of man commendeth the righteousness of God Rom. 3.4 5. To thee O Lord God belongeth righteousness but unto us confusion of face saith Daniel chap. 9. Vers 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity This he alledgeth viz. his original pravity not as an excuse but as an aggravation of his actual abominations which he saith were committed out of the vile viciousness of his nature See Psal 58 3 4. The Masorites here observe that the word rendred iniquity is full written with a double Vau to signifie the fulness of his sin whole evil being in every man by nature and whole evil in man which when the Saints confess they are full in the mouth as I may so say they begin with the root of sin not at the fingers ends as Adenibezek did stabbing the old man at the heart first and laying the main weight upon original corruption that in-dwelling sin as the Apostle calleth it Rom. 7.14 that sin of evil concupiscence as the Chaldee here that peccatum peccans as the Schools Tully belike had heard somewhat of this when he said Cum primum nascimur in omni continuo pravitate versamur Assoon as ever we are born we are forth-with in all wickedness Augustine saith Damnatus homo antequam natus Man is condemned as soon as conceived And in sin did my mother conceive me Heb. Warm me This Aben-Ezra interpreteth to be our great Grand-mother Eve Qua non parturiebat antequam peccabat David meant it doubtless of his immediate mother and spake of that poyson where-with she had warmed him in her wombe before the soul was infused Corruption is conveyed by the impurity of the seed Job 14.4 Job 3.6 31. Sin may be said to be in the seed incoative dispositive as fire is in the Flint Let us therefore go with Elisha to the Fountain and cast salt into those rotten and stinking waters And for our Children let us labour to mend that by education which we have marred by propagation Vers 6. Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts Quam tamen mihi defuisse res ipsa demonstrat but this truth hath not been found in me when I acted my sin in that sort and did mine utmost to hide it from the world I have shewed little truth in the inward parts but have grosly dissembled in my dealings with Vriab especially whom I so plied at first with counterfeit kindness and then basely betrayed him to the sword of the enemy Sinisterity is fully opposite to sincerity trcachery to truth And in the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom Thus by faith saith one he riseth out of his sin being taught wisdom of God Others read it Thou hast made me to know c. And yet have I sinned against the light of mine own knowledge and Conscience although thou hast taught me wisdom privately E◠eheu quam familiaritèr as one of thine own Domesticks or Disciples Some make it a prayer Cause me to knew wisdom c. Vers 7. Purge me with Hysop and I shall be clean Sprinkle me with the bloud of Christ by the Hyssop-bunch of faith not only taking away thereby the sting and stink of sin but conferring upon me the sweet savour of Christs righteousness imputed unto me See Heb. 9.13 14 19. where he calleth it Hyssop of which see Dioscorides lib. 3. chap. 26.28 David multiplieth his sute for pardon not only in plain terms but by many metaphors Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow So we cannot be by any washings of our own though with Snow-water Isa 6.46 The Brides Garments are made white in the Lambs bloud Rev. 1.14 the foulest sinners washed in this Fountain become white as the snow in Salmon Isa 1.18 1 Cor. 6.11 Eph. 5.27 Peccata non redeunt Vers 8. Make me hear joy and gladness God will speak peace unto his people he createth the fruit of the lips to be peace Isa 57.19 c. No such joyful tidings to a condemned person as that of a Pardon Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee Feri feri Domine nam à peccatis absolutus sum said Luther Davids Adultery and Murther had weakned his Spiritual condition and wiped off all his comfortables but now he begs to be restored by some good Sermon or sweet promise set home to his poor soul That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce By leaping over Gods pale he had broke his bones and fain he would be set right again by a renewed righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost by his former feelings of Gods favour Vers 4. Hide thy face from my sins We are not able to indure Gods presence much less his Justice for our sins nor can there be any sound peace of Conscience whiles he frowneth His favour is better than life but his displeasure more bitter than death it self See 2 Sam. 14.32 And blot out all mine iniquities See how one sin calleth to mind many thousands which though they lye a sleep a long time like a sleeping debt yet wee know not how soon they may be reckoned for Make sure of a generall pardon and take heed of adding new sins to the old Vers 10. Create in mee a clean heart O God His heart was woefully soiled with the filth of sin and the work of grace interrupted he therefore prayeth God to interpose and begin it again to set him up once more to re-inkindle those sparks of the spirit that lay almost quite smothered to put forth his almighty power for that purpose to farm that Augean stable of his heart to sanctify him throughout in spirit soul and body and to keep him blamelesse unto the comming of his son 1 Thes 5.23 Andrenew a right spirit within mee Or a firm spirit firm for God able to resist the Devill stedfast in the faith and to abide constant in the way that is called holy Vers 11. Cast mee not away from thy presence Deprive mee not of communion with thee and comfort from thee for that 's a peece of Hell torments 2 Thes 1.9 Cains punishment which possibly David might here mind as being guilty of murther And Sauls losse of the Kingly Spirit 1 Sam. 15.15 might make him pray on And take not thine holy Spirit from mee David knew that he had done enough to make the holy Spirit loath his lodging he might also think that the Spirit had urterly withdrawn himself and others might think as much beholding his Crosses Jer. 30.17 But the gifts and callings of God are without repentance and where the Spirit once inhabiteth there he abideth for ever Joh. 14.16 an interruption there may bee of his work but not an intercision and a Saint falling into a grosse sin may lose his jus aptitudinale ad calum but not his jus heredit arium his fitnesse but not his right to Heaven that holy place Vers 12. Restore unto mee the joy of thy salvation He had grieved that holy thing that Spirit of
Chaldee rendereth it such as was found in Araunah that famous Jebusite 2 Sam. 24.23 with Zech. 9.7 and is a quickening Spirit in every good soul causing them to make riddance as Baruc did Nehem. 3.20 Gen. 29. Ambrose and to take long strides toward heaven as Jacob did toward Padan-Aram for Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus sancti gratia The Spirit of grace knoweth no slow paces Mantuan but is quick of dispatch Up get these Chieftains when once they hear Surge age Summe Pater as one said once to the Bishop of Rome exciting him to make warre upon the Turk And the Priests and the Levites Fit it was that these should be of the first and forwardest at Temple-work whose proper employment is was to teach Jacob Gods judgements and to put incense before him continually Deut 33.10 to wait at the Altar and to be partakers with the Altar 1 Cor 9.13 With all them whose spirit God had raised up Not of Judah and Benjamin onely those best of the Tribes and truest to their Princes and principles but also of Ephraim and Manasseh 1 Chron. 9.3 with Ezek. 37.16 17 21 22. even as many of the Israelites as were acted by Gods Spirit of judgement and of burning Isa 4.4 firing them up to an holy contention in so noble and necessary a businesse and leading them into the land of uprightnesse Psal 143.10 The fruit of this good Spirit is in all goodnesse and righteousnesse and truth Ephes 5.9 the work of it upon the sonnes of God who are led by it Rom. 8.14 is not onely an external invitation by the Word and Sacraments or a meere moral perswasion Cyrus his Proclamation here would have availed but little with this people if God had not moved their hearts but an effectual drawing of the heart whereby operating irresistibly the sinner is converted and whereby cooperating infallibly he persevereth in grace unto the very end John 6.44 This conduct of the holy Spirit we must both earnestly beg with David Psal 14.10 and as carefully observe and obey his motions as ever David did the out-goings of God in the tops of the mulberry trees 1 Chron. 14.15 for these are the sound of his goings and the footsteps of his Anointed Psal 89.51 To build the house of the Lord This was that they aimed at rather then their owne liberty Choice and excellent spirits can easily drowne all self-respects in the glory of God It was the care of those good people in Joels dayes that there might be a meat-offering and a drink-offering unto the Lord their God what-ever became of their owne Carcasses Joel 2.14 And when the daily sacrifice ceased by the tyranny of Antiochus they looked upon it as an abomination of desolation Dan. 9.27 The Jewes at this day are very earnest to be rebuilding the destroyed Temple at Jerusalem out of their blinde zeale but they have neither any Cyrus to encourage them Julian the Apostate once did in spight to the Christians but it came to nothing nor the Spirit of God to excite them to such an unwarrantable work Verse 6. And all they that were about them Both their countrymen the Jewes that thought not good to go themselves or not yet till they should see further there is none so wise as the sluggard Prov. 26.16 and others of the neighbourhood for the Egyptians may lend Jewels to the Israelites dogs may lick Lazarus his ulcers and the earth may help the woman by opening her mouth and swallowing up the stood cast out after her by the Dragon to drown her Rev. 12.16 Strengthened their hands Which else for want of such support would have hung down and their feeble knees buckled under them ere they had come to their countrey neither could they without such supplies have so comfortable carried on the work they went about For if wisdome be a defence or a shadow to those that have seene the Sunne as in the former verse and are scorched with the hear of it so is money too saith Solomon Eccles 7.12 and though Wisdome without wealth is good yet it is better with an inheritance verse 11. which is not only an ornament but an instrument of vertue When men go on Virtute duce comite fortunâ then it is well with them as it was with good Josiah Jer. 22.15 16. But Agur would not be poor lest he should be put upon ill courses Prov. 30.9 put to his shifts Poor Hagar when the water was spent in the bottle cast the childe under the shrubs Gen. 21.15 With vessels of silver with gold with goods and with beasts See the Note on Verse 4. These are things that men do not usually so easily part with to others till they needs must Euclio in the Comedian sits abrood upon his heaps and hoards and will not be drawn off Shall Nabal take his bread and his flesh and give it to those he knows not 1 Sam. 25 Misers will as soon part with their blood as their good whence the Chaldees call their money Dam that is blood Many a man shewes himself like the Cornish-chough which will steale a piece of money and hiding it in some hole will never help her self or any other with it afterwards Hermocrates being loth that any man should enjoy his goods after him made himself by his Will heir of his own goods Athenaeus telleth of one that at his death devoured many pieces of Gold and sewed the rest in his coat commanding that they should be all buried with him But these in the text seeme to have beene of the race of those Persians spoken of Isa 13.17 which regarded not silver and as for gold they cared not much for it Or if they were Proselytes to the Church then they had learned with Tyrus now also converted to give over heaping and hoarding of wealth and therewith to feed and cloath Gods poor Saints and so to furnish them for their journey to their Fathers house that they may eat sufficiently and have durable cleathing Isa 23.18 This was Gods work upon their hearts And Quando Christus magister quà m citò discirur quod decetur Augustine Whereunto may be added that Cyrus who set forth this Edict as he was an absolute Sovereigne and so his word went for a law so he was a gracious and courteous Prince it a ut Patris nomen meruerit so that he merited the name and title of Father of his Countrey and might command any thing of them And with precious things Even the very best of the best they had The word signifieth praestantissimum pretiosissimum in quocunque genere fructuum metallorum gemmarum vestium the choycest and chiefest of all kinde of commodities Such as Eleazar gave to Rebecca and her brother Gen. 24. such as Jehosaphat gave his younger son◠2 Chron. 21.3 For the purchase of the pearle of price the wise Merchant makes a thorough sale of all Barnabas parteth with his lands Zacheus with his goods Matthew
otherwise Nehemiah will never do it to dye for it And now is there that being as I am So greatly beloved of God Dan. 9.23 so highly favoured of the King chap. 2.2 4. so protected hitherto so prospered so entrusted with the government and safety of this people more dear to me then my very life Would go into the Temple As a Malefactour to take Sanctuary there or as a Coward to save mine own life with the losse of the lives of many of the precious sonnes of life Zion I will not go in The Heavens shall sooner fall then I will forsake the Truth Will. Flower Act. Mon. 1430. In Epist said that Martyr Omnia de me praesumas praeter fugam palinodiam said Luther to Staupicius I le rather dye then flye burn them turn Latimer was wondrous bold and stout in his dealing with Henry the eighth both before and after he was a Bishop So were Athanasius Ambrose Basil the primitive Confessours This courage in Christians the Heathen persecutours called Obstinacy and not faith Sed pro hac obstinatione fidei morimur saith Tertullian in his Apology For this obstinacy of faith we gladly dye neither can we dye otherwise for the love of Christ constraineth us Life in Gods displeasure is worse then death as death in his true favour is true life as Bradford told Gardiner Verse 12. And so I perceived that God had not sent him By my spiritual sagacity I smelt him out as having mine inward senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil Heb. 5. ult Doth not the eare try words as the mouth tasteth meat Job 12.11 What though we have not received the Spirit of the World we cannot cog and comply as they can yet we have received a better thing the Spirit of God the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2.12 16. But that he pronounced this prophecy against me To make my righteous soul sad with his â—yes Ezek. 13.22 and to bring me to disgrace and danger Luther was wont to advise Preachers to see that these three Dogs did not follow them into the pulpit Pride Covetousnesse and Envy For Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him A mere mercenary he was then and had Linguam Vaenalem he could call good evil and evil good justify the wicked for a reward and take away the righteousnesse of the righteous from him Isa 5.20 Such false prophets were Dr Shaw and Frier Pinket in Rich. the thirds time who made use of them as his Factours to obtrude bastardy on his brother King Edward the fourth and so to disable his children for the Crown that he might settle it upon his own head Dan. Hist What became of Pinket I know not but Shaw as ashamed of his Sermon at Pauls crosse disconsolately departed and never after that was publikely seen Like unto these were Bishop Bourn and Cardinal Pool in Q. Maries dayes The Cardinal hired with the Archbishoprick of Canterbury took for his Text Esay 66.8 and applyed it to England as then happily reduced to the Popes obedience Bourn for the Bishoprick of Bâ—th preached such staffe at Pauls-cross that the people were ready to tear him in pieces They flang a Dagger at him in the Pulpit Phlugius Melch. Adam and Sidonius Authours of the Popish Book published in Germany by the name of Interim Chrisma oleum pontificium defendebant ut ipsi discederent unctiores defended Chrisme and extreme unction as being liquoured in the fists and promoted to fat Bishoprickes But a Minister as he should have nothing to lose so he should have as little to get he should be above all price or sale Nec prece nec pretio should be his Motto Verse 13. Therefore was he hired that I should be afraid But they were much mistaken in their aimes this matter was not malleable Nehemiah was a man of another spirit of a Caleb-like spirit he was fide armatus Deo armatus and therefore undaunted he was full of Spiritual mettle for he knew whom he had trusted And do so and sin Nehemiah feared nothing but sin and the fruit thereof shame and reproach so great was his spirit so right set were both his judgment and affections But if any thing would have drawn him aside from the straight wayes of the Lord base fear was the likeliest as we see in David at Gath and Peter in the High-priests hall See Zeph. 3.13 with the Note Pessimus in dubiis Augur Timer And that they might have matter for an evil report This wicked men watch for as a Dog doth for a bone and if they get but the least hint oh how happy do they hold themselves what wide mouthes do they open c It is our part therefore by a Nehemiah-like conversation to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men who like Black-moores despise beauty like Dogs bark at the shining of the Moon Of Luther it was said by Erasmus Nec hostes reperiant quod calumnientur Of B. Hooper it is said that his life was so good that no kind of slander although diverse went about to reprove it could fasten any fault upon him Act. Mon. 1366. The like is reported of Bradford and Bucer We should so carry our selves ut nemo de nobis malè loqui absque mendacio possit as Hierom hath it that none might speak evil of us without a manifest lye Verse 14. My God think upon Tobiah and Sanballat Heb. Remember to be revenged on them q.d. I cannot deal with them but do thou do it He doth himself no disservice saith one who when no Law will relieve him maketh God his Chancellour It is a fearful thing to be put over into his punishing hands by the Saints as Joab and Shimei were unto Solomons hands by dying David If men in their best estate are so weak that they are crushed before the moth how shall they stand before this great God According to these their works Qualia quisque facit talia quisque luat Let them drink as they have brewed And on the Prophetesse Noadiah Who joyned with Shemaiah in this dissimulation and was of his counsel Omne malum ex gynaecio False Prophets and Seducers are seldome without their Women Simon Magus had his Helena Carpocrates his Marcellina Apelles his Philumena Montanus his Priscilla and Maximilla c. And the rest of the Prophets Improperly so called but so they pretended to be and here they had conspired a great sort of them to do evil That would have put me in fear By their concurrent prophesies purposely to disgrace and endanger me Suffragia non sunt numeranda sed expendenda Multitude and antiquity are but ciphers in Divinity Verse 15. So the Wall was finished Though with much ado and maugre the malice of all forrein and intestine Enemies So shall the work of grace in mens hearts it is perfected there by opposition and growes gradually but constantly and infallibly In the twenty and fifth day of the moneth Elul Which
thrust me out and do ye come unto me in your distresse Go cry unto the Gods which ye have chosen Let them deliver you in the time of your Tribulation Judg. 10. Forsookest them not in the Wildernesse And yet he was neare the matter when he would own them no longer but even fathered them upon Moses saying Exod. 32.7 Thy people which thou broughtest out of the Land of Egypt have corrupted themselves The pillar of cloud departed not It is sad with a people when God sends for his Love-tokens his Ordinances when they have sinned away their light and so wiped off all their comfortables Verse 20. Thou gavest also thy good Spirit Viz. to their Governours and teachers Numb 11.16 17 25 26. Yea to every good soul that they might be all taught of God led into all truth and holinesse Joel 2.28 Eph. 5.9 For which end God hath promised to poure his Spirit upon all flesh that is the best thing upon the basest Next to the sending of his Son in the flesh which is called the gift Joh. 4.10 and the benefit 1 Tim. 6.2 what can God do more for his people then to give them his good spirit this is to give them all good things in one Mat. 7.11 with Luke 11.13 And withheldest not thy Manna See verse 15. It is twice mentioned as a singular and signall mercy And it is well observed by a Reverend Writer that this Manna and water from the Rock which was Christ in the Gospel were given this people before the Law the Sacraments of grace before the legall Covenant The Grace of God preventeth our obedience Therefore shall we keep the Law of God because we have a Saviour Verse 21. Yea fourty yeares didst thou sustaine them Sustaine them this is a meer Miôsis sith never was Prince so served in his greatest Pomp as these rebellious Israelites were in the wildernesse They had their Quailes and their Manna and the Rock to follow them c. So that they lacked nothing No more shall they that seek the Lord lack any good thing Psal 34.10 and 84.11 God will not be a wildernesse to them or a land of darknesse Jer. 2.31 A sufficiency they shall be sure of if not a superfluity yea in the midst of straits they shall be in a sufficiency 1 Tim. 6.6 The ungodly are not so Job 20.22 Their cloths waxed not old They wore not in the wearing this was wonderfull these men lived in an age of miracles here was no need of What shall we put on For the cloths they had of their own and that they borrowed of the Egyptians decayed not but as some think grew up with their persons See Deut. 8.4 and 29.5 And their feet swelled not Nor did any other disease annoy them while they were in the wildernesse There was not one feeble person among them this was a sweet mercy Non est vivere sed valere vita si vales bene est Vincentio Pestiom an Italian Gentleman being asked how old he was answered that he was in health And to another that asked how rich he was answered that he was not in debt This was the happiness of these Israelites in the wilderness Verse 22. Moreover thou gavest them Kingdomes and Nations God gave them all for he is the true proprietary he pulleth down one and setteth up another This Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged after he had been turned a grazing and Charles the Fifth Emperour of Germany who in twenty eight battles in America waged by Cortez and Pizarro won eight and twenty Kingdomes Prideaux Introduct And what a world of Nations are swallowed up in the greatnesse of the Turkish Empire America hath the hapinesse to be out of their reach So they possessed the land of Sihon Gods favours must not be mentioned in the lump onely and by whole-sale but particularly enumerated and celebrated Verse 23. Their children also multipliedst thou Judaea was not above two hundred miles long and fifty miles broad not near the halfe of England by much yet what a numerous people were they what huge armies had they And broughtest them into the land Not the nearest way but the best for them that he might humble them and try them and do them good in the latter end If God will bring us to heaven at length as Israel in the wildernesse so must we follow him and the line of his Law though it seeme to leade us in and out backward and forward as if we were treading a maze Concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers And they disposed of it by Will to their posterity as if they had been in present possession Gods promises are good sure-hold the Patriarchs would be buried there though they died in Egypt and keep possession as they could for they knew that all was their own Verse 24. So the children went in After that they had been held a long while under the Egyptian servitude God knows how to commend his favours to us which citò data citò vilescunt lightly come by are lightly set by And thou subduedst before them the Canaanites There is an elegancy in the original Thou bowedst or pressedst down those crookened or depressed ones the Canaanites who had their very name portending their condition from bowing down as born to be servants of servants according to Noahs curse Gen. 9.25 with Rom. 11.16 And gavest them into their hand If any were unsubdued it was through their own sloth for which they are reproved and by which they afterwards smarted It is the observation of a good Divine that as seven Tribes are justly taxed by Joshua for their negligence and sloth in not seeking speedily to possesse the land God had offered them Josh 18.2 so may the most of us be justly rebuked for grievous security about the heavenly Canaan Divers of the better sort have but a title and therefore it justly falleth out that these are buffeted by Christ as those were disgraced by Joshua That they might do with them as they would Save or slay whom they pleased yet not forgetting the Lawes of humanity as the bloody Spaniards have done amongst the miserable Indians causing them to cry out that it had been far better that the Indies had been given to the Devils of hell then to them and that if the Spaniards go to heaven when they die themselves will never come there though they might Verse 25. And they took strong Cities With no great ado like as townes were said to come in to Timotheus the Athenian-Generall his toiles while he slept Plut. in Sylla This he ascribed to his owne prowesse and policy often interlacing this proud speech Herein Fortune had no part and from thenceforth never prospered in any thing he undertook And a fat land Flowing with plenty of dainties though Strabo spitefully slander it for craggy and barren And possessed houses full of all goods Of all pleasant and precious substance for the Canaanites were great Merchants Esay 23.8 Hos 12.7
