and other external priviledges Though Abram be ignorant of us Ipsi nunc sua quiete fruuntur they are at rest and know nothing of our affaires The Monks tell us that the Saints departed see things done here in the face of God as in a glass But this is a meer fiction of theirs See Psal 27.10 2 King 22.20 Augustine saith of his mother Monica deceased Lib de curae pro mortuis agenda cap. 13. Eccius in locis that she did now no longer yeeld him comfort because she knew not what befel him The greatest Popish Clerkes themselves confess that the invocation of Saints departed hath neither precept promise nor precedent in the Book of God Moreover they cannot determine how the Saints know our hearts and prayers whether by hearing or seeing or presence everywhere or by Gods relating or revealing mens prayers and needs unto them All which wayes some of them hold as possible or probable and others deny and confute them as untrue Mortons Appeale lib. 2. cap. 12. sect 5. The Syriack and Arabick render the text thus Thou art our Father we are ignorant of Abraham and we acknowledge not Israel Thou O Lord art our Father c. Agreeable whereunto is that of the Heathen Contemno minutos istos Deos moao Jovem mihi propitium habeam I care not for those petty-gods so that Jupiter will stand my friend And that better saying of a devout Christian Vna est in trepida mihi re medicina Jehova Cor patrium os ver ax omnipotensque manus Nathan Chytraeus It hath been well observed that the defeat given to the Spanish Fleet Anno 1588. fell out to be on St. James his day whom the Spaniards pray to as their Patrone or St. Tutelar Thy name is from eternity i. e. This name of thine our Redeemer Some read the text thus Our Redeemer is from of old thy Name Our Redemption was not of yesterday but verily fore ordained before the foundation of the world 1 Pet. 1.20 Ver. 17. O Lord why hast thou made us to erre from thy waies c. i. e. Given us up to errour and obstinacy Why dost thou thus punish sin with sin for the illustration of thy Justice and jealousy against us who have rebelled and vexed thine holy Spirit ver 10. Oh be pleased to deal with us rather according to thy mercy Return for thy servants sake the good people that are yet left amongst us give us hearts of flesh and lead us in the way everlasting Here observe that Gods best children may find in themselves hardness of heart Hos 4.16 yet not total but mixt with softness and tenderness in every part so that though they resist neglect profit not as they might do through pride worldliness voluptuousness Mat 13.22 Luke 21.34 hypocritical hiding of any sin Psal 32.3 4. Prov. 28.14 letting fall the watch of the Lord 2 Chron. 32.25 yet it is not done with full consent but with reluctance now and repentance afterwards The tribes of thine inheritance q. d. Wilt thou abhor thy people in covenant with thee and abandon thine own inheritance How few are there that thus urge the seale and enter a suit with the Lord Ver. 18. The people of thine holiness have possessed it but a little while viz. In respect of that perpetuity promised them by Thee Gen. 17.8 26.3 28.13 Exod. 32.13 Besides the many calamities that have befaln us whereby we have had small enjoyment of this thine inheritance All the daies of the afflicted are evil Prov. 15.15 their life lifeless and not to be reckoned on Our adversaries have trodden down thy Sanctuary This they did in the daies of Antiochus but especially about the time of our Saviours incarnation when the scepter departed from Judah Pompey with his Army entered into the Sanctuary Herod got the governement the Romans sat up their Ensignes and Statues in the holy of holies c. This desolation of the second Temple the Jews do here bewail but we have cause to rejoyce for that by Christ the whole world is now become a Temple and every place a goodly Oratory 1 Tim. 2.8 Ver. 19. We are thine And shouldest thou then deal with us as some profane idolatrous Nation See here the holy boldness of Faith standing upon interrogatories 1 Pet. 3.21 and filling her mouth with arguments of all sorts Thou never barest rule over them No such reason or relation is there of children servants subjects wherefore they should thus be favoured and we disowned Amos 3.2 See on ver 17. CHAP. LXIV Ver. 1. O That thou wouldest rent the Heaven That Thou wouldest lie no longer hid there as to some it may seem but making thy way through all impediments and obstacles Lyra. Alex. Ales. thou wouldest powerfully appear for our help as out of an engine Vtinam lacerares coelos descenderes Some take the words for a hearty wish that Christ would come in the flesh others that he would make haste and come to Judgement laté fisso coelo ad percellendum impios The Metaphor seemeth to be taken from such as being desirous suddainly and effectually to help others in distress do break open doors and cast aside all lets to make their way to them That the mountains may flow down As Judg. 5.5 By mountains some understand the enemies kingdoms Ver. 2. As when the melting fire burneth So let the mountains burn and boyl at thy presence Aristotle reporteth that from the hill Aetna there once ran down a torrent of fire De mundo cap. 6. So Hecla and Hogla in Iseland that consumed all the houses thereabout The like is recorded of Vesuvius and of Peitra Mala a mountain in the highest part of the Apenines which perpetually burneth Ver. 3. When thou didest terrible things Or As when thou diddest c. as thou didst of old for our Forefathers Which we looked not for See Deut. 4.32 33. where God himself extolleth them Ver. 4. For from the beginning of the world men have not heard sc The mysteries of the Gospel revealed by the Spirit whereunto the Angels also desire to look as the Apostles witness 1 Cor. 2.9 1 Pet. 1.12 Neither hath the eye seen O God besides thee or a God beside thee i. e. That can do as thou doest For him that waiteth for him For them that love him saith the Apostle It is by faith and hope that we wait upon God now Faith Hope and Charity are near of kin and never severed All that truly love God are well content to wait for him yea to want if he see it fit being desirous rather that God may be glorified than themselves gratified Ver. 5. Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh righteousness That doth thy work diligently and with delight that being acted by thee acteth vigorously for thee Tantum velis Deus tibi praeoccurret saith an Ancient as the Prodigals Father met him upon the way If ye be willing and
