting out all feigning we do equall our deeds to our words our words to our haart our heart to our debts Grace or mercy is whereby we give free things Truth whereby we pay or restore things due to others Some interpret the Text here of Gods mercy and truth and that two waies 1. So carry thy self that God may deal mercifully and truly with thee But this cannot be the sense For though a man may so carry himself that God will not deal mercifully with him yet he cannot carry himself so badly that God will not deal truly with him for that were a blemish to God If he be upright God will perform his promises to him if not God will execute his threatnings upon him whichsoever God doth he shewes forth his truth 2. By way of promise not of exhortation And they read it Mercy and truth shall not forsake thee And they tie it to the former words if thou forget not my Law c. then God wil deal mercifully with thee and perform all his promises to thee But 1. This crosses the ordinary sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a prohibition and that without need 2. The words following are imperative 3. In the first and second Verses ye have a prohibition and promise This method is also observed in the verses following and most likly so here in this Verse and the next The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies 1. Mercy or favour All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth Psal
him Psal 28.7 Reas 1. Because God knowes the heart which men does not 2. If we only make shews of trusting in him he wil only make shewes of helping us but fail us as we do him He wil do to men as they beleeve Mat. 8.13 Use 1. To shew us that there are but a few that trust in the Lord as they ought for the greatest part of the World set their hearts on other things by reason of their ignorance of the insufficiency of all creatures and contempt of Gods word which abundantly sets forth the sufficiency of the Almighty The heart rules our words and deeds and therefore an heartlesse profession of trusting in God is to no purpose 2. Look that your confidence in God be hearty and sincere els look for no good from God if you question his sufficiency or fidelity you shal get no good by either Doct. 4. God must be rested on entirely and universally Blessed is the man that maketh God his trust Psal 40.4 Thou art my hope O Lord God thou art my trust from my youth â—â—al 72.5 To such as trust in God wholly God is made their trust and is their trust Reas Because God will have all or none as in our love which must be with all the heart all the soul and all the mind Mat. 22.37 And with all our service Ye cannot serve God and Mammon Mat. 6.24 So with all our confidence and in all things He will allow no partner but will be trusted in alone and wil not give kis glory to another Isa 42.8 nor have his sole-sufficiency questioned Use See your confidence be not divided part on God part on men such a confidence may keep you from the Lions 2 King 17.25 but it cannot keep you out of hel An house built partly on firm ground partly on sand or propt on one side not on the other wil fall To trust on God then is to be unbottomed of thy selfe and of every creature and so to lean upon God that if he fail thee thou sinkest Doct. 5. Selfe-confidence cannot stand with trusting in God Solomon makes an opposition here between leaning on our understanding and trusting in the Lord. Say not in thine heart my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth But Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for it is he that giveth their power to get wealth Deut. 8.17.18 Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arme and whose heart departeth from the Lord. Jer. 17.5 Reas 1. Because it undermines our trust in God For while we think we have help in our selves sufficient we think it needlesse to look for help from God 2. It opposeth trusting in God selfe-confidence is an act of pride trusting in God is an act of humility We conceive God an enemy naturally and who wil trust in an enemy Vse It shewes us the way that ruines many that we may avoid it they trust in themselves and cannot help themselves and God wil not help them because they trust not in him Doct. 6. It is a dangerous thing for the wisest man in the world to trust in his own brain Witnesse Achitophel whose policy brought him to hang himself 2 Sam. 17.23 Reas 1. Because it is a staffe of reed which wil both fail and hurt as a man or house falling when staffe or props fail are left helplesse and hurt themselves or others 2. This was the great cause of Idolatry leaving scripture direction and leaning to selfe-understanding A refined Idolatry Saint-worship came in from Court-state Use Take heed of this Rock of being selfe-conceited as if thou thoughtst thy selfe the wisest man in the world and all events of thine actions depended on thy brain What a vanity madnesse dangerous error is it for a man mortal subject to a miserable life changeable in Soul and body loaden with so many sins in danger of so many temptations and corruptions and eternal pains and by nature destitute of understanding to trust to his own skil He must needs fall the