of the sea for it was part of the Continent because mediâ inseperabilis undâ separated from other Countreyes and encircled with Gods powerful Protection It was say some Herod l. 3. by Mordecai's meanes exempted from this great taxation Herodotus saith that a Countrey near unto Arabia was exempted He meaneth Judea saith Junius though he name it not It may be so And it may be saith an Interpreter that this is here inserted as being intended only of the reimposing of the tribute whereof there was granted a release at Esthers marriage chap. 2.18 yet it may be also added to shew how God punished the Nations for their late greedy gaping after the lives and estates of Gods people Verse 2. And all the Acts of his Power and his might Lyra and Rikelius observe that Ahashuerus had all this power and might given him by God as a recompence of his courtesie to the Jewes and justice done upon their enemies No man serveth God for nought He is a liberal Pay-master Mal. 1.10 See the Note there And the declaration of the greatnesse of Mordecai Heb. the Exposition Many make large Commentaries upon their own greatnesse which a right Exposition would shew to be rather belluine then genuine Great men are not alwayes wise saith Elihu Job 32.9 But Mordecai was a great wise man every way accomplish't one of Gods Rabbines as Daniel calls them fit to serve any Prince in the world There is a spirit in man a rational soule in an ordinary man but the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding Job 32.8 Whereunto the King advanced him Heb. wherewith the King greatned him wherein he shewed himself a wise and Politick Prince as did likewise Pharaoh in advancing Joseph Darius Daniel Constantius Chlorus Christian Officers our Henry the eighth the Lord Cromwell whom he made his Vicar-General Jovianus the Emperour was wont to wish that he might govern wise men and that wise men might govern him Justin Martyr praiseth this sentence of divine Plato Common-wealths will then be happy when either Philosophers reigne or Kings study Philosophy Justin Apol Jethro's Justitiary must be a wise man fearing God c. Exod. 18. and that famous maxime of Constantius Chlorus recorded by Eusebius is very memorable He cannot be faithful to me that is unfaithful to God Religion being the foundation of all true fidelity and loyalty to King and Countrey Are they not written in the book of the Chronicles These Chronicles of Media and Persia if they were now to be had as they are not would far better acquaint us with the history of those times then the fragments of them collected by Herodotus Diodorus Arrianus Jeâ—stin and Curtius But better books then these Chronicles are now wanting to the world as the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Iudah the Book of the warres of the Lord the book of Jasher Origens Octapla the losse which work saith a learned man deplorare possumus compensare non possumus bewaile we may but make up we cannot Chrysostome upon Matthew when promotions were offered Thomas Aquinas his usual answer was Chrysostomi Commentarium in Matthaeum wallem I had rather have Chrysostomes Commentary upon Matthew and many other precious pieces which learned men would gladly buy at as deare a rate as Plato did those three bookes that cost him thirty thousand Florens That we have the holy Scriptures so perfect and entire preserved safe from the injuries of time and rage of tyrants who sought to burne them up and abolish them is a sweet and singular Providence and must be so acknowledged Verse 3. For Mordecai the Jew was next unto King Ahashuerus Proximus à primo the Kings second as 2 Chron. 28.11 having the next chief seat to him as Josephus expoundeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and set over all the Princes of that Monarchy so that he might well cry out with that noble General Iphicrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from what mean beginnings to how great an estate and dignity am I raised How long he held it is not recorded all the dayes of his life it is likely for the good and comfort of the Church though not without the envy of many of the Courtiers which he overcame more by patience then pertinacy And great among the Jewes A kinde of King in Jeshurun as Moses as great among them as if he had been their proper King There is mention made of one Mordecai Ezra 2.2 who was of the first that went up with Zorobabel Aben-Ezra saith that this Mordecai was he and that when he saw that the building of the City and Temple went not on as was to be wished he returned again out of Judea to Shushan and lived about the Kings Court being not known to be a Jew till Haman was in his greatnesse soon after which himself became much greater then Haman And accepted of the multitude of his brethren He was their Corculum as Scipio their darling Orbis deliciae Melancth Chron. as Titus Mundi Mirabilia as otho the third Emperour of Germany was called Of Mordecai it might be sung as Cardanus did of our Edward the sixth Deliciae saecli gloria gentis erat Seeking the wealth of his people Farre more then his own private profit glory and dignity labouring their good both of soule and body by all meanes possible that they might have Gaius's prosperity and be as happy as heart could wish And speaking peace He was gentle and courteous to all not like Polyphemus who was Nec visu facilis nec dictu affabilis ulli Now affability and courtesie in high degree easily draweth mens mindes as faire flowers in the Spring do Passengers eyes Queen Elizabeth for instance of whom before Moreover he spoke good of them and for them to the King and promoted their prosperity to the utmost To all his seed i. e. to all his Countreymen as if they had been his own children And here that sweet Promise of God made to the good figges was fulfiled Jeremy had perswaded Jehoiakim and many others with him to yield themselves up into the hands of the King of Assyria assuring them that so doing they should fare farre better then those that stood out They did so and Mordecai among the rest as some will have it and now see how well they speed see the faithfulnesse of God in fulfilling his Promises the reward of the righteous the triumph of trust Again to all his seed That is posteris suis so some sense it he spoke peace to all his seed â—olocutâ—s est â—speritatem â—du Judaeoâ—â— posterita Merlin that is prosperity to all the Jewes posterity providing for their future happinesse also and taking course that after his death too the welfare of the Church might be continued This was dying Davids care 1 Chronicles 28.1 2 c. and Pauls Acts 20.29 and Peters 2 epist 1.15 and Ambroses of whom Theodosius speaking said Dilexi virum I could not but love the
the rod into his own hand I could better beare it but the tender mercies of that wicked one and his imps are meer cruelties For 1. this is as if the child should say If I might choose my rod I would not care to be whipt or the condemned Noble-man If I might chuse mine executioner I would not care to lose mine head 2. It is but one hand and many instruments that God smiteth us with Our enemies are but the men of Gods hand Psal 17.14 that can do no more then is given them from above John â—9 â—â— Gods Masons to hew us here in the Mount that we may be as the polished corners of the Temple Psal 144.12 Gods scullions to scowre up the vessels of his houshold that they may shine upon the celestiall shelf as that Martyr said 3. God ever reserveth to himself the royaltie of setting them their task limiting them their time and letting out their â—edder hitherto ye shall go and no further 4. If they exceed their commission as they are apt Gods jealousie will smoke against them Zech. 1.14 But save his life Heb. his soule put oft for the life the cause for the effect Satan shook his chain at Jobs soul and would have destroyed it but that he might not do scratch him he might with his pawes but not fasten his fangs in him Job could say for a season at least as that dying Saint did My body is weak my soul is well His afflictions as afterwards St. Pauls reached but to his flesh Col. 1.24 And see that thou save his life too saith God see how he chaineth up the divel who would faine have been sucking Jobs blood and swallowing him down his wide gullet Isa 57.16 1 Pet. 5.8 Save it that is spare it see that the Spirit faile not before me and the soul that I have made I have yet some further use of him though a lamentable Lazar. Gal. 4.13 14. You know how through infirmity of the flesh that is notwithstanding the infirmity and weaknesse of my body I preached the Gospel saith Paul and my temptation which was in my flesh you despised not Daniel though sick yet did the Kings businesse and Job though scabbed all over was yet of great use and reserved to great honour therefore Save his life saith God and the divel say the Rabbines was as much vexed and wounded with this restraint as Job was with all his wounds and ulcers It is surely a vexation to malice not to do its utmost Verse 7. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord The like is said of Cain when he meditated the murder of his innocent brother and went to put it in practice Malefactors amongst us we know are indited in this form For that thou not having God before thine eyes but moved by the instigation of the divel didst And smote Job He pretended to touch him only verse 5. but let every good man blesse himself out of Satans bloody fingers his iron entred into Josephs soule his stroke was very vehement upon Jobs body making totum pro vulnere corpus For he smote Job With sore boiles hot boyling boyles such as the Sorcerers of Egypt were smitten with Exod. 9.10 and afterwards the limbs of Antichrist Rev. 16.2 The Indian scab some say it was or the French disease a most filthy and odious ulcer it appeareth to have been sore and mattery why else should he so scrape himselfe with a potsheard as verse 8. such as whose sharp and pricking humour penetrated the very bone and put him to exquisite paine being worse to him then Augustus his tres vomicae briae carcinomata above-mentioned or Philip the second of Spain his loathsome and lousie disease whereof he died Anno 1598. Instit princip cap. 20. Carolus Scribanius thus describeth it This potent Prince for a long time endured ulcerum magnitudinem multitudinem acerbitatem foetorem c. i. e. Many great sharp and stinking ulcers which fastned him to his bed as to a crosse for a whole yeare before his death besides six years torture by the Gout an hectick fever with a double tertian for two yeers space feeding upon his bowels and the very marrow of his bones besides a most grievous flux for two and twenty dayes a continual nauseousnesse of his stomack an unsatisfiable thirst a continuall paine of his head and eyes abundance of matter working out of his ulcets quae binas indies scutellas divite paedore impleret besides a most loathsome stench that took away his sleep c. Alsted Chron. pag. 314. thus he Think the same and worse of Job the object of Satans utmost malice and that for a whole year say the Hebrewes for seven whole years saith Suidas chrysost de Laz. Chrysostome compareth him with Lazarus and maketh him to be in a farre worse condition Pineda sheweth that his sufferings were a great deal worse then those of the wicked Egyptians under all their ten plagues this was a boile an evil boile saith the text one of the worst sort the most painful and malignant that might be and this all over his body From the sole of the feet unto his crown It was all but one continued sore universall as the leprosie and therefore incurable threatned as an utmost plague an evil an only evil Dâ—ut 28.35 If any part were left untouched it was his tongue and mouth that it might be free to blaspheme God and that herein he was not smitten by Satan some have observed from chap. 19.20 I am escaped with the skin of my teeth having no sores there as I have all the rest of my body over Verse 8. And he took him a pot sheard a piece of a broken pot for want of better oyntments he had none nor baths to lenifie his sorenesse Physicians and friends were farre from him He looked on his right hand and beheld Psal 14.2.4 Beza but there was no man that would know him refuge failed and perished from him no man cared for his soule He had still a wife and servants and as some think his houshold-stuffe left him He should therefore by them have been helped but they helped on his misery jeering him and jesting at him as he afterwards complaineth Himself therefore in this necessity taketh a potsheard a piece of an earthen-pot thereby to mind himself saith Gregory that he was of the earth earthy For which cause also He sate down among the ashes or dust as repenting in dust and ashes chap. 42.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Jonah 3.6 Matth. 11.22 The Septuagint say that he sat upon the dirt or dung for want of a better cushion and that he was laid without the City as if for the stink and ill savour that came from him he was not suffered to be in the City as Vzziah afterwards being a Leper dwelt in a house by himself alone 2 Chron. 26.21 Disce hîc si aegrotas saith Lanater Learn here if thou be
him Eliah was most zealous for the Lord of Hosts when he slew 450 of Baals Priests Tantus tamen fulminator ad Jezabelis minas trepidat suctus seipso imbecillior saith one and yet this valiant Prophet flieth at the threats of Jezabel and heareth from heaven Bucholc What dost thou here Elias So Jeremy Peter Father Latiemr Pray for me saith he I say pray for me for I am sometimes so fearfull that I would creep into a Mouse-hole sometimes God doth visit me again with his comforts so he cometh and goeth to teach me to feel and know mine infirmity Thus he writeth to B. Ridley Acts and Mon. 1565. with whom he afterwards suffered at the same stake His last words were Fidelis est Deus c. God is faithful who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able c. This was also Jobs comfort when himself doubtlesse for at this time it was Ego non sum Ego with him and God considered it for he knoweth our mould he remembreth we are but dust And cursed 〈◊〉 day Diom non Deum his day and not his God as the divell would have had it It was too much howsoever of that and Job should have opened his mouth to better purpose In the Revelation whensoever heaven opened some memorable matter followed when wisedome openeth his mouth she speaketh excellent things Prov. 8.6 When Asaph opened his mouth he spake parables Psal 78.2 When our Saviour did so he delivered that famous Sermon in the Mount Matth. 5.2 But Job alas in the extreme paine of his body and anguish of his soul openeth his mouth and curseth bitterly curseth his day in a most emphaticall manner and in most exquisite terms wishing all the evill to it that it was any way capable of Now the day that he here curseth is either the day wherein he suffered such a world of evils as Obad. 12. Isa 2.12 Or rather the day which gave occasion to his sufferings his birth-day as verse 3 Jeremy did the like by a like infirmity chap. 20 14 and some others but never hath any yet been heard to curse the day of his new-birth nor ever shall as whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these we might be partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust and besides an entrance ministred unto us further and further into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.4 11. There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a multiplied happinesse in holinesse Verse 2. And Job spake and said Heb. answered and said Answered whom answered he The Jew-Doctors say he answered his friends who having hitherto said nothing to him and heard as little from him at length rupere silentia 〈◊〉 and asked him what he ailed others more probably conceive that Job answered here to some dispute in his own mind or rather with the divel Some take this verse for a transition only Others make it a preparation for Jobs future discourse to move expectation and win attention The discourse indeed is all along to chap. 42.7 Poeticall and very accurate made up in Hexameters as Hierome holdeth not by Job and his friends at the first uttering but afterwards by Job at better leisure or as some think Sic Jonas orationem suaÌ„ in ventre balanahabitum David plâ—rosque Psalmos c. by Moses whilest a shepherd in Midian for the comfort of his poore Country-men in Egypt Mercer saith that his predecessor Vatablus as he and heard had found out a way of scanning these Hexameters to others unknown and to all the more obscure because the verse causeth a cloud The first Hexameter that ever was made in Greek is said to be this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anno Mundi 2580 Prima vates Phemoâ—oi Aâ—â—ed Chronol 468. Birds bring your plumes and Bees your wax at once Verse 3. Let the day perish wherein I was born He curseth his birth-day which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginning of a mans Nativity they call the begetting of his misery because he is non pâ—iùs natus quam dumnatus no sooner born but damned to the Mines of misery Job 14.1 Crying he comes into the world Aug. and before he speaketh he prophesieth and saith in effect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Nasci pena labor vita necesse mori O that I had ne'r been born Wo worth th day That brought me forth and made me not away This whole life is orespread with sins and miseries as with a filthy morphew or as Job was with his leprosie the anguish whereof together with his inward troubles so grieved and galled him that he not onely cryeth but which is naturall for a man to do but giving the rains wholly to his grief he roareth and rageth beyond all reason and had not the spirit held him back he would surely have run headlong into blasphemy and desperation which was Satans designe But in the Saints as the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and sometimes getting the upper ground as it were bears it down as here in Job at this present so the Spirit again lusteth against the flesh and a great bustle there is in the good soul as when two opposite things meet together cold salt-peter and hot brimstome there is a great noise and as when Paul came to Ephejus there was no small stirre about that way Acts 19.23 c. Gal. 5.17 so that ye cannot do the things that ye would saith the Apostle As Job cannot do and say the good that he would because of the flesh so neither could he do or say the evil that he would because of the spirit he curseth indeed his day but not his wise nor friends much lesse his God as those male contents did Isa 8.21 Nay so soon as God came into his mind verse 20. the flesh was thereby though not altogether quailed and quelled yet so farre daunted and damped that it kept it self within the compasse of weeping and wailing and God himself though he find fault with Jobs speeches for unadvised and sometimes ranging beyond the precincts of godlinesse yet acquitting him from all grosse sin he crowneth him with the garland of a famous vict0ory as Mr. Beza here well observeth Most wisely therefore and fitly doth Saint James warn us that in thinking upon Job we regard not so much what was done while the combate lasted as what end the Lord make Jam. 5.11 The Saints doe never more prevaile and triumph then when it seemeth otherwise See Rev. 13.7 with chap. 12.11 they gather strength by opposition and conquer in being conquered Senâ—â— Rom. 8.37 They repent of their our hursts as Job did chap. 42. And Quâ—◠〈…〉 he is little lesse then innocent who is afterwards penitent Ambr. in Psal Yea it is almost mere to repent of a fault saith a Father then to have been free
do gracelesse men that draw not their knowledge into practice but detaine the truth in unrighteousnesse it swimmeth in their heads but sinketh not into their hearts it maketh them giddy as wine fuming all up into the head but never coming at the heart to cheare it Such a man may cast out divels and yet be cast to the divel he may go to hell with all his unprofitable knowledge like as a Bull with a coronet and garland goes to the slaughter Unlesse a man heare and know for himselfe he shall find no more comfort of it then a man doth of the Sun when it shineth not in his own Horizon or then a traveller doth of the fatnesse of a farre Country which he only passeth through and taketh a light view of If therefore thou bee wise be wise for thy self Prov. 9.12 Let thy knowledge be not only apprehensive but affective â—illightning but transforming 2 Cor. 3 ult discursive but experimental and practical For hereby we know that we know him if we keepe his commanaments 1 John 2.3 CHAP. VI Verse 1. But Job answered and said ELiphaz thought he had silenced him and set him down with so much reason that he should have had nothing to reply yet Job desirous to disasperse himself and to clear-up his reputation answered and said For indeed Negligere quid de se quisque sentiat non solum arragantis est sed dissoluti saith one that is altogether to neglect what others think or speak of a mans self and not to make apology is the part not only of a proud but of a dissolute person â— silence sometimes argueth guiltinesse or at least it strengtheneth suspition Verse 2. Oâ— that my griefe were throughly weighed Heb. were weighed by weighing The word rendred griefe signifieth also Angâ—â— and is thâ— same with that wherewith Eliphaz began his speech chap. 5.2 where he saith Wrath killeth the foolish man pointing at Job as an angry man exalting folly Here therefore Job beginneth his refutation wishing that that anger or griefe of his so hardly censured were duely weighed in an even ballance for then it would appeare that there was some reason for his passion that he had enough upon him to cry for and that he had not complained without a cause We read of a certaine Philosopher who hearing of his sons death brake out into a loud lamentation for which being reproved Permitâ—â—â—e inquit ut homo sim suffer me I pray you said he to shew my self to be a man that is sensible of my sufferings And my calamity laid in the balances together That is that my calamity were accurately set against my grief my laments and my torments equally poised it would then appear that I have not yet grieved or complained up to the height or weight of those calamities which are upon mee Even to day is my complaint bitter saith he elsewhere in answer to Eliphaz too interpreting his complaints to be rebellion against God My stroake is heavier theâ— my groâ—ning chap. 23.2 Verse 3. For now it would bâ— heavier then the sand of the sea How light soever thou O Eliphaz esteemest it as being in a prosperous condition It is easie to swim in a warm bath and every bird can sing in a sunshine-day But grief lieth like a load of lead upon the soule heavy and cold afflicting it as an unsupportable burden doth the body It so oppressed the poor Israelites in Egypt that they had no mind to hearken to Moses Eâ—eâ—d 6.9 Solomon cryes out A wounded spirit who can beare Prov. 18. â—4 My soule is very heavy and exceeding sorrowful even unto death saith our blessed Saviour Matth 26.37 38. then when the Father made all our sins to meet upon him and be bare our griefs and carried our sorroweâ— Isa 13.4 12. Sure it is that had he not been God as well as man he had beene utterly crushed by that unconceivable weight of sin and wrath that he then groaned under Oh what will all Christ lessâ— persons do in hell where God shall lay upon them and not spare they would faine fly out of his hand Job 27.22 bur that cannot be Therefore my words are swallowed up Vix loqui possum vox faucibus haevet I want words which yet if I had them at will would be far too weak to utter the grief of my mind Broughton rendreth it Therefore my words fall short they are semesa saith Junius half-eaten before spoken I am as it were gagg'd with grief or my words are even smothered up with sighs and sobs Thus Job rhetoricates and yet thinkes himself greatly word-bound Verse 4. For the arrowes of the Almighty are within me What marvel then though his flesh had no rest but he was troubled on every side sith without were fightings within were feares 2 Cor. 7.5 The arrowes not of a mighty man as Psal 127.4 but of an Almighty God Troubles without and terrours within David felt these arrowes and complaineth of them heavily Psal 38.1 2. He shall shâ—ot as them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded saith he of those his enemies who had bent their bow and shot their arrowes at him even bitter words Psal 64.3 7. God will make his arrowes drunk with the blood of such persons Deut. 32.42 But the arrowes Job here complaines of were poisoned or invenomed arrowes The poison whereof drinketh up my spirits Dryeth them up and corrupts the blood in which the spirits are sprinkling in my veines a mortall poison working greatest dolour and destemper The Scrâ—hians and other nations used to dip their darts in the blood and gall of Asps and Vipers the venemous heat of which like a fire in their flesh killed the wounded with torments the likest hell of any other and hereunto Job alludeth The terrours of God do set themselves in array against me i. e. the terrible strokes of God who seemeth to fight against me with his own hand to rush upon me as the Angel once did upon Balaam with a drawn sword in his hand threatning therewith to cut off my head as David did Goliah's yea to send me packing to hell in the very suburbs whereof methinks I feel to be already and shall not I be suffered to complain a galled shoulder will shrink under a load though it be but light and a little water is heavy in a leaden vessel But the word here used for terrors noteth the most terrible terrors hellish terrors and worse for they are the terrors of God surpassing great 2 Cor. 5.11 which made Jeremy pray so hard Be not thou a terrour to me O Lord and then I care not greatly what befalleth me Whiles I suffer thy terrors I am distracted saith Hemun Psalm 88.15 Adde hereunto that these terrours of God had set themselves in array they were in a military manner marshalled and imbattailed against him as Jer. 50.9 God afflicted Job methodically and resolvedly he led up his army as a Reverend man phraseth it exactly