well-descended in hope to tame them and make them better Vers 17. Iron sharpeneth Iron One edge-tool sharpeneth another so doth the face of a man his friend Ipse aspectus viri boni delectat saith Seneca Let us whet one another to love and good works saith Paul as boars whet their tusks Heb. 10.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. ◠6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as mowers whet their sithes Thus Paul was pressed in spirit by the coming of Timothy Acts 18.4 and extimulates Timothy to stirre up the gift of God that was in him Thus Peter roused up those to whom he wrote ex veterno torporis teporis out of their spiritual lethargy 2 Pet. 1.13 And thus those good souls spake often one to another for mutual quickning in dull and dead times Mul. 3.10 17. See my notes on that text As amber-greece is nothing so sweet in itself as when compounded with other things So godly and learned men are gainers by communicating themselves to others Conference hath incredible profit in all sciences Cast alio renders this text thus Ut ferrum ferro Of Jabad unire adunare sic homines alii aliis conjunguntur as iron is to iron so are men joyned and soldred to one another viz. in a very straight bond of love and friendship Vers 18. Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat c. Of the continually-renewed fruits thereof for when the ripe figs are pulled off others shortly come in their place The Aegyptian fig tree is reported by Solinus to bear fruit seven times in a year such as is good both for meat and medicine as Galen observeth and after him Dioscorides So he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured That is Liberally maintained and highly promoted As Joseph was where-ever he served The Heathens were very cruel to their servants putting an engine about their necks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it reached down to their hands that they might not so much as lick off the meal when they were sifting it These poor servants were in worse case than the Jews Oxen 1 Cor. 9.8 But such as are faithful and serviceable however their Masters deal with them they should deal well with them Deut. 15.12 13 14. God will bestow upon them a Childs part even the reward of inheritance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3.22 23 24. Their Masters also if faithful and beloved as they partake of the benefit viz. of their good service so they will be beneficial to them Beneficentiae recompensatores as Bullinger after Theophilact renders that text 1 Tim. 6.2 Vers 19. As in water face answereth to face c. Mens fancies differ as much as their faces So the Chaldee interprets it But they doe better that give this sense that in regard of natural corruption all men look with one countenance and have one visage sith whole evil is in man and whole man in evil neither by nature is there ever a better of us In the heart of the vilest person we may see as in a mirrour our own evil hearts For as there were many Marii in one Caesar so are there many Cains and Judasses in the best of us And as that first Chaos had the feed of all Creatures and wanted only the Spirits motion to bring them forth Gen. 1.1 2. so there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a common seed-plot of sin in us all there wants but the warmth and watering of Satans temptations to make it bud Ezek. 7.10 And though there were no Devil yet our naughty nature would act Satans part against itself It would have a supply of wickedness as a Serpent hath poyson from it self It hath a spring to feed it Hence our Saviour chargeth his own Disciples to take heed of surfetting drunkenness and distracting carefulness Luke 21.34 who would ever have suspected such monsters to lurk in such holy bosomes And Saint Paul saw cause to warn so pure a soul as young Timothy to fly youthly lusts and to exhort the younger women with chastity 1 Tim. 5.2 thereby intimating that whiles he was exhorting them to chastity some impure motion might steal upon him unawares Corruption in the best will have some flurts Vers 20. Hell and destruction are never satisfied Hell and the Grave have their name in Hebrew from their unsatisfiablenesse being alwayes craving more and that with assiduity and importunity And this fitly follows upon the former verse as Aben-Ezra well observeth that men may be frighted by the remembrance of Hells wide mouth gaping for them from following the bent of their sinful natures and that those that here have never enough shall once have fire enough in the bottome of hell So the eyes of men are never satisfied That is their lusts their carnal concupiscence to seek to satisfie it is an endlesse peece of businesse Quaecunque videt oculus ea omnia desiderat avarus saith Basil the covetous man hankereth after all that he beholdeth the curse of unsatisfiablenesse lies heavie upon him His desire is a fire riches are fuel which seem to slake the fire but indeed they encrease it He that loveth silver shall never be satisfied with silver Eccles 5.10 No more shall he that loveth honour pleasure c. Earthly things cannot so fill the heart but still it would have more things in number and otherwise for manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore the particles in the Hebrew that signifie And and Or come of a word that signifies to desire because the desires of a man would have this and that and that and another and doth also tire it self not knowing whether to have this or that or the other c. Vers 21. As the fining pot for silver c. Man is naturally apt to bee much taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xenophon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and even tickled with his own commendation as Felix was with Tertullus his flatteries as Demosthenes was when they poynted at him as hee passed by and said This is that famous Oratour But let every man prove his own work saith Paul Gal. 6.4 and testimonium tibi perhibeat conscientia propria non lingua aliena saith Austin let thine own Conscience and not another mans tongue praise thee Or if needlesly they will doe it Let it refine us as here to more humility and more care of sound holinesse let it by the fining-pot melt us and make us better This is the right use of it Vers 22. Though thou shouldest bray a fool c. The Cypresse Tree the more it is watered the more it is withered So it is with the wicked humbled they are but not humble low but not lowly wearied in sin as Babylon was in the greatnesse of her way Isa 47.13 but not weary of it Of these Augustine Perdidistis saith he utilitatem calamitatis miserrimi factis estis De civ Dei lib. 1 cap.
