this is elegantly here set forth and in the two next verses but better times are at hand Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur Ver. 6. Ask ye now and see c. Was it ever heard of in this world that a male did bear The Poets indeed fable that Minerva was born of Jupiters brain Pictoribus atque poetis Quidlibet audendi fas est Wherefore do I see every man Heb. Every strong or mighty man With their hands on their loynes And not on their weapons And all faces turned into palenesse Through extream fear the blood running to the heart and the heart faln into the heeles The Septuagins for palenesse have the yellew jaundise the Vulgar gold-yellownesse Piscator Morbus regius the Hebrew properly implyeth the colour of blasted corn Deut. 28.22 It importeth that the most stout-hearted warriours should be enervati exangues more parturientium bloodlesse and spiritlesse as travelling women Ver. 7. Alasse for that day is great i. e. Troublesome and terrible somewhat like the last day the day of judgement which is therefore also called the Great day because therein the great God will do great things c. It is even the time of Jacobs trouble Such as never befell him before Those very dayes shall be Affliction so Mark expresseth the last desolation chap. 13.19 not Afflicted only but Affliction it self But though it be the time of Jacobs troubles let it be also the time of his trust for there will be shortly a day of his Triumph But he shall be saved out of it Not from it but yet out of it the Lord knoweth how to deliver his 2 Pet. 2.9 and though Sense say it will not be Reason it cannot be yet Faith gets above and sayes it shall be I descry land Ver. 8. I will break his yoak from off thy neck The forementioned misery did but make way for this mercy that it might be the more magnified Let the Saints but see from what to what and by what Jesus Christ hath delivered them and they cannot but be thankful Ver. 9. But they shall serve their Lord their God Without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of their lives Luk. 1.74 75. See Joh. 8. Rom. 8. And David their King i. e. Zorobabel of Davids line Hag. 2.23 but especially Christ the King of Saints as the Jew-Doctours also expound it Whom I will raise up to them To be Messiah the Prince Dan. 9.25 Christ the Lord Act. 5 31. Ver. 10. Therefore fear thou not O my servant Jacob This is Isay-like and indeed the Prophet here setteth himself verbis consolantissimis as one saith with most cordial comforts to chear the hearts of Gods poor afflicted Ver. 11. For I am with thee To preserve thee and to provide for thee to support thee and to supply thee Though I make a full end of all Nations See Isa 27.7 8. with the Notes See also on chap. 5.10 18. But I will correct thee in measure Heb. According to judgement not summo jure rigidâ justitiâ not as I might but in mercy and with moderation Aliqui reddunt Mundando non mundabo te id est non excoquam te exacte ad purum putum And will not leave thee altogether unpunished Heb. Et innocentando non innocentabo te in very faithfulnesse I will afflict thee that I may be true to thy soul and not cruel to thy body Ver. 12. Thy bruise is incurable i. e. Inevitable by Gods irrevocable decree Or it is incureable in it self but not to me who am an Almighty Physician or Chirurgion See Ezek. 37.11 they seemed free among the dead free of that company Ver. 13. There is none to plead thy cause Thou art friendlesse That thou mayst be bound up Thou art helplesse Ver. 14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee Thy sweet-hearts thine Idols thy carnal friends thy Priests Prophets riches pleasures all these have given thee the bag as we say they stand aloof from thy help They seek thee not Sink thou mayst or swim for them thou art no part of their care For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy As if I cared not where I hit thee or how much I hurt thee Crudelem medicum intemperans aeger facit With the chastisement of a cruel one So it may seem and so Job thought chap. 30.21 but that was his errour See here what a passe a Saint may be at and how deeply he may suffer when his sins are increased God out of love displeased may lay upon him and not spare leave bloody wailes on his back c. For the multitude of thine iniquities Because thy sins are many and mighty or hony See Am. 5.12 with the Note Ver. 15. Why cryest thou for thine affliction And not rather for thy sins cry not perii but peccavi not I am undone but I have done very foolishly See Lam. 3.39 40. Ver. 16. Therefore all they that devoured thee shall be devoured Or neverthelesse or yet all they that devoured thee c. q. d. That thou mayst experience that in love I corrected thee and for thy good though to thy so great grief I will have my penny worths on thine enemyes measuring to them as they have done to thee Ver. 17. For I will restore health It goes best with the Church when worst with her enemies It shall do so much more when all Christs foes shall be made his footstool Because they called thee an outcast Concluding so from thine afflictions Quam chara dus esset docuit quod est victa quod elocata quod servata Cic. pâ—o Flacco The Jewish Nation saith Tully shew how well God regards them that have been so oft subdued by the Chaldees Greeks Romans c. This was but a slender argument only God is moved by the enemies insolencies and insultations to look in mercy the rather upon his poor despised and despited people Saying This is Zion whom no man seeketh after Illusio ex allusione this was a jear by playing upon her name as if Zion signified a dry or waste place Per ludibrium blasphemam contumeliam and therefore not much to be desired Strabo indeed saith as much of Judaea And Mount Zion at this day nihil habet eximium nihil expetendum hath no great desireablenesse in it But certainly Judea was once a land flowing with milk and honey and Mount Zion was in no small request Howsoever none ought by their bitter taunts to add affliction to the afflicted but rather to weep with those that weep be pittiful be courteous 1 Pet. 3.8 Ver. 18. The captivity of Jacobs tents i. e. The poor captives that now live at Babylon as strangers in tents or huts And the City shall be builded upon her own heap Or hill sc in Mount Moriah Jerusalem shall be inhabited in Jerusalem Zech. 12. All this was prolusio perfectae liberationis in Christo saith Junius a type and pledge
may be a vassal to us both Thus the Pope gave away England Primo occupaturo to him that should first take it in Henry the eighths dayes but he reckoned without his Host as they say Even the son of Tabeel A Syrian likely as Tabrimmon 1 King 15.18 a good Rimmonite 2 King 5.18 So Tabeel a good God Rimmon was the Syrians God The Chaldee expoundeth it Good or Right for us Ver. 7. It shall not stand The Counsel of the Lord that shall stand Psal 33.11 when the worlds Wizzards shall be taken in their own craftiness 1 Cor. 3.19 It shall not be All their projects are dashed by a word Video Rideo saith He that sitteth in Heaven Psalm 2. I look and laugh and wherein they dealt proudly I am above them Exod. 18.11 Ver. 8. For the head of Syria is Damascus Not Jerusalem as they haply had contrived it looking upon Jerusalem as a City fatally founded to bear Rule as One saith of Constantinople And the head of Damascus is Rezin Let him set his heart at rest and not reach after the Dominion of Judah lest falling from his high hopes he lose that he hath already and cry out with that Ambitionist Sic mea fata sequor And within threescore and five years sc from the time that Amos foretold it Chap. 5.27 7.8 that is from the twenty fourth year of Vzziah to the sixth of Hezekiah when as the ten Tribes were carried away by Salmaneser 2 King 17. Thus Hierom out of Seder-Olam But I like better Piscators computation which is thus within 65. years that is from the fourth year of Ahaz now current to the 23. of Manasseh when Ephraim ceased indeed to be a people by the command of Esarhaddon Son of Senacherib whereof see Ezra 4.2 Ver. 9. And the head of Samariah Remaliah's son In contempt he hath neither his Name nor Title of a King given him but is fairly warned to keep within his bounds he is not like to hold long that he hath It is dangerous medling with Jerusalem Zech. 12.2 3 6. Valde brevis sententia est sed gravis admodum Oecolamp If ye will not believe surely ye shall not be established Jehosaphat said as much 2 Chron. 20.20 and our Saviour somewhat like John 8.20 Isaiah saw the King and people still fluctuating and trembling notwithstanding the divine Promise and telleth them what to trust to unless they will trust in God they will never be soundly settled Faith quelleth and killeth distrustful fear and maketh a man walk about the world like a Conquerour There is an Elegancy here in the Original that cannot be Englished Ver. 10. Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz Wicked though he were and under the power of unbelief yet he shall see that he hath to do with a very gracious and long-suffering God who by a wonderful condescension will needs give him a sign Inauditum vero dari signum incredulo Christ would not so far gratifie the unbelieving Pharisees but calleth them an evil and bastardly brood for seeking a sign from Heaven Mat. 12.39 Ver. 11. Ask the sign of the Lord not of any other God to whom thou art addicted Thy God From whom thou hast deeply revolted but of whom thou mightest upon thy return be graciously re-accepted Ask it either in the depth This was a fair offer to so foul a sinner but all would not do no though he should have had a sight of Heaven or of Hell for a sign And yet Bellarmine thinketh that one glimpse of Hell were enough to work upon the most hard-hearted sinner in the world and to make him yield to any thing Ver. 12. I will not ask Ah lewd losel I will not ask what a base answer was this of a Bedlam Belialist what a wretched entertainment of such an over-bounding Mercy He doth upon the matter say I le ask no Asks I le try no signs I know a trick worth two of that God shall for me keep his signs to himself I crave no such curtesie at his hands I can otherwise help my self viz. by sending to the Assyrian If the Lord could and would have helped how happeth it that so lately no less then an hundred and twenty thousand of my Subjects were cut off in one day by this Remaliah's son as you contemptuously call him Neither will I tempt the Lord Or neither wâ—ll I make tryal of the Lord as in the former Note Ambrose was mistaken who thought that Ahaz refused to ask or try the Lord out of modesty and humility rather it was out of pervicacy or at best Hypocrisie Hic descendamus in nostras conscientias saith good Oecolampadius Here let us each descend and dive into his own conscience to see whether we also have not matched Ahaz in his madness or at least wise coasted too near upon his unkind usage of the Lord by rejecting his sweet offers of Grace and motions of Mercy by slighting his holy Sacraments those Signs and Seals of the Righteousness that is by Faith Adsit fides aberit periculum Ver. 13. Hear ye now ye House of David But shamefully degenerate from your thrice-worthy Progenitours and strangely forgetful of Gods Promises for a perpetual Succession which if ye remembred and believed ye would not be so causlesly terrified Is it a small thing for you How heartily angry is the Prophet how blessedly blown up in this case of so great dishonour done to God we should be so too To weary men to vex and molest the Septuagint have it to strive Agoneus redditis or wrestle a fall with men By men he meaneth himself and his fellow-Prophets whom Ahaz and his Courtiers slighted and misused Let this comfort Gods faithful Ministers under the worlds indignities and injuries See Matth. 5.11 12. But will ye weary my God whom I serve in my spirit and now no more thy God as ver 11. sith thou hast refused to be Ruled by him Non autem tuum ô rex Ahase Piscat and that after manifest conviction and greatest importunity to bring thee to a better temper Ver. 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign Give it you ingratiis vestris without your leave of his own proffer If we believe not yet God remaineth faithful 2 Tim. 2.13 Rom. 3.3 The House of David was as it were great with child with Christ and with Gods promises in him therefore to be sure it could not be rooted out as these two Kings designed before Christ were come into the world Hence his wonderfull Conception and Birth is made here a Sign of his peoples Safety here and Salvation hereafter And had Ahaz and his people believed this latter they would not have much doubted of the former but rather argued with St. Paul Having given us his Son Rom. 8.32 how shall he not with him give us all things also A sign A singular sign a sign both from above and from beneath for he joyned lumen