of this and especially in this book which shewes that we are very apt to forget it A point this is easie to be known but very hard to be believed every man assents to it but few live it and improve it to reformation Mine eyes shâ—ll no more sâ—e good sc in this world for in the world to come hee was confident of the beatificall vision chap. 19.27 Hezekiah hath a like expression when sentenced to die I said in the cutting off of my dayes I shall not see the Lord even the Lord in the land of the living that is in this life present Psal 27.13 and 52 5. and 142.5 Isa 53.8 called also the light of the living John 9.4 Psal 56.13 I shill behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world Isa 38.11 And this both sick Job and sick Hezekiah tell the Lord and both of them begin alike with O remember Isa 38.3 God forgetteth not his people and their condition howbeit he requireth and expecteth that they should be his Remembrancers for their own and others good Isa 62.6 7. See the Margin Verse 8. Thâ— eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more In death we shall neither see nor be seen but be soon both out of sight and out of mind too It is storied of Richard the third that he caused the dead corps of his two smothered Nephews to be closed in lead and so put in a coffin full of holes and hooked at the ends with two hookes of iron and so to be cast into a place called the Black-deeps Speed 935. at the Thames mouth whereby they should never rise up nor be any more seen Such a place is the grave till the last day for then the sea shall give up the dead which are in it and death ad he grave shall render up the dead that are in them Rev. 20.13 then shall Adam see all his nephews at once c. Thine eyes are upon me and I am not Thou even lookest me to death like as elsewhere God is said to frown men to destruction Psalm 80.16 and Psalm 104.29 they are not able to endure his flaming eyes sparkling out wrath against them What mad men therefore are they that speak and act against Him who can so easily do them to death If God but set his eyes upon them for evil as he oft threatneth to do Amos 9.4 Job 16.9 they are undone Verse 9. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away A cloud is nothing else but a vapour thickened in the middle Region of the aire by the cold encompassing and driving it together psalm 18.19 vessels they are as thin as the liquor that is in them but some are waterlesse the former are soon emptied and dissolved the later as soon scattered by the wind and vanish away See the Note on verse 7. So he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more sc to live and converse here with men as ver 10. Or he shall come up no more sc without a miracle as Lazarus and some others long since dead rose againe he cannot return to me said David of his deceased child 2 Sam. 12.23 God could send some from the dead to warn the living but that is not now to be expected as Abraham told the rich man Luk. 16. Those spirits of dead men that so oft appeared in times of Popery requiring their friends to sing Masses and Dirges for them and that drew this verse from Theodorus Gaza sunt aliquid manes lethum non omnia finit were either delusions or else divels in the shape of men That Job doubted of the Resurrection or denied it as Rabbi Solomon and some other both Hebrew and Greek writers conclude from this text is a manifest injury done to this good man and a force offered to the text as appeareth by that which next followeth Verse 10. He shall return no more to his house Either to dispatch businesses or to enjoy comforts he hath utterly done with the affaires of this world Melanchthon telleth of an aunt of his who having buried her husband and sitting sorrowfully by the fires side saw as she thought her husband coming into the roome and talking to her familiarly about the payment of certaine debts and other businesses belonging to the house and when he had thus talked with her a long time he bid her give him her hand she at first refused but was at length perswaded to do it he taking her by the hand so burnt it that it was as black as a coal and so he departed Was not this the divel Neither shall his place know him any more His place of habitation or his place of honour and ruledome these shall no more acknowledge him and welcome him back as they used to do after a journey Death is the conclusion of all worldly comforts and relations Hence wicked people are so loth to depart because there is struck by death an everlasting parting-blow betwixt them and their present comforts without hope of better spes fortuna valete said one great man at his death Cardinall Burbon would not part with his part in Paris for his part in paradise Fie said another rick Cardinall will not death be hired will mony do nothing Never did Adam go more unwillingly out of paradise the Jebusites out of the strong-hold of Zion the unjust steward out of his office or the divels out of the demoniack then gracelesse people do out of their earthly tabernacles because they know they shall return no more and having hopes in this life only they must needs look upon themselves as most miserable Verse 11. Therefore I will not refraine my mouth Heb. I will not prohibite my month sc from speaking I will bite in my grief no longer but sith death the certaine end of all outward troubles is not farre from mee I will by my further complaints presse the Lord to hasten it and not suppresse my sorrowes but give them a vent I will speake in the anguish of my spirit Heb. In the straitnesse or distresse of my spirit which is almost suffocated with grief I will complaine in the bitternesse my soul his greatest troubles were inward and if by godly sorrow for his sinnes he had powred forth his soule in an humble confession as some understand him here he had taken a right course but thus boisterously to break out into complaints savoureth of humane infirmity and sheweth quantae sint hominis vires sibi à Deo derelicti what a poor creature man is when God leaveth him to himself Mercer and subjecteth him to his judgments Verse 12. Am I a sea or a whale Can I bear all troubles as the sea receives all waters and the whale beares all tempests This as is well observed was too bold a speech to God from a creature for when his hand is on our backs our hands should be upon our mouths as Psalm 39.9 I was dumb or as others read it I should
them or they to him and this they misconstrue as done in contempt See Psal 35.19 Or that he was plotting some mischief Prov. 10.10 and 16.30 or pretending to some extraordinary devotion and therefore shutting his eyes that he might be the more reserved to God The Vulgar hath it Why doth thine heart life thee up and as if thou wert thinking of some great things why are thine eyes so set It is for no goodnesse sure Verse 13. That thou turnest thy spirit against God A fowle fault surely but meerly for want of a faire Interpretation It is as if Eliphaz should have said Thy spirit was right when thou bravely barest up under the afflicting hand of God chap. 1. but because patience hath not had her perfect work as appeareth by thine angry expostulations Quid tumet contra Deum Spiritus tuus thy contesting with God and chatting against him and his proceedings therefore I conclude that thou art not perfect and â—utire all is not right Why doth thy spirit swell against God so the Vulgar rendreth it Behold his soul which is listed up is not upright in him that 's certain Hab. 2.4 And lettest such words go dâ—t of thy mouth Contumelious and blasphemous words not fit to he named Bona verba quaeso Eliphaz True it is Job had spoken some things more freely then was fitting and not without a tincture of bitternesse But charity would have made the best of those speeches which you thus odiously aggravate against him and have taught you to use the same equity toward others that you would have others use towards your self That faith and so that love is easily wrought which teacheth men to believe and think well of themselves and worse of others We will make a good exposition if we have but a good disposition Verse 14. What is man that he should be clean Eliphaz hath now done chiding it is but time he should and falls to reasoning wherein neverthelesse he sheweth himself an empty and troublesome Disputer urging again the same Arguments as before chap. 14.17 18 19. and not resting satisfied in a sufficient answer Did Job ever assert himself clean Said he not the clean contrary in many places see chap. 14.4 Only as washed sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of his God 1 Cor. 6.11 he discoursed of his integrity and righteousnesse not denying himself otherwise tainted with Original sin and guilty of actual which he begged pardon for according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace And therefore Eliphaz might have spared these words and better bestowed his pains in comforting Job and exhorting him to patience The Jesuites have at this day a device in handling Texts of Scripture by their nice distinctions to perplex and obscure the clearest places and for those that are doubtful not at all to distinguish or illustrate them Again in points of controversie they make a great putther about that which we deny not but say little or nothing to the maine businesse Hac que desperant renitescere posse relinquunt Verse 15 Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints Here he proceedeth to prove that which Job never denyed and Bildad also hath the same chap. 25. Lege ejus verba nam non malè huc quadrant saith Lavater Lay his words to these and they will lend light to each other See also the Notes on chap. 4.18 There they are called his servants here his Saints or holy ones these were the old Patriarks say the Septuagint with whom God at sometimes was angry and although he was a God that for gave them yet took he vengeance of their inventions Psal 99.8 Others understand it of the Saints in heaven or the holy Angels And the heavens are not clean in his sight Nor they of heaven be clean in his eyes so Broughton rendreth it The Angels are called angels of heaven Marth 24.36 and Gal. 1.8 Because made with and in the highest heavens and appointed there to inhabite Howbeit in the Apostate Angels and in heaven Gods holy and pure eyes found uncleannesse and delivered them therefore into chaines of darknesse 2 Pet. 2.4 Again to be clean in Gods sight is another manner of matter then to be simply clean like as to be just is one thing and to be just before God another Luke 1.6 Sordat in conspectâ— judicis quodfulget in conceptu operantis Some understand the Text of the visible heavens the purest of all inanimate creatures and therefore Chrysostom speaking of those praying Saints that prayed Peter out of prison Act. 12. saith that they were ipso coelo puriâ—res afflictione facti more pure then the heavens yet are they not pure in the sight of God but have their spots which we count their beauty spoâ—â— Verse 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man And therefore abominable because filthy or stinking and noisome as putrified meat is to the nose and palate Now this is every mans case by nature Psal 14.3 there being never a barrel better herring but all in a pickle though few believe it Kaâ—ol 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov Psal 49. ult Tremel Circumcision of old taught them that that which was begotten by that part deserved in like sort as abominable and accursed to be cut off and thrown away by God And what else doth Baptism still teach us See Col. 2.11 12 13. 1 Pet. 3.21 David compareth man to the beasts that perish pecoribus morticiâ—â— to beasts that dye of the Murrain and so become carrion and are good for nothing He lyeth notting in the graves of sin wrapt up in the winding sheet of hardnesse of heart and as a carcass crawleth with worms swarming with noisome lusts such as Gods soul abhorreth This is his nature and for his life He drinketh iniquity like water He is as it were altogether steeped and soaked in sin he sucks it in with delight as an Ox doth water or a drunkard Wine who had as liefe you take away his life as his Liquor and could find in his heart to be drowned in a Butt of Malmsey as George Duke of Clarence was in the Tower of London and as some say by his own Election Sure it is that a draught of sin is the only Merry-go-down to a carnal man he drinks it frequently and abundantly even till he swelleth therewith One observeth here that Eliphaz saith not Man eateth but drinketh iniquity because to eat a man must chew and this taketh up some time and leaveth a liberty to spit out what he liketh not but drink goeth down without delay and we usually drink oftner then we eat So here Verse 17. I will shew thee hear me Here Eliphaz useth a short but a lofty preface calling hard for attention and raising in Job an expectation of no mean matters But Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu Horat. This is his Argument That is to be held for true which experience evinceth and
people who are unto him as the apple of his eye Act. 7.51 and resisting the Holy Ghost alwayes Surely he would even destroy God if he could for he hateth him Rom. 1.30 With an hellish hatred as the word there signifieth such as striketh at Gods very essence Psal 10.41 confer 1 Joh. 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And strengthneth himself against the Almighty Sed vana sine viribus ire To his sinewes of iron he hath added browes of brasse Isai 48.4 To his natural crosnesse habitual hardnesse and hardinesse so that now like a stout Warrior he bends all his strength against the Almighty but with no better successe then to be broken in pieces Isai 8.9 with his it on Mace Psal 2.9 Sennacherib for instance See the Note above on chap. 9.4 Verse 26. He runneth upon him even on his neck Vulgar He runneth upon him God with an erected-neck such is his audaciousnesse and impudence daring to do any heinous wickednesse and not fearing to run against the strongest part of Gods Armour though able to grind him to powder Sin hath woaded such an impudency in his face that he dare with a full forehead encounter God even upon the points of his Justice and righteous Judgments wherein he is the ablest to give us the shock c. Thus some sense the Text. Others of good note also refer the word runneth to God and render it thus God runneth upon him even upon the neck c. He breaking his shields how many and how thick soever they be drags him by the neck as a miserable vanquished wretch and layes upon him exquisite and high punishments according to that chap. 31.3 Is not destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity Vpon the thick bosses of his buckler Wherewith the Belialist this Champion for hell thinks himself best armed and secured against the dint of the divine displeasure Bucklers besides other bosses for ornament had one great bosse in the middle with a sharp pike in it for use to pierce and wound the Adversary Now God runs upon this also and is no whit hindred thereby from punishing the refractories these high attempters these monstrous men of condition that so fiercely and so fearlesly lift up their hands against heaven as if they would pull God out of his throne and throw the house yea the world out at the window Surely as Pride resisteth God in a special manner so doth God in a special manner resist it 1 Pet. 5.5 The reason whereof is given by Boetius All other vices saith he flye from God only Pride flyes at him stands out and makes head against him Verse 27. Because he covereth his face with his fatnesse This is given in as one chief cause of his insolency he is a belly-god he maketh plaits upon the panch so Broughron rendreth it He hath larded his guts so Calvin He maketh it his businesse to pamper his body his heart also is fat as grease Psal 119.70 Benè curavit cutem suam in hoc munde Vat. He is waxen fat that is prosperity-proud and kicketh Dent. 32.15 Pride and fulnesse of bread were Sodoms twin-sins Ezek. 16.49 When people are Provender-prick'd as we call it they easily turn the grace of God into lasciviousnesse Jude 4. and that fulnesse breeds forgetfulnesse as the fed Hawk soon forgets his Master and the Moon at fullest gets furthest off the Sun Sensuallists who love feast Judg. 14.10 are void of the Spirit Jude 19. A full belly maketh a fowle heart The rankest weeds grow out of the fattest soil and those that make their gut a gulph well they may have collops in their flanks but they have leannesse in their soules indeed they have as Swine their soules for salt onely to keep their bodies from putrefying And maketh collops of fat on his flanks Heb And maketh mouths that is wrinkles upon his flanks He is active about it and makes it his businesse to make provision for the flesh Rom. 13. ult He labours for the meat that perisheth Joh 16.27 He lives to eat and laughs himself fat till his heart now hardned by the deceit fulness of his sin becomes as insensible as Dionysius the Heracleot who felt not when men thrust needles into his fat belly or those Beares in Pliny that could not be stirred with the sharpest prickles Verse 28. And he dwelleth in desolate Cities Such as had been before desolated but are now by him re-edified to get him a name and renown amongst men Ad numinis contemptum hominum terrorem Merlin and to make himself formidable as those do who build themselves strong holds upon high Rocks as if they would wage war against heaven Peradventure saith Deodate here he meaneth those Kings of violent Empires who repaired or built great Cities after the Deluge as Nimrod Ashur and others Gen. 10.8 Job 3.14 Isai 23.13 and raised themselves upon other mens ruines Eliphaz his scope is to shew that a man that hath great power amongst men begins to think himself strong enough for God also And in houses where no man inhabiteth For he hath driven away the Inhabitants through his oppressions This is that crying sin of Depopulatours who build themselves desolate places Job 3.14 And Enclosers who betray Townes as Rome did Carthage with a distinction We will save the City but destroy the Town This hath been noted as a great fault in our Nation and therefore Goropius thinks the English were called Angli because they were good Anglers and had skill to lay diverse baites when they fished for others mens livings But that 's his mistake though perhaps wilful for we were so called from the old Angli who came in with the Saxons and were subdued by the Normans whose Duke William the Conqueror paid dear for his depopulations at New Forrest wherein six and thirty Parish Churches had been demolished and the Inhabitants removed to make room for beasts or dogs game Diverse of his sons and Nephews came there to untimely ends so dangerous it is for men to prove Abaddons or Destroyers Which are ready to become heapes Heaps of stones the strongest structures in the world are subject to ruine Make sure of heaven which the Philosopher fondly dreamt to be made of stone arch-work and would one day come to raine But whatever becometh of the visible heavens which shall be purged by the fire of the last day upon the invisible we may well write as Hyppocrates telleth us it was engraven on the gates of a certain City Intacta manet it remaineth untouched And as the Venetians boast of their City that she is still a Virgin because from the first founding thereof which is 1200 years since or neer upon it never came into the hands of a forraine enemy Verse 29. he shall not be rich neither shall his substance c. If he be rich it is for a mischief neither is it likely long to continue with him for God
Devil with a Writ of Habeas animam when the cold earth must have his body and hot hell hold his soul according to that of the Psalmist Let death seizâ— upon them and let them go down quick into hell for wickednesse is in their dwellings and among them Psal 55.17 The sad forethought hereof causeth many unutterable griefs and gripings perplexities of spirit and convulsions of soul a very hell above ground and a foretaste of eternal torments The word here rendred terror signifieth utmost affrightments such as put a man well nigh out of his wits and distract him R. Solomon understandeth it of devils others of furies such as the Poets fain Most certain it is Cic. Orat. pro Rosc Amer. that a body is not so tormented with stings or torn with stripes as a mind with remembrance of wicked actions and fear of future evils And shall drive him to his feet As they did Cain that Caitiff Qui factus est à corde sâ—â— fugitivus Tertul. who would fain have fled from his own conscience if he could have known whither and became a Fugitive and a Vagabond upon the earth Gen. 4.12 seeking to outrun his terrors which yet dogged him hard at the heels They shal presse him at his feet so Broughton readeth this Text. Verse 12. Fit famelicum robur ejus His strength shall be hunger-bitten Heb. His strength or wealth shal be famine Or Famine shall be his strength He who whilom having health and wealth at will fared deliciously and gathered strength shall be hunger-starved and hardly have prisoners pittance so much only as will neither keep him alive nor suffer him to dye See 1 Sam. 2.5.36 'T is as much faith Brentius as we use to say of an extreme poore or feeble person his wealth is poverty his strength weaknesse And destruction shall be ready at his side i.e. Shall suddenly and inevitably seize upon him there will be no running away from it for can a man run from his side The word signifieth not an ordinary calamity but a dreadful and direful destruction Some understand it of the Plurisie or Vlcers in the side of a man Others of ribrost as they call it tortures inflicted on condemned persons as Heb. 11.34 who are beaten with bats Verse 13. It shall devour the strength of his skin i.e. his bones which support his skin these destruction shall devour or swallow up at a bit as an hungry Monster The first born of death shall devour his strength i.e. The Devil say some that Destroyer Rev. 9.11 that old Man-slayer John 8.44 Prince of death Heb. 2.14 as Christ is called Prince of Life Act. 3.15 and first born of death as Christ is the first born of the Resurrection Col. 1.18 Others understand it De cruentissima at funestissima morte of the most tragick and cruel kind of death See Isai 14.30 Broughton readeth it A strange death shall cat the branches of his body judgments shal come upon thee in their perfection saith God to Babylon Isai 47.9 Verse 14. And his confidence shall be rooted out of his Tabernacle Whatsoever he trusteth in about his house shall be pulled up by the roots or grub'd up Thus it befel Doeg Psal 52.7 And this disappointment this broken confidence of his shall bring him or make him go to the King of terrors i.e. to death that most terrible of terribles Aristot as the Philosopher calleth it Or the Devil as R. Solomon interpreteth it that black Prince Eph. 6.12 to whom wicked men are brought by death which to them is not only Natures Slaughterman but Gods curse and hels Purveyour hence Rev. 6 8. death haleth hell at the heels of it Verse 15. It shall dwell in his Tabernacles because it is none of his Heb. Not his for why the King of terrors hath turned him out of it and taken it up for an habitation for himself Some render it thus nothing or have nothing that is want shall dwell in his Tabernacle his house shall be replenished with emptinesse scarcity shall be the furniture of his habitation Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation As is also threatned Psal 11.6 And as was executed upon Sodom and her sifters as also upon Dioclesian the Tyrant who giving over his Empire Euseb de Vita Const lib. 5 decreed to lead the rest of his life quietly But he escaped not so for after that his house was wholly consumed with lightening and a flame of fire that fell from heaven not without a sulphurous smell he hiding himself for fear of the lightning dyed within a little after Verse 16. His roots shall be dryed up beneath c. The meaning is saith Dâ—odate he shall be deprived of Gods grace which is the root of all happinesse and of his blessing which is the top of it Verse 17. His remembrance shall perish from the earth As a tree when root and branch is gone is clean forgotten and no man remembreth where it grew so shall it be with the wicked Mercer Non celebrabitur ejus nomon fama nise in malum Eccles 8. 10. It is reckoned as a great benefit to a wicked man to have his memory dye with him which if it be preserved stinks in keeping and remains as a curse and perpetual disgrace And he shall have no name i.e. no honourable Name no renowne A good name only is a name Eccles 7.1 as a good wife only is a wife Prov. 18.22 Every married woman is not a wife Zillah Lamechs wife was but the shadow of a wife as her name also signifieth In like sort those only have a name in the streets or publick places who are talked of for good as the Martyrs who have left their names for a blessing Isai 65.15 when as their wretched Persecutors have left a vile snuff behind their Lamps being put out in obscurity Verse 18. He shall be driven out of light into darknesse Heb. They shall drive him scil the devils shall drive him out of the light of life into outer darknesse as they did that rich wretch Luke 12.20 confer Mat. 8.12 and 25.30 The Dutch Translation readeth it Men shall drive him Others understand it of his troubles and sorrowes And chased out of the world As Tarquin was by Collatine as Phâ—â—as was by Heraclius kickt off the stage of the world as one phraseth it or as Job saith of some wicked buried before half dead chap. 27.15 Men shall chap their hands at him and shal hiss him out of his place verse 23. Verse 19. he shall neither have son nor Nephew c. A sore affliction to be written childlesse which yet is the portion of some good people as Abel many Prophets and Apostles for whose comfort that is written Isai 56.4.5 God as he will be to his childlesse children better then ten sons so he will give them in his house 1 Sam. 1.8 Isal 96.5 and within his wals a place and a name better then