fairest blossomes of mens endeavours wither and the unproblablest things come to passe where men trust to their own wisdome One saith of General Counscels they seldome were successful because men came with confidence leaning to their own understanding and seeking for victory rather then verity Take then the Apostles counsel Become a fool that thou maist be wise 1 Cor. 3.18 A purse ful of counters must be emptied before it can be filled with gold A vessel must have water powred out that is in it before it can be filled with wine a Table-book must be cleared of all unprofitable scriblings before learned observations can be written in it Thou must cast off all self-confidence before thou canst depend on divine providence Thou must pull down thy proud sailes of self-confidence else they will sink thee in a sea of misery VERSE 6. In all thy waies acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths COnfidence on God was required in the last Verse and that in the heart Here homage to God is required and acknowledgement of him in all our waies And an encouraging promise is added of better successe then we could otherwise expect God will direct our paths to a better end then we look for For the words In all See on Chap. 1.13 Not in some one way but in all Thy waies See on Chap. 1.15 Here is meant the actions of our life in which we continue and go on as travailers in their way It is seldom used for thoughts which are internall or words but for deeds or courses of life in scripture phrase Yet is God to be acknowledged in them also Acknowledge him See on Chap. 1.2 on the word Know For those whom we will not acknowledge wee make the world believe we know them not Some understand it of acknowledging God in the beginning of our works or in the contriving of them To acknowledge him as a Catholick enjoyner or director and not to dare to goe about any thing not agreeable to his word nor in any way disagree able To take notice what God appoints to be done and how and to what end and to proceed accordingly and commit the success to him as a servant or letter-carrier doth his businesse appointed not taking care whether it be likely to prove wel or ill Others understand it of acknowleding God in the progresse of our works And that either as a perpetual overseer which will keep us from evill and encourage us to good So God bids Abraham walk before me and be thou perfect Gen. 17.1 Or as an enabler without whom wee can do no good nor get no good by what we doe and therefore pray to him for strength to do what we undertake and a blessing upon it others interpret it of the successe of our workes if it be good then to acknowledge God the giver of it or rewarder If bad then to acknowledge God the revenger if we did ill or trier of
honour to God immediately for it is an act of homage or acknowledging his power over all things in the world 2. Mediately by maintaining Gods Worship and Ministers by which he is daily praised and honoured Use 1. To reprove such as are niggardly towards pious uses they not only hinder religion but also dishonour God He can get no good if we be never so liberal in this kind honour is all he lookes for from us and if that be denyed him he gets nothing by us 2. To teach us in all our cost for Gods service to look at Gods honour not at our own his glory should be our principal intention To encourage us hereunto consider that God takes it as an honour when we are at cost for his service though it be out of his own and wil reward it as if it were ours and as if he got much by it who indeed gets nothing at all Doct. 3. Our cost for Gods service must be out of our own goods that God hath given us David saith to Ornan I will not take that which is thine for the Lord nor offer burnt offerings without cost 1 Chron. 21.24 Thou shalt not bring the hire of an where into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow Deut. 23.18 Gods service must be maintained out of goods lawfully gotten Reason 1. Because else we doe not maintain Gods service our selves but force others to do it 2. Because it is not thank-worthy to give of another mans no more then to be patient in deserved troubles 1 Pet. 2.19.20 Use It condemnes the cost of many bestowed on Churches and Lectures when they die out of goods gotten by oppression all their life long Men cannot buy out cosenage by giving part to God I the Lord hate robbery for burnt offering Isa 61.8 When the Athenians demanded mony for sacrifices Phoâ—ion pointed to an usurer to whom he ought mony and said Puderet me si vâ—â—is accessiones cedeâ—em huic autem sua non readerem Recuperus I should be ashamed to adde to your offerings and not pay this man his own De substantia aliorum tollere Deo indè afferre non crit utique offerre sed more latronum Patrocinium alterius quaerere velle Deum violentiae socium facere Chrysoft Hom. 43. To take out of other mens substance and offer thereof to God is not at all to offer but as theeves doe to seek the Patronage of another and to be willing to make God a partner in our violence Eleemosâ—nam Deus detestatur quae de Lachrymâ—s alienis praestatur Quid enim praestat si unus benedicat ubi plures