kind of storehouse for advice in matters of Religion We account them the surest Rule of life the divine beam and most exact ballance But the Papists see well enough that whiles the authority of the Scriptures standeth Divina slatera Aug. Exactissima trutina Chrysost the traditions of their Popes cannot be established which they account the touchstone of doctrine and foundation of faith And in favour of their unwritten verities as they call them they tell us but falsly that Christ commanded his Apostles to preach but not to write Lying children and therefore not Gods children chap. 63.8 Ver. 10. Which say to the Seers See net c. strang impudency but in thus reciting their words the Prophet rather expresseth their spirit then their speeches And yet it may be that the Polititians of those times blamed the Prophets Isaiah and the rest â—â—â—â—ragmatical for interposing and medling in State-matters and pressing the Law so strictly sith in cases of necessity as now it was they must make bold to borrow a little Law of the holy one of Israel Speak unto us smooth things Heb. smoothnesses toothless truths and such as may speak you No-medlers Ver. 11. Get ye out of the way If that be the way which you so much insist upon warp a little remit of your rigour Religiosum opertet esse sed non religentem Cause the holy one of Israel to depart from us Desinat ille nos per Prophet as obtundere let 's hear no more of him molest us not with so many messages from him see Mic. 2.6 Ver. 12. Wherefore thus saith the holy one of Israel The Prophet doth on purpose repeat this title so much disrelished by them to cross them Ministers must not be men-pleasers Ver. 13. Therefore this iniquity shall be unto you q. d. your Commonwealth is tumbling down apace and ye are hastening the utter ruin of it as if ye were ambitious of your own destruction which will be as suddain so total ver 14. Ver. 14. And he shall break it as the breaking of a Potters vessel Collige ex hoc loco saith Oecolampadius Gather we may from this text that remediless ruin wil befall such as resist the Holy Ghost and sin against light Ver. 15. The Holy one of Israel A stile much in the mouths of Gods Prophets in those times But how great arrogancy is it in the Pope to take unto him the title of His Holiness In returning and rest shall ye be saved This is the same in effect with that before ver 7. Preachers must be instant stand to their work and not be baffled out of their unpleasing messages The Septuagint here have it Si conversus ingemueris tunc salvaberis Ver. 16. But ye said No we will not return or rest This is a golden rule of life In silentio spe fortitudo vestra but these refractaries would none of it they knew a better way to work then all that came to Politicians are like tumblers that have their heads on the earth and their heels against heaven Cross-gtain'd they are for most part to all good For we will flee upon horses whereof Egypt was full and for which it was famous of old and so is yet for the Mamalukes horses especially Therefore shall ye flie but in another sense sc fusi fugatique ab hoste with the enemy at your heels Ver. 17. One thousand shall flee See Deut. 32.30 with the Note Vntill ye be left at a beacon Heb a mast i. e. a very poor few or all alone shred of all you had This was fulfilled when Sennacherib wasted the Country even to the very walls of Jerusalem Paucitatem salvandorum nobis insinuat saith Oecolamp Ver. 18. And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you This it a wonderful condescension i. e. God tarrieth looking for thee to shew thee mercy Serm. of Repent as Mr. Bradford rendreth it if thou wert ripe he is ready But never think that he will lay cordials upon full and foul stomachs faith another grave Divine D. Harris that he will scarf thy bones before they be set and lap up thy sores before they be searcht God chooseth the fittest times to hear and help his suppliants Isa 49.8 with Psal 69.13 opportunitatem opitulandi expectat Be patient therefore brethren untill the coming of the Lord Jam. 5.7 Let your equanimity your longanimity be known to all men the Lord is at hand Phil. 4 5. And therefore will he be exalted He will get up to his tribunal or throne of grace that if ye repent ye may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Heb. 4.16 For the Lord is a God of jugdement i. e. He is a wise God that knoweth best when to deal forth his favours and where to place his benefits Blessed are all they that wait for him Wait his leasure non cerebri sui sectantur consilia and seek not to get off by indirect courses Those though they should die in a waiting condition yet cannot but be happy because God hath said here Blessed are all they that wait for him Ver 19. For the people shall dwell in Zion c. Or For thou the people of Zion that dwell in Jerusalem shalt weep no more Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur At the voice of thy cry Thou shalt pray thou shalt also hear the word of God ver 20.21 and reform thy life ver 22. so shall good be done unto thee When he shall hear it he will answer thee yea before chap. 65.24 before thy prayer can get from thy heart to thy mouth it is got as high as heaven Ver. 20. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity Though he hold you to hard-meat and give you but prisoners pitrance so much as will keep you alive only and that you eat your meat with the peril of your lives emendicato pane hic vivamus saith Luther in our Fathers house is bread Gods plenty Yet shall not thy Teachers be removed into a corner Non alis se induent they shall not take wing and flie from thee The Ministry is a sweet mercy under what misery soever men do otherwise groan and labour Corporeal wants are not much to be passed on so the spiritual food be not wanting a famine of the word is the greatest Judgement Amos 8. when the Gospel was first preacht there was great scarcity of bodily food Rev. 6.6 Act. 11.28 but that was scarce felt by those holy souls who did eat their meat such as it was with gladness and singleness of heart Greenham accounting that bread and cheese with the Gospel was good chear Thine eyes shall see thy Teachers A description of holy hearers their eyes are intent on the preachers Scultet their ears arrect their whole course conformed to the rule quando lapsus tam in proclivi est ver 21. their dearest sins abandoned ver 22. Oh for such hearers
28. He sitteth alone Sessio solitaria as being much in meditation according to that counsel of the Preacher In the day of adversity consider And keepeth silence When Gods hand is upon his back his hand is upon his mouth See on ver 26. Because he hath born it upon him Or When he hath taken it upon him taken up his crosse as being active in suffering Ver. 29. He putteth his mouth in the dust He lyeth low at Gods â—eet putting himself into the hands of Justice yet in hope of mercy See 1 Cor. 14 25. If so be there may be â—â—pe Heb. Peradventure there is hope q. d. doubtlesse there is however I will try sith I have lost many a worse labour Ver. 30. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him Humility the product of affliction sanctified is still at her lesson or rather practising what she hath learned David having suffered by Absolom can well enough bear with Shimei's tongue smitings and the Apostles after they had been in prison departed from the Council rejoycing that they were so far graced as to be disgraced for the name of Jesus Acts 5.41 He is filled full of reproach He can bravely bear all contumelies and contempts for his conscience taking them as crowns and confirmations of his conformity to Christ Ver. 31. For the Lord will not cast off for ever No nor at all however he may seem to some so to do Non deserit etiamsi deserat saith a Father He doth not put his poople far from him as the word here signifieth Ver. 32. For though he cause grief As sometimes he doth in very faithfulnesse and that he may be true to his peoples souls Yet he will have compassion He will repent and return and leave a blessing behind him that 's certain Joel 2.14 Ver. 33. For he doth not afflict willingly Heb. From the heart Non nisi coactus Non est Deo volupe proprium aut per se intentum Paenas dat dum paenas exigit Sen. de Augusto Justu etiam supplietis illacâ—ymavit ingeâ—uit De Vespas Sueton. as that Emperour said when he sealed a writ for execution of a condemned person I would not do it but upon necessity It goeth as much against the heart with God as it can do against the hair with us Ille dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox Ver. 34. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth i. e. All those that are in misery to lay more load upon them and so to crush them to pieces yea to grind them to powder This he could as easily do as bid it be done but he takes no such delight in severity and harshnesse Ver. 35. To turn aside the right of a man To wrest his right by false witnesse and corrupt means as wicked men use to do before the face of the most High or of a Superiour under colour of law God liketh none of all this though eftsoones for excellent ends he suffereth it so to be and ordereth it when so it is Ver. 36. To subvert a man in his cause By legerdemain to tilt the ballance of Justice on t 'one side The Lord approveth not Heb seeth not Non videt i. e. non ei visum est it seemeth not good unto him he liketh it not Ver. 37. Who is he Tam imprudens imperitus Can any one be so simple as to think that the enemy could do ought against us but by the divine permission and appointment God as he made all by his power so he manageth all by his Providence This the Egyptians hieroglyphically set forth by painting God 1. As blowing an egge out of his mouth that is as making the round world by his Word 2. As compassing about that Orb with a girdle that is keeping all together and governing all by his Providence Ver. 38. Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good i. e. Prosperity and adversity q. d. Who doubteth of that Amos 3.5 Isa 45.7 Talk not then of â—ate and blind Fortune Ver. 39. Wherefore dâ—th a living mâ—n complain Mourn immoderately or murmure causelesly If he mourn let him mourn for his sin as the cause of his suffering let him revenge upon that If he be tempted to murmure let him remember that he is yet alive and that 's more then his part cometh to sith it is the Lords mercy that he is not consumed and sent packing hence to hell Life in any sence is a sweet mercy even that which to the afflicted may seem a lifelesse life as Prov. 15.15 Let this patient us that we are yet alive A man for the punishment of his sine Heb. man for his sin for sin doth as naturally draw and suck punishments to it as the Laod-stone doth Iron or Turpentine fire wherefore also the same word in Hebrew signifieth both Ver. 40. Let us search and try our wayes i. e. Make accurate enquiry into them so shall we soon find out selves to be a whole new-found world of wickedness Search we therefore and do it throughly Many either search not at all â—hey cannot endure these domestical Audits its death to them to reflect and recognize what they have done or as though they desired not to find they search as men do for their bad mony they know they have it but they would gladly have it passe for currant among the rest Heathens will rise up in judgement against such for they prescibed and practised self-examination Pythagoras once a day Non prius in dulcem declines lumina somnum Quam prius exactae reputaveris acta diei c. Phocyllides thrice a day if Stobaeus may be believed Serm. And turn again to the Lord Let self-examination end in reformation else sin will be thereby but imboldened and strengthened as idle vagrants and lawlesse subjects are if questioned only and not punished and restrained Of turning again to the Lord. See the Notes on Zach. 1.2 Ver. 41. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands Holy hearts pure hands Instead of wrangling with God as ver 39. let us wrastle with him in prayer this is the only way to get off with comfort Nazianzen saith that the best work we can put our hands unto is in coelos eas extendere ad precesque expandere to lift them up to God in prayer But then it must be with a true heart Heb. 10.22 See Job 11 13. with the Notes Ver. 42. We have transgressed and have rebelled We have committed evil and omited good and failed in the manner and are therefore justly punished Let God hear such words fall from our mouths set a work by our hearts and then we may have any thing Ver. 43. Thou hast covered with anger Overwhelmed us with thy Judgements None out of hell have ever suffered more then the Saints they have felt the sad effects of displeased Love Ver. 44. Thou hast covered thy self with a cloud Hid thy face from us and secreted
