Pageants And by this passage some conjecture that not the Whale but the Sea-dragon is here described Let it be what it will it must needs be a great heat within this great Fish that sendeth forth as it were burning lamps and sparks of fire and a strong sulphurous breath he must have like the out-bursts of Aetna by this description Aristotle saith the Whale is of an hot fiery nature and that he hath Lungs and breatheth a pipe or passage also he hath in his fore-head Lib. 4. 〈◊〉 anim cap. 〈◊〉 whereat he throweth out the water he hath taken in either by his breathing or eating This transparent water thus with a force thrown up against the Sun-beams may bear a shew of lightning or burning lamps Verse 20. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke c. Whiles his meat heateth in his stomack for concoction Sufflati as if fire were put under some great reaking pot or Caldron boyling Heb. blown for of blowing comes boyling Verse 21. His breath kindleth coals Or Would kindle coals as a Smiths bellows if there were any to kindle Such a kindle-coal was Arrius and Hildebrand of old the Jesuites at this day and not a few others Prov. 26.21 Es 33.10 your breath as fire shall devour you Some mens tongues are like Gun-powder which touched with the least spark will instantly be in the face Jam. 3.6 A flame goeth out of their mouths enough to set the whole course of Nature on fire Verse 22. In his neck remaineth strength Aristotle saith that among Fishes De part 〈◊〉 lib. 3. the Dolphin Whale and such as breath have necks proportionable to their bodies The word rendred remaineth is in the Hebrew lodgeth or abideth all night so spoken saith One because the Whale as also the Dolphin sleepeth with his head erected above water And sorrow is turned into joy before him i.e. He knows no sorrows he fears no hurt but alwayes rejoyceth bearing himself bold upon his strength God having made him to sport in the sea Psal 104.26 Others read it And before him danceth fear Pavor Pallor Tullus Hostilius his two gods men dance or start for fear Verse 23. The flakes of his flesh are joyned together Heb. The fallings Meland Tremell or the refuse and vilest parts as the word is rendred Am. 8.6 Now if God be so punctual in the description of these also can any one think that he hath let passe any thing in the holy Scriptures that belong to our Salvation What need is there then of humane traditions They are firm in themselves Heb. Moulton Firm they must be because so joyned together Vis unita fortior but dissention is the mother of dissolution England is a mighty Animal saith a great Polititian which can never die except it kill it self They cannot be moved Or He cannot be moved He may say as Terminus of old Nullicedo I give place to none unlesse I please Verse 24. His heart is as firm as a stone He is corpore corde validissimus Of the sword-fish Plutarch saith that he hath a sword but not an heart to use it But the Whale hath courage to his bulk his heart is as firm as a stone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his head saith Scaliger is as hard as a flint In the hearts of some creatures saith Aristotle is found a bony or grisly hardness but the Whales heart is all as it were a bone and this bone as a stone As a pair of the neather milstone Metae upon which the whole weight lyeth the Greek call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 18.6 the Mill-Ass because it is the bigger and harder of the two The vulgar here for the neather Mill-stone hath the smiths-Anvil which by hammering is made harder Verse 25. When he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid When he shewes himself like some moving mountain upon the surface of the water the most assured Pilotes or passengers are seized with fear of death and seek to make peace with God as those Marriners did Jon. 1.5 6 c. By reason of breakin gs Broughton reads of shiverings They purifie themselves Expiantse they beg pardon of sin and prepare to die Others render it aberrant they are dispirited and know not what course to take Others again they purge downwards their retentive faculty being weakned with fear they let go their excrements as Loper the traytour did when he was upon his tryal before the Lords of the Council and as God somewhere in Ezekiel threatneth his rebels that for fear of his displeasure they shall not be able to hold their water Verse 26. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold So close are his scales so thick his skin that there is no wounding of him There was not of old it seemeth But now there is a way found of shooting and piercing of him so that he dieth with an horrible noise and out-cry Nor the Harbergeon A defensive weapon will be as uselesse as those other offensive for the Whale will soon swallow up the armed as well as the unarmed Verse 27. He esteemeth iron as straw and brasse as rotten wood He makes nothing of any thing that shall be done against him Bears and Lions may be wounded with hunting-weapons other Fishes with Eele-spears and the like not so the Whale or not so easily Verse 28. The arrow cannot make him flee Heb. Sons of the bow as chap. 5.7 Sparks are called sons of the coal Arrows were then as much in use as bullets are now Sling-stones are turned with him into stubble Those stones which the sling castes with so much force make as little impression upon his body as a festraw would which the hand of a child should push Verse 29. Darts are counted as stubble When any thing in the Decrees or Decretals likes not the Pope he sets Palea that is stubble upon it or Hoe non credo so doth this Leviathan upon all kind of weapons he slightes them The word here rendred darts is as strange as the weapon it signifieth is to us unknown lapides ballistae an engin whereby great stones were thrown against Walles or Towers as now Cannon-bullets to make a breath in them Catapulta aries vel simile aliquod tormentum Be they what they will the Whale fears them not no though they were as terrible to others as those two great pieces of Ordnance cast by Alphonsus Duke of Ferrara the one whereof he called the Earthquake the other Grandiabolo the great Devil Verse 30. Acumina testacea Sharp stones are under him Heb. Sharp pieces of the potsheard which prick him no more than if he lay upon the softest couch◠so hard is his belly He spreadeth sharp-pointed things upon the mine When he might lye softer he scorns it as our hardy forefathers some two or three hundred years agoe who ordinarily lay upon straw-pallets covered with canvas and around log under their heads instead of a bolster Hollinshed As
