in the Wildernesse Dauid referred all his actions to the building of the Temple And if we will truly be beloued all our actions must haue this end to aduance the glorie of God in his Temple Dauid had many enemies so that the 18. Psalme is a thankesgiuing to God for his deliuerance from them God would not haue his afflictions easie because the comfort and consolation in ouercomming should be sweeter and that he being the beloued of God and yet afflicted men might learne to leaue to trust to the happinesse in this life and thirst after the felicitie of the world to come Hee had enemies abrode and enemies at home As Adonay Absalom c. and in respect of this hee maketh the 86. Psalme The consideration of this is of great vse to euerie godly man in his priuate life Besides these he himselfe was his owne greatest enemie in seeing Vrias wife and coueting her and killing of Vrias Gods purpose in these great offences of the godly is wonderfull vpon this he sung the 51. Psalme shewing himselfe to be a spirituall Leapour more odious and detestable in the sight of God than the bodily leaprousie in the sight of men In the psalme there is a sentence vsed which Saint Paul applyeth in the new testament for he sayth then shall I teach thy way vnto the wicked and sinners shall be conuerted vnto thee And sayth Saint Paul God hath shewed mercie to me a sinner These fallings of Dauid are no warrant for any man to presume to doe the like But from hence ariseth a wonderfull comfort to the sinner which transgresseth by infirmitie to hope for forgiuenesse that so hee may bee free from desperation If Dauid being so glorious in conquests and other graces had not thus transgressed hee would haue been too proude but hee was therefore humbled that hee might thereby keepe the Commaundements of the Lord. Now let vs consider him in his learned affaires THe whole Booke of Psalmes are called Dauids but there be many which are none of his yet they are called Dauids psalmes because they bee in that volume All Dauids Psalmes haue relation to Moses and there is great vse of them to expound Moses For as Moses at his death blesseth Iuda the second psalme expounds that blessing and applyeth it to Christ Moses teacheth the Children of Israel to blesse in this sort Numb 6. The Lord blesse you and keepe you the Lord make his face to shine vpon you the Lord turne his louing countenance towards you and graunt you his peace Dauid in the 67. Psalme expounds this and telleth wherein this consisteth Hee beginneth in the like order that God would bee mercifull vnto vs and shew vs the light of his countenance This appeareth in that the earth knoweth his way and the Nations his sauing health When hee iudgeth the folke righteously and gouernes the Nations vpon the earth and then shall the earth increase therefore let the people praise thee o God yea let all the people praise thee by this one you may gather all the rest In Moses it is sayd that God did arise The 68. Psalme beginneth so Let God arise and his enemies shall be scattered There he sayth Thou art gone vp on high thou hast led captiuitie captiue and receiued gifts for men Saint Paul expounds this of Christ Ephes 4. Thus much for his Doctrine generally ABenezra an ancient Iew mooueth a doubt concerning Dauids Organes and Instruments of Musicke It may thus bee answered when they came from Egipt they had Organes and hauing one kinde it was lawfull to haue other kindes also The Prophets which knewe the Iewes should be trayned vp in ceremonies might vse these to the same purpose This is no warrant for the vse of them nowe seeing Ceremonies cease Concerning the ecclesiasticall discipline amongst the Iewes we shall see that Dauid durst not aduenture to appoint the Sacrificers whose turne should be first or second but they cast lots for it for as he was Prince ruler ouer the people so they were al Princes of the sanctuarie and therein equall with him When the Leuites tooke vpon them to be Kings they became Saduces and Malachi calleth this time the time of the curse Rabbi Leui Ben Gerson sheweth that though the Leuites had notable victories against the Antiochi yet they all died of violent deaths because they tooke the glorie from Iuda therefore God would not hold them vnpunished In the 22. Psalme Dauid as a prophet telleth what the Scribes and pharisees would doe vnto Christ and therein sheweth likewise the calling of the Gentiles He entituleth the Psalme the Hart of the morning that looke euen as the Hart is the pleasure of the beasts and the morning the glorie of the day so is Christ to the soules of those which beleeue in him As Dauid a great many yeares looketh to the death of Christ so must wee following Saint Peters rule look to the end of the world that from the meditation thereof wee may lift vp our heads knowing that our saluation is at hand Dauid knew of these contumelies against Christ by the spirite of prophesie but yet he must prooue the truth therof therefore imagineth the most outragious And surely we cannot imagine greater than that