a castaway who am sorely afflicted indeed so that my very raines are consumed within me my graces also haply are somewhat deflourished and it is little better with me then with a tree in winter and as a Tyle tree whose say is in the root Isai 6.13 But so long as the root of the matter is in me that radical grace of faith and fith I do utter as ye have heard the words of truth and sobernesse as some fruits of a sound faith sure you should handle me with more tendernesse as one that hath some sap and substance in him Verse 29 Be ye afraid of the sword Heb. Be ye afraid for your selves form the fact of the sword Gods sore and great and strong sword Isai 27.1 that hangeth over your heads as it were by a twined thred O tremble at Gods judgements whilst they hang in the threatâ—ings He that trembleth not in hearing shall be cut to pieces in feeling in that Marâ—yâ— said Gods sword 〈◊〉 the reâ—â— Ezek. 21.13 If Job be under his rod they that persecute him under what pretence soever shall feel the dint of his Sword of his deep displeasure Now it is a fearful thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God And cruelty toward others toward his own especially he will be sure to punish for he is gracious Exod. 22.27 Fugite ergo à facie gladii flee therefore from the face of the sword so the vulgar rendreth this text The sword is an instrument of death it hath its name in Hebrew from laying waste and the face or faces of the sword shew that divine vengeance is near at hand Aug in Ps 30. It is a mercy to men that God whets his Sword before he smites and first takes hold on judgement before his judgements take hold on us Deut. 32. 41. For wrath bringeth the punishment of the sword It is from displeased love that God chastizeth his children but from fierce wrath that he plagueth his enemies Some of these God punisheth here lest his providence but not all lest his patience and promise of judgement should be called into question That we may know that there is judgement Wherein they that rashly judge others shall be judged by God Math. 7.1 And this Jobs friends knew well enough but well weighed not to fright themselves from rash censurings He minds them therefore of their danger and labours to prevent their sorrow who had so much caused his See the like in Jeremy chap. 26.15 in our Saviour in St. Stephen c. and learn to be like charitable though your success be no better than Jobs was upon whom in lieu of this love they fell more foul than before as will appear by their following discurses CHAP. XX. Verse 1. Then answered Zophat the Naamathite and said IF a wise man contendeth with a foolish man whether he rage or laugh there is no rest Prov. 29.9 Christ piped to that crooked generation Jobs mourned to them but all to no purpose absurd and unreasonable people will never be satisfied or set down say what you can to them such is their pertinacy and peevishness Job had utterred himself in such passionate expressions as might have moved stony hearts Sed surdo fabulam Vbi babent sere singulae voces aliquid ponderis Merl. He had set forth his own misery begged their pity made an excellent confession of his Faith every word where of had its weight each sylable its substance He had lastly terrified them with the threats of Gods Sword but nothing would do Zophar here though he had little to say more then what he had said chap. 11. yet he takes occasion from Jobs last words though full of love to rough hew him again and makes as if he were necessitated thereunto for his own and his fellows necessary defence Vatablus thinks that Zophar here maketh answer not to the preceding words but to those in the 12 Chapter where Job had complained that wicked Oppressors live commonly in greatest peace and prosperity Whatever it is Zophar henceforth will say no more either he had said what he could or was satisfied with Jobs Reply in the next Chapter or lastly quia lusurum se operans credebat as Mercer observeth because he thought he should lose his labour which no wise man would do Verse 2. Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer q. d. Whereas I had thought O Job to have spoke no more to thee for I see I do but lose my sweet words thy last Comminatory expressions have altered my resolution So nettled I am that I must needsly interrupt thee And yet think not that I shall speak what soever lyeth uppermost for I have dipped and dyed my words in my thought which do now prompt me what to answer and bid me make haste And for this I make haste Lavat Lest I should forget the particulars of thy speech whereto I am to answer Munster rendreth it thus Et ob is promptitudo mea est intra me as if Zophar had boasted of his ready elocution as in the next verse of his ripe understanding Some render it Eâ—â— this I delight in inspiring Verse 3. I have heard the check of my reproach Zophar conceived himself disgraced as well as menaced by Job and this kindled him Some are of so testy a nature saith one so skittish and unquiet humour that a little offensive breath a disgraceful word blows them up into rage that will not be laid down with out revenge or reparation of their credits Jobs reproofs were by this man construed for reproaches and what was spoken to them all he applieth to himself It appeareth that he was sick of a Noli me tangere when being touched so gently nettle-like he stingeth him who handled him And the Spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer This I shall do with reason and understanding not with passion and recrimination Spiritus Dei nec mendax nec mordax meekness of wisdom is a fruit of Gods Spirit by the which and not by his reasonable soul only Zophar seemeth to himself to be carried on And surely they are holy Truths all along that he uttereth but wrested and misapplyed as to Job whom he will needs have to be wicked because wretched Interim observemus saith Lavater mean-while let us observe that these things sc the state and portion of the wicked the greatness and suddenness of their punishments is therefore by Gods appointment so oft propounded and pressed in this whole Book whereof this is almost the sole Argument that we might be right in that point fear to offend and not fret at the wicked mans prosperity which is but momentany The Tigurinâ—s translate this clause thus Tametsi me conscientia hîc consolabitur Albeit herein my conscience shall comfort me Verse 4. Knowest thou not this of old Whether Zophar intended his own Conscience or not before he here appeareth to Jobs and secretly taxeth him of going against it or at
open a way to his hard heart by his glistering sword which accordingly befel him Terrors are upon him Heb. the terrible upon him which some interpret of Divels hell-hags The Vulgar rendreth it Then horrible outs shall come upon him The word is used for Gyants Deut. 2.10 The Emins shall fall upon him that is men of fierce and cruel spirits But better take it for terrors as we render it and so the sense is That the wicked when he sees he must needsly dye is surprized with greatest anxieties and perplexities of spirit as beholding that threefold dreadful spectacle Death Judgement Hell and all to be passed through by his poor soul Verse 26. All darknesse shall be bid in his secret place That is saith Diodate wheresoever he shall think to find a place of safeguard there shall he meet with some horrible mischance Men that are proscribed and sought for to death usually hide themselves as divers Jewes did in Privies at the last destruction of Jerusalem and were thence drawn out to the slaughter The Duke of Buckingham in Richard 3 his time was betrayed by his servant Bannister Appianus telleth of a Roman hid by his wife De Bell. Civ Rom. and then discovered by his wise to the Murtherer to whom she soon after also was married Others render and sense the words thus The wicked shall come into darknesse propter abscondita for his secret sins And others thus R. Sel. All darknesse is laid up for his hid treasures that is God or men have taken order that hee shall lose his riches as well as his life though he hide them never so secretly A fire not blowne shal consume him i. e. say some calamities whose causes shall be unknowne and shall proceed immediately from God See Isai 30.33 Many of the Greeks interpret this Text of Hell with its unquenchable fire Matth. 3.12 which being created by God and kindled by its breath that is by his Word it burneth everlastingly Albeit God many times punisheth wicked men here with fire from heaven as he did Sodom Nadab and Abihu those Captiances of fifties with their companies 2 King 1. Tremellius rendreth it thus A fire consumeth him non accensum flatu I say Him not kindled by blowing but burning of his own accord Vt stipule aut stupae Ut cremium aut arefactum liguum as stubble fully dryed or hurds or sear wood See Nab 1.10 with the Note It shall go ill with him that is left His posterity shall never prosper but be rooted out Eliphaz and Bildad had said the same thing and all to pay poor Job whose family was now ruined It shall surely go ill with him or He shall be wringed saith Broughton alluding belike to the sound as well as the sense of the Hebrew word Verse 27. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity Job had called heaven and earth to record of his innocency chap 16.17 18. This is not to do now saith Zophar for all creatures have conspired thy ruine and contributed thereunto Wind Fire Sabeans c. so that he that hath but half an eye may see thee to be a wicked person Such as are wicked indeed not only secundum dici as Job but secundum esse as Ahab cannot look to heaven above or to earth beneath without horrour to think even these if other witnesses faile shall bring to light their secret sinnes and come to give testimony against them before the great Iudge at the last day And the earth shall arise up against him Night will convert it self into Noon against the evil-doers and silence prove a speaking evidence Earth cryed Cain guilty the Stars in their courses fought against Sisera as a Traytor and Rebel to the highest Majesty Yea Servi ut taceant jumenta loquentur the Asse hath a verdict to passe upon Balaam A Bird of the Aire shall carry the voice that but whispereth Treason Eccles 10.20 Yea if nothing else will reveal iniquity it will reveal it selfe It will prove like the Oyntment of the right hand of which Salomon saith that it wrayeth it self Prov. 27.16 Verse 28. The increase of his house shall depart All his posterity shall be destroyed and so shall his prosperity too even all at once with a sudden ebb in the day that God visiteth him with his wrath and righteous judgements All the wicked mans wealth and revenue shall be wretchedly wasted and embezelled by one meanes or other And his goods shall flow away As waters The Apostle saith The fashion of the world passeth away viz. as a hasty headlong torrent or as a Picture drawn upon the ice Thou carriest them away both persons and things as with a flood Psal 90.5 Verse 29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God A portion God alloweth the wicked in this life Psal 17.14 As a King when he reprieveth a Traytor alloweth him a subsistence prisoners pitance at least Yes the worst of men divide the wealth and honors of the world between them for a time Nebuchadnezzar had Tyrâ—s as pay for his paines in Egypt And the whole Turkish Empire is nothing else but a crust cast to his dogs by the great house keeper of the world saith Luther But besides this God hath provided a far other portion for them saith One and that by way of inheritance never to be parted from them viz. all the forementioned miseries and many more all torments here and tortures in hell This is the inheritance Quam nunquam deserere non magis quam seipsos pottrunt which will stick to them as close as the skin to the flesh or the flesh to the bones it falls to them as the inheritance doth to the heir chap. 27.13 and 31.2 or as the mess of meat doth to the invited Guest Misery is the heritage of the wicked as they are children of disobedience and their wages as they are workers of iniquity their present prosperity also is a piece of their punishment Isai 1.5 Prov. 1.32 The words of Zophar are ended Let others reply as they please but he hath done Prastat herbam dare quam turpiter pugnare No surer sign of an evil cause then a powerlesse pertinacy CHAP. XXI Verse 1. But Job answered and said Disproving and refuting that Proposition of theirs concerning the infelicity of the ungodly by Reason by Experience and by Divine Authority All which evince and evidence that neither is prosperity a proof of mens innocence nor adversity a mark of their wickednesse as Zophar and his fellowes would have it And that they might not any more interrupt him nor think him too rough he useth a gentle Preface craving attention and pressing them thereunto by many Arguments in the six first verses Verse 2. Hear diligently my speech Heb. In hearing hear The Greek hath it Hear hear that is hear me out have so much patience with me as not to interrupt me any more yea hear with understanding Let your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
in changeable colours as often changed as moved Gods name is I am Exod. 3.14 And if Pilate could say What I have written I have written nothing shall be altered how much more may the Lord who is the same yesterday to day and for ever His Decrees are immutable his power irresistible Some think that Job complaineth here of Gods absolute power and little lesse then tyrannical exercised against him an innocent person If so Job was surely much to blame sith Gods absolute power is never sundred from his Justice and it must be taken for an undoubted truth that his judgments are sometimes secret but alwayes just And what his soul desireth even that he doth Id est Cupit ac facit statim ejus voluntas est executio that is He desireth and doth it forthwith his will is present execution It is his pleasure to lay load of afflictions upon me but wherefore it is I know not But Job should have known that as God is a most free Agent so his wil is not only recta but regula neither may any man here presume to reprehend what he cannot comprehend Verse 14. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me He hath performed all my necessaries so Vatablus rendreth it 't is the same word that was used for appointed or necessary food ver 12. Voluntas Dei necessitas rei God hath decreed thus to deal with me and therein I must rest satisfied And many such things are with him I know not but that there may be many more sufferings yet decreed to come upon me in his secret counsel Fiat voluntâ—â— Domini Godly people though they know not many times what the Lord will do and how he wil deal with them yet they always know that he is a merciful father to them and wil order all for the best This should content them and keep them from chatting against God and from nourishing hard conceits of him or heavy conceits of themselves as if wicked because afflicted Verse 15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence At the consideration of his formidable Power and Majesty I am troubled and terrified troubled at my present calamities and afraid of fiercer This verse then seemeth to be a correction of that wish of his above verse 3. and not unlike that ch 13.21 Withdraw thine hand far from me and let not thine dread make me afraid Then call then and I will answer c. When I consider I am afraid of him I have alwayes imagined that as it were weakness to fear a man so it were madness not to be afraid of God Let me be accounted timorous rather then temerarious Verse 16 For God maketh my heart soft Methinks I feel it fall asunder in my bosome like drops of water and dissolved with manifold afflictions so that I am hardly able to hear up any longer I am almost done as we use to speak and my heart faileth me How should it do otherwise when God with-draweth from his the supplies of his Spirit Phil 1.19 that Spirit of power of love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1.7 Dr. Preston Acts 20.22 saith that great Apostle And now behold I go bound in the Spirit up to Jerusalem c. Whereupon One gives this good Note The Spirit hemmeth us about comprehendeth and keepeth us When a man 's own strength would fall loose this supernatural strength stayeth and strengtheneth it Hence that of David Psal 138.3 In the day when I cryed unto thee thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul So Psal 27.14 Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thy heart which else will melt as did the hearts of the men of Jericho Josh 2.11 like metal melted with fire or like ice thawed into water and spilt upon the ground which cannot be taken up again And this is the soft heart Job here complaineth of God had dispirited him and The Almighty troubleth him sc With the thoughts of his Almightinesse See Psal 39.11 Tot malis ingruentibus Jun. and with so many miseries growing upon him Now it is not amisse for Gods people thus to be melted and troubled otherwhiles for by this meanes shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Isai 37.9 Verse 17. Because I was not cut off before the darknesse i.e. The afflictions that now are upon me It is a mercy to some to dye betime as Josiah and those righteous ones Isai 57.1 who were taken away from the evil to come when Gods glory was to passe by he put Moses into the hole of the rock so he sometimes doth his servants till the glory of his Justice hath passed upon others Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face i.e. He hath neither prevented my troubles by death as I wished he would have done chap. 3. Nor yet will he put an end to them by the same means for Mors erumnaruns requies Chancers Motto Death is a rest from trouble To the tossed soul it is as Mount Ararat was to Noah where the Ark rested as Michal was to David a means to shift him out of the way when Saul sent to slay him or as the fall of the house was to Samson an end of all his sorrowes and servitude CHAP. XXIV Verse 1. Why seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty HEB. Why are not times hidden from the Almighty q.d. Who could think any otherwise that had not been at the Sanctuary Ps 73.17 and there heard Wo to the wicked it shall go ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be sooner or later given unto him Isai 3.11 The Jew-Doctors conclude but falsly from this Text that Job denyed the Divine Providence And the Vulgar Latine to salve the matter and save Job from the imputation of Epicurisme takes the boldnesse to leave out the Interrogative Why and rendreth it thus The times are not hidden from the Almighty lest by making it a question Job should affirm that times and events are hidden from God or at least should wish and desire that they were so Vatablus thinketh that Job here putteth on the person of one that denyeth Gods Providence or at least doubteth of it as if he should say Ye my friends say that nothing is hidden from God and I now demand of you how the times and those things which are done in time can be otherwise then hid from him when as we see wicked men so to take their swinge in sin and yet for ought we see to escape unpunished It should seem by his winking at wicked practises that he takes no care how things are carried in this present world Brent as certainly he would do were he diligens mundi Oeconomus an t rerum humanarum conscius This indeed might stagger a David or a Jeremy in a passion as Psal 73.2 c. Jer. 12.1 and make a Diagoras or an Averroes turn Atheist But Job was better instructed in
Matth. 24.45 Not as he in the Emblem who gave straw to the dog and a bone to the Asse The good Word of God is well applyed is profitable to all things as is here hinted scil to help the powerlesse to save the strengthlesse to counsel the ignorant and to set forth things as they are that there may be no manner of mistake but then it must be wisely handled and the help of Gods holy Spirit must be implored verse 4. that it may be a Word of reconciliation a savour of life unto life 2 Cor. 2.16 and 5.19 and whatsoever else is said in commendation of it Psal 19.7 8 9 10. Mercer interpreting this verse and the two following Hâ—c de Deo accipio saith he These things I understand concerning God and it is as if Job had said to Bildad O how bravely helpest thou him that is weak and pleadest for him that is forlorn as if God wanted thy patronage and defence No question but thou art a man fit to advise him and to set him in a course that he cannot otherwise hit on This is a good sense also But what meant Brentius to bring in Job blaspheming here as thus Quem juvas impotentem salvas brachium invalidi Cui consulis insipienti c. Whom helpest thou O God the impotent savest thou the arm of the strengthlesse Whom counsellest thou the ignorant c. q.d. Surely thou shouldst do so by promise and it would well become thee to do so by me But alasse thou dost nothing less and hence it is that I still stick in the bryers c. Upon this gloss wee may write as the Canonists do sometimes Palea or Hoc non credo Verse 3. How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom q.d. Thou lookest upon me as a fool and an Atheist but this thou dost with far greater folly for I am not the man thou takest me for but can say as much for God as thy self and more too and if I were such as thou wouldst make of me I might so continue for any help I should have by thy counsel The like hereunto we may say to the Papists and other Seducers who pretend to tender our good to counsel us for the best and to wish our salvation And how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is Heb. the Essence or the Reason or the naked truth q.d. What ado hast thou kept to tell me no mere then I knew before wherein thou hast fairly lost thy labour and missed of thy design if ever thou intendest to counsel and comfort me Very wisely hast thou done it I must needs say for thee Verse 4. To whom hast thou uttered words And as thou thinkest words weighty and worthy of all acceptation when in truth there is no such matter Bubbles of words they are and big swolne fancies sed cui bono What tack is there in them and to what good purpose are they Melancthon makes mention of a certain good man Manl. loc com 536. who reading Aristotles Discourse concerning the Rainbow conceited thereupon many strange speculations and wrote to a friend that he had far outdone Aristotle in that matter But coming afterwards to the University and disputing there upon that Subject he was found to be utterly out in those fancies of his which indeed were no better then a sublime dotage And whose spirit came from thee Or Came out of thee Was it by Gods Spirit that thou spakest or thine owne rather For there is a spirit in man but the Inspiration or the Almighty giveth them understanding Job 32.8 Job would not have Bildad think and term his discourses to be divine Inspirations or such admirable pieces Scult Ann. pag. 238 rare sayings being but vulgar and ordinary businesses Muncer the arch Anabaptist wrote a Book against Luther wherein he boasteth much of the Spirit and of Prophetical Light accusing Luther for unspiritual and one that savoured nothing but carnal things The Antinomians use to call upon their hearers to mark it may be they shall hear that which they have not heard before whenas the thing they deliver after so promising a preface is either false or what is taught ordinarily by others Some read the words thus Whose Spirit admired thee for the spirit goeth as it were out of it self after those things it admireth The Hebrewes expound it thus Whose Spirit hast thou quickned or confirmed by these thy words Who is the wiser or the better for them Quam animam per hac fecisti What soul hast thou gained to God by thy Doctrine Confer Gen. 12.5 the souls which they had made that is brought to the true fear and service of God Verse 5 Dead things are formed form under the waters Here Jobs tongue like a silver bell begins to found out the great things of God far better then Bildad had done Abbots beginning at the bottom and declaring that nothing is bred or brought forth whether animate or inanimate fish or other things in all the vast and deep Ocean but it is by his decree and power The Septuagint or Vulgar for dead and lifeless things render Giants and understand thereby Whales those huge Sea Monsters formed under the waters And the Inhabitants thereof That is saith One other fishes in general which are in the Seas where those Whales are For there is that Leviathan and there are creeping things that is smaller fishes innumerable And in particular certaine little fishes that are noted alwayes to swimme with the Whales as Guides of their way that they may not unawares coming into muddy places be miered there Aristotle calleth them Muscles Pliny Musticets Verse 6. Hell and destruction are before him Here beginneth a Magnifical and stately description of the Majesty of God and 1. from his Omniscience 2. From his Omnipotence For the first Hell and destruction are before him Not the grave only but the neathermost hell that most abstruse part of the Universe and most remote from heaven Gods Court. Of hel we know nothing save only what the Scripture saith of it in general that there is an hell and that the pains of it are endlesse easelesse and remedilesse c. but God only knoweth who are in hell and who is yet to be hereafter hurled into it It is the Saints happinesse that to them there is no such condemnation Rom. 8.1 that over them this second death hath no power Rev. 20.6 That if hell had already swallowed them up as they sometimes when deserted feel themselves to be in the very suburbs of it it could no better hold them then the whales stomack could do Jonas Luke 22.31 Satan hath desired to have thâ—e scil to hell but that he shall never have for they are the Redeemed of the Lord saved from the wrath to come and may triumphingly sing Death where a thy sting Hell where 's thy victory c. And destruction hath no covering that is Hell the place of destruction the Palace of