be hearkned unto when they tell us that by their Art they can turn these meaner Metals into gold sith they are here distinguished by their place matter form c. Neither is gold the end of other Metals every of which is perfect in its kind and besides the essence of every thing is indivisible and the use diverse Iron can do that which gold and silver cannot Historians tell us that Alexanders old souldiers armed with Shields of Iron conquered a great part of the world But when as growing rich they made them shields of Silver and were therehence called Argyraspides they were basely beaten by those whom they had formerly subdued The first Inventers of iron and brasse Pliny will have to be the Chalybes or Cyclopes Diodorus the Idaei Dactyli or Vulcan Vulcanum inquit ferri aris argenti auri omniumque quae igne fabricantur artem invenisse ferunt Diod. Sic. 16. And surely if Vulcan were the same with Tubal-Cain as sundry Commentators will have it Diodorus was not far from the Truth for he taught men to work in brasse and iron Gen. 4.22 Iron they had before and the Art of using it how else could they have plowed the accursed earth But this man added to their skil by his invention he sharply and wittily taught Smiths-craft and is therefore by the heathens fained to be the God of Smiths And brasse is molten out of the stone That is out of the oare which is like a stone and is called Cadmia as Junius here noteth perhaps from Cadmus whom Pliny maketh the first that invented the use of these Metals which Aristotle ascribeth to Lydus the Scythian Theophrastus to Delas the Phrygian It is probable that these were the first that shewed their Country-men the use of these Metals and so were by them accounted the first Authours of what was elsewhere found out long before Aes in mediiâ— lapidibus latet 〈◊〉 sed ignis vehementia lapides aris usque adeâ— torquentur ut veluti flumen aeâ—â— effundant Bren Some render the Text thus And the stone is melted into brasse that is by melting is turned into brasse Many are of opinion that there was anciently an Art of melting stones which is now lost Brasse is as it were incorporated into stone or harder matter but forced forth by the heat of fire Hence the Vulgar Latine thus rendreth this Hemistich Lapis solutus calore in as vertitur The stone dissolved by heat is turned into brasse So excellently doth Job here set forth the nature of these chief metals as Mercer would have us to take notice Verse 3. He setteth an end to darknesse i.e. He viz. the Miner brings light down into the dark entrailes of the earth and fetches out those metals that had long lain hid there and that else would never have been beheld Though Nature hath taken pleasure as One speaketh to hide all these Metals yet industry provideth man of certain marks for to discover them and infallible conjectures to know the time when they must be drawn out of their darknesse Habent Metallici suas virgas metallicas Metallaries have their Metal-rods whereby they search into and distinguish of metals and minerals Quasque recondi derat Ovid. Metam Stygiisque admoverat undis Effodiuntur opes irritamenta malorum And searcheth out all perfections scil That is to be found in those subterraneous Cells in that bosom and bottom of the earth the utmost that is there to be had he throughly eviscerateth digging many fathomes under ground where nothing is to be seen but a deadly shade Ex cujus horrore mori quis posset enough to fright one to death beside the deadly damps which suddenly breaking out of the veins of the earth do sometimes choak the workmen The stones of darkness c. That is the darkest stones that lye lowest of all in the earths bowels whither one would wonder how any man should ever come and especially how the Sun and Stars should come by their influences to make those Metals and the precious Stones that are ingendred and bred in the darksom and deadly vaults of the earth Verse 4 The floud breaketh out from the Inhabitant Broughton rendreth it from the spring Illa ergo utribus prae grandibus ex multis bonum coriis consutis indefesso labore exhauriuntur adhibitis ad cam rem rotis machinis idoneis Merl. Others Erumpit fluvius juxta accolam A River breaketh out neer to the Inhabitant that is to the Miner who is forced to leave the place till by buckets wheels and other fit devices the pits be cleared so that they may fall to work again Even the waters forgotten of the foot Broughton Vnkenned of any foot Brentius Quas nemo pedibus vadare possit Unfordable waters deep and dangerous To which purpose also the Tigurines translate the following words They are dryed up c. thus Superant etiam hominis staturam quì poterant vadari They are above the height of a man and how could they be waded through But better They are dryed up c. Heb. They are drawn up or diminished They are gone away from men Mortalis operâ by such meanes as men use and are unweariable Trem. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith a Greek Father What paines will not men take for gain and emolument Per mare pauperiem fugiunt Horat. per saxa per ignes Verse 5. As for the earth out of it cometh bread That is Bread-corn Alma Tellus Fertilis ferax Vatab. plentifully yeeldeth those precious fruits of hers as they are called James 5.11 These fruits lye hid in the seed for a season and so doth likewise fire in the flint whereof some understand the following words yet are they brought at length into the light And under it is turned up as it were fire That is materials of fire as coales of c. or brimstone which hath fire in it and doth sometimes take fire in the Mines Or gold which is to be tryed in the furnace and diverse sparkling stones created of a sulphureous matter such as is that which Pliny and Isidore call Pyrites Persicus and tell us In vit Apol. lib 3. cap. 14. that if it be held hard in a mans hand it burneth As also that which Hiarchas in Philostratus calleth Pantarbe which burneth with a kind of sweet brightnesse saith that Authour that dazleth the eyes of the Beholder and hath a strange attractive vertue Thus it sometimes falleth out that the upper part of a ground is fruitful and brings forth graine and grasse and underneath are precious stones and metals But commonly where there is gold below there is the barrennest soyl above God and Nature thereby teaching us that where the love of money that root of all evil groweth there is no good to be found A harvest may as well be look'd for in an hedg as true grace in a gold thirsty-heart Verse 6. The Stones of it
unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth He raiseth up the poor out of the dust 2 Chron 16.9 c. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth to shew himself strong Rom. 1.18 c. His wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Job had frequently acknowledged and celebrated the power and providence of God his judgements upon the wicked his fatherly chastisements upon himself deeply detesting all such thoughts and speeches as he is here wrongfully made the Author of And behold the height of the Stars Heb. The head of the stars those that are the very highest and at the top of the visible heaven the eighth heaven beyond which some of the Ancients acknowledged not any other Aristotle saith That beyond the aspectable and moveable heavens Decoel Text. 99. there is neither body nor time nor place nor vacuum But the scripture teacheth us That there is beyond the Stars how high set soever a third heaven a heaven of heavens the Throne of God and habitation of the Blessed The starry sky is but as the brick-wall encompassing this lofty Palace the glorious and glittering rough-cast thereof How high they are Vt vix â—ò noster possit aspectus pertingere so high that our eyes can hardly reach them Mercer It is a wonder that we can look up to so admirable a height and that the very eye is not tyred in the way Now God is far far above the stars omnium supremus altissimorum altissâ—mus The high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity Propterea quod tantum Chaos sit inâ—er nos et Deâ—â—â— Vat. Isa 57.17 dwelleth in light inaccessible 1 Tim. 6.16 such as whereof no natural knowledge can be had nor any help by humane Arts Geometry Opticks c. How then can he see from such a distance what is here done on earth saith the Atheist who thinks to hide himself from God because he hath hidden God from himself Hear him else in the next verse See also Ezek. 8.12 and 9.9 Verse 13. And thou sayest How doth God know A bruitish question Psal 94.7 8. and never of Jobs making There are a fort of such miscreants as believe nothing but what they see with their bodily eyes and indeed for a finite creature to believe the infinite Attributes of God he is not able to do it throughly without supernatural grace which therefore must be begged of God Jam. 1.5 that he would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of our understanding being enlightened c. Ephes 1.17 18. For want whereof the wicked blinded with sin ask such senseless and blasphemous questions as this in the text and those like this Psal 10.11 Zeph. 1.12 See the Note there Plin. 1.2 c. 7. It is a ridiculous thing saith Pliny to think that the highest Majesty taketh care of humane affaires a service doubtless far below him and unworthy of his greatness Can he judge through the dark cloud Can he discern through such a dark medium Sicut pueri vultum obvelant putantes sese tum non conspici Lavat Men cannot see God and therefore some fools are apt to think that neither can he see them But that Job was far from any such thought see chap. 21.16.22 To blame therefore was Eliphaz to charge him with such a wickedness and all because he had said that in this life bad men oft prosper and better men suffer which yet is verum tanquam ex tripode very true and not at all derogatory to the divine providence Verse 14. Thick clouds are a covering to him He lyeth close hid among the clouds and seeth nothing But be the clouds never so thick Christ's eyes are a flaming fire Rev. 1.14 And the School of Nature teacheth That the fiery eye needeth no outward light but seech extra-mittendo by sending out a ray c. He will freely blot out the sins of his people as a cloud and their transgressions as a thick cloud Esa 44.22 43.25 but the clouds cannot hinder him from sight of their sins for he is All-eye and darkness and light are both alike to him Psal 139.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A cloud may come between the body of the Sun and us and the whole Hemisphere may be masked and over-cast as we call it but nothing can keep God from eying and ordering all things And he walke h in the circuit of heaven Where it seemeth thou thinkest he only manageth matters and beareth rule and not below So indeed the Peripateticks thought and taught Agreeably whereunto Lysippus made Alexanders picture looking up to heaven with this Posie Juppiter asserui terram mihi tu assere coelum With which picture Alexander was so delighted Plin. l. 6. c. 16. that he proclaimed that none should take his picture but Lysippus Augustus also heard with delight Divisum imperium cum Jove Caesar habet Virgil. vita And the Great Turk vexed at his great loss in the last Assault of Scodra most horribly blasphemed against God saying Turk Hist fol 423. That it were enough for him to have care of heavenly things and not to cross him in his worldly actions The Atheist here taketh it for granted That God hath enough to do to walk from place to place in Heaven as Princes do in their Progress and to order those heavenly bodies how they shall affect these lower bodies by their light heat and influence c. Fain they would confine him to that circuit or circle the heavens are supposed to be sphaerical and circular that he might meddle no further Fain they would perswade themselves and others That God hath cast off the care of earthly business and committed all to Fate and Fortune that many might live far more comfortable if they were less consciencious that it dothing concerneth God whether men do or not do this or that c. Such dust-heapâ—s as these may be easily found in every corner for all places are full of them and so is hell too As for Job the Counsel of these wicked ones was far from him chap. 21.16 he was the worse to think of them whatever Eliphaz by mistake of his meaning at the least thought of him Verse 15. Hast thou marked the old way Heb. The way of old Broughton rendreth it the way of the old world of those ungodly ones before the Flood Hereby it appeareth say our Learned Annotatours that Job lived before the deliverance out of Egypt because he mentioneth the Creation and the Flood but not that deliverance which had he knowne it would have affoâ—ded him an excellent Argument to prove that godly men might be in great afflict on as the Israelites were in Egypt and his friends a plausible argument that God useth to destroy wicked men for their sin as