Vers 20. That thou mayest walk in the way This is another work of wisdome as to keep us from bad company so to put us into good where much good may be learned Dr. Taylor Martyr rejoyced that ever he came in prison Act. Mon. there to bee acquainted with that Angel of God John Bradford so hee called him Latimer and Ridley while they lived kept up Craâ—mer by intercourse of Letters and otherwise from entertaining counsels of revolt Ibid. A childe having been brought up with Plato returned home to his Fathers house Sen. de ira lib. 3 cap. 11. and hearing his Father to chide and exclaim furiously in his anger used these speeches to his Father I have never seen the like with Plato Vers 21. For the upright shall dwell in the land Of Canaan a type of Heaven for by these outward and corporal things inward spiritual and eternal are understood Here the Wise-man speaks after the manner of Moses Law under which hee lived Deut. 11. And howsoever upright men suffer hardship and hunger here yet they enjoy great tranquillity and felicity as seeing God in all and depending wholly upon him for help Well for the present and it will bee better hereafter This is the upright mans Motto Heaven thinks hee will make amends for all Hee that sees visions of glory will not matter with St. Stephen a shower of stones how much less will hee think much though the Lord give him the bread of adversity and water of affliction Isa 30.20 Vers 22. But the wicked shall bee cut off Certainly suddenly utterly cum maxime velint vivere when they have feathered their nests and set up their rest and reckon upon long life as the fool in the Gospel God will shoot at them with an arrow suddenly and fetch them off when they least look for it The wicked may dye sinning The Saints shall not dye till the best time not till that time when if they were but rightly informed they would even desire to dye Shall bee rooted out Heb. plucked up as degenerate plants Exâ—rientur sed exurentur God shall likewise destroy thee for ever hee shall take thee away and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land of the living Sâ—lah Psal 52.5 CHAP. III. Vers 1. My Son forget not WEE should bee able to say to Wisdome as Coenis did to her Lady Antonia Frustra Domina jussisti haec enim atque caetera omnia quae mihi imperas Dio in respons ita semper in memoria habeo ut ex ea deleri non possint You need not Madam bid mee do your business for I so remember your commands as I need never bee minded of them Jussa sequi tam velle mihi quam posse necesse est I am ready to my power to do your pleasure But let thine heart keep As the Ark kept the two Tables as the Pot kept the hidden Manna Vers 2. For length of dayes A sweet mercy and generally desired Psal 34.12 Short life is reckoned as a curse Psal 55.24 yet in some case it is a blessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dion Prus Orat. 28. 1 King 14.13 Isa 57.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God taketh away his from the evil to come as when there is a fire in an house or Town men carry out their Jewels but then God makes them up in his Cabinet they do enter into peace their souls go to heaven they rest in their beds their bodies rest sweetly and safely in the grave till the resurrection of the Just Isa 57.2 And is not this far better than the longest life here Length of dayes may prove a curse when it brings shame sorrow c. as it did to Cain Cham c. And peace shall they adde to thee Without which to live is nothing else but to lye a dying Rebecca for want of this was weary of her life so was Elijah when hee sate under the Juniper tree All the dayes of the afflicted are evil Prov. 15.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they dwell together they do not live together said Themistocles of married folk that agree not Non ille diu vixit sed diu fuit said Seneca of one And again Non multum navigavit sed multum jactatus est Hee was tossed much up and down but sailed not far as being driven about by contrary winds Shall they adde to thee Multiplicem pacem significat saith one Peace peace as Isa 26.3 that is a multiplied peace with God with ones self with others or a renewed continued peace to day to morrow and every day Or a perfect sheer pure peace Vers 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee That is true mercy not that which is natural or moral onely but that which is right both quoad fontem quoad finem They that do otherwise as heathens and hypocrites lay up their treasure in the eyes and ears of men which is a chest that hath neither lock nor key to keep it Binde them That is my Commandements Hee seems to allude to Deut. 6.8 See the Note there Vers 4. So shalt thou finde favour As did Joseph Moses David hee was a man after Gods own heart and whatsoever hee did pleased the people It is God that gives credit hee fashioneth mens opinions and inclineth their hearts as Ezra oft acknowledges with much thankfulness Chap. 7.27 c. Vers 5. Trust in the Lord To trust in God is to bee unbottomed of thy self and of every creature and so to lean upon God that if hee fail thee thou sinkest Confidence is the least and yet the best wee can render to the Lord for hereby wee acknowledge his Soveraignty and set the Crown upon his head as it were See Judg. 9.15 And lean not to thine own understanding Which because men do hence it is many times that the fairest blossoms of their endeavours wither and the unprobablest things do come to pass God loves to confute men in their confidences as hee did the Philistims in their Champion Goliah Wee must not therefore trust no not Trust it self but God on whom it relies who is therefore called our Trust They trust not God at all that do it not alone He that stands with one foot on a rock and another foot upon a quicksand will sink and perish as certainly as he that stands with both feet on a quicksand Lord lead mee to a Rock that is higher than I saith David Whither when hee was once got then hee sate and sang The Lord is my rock and my salvation c. Psal 27.1 Surely as one said of general Councils they seldome were successeful because men came with confidence leaning to their own understanding and seeking for victory rather than verity so it holds as true in other like cases Vers 6. In all thy waies acknowledge him Ask counsel at his mouth aime at his glory bee evermore in the sense of his presence and light of his countenance
Father glorifie thy name Joh. 12.27 28. All the while the eye of his humanity was fixed upon deliverance from the hour of temptation there was no peace nor rest in his soul because there hee found not onely incertainty but impossibility For this cause came I to this hour But when hee could come to this Father glorifie thy name when hee could wait on acquiesce in and resign to the will of his Father wee never hear of any more objection fear or trouble Thus hee Plato finem bujus mandi bonitatem Dei esse affirmavis Vers 4. The Lord hath made all things for himself that is for his own glory which hee seeks in all his works and well hee may for first hee hath none higher than himself to whom to have respect And secondly hee is not in danger as wee should bee in like case of being puffed up or desirous of vain-glory Or thus Hee hath made all things for himself that is for the demonstration of his goodness De Doctr. Christiana according to that of Augustine Quiabonus est Deus sumus in quantum sumus boni sumus Wee owe both our being and well-being and the glory of all to God alone Rom. 1â— ult Bern. The wicked also for the day of evil i. e. of destruction Hereof Dei voluntas est ratio rationum nec tantum recta sed regula Howbeit whereas Divines make two parts of the decree of Reprobation viz. Preterition and Predamnation All agree for the latter saith a learned Interpreter that God did never determine to damn any man for his own pleasure but the cause of his Perdition was his own sin And there is a reason for it For God may to shew his Sovereignty annihilate his creature but to appoint a reasonable creature to an estate of endless pain without respect of his desert cannot agree to the unspotted justiâ—e of God And for the other part of passing over and forsaking a great part of men for the glory of his Justice the exactest Divines do not attribute that to the meer will of God but hold that God did first look upon those men as sinners at least in the general corruption brought in by the Fall For all men have sinned by Adam and are guilty of high Treason against God Vers 5. Every one that is proud in heart c. That lifts up himself against God and his righteous Decree daring to reprehend what they do not comprehend about the doctrine of Reprobation as those Chatters Rom. 9.20 These whiles like proud and yet brickle clay they will bee knocking their sides against the solid and eternal Decree of God called Mountains of brass Zach. 6.1 they break themselves in peeces So likewise do such as stumble at the word being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed 1 Pet. 2.8 How much better were it for them to take the Prophets counsel Hear and give ear bee not proud for the Lord hath spoken it Give glory to the Lord your God let him bee justified and every mouth stopped subscribe to his most perfect justice though it were in your own utter destruction before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains c. Jer. 13.15 16. That was a proud and Atheistical speech of Lewis the eleventh St salvabor salvabor si vero damnabor damnabor If I shall be saved I shall bee saved and if I shall bee damned I shall bee damned and there is all the care that I shall take Not unlike to this was that wretched resolution of one Ruffus of whom it is storied that hee painted God on the one side of his shield and the Devil on the other with this mad Motto Si tu me nolis iste rogitat If thou wilt not have mee here is one will Though hand joyn in hand See the Note on Chap. 11.21 Some make hand in hand to bee no more than out of hand Immediately or with â—ase for nothing is sooner or with more ease done than to fold one hand in another God shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them as hee that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim and hee shall bring down their pride together with the spoil of their hands Isa 25.11 The motion in swimming is easie not strong for strong stroaks in the water would rather sink than support God with greatest facility can subdue his stoutest adversary when once it comes to handy-gripes when once his hand joyns to the proud mans hand so some sense this text so that they do manus conserere then shall it appear that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10. Vers 6. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged Lest the proud person hearing these dreadful threats should fall into despair here is a way shewed him how to escape By mercy and truth that is by the goodness and faithfulness of God by his love that moved him to promise pardon to the penitent and by his truth that bindes him to perform iniquity though never so hateful bee it blasphemy or any like hainous sin Mat. 12.31 is purged or expiated viz. through Christ who is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2.2 See Chap. 14.22 with the Note And by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil As in the former clause were declared the causes of Justification so here the exercise of Sanctification for these two go ever together Christ doth not onely wash all his in the fountain of his blood opened for sin and for uncleanness Zach. 13.1 but healeth their natures of that swinish disposition whereby they would else wallow again in their former filth The Layer and Altar under the Law situated in the same Priests Court signified the same as the water and blood issuing out of Christs side viz. The necessary concurrence of Justification and Sanctification in all that shall bee saved that was intimated by the Laver and water this by the Altar and blood Vers 7. When a mans waies please the Lord Sin is the onely make-bate that sets God and man at difference Now when God is displeased all his creatures are up in arms to fetch in his rebels and to do execution Who then would set the briars and thorns against him in battel would hee not go thorow them would hee not burn them together Let him then take hold of my strength saith God that hee may make peace with mee and hee shall make peace with mee Isa 27.4 5. And not with God onely but with the Creature too that gladly takes his part and is at his beck and check Laban followed Jacob with one troop Esau met him with another both with hostile intentions But God so wrought for Jacob whom hee had chosen that Laban leaves him with a kisse Esau meets him with a kisse Of the one hee hath an Oath Tears of the other Peace with both Who shall need to fear men that is in league with God Vers 8. Better is a little