maledicunt August L. de verb. Dom. God hates an almes which is given out of other mens tears For what gain is it if one blesse where many curse 4. Doct. The cost bestowed on Gods worship must be out of all our profit Abraham gave Melchizedec tithes of all Gen. 14.20 Let him that as taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things Gal. 6.6 Reason Because all the good things wee have come from God and therefore his service should fare the better for all Use It reproves those that care not how little they give for pious uses living or dying They have forgotten above half their lesson They should honour God not with some but with all their substance Such as can spend all on Haukes Hounds and Harlots leave nothing to maintaine Gods worship 5. Doct. God must not lose his part of our first profit Whatsoever is first ripe in the land which they shall bring unto the Lord shall be thine Numb 18.13 So saith God to Aaron his Priest Reason Because it is good to remember God in the youth of our gain Use It condemnes those that will give nothing to good uses till they die They are like swine that never do good alive and dying give every one a pudding 6. Doct. The cost bestowed on Gods service must be out of the best of our good All the best of the Oyle and all the best of the wine and of the wheat the first fruits of them which the shall offer unto the Lord have I given thee Numb 18.12 Abeâ— brought the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering Gen. 4.4 First fruits were most dear and precious as the first born Reason 1. Because that God that gives the best is worthy of the best 2. To shew our willingnesse in giving to God Men that willingly send presents to their friends send of the best Use To reprove such as think the worst good enough for God and good uses Ye brought that which was torne and the lame and the sick Mal. 1.13 God requires the best the world is ungratefull and hardly affords him the worst to maintaine his worship They think Gods Ministers are indebted to them for meanes when God saith it is his and men owe it to him and he requires it for his Ministers and worship The Apostle makes the people the greater debters If we have sown unto you spirituall things is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnall things 1 Cor. 9.11 VERSE 10. So shall thy barnes be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine IN this Verse is the suitable yea exceeding reward of those that to their cost maintain Gods worship It containes an answer to a secret objection Many men are timerous and fear lest by this liberality they should hinder themselves and theirs and not have enough left to maintain them in a comfortable fashion and so may be much hindred yea it may bee want necessaries for themselves and after much hard labour for posterity leave little to their children The text answers by adding a sweet promise suitable to the duty It shall bee so farre from diminishing your estate that God will fill your barnes and Winepresses so that ye shall receive far more then ye give away Fear not what shall become of you your Wives and Children God will give you much more to leave them Thou needst not suspect that thy pious liberality will bring thee to want it wil rather increase thy wealth and fill thee with all things needfull and comfortable Seeing God cannot well be honoured in the way that he hath appointed without cost and no charge goes so neare a carnall heart as that which is spent to maintain Gods worship by reason of that naturall strangenesse and emnity that is between God us God gives us encouragement to bear this cost by a promise of a greater reward hyperbolically set out intimating that wee shall be so far from being impoverished by it that we shall grow richer and have as much corn as our barnes can hold and so much wine that oue Winepresses and Vessells cannot hold it and other comforts answerable and this is the sum of this Verse Now for the words So. Heb. And. Te meaning is
good we are corrected Doct. 6. We must not be weary of afflictions though they be great and frequent Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners lest ye be weary and faint in your minds ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin Heb. 3.4 Thou hast born and hast patience and for my names-sake hast laboured and hast not fainted Rev. 2.3 Reas 1. Because we are Gods creatures He hath supream and absolute power over us and therefore may lay on us what he will Say with the Jews We are the clay and thou our potter Isa 64.8 2. Fainting makes us unfit for all good duties either of religion or of our callings we can do nothing truly good or acceptable to God without cheerfulnesse A weary man cannot walk or work with comfort his spirits are spent already Use 1. To reprove such as are weary and faint under afflictions some bear little ones or great ones a while and then give over some utterly despair of help and conclude they are quite undone others mur mur against God others seek freedome by unlawfull meanes as Saul by a Witch All these faint under Gods hand and sin against him This is the other extream we heard before that some made light of