extraordinary palpitation or as the Tigurines have it luxation Thunder is so terrible that it hath forced from the greatest Atheist an acknowledgement of a Deity Suetonius telleth us of Caligula that Monster who dared his Jove to a Duel that if it thundred and lightned but a little he would hood-wink himself but if much he would creep under a bed and be ready to run into a mouse-hole as we say Augustus Caesar also was so afraid of thunder and lightning that alwayes and every where he carried about him the skin of a Sex-Calf which those Heathens fondly held to be a preservative in such cases and if at any time there arose a great storm he ran into a dark vault The Romans held it unlawful to keep Court Jove tonâ—nte fulgurante in a time of thunder and lightening as Tully telleth us De Divin lib. 2. And Isidore deriveth tonitru à terrendo thunder from its terrour and others form its tone or rushing crashing noise affrighting all creatures At the voice of thy thunder they are afraid Psal 104. which One not unfitly calleth Davids Physicks Verse 2. Hear attentively the noise of his voice Conjunctam commotione vocem ejus the great thunder-crack that now is that angry noise as the word signifieth Hear in hearing you cannot but hear it with the eares of your bodies hear it also with the eares of your minds tremble and sin not contrary to the course of most men who sin and tremble not drowning the noise of their consciences as the old Italians did the thunder by ringing their greatest Bells discharging their roaring-Megs c. But what saith Elihu here to his hearers Audite audite audite etiam atque etiam contremiscetis vos vos testes adhibeo as Mercer paraphraseth it out of Kimchi Hear ye hear ye hear ye again and again and then ye also will tremble I take you to witnesse whether ye consider his greater thunder-claps ringing and roaring in your eares See Psal 29.4 87.7 or the lesser rumblings called here Murmur vel Mussitationem vel habitum citra quem sermo non profertur the sound or breath that goeth out of his mouth Aristot Pliny All 's ascribed to God though Naturalists tell us and truly that there are second causes of thunder and lightning wherein neverthelesse we must not stick but give God the glory of his Majesty as David teacheth Psal 29. and as blind Heathens did when they called their Jove Altitonantem the high Thunderer The best Philosophy in this point is to hear God Almighty by his thunder speaking to us from heaven as if he were present and to see him in his lightnings as if he cast his eyes upon us to see what we had been doing His eyes are as a flaming fire Rev. 1.14 and the school of nature teacheth that the fiery eye seeth Extra-mittendo by sending out a ray c. Verse 3. He directeth it under the whole Heaven Heb. He maketh it to go right forward meaning the thunder the vehement noise or sound whereof not altogether unlike that of cloth violently torn or of air thrust out of bellows or of a chesnut burst in the fire but far louder is brought through the air to our eares with such a mighty force that it drowns all noises clappings clatterings roarings even of many waters making the earth to shake again Lavat and all things tremble non secùs quà m siquis currum onustum per plateam lapidibus stratam ducat And this dreadful noise is by God directed to this or that place under the heavens at his pleasure The word rendred directeth signifieth also Beholdeth whence some interpret this text of Gods seeing all things under heaven But the former sense is better And his lightning unto the ends of the earth God commands the lightning to cleave the clouds and to scatter its flames through the world Lightning is the brightnesse of a shining flame running through the whole air in a moment rising of a small and thin exhalation kindled in a cloud see Psal 18.13 The natural end and effect of thunder and lightning is to clear the air by wasting poysonous vapours The supernatural is to shew Gods excellent Majesty and Might which the Mightiest must acknowledge Psal 29.1 2. to be his officers about him to make room for him Psal 97.1 4. to execute his wrath upon his enemies Exod. 9.23.27 Psal 77.18 19. 1 Sam. 2.10 Isai 29.6 and his mercy toward his people for the humbling of them 1 Sam. 12.18 19 20 c. raising them again to an assured confidence Psal 29.11 c. But that God can shoot these arrows of his so far Mat. 24.27 Psal 77.18 97.3 4. and here yea and that at the same time when it raineth when one would think that the one should quench the other Psal 135.7 this is a just wonder and Jeremy urgeth it twice as such chap. 10.13 51.16 Verse 4. After it a voice roareth After it that is after the lightning it thundereth indeed before or at least together with it but the lightning is seen before the thunder is heard because the sense of hearing is slower than the sense of seeing thus fire is first seen in a Gun Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures c. Horat. ere the report is heard the Ax of the Wood-cleaver is up for a second blow ere we hear the first if any way distant c. And besides as R. Levi well observeth here that the sight of the lightning may come from heaven to us there needeth no time because our eyes reach up thither in an instant but that a sound may come therehence to us in regard of the distance and because the air must be beaten and many times impressed as into so many circles there must be some space of time neither can it be done so suddenly He thundereth with the voice of his excellency Or of his height or of his pride Proud persons think themselves high and use to speak big-swoln words of vanity bubbles of words as St. Peter calls them If they be crossed never so little verbis bacchantur cum quodam vocis impetu loquunter Oh the tragedies the blusters the terrible thunder-cracks of fierce and furious language that follow thereupon Some have been threatned to death as Cornelius Gallus was by Augustus Caesar and Sir Christopher Hatton Lord Chancellour by Queen Elizabeth How much more should men quake and even expire before the thunder of the most high or wriggle as worms do into their holes the corners of the earth And he will not stay them when his voice is heard Them that is new flashes of lightning or rain and haile which usually break out either while it thundreth or presently after in a most vehement and impetuous manner Verse 5. God thundereth marvellously with his voice Or God thundereth our marvellous things with his voice Marvellous indeed if we consider the effects of thunder lightning and