could say Job 9.30 31. If I wash my self with snow-water and make my hands never so clean yet God would plunge him in the ditch so that his own cloths should abhor him And if thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities saith David who should stand before thee Psal 130.3 Vers 10. Divers weights and divers measures c. See the Notes on chap. 11.1 16.11 Now if the very weights and measures are abomination how much more the men that make use of them And what shall become of such as measure to themselves a whole six daies but curtal Gods seventh or mis-imploy it Vers 11. Even a childe is known by his doings c. Either for the better as wee see in young Joseph Sampson Samuel Solomon Timothy Athanasius Origen c. It is not a young Saint an old Devil but a young Saint an old Angel Or for the worse as Canaan the son of Ham who is therefore cursed with his Father because probably hee had a hand in the sin Ismael Esau Vajezatha the youngest son of Haman Esth 10.9 Hebricians observe that in the Hebrew this youths name is written with a little Zain Amama but a great Vau to shew that though the youngest yet he was the most malicious against the Jews of all the ten Early sharp say we that will be thorn Vers 12. The hearing ear and the seeing eye c. There are that have ears to hear and hear not that have eyes to see and see not for they are a rebellious house Ezek. 12.2 Now when God shall say to such as Isa 42.18 Hear yee deaf and look yee blind that you may see when hee shall give them an obedient ear and a Scripture-searching eye senses habitually exercised to discern both good and evil Heb. 5.14 so that they hear a voyce behind them saying This is the way c. and they see him that is invisible as Moses then is it with them as it is written Eye hath not seen nor ear heard c. i. e. Natural eye never saw natural ear never heard such things 1 Cor. 2.9 10 But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit Vers 13. Love not sleep lest thou come to poverty In sleep there is no use either of sight or hearing or any other sense And as little is there of the Spiritual senses in the sleep of sin Zach. 4.1 It fared with the good Prophet as with a drowsie Person who though awake and set to work yet was ready to sleep at it and Peter James and John if the Spirit hold not up their eyes may be in danger to fall asleep at their prayers Matth. 26. and so fall into Spiritual poverty for if Prayer stands still the whole trade of Godliness stands still And a powerless Prayer proceeding from a spirit of sloth joyned with presumption makes the best men liable to punishment for profaning Gods Name so that he may justly let them fall into some sin which shall awaken them with smart enough See chap. 19.15 with the Note Vers 14. It is naught it is naught saith the buyer Or saith the possessour and so Melancthon reads it as taxing that common fault and folly of slighting present mercies but desiring and commending them when they are lost Virtutem incolumem odimus sublatam ex oculis quarimus invidi Israel despised the pleasant land Psal 106.24 and the precious Manna Numb 11.6 and Solomons gentle Government 1 King 12.4 Our corrupt nature weighs not good things till we want them as the eye sees nothing that lyes upon it Vers 15. There is gold and a multitude of rubies Quintilian defines an Oratour Vir bonus dicendi peritus A good man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that can deliver himself in good language Such a master of speech was St. Paul who was therefore by those Heathen Lystrians called Mercury because he was the chief Speaker Acts 14.12 Such afore him was the Prophet Isaiah and our Saviour Christ who spake as never man spake his enemies themselves being Judges Such after him was Chrysostome Basil Nazianzen famous for their holy eloquence So were Mr. Rogers and Mr Bradford Martyrs in whom it was hard to say whether there were more force of eloquence and utterance in preaching Act. Mon. fol. 1782. Justin lib. 1. or more holinesse of life and conversation saith Mr. Fox Now it Darius could say that he preferred one Zopyrus before ten Babylons And if when one desired to see Alexanders Treasures and his Jewels he bade his Servants shew him not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not his talents of silver and such other precious things but his friends Liban exemplar Progym Chri. 1. What an invaluable Price think we doth the King of Heaven set upon such learned Scribes as doe out of the good treasure of their hearts throw forth good things for the use of many Vers 16. Take his garment and so provide for their own indempnity See the notes on chap. 6.1 2 3 4 5. And take a pledge of him for a strange woman i. e. for a Whorish woman utcunque tibi sit cog nita vel etiam cognata Hee that will undertake for such a ones debts or run in debt to gratifie her should bee carefully lookt to and not trusted without a sufficient pawn Euseb in vit Constant How can hee bee faithful to mee that is unfaithful to God said Constantinus Chlorus to his Courtiers and Counsellors Vers 17. Bread of deceit is sweet to a man Sins murthering-morsels will deceive those that devour them There is a deceitfulnesse in all sin Heb. 3.13 a lye in all vanity Jer. 2.8 The stollen waters of adultery are sweet Prov. 9.17 but bitternesse in the end such sweet meat hath sowre sauce Commodities craftily or cruelly compassed yeeld a great deal of content for present But when the unconscionable Cormorant hath swallowed down such riches he shall vomit them up again God shall cast them out of his belly Joh. 20.15 Either by remorse and restitution in the mean time or with despair and impenitent horrour hereafter His mouth shall be filled with gravel Pane lapidoso as Seneca hath it with grit and gravel to the torment of the teeth that is terrour of the Conscience and torture of the whole man Such a bitter-sweet was Adams Apple Esaus mess the Israelites Quails Jonathans Hony the Amalekites Cates after the sack of Ziklag 1 Sam. 30.16 Adonijahs Dainties 1 King 1. which ended in horrour ever after the meal is ended comes the reckoning Men must not think to dine with the Devil and then to sup with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdome of Heaven to feed upon the poyson of Asps and yet that the Vipers tongue shall not slay them Job 20.16 When the Aspe stings a man it doth first tickle him so as it makes him laugh till the poyson by little and little gets to the heart Speed in Q. Elizah and then it pains
off from his body now a meal and then a meal which they roast before his eyes searing up the wounded place with a fire-brand to staunch the bloud to the unutterable aggravation of his horrour and torment Such a Lion Rampant was Nero 2 Tim. 4.17 I was delivered saith St. Paul out of the mouth of the Lion Tertullian calls him The Dedicator of the condemnation of the Christians whom he used as bad almost as the Spaniards at this day doe the poor Indians under pretence of converting them to the faith Their own Writers tell us that within the space of forty years twenty seven millions of people were destroyed and that with such cruelties as never were heard of before Let every good man blesse himself out of the pawes and jaws of these bloudy Catholicks more savage and fierce than the wild beasts as they soon shew when armed with power as were easie to instance See the Babylonian cruelty Graphically described Jerem. 51.34 and see whether it be not matched and overmatched by mystical Babylon The ranging Lion and ravening Bear is nothing to that Man of Sin that hath dyed all Christendome with the bloud of Gods Saints and dunged it with their carcases This Ostrich can digest any metal especially money witnesse his incredible exactions here in England anciently called the Popes Asse This Cannibal is a Pickrel in a Pond or Shark in the Sea devours the poorer as they the lesser Fishes Not unlike that cruel Prince mentioned by Melanchton who to get money of his miserable Subjects used to send for them and if they refused to furnish him with such sums of money as he demanded he would first knock out one of their teeth and then another threatning to leave them none at all Vers 16. The Prince that wanteth understanding As every Tyrant doth Psal 14.4 though they think they deal wisely as Pharaoh Exod. 1.10 for they usually come to untimely ends as most of the Caesars till Constantine Ad generum Cereris sine caede c. and as our Richard the third and Queen Mary whose reigns are the shortest of all the Kings since the Conquest Bloudy and deceitful men live not half their daies or if they doe it is for a further evil unto them Isa 65.20 But he that hateth Covetousnesse Covetousnesse in the original hath its name from peircing or wounding and fitly both in respect of others Prov. 1.19 and himself 1 Tim 6.10 Vers 17. A man that doth violence unto the bloud The Hebrew word Adam here rendred Man Baxtâ—rf hath one letter in the Original less than the rest to shew that a bloud-shedder is not worthy to be called a man Shall flee to the pit let no man stay him i. e. Let him dye without mercy let no man mediate for him lest he pay down as Ahab did life for life People for People 1 King 20.42 lest he draw upon the Land guilt of bloud Numb 35.33 34. and hinder the Man-slayer from repentance to salvation never to bee repented of To blame then are the Papists that open Sanctuaries to such and if a Cardinal put his red hat upon the head of a murderer going to execution he is delivered from death See Deut. 19.13 with the note there Vers 18. Who so walketh uprightly shall bee saved See the Note on chap. 10.9 Shall be saved A little word but of large extent It properly noteth the privative part of a mans happiness deliverance from evil but is put here and every where almost for the positive part too fruition of good as well as freedom from evil it comprehendeth 1 Malorum ademptionem 2 Bonorum adeptionem But he that is perverse in his wayes Heb. In his two wayes shall fall in one of them Evil shall hunt the wicked man to destroy him and albeit hee may shuffle for a season from side to side as Balaams Asse did to avoyd the Angels sword yet he shall not escape mischief Let our Politick Professors look to it that can tune their Fiddle to the base of the times that can shift their sayls to the sitting of every wind that like the Planet Mercury can be good in conjunction with good and bad with bad Vers 19. He that tilleth his land shall have plenty At fugiens molam fugit farinam Men must earn it ere they eat it and not think that bread and other good things will drop out of the clouds to them as Towns were said to come in to Timotheus his toyls while he slept Plut. in Sylla See chap. 12.11 Shall have poverty enough As the Prodigal had Luk. 15. and Pythias who in a bravery entertained Xerxes his whole Army but was so poor at length that he perished through want of meat Vers 20. A faithful man shall abound in blessings God will blesse him and all that blesse him Gen. 12.3 See the note there Men also shall rise up and call him blessed saying as Deut. 33.29 Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O People saved by the Lord the shield of thy help c. Stars though we see them sometimes in a puddle in the bottom of a Well nay in a stinking Ditch though they reflect there I say yet they have their situation in Heaven So Gods faithful servants though in a low condition yet are they fixed in the region of happinesse See Lev. 26. and Deut. 28. But he that maketh haste to bee rich shall not bee innocent Nevessan a better Lawyer than good Christian was wont to say He that will not venture his body shall never be valiant he that will not venture his soul shall never bee rich But let their money perish with them that Shimei-like by seeking their servants lose their souls or Jonas-like care not to bee cast over shipboard so the ship of their worldly wealth may be in safety Francis Xaverius counselled John the third King of Portugal to meditate every day a quarter of an hour on that Divine sentence What shall it profit a man to win the whole world and lose his own soul See 1 Tim. 6.9 with the note What a woful Will was that of rich but wretched Hubertus I yeeld said hee my goods to the King my body to the Grave my soul to the Devil Vers 21. To have respect of persons is not good See the note on Chap. 24.23 For for a piece of bread For a trifle he will transgresse and sell his soul dog-cheap for a groat or lesse money Cato in Gellius hits M. Caelius in the teeth with his baseness that for a morsel of bread hee would sell either his tongue or his silence And the false Prophets in Ezekiels days would doe the like Ezek. 13.19 Vers 22. He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye He is sick of the lust of the eye 1 John 2.16 for all sinful lusts are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sicknesses coveting his neighbours goods envying his prosperity and begrudging him every bit he eats at his
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