Let them infants mourn for the teats denied them in this day of humiliation as Jon. 3.5 6. or so dryed up that there is no milk for them Others render it Beating upon their breasts plangentes pectora palmis Ver. 13. Vpon the Land of my people shall come up thorns Here the Prophet proceedeth to denounce the destruction of the Land that should one day come by the Babylonians and yet he foretelleth that afterwards God shall receive them into favour and restore unto them such a Kingdom as wherein righteousness and peace shall meet and mutually salute In the Joyous City Or revelling City see chap. 22.2 13. Zeph. 2.15 Ver. 14. The multitude of the City shall be left for the City shall be left of its multitude The Forts and Towers Heb. Ophel and Bachan The Hebrews tell us that these were two high Towers in Jerusalem now they were to be dismantled and lye wast Ver. 15. Vntill the Spirit be poured upon us from on high Donec Dominus dignabitur suum favorem gratiam denuo nobis impertiri Till God shall please once more to impart unto us his grace and favour So he sets them no certain time of restauration as desirous thereby to stir them up to pray continually and to bring forth fruits worthy amendment of life This effusion of the Spirit upon all flesh Joel 2.28 that is of the best thing upon the basest is a very great mercy And the wildernesse be a fruitful field Heb. a Carmel Such a change worketh the Spirit of grace it maketh barren hearts fruitful and manifesteth hypocrites whatever they seem to be no better than wild trees that beare no good fruit Ver. 16. Then judgement shall dwell in the wildernesse In this and the next Verse he setteth forth the sweet effects of Gods Spirit in the Saints in hypocrites also when once they come to be converted these are Righteousnesse Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost as Rom. 14.17 By Righteousnesse and Judgement there is to be understood the Righteousnesse of Faith together with all those good works the fruits thereof Obedience I mean which Luther was wont to call fidem incarnatam Faith incarnate Ver. 17. And the work of Righteousnesse shall be Peace Peace both of Countrey and of Conscience none other but this last can last for ever Quietnesse and assurance for ever Such as the world giveth not such as the wicked meddleth not with the Cock on the dunghil knoweth not the worth of this jewel it is the new name that none knoweth but he who hath it Oh this blessed quietnesse and assurance for ever this boldnesse and accesse with confidence by the Faith of him Eph. 3.12 having a full certainty Luk. 1.4 yea a confident glorying and boasting Rom. 5.3 so as to stand upon Interrogatories 1 Pet. 3.21 such as are those Rom. 8.35 36 37. and to have God to make answer as Isa 43.25 Ver. 18. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation Great peace have all those that love Gods Law and nothing shall offend them Psal 119.165 Peace shall be within their walls and prosperity within their Palaces From this and the next Verse one well gathereth that when the heart lyeth lowest it lyeth quietest in loco humili humilis erit civitas sc Dei. Ver. 19. When it shall hail coming down on the Forrest When reprobates here compared to a Forrest or tall wood shall be hail-beaten that is grievously plagued as those Egyptians once were Exod. 9.22 26. it shall be hail or well with the Elect the Church as a City that standeth in a low bottome is secure and safe her afflictions also working together for her good In humbling her God remembreth her for his mercy endureth for ever Psal 136.23 Ver. 20. Blessed are ye that sow besides all waters Conclusionem texit ipse Propheta The Prophet concludeth with an exclamation as admiring the happinesse of such as should live till the Common-wealth should be thus restored but especially when Christ should come in the power and purity of his Ordinances filling his people with the fruits of Righteousnesse and fattening them for the purpose with those waters of the Sanctuary as Nilus doth the land of Egypt c. Oh the heaped up happinesse of such O terque quaterque beati Say they sow in tears yet they shall reap in joy Psal 126.5 say they send thither the feet of the Ox and the Asse those laborious and useful creatures to ear the ground and fit it for receipt of seed Psal 144.14 they shall surely eat the fruit of their labours Psal 128.2 They shall reap in due time if they faint not Gal. 6.9 His faecunda sine dubio messis indulgantiae orietur saith Arnobius their labour cannot be in vaine in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. ult CHAP. XXXIII Ver. 1. VVOe to thee that spoilest Minatur vastationem vastatori Sennacherib vel Antichristo quem praesignat Oecol Sennacherib and Antichrist are here threatned And thou wast not spoiled Thou abusest thy present peace and the riches of Gods goodness and patience toward thee to fall foule upon others unprovoked And dealest treacherously This some understand of Sennacherib Oecol See 2 King 18.14 17. others of Shebna and other Traitours in Jerusalem who dealt underhand with the enemy against Hezekiah and might haply meet with the like meed as he did who betrayed the Rhodes to the Turkes who fleaed him and salted him Or at least as Charles the fourths Agents did from Philip Duke of Austria who paid them the summe he promised them but in counterfeit money saying that false coyn is good enough for such false knaves as they had shewed themselves Thou shalt be spoiled Of Kingdome and life and all by thy treacherous sons Chap. 37 38. Siquis quod fecit patitur justissima lex est See Judg. 7.11 with the Note and fear thou God who loveth to retaliate to pay wicked men home in their own coyn to fill them with their own wayes to overshoot them in their own bow c. Vae ergo vastatoribus one time or other God will be even with such Ver. 2. O Lord be gracious unto us Brevicula sed pulchra precatio a short but sweet prayer of the Prophet teaching thereby the people to put the promise in suit and to do it effectually using a throng of strong arguments as here is Much in few Be thou their arm Here the Church seemeth to pray for her children as they before had prayed for her Plena est affectibus haec precatio Every morning Heb. In the mornings That is speedily seasonably continually and for Christs sake Voce enim matutinis allusum ad juge sacrificium Scultet Piscat A Voce Angeli Vulg. Exod. 29. Ver. 3. At the noise of the tumult the people fled i. e. The Assyrian Souldiers shall flee at the coming of the Angel with a hurry noise in the aire for greater terrour but he shall give them their pasport This