old age upon his son Rehoboam upon Ephraim Hos 13.1 see the Note there upon out Edward 2 and Henry 6. Some render it He hath loosed my Bow string in reference to chap. 29.20 So that I cannot now shoot at those that slight me Job was disarmed and disabled to do as he desired as Philip King of France was in the battle between him and Edw. Dan. Hist f 237 3. King of England at the instant whereof there fell such a piercing showr of rain as dissolved the strings of his Archers and made their Bowe unuseful And afflicted me When a tree is felled each man pulleth off a branch saith the Great Proverb When a dog is worried every Curr will fall on him and have a fling at him When a Deer is wounded the whole Herd will set against him and thrust him out of their company So when God hath afflicted Job every base beggerly fellow sate heavy upon his skirts This was an addition to his affliction They have also let loose the Bridle upon me Those Insolents having pulled their heads out of the halter lay the raines in the neck and run riot yea Effraenare in â—â—inâ—ecti sunt Jun. they run at tilt against me as it were beyond all reason and measure without fear shame or manners For Vpon me some read Before me q.d. Now they dare do any thing even in my presence who formerly stood in aw of me Verse 12. Vpon the right hand rise the youth Brought on readeth The Springals The Hebrew hath it The blossom or the young birds the youngsters Vix puberes Such as are scarce out of the shel the boyes scoffed and abused Job The lawless rout riding without raines took a licentious boldnesse to despise and despite him because he was ever most severe against their unruly practises They push away my feet They trip up my heeles as we phrase it and lay me along Vide admirandam humanae sortis varietatem faith Brentius here i.e. See the strange turnes of humane condition Job was wont to have the chief Seats in the Temple and Salutations in the Market-place now he cannot have a room my where to stand in but every paltry boy is pushing him down May it not be said of Job as it was of that Emperour that he was fortunae pila lusus But he saw God in all And they raise up against me the waie of their destruction Allegoria â—astrâ—nsi Job borroweth this expression from the Camp as he doth many more from other things whensoever he speaketh of his great afflictions and the contempt that was cast upon him Vpon me they tread the paths of their unhappinesse so Beza that is they make a path in which they may practise that their malapert boldnesse in doing mischiefe They beat their paths by running up and downe therein to undo me so Vatablus They cast upon me the causes of their waâ— so Broughton Verse 13. They marre my path That is all my studies and endeavours they obstruct all passages whereby I might hope for help as if they were resolved upon my ruine They set forward my calamity See Zach. 1.15 see the Note there Or they count it profitable to them to vex me So great is there malice against me And though it do them no good yet if they may do me hurt they have enough They have no helper Neither need they any to animate them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or egg them on to mischief who of themselves are over forward though but small and young as Vajezatha Hamans youngest son was See the Note on Esth 9.9 Verse 14. They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters Quasi irruptione latâ in vedunt me As Souldiers when they have made a breach in a wall come tumbling in upon the Town and sack and ransack it yea raze it and harrasse it so have these dealt with me They rolled themselves upon me Labouring wholly to suppresse me Gen. 43.28 Taking occasion by this my downfal which they ought rather to have lamented and pitied they unmercifully fell upon me as if themselves had lived out of the reach of Gods rod. Verse 15. Terrors are turned upon me I am horribly afraid of thy judgements as David expresseth it and this was it that pointed and put a sting into all other sufferings for a wounded conscience who can bear If the shoulder be galled the burden wil be very tedious and irksom Be not thou a terror unto me Lord saith Jâ—â—â— and then I care not much what else soever befalleth me But why were these terrours so troublesome They pursue my soul as the wind Brentius rendreth 〈…〉 my liberality or They take away from me all the chearfulnesse 〈…〉 of my mind whereby heretofore I suffered so many calamities and shrank not for the joy of the Lord was my strength and therâ— nothing 〈◊〉 amisse to me Thou hath strengthned 〈◊〉 with strength in my soul Ps al. 38.3 and uphold me with thy noble spirit Psal 5â— 12 The Chaldee hath it Kingly Spirit and it is the same word in the Original that is here rendred Animaem meam nobilem incâ—tam Vat. My soul It is my Princess or my Nobility for so the soul is the more noble part David calleth it his Glory Psal 16.9 and his Darling Psal 22.21 Some of the Jew-Doctors make it the same with welfare in the words following but that 's not likely And my welfare passeth away as a cloud i.e. Totally as before irresistibly like the wind Job aboundeth with similitudes â—â—rorum vim simiâ—â— a vent illustrat satutem à se abcunt in similitudine nubis Merl. which do notably illustrate He would say I am utterly deprived of all means of avoiding this misery Verse 16. And now my soul is powred out upon me Now that I am under these inward terrors I am become strengthlesse even weak as water my soul doth melt away for grief as Psal 42.4 and I am as an hollow tree wherein there is not any heart of Oak I am utterly dispirited The dares of affliction have taken hold upon me And so hard hold that I despair of ever getting loose whiles alive Verse 17. My bones are pierced in me in the night season Sleep is the Nurse of Natura and the sweet parenthesis of mens griefs and cares But Job had so many aches and ailements in his body over and above the terrours and troubles of his mind that rest he could take none at all in the night season when all creatures are wont to be at quiet For why the very marrow of his bones raged through intolerable paine as if it had been run through with a Tuck Nay niâ—â—e And my sinewes or My Pulses take no rest Heb. Sleep not My sinewes or arteries are rackt with the Cramp and my pulses by the force of a Feaver beat excessively Vatabl. and pant without intermission Qui tamen minui deberent quiâ— calâ—â— retrabitur in
Doctors did innocent Cranmer of Adultery Heresie and Treason Philpoâ— of Parricide Heresie c. To accuse was easie but how shamefully failed they in the proof These three after they had also interested God himselfe in their rash accusation of Job were forced to give him over Verse 4. Now Elihu had waited till Job hâ—d spoken Yea though his speech was very long yet he heard him out though himself were with child to speak Broughton rendreth it waited to speak with Job he would not thrust in till they had all done their discourses This was his modesty though a man of singular abilities Raram facit virtus cum scientia mixturam To blame then surely was Gregory for thinking so ill and wrighting so harshly of this good young man as if he had been proud and arrogant descanting to that purpose upon his Name Countrey and Kindred Because they were elder than he And therefore ought of right to have the precedency of speech though it appeareth by all that followeth that in this controversie he saw further into it judged righter and rebuked Job with more gravity and wisdom then any of them so that Job was fully convinced and made no reply at all no more than Joâ—ah did when God set him down chap. 4.11 so forcible are right words Verse 5. When Elihu saw that there was no answer And therefore Job looked upon himself as one that had won the day St. Austin professeth this was it that heartened him and made him to triumph in his former Manichisme that he met with feeble opponents and such as his nimble wit was easily able to over-turn And when Carolostadius opposed Luthers Consubstantiation but weakly and insufficiently Zuinglius said he was sorry that so good a cause non satis humerorum haberet wanted shoulders Then his wrath was kindled viz. From their coldness like as Nehem. 3.20 Baruc repaired earnestly se accendit he burst out into heat angry with his own and others sloth So Elihu here when he saw that Jobs eloquence triumphed over their wisdom and that their silence was a loud acknowledgement of their defeat he grew more angry than before and transported with zeal he saith â—o them very briskly Verse 6. I am young and ye are very old Yet was he nothing inferiour to any of them in wit piety Niceph. and learning he had lived long in a little time and was as One saith of Macarius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an old-young-man as if he had been an Alban-born qui albo crine nascuntur Caniciem habent auspicium capillarum Solin who come into the world hoar-headed as did Seneca and thence had his name as Cassiodorus thinketh quòd canus quasi senior natus sit Some young men are ripe betime and more ready-headed than their ancients as David was Psal 119.100 and as Solomon was a child-King but very wise contrarily his son and successour Rehoboam entered into the Kingdom at a ripe age yet Solomon was the man and Rehoboam the child Age is no just measure of wisdom There are beard-less sages and gray-headed children Not the Ancient are wise but the wise is Ancient as Elihu will tell us in the next verses Wherefore I was afraid and durst not shew you mine opinion Heb. My knowledge that is the truth so far as I understand it siquid ego ant â—â—pio an t sapio if I have any judgement Thus he delivers himself in modest terms using many prefaces And if hereafter he seem to boast and set up himself above the rest as he doth it is out of his zeal for God whose honour he seeketh and not his own The words here rendred I was afraid and to shew are both Syriack Elihu by his family of Ram or Aram may seem to be that country-man and to have a touch of that dialect as Livy had of his Patavinity Verse 7. I said Dayes should speak This seems to have been a Proverb in those dayes and it ran much in Elihu's mind We use to say That at meetings young men should be Mutes and old men Vowels Of Arsatius who succeeded Chrysostom in the Sea of Constantinople Antonin tit 10. c. 9. it is recorded but nothing to his commendation that at eighty years of age he was as eloquent as a Fish and as nimble as a Frog And multitude of years should teach wisdom Heb. Should make known wisdom sc such as consisteth in the knowledge of God and of his will of our selves and of our duties This is far beyond all that of the Heathen Sages of the Seven wise Men of Greece 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. of Archimedes of Syracuse who had a name and same saith Plutarch not of humane but of a kind of divine wisdom So had Socrates so had Apollonius of whom Philostratus saith that he was non doctus sed natus sapicus not taught but born a wise man These all were the worlds wizards and what they came to see Rom. Instit l. 3. c. 30. 1. 1 Cor. 1. 2. Lactantius truly telleth us in the name of the whole community of Christians That all the wisdom of a man consisteth in this to know God and worship him aright And that these Seniours should have taught and notified such wisdom Elihu had well hoped but it proved otherwise Verse 8. But there is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty Or Surely there is a spirit in man but the inspiration c. Man hath a reasonable soul and a natural judgement whereby he differeth from bruit beasts And not only so but some there are that do animam excolere as Tully and Aristotle they improve their natural abilities by art and so go far beyond others in worth differing from the unlearned as much almost as a man doth from a beast Lo such a spirit there is in some men which yet amounteth not to wisdom without the concurrence of Gods good spirit to sanctifie all as the altar sanctifieth the gold of the altar If this be not attained unto the wiser any man is the vainer he proveth Rom. 1.22 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of those wise even of the choicest and most pickt men amongst them that they are vain 1 Cor. 3.20 And to such we may say as Austin once wrote to a man of great parts Ornari abs te diabolus quarit the Devil desireth to be tricked up by thee And the inspiration of the almighty giveth them understanding He is the wise man when all 's done whom whether old or young the spirit of God who acteth most freely is pleased to imbreath And although Arts and Age be good helps to knowledge yet they must be all taught of God that shall be wise unto salvation and such as these the elder they grow the wiser they are for most part and if young saints they become old angels True it is that God is debter to none neither doth a longer life of it self deserve any thing at Gods
abased c. Bern. Sine Deo omnis copia est egostas In pleasant places From the delectable Orchard of the Leonine Prison Quis in Deo 〈◊〉 poâ—tio mea 〈◊〉 quasi in loco 〈◊〉 maeno R. David said that Italian Martyr dating his Letter Tua praesentia Domine Laurentio ipsam craticulam dulcem fecit said that Ancient Thy presence Lord made Laurence his gridiron pleasant to him Yea I have a goodly heritage I have as much in content at least as hee who hath most The Bee is as well pleased with feeding on the dew or sucking from a flower as Behemoth that grazeth on the Mountaines The Lark when alost seeth further with a little eye than the Oxe on the ground with a greater Atque suum tirilitirilitiritirlire cantat Vers 7. I will blesse the Lord who hath given mee counsel David frequently consulted with God by Abiathar the Priest whom God by a sweet providence sent unto him with an Ephod for a comfort in his banishment 1 Sam. 22.20 Saul had slain those that ware the Ephod therefore God answered him not neither by dreams nor by Vrim nor by Prophets 1 Sam. 28.6 as hee did his Servant David who therefore blesseth him when the other runneth from him to the Witch for counsel and from her to the swords point My reines also instruct mee God hath not only illuminated mee whereby I shall bee the better able to endure a great fight of affliction Heb. 10.32 but hee hath also sanctified mee and honoured mee with holy inspirations and feeling of the Spirit of Adoption whereby mine internall thoughts and secret motions do dictate and suggest unto mee what I ought to do and undertake Methinks I hear a sweet still voice within mee saying This is the way walk in it and this in the night-season when I am rapt in rest and silence or night after night the Spirit is a continuall spring of counsel and comfort within mee prompting mee to make God my portion and to chuse this good part that shall never be taken away from mee In the night-seasons When commonly we are prone to evill Nox Amor c. Ovid. Illa pudore vacat c. and which is the wicked mans fittest opportunity Job 24.13 15 16. c. It must not content us that God by his word hath given us counsel but wee must labour to be inwardly taught of God A man may read the figure upon the Diall but hee cannot tell how the day goes unlesse the Sun shine upon the Diall Wee may read the Bible over and hear it opened and applied but can learn nothing till the Spirit shine into our hearts 2 Cor. 4. and so our reines instruct us c. Vers 8. I have set the Lord alwaies before mee Heb. I have equally set or proposed Ex Syro Serm. The Apostle translateth it I foresee the Lord alwaies before my face Act. 2.25 I set the eye of my faith full upon him and suffer it not to take to other things I look him in the face oculâ—irretorto as the Eagle looketh upon the Sun and oculo adamantino with an eye of Adamant which turns only to one point so here I have equally set the Lord before mee without irregular affections and passions And this was one of those lessons that his reines had taught him that the holy Spirit had dictated unto him Because hâ—e is at my right hand To help mee that I fall not saith R. David or as a thing that I cannot but remember as being of continuall use to mee It is as necessary to remember God as to draw breath saith Chrysostome I shall not be moved i.e. not greatly moved as Psal 62.2 though Satan stand at the right hand of a godly man to resist and annoy him Zech. 3.1 yet so long as God is at his right hand to assist and comfort him and hee at Gods right hand Psal 45.9 which is a place of honour and safety hee cannot bee moved The gates of Hell shall never prevail Christ our Sampson hath flung them off their hinges Vers 9. Therefore my heart is glad c. That is I am all over in very good plight as well as heart can wish or need require I do over-abound exceedingly with joy God forgive mee mine unthankfullnesse and unworthinesse of so great glory as that Martyr said In all the dayes of my life I was never so merry as now I am in this dark dungeon c. Wicked men rejoyce in appearance and not in heart Mr. Philpot. 2 Cor. 5.12 their joy is but skin-deep their mirth frothy and flashy such as wetteth the mouth but warmeth not the heart But David is totus totus quantus quantus exultabundus his heart glory flesh answerable as some think to that of the Apostle 1 Thes 5.23 Spirit Soul and Body were all over-joyed My flesh also shall rest or confidently dwell in hope Namely in this World as in a wayfaring lodging Diod. then in the grave as a place of safeguard and repose and at last in heaven as in its true and eternall mansion Vers 10. For thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell that is my body in the grave animamque sepulchro condimus or in the State of the dead Gen. 37.35 That Soul is sometimes put for a carcass or dead corps Virg. de Polydori funere Aeneid 3. See Job 14.22 Lev. 19.28 21. 1.11 Num. 5.2 6.6 19.13 which place is expounded Ezek 44.25 David can confidently write upon his grave Resurgam I shall rise against This many Heathens had no hope of 1 Thes 4.13 Cum semel occider is Non Torquate tuum genus aut facundia non te Restituet pietas c. Horat. lib. 4. od 7. Yet some Heathens beleeved both the immortality of the soul and therefore durst dye animaque capaces Mortis and the Resurrection of the body as did Zoroastes Theopompus Plato and as do the Turks at this day Neither wilt thou suffer thine holy One c. that is the Messiah that is to come out of my loines and who saith to mee and all his Members 2s Isa 26.19 in effect Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust c. See the Note on the Title Michtam The former part of this verse seems to be spoken of David the latter of Christ like as Job 35.15 the former part is of God the latter of Job See the Margin Christs resurrection is a cause pledge and suerty of the Saints resurrection to glory for joy whereof Davids heart leapt within him Christs body though laid in the corrupting-pit could not see that is feel corruption It was therefore a pious errour in those good women who brought their sweet odours to embalm his dead body Luke 24.1 Vers 11. Thou wilt shew mee the path of life This being applied to Christ seemeth to shew that as man
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comliness The Protestants at Lions in France called their publick meeting-place Paradise And the place where thine honour dwelleth i.e. Where thou thy self dwellest or thine Ark which is called Gods glory 1 Sam. 4.21 Psal 78.61 yea Gods self Psal 132.5 and Gods face Psal 105.4 Vers 9. Gather not my soul with sinners I have loved thy House which sinners never delighted in therefore gather not my soul with sinners so the Syriack senseth it Let me not dye the death of Sinners for I never cared for their company so the Rabbines See the Note on vers 5. Let me not share with them in punishment for I could never abide their practice Balaam would dye the death of the righteous but he liked not of their life Euchrites would be Craesus vivens Socrates mortuus Sir Walter Rawleigh would live a Papist there being no Religion like that for Licentious liberty and lasciviousness but dye a Protestant We have some that would gladly dance with the Devil all day and then sup with Christ at night live all their lives long in Dalilaes lap and then go to Abrahams bosome when they dye But this cannot be as David well understood and therefore both eschewed the life of a wicked person and deprecated his death Gather not or take not away c. The righteous is taken away Heb. gathered Isa 57.1 as men gather Flowers and candy them preserve them with such to be gathered David would hold it an happiness but not with sinners with sanguinaries for such are gathered but as house-dust to be cast out of doors Vers 10. In whose hands is mischief Wicked contrivance Here we have the true portracture of a corrupt Courtier such as Sauls were Vers 11. But as for me I will walk Whatever others do their example shall be no rule to me to deviate See my Righteous mans recompence D. 1. Redeem me c. For I am likely to suffer deeply for my singularity Vers 12. My foot standeth in an even place i.e. Mine affections are in an equal tenour A good man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the scales of his minde neither rise up toward the beam through their own lightness or their over-weening opinion of prosperity nor are too much depressed with any load of sorrow but hanging equal and unmoved between both give him liberty in all occurrences to enjoy himself I will bless the Lord For performance of promises chiefly in that great Panegyris Heb. 12. PSAL. XXVII Vers 1. The Lord is my light That is my comfort and direction he that dissolveth all my clouds of serrours within and troubles without To these all hee opposeth Gods All-sufficiency as making for him and as being All in all unto him Light Salvation Strength of Life what not and there-hence his full assurance and such a masculine magnanimity as feareth not the power of men and Devils be they who they will and do what they can Animo magno nihil est magnum When a man can out of this consideration God is my light inthings of the minde and my Salvation in things of the body as Aben-Ezra expoundeth it contemn and reckon all things else as matters of small moment it shews he hath in truth apprehended God and this is true holy magnanimity The Lord is the strength of my life He that keeps life and soul together saith Aben-Ezra as the Spirits do soul and body and therefore Quis potest me interimere saith Kimchi who can do me to death Of whom shall I be afraid Faith fortifieth the heart against distrustful fears which it quelleth and killeth In a fright it runneth to the heart as the bloud doth and releeveth it setting it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the Gunshot of Creature-annoyances Expertus loquor for Vers 2. When the wicked even mine enemies came upon me Made impression upon me with utmost violence and open mouth as if they would have devoured me Cannibal-like or as a Lion doth a sheep inhumanissimè ferarumque more saith Junius barbarously and beastly They stumbled and fell Irritis conaitibus corruerunt they utterly lost their design as did those Amalekites who had sacked Ziglah 1 Sam. 30. and Saul often If a man stumble and fall not he gets ground but if after much blundering hee kiss the ground hefalleth with a force Davids enemies did so Corruerunt conciderunt they were irreparably ruined Vers 3. Though an Host should encamp against me See Psal 3.6 with the Note We should propound the worst to our selves the best will bring with it as wee say especially if we finde our faith to be in heart and vigour as here Davids was Though War shouldrise against me War is a complexive evil and is therefore called so by a specialty Isa 45.7 I make peace and create evil that is War Sin Satan and War have all one name saith a learned Divine evil is the best of them the best of sin is deformity of Satan enmity of war misery In this will I be confident In this In what In this one ensuing Petition saith Aben-Ezra or in this that I have said before The Lord is my light and my Salvation in this confident gloriation of mine which is such as an unbeleever is a perfect stranger unto Vers 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord One thing above the rest Every of Gods suppliants hath some one special request that he mainly insisteth on Ut cultu Del libeto legitimouti possit Jun. and King Davids was the liberty of Gods Sanctuary and enjoyment of his publick Ordinances Hoc primus petit hoc postremus omittit This was dearer to him than Wife Children Goods all This Sute he knew to be honest and therefore he began it and being so he is resolved never to give it over but to prosecute it to the utmost and to persevere in prayer which is a great vertue Rom. 12.12 till he had prevailed That will I seek after As Gods constant Remembrancer who loveth to be importuned and as it were jogged by his praying people Herein David shewed himself a true Israelite a Prince of God and as Nazianzen stileth Basil the Great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of desires flowing from the Spirit He knew well that a faint Suter doth but beg a denial That I may dwell in the House of the Lord i.e. In the place where was the Ark with the Prophets Priests Levites Asaph and his brethren c. with whom David desired to be taken up in the service of God free from Secular cares and delights at times convenient Pyrrhus told Cyneas that when he had finished his Wars once he would then sit still and be merry The Roman Generals when they had once triumphed over their enemies might take their ease and pleasure for ever after But good David resolves to improve his rest when ever God shall grant it him to perpetual piety That I may dwell saith he or sit in the house of Jehovah