Christ have regested And is that the part and posture of a vigilant Christian Might it not better have beseemed you to have had your loyns girt up your lamp in your hand and your self to have waited for your Lords return that when hee came and knocked you might have opened unto him immediately Luk. 12.35 36 Or being got to bed must you needs mend one fault with another Is it such a pains to start up again and let in such a guest as comes not to take any thing from you but to enrich you much more than once the Ark did Obed-Edom And in this sense some take those words in the former verse for mine head is filled with dew c. as if Christ came unto her full of the dew of blessings to enrich her Sure it is that Christ is no beggerly or niggardly guest His reward is with him hee brings better commodities than Abrahams servants did to Laban or the Queen of Sheba to Solomon even purest gold whitest rayment soveraign eye-salve any thing every thing that heart can wish or need require Revel 3.17 19. How unworthily therefore deal they and how ill do they provide for themselves that either deny or delay to entertain him when either by the motions of his Spirit by the words of his mouth or by the works of his hands he knocks at the doors of their hearts and would come in to them How do they make void or reject the counsel of God against themselves with those unhappy Lawyers Luk. 7.30 being ingrati gratiae Dei as Ambrose speaketh and judging themselves unworthy of ever-lasting life with those perverse Jews Acts 13.46 Who can say it is otherwise than righteous that Christ should regest one day upon such ungrateful Gadarens Depart from mee yee wicked that such as say to him as Felix did once to Paul Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee Acts 24.26 should hear from him Get you to the Gods whom yee have chosen for I will not help you c. and that those that would not obey this sweet precept Open to mee c. Come down Zachaeus Luke 19.5 for to day I must abide at thy house c. should have no other left to obey but that dreadful Go yee cursed c. The Church here did but lust a while and linger when shee should have been up and about and shee soon rued it deerly bewailed it bitterly Now what was it that she did Did shee rate Christ for comming at such unseasonable hours did shee answer him currishly or drive him from her door No surely but onely pleads excuse and pretends inconvenience Shee had put off her cloathes washt her feet c. A great chare shee had done and it would have undone her doubtless to have dressed her again and set her fair feet on the foul ground There is none so wise as the sluggard Prov. 26.16 Hee hath got together a great many excuses which hee thinks will go for wisdome because by them hee thinks to sleep in a whole skin Sinne and shifting came into the world together But what saith the Apostle Surely his counsel is most excellent and worthy of all acceptation Heb. 12.25 See that yee refuse not him that speaketh sc by his Blood Word Sacraments motions of his Spirit Mercies c. Look to it as the Greek hath it that yee refuse not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gr that yee shift him not off by frivolous pretences and idle excuses as those recusant guests did Mat. 22.5 as Moses would have done Exod. 3.11 14. 4.1 10. and Jeremiah c. 1.6 So again Heb. 2.3 How shall wee escape if wee neglect so great salvation Hee saith not if wee reject renounce persecute but if wee neglect let slip undervalue c. If when God sends forth his mercy and his truth Psal 57.3 and looks that wee should send a Lamb to that Lamb of God the Ruler of the land Isa 16.1 wee send messages after him saying Wee will not have this man to rule over us Luk. 19.14 Wee break his cords those cords of love Hos 11.4 and kick against his bowels and instead of serving him make him to serve with our sins and even weary him with our iniquities Isa 43.24 How shall wee escape What hill shall hide us What will yee do in the end thereof Vers 4. My Beloved put in his hand by the hole Or Dimissit manuâ— a foramine He let fall his hand from the hole where hee was lifting at the latch or seeâ—ing to put by the bar hee took it so unkindly to bee so ill answered that hee â—â—parted in displeasure and would bee no further troublesome Sleep on noâ— quoth hee as Mark 14.41 and take your rest Hee that will hear let him â—â—ar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Pompâ—io Romano ap Plutarch and he that hath a minde to forbear let him forbear Ezek. 3.27 but at his own peril the best that can come of it is repentance that fair and happy daughter of an ugly and odious mother Delicatares est Spiritus Dei saith one The â—pirit of God is a delicate thing and hee that grieves that holy thing whereby â—ee is sealed by giving way to a spirit of sloth and slumber may lose his joy of faith and go mourning to his grave And although with much a do he maâ— get assurance of pardon yet his conscience will be still trembling as Davids Psal 51. till God at length speak further peace Even as the water of the Sea after a storm is not presently still but moves and trembles a good while after the storm is over Take heed therefore Cavebis autem si pavebis Rom. 11.21 But to take the words as they are here translated My Beloved put in his hand by the hole that is hee touched mine heart by his holy Spirit and notwithstanding my discourteous dealing with him left a sweet remembrance of himself behind him As hee would not away but continued still knocking till hee had an answer so though the answer pleased him not yet hee called not for his love-tokens back again hee cast her not off as Ahashuerus did Vashti no hee hates putting away Mal. 2.16 but as the Sun with his bright beams follows the passenger that hath turned his back upon it So deals Christ by his back-sliding people Psal 23.6 Jonah 2.8 Jer. 3.22 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow mee all the daies of my life saith David follow mee though I forsake mine own mercies saith Jonah And as the same Sun-beams do convey the heat and influence thereof to the earth thereby calling out the herbs and flowers and healing those deformities that winter had brought upon it So doth Christ that Sun of Righteousness arise to his servants that are benighted with sin and sorrow with healing in his wings that is with the gratious influence of his holy Spirit conveying the vertues of his blood to their
surely that sweet singer never sang more melodiously than when his heart was broken most penitentially Psal 6. 51. Thus birds in the spring sing most sweetly when it rains most sadly and tears of true contrition are pillulae lucis pills made on purpose to clear the eye-sight When John wept the sealed book was set open to him Lilium lachryma sua seritur Light is sown for the righteous Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon c. Si verborum faciem consideremus quid poterit magis dici ridiculum saith Titleman upon the words If we look upon the out-side onely of this text what may seem to have been spoken more ridiculous Is it so great a commendation to have a nose like a tower That which wee must here-hence learn is that seeing Christ is now risen again and ascended up into heaven wee ought to bear our noses aloft as it were savouring things of the Spirit of Christ discerning things that are excellent and by a Spiritual sagacity aspiring to eternity That looketh toward Damascus The chief City of Syria having its name from the bloody excursions of theeves as Peter Martyr thinketh or else Pet. Mart. in 1 Reg. 16. as others from the blood of righteous Abel there spilled whence the place was called Damsech a bag of blood Vers 5. Thine head upon thee is like Carmel This head is Christ himself for hee is the sole head of his Church God hath put all things under his feet hence hee is here compared to Carmel because hee is high over all and given him to bee head over all things that is over all persons in the Church Ephes 1.18 22. Angels are under Christ as an head of government of influence of confirmation not of redemption as the Saints are The Angels are great friends to the Church but not members of it Heb. 2.16 The Church Christ sanctified and washed with his blood Ephes 5.26 Not so the Angels He was but a poor patron of the Popes Head-ship that said and as he thought very wisely too that hee had read in some Vocabulary that Cephas signified an head therefore Peter was head of the Church But if that should have been granted him yet it would not follow that the Pope is therefore so too For Belarmine a better scholar by far is forced to say Forte non est de jure divino Rom Pontificem Petro succedere Perhaps it is not by any divine right Lib. 2. de Rom. Pontif. c. 12. that the Pope succeedeth Peter And again Rom Pontificem Petro succedere non habetur expresse in Scripturis It is not expresly set down in the Scriptures that the Pope succeedeth Peter And the hairs of thine head like purple Which was the colour of Kings and Princes The Saints called here the hair of the Churches head for their number or multitude are Princes in all lands Psal 45.16 yea they are Kings in righteousness as Melchisedech was a King but somewhat obscure Compare Mat. 13.17 with Luke 10.24 Many righteous saith one Many Kings saith the other have desired to see those things that yee see c. The King is held in the galleries i. e. There is no King in the world so great and glorious but might finde in his heart to bee tied to these walks and to bee held prisoner in the sight of thee and thy bravery Like as King James comming first into the publique Library at Oxford and viewing the little chains wherewith each book there is tied to its place wished Rex Platon pag. 123. that if ever it were his destiny to bee a prisoner that Library might bee his prison those books his fellow-prisoners those chains his fetters Psal 138.4 5. 119. 72. The Psalmist shews by prophecying that even Kings comming to taste the excellency of the comforts of godliness and to feel the power of Gods Word should sing for joy of heart and greatly acknowledge the excelling glory of Christs Spouse the Church See Davids desire Psal 27.4 84. throughout Constantine and Valentinian two Emperours called themselves Vasallos Christi as Socrates reports the Vassals of Christ and Theodosius another Emperour professed that it was more honour and comfort to him to be membrum Ecclesiae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch quam caput Imperit a member of the Church than head of the Empire Nay Numa second King of Rome though but a Heathen held it an higher honour to serve God than to reign over men Some Interpreters by the King here understand Christ coveting the Churches beauty Psal 45.12 and held fast bound unto her in the bands of pure affection of spiritual wedlock Vers 6. How fair and how pleasant art thou O love for delight Emphatica haec admodum sunt cum toties exclamatio ponatur saith one This is a most Emphatical exclamation proceeding from admiration and importing that all that hee could say of her was too little Well might the Prophet say As the Bridegroom rejoyceth over his Bride so doth thy God over thee Isa 62.5 Hence hee can make no end here of commending her but having finished one praise hee presently begins another This yields infinite matter of comfort to the Saints that Christ loves them so dearly prizeth them so highly praiseth them so heartily Howbeit let not them hereupon turn again to folly Psal 85.8 or give way to carnal security Laetemur in domino sed caveamus à recidivo Argue not from mercy to liberty that 's the Devils Logick but from mercy to duty as those good souls do Ezra 9.13 14. Having received such and such both privative and positive favours should we again break thy commandments There is so much unthankfulness and dis-ingenuity in such an entertainment of mercy that holy Ezra thinks heaven and earth would bee ashamed of it Shall wee continue in sin that grace may abound saith the Apostle Rom. 6.1 And it is as if hee should say that were most unreasonable and to a good heart impossible A man may as well say the sea burns or fire cools as that assurance of Christs love breeds careless and loose living They that hold so know not the compulsive power of Christs love 2 Cor. 5.14 nor what belongs to the life of God Eph. 4.18 Vers 7. This thy feature is like to a palm-tree This thy whole stature and feature of body that hath been already pourtraied and described particularly and piece-meal is like to a palm-tree strong and straight fresh and flourishing so that thou maist say with the palm in the Emblem Nec premor nec perimor Pliny Aristotle Plutarch and Gellius have written of the palm-tree that it is alwaies green bearing pleasant fruit and that it will not bow downward or grow crooked though heavy weights bee hanged upon it The Church is all this and more ever green even in the winter of affliction when the oak loseth her leaves See the Note on chap. 1.16 full of the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus
saw a pit full of mans blood O formosum spectaculum O brave sight The very name Dimon signifieth bloody so called as some think on this occasion instead of Dibon the old name ver 2. Additamenta plegarum Haymo I will bring more upon Dimon Lions upon him that escapeth of Moab Heb. I will put additions upon Dimon i. e. additions of evils viz. Lions and other like fierce and cruel creatures which shall prey upon the Moabites there Chap. 35.9 2 King 17.25 Some say by Lion is here meant Nebuchadnezzar Jer. 4.7 fitly compared to a Lion for his strength and swiftness Certain it is that God hath in store plenty of plagues for evil-doers and if they escape one mischief they shall fall into another their preservation is but a reservation except they repent CHAP. XVI Ver. 1. SEnd ye the Lamb For prevention of those Lions Chap. 15.9 submit to Hezekiah your right Liege-Lord 2 Sam. 8.2 with 2 King 3.4 a Lamb i.e. your appointed number of tribute-Lambs in token of homage But especially make your peace with God the Ruler of the whole World 1 Chron. 29.12 by paying him homage and fealty that there may be a lengthening of your tranquillity Strabo lib. 16. From Selo in the wilderness otherwise called Petra because beset with rocks whence the countrey it stood in was called Arabia Petraea Some make it the head-City of Moab others of Edom a place it seemeth it was full of cattle and by King Amaziah who took it called Jokâ—eel 2 King 14.7 Alioqui fiet Jun. Ver. 2. For it shall be that as a wandring bird c. Or Otherwise it shall be that as c. i. e. except ye do as I have advised you ver 1. a double mischief shall befal you 1 dissipation as a wandring bird c. 2 deportation at the foords of Arnon where ye shall be carried captive As a wandring bird See Prov. 27.8 with the Note Ver. 3. Take counsel execute judgment Or make a decree or deal equally and uprightly shew the like kindness to Abrahams posterity as he once did to your proginitour Lot whom he rescued or as Lot did to the Angels whom as strangers he entertained fac inquam quod suggero dum subdo Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of noonday i. e. Shelter and shade my persecuted people este illis securum perfugium jucundum refrigerium protect them refresh them do all kâ—nd offices for them which your fathers did not but the contrary Deut. 23.3 4. Ver. 4. Let mine out-casts who are dear to me Jer. 30.17 though I may seem to have cast off the care of them Out easts they may be but not castawayes See chap. 52.5 6. persecuted but not forsaken 2 Cor. 4.9 Bowels of mercy must be put on toward godly Exiles especially who are Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and should therefore be dear to us For the extortioner is at an end Heb. Emunctor the Milker or Squeezer or Wâ—inger out Prov. 30.33 so the Assyrian Tyrant is called as also Vastator Proculcator the spoiler or plunderer and Conculcator the Oppressour or Treader down is consumed out of the Land and it shall not be long ere I fetch home my banished be content therefore to harbour them awhile herein thou shalt do thy self no disservice at all Ver. 5. For in mercy or piety shall the throne be established Hezekiah's throne shall but especially Christs from whom ye may once have occasion to borrow that mercy which now you are called upon to lend to those outcasts of Israel And he shall set upon it i. e. He shall make it his business to relieve and right his people And seeking judgment Making inquisition after wrongs of such as dare not complain The Grand Signior they say shew himself on purpose weekly abroad for the receiving the poors petitions and punishing the Grandees of his Court by whom they are oppressed whence also he stileth himself Awlem Penawh i. e. the world 's Refuge And hastening justice Dispatching and dispeeding causes Ver. 6. We have heard of the pride of Moab His harsh and haughty carriage toward Gods poor people though he were advised the contrary ver 1.3 4. Good counsel is but cast away upon a proud person Now the Moabites were as much noted then for their pride as now the Spaniards are And their pride appeared by their braggs and threats But His lyes shall not be so Or his indignation is more then his strength as Hierom rendreth it His boastings and blusters shall come to nothing his pride shall be his bane and break-neck Ver. 7. Therefore shall Moab houle for Moab One Moabite to another or each within himself ut solent desperantes For the foundations of Kirharesheth Which shall be utterly rased and harased Kirhareseth is interpreted the city of brick walls as was Babylon or rather the city of the Sun as Bethshemesh and Heliopolis because there the Sun was in a special manner worshipped Shall ye mourn Or roar or mutter or muse Ver. 8. For the fields of Heshbon languâ—sh as being decayed and destroyed hence so great mourning in Moab Their father and founder was begotten in wine and themselves were likely great wine-bibbers Historians say that some of their Cities were built by Baâ—chus Fitly therefore are these drunken Moabites bereft of their vines as those gluttonous Sodomites were of their victuals Gen. 14.11 The Drunkards motto is Take away my liquour and take away my life The Lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants therereof The great Turk causeth all the vines to be cut down wherever he cometh as hearing out of the Alchoran that in every grape there dwelleth a devil Ver. 9. Therefore I will bewail with the weeping Defleo fletum Paronomasia that is the misery of Jazer Or I will with weeping bewail Jazer and the vine of Sibmah For the shouting for thy summer-fruits i.e. Thy joy and jollity over thy summer-fruits and over thine harvest expressed by songs and shouts do now fail and cease Ver. 10. And gladness is taken away Laetitia i. e. quicquid laetificum erat all matter of mirth is removed Heb. gathered up or gathered in as your harvest also is to your hand by the enemy Ver. 11. Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab The elect of God holy and beloved have bowels of mercy Ego ex intimiâ— visceribuâ— meis conturbaâ—m Jun. tenderness and kindness toward their very enemies also Colos 3.12 whom they do oft pitty more then they pitty themselves as Habakkuk did the Chaldeans calamity Chap. 3.16 and as Daniel did Nebuchadnezzars downfal Dan. 4.19 Sicut cithara plectro tacta dat sonitum in funere funereum As they have mournful musick at funerals Jer. 9.17 20. Mat. 9 23. or as the strings of a Shaulm sound heavily so do my heart-strings for miserable Moab In an harp if one string be touched all the rest sound so it should
threatened for versum vicesimum primum secundus explicat saith Scultetus Ver. 22. And they shall be gathered together c. Id quod de poenis Judaeorum intelligimus saith an Interpreter that is This we understand of the punishment of the obstinate Jews whose bodies after death were clapt up close prisoners in the grave their souls held fast in hell till the last day when after many dayes they shall be visited i. e. in the whole man punished with eternal torments Caveamus si sapimus à destinata peccandi malitia Origen was certainly out when he argued from this Text that the damned in Hell should after a time be visited that is delivered There are that begin the promise at these words And after many dayes shall they be visited i. e. In mercy and favour as chap. 23.17 thorow Christ This gracious visitation began in Israel Luke 1.68 and then came abroad to the Gentiles also Act. 15.14 15.16 17. Ver. 23. Then the Moon shall be confounded The glory of Christs Kingdom shall be so great that in comparison of it the Sun and Moon shall cast no light See Isa 54.11 c. and 60.12 When the Lord of hosts The Lord Christ summus coelitum Imperator And before his Ancients The whole Church and especially her Officers which are the glory of Christ 2 Cor. 8.23 CHAP. XXV Ver. 1. O Lord thou art my God Sunt verba fidelium in regno Christi saith Piscator These are the words of the Subjects of Christs Kingdom who in the end of the former Chapter are called his Ancients or Elders See Rev. 4.4 But that of Oecolompadius I like better More suo in jubilum hymnum â—rumpit Propheta The Prophet as his manner is breaketh forth into a joyful jubilation and being ravished and as it were rapt beyond himself with the consideration of so marvelous things he first maketh a stop or breathing and then sweetly celebrateth Gods Power Truth Justice and Mercy the naked bowels whereof were seen as it were in an anatomy in the sending of his Son and the benefits thereby concerning which the Apostles afterwards discoursing more plainly and plentifully do yet make use of some passages in this Chapter as is to be seen 1 Cor. 15. Rev. 7. 21. Thou art my God So to say ex animo is the very pith of true Faith the property whereof is to individuate God and appropriate him to it self I will exalt thee This we do when we bless and praise him for his blessings But what a mercy is it of so great a Majesty that he should count himself thus exalted and magnified by such worthless worms as we are and how should this excite and edge us to so holy a service For thou hast done wonderful things In the Worlds creation but especially in the Churches preservation Thy counsels of old Thy promises and threatnings are all fulfilled and verified they are faithful and firm Ver. 2. For thou hast made of a City an heap Babylonem intelligit say some Narratur eversio urbis Romae say others the ruin of Rome is here foretold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. which is therefore also say they called a palace of Strangers because Antichrist with his adherents reigneth there Hierom saith the Jews understand it of Rome which shall be in the end destroyed and then their poor Nation shall be relieved as v. 4. It may be so Ver. 3. Therefore shall the strong people glorifie thee Will they nill they they shall confess as Julian did that thou art too hard for them and that thy Church is invincible Thus God wringeth out of the mouth of the wicked a confession of his praises and a counterfeit subjection Isa 60.14 Ver. 4. For thou hast been a strength to the poor c. That is Thou hast protected thy poor people from the persecution of the Antichristian rout saith Piscator Great is Gods mercy in succouring his oppressed ones This is here set forth by a double comparison First A refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat Christ is a shadow c. when as all worldly comforts are but as so many burning-glasses to scorch the soul more c. Where the Churches enemies are compared to raging waters that bear down all before them God to a place of refuge to fly unto Secondly Ver. 5. As the heat in a dry place Where the insolency of these Strangers from the lâ—fe of God the Antichristian rabble the stir and ado they make is resembled to a heat and drought that doth parch and scorch the godly Gods protection of his to a thick shadow The branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low Some read the Text thus As the heat is ubated with a thick shadow So the song or chanting of the terrible ones was abased Others the whole verse thus As the heat in a drought thou hast brought down the stir of the strangers heat I say with the shadow of a cloud which heat did answer a life to the branch of the terrible ones That is say they served well their turn and was most commodious for the wicked who think their branches spread and flourish when the Godly are scorched with calamities Ver. 6. And in this mountain i. e. in the Church Chap. 2.2 Gods Court chap. 24.23 as the Tablestood in the Sanctuary Shall the Lord of hosts make Instead of that tree of life in Paradise See Rev. 2.7 Vnto all people i. e. To the Elect among all people for reprobates are not worthy Mat. 22.8 with Rev. 3.4 Convivium opimum munificentis convivium medullatorum A feast of fat things The very best of the best fat things and marrow of fatness wines and the most refined so that the meek shall eat and be satisfied Psal 22.16 Their soul shall delight it self in fatness chap. 55.2 In the life to come especially where there shall be solidum hujus convivii complementum ac plena perfruitio Meanwhile the Saints have here at the Lords Table especially their dainties and junketting dishes their celestial viands and most precious provisions fat things marrowed as the Hebrew word is not only full of marrow but picked as it were and culled out of the heart of marrow Wine first in the lees that keepeth the smell taste and vigour Vina probantur odore colore sapore nitore Convivium faecium Heb. Shemarim faeces enim vina ipsa conservant Vinum Cos as they call it as Jer. 48.11 Next of the finest and the best such as at Lovain they call Vinum Theologicum because the Divines there as also the Sorbonists at Paris drink much of it Jesus Christ in his Ordinances and Graces is all this and much more Prov. 9.2 Mat. 22.2 and yet men had rather as Swine feed on swill and husks then on these incomparable delicacies Ver. 7. And he will destroy in this mountain c. Absorbebit velum faciei id est faciem veli Christ came a light