of thy least love as blessed Bradford was with his Miserrimus peccator Ioh. Bradford as Mr Dod and Mr. Cleaver your and my old and good acquaintance were with whom we well remember it was usual Agur like to vilifie yea to nullifie themselves to the utmost And this comes 1. From increase of light 2. From much and long experience of their unavoidable failings and infirmities 2. He is very heavenly minded as having by the constant practice of mortification comfortably subdued his corruptions seen through the vanity and vexation of outward things set one foot upon the battlements of heaven had here much sweet intercourse and communion with God gotten a full gripe of Christ laid fast hold upon eternal life for the full fruition whereof he therefore dearly and daily longs and labours Hence also it comes to pass that this good old Saint this earthly Angel is so heavenly in his Spirit fruitful in good speeches innocent in his life abundant in deeds of Piety and Charity still doing something that may further his reckoning and add weight to his crown which he ever eyeth and even reacheth after The former instances might be here called over again all whose humility was not more low then their aims were lofty 3. This good old disciple of Christ is very able to bear and forbear like as a man at maturity can bear with little childrens follies and not set his wâ—t to theirs as we use to phrase it Thus Abraham bore with Lots rudeness Moses with the peoples petulancies and insolencies Paul with the buffoneries and indignities put upon him by the Corinthians and Galathians Ye have not injured me at all saith he Gal. 4.12 Your disrespects and affronts reach me not I am far above them I am out of your gun-shot So Fulgentius an Ancient of the Church being abused by one who was far his inferiour Maluit tolerare quà m deplorare put it off with Plura adhuc pro Christo toleranda This is a small Trial I must frame to bear more yet for Christ As an old Porter that had been beaten to the Cross he went singing under his burthen holding it no small grace Elegantissimum Oxymoron Casaub to be disgraced for the name of Jesus as it is said of those Disciples of our Saviour Acts 5.41 who soon after his Ascension were all upon the suddain of Babes become Grandees in Grace 4. Lastly he is much affected with the state of others Good Abraham could not rest in his bed that night for thinking of poor Sodom Gen. 19.27 as Luther observeth But especially he is affected with the well-fare or ill-fare of the Churches as being himself of a publick that is of a noble spirit and as a living member of Christs mystical Body he feels twinges whensoever others are hurt in the least See this in Daniel Nehemiah EZra but especially in Paul upon whom lay the care and cumber of all the Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 11.28 it came upon him as an armed man and gave him no rest or respite Cyprians Cum singulis pectus meum copulo is well known And of Calvin it is recorded in his life by Beza that he was no otherwise affected toward the Churches though far remote then if he had born them on his own shoulders This is a sure Note of a Father Indeed Babes and young men are so cumbred with their own corruptions have so much work of their own to do within doors that they have little leisure or list to look abroad Neither are they therefore so much affected with other mens conditions To speak a little of those two also in their order And first of the young man in Christ Where let it be I beseech you no trouble or offence of heart singultus cordis some render it 1 Sam. 25.31 to You Noble Colonel together with your * Jungat epistola quos junxit conjugium immò charta non non dividat quos Christi nectit amor Hier. praefat in Proverb elect or choice Lady to be set among the second sort of good Christians though I must needs say for your very eximious and exemplary Piety and Prudence you may well claim place in the upper form of this lower world But you know who it was that said long since Cicero Honestum est ei qui in primis non potest in secundis tertiisve consistere And to have a door-keepers place in Gods house David held no small preferment Psalm 84.10 But to go on with our business A young man in Christ may be thus Characterized 1. He is strong in grace but withall he hath some one or more strong corruption suppose Passion evil Concupiscence Worldliness or the like that holds him play and puts him shrewdly to 't so that sometimes he could almost find in his heart to sin My feet were almost gone my steps had well-nigh slipt Psalm 73.2 But afterwards he better bethinks himself forbears and forgoes it as a man would do a Serpent in his way or poison in his meats He maketh strong resistance and reneweth his well-knit resolutions against sin A mighty combat and coil there is other whiles as it useth to be in a thunder-clap caused by a hot dry vapour wrapt up in a cold moist cloud which ends in a great rumble and dreadful crack Patient Job and devout David for instance the one abhorring himself for his impatient out bursts the other be-beasting himself for his precipitancy his rash resolves one time when sick of the Fret Psalm 73.22 2. Next the weapons of this young mans warfare are not carnal such as natural reason shame of the world fear of Hell c. have put into his hand but spiritual mighty through God to the pulling down of Satans strongest holds the digging down of his deepest trenches 2 Cor. 10.5 He fights against the enemies of his soul with Gods own Arm and with Gods own Armour he is strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and taking the sword of his Spirit mingling with faith in his heart the Precepts Menaces and Promises he layes about him lustily and prevails accordingly driving the field of that old Man-slayer 3. He is much affected with his success If he get the better in any measure so that he doth not so much and oft break out as he was wont if his corruption be any whit abated his strength increased a little he is marvellous glad and thankfull Was not David so when disarmed by the discretion of Abigail 1 Sam. 25. and detained from shedding innocent blood As on the other side if wounded and worsted at any time he is all amort sorely disquieted restless as on a rack like a man thrust thorough the body he bleeds and sinks till with Peter he run to Christ the right Chirurgeon in this case with tears in his eyes bitter complaints in his mouth and utmost self-abhorrency in his heart and is cured set right again 4. Lastly