of Hell as it were and doth therefore set up as loud a cry after God as once Micah did after his mawmets Judg. 18. and farre greater cause he had And to the Lord I made supplication He knew that the same hand alone must cure him that had wounded him neither was Gods favour recoverable but by humble confession and hearty prayer Some think to glide away their groans with games and their cares with cards to bury their terrours and themselves in wine and sleep They run to their musick with Saul to building of Cities with Cain when cast out of Gods presence c. sed haret lateri lethalis arundo but as the wounded Deer that hath the deadly arrow sticking in his side well he may frisk up and down for a time but still he bleedeth and will ere long fall down dead so it is with such as feek not comfort in God alone as make not supplication to Him for Him as return not to God who hath smitten them nor seek the Lord of Hoasts Isa 9.13 Vers 9. What profit is there in my blood c i.e. In my life say some q. d. To what purpose have I lived sith Religion is not yet settled In my death say others Diolat and better a violent death especially and out of thy favour Now all beleevers have ever abhorred such a kind of death before they were reconciled to God and had a true feeling of his grace Shall the dust praise thee c See Psal 6.6 with the Note Vers 10. Hear O Lord and have mercy upon me When faith hath once said to God what it hath to fay it will wait for a good answer relying on his mercy and expecting relief from the Lord as here David doth looking in the mean whiles through the anger of his corrections to the sweetneffe of his loving countenance as by a Rain-bow we see the beautifull image of the Suns light in the midst of a dark and waterish cloud Vers 11. Thou hast turned from mee my mourning c. Sustulisti luctum latitiam attulisti See the Note on vers 5. Ver. 12. To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee i.e. That my tongue oyled from an heart enlarged may exalt thee according to my bounden duty and thine abundant desert A good tongue that watcheth all opportunities to glorifie God and edifie others is certainly a mans great glory but an evill tongue is his foul shame Basil expoundeth glory by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spirit or soul The Chaldee Paraphrast Laudabunt to honor abiles mundi The glorious ones of the World shall praise thee O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Epiphonematica pathetica conclusio Davidi ex summis calamitatibus erepto familiaris He concludeth as he began ingaging his heart to everlasting thankfullnesse and therein becoming a worthy pattern to all posterity PSAL. XXXI A Psalm of David made say Vatablus and others at that time when Saul pursued David in the Wildernesse of Maon 1 Sam. 23.24 But by many circumstances and passages of this Psalm it appeareth more probable that it was as the former composed when Absolom was up 2 Sam. 15.10 c. See vers 11 12 22. of this Psalm with 2 Sam. 17.24 27. 19.33 Joseph Autiq. lib. 7. cap 9. Vers 1. In thee O Lord do I put my trust Hic Psalmus varia mixtus magna affectnum vicissitudine insignis est This Psalm is strangely mixt and made up of many and diverse passions and petitions according to the change of times and estate In the time of affliction he prayeth in the time of consolation he praiseth the Lord Ercles 7.15 In these three first verses is little said but what had been before said and is already opened Let mee never be ashamed i.e. Repulsed worsted defeated In thy Righteousnesse And not according to mine own Righteousnesse saith Kimchi or according to thy faithfullnesse Vers 2. 〈…〉 This repetition of his petition is no vain babbling as Mat. 6.9 but an effect and an evidence of greatest earnestneffe as Mat. â—6 44 For an house of defence Where the enemy can as little hurt mee as when I was in the Hold 1 Sam. 22.4 Vers 3. For thou art my Rock and my fortresse Such places David had been forced to fly to but stil he trusted in God Lead mee and guide mee Duc me deduc me A Metaphor from Captaines and Generalls who lead on their armies with greatest art and industry Vatab. Vers 4. Pull mee out of the net That noted net as the Hebrew hath it Nam Zâ— denet at rem notam omnibus saith Kimchi David was not caught in it but the enemies presumed he would be so selling the hide before the beast was taken as did likewife the proud Spaniards when coming against England in eighty eight they triumphed before the victory and sang Tu qua Romanas suevisti temnere leges Hispano disces subdere collajugo But blessed be God the net brake and wee escaped Psal 124.7 For thou art my strength As a tree is strongest at the root and a branch or bough next the trunck or stock and the further it groweth out from thence the smaller and weaker it groweth too So the nearer the Creature is to God the stronger and on the contrary Vers 5. Into thine hand I commit my spirit So did our Saviour so did St. Stephen and diverse of the dying Martyrs with these very words most apt and apposite surely for such a purpose But what a wretch was that Huberâ—â— who dyed with these words in his mouth I yeeld my goods to the King my body to the grave and my soul to the Devill Thou hast redeemed And so hast best right unto mee O Lord God of truth I know whom I have trusted Vers 6. I have hated them that regard lying vanities i.e. Idols or ought else besides the living God who giveth us all things richly to injoy 1 Tim. 6.17 See Jon. 2.8 with the Note Vanitates vanitatis Vatablus rendreth it and telleth us that some understand it of Astrology R. David doth so in this Note of his upon the Text Astrologos in cantatores in fuga mea non consului sed in Domino prophetis ejus confisus sum I have not consulted Astrologers and Soothsayers in my trouble but have trusted to the Lord and his Prophets Vers 7. I will be glad and rejoyce In the midst of trouble faith will find matter of joy as extracting abundance of comfort in most desperate distresses from the precious promises and former experiences Thou hast known my soul in adversity God knows our souls best Psal 1.6 and wee know him best in adversity Isa 63.16 the Church thought she should know him in the midst of all his austerities Vers 8. Thou hast not shut mee up c. i.e. Not given mee into their power See Psal 27.12 Thou hast set my feet in a large room So that
In a strong City In Mahanaim 2 Sam. 17.27 where it is likely he made this and some other Psalms Vers 22. For I said in my haste I am cut off c. A frightful and sinful saying doubtless full of diffidence and despair See the like Psal 116.11 Job 9.16 Judg. 13.22 Psal 77.3 Joh. 2.4 Thus he spake when he tremblingly fled and was posting away Nevertheless thou heardest the voyce of my supplication A pitiful poor one though it were and full of infirmity God considereth whereof we are made he taketh not advantages against his suppliants it would be wide with them if he should Vers 23. O love the Lord Let not your hasty discontent beget in you hard thoughts of God or heavie thoughts against your selves as it hath done in me but love him trust him and he will do you right And plentifully rewardeth Heb. repaieth abundantly or with surplussage in seipso vel in semine suo It may be rendred Upon the remainder and understood of the proud mans posterity wherein God will be sure to bemeet with him Vers 24. Be of good courage c. Bear up be stout and stedfast in the faith under trials See Psal 27.14 with the Note Thus good courage cometh not but from the true love of God Vers 23. PSAL. XXXII A Psalm of David Maschil i.e. Giving instruction or making prudent for David here out of his own experience turneth Teacher vers 7. and the lesson that he layeth before his Disciples is the Doctrin of Justification by Faith that ground of true blessedness Rom. 4.6 7. Docet igitur hic Psalmus verè preciosus pracipuum proprium fidei Christiana caput saith Beza This most precious Psalm instructeth us in the chief and principal point of Christian Religion and it differeth herein from the first Psalm that there are set forth the effects of Blessedness but here the cause Quonâ—â—dò etians est Paulus cum Jacobo conciliandus saith he Vers 1. Blessed is be whose transgression is forgiven The heavy burthen of whose trespasses is taken off as the word importeth and he is loosed cased and lightned Sin is an intollerable burden Isa 1.3 such as presseth down Heb. 12.1.2 burden it is to God Am. 2.13 to Christ it was when it made him sweat water and bloud to the Angels when it brake their backs and sunk them into Hell to men under whom the very earth groaneth the Axeltree thereof is even ready to crack c. it could not bear Corah and his company it spewed out the Canaanites c. O then the heaped up happiness of a justified person disburdened of his transgressions The word here rendred transgression signifieth Treachery and wickedness with a witness Aben-Ezra faith David hereby intends his Sin with Bathsheba and surely this Psalm and the one and fiftieth may seem to have been made upon the same occasion they are tuned so near together Whose sin is covered As excrements and ordure are covered that they may not be an eye-sore or annoyance to any Sin is an odious thing the Devils duivell or vomit the corruption of a dead soul the filthiness of flesh and spirit Get a cover for it therefore sc Christs righteousness called a propitiation or coverture and raiment Rev. 3.18 Vt sic veletur ne in judicio reveletur that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear Vers 2. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity Let no man think this triplication of the same thing needlesse or superfluous sith the poor soul afflicted with sense of sin and fear of wrath is not easily perswaded of pardon but when faith would lay hold on the promise Satan rappeth her on the fingers as it were and seeks to beat her off Besides by such an emphaticall repetition and heap of words to one purpose the great grace of God in pardoning mens sin is plainly and plentifully declared and celebrated it being a mercy that no words how wide soever can sufficiently set forth By the word iniquity some understand originall sin that peccatum peccans as the Schooles call it that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 common cause and impure seminary of all actuall disobediences Neither this nor any of the fruites of it doth the Lord impute reckon count or think to the pardoned finner 2 Cor. 5.19 Cui non cogitat peccatum so some render it To whom he thinketh no sin that is he reputeth or imputeth it not for a sin he putteth it not into the reckoning Isa 43.25 48.9 11. the Bill or Bond is cancelled Col. 2.14 and there remaineth no action Christ is our suerty Heb. 7.22 Now the suerty and debtour are in law reputed as one person Christ is made sin for us that is in our stead or place that wee might be made the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. ult And in whose spirit there is no guile Sed sincere sine dolo à suis peccatis resipiscit ad Dei misericordiam se recipit The justified are also sanctified 1 Cor. 6.11 they hide not their sins as Adam thy neither excuse nor extenuate what evills they have done but think and speak the worst of their sins they lay load upon themselves they hate Hy pocrisie and detest dissimulation it is a question whether they do more desire to be good or abhorre to seem only to be so B sil as he commendeth that sentence of Plato that seeming sanctity is double iniquity so hee justly condemneth that saying of Euripides I had rather seem to bee good than be so indeed That maxim of Machiavel is the same for sense that vertue it self should not be sought after but only the appearance because the credit is an help the use a cumber The pardoned finner is sanctified throughout washed not only from his sin the guilt and filth of it but his swinish nature also the love and liking of it he hath no mind to return to his vomit or wallowing in the mire saith R. Solomon here he saith not Resipiscam denuo peccabo vel peccabo resipiscam as R. David senseth it I will repent and then sin again or sin again and then repent This he knoweth to be incompatible with faith unfeigned and hope unfailable 1 Tim. 1.5 1 Joh. 3.3 Vers 3. When I kept silence i.e. Whilest I through guile of spirit for this leaven of Hypocrisie is more or lesse in the best hearts though it sway not there concealed my sin and kept the Devills counsel contenting my self with his anodines and false plaisters That old man slayer knoweth well that as sin is the soules sicknesse so confession is the soules 〈◊〉 and that there is no way to purge the sick soul but upwards He therefore holdeth the lips close that the heart may not disburden it self David by his perswasion kept silence for a while but that he found was to his ruthe and if he had held so it might have been to his ruine Men in pain of conscience will
vix corpus traho I am a pittifull poor creature and in a most heavy Condition as appeareth by my gate my gesture my looks and habit See Psal 35.14 Vers 7. Faemora meâ— prorsus occupat atdens ulcus Vat. In quit us est concupiscentia Theodoret For my loyns are filled with a loothsome disease The loins those seats of lust are now grievously inflamed and pained with some impostumated matter or pestilentiall carbuncle Morbo vilissim quem nominare dedecet saith Aben-Ezra God oft punisheth sinne in kind and speaketh to the Conscience in its own Language that such a sicknesse was the fruit of such a sin And there is no soundnesse in my flesh Principium dulce est sed finis Amoris amarus Lata venire Venus tristis abire solet Sinne is as the poysen of Aspes which first tickleth him that is stung and maketh him laugh till by little and little it gets to the heart and then puts him to intollerable torture Vers 8. I am feeble and sore broken Through the length and nature of my distemper Isai 38.10 12. The same Hebrew word signifieth pining sicknesse and a thâ—â—â— because of the thinnesse and weaknesse of it I have 〈◊〉 But not repined this nature prompteth to when we are in extremity and grace is not against it Vers 9 Lord all my desire is before thee Confused desires broken requests if from a 〈◊〉 spirit are upon the file of heaven and stand before God till they may have an answer And my 〈…〉 hid from thee No not my breathing Lam. 3.56 God 〈…〉 groaning of his people go to his heart Vers 10. 〈…〉 Heb. 〈…〉 tossed and â—ro circuivit cor moum inordinate movetur et non quiescit saith Aben-Ezra The Hebrew word signifieth such a kind of motion as that of Merchant who runne up and down from one Countrey to another Also the two last Radical are doubled to note that it is more than an ordinary stirring and motion of the spirit because it is not come to its rest All earthly things to the soul are but as the air to the stone can give it no stay till it come to God the center As the circle is the perfectest figure because it beginneth and endeth the points do meet together as Mathematicians give the reason the last point meeteth in the first from whence it came So shall wee never come to perfection or satisfaction saith a Reverend man till our souls come to God till God make the circle meet c. The Wicked wallâ— the round from one creature to another Plas 12.9 but they come not at God and hence they are so dis-satisfied Return to thy rest Heb. Rests saith David to his soul that is to God to whom hee here maketh his moan Miser anime varias subinde partes abreptus me deserit As for the light of mine eyes that lumen amicum of mine eyes is almost quite benighted Vers 11. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore Heb. Praehorrore detrectantes accedere Trem. â—ry strank which therefore some Jew-Doctors will have to bee the Leprosy which was noysome and contagious and therefore by the Law of God none were to come near such So among the Persians none might come neer a Pisaga so they called a Leper and therefore Magabyzus having offended Artaxerxes Ctes Pers kept himself five years from Court pretending himself a Leper and in that space made his peace with the King But in Davids friends who dealt thus with him it was not so much fear of danger as pride and perfidy that made them deny him all duty and friendship Psal 31.11 Job was so used Chap. 6.15 Sophoc Val. Mar. Plutarch in Alex. and our Saviour when hee hung naked on the Crosse Luk 23.49 and St. Paul when hee made his defence before Nero 2 Tim. 4.16 So was not Orestes by his friend Pylades nor Damâ—n by his Pythias nor Achilles by Patrâ—clus which made Alexander cry out O felicem juvenem Trouble tryeth who are friends who traytors Vers 12. They also that seek after my life That seek and would suck my blood As his friends were slack to help him so his foes were active to hurt him This David relateth before the Lord that hee may pitty him and be so much the more ingaged to him for hee knew that where humane help faileth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divine beginneth Speak mischievous things Exitialia such things as wring from mee that lamentable voice Woe and Alasse woefull evills voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And imagine deceits Or Murmure Vers 13. But I as a deaf man heard not But possessed my soul in patience in quietnesse and confidence was my strength Isa 30.15 As they were Masters of their tongues so was I of mine ears Hee that cannot bear calumnies reproaches and injuries cannot live faith Chytraeus let him even make up his pack and get him out of the World Vitus Theodorus sends to advise with Melancthon what to do when Osiander preached against him Melancthon desired him for Gods sake to make no reply but to behave himself as a deaf man that heard not Vitus writeth back that this was very hard yet he would obey Another bravely answered one that railed upon him Facile est in me dicore cum non sim responsurus Thou maiest speak what thou wilt but I will hear no more than I list and punish thee with silence or rather with a merry contempt Princes use not to chide 〈◊〉 Embassadours offer them indecencies but to deny them audience That man certainly enjoyeth a brave composednesse who setteth himself above the flight of the injurious claw And I was as a dumb man c. He answered them by silence and taciturnity which is the best answer to words of scorn and petulancy Thus Isaac his Brother Ismael and our Saviour Pilat Herod and Caiaphas and Giles of Brassels when the barking Fryers reviled him held his peace continually insomuch that those blasphemers would say abroad that he had a dumb Devil in him Act. Mâ—n 811. This is a great victory not to render evill for evill or railing for railing a Pet. 3.9 Nihil fortius nihil magis egregiam quam audire 〈…〉 saith Cassiodore nothing is more and return no answer As on the contrary 〈…〉 he goes by the worst that hath the better faith Basit And Sile funestam dedisti plagam saith 〈◊〉 Say nothing in such a case and thou thereby givest thine adversary a deadly blow Vers 14. Thus was I 〈◊〉 a man 〈◊〉 He doubleth his speech to shew his holy pertinacy in a prudent and patient silence though greatly provoked David was as it is reported of 〈◊〉 the Emperour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 careful of what was to be done by him but careless of what was said of him by others As Augustus he did but laugh at the Satyrs and Buffonerâ—â—â— published against him He knew that as Physical
greatnesse before Absolens disturbed mee and drove mee out though he could not but be sensible of such a losse we know what miserable moans Cicere made when fent into banishment how impatient Cato and many others were in like case so that they became their own deathsmen but after Thee Lord and the enjoyment of thy publick ordinances from which I am now alasse hunted and hindred After that Gods holy Spirit hath once touched a soul it will never be quier untill it stands pointed God-ward Vers 2. My Soul thirsteth for God More than ever it did once for the waâ—er of the Well of Bethelem and that because he is the living God the fountain of living waters that only can cooll and quench my desires Jer. 2.13 17.13 so as I shall never thirst again Joh. 4.14 whereas of all things else we may say Quo plus sunt pota plus sitiuntur aqua The Rabbines note here Ovid. Kimchi Aben-Ezra that David saith not so hungreth but so thirsteth my soul because men are more impatient of thirst than of hunger they can go diverse dayes without meat Curt ex Diodoro but not without drink Alexander lost a great part of his army marching through the Wildernesse of the Susitans by want of water When shall I come and appear before God Heb. And see the face of God viz. in his Tabernacle Eheu igitur quando tandem mibi miserrimo dabitur ut te in aede tua conspiciam These earnest pantings inquietations and unsatisfiable desires after God and his ordinances are sure signes of true grace But woe to our worship-scorners c. Vers 3. My tears have been my meat day and night Hunters say the Hart sheddeth tears or something like tears when he is pursued and not able to escape Hereunto David might allude Sure it is that as Hinds by calving so men by weeping cast out their sorrowes Job 39.3 Expletur lachrymis egeriturque dolor And Act. and Mon. 1457. Affert solatium lugentibus suspiriorum societ as saith Basil sighs are an ease of sorrow Of Mr. Bradford the Martyr it is reported that in the midst of dinner he used oft to muse having his hat over his eyes from whence came commonly plenty of tears dropping on his trencher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The better any are So Psal 80.5 the more inclined to weeping as David than Jonathan 1 Sam. 20. Here we have him telling us that his tears were his meat or his bread as Gregory readeth it and he giveth this reason that like as the more bread wee eat the dryer we are and the more thirsty so the more tears of godly sorrow we let fall the more we thirst after that living fountain springing from above Davids greatest grief was that he was banished from the Sanctuary and next to that the reproachfull blasphemy of his enemies hitting him in the teeth with his God as if not able or not willing to relieve him now in his necessity and bitterly upbraiding him with his hopes as altogether vain Whiles they continually say unto mee Where is thy God Violenti certe impetus saith Vatablus here these were violent shocks indeed and such as wherewith Davids faith might have been utterly overthrown had it not been the better rooted and withall upheld by the speciall power of the Spirit of grace Other of Gods suffering Saints have met with the like measure At Orleance in France as the bloody Papists murthered the Protestants they cryed out where is now your God what is become of all your prayers and Psalms now Let your God that you called upon save you if he can Mr. Clarks Gen. Martyrol P. 316. Others sang in scorn Judge and revenge my cause O Lord Others Have mercy on us Lord c. The Queen Mother of Scotland having received aid from France forced the Protestants for a while to retire to the High-Lands whereupon she scoffingly said where is now John Knox his God My God is now stronger than his yea even in Fife but her braggs lasted not long for within a few dayes Mr. Knox his life by Mr. Clark six hundred Protestants beat above four thousand French and Scots c. Gods Servants fare the better for the insolencies of their enemies who when they say where is now their God might as well say betwixt the space of the new and old Moon where is now the Moon when as it is never nearer the Sun than at that time Vers 4. When I remember these things viz. My present pressures compared with my former happiness Cic. de Fin. 1. 2. Sen. deben 1.4 c. 22. Miserum sanè est fuisse felicem The Epicures held but I beleeve they did not beleeve themselves therein that a man might be cheerful amidst the most exquisite torments Ex prâ—teritarum upluptatum recordatione by the remembrance of his former pleasures and delights David found this here but a slight and sorry comfort though he better knew how than any of them to make the best of it and his delights had been farre more solid and cordial I pour out my soul See Job 30.16 with the Note For I had gone with a multitude Heb. A thick croud or throng of good peole frequâ—â—ting the publick Ordinances and David in the head of them One rendreth it In umbra vel umbrella sicut mos est Orientalium ambulare umbrellis contra ardorem solis accommodatis I went with them to the house of God Lente Itabam I went with a gentle pace Gressâ—â— grallatorio He speaketh saith Vatablus of the order observed by the faithful when they went to the Sanctuary viz. in comely equipage singing praise to God Kimchi in 〈◊〉 Radiâ— and confessing his goodness Vers 5. Why art thou â—ast down O my soul Here David seemeth to be Homo divisus in duas partes saith Vatablus a man divided into two parts as indee devery new man is two men and what is to be seen in the Shulamite but as it were the company of two Armies Cant. 6.13 David chideth David out of his dumps So did Alice Benden the Martyr rehearsing these very words when she had been kept in the Bishops prison all alone nine weeks with bread and water and received comfort by them in the midst of her miseries Act. Monâ— 1797. And why art thou disquieted in me A good mans work lieth most within doors he hath more ado with himself than with all the world besides he prayeth oft with that Ancient Libera me Domine à malo homine meip so Deliver me Lord from that naughty man my self How oft do we punish our selves by our passions as the Lion that beateth himself with his own tail Grief is like Lead to the soul heavie and cold sinking it downward taking off the wheels of it and disabling it for duty like as a Limb that is out of joynt can do nothing without deformity and pain Keep up thy spirit therefore and watch against