on this Text Men that is broken crackt-creatures Morbis mortique obnoxii woful weights sorry and sickly Caitives This to know savingly is the beginning of true Humility saith Augustine here PSAL. X. VErs 1. Why standest then afar off O Lord As if thou-hadst forgotten what thou hadst promised thy people in the former Psalm which the Greek and Latine Versions make to be one and the same with this as having no title and tending almost to the same purpose Hence the difference in Numbers which holdeth almost to the end of the Psalter viz. to Psal 148. Why hidest thou thy self in time of trouble So God seemeth to do when he helpeth not presently neither doth any thing more trouble the Saints in affliction than the want of Gods gracious presence This maketh them thus to expostulate and lament after the Lord not quarrel as those Hypocrites did Isa 58.3 or revile as Caligula did his Jupiter taking up that Verse in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or with him little better in the holy History who said Behold this evil is of the Lord and what should I wait for the Lord any longer 2 King 6.33 The good Soul knows that God waiteth to be gracious and as he seldom cometh at our time so at his own which is ever the best time he never faileth Vers 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost The wicked in his pride doth persecute c. Heb. hotly pursueth and that out of his pride the true cause of Persecution whatever else is pretended And this is fitly here alledged and urged as an Argument to move God to make hast See Deut. 32.27 The Saints fare the better for the insolencies and outrages of their enemies whose ruine is thereby accelerated and somewhat God will do the sooner for his people lest the enemy exalt himself Psal 140.8 and say Our hand is high the Lord hath not done this Let them be taken in the devieâ—s c. As all Persecutors are sure to be In which regard Tertullian well adviseth Scapula Si nobis non parcis tibi parce si non tibi Carthagini If thou wilt not spare us Christians yet spare thy self or if not thy self yet thy City Carthage which else will smart and smoke for thy cruelty Vers 3. For the wicked boasteth of his hearts desire Though the Soul of the wicked desire evil Prov. 21.10 yet he glorieth in it as did that Thrasonical Lamech Gen. 4. and that Pyrgopolynices Nebuchadnezzar Isa 10.9 10 11 12. See Psal 5 Phil. 3.19 This the just and jealous God cannot bear as neither that which followeth He blesseth the Covetous Vt sapientem providum as a wise man and good Husband So they in Malachy who said And now we count the proud happy c. Felix scelus virtus vocatur Whom the Lord abhorreth smiting his hands with indignation at his dishonest gain Ezek. 22.13 like as Balac did at Balaam Senecaâ— with whom he was deeply displeased Numb 24.10 Vers 4. The wicked through the pride of his countendnce That is of his heart appearing in his countenance as a master-pock in his fore-head For Pride buddeth Ezek. 7.10 the pride of Israel testifieth to his face Hos 5.5 the thoughts are oft seen in the countenance and the heart is printed upon the face Isa 3.9 'T is a hard thing saith one to have a brazen face and a broken heart Will not seek He thinks it not necessary or worth the while and his practice is agreeable that is nought all over Pride in the Soul is like a great swelling in the body which besides that it is a dangerous Symptom unfits it for any good service and is apt to putrifie and to break and to run with loath some and soul matter So doth Pride disable the Soul from doing duty and at last breaketh forth into odious deeds abominable to God and men It is observed that the ground whereon the Peacock useth to sit is by that occasion made exceeding barren so where pride roosteth and reigneth no good groweth God is not in all his thoughts God is neither in his head as here nor in his heart Psal 14.1 nor in his words Psal 12.4 nor in his ways Tit. 1.16 he is wholly without God in the world Ephes 2. he studies Atheism and all his thoughts are There is no God so this Text may be read he would fain so perswade himself Vers 5. His ways are always grievous As he Pleaseth not God so he is contrary and vexatious to men Via ejus semper terrent so Aben-Ezra The Psalmist here noteth him for such an one as the Cyclops are set forth to have been by the Poets Thy Judgements are far above out of his sight He looketh not so high but reckoneth that quae supra nos nihil ad nos If he read them at any time he regardeth them as little as he doth the story of forein Wars wherein he is not concerned As for all his enemies he puffeth at them He holdeth himself man good enough to make his party good with them and that he can overthrow them all with a puffe He defieth them and domintereth over them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost as the Greek renders it Vers 6. He hath said in his heart I shall not be moved So said a better man once Psal 30.6 but he was quickly confuted If a beleever conclude by the force of his faith that he shall never be moved from that good estate in which Christ hath set him this is the triumph of trust and not the vain vaunt of presumption For I shall never be in adversity The Chaldee hath it Quoniam non sum in malo and understandeth it of the evil of sin as Exod. 32.22 and then the sense is because the wicked man suffereth not the punishment of sin therefore he conceiteth that he is innocent and without sin See Hos 12.8 with the Note Vers 7. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit Such cursing men are cursed men and for such slippery and deceitful persons the Lord is the avenger of all such 1 Thess 4.8 Vnder his tongue is mischief that is in his heart which is by Nature placed beneath the Tongue making its use of it for much mischief Matth. 12.34 Jam. 3.8 The word Toch here rendred fraud signifieth properly the middle of any thing Quoniam fraus in modio cordis est saith R. David because fraud is in the middle of the heart and there-hence sent into the mouth Vers 8. He sitteth in the lurking-places c. A description of an High-way-robber saith Diodate under which name are meant all violent and fraudulent men and their actions Vers 9. He lieth in wait secretly as a Lion in his den See Job 38.40 with the Note When hee draweth him into his Net that is into his bonds debts morgages saith Chrysostome When a poor man is once gotten into these Nets wicked Oppressors do not only rob but ravish them coyning their mony