ingagements which when it was once done a most joyful man was hee saith Master Fox in his life For bills and obligations do mancipate the most free and ingenuous spirit and so put a man out of aim that hee can neither serve God without distraction nor do good to others nor set his own state in any good order but lives and dies intangled and puzled with cares and snares and after a tedious and laborious life passed in a circle of fretting thoughts hee leaves at last instead of better patrimony a world of intricate troubles to his posterity who are also taken with the words of his mouth Vers 3. When thou art come into the hand For the borrower is servant to the lender Hieron ad Celantiam Prov 22.7 And Facilè ex amico inimicum facies cui promissa non reddes saith Hierom. A friend will soon become a foe if unfriendly and unfaithfully dealt with Not keeping time makes a jarre in payments and so in friendship too as well as in Musick Ezek. 32.2 34.18 Go humble thy self Crave favour and further time of the Creditour say Doubt not of your debt onely forbear a while Cast thy self at his feet as to bee trodden so the Hebrew word here signifieth Stick not at any submission so thou mayest gain time and get off and not bee forced to run into the Usurers Books that Amalec or licking people which as Cormorants fall upon the borrowers and like Cur-doggs suck your blood onely with licking and in the end kill you and crush you rob you and ravish you Psal 10.8 9 10. And make sure thy friend For whom thou standest ingaged call upon him to save thee harmless For as Alphius the Usurer sometimes said of his Clients Horat. Epod. Colum. de re rust l. 1. c 7. Optima nomina non appellando mala fieri Even good Debters will prove slack pay-masters if they bee let alone if not now and then called upon Some read the words thus Multiply thy friends or sollicite them viz. to intercede for thee to the Creditor and to keep thee out of this brake Vers 4. Give not sleep to thine eyes c. Augustus wondred at a certain Knight in Rome that owed much and yet could sleep securely Dio. and when this Knight dyed hee sent to buy his bed as supposing there was something more than ordinary in it to procure sleep The opportunity of liberty and thriving is to bee well husbanded lest some storm arising from the cruelty of Creditors or mutability of outward things over-whelm a man with debt and danger as the whirlwind doth the unwary traveller upon the Alpes with snow Now if such care bee to bee taken that wee run not rashly in debt to men how much more to God If to undertake for others bee so dangerous how should wee pray with that godly man August From my other-mens sins good Lord deliver mee If wee are so to humble our selves to our fellow-creatures in this case how much more should wee humble our selves under the mighty hand of God Jam. 4.10 that hee may lift us up in due season If this bee to bee done without delay where the danger reacheth but to the outward man how much more speed and earnestness should bee used in making peace with God whose wrath is a fire that burns as low as hell and getting the black lines of our sins drawn over with the red lines of his Sons blood and so utterly razed out of the book of his remembrance Vers 5. As a Roe from the hand c. This creature may bee taken but not easily tamed It seeks therefore by all means to make escape Cald. Paraph. in Cant. 8.14 and when it fleeth looketh behinde it holding it no life if not at liberty And as a bird A most fearful creature and desirous of liberty Nititur in sylvas quaeque redire suas that Avis Paradisi especially that being taken never gives over groaning till let go again Vers 6. Go to the Ant thou sluggard Man that was once the Captain of Gods School is now for his truantliness turned down into the lowest form as it were to learn his A b c again yea to bee taught by these meanest creatures So Christ sends us to School to the birds of the air and Lilies of the field to learn dependence upon divine Providence Matth. 6. and to the Stork Crane and Swallow to bee taught to take the seasons of Grace and not to let slip the opportunities that God putteth into our hands Jer. 8.7 This poor despicable creature the Ant is here set in the chair to read us a Lecture of sedulity and good husbandry What a deal of grain gets she together in Summer What pains doth shee take for it labouring not by day-light onely but by Moon-shine also What huge heaps hath shee What care to bring forth her store and lay it a drying on a Sun-shine day left with moisture it should putrifie c. Not onely Aristotle Aelian and Pliny but also Basil Ambrose and Hierom have observed and written much of the nature and industry of this poor creature telling us withall that in the Ant Bee Stork c. God hath set before us as in a picture the lively resemblance of many excellent vertues which wee ought to pursue and practise These saith One are veri laicorum libri the true Lay-mens books the images that may teach men the right knowledge of God and of his will of themselves and their duties Vers 7. Which having no guide overseer c. How much more then should man who hath all these and is both ad laborem natus ratione ornatus born to labour and hath reason to guide him Only hee must take heed that hee bee not Antlike wholly taken up about what shall wee eat or what shall wee drink c. Vers 8. Provideth her meat in the Summer Shee devours indeed much grain made chiefly for the use of man But deserves saith an Interpreter for this very cause to bee fed with the finest wheat and greatest dainties that all men may have her alwayes in their eye Diligent men to quicken their diligence and sluggards to shame them for their slothfulness And gathereth her food in harvest That may serve in Winter It is good for a man to keep somewhat by him to have something in store and not in diem vivere Quintâ—l as the fowls of heaven do Bonus Servatius facit bonum Bonifacium as the Dutch Proverb hath it A good saver makes a well-doer Care must bee taken ne Promus sit fortior Condo that our layings-out bee not more than our layings-up Let no man here object that of our Saviour Care not for to morrow c. There is a care of diligence and a care of diffidence a care of the head and a care of the heart the former is needful the latter sinful Vers 9. How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard
This day have I paid my vows A votary then shee was by all means and so more than ordinarily religious So was Doeg why else was hee deteined before the Lord 1 Sam. 21.7 A Doeg may set his foot as far into Gods Sanctuary as a David That many Popish Votaries are no better than this huswife in the text see the Lisbon-Nunnery c. besides those thousands of Infants skulls found in the fish-pools by Gregory the Great Vers 15. Therefore came I forth As having much good chear at home Sine Cerere Libero frigâ—t Venâ—â— as at all peace-offerings they had Gluttony is the gallery that libidinousness walks through Diligently to seek thy face Or thy person not thy purse thee not thine do I seek Quis credit And I have found thee By a providence no doubt God must have a hand in it or else 't is marvel God hath given mee my hire said Leah because I have given my Maid to my Husband Gen. 30.18 See 1 Sam. 23.7 Zach. 11.5 Vers 16. I have decked my bed Lest haply by being abroad so late hee should question where to have a bed shee assures him of a dainty one with curious curtains Vers 17. With Myrrhe Aloes c. This might have minded the young man that hee was going to his grave for the bodies of the dead were so perfumed Such a meditation would have much rebated his edge cooled his courage Jerusalems filthiness was in her skirts and why shee remembred not her latter end Lam. 1.9 As the stroaking of a dead hand they say cureth a tympany and as the ashes of a viper applied to the part that is stung draws the venome out of it so the serious thought of death will prove a death to fleshly lusts Mr. Wards Sermons I meet with a story of one that gave a loose young man a Ring with a deaths-head with this condition that hee should one hour daily for seven daies together look and think upon it which bred a strange alteration in his life Vers 18. Until the morning But what if death draw the curtains and look in the while If death do not yet guilt will And here beasts are more happy in carnal contentments than sensual voluptuaries for in their delights they seldome surfeit but never sin and so never finde any cause or use for pangs of repentance as Epicures do whose pleasure passeth but a sting staies behinde Job calleth sparks the sons of fire being ingendred by it upon fuel as pleasures are the sons of mens lusts when the object and they lye and couple together And they are not long-lived they are but as sparks they dye as soon as begotten Vers 19. For the good man is not at home Heb. The man not my man or my husband c. the very mention how much more the presence of such a man might have marred the mirth Vers 20. Hee hath taken a bag of mony And so will not return in haste Let not the children of this world bee wiser than wee Lay up treasure in Heaven provide your selves baggs that wax not old Luk. 12.33 Do as Merchants that being to travel into a far Country deliver their mony here upon the Exchange that there they may receive it Evagrius in Cedrenus bequeathed three hundred pound to the poor in his will but took a bond beforehand of Synesius the Bishop for the re-payment of this in another life according to the promise of our Saviour of an hundred fold advantage Vers 21. With much fair speech Fair words make fools fain This Circe so enchanted the yonker with her fine language that now shee may do what she will with him for hee is wholly at her devotion Vers 22. Hee goeth after her straightway Without any consideration of the sad consequents Lust had blinded and besotted him and even transformed him into a brute Nos animas etiam incarnavimus saith one Many men have made their very spirit a lump of flesh and are hurried on to Hell with greatest violence Chide them you do but give physick in a fit counsel them you do but give advice to a man that is running a race bee your counsel never so good hee cannot stay to hear you but will bee ready to answer as Antipater did when one presented him with a book treating of happiness he rejected it and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have no leasure to read such discourses As an Oxe goeth to the slaughter When hee thinks hee goeth to the pasture or as those Oxen brought forth by Jupiters Priest with garlands unto the gates but it was for a slain-sacrifice Acts 14.13 Fatted ware are but fitted for the shambles Numella Beza in loc Or as a fool to the correction of the Stocks Such stocks as Paul and Silas yet no fools were thrust into feet and neck also as the word there signifieth Acts 14.24 This the fool fears not till hee feels till his head bee cooled and his heels too till hee hath slept out his drunkenness and then hee findes where hee is and must stick by it See this exemplified Prov. 5.11 How many such fools have wee now adaies Mori morantur quocunque sub axe morantur that rejoyce in their spiritual bondage and dance to Hell in their bolts as one saith nay are weary of deliverance They sit in the stocks when they are at prayers and come out of the Church when the tedious Sermon runs somewhat beyond the hour like prisoners out of a Gaol The Devil is at Iâ—ne with such saith Master Bradford and the Devil will keep holy-day as it were in Hell in respect of such saith another Vers 23. Till a dart strike thorow his liver i. e. Filthy lust that fiery dart of the Devil Plato in hepate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ponit