Christ should bee as one forsaken of God Besides what could bee more cruell than to giue vinegar to drinke to those which are sicke Dauid in his psalmes goeth further and compareth Melchisedech with Christ saying Thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech and from thence descendeth to the calling of the heathen He shall smite in sunder the heads ouer diuers Nations He likewise in the 49. Psal mentioneth Adams Storie Adam being in honour continueth not one night but is as the beast that perisheth The summe of all is that as Paul taught nothing but Moses and the prophets so doth hee In that his Sonnes are wicked wee haue to learne that godlinesse is no inheritance neither doth it lineally descend from the Father to the Sonnes His afflictions may teach vs that the best men are not without the greatest calamities seeing there is no goodnesse in them And if their actions haue good successe it is because God doth blesse the whole state Thus much for Dauids Storie Salomon borne HIs name signifieth Peaceable so was his Kingdome and gouernement thereby to shew that Christ the King whome he representeth should giue peace passing all vnderstanding Hee was of Dauid by Bershabe This blemish the holy Ghost noteth to comfort vs in our infirmities and to keepe vs from desperation Salomon raigneth Fortie yeares THe Grecians say that Salomon was King at Twelue yeres of age The reason is because mention is made of him when Thamar was defloured and they cast it thus two yeares after the deflouring of Thamar Ammon is slaine for the which Absalom flyeth to Geshur and there hee remaineth three yeares afterwards hee is two yeares banisht from the presence of the King then he rebelleth
to Canaan againe Are borne in Mesopotamia They dwell in Canaan They multiplie in Egypt They returne to Canaan and after that are carried into Babell an other Egypt Is borne in Canaan Hee goeth to Egypt Hee returneth to Canaan and there he dieth and bringeth a new Babell or Egypt the Romanes on the Iewes to destroy them Ramban an old Hebrew maketh another comparison in the euents thus Iacob himselfe was vsed well in Egypt but his posteritie was plagued by the Kings which liued after him in Egypt In Babylon those that went into captiuitie were plagued as Sidrack Mishak Abednego but their posteritie found reliefe in Cyrus and Darius conquering the Babylonians Now it is necessary to speake of the place where Iacob died This place was Egypt Chams countrey long agoe accursed Where it is spoken in the Prophets that in Egypt men spake with the tongue of Canaan the meaning of it is thus much That when Christ shall come to preach his teaching shall be of such power that it shall conuert in all countreyes aswell Egypt as Grecia Barbaria and all other the countreys of the Gentiles which knew not God soules vnto God which being conuerted shall speake the tongue of Canaan that is their tongues shall prayse God for the redemption by Christ which is the tongue of Canaan This continueth yet true for there is no countrey nor nation where God hath not had or hath those which vnfainedly beleeue the Gospel Yet if it be obiected that the tongue of Canaan was Hebrew how then shall a simple ploughman vnderstand it This obiection is thus taken away It is not necessarie for a simple ploughman or trades man to be a skilfull Hebrecian for he may be saued without the knowledge of the tongue seeing by the Bible translated he may learne the religion of Canaan and that learning will teach him the tongue of Canaan If they replie further that the Papists say the translations be corrupted and therefore it is necessarie he should be cunning in the originall For answere to this replie made from the Papists argument if any doubt of the truth of the translations he may resort to learned preachers which can easilie resolue him And for the Papists if the controuersie be betweene them and vs the originall must determine it It is said that Iacobs sonnes were of Cham. It is not meant his twelue sonnes for they were borne before he came into Egypt but that place of Scripture hath speciall reference to the two sonnes of Ioseph Ephraim and Manasses who are reckoned to be Iacobs children For Ioseph marring an Egyptian by whom he had them they by the mothers side are of Cham and so Iacobs children in this sense are of Cham. Thus much for the place Now followeth his will Gen. 49. HEare yee sonnes of Iacob and hearken to Israel your father Heere he repeateth his owne name Israel that is mightie with God The accomplishment of this strength was fulfilled when they came from Egypt As there is no common wealth but stands of those that be wanton of men offer reached with choller of Iudges of husbandmen of merchants of men of trade of warriers to defend from forraine inuasion so are Iacobs twelue sonnes of all degrees in life In placing them here thus their dignitie is regarded and not their prerogatiue of birth for then Reuben should be first Iuda Hath the prerogatiue that his brethren shall praise him Yet if we looke into