peace c. when as indeed themselves are flagella Reip. flabella seditionis the only traitors and troublers of Israel with Athaliah they cry out Treason Treason when themselves are the greatest Traitors and Incendiaries of Christendom We may confidently say with the Psalmist The foundations are destroyed but what hath the righteous done Some render the words thus But those purposes or counsels of Saul and his flatterers vers 2. shall be destroyed Saul shall be frustrated of his hope therefore I will not flee into the mountains But what hath the righteous done That is I have done nothing unrighteously against Saul therefore I will not fly c. Vers 4. The Lord is in his holy Temple i. e. in Heaven and there-hence hee both can and will do much for the releef of his poor oppressed Ubi deficit auxilium humanum incipâ—â— divinum Philo. though the righteous can do little for themselves he also knows and will clear their innocency for he sits between the Cherubims whence he is wont to send help Psal 20.3 and hath his Throne in Heaven whence he is wont to strike terrour into the enemies Psal 18.8 c. The Lords Throne is in Heaven This is the same with the former serving to set forth Gods Sufficiency as the following words do his Efficiency Dei solium est nostrum asylum those props of Davids faith answerable to Jachin and Boaz those two brasen Pillars in Salomons Temple His eyes behold his eye-lids try the children of men The eye of God is taken in Scripture saith one either for his knowledge or for his judgement his eye in this Text pointeth out his knowledge his eye-lids his critical descant It is a manner of speech saith another taken from those mens actions who being desirous to look upon a thing more intently do wink with their eyes or close up one of them that they may see the better with the other Vers 5. The Lord trieth the righteous or approveth as Jam. 1.12 he justifieth and accepteth him as appeareth by the opposition here The vulgar rendreth it thus Deus interrogat justum impium sc quiae per interrogatoria veritas dignoseâ—tur The Lord interrogateth the just and the wicked scil that so he may sift out the truth of things But neither doth the Hebrew word so signifie nor doth God need any such help His soul hateth i.e. he can in no wise away with and this is spoken of God after the manner of men for fury hatred and the like affections are not in him If it could be said of Trajan the Emperour that hee neither feared nor hated any man how much more of God And if of the Tribunal at Zant much better of Gods Throne Hic locus odit amat punit conservat honorat Nequitiam pacem crimina jura bonos Vers 6. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares His soul hateth them and as revenge is the next effect of hatred he will exercise horrible Judgements upon them Go on they may in their wicked ways for a time and haply think to out-run Wrath but it shall easily overtake them and inevitably for the first thing that God shall rain upon them is Snares to catch and hold them fast that they may surely suffer the rest that follow Take him and lead him away safely saith Judas concerning Jesus to the Souldiers Mark 14.44 And the same in effect saith God to his Judgements concerning the wicked on whom for that purpose he raineth Snares i.e. he suddenly surpriseth them as by unexpected foul weather Fire and Brimstone Hell from Heaven as once upon Sodom and her Sisters figuring the vengeance of eternal fire Jude 7. Rev. 20.10 Perdic se◠〈◊〉 disperdit c cruciat ita ut nunquam perimar Camero where the Sacrifice is salted with fire Mark 9.49 that is burneth but consumeth not Fire being of a burning but Salt of a preserving nature Tophet is of a most tormenting temper the fuel thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of fire doth kindle it Isa 30.33 Utinam ubique de Gehenna differeretur saith a Father O that men would think and talk much of Hell O that they would take a turn in it and taking a view of that formidable fire fed with a river of Brimstone and blown by the breath of the Almighty they would hasten out of their Natural condition as Lot did out of Sodome sith there is the smell of the fire and brimstone already upon them And an horrible tempest Ventus procellosissimus a most terrible blasting Whirlwind such as the Greeks call Prester whereof see Plin. Lib. 2. c. 48. and the Evangelist calleth Euroclydon Act. 27.14 The mariners mischief This shall be the portion of their cup Vel portio part is eorum id est ipsissima eorum portio duplicatur idem sensus duobus verbis saith R. David He seemeth to allude to the custom at Feasts where each had his Cup his demensum or measure of meat and drink Wicked ones shall drink up the cup of Gods Wrath worse than that cup of boyling Lead powred down the drunken Turks throat by the command of the Bashaw though it be brim-full and have eternity to the bottom Psal 75.8 Vers 7. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness Sc. as a reflection of himself as a peece of his own image This is better than eyes opened limbs restored Psal 146.8 His countenance Heb. Countenances or their faces in mystery of the Holy Trinity Doth behold the upright With singular delight and complacency Vide Vicars in Loc. PSAL. XII VErs 1. Help Lord 'T was high time to call to Heaven for help when Saul cried Go kill me up the Priests of Jehovah the occasion as it is thought of making this Psalm and therein committed the Sin against the Holy Ghost as some grave Divines are of opinion 1 Sam. 22.17 David after many sad thoughts about that slaughter and the occasion of it Doegs malicious information together with the paucity of his fast Friends and the multitude of his sworn Enemies at Court breaks forth abruptly into these words Help Lord help at a dead lift The Arabick version hath it Deliver me by main force as with Weapons of War for the Lord is a Man of War Exod. 15.3 For the godly man ceaseth Heb. The merciful man who having obtained mercy from thee would shew me mercy and defend mine innocency such as these are banished the Court which is now possessed by Parasites and Sycophants For the faithful fail Veraces the true and trusty ones such as a man may safely confide in these are rare Birds See Mic. 7.1 2 3 c. with the Notes there When the Son of Man cometh shall be finde faith in this sence also in the earth Luke 18. Hard and scarce When Varus was slain Augustus complained that now he had none left that would deal plainly and faithfully with him Lewis the Eleventh of France would