Horat Ode 1. lib. 4. Ode 25. lib. 5. Ovid. Trist pointed and poisoned as the Sythian darts are said to bee with the gall of Asps and Vipers Philosophers place lust in the liver Mathematicians subject the liver to Venus the Poets complain of Cupids wounding them in that part Cor sapit pulmo loquitur fel commovit iras Splen ridere facit cogit amare jecor Or as some sense it till the Adulterer bee by the Whores husband or friends or by the hand of justice deprived of life perhaps in the very act as Zimri and Cozbi were by Phineas in the very flagrancy of their lust Vers 24. Hearken now therefore Call up the ears of thy minde to the ears of thy body that one sound may pierce both Solomon knew well how hard it was to get ground of a raging lust even as hard as to get ground of the Sea Hence hee so sets on his exhortation Vers 25. Let not thine heart Think not of her lust not after her Thoughts and affections are sibi mutuo causae Whilest I mused the fire burned Psal 39. so that thoughts kindle affections and these cause thoughts to boyl See Job
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hostibus hand tergo sed forti pectore notus Vers 15. By mee Kings reign How then can the School-men defend Thomas Aquinas in that Paradox Dominium praelatio introducta sunt ex jure humano Dominion and Government is of man This crosseth the Apostle Rom. 13.1 2. and the wisest of the Heathens Vers 16. And Nobles So called in the original from their liberality and bounty Hence Luke 22.25 This word is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bountiful or Benefactors such as are ingenuous free munificent indued with that free Princely spirit Psal 51.14 Even all the Judges of the earth Though haply they bee reckoned in the rank of bad men but good Princes such as was Galba and our Richard the third Plin Secund. Dion Cass and Trajan much magnified for a good Emperour and yet a Drunkard a Baggerer and a cruel Persecutor Vers 17. I love them that love mee The Philosopher could say that if moral vertue could bee seen with mortal eyes shee would stir up wonderful loves of her self in the hearts of the beholders How much more then would the Wisdome of God in a Mystery 1 Cor. 2.7 that essential wisdome of God especially the Lord Jesus who is totus desiderabilis altogether lovely Cant. 5.16 the desire of all Nations Hag. 2.7 whom whosoever loveth not deserves to bee double accursed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 15.22 My love was crucified said Ignatius who loved not his life unto the death Rev. 22.11 Neither was there any love lost or can be For I love them that love mee And if any man love mee my Father will love him and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him and wee will come unto him and make our abode with him Joh. 14.21 23. Men do not alwayes reciprocate nor return love for love For my love Psal 109.4 5. they are mine adversaries Yea they have rewarded mee hatred for my love David lost his love upon Absolom Paul upon the Corinthians Old Andronicus the Greek Emperor upon his graceless Nephew of the same name But here is no such danger it shall not bee easie for any man to out-love Wisdome For whereas some one might reply You are so taken up with States Ob. and have such great Suters Kings Princes Nobles Judges as vers 15 16. that it is not for mean men to look for any love from you Not so saith Wisdome for I love them that love mee Sol. bee they never so much below mee Grace bee with all them that love the Lord Jesus insincerity Tantum velis Deus tibi praeoccurret saith Nazianzen Ambulas si amas Eph. 6.23 Non enim passibus ad Deum sed affectibus curritur saith Augustin Thou walkest if thou lovest Thou actest if thou affectest They that seek mee early As Students sit close to it in the morning Aurora musis amica Vers 18. Riches and honour are with mee I come not unaccompanied but bring with mee that which is well worth having The Muses though Jupiters daughters and well deserving yet are said to have had no Suters because they had no portions Our Henry the eighth when hee dyed Engl. Elis gave his two daughters Mary and Elizabeth but ten thousand pounds apeece But this Lady is largely endowed and yet such is mens dulness shee is put to sollicit Suters by setting forth her great wealth See the Note on Matth. 6.33 Vers 19. My fruit is better than gold This Wisdome is as those two golden Pipes Zach. 4. through which the two Olive-branches do empty out of themselves the golden oyles of all precious graces into the Candlestick the Church Hence grace is here called fruits and Cant. 4.16 Pleasant fruits and fruits of the Spirit Gal. 6.22 Vers 20. I lead in the way of righteousness Which is to say I got not my wealth per fas atque nefas by right and wrong by wrench and wile My riches are not the riches of unrighteousness the Mammon of iniquity Luke 16.9 but are honestly come by and are therefore like to bee durable v. 18. or as others render it antient St. Hierom somewhere saith that most rich men are either themselves bad men or heirs of those that have been bad There is a prophane Proverb amongst us Happy is that childe whose Father goes to the Devil It is reported of Nevessan the Lawyer that hee should say Hee that will not venture his body shall never bee valiant hee that will not venture his soul never rich But Wisdomes walk lyes not any such way God forbid saith shee that I or any of mine should take of Satan Gen. 14.23 from a thread even to a shoo-latchet lest hee should say I have made you rich Vers 21. To inherit substance Heb. That that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that that hath some tack or substance in it some firmity or solid consistency Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Outward things are not but onely in opinion in imagination In semblance not in substance The pomp of this world is but a fancy Act. 25.33 the glory of it a conceit Matth. 