his life this could not be meant of him for who looser then he who lay with his daughter Thamar But herein is manifest the gifts of God to be of grace and not of nature For if Iuda had bin rare for godlines then the prerogatiue of nature might seeme to haue caused Christ to haue come of him Iuda his storie of prayse God is repeated by Saint Paul Rom. 2. Where he saith Whose prayse is not of men but of God So euery man that knoweth the birth of Christ and embraceth the truth thereof with constancie not turning for the loue of reward his praise is of God though the world hate him Ioseph He exceeds in vertue and thereof hath wonderfull blessings for among the thirteen Iudges sixe are of his tribe by which glory his posteritie began to despise the tribe of Iuda For at Roboams time they say 1. King 12. What haue we to do with the house of Iessay What haue we to doe with the house of Dauid to your tents O Israel to your tents But the Lord plagued them with a plague euer to bee kept in memorie as the Prophet Ieremie saith Iere. 7. Marke what I haue done to Siloh which was a citie in the tribe of Ephraim And againe Psal 78. He for-sooke the tabernacle of Siloh euen the tent hee had pitched among them He refused the Tabernacle of Ioseph and choose not the tribe of Ephraim but choose the tribe of Iuda euen the hill of Sion which he loued Concerning the prosperitie of Iosephs house Nazianzenus noteth that he himselfe was more afraid of the subtilties of Satan in his prosperitie then in his aduersitie Nephtali Of him this onely is spoken Gen. 49. He is a Hind let goe giuing goodlie wordes which was performed when Barac of Nephtali and Debora of Ephraim sang for the ouerthrow of Sisera at the waters of Mageddon Iudg. 5. Now whereas you haue Abacuck to bring a messe of pottake to Daniel in the Lyons denne some Iewe that made that neuer meant so but from that place of Abacucke The iust shall liue by his faith Abac. 2. faineth a comparison that as pottage preserueth this naturall life from perishing so the meditating by faith on the promises of God in Christ kept our soules from wauering by distrust and by that confidence Daniel was saued from the mouth of the Lyons Beniamin A Childe verie vertuous Rachel calleth him Ben-oni Sonne of my sorrow but Israel calleth him Beniamin Sonne of my right hand Moses in Deut. 33. in his blessing saith The beloued of the Lord shall dwell in safetie by him and God shall dwell between his shoulders And so hee did for the Temple was afterwards built in the tribe of Beniamin His tribe hath the first King though he be the meanest of the Tribes Beniamin continueth vntill the euening When the other Tribes fell away hee onely with Iuda at Roboams time hee onely with Iuda in Cyrus time ioyned for the building of the Temple Hester of Beniamin saued all Iuda from the practise of Haman Paul of Beniamin was the one of the last builders of the spirituall Temple Dan. Moses in his blessing in numbring the Tribes leaues out Simeon And in the Reuelation when the Tribes are sealed Dan is left out Therevpon the Grecians thinke that Antichrist shall come of the Tribe of Dan. That is not so but Moses being of Leui in blessing the Tribes putteth in Leui and speaketh largely of his spirituall blessings Iosephs Sons are not to bee left out because they were
earth seeing by the benefite thereof we haue the true vnderstanding of eternall life The vse of this compelleth vs to search the Stories of our antiquities which wee may finde in the 10. of Genesis About this time Solon the wise flourished and made a law that Homer the Poet who was long before him should be read in the publike assemblies on holy dayes and festiuall dayes as the Epistles and Gospels bee read in our Churches This Homer in a trifling argument of the warre at Troy layeth downe all the excellencie of the Greeke tongue About this time also the Seuen wise men of Greece were famous and all their disputations be vpon Homer as Plato Aristotle and Zenophon c. The Grecians affirme that Homer was translated into the Indian tongue and other languages that so he might be knowne and vnderstood of other nations also Againe Alexander being of great possessions hee must haue many vnder-officers to belong vnto him then he that would beare any office or bee in any credite must be skilfull in the greeke tongue Caesar Seuen and Fortie yeares before Christ speaketh of the Denides learning greeke in England Tullie pro Archia the poet reasoneth thus Though Archias the poet be not by nature a Citizen yet he deserueth to bee thought so to bee seeing by birth hee is a Grecian and of Antiochia a populous Citie and of great account from whence flowed learned men and liberall studies And if any man shall thinke a lesser fruite of glorie to be reaped from greeke verses than from latine hee erreth in good sadnesse because those thinges which are written in greeke are read almost into all nations those which are in latine are contained with their owne borders which in good sooth are verie narrowe Thus by Tullies