dejection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever befalls thee yea against all distempers sith they hinder comfortable intercourse with God and that Spiritual composedness that Sabbath of spirit that we must enjoy or else we cannot keep that continual Holy-day 1 Cor. 5.8 How many are there who through unnecessary sadness come to Heaven before they are aware Dr. Sibbes Hope thou in God Faith quieteth the soul first or last saith a Reverend man on these words there will be stirring at the first As in a pair of Ballance there will be a little stirring when the weight is put in till it come to a poise so in the soul it comes not to a quiet consistency till there be some victory of faith till it rest and stay the soul For I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance Heb. Homil. in Genes The healthâ— of his countenance Adhuc confitebor ei salutes vultus ejus Chrysostom bringeth in a man loaden with troubles coming into the Church where when he heard this passage read Why art thou cast down hope in God c. he presently recovered Vers 6. O my God my soul is cast down within me Though before he had schooled himself out of his distem pers yet now he is troubled again such are the vicissitudes and interchanges of joy and sorrow that the Saints are here subject unto as soon as the Spirit gets the better as soon the Flesh sometimes good affections prevail sometimes unruly passions Affections are the wind of the soul passions the storm The soul is well carried when neither so becalmed that it moves not when it should nor yet tossed with tempests to move disorderly Therefore will I remember thee from the Land of Jordan That is saith one I will call to minde former experiments there and take comfort Or I will remember thee as I may here at Mahanaim beyond Jordan under the mount Hermon and that other little Hill where I have found thee in my meditations and prayers propitious unto me though I cannot now worship thee in the beauty of holiness being driven out by my ungracious Son Absolom from the place where thine honour dwelleth Vers 7. Deep calleth unto deep Vorago voraginom advocat i.e. one calamity inviteth another Aliud ex also malum they come thick and three-fold Gurges gurgitem excipit Beza the Clouds return after the rain Eccles 12.2 as one shower is unburthened another is brewed One affliction followeth and occasioneth another without ceasing or intermission so that they are grown as it were to an infiniteness as Psalm 40.12 At the noyse of thy water-spouts i.e. Thy Clouds pouring down amain in a storm at Sea especially by a Cataclysm of waters falling at once out of the Clouds sometimes to the overwhelming and breaking of a ship This Mariners call a spout Psal 18.4 The flouds of Belial made me afraid All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me Fluctou fluctum trudit yet not without the Lord the enemies and the evils that befell him are called Gods waves or breakings Propter peccata noltra à te immiffa Kimchi Vers 8. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness He will after all this misery send forth a Commission and a command to set me free and his Mandamus will do it at any time And in the night his Song shall be with me When others that are without God in the World have restless nights the gnats of cares and griefs molesting them a Saint can sing away care and call his soul to rest as Psal 116.7 being filled with peace and joy through beleeving such as setteth him a singing to Gods glory And my prayer unto the God of my life i.e. My Praises which are a chief part of prayer 1 Tim. 26.1 Thanks-giving is an artificial begging Gratiarum actio est adplus dandum invitatio Vers 9. I will say unto my God nay Rock why hast thou forgotten me Tenè veâ—â— mei immemoremesse Thus I will in a familiar manner expostulate with him and lay my case open unto him as to a friend The flesh suggesteth that he is forgotten but faith holdeth its own fastning on the Rock of ages Why go I mourning Heb. Black as one that is in mourning weeds or that had lain among the pots Vers 10. As with a sword in my bones Heb. A murthering weapon which when thrust into the bones causeth most exquisite pain so deeply was good David affected with the dishonour done to God by his blasphemous enemies it went to the very heart of him as a dagger While they say daily See the Note on vers 3. Vers 11. Why art thou cast down See vers 5. Who is the kealth of my countenance i.e. The Author of my manifold present and apparent safety such as shall make me look blithe and beautiful cheery and chirp PSAL. XLIII VErs 1. Judge me O God This Psalm is as it were an Epitome or an Appendix to the former and little differing in words or matter Plead my cause See Psal 35.1 Against an ungodly Nation Heb. A Nation not mild or merciful so he calleth Absoloms Complices who sought and would have suckt his bloud Such are a people of Gods wrath and of his curse O deliver me c. From Absolom or Abitophel or the whole Faction Vers 2. For thou art the God of my strength As being in Covenant with me both offensive and defensive In the Lord Jehovah is a Rock of ages or everlasting strength Isa 26.4 for God of my strength Psa 42.9 is my Rock Why go I mourning See Psal 42.9 Vers 3. Lux veritas piorum comites O send out thy light i.e. thy comforting grace opposed to that vers 2. I go mourning or in black And thy truth i.e. Thy faithfulness opposed to the deceitful man vers 1. The Rabbines interpret Light and Truth by Christ and Elias the Arabick maketh it a prayer for the Jews conversion Let them bring me unto thy holy bill Zion the place of holy assemblies for Gods service Iterum commendatur hic dignit as ministerii Publici Vaeigitur illis qui caducorum bexeruns usum redimunt sacri ministerii jacturâ qui conciones â—acras Sacramenta ultro negligunt c. And to thy Tabernacles Socalled either because it was set up at sundry times in sundry places whilst it was tranfportative or else because it was parred by veiles into several rooms Heb. 9.2 3. Vers 4. Then will I go muto the Altar of God Not without store of Sacrifices Gods service is now nothing so costly and should therefore be more chearfully performed Heathens had their Altars c. all save the Ferfiaus Vers 5. Why art thon bowed down c. See Psal 42.9 11. PSAL. XLIV MAschil i.e. Making wise or giving instruction for which purpose this Psalm was composed by David as it is most probable or some other excellent Prophet for the use of the Church which is hares crucis
finde them out as cunning as they are and sith they are so fool-hardy as to walk upon iniquities Fire-works let them look to bee blown up and they shall have my prayers to that purpose In thine anger cast down c. It is Prophetical as well as Optative Vers 8. Thou tellest my wanderings Or thou cipherest up my stittings and hast them in numerato ready told up my vagaries whilst hunted up and down like a Partridge and hushed out of every bush so that I have not where to settle Saint Paul was at the same pass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he we have no certain abode 1 Corin. 4.11 and so were sundry of the holy Martyrs and Confessors who wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins c. driven from post to pillar from one Country to another God all the while noting and numbring all their flittings yea all their footings Bottleing up their tears booking down their sighs as here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Mal. 3.16 See Mat. 10.30 The Septuagint for my wandrings or flittings have my life to teach us saith one that our life is but a flitting Put thou my tears into thy Bottle Heb. My tear that is every tear of mine let not one of them be lost but kept safe with thee as so much sweet water It is a witty observation of one That God is said in Scripture to have a Bag and a Bottle a Bag for our sins a Bottle for our tears and that wee should help to fill this as we have that There is an allusion here in the Original that cannot bee Englished Are they not in thy Book sc Of Providence where they cannot be blotted out by any time or tyrants Vers 9. When I cry unto thee then shall mine enemies turn back For how should they stand before so mighty a God Of the power of Prayer for the beating back of enemies besides the Scripture Histories are full that famous Victoria Halleâ—â—iatica for instance Vers 10. In God will I praise his word The Jew-Doctours observe that Elohim God is a Name importing Justice and that Jehovah Lord holdeth out mercy according to that Exod 34.6 Jehovah Jehovah Merciful Gracâ—us c. But if God should foem neither to show his Mercy upon us nor his Justice upon our enemies we must nevertheless adhere to his Word or Promise and patiently wait his performance which will be as sure as he is God and Lord. See the Note on vers 4. Vers 11. In God have I put my trust I will not be afraid c. When news came to Luther that both the Emperour and Pope had threatned his ruine he bravely answered Contemptus est à me Romanus favor furor I care for neither of them I know whom I have trusted See vers 4. Vers 12. Sunt tua post quam Vori. Arabâ— Thy Vows are upon me O God I am a Votary ever since I was at Gath there and then I vowed that if the Lord would vouchsafe to bring me out of that brake I would do as became a thankful man every way And now I am Damnatus votorum as the Latine expression is Vow I must and pay to the Lord my God Ecce ego Domine Lord I am ready do thou but set me up an Altar and I will offer a Sacrifice restore me to thy Sanctuary and I will do it exactly in the Ceremonies and Formalities thereof Mean while mine heart and lips shall not be wanting to give thee praise in spirit and truth I will render praises unto thee Vers 13. For thou hast delivered my soul from death Which was the very thing I begged of thee when I was at worst viz. that thou wouldest save my life which then lay at stake I also then solemnly took upon me such and such ingagements which lye upon me as so many debts and I am in pain till I have paid them This if I shall do effectually Wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling Yea I know thou wilt Lord for every former favour of thine is a pledge of a future That I may walk before God in the light of the living Called else-where the Land of the living that is in this present life spending the span of it in thy fear and labouring to be every whit as good as I vowed to be when I was in great distress and danger Pliny in an Epistle of his to one that desired rules from him how to order his life aright I will saith he give you one rule that shall be instead of a thousand Ut tales esse perseveremus sani quales nos futuros esse profitemur infirmi i. e. That you hold out to bee such when well as you promised to bee when weak and sick c. PSAL. LVII ALtaschith i. e. Destroy not David being in an imminent danger of destruction in the Cave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. might send up this short request as it were in a fright before he uttered this insuing prayer Altaschith in such an exigent might well be an effectual prayer as was the Woman of Canaans Lord help me and the sick mans Ah Father or these might now be his words to Abishai or some other of his Servants whose fingers even itched to bee doing with Saul as afterwards they were upon a like occasion 1 Sam. 26.9 Destroy not Saul See thou do it not Michtam of David See Psal 16. title When he fled from Saul in the Cave 1 Sam. 24.1 Or into the Cave for shelter and where when he might have cut Sauls throat he cut his Coat only and was inwardly checked for it nevertheless the Spirit came upon him which was no small comfort as Aben-Ezra here observeth and he said Vers 1. Be merciful unto me O God be merciful q. d. Now or never help at a dead lift Bis pro more rogantium ad corrober andum saith Kimchi Other Jew-Doctors give this reason of the repetition of his petition Be merciful c. lest either I fall into Sauls hands Midr. Tilli or Saul into mine lest desire of revenge prick me on to kill him Or Have mercy on me that I sin not or if I do sin that I may repent For my soul trusteth in thee An excellent argument so it comes from the soul so it be heart-sprung Yea in the shadow of thy wings c. As the little Chicken in danger of the Kite hovereth and covereth under the Hen. Vntil these calamities be over-past For long they will not continue Nubecula est site transibit said Athanasins of the Arrian Persecutions which for present were very sharp So Master Jewel about the beginning of Queen Maries reign perswading many to patience said often Hac non durabunt aetatem this sharp shower will soon over Vers 2. I will cry unto God most high Who can easily over-top Saul as high as he is and all his complices against whom I have this comfort that in the thing wherein they deal proudly
It is in mercy and in measure that God chastiseth his Children It is his care that the Spirit fail not before him nor the soules which hee hath made Isa 57.16 If his Child swounds in the whipping God le ts fall the rod and falls a kissing it to fetch life into it again Vers 19 Open to mee the gates of Righteousnesse So the gates of the Sanctuary are called because holinesse becommeth Gods house for ever to keep out the prophane Porters were appointed See 2 Chron 23.19 and such were the Ostiarii in the primitive Church their word was Canes for as Dogs out of doces See Reve. 22.15 Prosper Vers 20 This gate of the Lord Some make the former verse the request of the people and this to bee Gods answer thereunto Others make that to bee Davids speech to the 〈◊〉 and this their answer q.d. This beautifull gate is fit to bee opened to the Lord alone if others enter they must bee righteous ones only and that to praise him 〈◊〉 which the Righteous shall 〈◊〉 scil With Gods good leave and liking Others may haply thrust into the Church but then God will say Friend how camest thou in hither who required these things at your hands who sent for you O Generation of Vipers who hath forewarned you to flye from the wrath to come The Sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more when hee bringeth it with a wicked mind Prov. 21.27 Vers 21 I will praise thee for thou hast heard mee Luther rendreth it because thou hast humbled and afflicted mee but withall thou art become my salvation Vers 22 the stone which the builders refused David and the son of David were by those who seemed to bee somewhat laid aside and sleighted as abjects and refuse ones but wisdome was ever justified of her Children Is become the head-stone of the corner Lap is dratonus sive frontatus whereby the Church is supported as the sides and weight of a building are by a Principall binding corner-stone against all blasts Vers 23 This is the Lords doing That David should ever come to the Kingdome that Christ should so bee raised from the lowest ebbe of humiliation to the highest tide of exaltation this is a wonder of wonders a matchlesse miracle And it is marvellous in our eyes As all Gods works are to those that have spirituall senses habitually exercised but especially the great work of mans Redemption by Christ Vers 24 This is the day which the Lord hath made The Queen of dayes as the Jews call the Sabbath Arnobâ—us interpreteth this text of the Christian Sabbath others of the day of salvation by Christ exalted to bee the head-corner-stone in opposition to that dismall day of mans fall Wee will rejoyce Or Let us rejoyce Dull wee are and heavy to spirituall joy and are therefore excited thereto Vers 25 Save now I beseech thee Hosanna as Mat. 21.9 an usuall acclamation of the people to their new Kings Send now prosperity God will send it but his people must pray for it I came for thy prayers Dan. 10. Vers 26 Blessed bee hee that commeth Blessed bee Christ Scultet Annal. Vivat Christus ejusque insignia said John Clark of Melda when for declaring against the Popes indulgences hee was burnt in the forehead with a hot Iron Wee have blessed you out of the house of the Lord Thus say the Priests to the people Ministers must blesse those that bless Christ saying Grace bee with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Ephes 6.24 as if any do not let him bee Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 Vers 27 God is the Lord who hath shewed us light By giving us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 hee hath brought us out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 Binde the Sacrifice with cords Make them fast there till the Priests shall have time to offer them Spare for no cost in shewing your thankfullness for Christ and his benefits Some render it Obligate solennitates in frondosis Austin hath it in confrequent at ionibus Vers 28 Thou art my God and I will praise thee The people are taught to say thus and the Greek Arabick and Latine translations repeat here vers 21. I will praise thee for thou hast heard mee and art become my salvation People can never be sufficiently thankfull for their salvation by Christ It is their duty and should be their desire Vers 29 O give thanks unto the Lord c. Repetit proaeâ—iâ—â— pro Epiloge See vers 1. PSAL. CXIX VErs 1 Blessed are the undefiled Pindarus and other Poets had their Ogdaades or Octonaries Lib. 4. Biblioâ—â— This Alphabeticall Poem as Sixtus 8 〈◊〉 calleth it is Davids doubtlesse though it hath no title to shew to much written in the dayes of his banishment under Saul and far more worthy to bee written in letters of gold than Pindâ—â—â— seventh Ode which that prophane fellow Politian preferred before any Psalm of David the sweet finger of Israel How much better his Coâ—â—◠〈◊〉 Jacobus Furnius who translated this Psalm into Greek and Latine verses 〈◊〉 many Octonaries and beginning each verse thereof with the same letter after the manner of the Hebrew composure which is very artificiall both for the excellency of the matter and for the help of memory The Jews are said to teach it their little ones the first thing they learn wherein they take a very right course both in regard of the heavenly matter and plain stile fitted for all capacities David in his troubles especially was a man much in meditation of Gods word and here hee giveth us in his thoughts of it When a book is set forth verses of commendation are oft prefixed David seemeth to set this divine Psalm as a Poem of commendation afore the Book of God mentioning it in every verse unlesse it bee one only verse 122. under the name of Testimonies Laws Statutes Word Judgements Precepts c. Who walk in the Law of the Lord Who walk towards Heaven in Heavens way avoiding the corruptions that are in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 Vers 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies Angels do so and are blessed Rev. 22.9 And that seek him Sincere ac sollicitè That seek not his omnipresence what need they but his gracious presence Vers 3 They also do no iniquity i.e. No wilfull wickednesse as do those workers of iniquity whose whole trade it is and whose whole life is nothing else but one continued web of wickednesse spun out and made up by the hands of the Devill and the flesh an evil spinner and a worse weaver They walk in his wayes Without cessation or cespitation Vers 4 Thou hast commanded us c. These are verba vivenda non legenda words to bee lived and not read only as one well saith of this whole Psalm neither is it enough that wee understand or ponder
subsist in the feeling of thy favour as 1 Sam. 25.6 And keep thy word For which end only I desire life See the like Psal 118.17 Non peto vitâ—m propâ—â—r deliâ—â—◠〈◊〉 Kimchi Non aliter pelit vitam quam ut prastet se fidelem Dei 〈◊〉 saith 〈◊〉 David doth no otherwise desire life than for this that hee may faithfully serve God Vers 18. Open thou mine eyes Heb. Vnveil theâ— velumen umâ—ot 〈◊〉 evolve give sight and light irradiate both organ and object In spirituals wee are not only dim-sighted but blind as Beetles 1 Cor. 2.14 Oh pray for that precious eye-salve Rev. 3.17 for that supernal light 2 Cor. 4.6 and whensoever wee open the Bible to read say as here open thou mine eyes c. as when wee close it up again say I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandement is exceeding broad vers 96. Wondrous things Mâ—rabilia magnalia mysteria such as none can understand and unriddle but such as plow with Gods own heifer 1 Cor. 2.11 Vers 19. I am a stranger in the earth And therefore apt to lose my way without a guide I shall surely else bee wildred and lost Hide not thy Commandements from mee viz. In the spirituall sense and effectuall operation of them Philosophers observe that lumen est vehiculum influentiae light is the convoy of influence as it begets the flower in the field the pearl in the earth c. so the foundation of all renovation is Illumination Hence David so earnestly beggeth it here and vers 17. Vers Comminuitâ—r 〈◊〉 20 My soul breaketh The Seventy render it My soul hath desired to desire thy Judgements How many broken spirits do even spend and exhale themselves in continuall sallies as it were and egressions of affection to God and his judgements The stone will fall down to come to its own place though it break it self in many peeces so the good soul Vers 21. Thou hast rebuked the proud c. Thou chidest them threatenest them plaguest them and so settest it on as no creature can take it oft And this is one reason why I love and observe thy laws ne paria patâ—ar lest I should suffer in like sort sith men must do it or dye for it Vers 22 Remove from mee reproach and contempt Cast upon mee by those proud haughty scorners vers 21. and that for nothing but because I keep thy Statutes therefore it is that they despise and defame mee but do thou Lord take an order with them behold I put them into thine hands and my self upon thy care to clear mee and set mee right for I am well resolved Vers 23 Princes also did sit c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By publick invectives such as were those of our Henry the eighth and of Lewis King of Hungary and Bohemia two very potent Princes against Luther Denotat continuum clamâ—rem Kimchi Vers 24. Thy Testimonies are my delight In mediâ—â— crucibus to them I run as to my cordiall they are my pleasure and pastime And my Counsellours My learned Counsel by whose advice I do all here I am sure to find consolationem consultissiâ—am directionem counsell and comfort in all my necessities Vers 25 My soul cleaveth unto the dust Those Princes my Persecutors Sauls counsellors have brought mee to deaths-doore as Psal 44.25 22.15 I am in a forlorn condition as far below hope as they are above â—ear Theodoret expoundeth it of humility and Theodosius the Emperor used these words when reproved by Ambrose for the slaughter at Thessalonica Theod. Eccleâ— hist l. 5. c. 18. hee lay on the ground and humbly begged pardon Vers 26 I have declared my wayes My sins and troubles those thou hast remitted and these thou hast remedied Teach mee thy Statutes Shew mee how I may walk worthy of such a love and live up to my mercies Vers 27 Make mee to understand c. Give mee a mouth and wisdome that I may not talk at random of thy word and works but understandingly and fruitfully Vers 28 My soul melteth Heb. Droppeth away like water I weep out my life together with my grief Strong thou thee mee 〈◊〉 to thy word Support â—â—ee by thy promise Vers 29 Remove from mee the way of lying A sin that David through diffidence fell into frequently See 1 Sam. 21.2 8. where hee roundly telleth three or four lyes and the like he did 1 Sam. 27.8 10. this evil he saw by himself and here prayeth against it And grant mee thy Law For a preservative from this soul sin herein gratfie â—â—ee good Lord. Vers 30 I have chosen the way of Truth I am fully bent against lying and am resolved to speak truth though I have done otherwise sometimes through frailty Thy Judgements have I laid before mee Thereby to fright my conscience that I might not so much as equivocate Some render it judicia tua 〈…〉 I have kept pace with thy judgements scil in the bent and bias of my heart at least Vers 31 I have stuck unto thy Testimonies Hitherto I have done so let mee not now shrink from them or hang loose to them lest I lose the things that I have wrought and shame my self for ever by my recidivation Vers 32 I will run the way Do thy work with utmost diligence and delight come off roundly and readily therein take long strides towards heaven When thou shalt inlarge my heart By thy free Spirit and by the joy of faith when thou shalt have oyled my joynts and nimbled my feet then shall I run and not be weary walk and not faint Isa 40.31 our promises of obedience must be conditional sith without Christ we can do nothing Joâ— 15.5 Vers 33. Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes Which is both hard to hit and dangerous to miss teach me therefore And I shall keep it Lex jubet gratia juvat O beg of God that we may persevere sith the evening crowneth the day c. Vers 34. Give me understanding Wee can neither know nor do Gods will without Divine light and aid as appears clearly by this fifth Octonary which therefore Austin made so great use of against the Pelagians Vers 35. Make me to go in the path Which I shall soon forsake if thou guide me not Te duce vera sequer te duce falsa nego For therein do I delight After the inward man Rom. 7.22 Thou hast given me to will give me also to work what is wel-pleasing in thy sight Vers 36. Incline my heart Through the exercises of thy Word and the working of thy Spirit And not â—o câ—vetousness Which draweth away the heart from all Gods testimonies and is the â—opt of all evil 1 Tim. 6.10 Some think it is put here for all other vices The Chaldâ—e hath it And not to Mammon that mammon of iniquity as Christ calleth it the next odious name to the Devil Now to good God inclineth mans heart