remarkable expressions of Gods anger upon mans sin in the dead body of a Man than of a Beast Numb 11.31 The one made unclean but till the evening the other seven days God hateth sin worse than he doth the Devil for he hateth the Devil for sins sake and not sin for the Devils lake He hateth sin naturally in whomsoever like as wee hate Poyson whether it be in a Toad or in a Princes Cabinet We read of Antipathies in Nature betwixt the Elephant and the Boar the Lion and the Cock the Horse and the Stone Taraxippe c. but nothing so great as betwixt God the chiefest good and sin the utmost evil Let us be like affected to our heavenly Father as dear Children abhorring that which is evil Rom. 12.9 hating it as we do Hell it self so the Greek word there signifieth abandoning it and abstaining from all appearance of it as it is Offensivum Dei aversivum à Deo an offence against God 〈◊〉 a breach of his Law Neither shall evil dwell with thee Heb. sojourn with thee 2 Sam. 12. or bee harboared as a Guest much less as an home-dweller Peter Martyr out of Nathans Parable observeth that Lust was but a stranger to David that lodged with him for a night only Though corruption may intrude upon us and enter yet it may not bee harboured and dwell with us lest the Traveâ—our become the man of the house Vers 5. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight Heb. before thine eyes as thy Favourites and Attendance Those furious vain-glorious Mad-caps as they call them Roysters Royoters Roaring-boys as they delight to call themselves by a woful Prolepsis of the present for the future The word is used for mad or raving with folly Eccles 2.2.12 7.9 10.13 Isa 44.25 Psal 75.5 73.3 God hath no need of such Mad-men as Achish King of Gath said when they brought David before him and he feigned himself distracted We likewise must have no fellowship with such Eph. 5.11 but reprove them rather Thou hatest all workers of iniquity Though they not only act it but art it polish and trim their sin that it may seem less hainous as Hypocrites do who hide their wickedness with no less subtle slights than Rachel hid the Idols Rahab the Spies But God will detect and detest them See the Note on vers 4. Vers 6. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing Whether in jest or earnest those that lye in jest will without repentance go to Hell in earnest And for the officious lye some think it no fault whereas Gal. 1.10 we must not speak truth to please men much less may we lye the truth is all lies are pernicious and all Liers will be destroyed but especially those that have â—aught their tongues to speak lies Jer. 9.5 that take fast hold of deceit Jer. 8 5. so that they cannot bee got off without striving such an one was Doeg Saul c. The Lord will abhor the bloudy and deceitful man Heb. the man of bloud for bloud hath so many tongues as drops to cry for vengeance Gen. 4. and God makes inquisition Psal 9.12 commanding that Murtherers should be drawn from the Altar to the Slaughter Exod. 21.14 This made King James say that if God did leave him to kill a man he would think God did not love him As for deceitfull persons the Lord is the avenger of all such 1 Thess 4.6 Vers 7. But as for me Who am conscious of none of these foul and flagicious practises The upright shall dwell in Gods presence Job 12.16 Psal 140.13 not so the hypocrite and ungodly He is like a Vagabond begging at the Gate and not knowing whether the Master of the house is providing for him an Almes or a Cudgel I will come into thine house c. He knew that the Ark and Mercy-seat were never separated And in thy fear will I worship c. The fear of God is 1 Servile this David meaneth not 2 Filial or amicable And this again is either Timor culpae fear to offend so good a God and to forget his favour Prov. 8.13 Or Timor cultus the fear that is to be expressed in our addresses to Almighty God that reverential godly fear Jer. 5.22 Heb. 12.28 Psal 2.11 and here Thus the very Angels make their addresses to the most high God with greatest self-abacements Isa 6. Bern. de divers 25. How much more should we silly and sinful Creatures Omnino oportet nos orationis tempore curiam intrare coelestem saith Bernard in qua Rex regum stellato sedit solio circundante innumerabili ineffabili beatorum spirituum exercitu Quantâ ergo cum reverentiâ quanto timore quanta illuc humilitate ascedere debet è palude sua procedens repens vilis renuncula that is at prayer time we should enter into the heavenly Pallace where the King of Kings fitteth in a stately Throne environed with an innumerable company of Angels and Saints With how great reverence therefore godly fear and humility should a poor paltry Frog come who is newly crawled out of his guzzle Vers 8. Lead me O Lord in thy righteousness that is in thy faithfulness and according to thy promise in that behalf made unto me to be my God and guide even unto death to lead me in the way everlasting to direct my footsteps in thy fear c. Deduc me ut non titubem saith R. David Lead me that I stumble not or if I do yet that I fall not for he that stumbleth and falleth not gets ground Because of mine enemies Or because of mine observers who narrowly watch for my halting that they might blaspheme thee and thy religion through my default 1 Sam. 18.9 Saul fixed his eyes upon David but for no good to him So 1 Pet. 2.12 3.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wicked men spy and pry accurately as the word signifieth into the courses of Gods people to see what evil they can finde out and fasten on We should therefore walk exactly Ephes 5.15 and pray earnestly as here Make thy way streight before my face Remove all rubs and Remoraes and lay all plain and level that I may walk and not bee weary run and not faint Isa 40. ult Vers 9. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth Or stedfastness nothing that a man may binde or build upon so slippery they are and untrusty Their inward part is very wickedness Heb. Woful evils heavie annoyances their hearts are the Devils Store-houses Their throat is an open Sepulcher And so more dangerous than if it were shut saith Aben-Ezra here In these open Sepulchers sending out much noysome stench they frequently bury the good names of their betters But the comfort is that there shall one day be a Resurrection as well of names as of bodies This the Apostle accommodateth Rom. 3.13 to the universal corruption of Mankind and well he might for as much as by Nature there is never a