they did not but were senselesly silent therefore He answereth by a discription of himself Calling the generations from the beginning Giving them their Being and having them at a Beck I the Lord the First and with the Last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De leg lib. 4. Virg. This was anciently believed concerning God as Plato testifieth A te Principium tibi desinet Ver. 5. The Iles saw it The Heathens were convinced by the former arguments yet not converted they were affraid and yet they came together to confirm themselves mutually in their abominable Idolatries Yea they drew near As it were to justify their Idolatries before the Lord. Such is the desperate obstinacy of obdurate sinners Pharaoh menaced Moses even during that palpable darkness The Philistines were afraid when they saw the Ark of the Covenant brought into the feild and yet they encourage one another to fight against Israel 1 Sam. 4.8 9. The Thief on the cross was under the arrest of death and yet railed Felix trembled and yet expected a bribe from St. Paul There is a cold sweat sitteth on all the limbs of Antichrist at this day and yet they repent not of their Idolatries nor murthers nor sorceries nor fornication nor thefts Rev. 9.20 21. but defend them all they can Ver. 6. They helped every one his neighbour Thus those desperate Idolaters did from the first Eusebius telleth us that in the seventh year of Abraham Ninus the founder of Niniveh set up an Image of his father Belus In Chron. which was worshipped after his death so did other Princes by his example not moved with Gods mercies shewed to Abraham who worshipped the true God alone setting up altars to him whereever he came Ver. 7. So the Carpenter encouraged the Gold-smith Because no small gain was brought hereby unto these crafts-men Acts 19.24 25. The Jew-doctours tell us that Terah the father of Abraham was an Image-maker at Vr of the Chaldees till God called him thence Hyperius saith that all these words are to be taken as pronounced with irrision and contempt that so the vanity of Idols may the more plainly be perceived sith they have no more worth then is given them by their worshippers Ver. 8. But thou Israel art my Servant And it was for thy sake and for thy settlement that I have dealt so long with these odious Idolaters whom else I would not once look toward nor commune with as he said 2 King 3.14 The seed of Abraham my Friend This stile was an higher honour to Abraham then if God had ingraven his name in the orbes of Heaven See the Note on Jam. 2.23 Hushai was Davids Friend and Augustus vouchsafed to give Virgil the name of Amicus This was a special favour but not like that in the Text. Ver. 9. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth sc in the loyns of Abraham thy Progenitour And called thee from the chief men thereof Called thee and culled thee out of the Grandees of the Chaldees the rich the potent and the honourable separate from the common sort setting thee above the Kings of the earth Psal 89.27 Ver. 10. Fear thou not for I am with thee Cordialibus ut ita dicam verbis Deus hoc eloquitur As long as a childe hath his Father by the hand he feareth none Quid timet hominem homo in sinu Dei positus what should he who lyeth in Gods own bosom fear any man alive Is not Gods presence security sufficient I will strengthen thee I will help thee c. I will I will I will Oh the Rhetorick of God! Oh the certainty of the Promises With the right-hand of my righteousnesse i. e. My righteous right-hand that shall right all thy wrongs Ver. 11. Behold all that were incensed against thee These and the following precious Promises the Jews misapply to the coming and Kingdom of their Messias the Papists to their Hierarchy Let every true servant of God take them home as spoken to himself Every promise droppeth Myrrhe and mercy Ver. 12. Even them that contended with thee Heb. the men of thy contention thy Contendents such as this Eristical age hath more then a good many By the Quakers wild fancies and rude practices we may see how cross-grained these people are in contradicting every thing Many mens spirits saith One now-adayes lie like that Haven Acts 27.12 toward the South-West and North-West two opposite points Ver. 13. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand As a tender father taketh his dear childe by the hand in dirty or dangerous wayes especially lifting him over So the Saints are said to sit down at Gods feet Deut. 33.3 or to stand betwixt his legs as little ones do Ver. 14. Fear not This is oft inculcated for better confirmation and comfort Our Saviour may seem to have hence his Fear not little flock It is no easy matter to chear up afflicted consciences Luther saith it is as hard a matter as to raise the dead Hence this frequent Fear not Ver. 15. I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth Traham aut tribulam in omnem partem probè dentatam Such as those Eastern Countries did use to mash in pieces their rougher and harder fodder for their cattle or rather to thresh out their harder grain with Chap. 28.25 28. or to torture men with 2 Sam. 12 31. Thou shalt thresh the mountains Thy lofty and mighty enemies This was fulfilled in the Macchabees But especially in the Apostles subduing the Nations to the obedience of the Faith See 2 Cor. 10.4 Ver. 16. Thou shalt fan them But find nothing in them of any solidity the heart of the wicked is little worth And thou shalt rejoyce in the Lord As the sole doer of all for it is he that subdueth the people under us and doth all our works for us Chap. 26.12 Ver. 17. When the poor When such as are poor in spirit sensible of their utter indigency shall blessedly hunger and thirst after righteousnesse shewing themselves restless and unsatisfiable without it And there is none None to be found in the doctrine of the Pharisees Philosophers or Fryars Ver. 18. I will open rivers in high places Rather work miracles as once in the Wildernesse Exod. 17.6 7. then my poor people shall want necessary support and succour Ver. 19. I will plant in the wildernesse the cedar c. That is saith Lyra I will give variety of graces to my people Per varia ligna varietatem gratiarum insinuat Oecol And the Box-tree That groweth of it self in wild places saith Diodate to signify that the Church will alwaies have worldly wild plants mixed and growing in it Box is alwayes green indeed and full of leaves but it s of an ill smell semen habet omnibus invisum animantibus and of a worse seed Sphinx Philos Ver. 20. That they may see and know and consider Heb. lay 1. Lay it upon their heart which
brutish for want of knowledge so the words may be rendred the heathen idol-makers especially Brutescit homo prae scientia so Vatablus 1. Every man is brutish in comparison of knowledge viz. of Gods knowledge whil'st he goeth about to search into the causes of rain lightening wind c. which God only understandeth Ver. 15. They are vanity Vanity in its largest extent is properly predicated of them And the work of errours Meer mockeries making men to embrace vanity for verity In the time of their visitation See on Isa 46.1 Ver. 16. The portion of Jacob is not like them God is his peoples portion they are his possession Oh their dignity and security this the cock on the dunghil understands not Ver. 17. Gather up thy wares out of the land Make up thy pack and prevent a plundering Reculas tuas sarcinas compone Ver. 18. Behold I will fling out the inhabitants of this land I will easily and speedily sling them and fling them into Babylon so God will one day hurle into hell all the wicked of the earth Psal 9.17 And will distresse them that they may find it so Just so as they were foretold it would be but they could never be drawn to beleeve it Ver. 19. Wo is me for my hurt my wound is grievous This is the moane that people make when in distresse and they find it so But what after a while of pausing Truly this is my grief and I must bear it i. e. Bear it off as well as I may by head and shoulders or bear up under it and rub through it wearing it out as well as I can when things are at worst they 'l mend again Crosses as they had a time to come in so they must have a time to go out c. This is not patience but pertinaecy the strength of stones and flesh of brasse Job 6.12 it draweth on more weight of plagues and punishments God liketh not this indolency this stupidity this despising of his corrections as he calleth it Heb. 12.5 such shall be made to cry when God bindeth them Job 36.11 as here Ver. 20. My Tabernacle is spoiled I am irreparably ruined like as when a camp is quite broken up not any part of a tent or hut is left standing Ver. 21. For the Pastours are become brutish The corrupt Prophets and Priests who seduced the people from the truth were persons that made no conscience of prayer hence all went to wrack and ruine Ver. 22. Behold the noise of the bruit is come This doleful peal he oft rung in their eares but they little regarded it See chap. 9.11 Ver. 23. O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself He is not master of his own way but is directed and over-ruled by the powerful providence even this cruel Chaldaan also that marcheth against us It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps We know not what to do or which way to turn our selves only our eyes are toward thee Behold we submit to thy justice and implore thy mercy This text doth mainly make against free-will saith Oecolampadius and yet the Pelagiam would hence gather that man can by his own strength walk in the way to heaven but he must be holpen say they by Gods grace that he may be perfect Cum ratione seu modo Leniter discretè Lap. Ver. 24. O Lord correct me but with judgement i. e. In mercy and in measure Correction is not simply to be deprecated the Prophet here cryes Corret me David saith It was good for me Job calleth Gods afflicting of us his magnifying of us chap. 7.17 Feri Domine feri clementer ipse paratus sam saith Luther Smite Lord smite me but gently and I am ready to bear it patiently King Alfred prayed God to send him alwayes some sicknesse whereby his body might be tamed and he the better disposed and affectioned to God-ward Ecclesiastical history telleth of one Servulus who sick of a palsie so that his life was a lingering death said ordinarily God be thanked Ver. 25. Pour out c. This is not more votum then vaticinium a prayer then a prophecy And upon the families Neglect of family-prayer uncovers the roof as it were for Gods curse to be rained down upon mens tables meat enterprizes c. CHAP. XI Ver. 1. THe Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord To him it came but to be imparted to other Prophets say some Priests of Anathoth say others ver 2. which might be the reason why they were so enraged against him and fought his life ver 18 19. as the Popish Priests did Mancinels Savanarolas and other faithful Preachers for exciting them to do their duties Ver. 2. Hear ye the words and speak ye Ye Priests whose ordinary office it is to teach Jacob Gods judgements and Israel his Law Deut. 33.10 Ver. 3. And say thou unto them Thou Jeremy whether the rest will joyn with thee or not Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this Covenant It is probable that Jeremy when he said thus held the book in his hand viz. the book of Deuteronomy which the Rabbines call Sepher Tochechoth because of the many increpations and curses therein contained Ver. 4. From the iron furnace Where iron is melted and a fierce fire required Obey my voyce See chap 7.23 Ver. 5. A land flowing with milk and honey With plenty of dainties The City of Aleppo is so called by the Turkes of Alep milk for if the via lactea were on earth it would be found there saith one So be it O Lord Amen Fiat Fiat Oh that there were an heart in this people to obey thy voyce And oh that thou would'st still continue them in this good land c. Our hearts should be stretched out after out Amen and we should be swallowed upon God say the Rabbines Ver. 6. Hear ye the words of this Covevant and do them Else ye hear to no purpose as the Salamander liveth in the fire and is not made hot by the fire as the Ethiopian goeth black into the Bath and as black he cometh forth Ver. 7. Rising early i. e. endeavouring earnestly See chap. 5.8 Ver. 8. Yet they obeyed not See chap. 7.24 Therefore I will bring Heb. and I brought upon them Ver. 9. A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah A combination in sinful courses this is not Vnity but Conspiracy See Ezek. 22.25 Hos 6.9 such is the unity of the Antichristian crew Rev. 17.13 The Turkes have as little dissension in their religion as any yet are a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven Ver. 10. They are turned away to the iniquities of their fore-fathers Shewing themselves herein to be a race of rebels as good at resisting the holy Ghost as ever their Fathers were and are therefore justly chargeable with their iniquities which needeth not Ver. 11. Which they shall not be able to escape To avert avoid or abide I