very cold and for the other four it was Winter Vers 8 Neither do they which go by say c. As they use to do to harvest men Ruth 2. 3 Joh. Christianity is no enemy to curtesie yet in some cases saith not God speed PSAL. CXXX VErs 1 Out of the depths have I cryed unto thee i. e. Ex portis ipsis desperationis from the very bosom and bottom of despair caused through deepest sense of sin and fear of wrath One deep calleth to another the depth of misery to the depth of mercy Basill and Beza interpret it Ex intimis cordis penetralibus from the bottom of my heart with all earnestness and humility Hee that is in the low pits and caves of the earth seeth the stars in the firmament so hee who is most low and lowly seeth most of God and is in best case to call upon him As spices smell best when beaten and as frankincense maximè fragrat cum flagrat is most odoriferous when cast into the fire so do Gods afflicted pray best when at the greatest under Isa 19.22 26.16 27.6 Luther when hee was buffeted by the Devill at Coburgh and in great affliction Joh. Manâ— loc com 43. said to those about him Venite in contemptum diaboli Psalmum de profundis quatuor vocibus cantemus come let us sing that Psalm Out of the depths c. in derision of the Devill And surely this Psalm is a treasury of great comfort to all in distress reckoned therefore of old amongst the seven Penitentiâ—â— and is therefore sacrilegiously by the Papists taken away from the living and applyed only to the dead for no other reason I think saith Beza but because it beginneth with Out of the Depths have I cryed a poor ground for Purgatory or for praying for the souls that are there as Bellarmine makes it Vers 2 Lord hear my voice Precum exauditie identidem est precanda Audience must be begged again and again and if hee once prepare our heart t is sure that hee will cause his ear to hear Psal 10.17 as when wee bid our Children ask this or that of us it is because wee mean to give it them Vers 3 If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities This and the next verse contains saith one the summe of all the Scriptures Twice hee here nameth the Lord as desirous to take hold of him with both his hands Extremity of Justice hee depreâ—â—â—h hee would not bee dealt with in rigour and rage Extrema fateor commeritus sum Deus Quid enim aliud dixers It is confessed I have deserved the extremity of thy fury but yet let mee talk with thee as Jer. 12.1 or reason the case O Lord who shall stand Stand in Judgement as Psal 1.5 and not fall under the weight of thy just wrath which burneth as low as Hell it self How can any one escape the damnation of Hell which is the just hire of the least sin Rom. 6.23 and the best mans life is fuller of sins than the Firmament is oâ— stars or the furnace of sparks Hence that of an Ancient Vâ— homiuâ—â— vitâ— quantumvis laudabili si reâ—â— miscericordiâ— judicetur Woe to the best man alive should hee bee strictly dealt withall Surely if his faults were but written in his forehead it would make him pull 〈◊〉 hat over his eyes Vers 4 But there is forgiveness with thee This holds head above water that we have to do with a forgiving God Neb. 9.31 none like him for that Mic. 7.18 For hee doth it naturally Exod. 34.6 abundantly Isa 55.7 constantly as here there is still is forgiveness and propitiation with God so Job 1.27 the Lamb of God doth take away the sins of the World t is a perpetuall act and should be as a perpetuall picture in our hearts That thou mayest bee feared i. e. Sought unto and served It is a speech like that Psal 65.2 O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come If there were not forgiveness with God no man would worship him from his heart but flye from his as from a Tyrant But a promise of pardon from a faithfull God maketh men to put themselves into the hands of justice in hope of mercy Mr. Perkins expoundeth the words thus In mercy thou pardonest the sins of some that thou mightest have some on earth to worship thee Vers 5 I wait for the Lord I wait and wait viz. for deliverance out of misery vers 1. being assured of pardoning mercy Feri Domine feri à peccatis enim absolutâ—◠〈◊〉 said Luther strike Lord while thou wilt so long as my sins are forgiveâ— I can bee of good comfort I can wait or want for a need And 〈…〉 viz. Of promise that ground of hope unfailable Rom. 5.5 of 〈◊〉 unfeigâ—â—ed 1 Tim. 1.5 Vers 6 My soul waiteth for the Lord Or Watcheth for the Lord Heb My soul to the Lord an eclipticall concise speech importing strong affection as doth also the following reduplication Prae custodibus ad mane prae custodibus ad manâ— I say more than they Or More than they that watch for the morning wait for the morning wherein they may sleep which by night they might not do Vers 7 Let Israel hope in the Lord Hope and yet fear as vers 4. with a filiall fear fear and yet hope Plenteous Redemption Are our sins great with God there is mercy matchless mercy Are our sins many with God is plenteous redemption multa redemptiâ— hee will multiply pardons as wee multiply sins Isa 55.7 Vers 8 And hee shall redeem Israel By the value and vertue of Christs death by his merit and spirit 1 Cor. 6.11 PSAL. CXXXI VErs 1 Lord my heart is not haughty Though anointed and appointed by thee to the Kingdome yet I have not ambitiously aspired unto it by seeking Souls death as his pick thanks perswaded him nor do I now being possessed of it proudly domineer as is the manner of most Potentates and tyrannize over my poor subjects but with all modesty and humility not minding high things I do condescend to them of low estate Rom. 12.16 Now Bucholc in alto positum non altum sapere difficile est omnino inusitatum sed quanto inusitatius tanto gloriosius It is both hard and happy not to bee puffed up with prosperity and preferment Vespasian is said to have been the only one that was made better by being made Emperour Nor mine eyes lofty Pride sitteth and sheweth it self in the eyes as soon as in any part Ut speculum oculus est artis ita oculus est naturae speculum Neither do I exercise my self in great matters Heb. I walk not manes intra metas I keep within my circle within the compass of my calling not troubling my self and others by my ambitious projects and practices as Cleâ—n did Alchibiades Cesar Borgia and others Ambitionists Or in things too high for mee Heb. Wonderfull high and hidden things that pass nay
they write that when shee would change her feathers shee falleth down into the Sea Vers 10 Even there shall thy hand lead mee i. e. Thy Power and Providence shall dispose of mee I shall flee but from thy hand to thy hand as guilty Jonas did Vers 11 The darknesse shall cover mee The Hebrew phrase is taken from Beasts that lye a squat saith Dâ—odat Nocte latent mende sed non Deum The guilty conscience sharketh up and down for comfort but getteth none Vers 12 Yea the darkness bideth not Heb. Darkeneth not from thee because thine eyes are fiery Rev. 1.14 such as need no outward light they are more light and radiant than the Sun in his strength The darkness and the light c. Deo obscura clarent muta respondent silentiâ—â— confitetur saith an Ancient Night will convert it self into noon before God and silence prove a speaking evidence Vers 13 For thou hast possessed my reins The seat of mine affections Thoughts kindle affections and these cause thoughts to boil they are causes one of another and both well known to God For who possesseth lands or houses but hee knoweth the right title and rooms thereof saith an Expositour T. W. Thou hast covered mee in my Mothers womb But not from thine all peircing eyes though in so dark a place and wrapt up in secâ—â—dâ—â—es Vers 14 I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made 〈…〉 operibus tâ—â—s saith Montanâ—s neither can I wonder enough at thy workmanship The greatest miracle in the World is man in whose very body how much more in his soul are miracles enow betwixt head and feet to fill a volume Austin complaineth that men much wonder at high mountains of the earth huge waves of the Sea deep falls of rivers the vastness of the Ocean the motions of the stars relinquunt seipsos nec mirantur but wonder not at all at their wonderfull selves Fernel de abâ—â—â— rerum cauâ—â— Galen a prophane Physician writing of the excellent parts of mans body and comming to speak of the double motion of the lungs could not chuse but sing an hymn to that God whosoever hee were that was author of so excellent and admirable a peece of work And that my soul knoweth right well That is so well as to draw hearty praises from mee to my Maker But for any exact insight hear Salomon As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all Eccles 11.5 Some read the words thus Thy works are wonderfull and so is my soul which knoweth right well q. d. my rationall and intelligent soul is an admirable peece indeed Nothing in the World saith one is so well worthy to bee wondred at as man nothing in man as his soul Vers 15 My substance was not hid from mee Ossatiâ— mea id est ossium 〈◊〉 tuum compages â—embles misâ—hief of ignor the structure of my bones and joynts But was not hee a wise man and yet wise enough otherwise who being asked upon his death-bed what his soul was seriously answered that hee knew not well but hee thought it was a great bone in the middle of his body Was not hid from thee For thou hast both the names and number of every part to a nerve or an artery Aquinas saith that at the Resurrection the bodies of the Saints shall bee so clear and transparent that all the veins humours nerves and bowels shall bee seen as in a glass T is sure that they are so to God when first formed in the womb When I was made in secret That is in the womb of my Mother As curious workmen â—â—de Lactant. â—â— Dei opificio â—alen de usu â—rt Cic. 2. de â—â—t dear when they have some choice peece in hand they perfect it in private and then bring it forth to light for men to gaze at so here And curiously wrought Variegatus quasi acu pictus Embroidered and wrought as with the needle whence man is called a Microcosm or little World Bodine observeth that there are three regions within mans body besides all that is seen without answerable to those three regions of the World Elementary Etherial and Celestial His entrails and whatsoever is under his heart resemble the Elementary region wherin only there is Generation and Corruption 〈◊〉 Nâ—â— â—â—â— The heart and vitals that are divided from those entrails by the Diaphragma resemble the Ethereall Region as the brain doth the heavenly which consisteth of intelligible creatures In the lowest parts of the earth That is in my Mothers womb as before See Epâ—es 4.9 The Syriack interpreteth it but not so well when I shall dye and be buried and my bones turned to ashes yet thou shalt know them Vers 16 Thine eyes did see my substance Galmi est semen coagulatum ante formationem membrorum saith Kimchi when I was but an Embryo or hardly so much Disponit Deus membra culicis pulicis saith Austin how much more of man The word signifieth my wound-up or unwrought-up mass And in thy book all my members are written A metaphor from curious workmen that do all by the book or by a modell set before them that nothing may bee deficient or done amiss Had God left out an eye in his common-place book saith One thou hadst wanted it Which in Continuance In process of time and by degrees When as yet there was none of them But all was a rude lump This is a great secret of nature and to bee modestly spoken of How precious also are thy thoughts unto mee i. e. The thoughts of thy wisdome power and goodness clearly shining in these wondrous works of thine it does my heart good to think and speak of them How great is the summ of them viz. Of my works and of thy thoughts thereon I cannot count them much less comprehend them To blame are such as trouble not their heads at all about these matters Surely when the Lord made 〈◊〉 head with so many closures and coverings to his brain the seat of understanding hee intended it for some precious treasure Many locks and keys argue the price of the Jewell they are to keep and many papers wrapping a token within them the use of that token Vers 18 If I should count them c. q. d. They are infinite and innumerable Archimedes that great Mathematician bragged that hee could number all the sands in the habitable and inhabitable World but no man ever beleeved him See 1 Sam. 13.5 2. Sam. 17.11 Psal 78.27 When I awake I am still with thee Still taken up with some holy contemplation of thy works and wisdome These thoughts I fall asleep with and these I awake with As I take up my fire ore night so I finde it in the morning Vers 19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked Those that traduce and slander mee
are unto thee Afflictions to the Saints are tanquam scalae alae to mount them to God Leave not my soul destitute Ne exinanias make not bare my soul viz. of thy protection Vers 9 Keep mee from the snare c. See Psal 140.5 Vers 10 Let the wicked fall Metaphora a piscibus saith Tremellius as fishes in casting-nets Isa 19.8 Whilest that I withall escape The Righteous is delivered out of trouble and the wicked commeth in his stead Prov. 11.8 It appeareth at length that simple honesty is the best policie and wicked polity the greatest simplicity and most self-destructive PSAL. CXLII WHen hee was in the cave scil Of Engedi 1 Sam. 24. Loquitur in spelâ—â—ca sed prophetat in Christo saith Hilary Vers 1 I cryed unto the Lord with my voice scil Of my heart and more with my mind than mouth for if hee had been heard hee had been taken by the enemy Thus Moses cryed but uttered nothing Exod. 14.15 Egit vocis silentio ut corde clamaret Aug. Thus Christ cryed Heb. 5.7 Vers 2 I poured out my complaint Heb. My mâ—ssiâ—â—tion I shewed before him Plainly and plentifully how my danger increased to a very Crisis as one expresseth it Vers 3 When my spirit was over-whelmed within mee Or covered over with grief as the Greek expoundeth it Then thou knewest my path scil That I neither fretted nor fainted Or thou knewest how to make a way to escape 1 Cor. 10.13 The Lord knoweth how to deliver his 2 Pet. 2.9 Vers 4 I looked on my right hand Not a man would appear for mee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 misery is friendless for most part See a Tim. 4.16 Nulla fide◠〈…〉 delegit 〈◊〉 Vers 5 I cryed unto thee O Lord I ran to thee as my last refuge in the fail of all outward comforts Zeph. 3.12 they are 〈◊〉 afflicted poor people and being so they trust in the Name of the Lord. Vers 6 〈…〉 Vat. 6 For I am brought very low Exhausted and 〈◊〉 dry 〈…〉 and disabled to help my self any way Vers 7 Bring my 〈◊〉 of prison 〈◊〉 Out of 〈…〉 less straitened than if in prison The Righteous shall compass mee about Heb. Shall Crown mee that is shall incircle mee as wondring at thy goodness in my deliverance or they shall set the Crown on mine head as the Saints do likewise upon Christs head Cant. 3.12 to whom this Psalm may bee fitly applyed all along as abovesaid PSAL. CXLIII VErs 1 Hear my prayer O Lord Hee prayeth once and again for audience De â—ugâ— ab Absolom R. O. 〈◊〉 and would have God to hear him with both ears Thus hee prayed saith the Greek title of this Psalm when his son Absoloâ— was up in arms against him and it may seem so by the next words Vers 2 And enter not into Judgement with thy Servant This is 〈…〉 siqua usquaâ— in sacris literis extat saith Beza an excellent sentence as any is in all the Bible saying the same that St. Paul doth Rom. 3.24 that Justification is by faith alone and not by works David would not bee dealt with in strictness of justice Lord go not to law with mee so some render it Go not into the Judgement-hall so the Chaldee All St. Pauls care was that when hee was sought for by Gods Justice hee might bee found in Christ not having his own righteousness which is of the law c. Phil. 3.9 The best Lamb should bee slaughtered except the Ram had been sacrificed that Isaac might bee saved Woe to the life of man saith an Ancient though never so commendable if it should have Judgement without mercy if there bee not an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to moderate that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the severity of utmost right We read of a certain Dutch Divine who being to dye was full of fears and doubts And when some said to him you have been so active and faithfull why should you fear Oh said he the Judgement of man and the Judgement of God are different Sordeâ— in conspectâ— Judicis c. Vers 3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul Quasi rabiferali percitus hee hath raged unreasonably The utmost of a danger is to bee related before the Lord in prayer and to bee acknowledged after wee are delivered out of it by way of thankfulness Vers 4 Therefore is my spirit over-whelmed God 's dearest Children have their passions against that stoicall apathie A sheep bitten by a Dog is no lesse sensible of the pain thereof than a Swine is though hee make not such an out-cry Vers 5 I remember the dayes of old Wherein I was delivered from the Lion and the bear yea from the hand of all mine enemies and from the hand of Saul Psal 18. title More than this Sacula antiquitus praeterita recolo I run over and ruminate all the ancient monuments of thy mercy to the Patriarches and others sith all that is written was written for our instruction that wee through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 See Psal 77.4 6. Vers 6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee As a poor beggar for an alms Beggery here is not the easiest and poorest trade but the hardest and richest of all other My soul thirsteth after thee And is therefore a fit subject for thy Spirit of Grace and comfort to bee poured upon Isa 44.3 55.1 Vers 7 Hear mee speedily A very patheticall prayer uttered in many words to like purpose as the manner is in extreme danger My spirit faileth I am ready to sink and to swoon This David knew God hath a great care that the Spirit fail not before him and the souls which he hath madâ— Isa 57.16 When Bezoard-stone is beaten wee see that none of it bee lost not so when ordinary spices so here for ordinary spirits God cares not much what becometh of them as hee doth of the choice spirits of his people Vers 8 Cause mee to hear in the morning Manâ— id est nature assoon as may be or at least as is meet make mee to hear of joy and gladness speak comfort to my conscience and help to my afflicted condition Vers 9 Deliver mee O Lord from mine enemies Deliverance from enemieâ— is a fruit of our friendship with God Vers 10 Teach mee to do thy will Orat nunc pro salute 〈…〉 saith Kimchi Now hee prayeth for his souls health and wold bee as well a clivered from his corruptions within as from his enemies without Lord save mee from that noughty man my self said an Ancient Thy Spirit is good The fruit of it is in all goodness and righteousness and truth Ephes 5.9 and it is the Spirit only that quickeneth Job 6. â—3 by purging out the dross that is in us 1 Pet. 1.22 setting us to work Ezek. 36.27 helping our infirmities Rom. 8.26 stirring us up to holy duties partly by immediate motions and partly by the ministry of the word made effectuall 1
come forth and flee from the Land of the North Deliver thy self O Zion that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon Zech. 2.6 7. Arise ye and depart for this is not your rest because it is polluted it shall destroy you even with a sore destruction Mic. 2.10 Look how the Eagle hath much ado to get her young ones out of the nest pricking and beating them with her wings and talons so was it here and neither so could the Lord prevaile with the most of them being as loth to depart as Lot was out of Sodom vel canis ab uncto cerio or a dog from a fat morsel His God be with him And then he needs no better company no greater happinesse for he is sure of a confluence of all comforts of all that heart can wish or need require Tua praesentia Domine Laurentio ipsam craticulam fecit dulcem Aug. saith an Ancient Thy presence sweeteneth all our occurrences This was therefore a good wish of King Cyrus neither did he therein any disservice to himself for God hath promised to blesse those that blesse any of his Gen. 12.3 and not to let a good wish to such go unrewarded 2 Cor. 13.9 Let him go up and build c. As God had charged him verse 2. so doth he them And it is as if he should have said with that Father Unlesse I stir up your hearts as the Lord hath done mine unlesse I lay Gods charge upon you to set strenuously upon this service of his Bern. Vobis erit damnosum mihi periculosum Timeo itaque damnum vestrum timeo damnationem meam si tacuero If now you go not up upon so great encouragement God will surely bemeet with you He is the God The onely true God John 17.3 none like him Mic. 7.18 The Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords a great God a mighty and a terrible Deut. 10.17 Is it not fit therefore that he have a Temple a place of divine worship which the Heathens deny not to their dunghill-deities Which is in Jerusalem That City of the great King where he kept his Court and afforded his special presence not of grace onely in his Ordinances but of glory also sometimes in his holy Temple 2 Chron. 5.14 as in another heaven Ver. 4. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth Heb. Gar-shom A name that Moses gave his eldest sonne borne in his banishment for he said I have beene a stranger in a strange land Exod. 2.22 These poore captives had beene longer so then Moses in Midian and met with more hard measure Psal 137.1 8. But as those who are borne in hell know no other heaven as the Proverb is so fared it not with a few of these loth to be at the paines and run the hazard of a voyage to the holy Land A little with ease is held best Let us who are strangers here haste homeward heaven-ward Some of these poore Jewes had a minde to returne but wanted meanes For these necessitous people the King takes care and course here that they be supplied and set forward on their journey after a godly sort or worthy of God as Saint John phraseth it 3 John 6. who else will require it Let the men of his place Whether Jewes or Proselytes brethren by race grace or place onely Help him wish silver Heb. Give him a lift out of the dust as Jobs friends did him off the dunghill as Joseph did his brethren when he filled their bags 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and returned them their moneys And as all Christians are bound and bid to support or shoar up their weaker brethren 1 Thess 5 14. With silver an with gold These are notable good levers at a dead lift in this present world where money beares the mastery and answereth all things Eccles 10.14 a satisfactory answer it giveth to whatsoever is desired or demanded He that helpeth a man therefore in his necessity with silver and gold is a friend indeed Let a man make God his friend and then saith Eliphaz the Almighty shall be his gold and he shall have plenty of silver Job 22.25 Jacob shall be sure of so much as shall bring him to his journeys end a sufficiency if not a superfluity of all things needful to life and godlinesse And with goods Heb. Recush whence haply our English words Riches and Cash chattels movables gathered substance as the word signifieth which whosoever he was that first called substance was utterly mistaken sith wisdome onely that is godlinesse is durable substance Prov. 8.21 Wealth is but a semblance Proverbs 23.5 1 Corinth 7.31 And he that first called Riches Goods Psal 4.6 was a better husband then Divine But it may be thought the most are such husbands sith the common cry is Who will shew us any good a good booty a good bargaine a good beast c. That one thing necessary that is both Bonum hominis The good of man Micah 6.84 and Totum hominis The whole of man Eccles 12.13 lieth wholly neglected by the most And with beasts Those most serviceable creatures both ad esum ad usum for food and other uses as Sheep Horses Camels Dromedaries swift patient painful Besides the free-will-offering Which the King presumeth all Gods free-hearted people Voluntieres every soul of them Psal 110.3 will be most forward unto See Lev. 5.6 12. and 14.10 21 30. In Psal 1. in so good a work so acceptable a service God straineth upon no man Exod. 25.2 and 35.5 Lex quaerit voluntarios The Law calleth for Volunteires saith Ambrose See Esay 56.6 and 2 Cor. 8.12 and 9.7 and learne to come off roundly and readily in works of Piety and Charity for else all 's lost sith Virtus nolentium nulla est unwilling service is nothing set by That is in Jerusalem This City he so often nameth Psal 137 6. that he may seeme delighted with the very mention of it and to be of the same minde with those pious captives that vowed to preferre Jerusalem that joy of the whole earth before their chief joy to make it ascend above the head of their joy as the Hebrew hath it How then should it chear up our hearts to think of heaven and that we are written among the living in Jerusalem Esay 4.3 fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of heaven Eph. 2.19 Verse 5. Then rose up the chief of the fathers Those who are therefore crowned and chronicled in the next Chapter Those Magnates Magnites that drew on others by their example Those Viri gregis he-goats before the flocks men of publike places and authority active for Reformation who hearkened to that divine call Jer. 50.8 Remove out of the middest of Babylon and go forth out of the land of the Caldeans and be as the he-goats before the flocks These Nobles arose being rowsed and raised by that Noble Spirit of God Psal 51.12 that Kingly spirit the