afflictions and sleighted them now we see that others despair sink under them Non quia dura sed quia molles patimur Not because the things are hard but because we that suffer are tender Seneca Though it be profitable for us to be arflicted yet our flesh is impatient and desires nothing but pleasure and ease and so discourages us under affliction as if God intended to destroy us the Devill tells us as much and we are ready to believe him But we should not forget the exhortation which speaketh unto us as unto children My son despise not thou the chastning of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Heb. 12.5 2. Resolve still to bear while God afflicts remember it is for correction not for confusion And that we are naturally impatient and had need of patience which as Nazianzen calls it is Nervus animae the sinew of the soul Say with Tertullian Totus mundus mihi pereat dum modo patientiam lueis faciam Let me lose all the world so I may get patience Lib. de patientia If that shrinks all failes if afflictions like waves of the sea come rouling one in the neck of another expostulate not with God but pray and wait for deliverance be such as the Apostle bids you to be Rejoycing in hope patient in tribulation continuing instant in prayer Rom. 12.12 VER 12. For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth even as a father the son in whum he delighteth BEcause as it is a hard thing to part with our substance for God so it is as hard if not harder to endure Gods correcting hand which we are alwaies ready to suspect to come out of hatred therefore Solomon takes away that thought and assures us that such corrections come from Gods love and tend to our good For the words For. See on Chap. 1.9 Whom the Lord. See on Chap. 1.7 Loveth See on Chap. 1.22 He correcteth The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies 1. To reason a case by arguments and answers How forcible are right words But what doth your arguing reprove Job 6.25 Should he reason with unprofitable talk Job 15.3 2. To convince confute or reprove such as are in the wrong Do ye imagine to reprove words Job 6.26 3. To correct or scourge one for sin O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure Psal 6.1 And in that sense it is taken here See more on Chap. 9.7 Even as a father See on Chap. 1.8 The son See on Chap. 1.1.8 In whom he delighteth With whom he is wel pleased The sum of the verse is as if Solomon had said Thou must not despise nor be weary of Gods correction because it comes not out of anger but from abundance of love For as a godly Father seeks by correction to amend his child or a wise Physitian to cure his patient by bitter potions so doth God use by afflictions to keep every one in order whom hee loves or to call him back if he have sinned lest he grow worse and lose the comfortable sense of Gods favour For as Parents according to the flesh use to correct their children according to their offence when they neglect their duty or do evill so doth God exercise his children with crosses that they may not be proud or live loosely but more warily and wisely for time to come Figures none Note 1. The truth nakedly set down 2. By Smilitude In the former note 1. The word of coherence For. 2. The Agent The Lord. 3. The Act. Correcteth 4. The Patient Whom he loveth In the latter note 1. The Note of similitude Even as 2. The Corrector The Father 3. The corrected set out 1. By his relation The Son Not the servant onely 2. By his Fathers affection In whom he delighteth Abraham must offer Isaac whom he loves Gen. 22.2 God offers up his Son Christ in whom he is well pleased Math. 3.17 Though God chastise his children sorely yet he takes pleasure in them 1. Doct. God gives reasons of his proceedings that need not give any at all So in the preface to the commandemens Exod. 20.1 c. Ye must obey for I am Jehovah that gave you your being I am your God in convenant with you and I shewed my love to you in bringing you out of Aegypt In the second Commandment God reasons from his jealousie to idolaters and his kindnesse to true worshippers and their posterity long after them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me And she wing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandments In the third Commandement hee argues from his judgements on such as abuse his name For the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vain In the fourth from his liberall allowance of six daies to us for our own occasions who may well therefore afford him one in seven Six daies maist thou labour do all thy work For so indeed it should be translated being a permission not a command for labour in our callings belongs to the eighth Commandement And from his own example who after six daies worke rested one day For in six daies the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day Wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it In the fifth Commandment from the good that comes by honouring Parents A long and comfortable life which all men desire That thy daies may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee There are no reasons given for the rest because mans reason can