his manumission Val. Max. l. 2. c. 1. and not doing his duty to his Master for such were again to be made bond-slaves if the crime could be proved against them Ver. 15. And you were now turned Being frighted into a temporary reformation but all was in hypocrisy as now well appeareth Falling Stars were never but Meteors In proclaiming liberty every one to his neighbour Your servants were your neighbours and their flesh as your flesh Neh. 5.5 and should have been so considered In the Law the servant paid the half-shekel as well as his Master And in the Gospel Servus est domini sui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as there is neither Jew nor Greek so neither bond not free but all are one in Christ Jesus Gal. 3.28 whether he be Lord or losel And ye had made a Covenant before And have not all done so in Baptism that Beersheba or well of an oath Ver. 16. But ye turned Exprobrat recidivum Judaeorum scelus qui scilicèt primam virtutem turpiter deluserint violarint He upbraideth them and deservedly with their Apostacy and perjury Peter also thundereth against such 2 Pet. 2. And polluted my name sc By the violation of your solemn vow so doth every profligate professour and ungirt Christian Whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure Liberty is a desirable and delectable commodity Those that live in Turky Persia yea or but in France c. esteem it so Ver. 17. Ye have not harkened unto me in proclaiming liberty Ye have not done it because ye have not continued to do it ye have lost the things that you had wrought Behold I proclaim a liberty for you God loves to retaliate Here he abandoneth these Apostates to the plagues instanced Let them use you at their pleasure saith God I have no mercy for such mercilesse wretches neither care I what becometh of you Ver. 18. That have transgressed my Covenant His Covenant he calleth it by a weighty Emphasis because about a businesse by him commanded and wherein he was engaged not as a bare spectatour but as a severe avenger of their perjury Hom. Il. l. 3. Tul. de Invent Liv. l. 1. Virg. Aeneid 8. Hinc foedus à foedo animali diviso When they cut the Calf in twain To shew the correspondency of wills whereunto the contracters did bind themselves and the punishment of dissection or other violent death whereunto they submitted themselves in case they brake promise The rise of this rite in covenanting See Gen. 15.9 10 17. The Heathens used the like ceremony as is to be seen in Homer Cicero Livy Virgil caesa jungebant faedera porcâ The Romans cut a sow in twain and when it was divided the Faeciales or heralds gave one half to one party and the other half to the other and said So God divide you asunder if you break this Covenant and let God do this so much the more as he is more able Ver. 19. The Princes of Judah These were most of them cut in pieces by the King of Babylon as the calf had been Ver. 20. And their dead bodies Chap. 7.33 16.4 Ver. 21. Which are gone up from you But will be upon you again ere long they are but gone back to fetch bear as it were You have deceived you servants with a vain hope of liberty and so you do now your selves See chap. 37.8 22. Ver. 22. Behold I will command i. e. By a secret instinct I will move CHAP. XXXV Ver. 1. THe Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord The eighteenth Sermon ordine tamen arbitario non naturali delivered divers years before the former and here placed not in its proper order but as it pleased him that collected them into this Book Ver. 2. Go unto the house of the Rechabites So called of one Rechab the Father of Jonadab who was famous for his Piety in Jehu's dayes 2 Kings 10.15 three hundred years at least before this Prophecy of Jeremy They were of the posterity of Jethro Moses Father-in-Law and lived up and down in the land upon their employments weaned from the world and exercising themselves in the Law of God See 1 Chron. 2.55 Where they are called the families of the Scribes that dwelt at Jabez as being men learned in the Laws of God Of them came the Essenes a studious and abstemious Sect among the Jews and they might better then those Donatists have taken to themselves the title of Apotactici so called from their renouncing the world And give them wine to drink Heb. make them drink wine i. e. set it before them and then leave them to their own liberty Ver. 3. Then I took Jaazaniah Whether actually or in vision only it skilleth not but the former way probably Ver. 4. And I brought them into the house of the Lord That it might be made a publike businesse and so the better work upon all that should hear of it The son of Igdaliah a man of God A Priest and Prophet or Teacher of the people So in the new Testament others are called Gods children his servants and his people but Ministers only are called Gods men 1 Tim. 6.11 2 Tim. 3.17 Which was by the chamber of the Princes Or of the Prefects of the Temple that were next under the High-Priests Ver. 5. Drink ye wine T was a double temptation unto them 1. To have pots and cups of wine set befor them 2. To be bid drinke it by a Prophet and at Prophets chamber But they were resolved in obedience to their Father Jonadab to forbear Yet if Jeremy had said Thus saith the Lord Drink wine they ought to have done it but this he did not Ver. 6. We will not drink wine This they were resolved on not because they were perswaded as Mahomets followers are that in every grape there dwelt a devil but because Jonadab the son of Rechab their Progenitour 2 Kings 10.15 had two or three hundred years before charged them to forbear not thereby to establish any new arbitrary service or any rule of greater perfection of life as the Papists misalledge it in favour of Monkery and other will-worships and superstitious observances but only as a civil ordinance Hae leges vita potius erant honestatis quam salutis animae about things external the foundation whereof is laid in the word which commendeth modesty humility sobriety heavenly-mindednesse c. Ver. 7. Neither shall ye build house But be content and dwell in tents as the ancient Patriarches were and as your Ancestours in Midian removing from place to place after the manner of the old Nomades so shall ye be the better prepared for a change in the state which this good old man might foresee and foresignify to his Nephews enjoyning them therefore to follow their shipeherdy only as men lesse addicted to the world and bent for heaven That ye may live many dayes in the land Whilest ye obey my charge Long life is promised
240. they flatter men b. 292. Lay-Preachers a great mischief b. 293. Brown the Sect-master died in Gaol b. 337. See Seducers History Excellency and use of it a. 221 Holiness is amiable a. 275. gets fame a. 52. Walk accurately a. 22. 37. look forth-right b. 511. be strict and scrupulous b. 523 Humility hath favour a. 17. honour a. 58. a. 103. b. 83. true worth is humble a. 199 Hypocrisie is hatefull a. 175 177. b. 51. hypocrites are vindictive a. 319. their services rejected b. 5 6. yet they out-do better men b. 187. have specious pretences b. 214. upbraid God with their services b. 187. shall be affrighted b. 119. detected b. 445. detested b. 51. appear in their colours b. 334 344 I IDleness mischeivous a. 30. wasteth a. 31. a sluggard graphically described a. 239 Idolaters willfully ignorant b. 129. spare for no cost b. 148 Jeremiah's worth and sufferings b. 219 220 269. how long he prophecyed b. 220. his modesty b. 221 Jests salt provoke a. 192 Jesuites great troublers a. 209. quarrelsome Quaerists b. 53. blood-thirsty b. 548 Jews their desperate unbelief b. 168. devillish spite a. 177. they make up two Christs b. 168. blaspheme the Gospel b. 44. they kneel not out of pride b. 147. their conversion b. 492. A Jew converted by Esay 53. b. 167. their desolation b. 35 36. Jerusalems Epitaph b. 371 Ignorance of Popish Priests b. 276 Impatience betrayeth us a. 171 Impudency in sin b. 17. 231. 243. D. Story impudent b. 243 Infants why called cake-bread b. 248. Christian infants Gods children b. 432 Insensibleness under Gods judgements b. 94. incorrigibleness b. 1 31 Integrity state of it a. 273 274 King Johns reign troublesome b. 71 Joy spiritual sweet a. 83 99 144. Just only Joy a. 191. b. 46. such ought to be cheerfull a. 283 284 Joy carnal hinders holiness a. 261. ends ill a. 84. 263. t is mad mirth a. 174. unfound a. 191. a flash a. 225. a toy ib. mad ibid. Isaiah and his Prophesie described b. 1 Ithiel and Ucal who a. 199 Judgement general a. 310 311 the fire of the last day b. 553 Just man is safe from evil a. 70. rich a. 93. joyfull 144. bold a. 182 Justification and Sanctification go together a. 105 Justitiaries a. 205 K Kings their best guard b. 139. learned Kings b. 524. Kingdoms are empty bubbles b. 525. The Roman Empire is mouldering b. 553. See Great ones and Magistrates Knowledge got by reading and hearing a. 2. beg and dig for it a. 7. t is sweet a. 161. we know but little a. 200. a. 281. learn of inferiours b. 65. Great Scholars ignorant of God b. 105 L LAw of God Its equity and utility b. 153 Law-suits tedious b. 286 Learning pleasant a. 55. prized b. 523. Learned Kings b. 524. Daniels Learning ibid. Levellers dangerous creatures a. 291 292 Life full of sorrow a. 233. over-loved a. 253. Sweet 300. short and uncertain b. 15 Love our love is a reflex of Christs love a. 358 Lusts fly youthfull lusts a. 73. lust is unsatisfiable a. 180 they are thorns and why b. 234 Luxury is attended by beggery a. 144. undoes many b. 465 Lying a great sin a. 33. such as Saints will beware of b. 203 M MAgistrates must judge the poor justly a. 194. how far they are to be obeyed b. 531. regiment without righteousness a. 187. places of judicature abused a. 237. Evil under-officers b. 114. like Prince like people a. 193. See Kings great persons Man set to School to other creatures a. 29 209. hath in him the malignities of all the creatures b. 139 Man is born to misery a. 260 is miserable a. 231 256 Manner of performance b. 510 Manichees mad conceit of God b. 145 Married couples should love dearly a. 324 Martyrs their five vertues b. 301. they astonisht their tormentors b. 534 Mass whence so called b. 368 Mediocrity beg a mean estate a 203 204. keep a mean a. 269 Meekness mollifieth a. 91 Melancthon praised a. 223. timorous he was b. 223 Mercy abused turns into fury b. 135. Gods mercy matchless b. 230 Merit-mongers vain b. 207. self-justitiaries b. 209. these are the Saints greatest enemies b. 461 Ministers obey them a. 6. they are Cryers a. 41. Noble preachers a. 218 219. eloquence befits them a. 308 Ministery blasphemed a. 309. persist to press necessary truths a. 336. inculcate the same truths b. 99 Ministers dignity and duty a. 346 347 351 352. let them be bold b. 107. Ministery is a sweet mercy b. 110 Ministery-miracles b. 123. Minsters mostly labour in vain b. 154. Yet must preach on b. 155. able and apt to comfort the feeble-minded b. 159. A mirrour for Ministers b. 160. Dumb dogs described b. 181. ignorant greedy sleepy ib. drunken b. 182. preach earnestly b. 186 187. young preachers b. 221. preach boldly b. 222 223. be compassionate b. 253. shall meet with many troubles b. 279. and have the worlds wages b. 281. a prophane preacher a great mischief b. 291 292. bad Ministers may convert souls b. 293. Ministers are watchmen b. 401. must be resident b. 486. must dilate b. 515. ill Ministers are the Devils Dirt-daubers b. 425. Christs love to his offending Ministers b. 507. Ministers wives what they should be b. 508 Miracles 365. at a birth b. 172. the old Woman of Bolton suckling a forlorn babe b. 384 Mocking at Gods Menaces b. 29. at religion b. 118. at the word punished b. 102. a scoffer converted ibid. See Scorners Mortification of sin b. 234 235 Mortifie all as well as any b. 443 Muleasses King of Tunis justly made blind b. 422 Multitude no good plea a. 62. follow it out to evil b. 43 Murmuring against God a. 128. complain not of the times a. 263 264 Murderers must be executed a. 188 bloody men make bloody ends a. 158 N NAme a good name a great blessing a. 102. precious a. 147. better then riches 148. sweet a. 257 258. get and keep it b. 199 Nebuchadnezzars distemper what b. 537 538 540 Noble Preachers a. 218 219 O OAths how to swear aright b. 234. fear an oath a. 286. petty oaths great sins b. 239. A wretch dying swearing a. 22â— 230 Obedience Evangelical a. 130 Obstinacy a kind of blasphemy b. 447 Offendors for a word b. 106 Old age full of infirmities a. 303 304 305 yet venerable if good a. 113 Opportunity improve it a. 118 Oppression a great sin a. 9â— 154 Oppressors Theeves b. 9 10 Ordinances are sweet a. 339 340 P PAins taken to small purpose a. 294. Papists perfidious b. 118. bloody ib. idolatrous b. 142. superstitious as the Egyptians 413. blasphemous b. 499. their invocation of Saints b. 205. their roaring out Rorate before Christmass b. 145. Romish Edomites b. 122 Parents good parentage a great honour a. 115. rob not parents a. 189. contempt of them exquisitely punished a. 207. observe them b. 325 Partiality naught a. 163 Passion proclaimeth folly a. 68 69 Patience lesseneth