better of us but as there were many Marii in one Caesar so are there many Doegs and Absoloms in the best of us all As in water face answereth to face so doth the heart of a man to a man They flatter with their tongue The Apostle Rom. 3.13 rendreth it With their tongues they have used deceit And it is remarkable that in the Anatomy of a Natural man there he stands more on the Organs of Speech Tongue Lips Mouth Throat than on all the rest of the Members Vers 10. Destroy thou them O God Heb. Condemn them as guilty They were Gods enemies no less than Davids Tom. 8. in Enarr â—ujus precationis and implacable incorrigible and hence hee so prayeth against them Est Prophetia non malediction saith Austin Let them fall by their own counsel As it befel Ahitophel Haman the Powder-Traitors Or let them fall from their own counsels i.e. not be able to effect their evil designs but defeated frustrated Cast them out c. Let those who were once a terrour now be a scorn for they are even ripe for ruine as having added rebellion to their sin Job 34.37 For they have rebelled against thee And so are more thine enemies than mine which maketh me so earnest against them being swallowed up with a zeal of thy glory Vers 11. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce Joy is the just mans portion contra Hos 9.1 Isa 65.13 14. and according to the measure of his faith so is his joy 1 Pet. 1.8 Let them ever shout or shrill out set up their Note as a Peacock doth which hath his name in Hebrew from this root Because thou defendest them Heb. Velut pie tabernaculum R. David Thou over-coverest them with thy sure defence for upon all the glory shall be a defence And there shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain Isa 4.5 6. The Ram-skins covering the Ark from the violence of wind and weather figured out Christs protecting his people Let them also that love thy name As all the Virgins do who have smelt Christs name as an Oyntment poured out Cant. 1.3 See the Note there Be joyful in thee Heb. exult and leap for joy as if they were dancing Levalto's Thus Dr. Taylor the Martyr fetcht a frisk and danced when he was near unto the place where he should be burnt Rabbi Zabdi Ben Levi repeated this verse when he was at point of death Mid. Tillin in Psal 5 Another that in Psal 32. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee A Third that in Psal 84. One day in thy Courts is better c. A Fourth that in Psal 31. O how great is thy goodness c. Vers 12. For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous yea the righteous man shall abound with blessings Prov. 28. 20. yea God will bless all them that bless him Gen. 12.3 or that but give him a cup of cold water Mat. 10. With favour Or goodwill Qua praecedit nostram bonam voluntatèm saith Augustin Wilt thou compass him Or encircle him as with a Crown and so make them higher than the Kings of the earth Psal 89.27 whose Crowns cannot keep their heads from aking but fill them with cares which made one King cry out Val. Max O vilis pannus c. and another spake this to his Crown Nobilis es fateor rutilisque onerata lapillis Innumeris curis sed comitata venis Quod benè si nossent omnes expendere neme Nemo foret qui te tollere wellet humo As with a shield A piked-shield such as doth circuire tres partes hominis compass about three parts of a man saith R. Salomon on this Text. Shields and Bucklers ' besides other Bosses for ornament had one great Boss in the middle with a sharp pike in it for use to pierce and wound the adversary See Job 15.26 God will be all in all to his People Crown Shield c. they may therefore well enough rejoyce shout leap as in the former verse PSAL. VI. TO the chief Musician on Neginoth See Psal 4. Title Upon Sheminith or upon the eight i.e. Intentissimo sono clarissimo voce Vatab. to be sung aloud An Eight is the highest Note in Musick See 1 Chron. 15.21 Others say that hereby is meant the Base and Tenor as fittest for a Mourner Vers 1. O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger In this and some other Psalms David begins so heavenly ends so merrily that one might think they had been composed by two men of a contrary humour as Moulin observeth De L' amont Divin Every new man is two men Rom. 7. The Shulamite hath in her as it were the company of two Armies Cant. 6.13 The Lord also chequereth his Providences white and black hee speckleth his work represented by those speckled Horses Zach. 1.8 Mercies and Crosses are inter-woven Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure Chastened David desires to be as Jer. 10.24 1 Cor. 11.32 Heb. 12.7 8. But in Mercy and in measure 1 Cor. 10.13 Fury is not in me saith God however it may sometimes seem to be Isa 27.4 Of furious people the Philosopher giveth this Character that they are angry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against those whom they should not 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for matters they should not 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more than they should be But none of all these can be affirmed of God Anger is not in him secundum affectum but seemeth so to be secundum effectum when he chideth and smiteth as angry people use to do when there is no other remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 his anger is in Scripture put 1 For his threatnings Hos 11.9 Jon. 3.10 2. For his punishments Mat. 3.7 Rom. 2.8 But as God therefore threatneth that he may not punish Amo. 4.12 so in the midst of Judgement he remembreth Mercy and it soon repenteth him concerning his people Vers 2. Have mercy upon me O Lord As the woman in story appealed from Philip to Philip so doth David fly from Gods anger to Gods grace for he had none else in Heaven or Earth to repair to Psal 73.25 he seekes here to escape him by closing with God and to get off by getting within him For I am weak or crushed gnashed extreamly dejected with sickness of body and trouble of mind Basil expounds it of his soul sins into which he fell of infirmity and for which hee was threatned with Judgements by the Prophet Nathan O Lord heal me On both sides heal my soul for I have sinned against thee Psal 41.4 heal my body which is full of dolours and diseases Psal 107.18.20 for thou art Jehovah the Phisician Exod. 15.26 Heal mine estate which is very calamitous by reason of mine enemies who wish my death and would gladly revel in my ruines See Hos