testimonie the greeke tongue stretched ouer the whole world At Augustus Caesars time the latine beganne to flourish and the greeke tongue ceased as if the holy ghost should haue aduised the Grecians to haue written no more For Plutarch and Athenaeus doe not write any new storie but either cōment on that which was written before or abridge it And any one skilfull in the greeke tongue may easily perceiue from what notable place of Plato Homer or other greeke writers euerie phrase in the newe Testament is deriued and those which are not there to bee found in those authors are fetched from the hebrew of the old Testament from whence all the rootes of the greeke tongue are drawne So that to the exact knowledge and vnderstanding of the new testament two things are requisite cunning in the greeke authors and in the old Testament Let vs returne to Alexander He is the great Horne in the forehead of the Goat Bucke Hee is also the Leopard but the foure heads of the Leopard are foure Captaines to whome after his death his Kingdome was diuided He is also the belly and sides of brasse Alexanders great power is broken for when he had ouercome all the East he thought to returne to Grecia to subdue them that there had rebelled and so hee died by the way after he had raigned twelue yeares Here the bellie and sides of brasse are beaten to dust by Christ the Stone The Leopard is cast into the fire by Christ the fierie Iudge The great Horne is broken by Christ truely Palmoni hauing secrets numbred Who numbreth wayeth and diuideth This sentence doth extend to the vse of all men in the world For God numbreth all our wayes and wayeth vs in the ballance of his iustice but entreth not into iudgement with his seruants knowing whereof they be made He diuideth his mercie vnto vs farre beyond the compasse of our desarts whereby we crie Abba Father Now after Alexanders death the whole gouernment was diuided vnto foure of his Captaines which are the foure heads of the Leopard The bodie of the Leopard was himselfe and his entier gouernement the winges the speedie spoyle that he made of the Persians The names of his Captaines were Cassander Seleucus Antigonus Ptolomeus who had Macedonia Syria Asia the lesse Egypt And in a short space after the gouernement came into two heads that is it was ruled by Seleucus king of Syria and Ptolomeus Lagi king of Egypt the King of the North and the King of the South and their gouernment and the succession of their gouernment are the beast with tenne Hornes and the legs of yron and clay they are also called Gog and Magog in Ezechiel The whole gouernement or Kingdome is the beast the tenne hornes are tenne cruell Kings that shall arise out of that kingdome namely Seleucus Nicator Antiochus Soter Antiochus Theos Seleucus Callinicus Seleucus Ceraunus Antiochus the great Seleucus Philopater Ptolomeus Euergetes Ptolomeus Philopater and Antiochus Epiphanes 3620. Seleucus Nicator one of Alexanders Successors HE held Asia two and fortie yeares Here beginneth the tyrannicall gouernment of the tenne Hornes and the hardnesse of the yron legges for yet the legges are yron Hee is the first Horne that rusheth against Iudea exacting all duties as if he had been their king From this time to Antiochus Epiphanes is reckoned one hundred thirtie and seuen yeares 1 Mach. 1.11 3663. Antiochus Soter the second Horne HE is made king in his fathers life Hee falleth sicke for loue of his Fathers wife and afterwards marieth her and within few yeares dyeth in recompence of that villanie 3663. Antiochus Theos the third Horne HE marrieth Berenice the Daughter of Ptolomeus Philadelphus king of the South or Egypt hauing a former wife Laodice by whome hee is poysoned and Berenice with all her Assistants slain This is handled Dan. 11.6 And in the end of yeares they shall bee ioyned together for the Kinges Daughter of the South shall come to the king of the North to make an agreement but she shall not retaine the power of the arme neither shal he continue nor his arme but she shall be deliuered to death and they that brought her and hee that begat her and hee that comforted her in these times Thus it appeareth how the legges of yron and clay cleaue not together This Ptolomeus Philadelphus king of Egipt being desirous to bee famous for Bookes getteth a Librarie of all the bookes hee could heare of Amongst which he heard of a booke that the Iewes had at Ierusalem which was the Bible so hee sent for Seuentie Iewes to translate the booke out of hebrew into greeke which they did in Seuentie dayes Now they knowing that it was not of any deuotion of religion that he desired it but to furnish his Librarie they thrust in likewise into the Bible diuers of their owne fables as the storie of Susanna of Bell the Dragon of Esdras the bookes of Tobie and Iudith la the bookes that we call Apocripha because they knew that God had no purpose to saue them being Egiptian Dogs and because they would not throwe pearles to swine they thrust into the ages before the flood more yeares by a thousand than