4. the whole fashion of it a meer notion 1 Cor. 7.31 Riches get them great Eagles wings Prov. 23.5 they flye away without once taking leave of the owner leaving nothing but the print of their talons in his heart to torment him When wee grasp them most greedily wee imbrace nothing but smoke which wrings tears from our eyes and vanisheth into nothing Onely true grace is durable substance the things above out-last the dayes of heaven and run parallel with the life of God and line of eternity Vers 22. The Lord possessed mee Not created mee as the Arrians out of the Septuagint pressed it to prove Christ a creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Before his works of old Heb. Ante opera suo ante tunc id est priusquam quis dicere potest tunc before there was any either now or then before all time therefore from all eternity For whatsoever was before the world and time that was created with the world must needs bee eternal Vers 23. I was set up Coronata sum I was crowned so some render it Inuncta fuâ— I was anointed â—o others for King Priest and Prophet of my Church And to this high honour I grew not up by degrees but had it presently from before all beginnings Vers 24. When there were no depths In mentioning Gods works of Creation some observe here that wisdome proceeds from the lower elements to the superiour and heavenly bodies Shee begins with the earth vers 23. goes on here to the waters and so to the air called Streets rendred Fields vers 26. that is the vast element of the air which compared with the far less elements of earth and water must needs seem exceeding large spacious and open as streets or fields Lastly by the highest part of the dust
to go over it but is fallen into the brook Hee thought hee had taken hold of God but it is but with him as with a childe that catcheth at the shadow on the wall which hee thinks hee holds fast but hee onely thinks so Vers 8. And the wicked cometh in his stead Thus it befel Haman and Daniels enemies and those inhumane Edomites Lam. 4.21 And Herod with his Hacksters Act. 12. It is a righteous thing with God 2 Thes 1.6 7. though to men it seem an incredible paradox and a news by far more admirable than acceptable that there should bee such a transmutation of conditions on both sides to contraries But thus it falls out frequently John Martin of Briqueras a mile from Angrogne in France vaunted every where Act Mon. fol. 871. that hee would slit the Ministers nose of Angrogne But behold himself was shortly after assaulted by a Woolf which bit off his nose so that hee died mad thereof Vers 9. An Hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth That is the flatterer slanderer evil counsellour but especially the Heretick as the Valentinians Tertul. qui artificium habuerunt quo prius persuaderent quà m docerent by their Pithanology by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple Rom. 16.19 they bring men into the Lions mouth as that old seducer did by telling them of an Angel that spoke to them and so make prize of them Col. 2.8 and drag Disciples after them Act. 20.30 But through knowledge shall the just bee delivered Hee is too wise to bee flattered and too knowing to bee plucked away with the errour of the wicked Zanch. Misc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dion 1 Pet. 3.17 18. Zanchius was set upon by Socinus but the Heretick lost his labour Wherefore adde to your virtue knowledge 2 Pet. 1.5 and have your senses exercised to discern good and evil Heb. 5. ult Vers 10. When it goeth well with the righteous When they are set in place of Authority all the Country fare the better for it All cannot chuse but do well so long as thou rulest well said the Senate to Severus the Emperour And Ita nati estis said hee in Tacitus ut bona malaque vestra ad rempublicam pertineant Publick persons are either a great mercy or a great misery to the whole Country And when the wicked perish there is shouting For by their fall the people rise and their ruine is the repair of the City Cum mors crudelem rapuisset saeva Neronem Credibile est multos Romam agitasse jocos Vers 11. By the blessing of the upright the City is exalted This is given in as a reason of that publick joy in the welfare of the just Because they are of publick spirits and will by their good deeds good doctrines good counsels and good prayers Lucan promote the publick good to their utmost Catonis mores erant Toti genitum se credere mundo Saints are clouds Heb. 12.1 that water the earth as a common blessing But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked Whether hee bee a seeds-man of sedition or a seducer of the people a Sheba or a Shebna a carnal Gospeller or a godless Politician whose drift is to formalize and enervate the power of truth till at length they leave us a heartless and sapless Religion one of these sinners may destroy much good Eccles 9.18 Vers 12. Hee that is void of wisdome despiseth his neighbour Not remembring that hee is his neighbour cut out of the same cloth the shears onely going between and as capable of Heaven as himself though never so poor mean deformed or otherwise despicable None but a fool will do so none but hee that hath a base and beggarly heart of his own as the words signifie But a man of understanding holdeth his peace That is refraineth his tongue from such opprobrious language speaketh the best hee can of another thinks with himself Aut sumus aut fuimus aut possumus esse quod hic est Or if himself bee slighted or reviled objecta probra digno supplicio punit festivo scilicet contemptu oblivione vel si tanti est misericordia elevat Hee knows it is to no purpose to wash off dirt with dirt and is therefore as a dumb man c. Vers 13. A tale-bearer revealeth secrets Heb. A Pedler See the Note on Levit. 19.16 and on 1 Tim. 5.13 Si sapis arcano vina reconde cado God forbids us to chaffer with these petty-chapmen Prov. 20.19 Concealeth the matter Tacitus to him is the best Historian primus in Historia Hee is a rare friend that can both give counsel and keep counsel One being hit in the teeth with his stinking breath wittily excused it that it was by reason of the many secrets committed to him and concealed by him so long till they were even rotten in his bosome Vers 14. Where no counsel is the people fall As where no Pilot is the ship miscarrieth The Vulgar renders it Ubi non est gubernator corruit populus Tyranny is better than Anarchy And yet Woe also to thee O Land whose King is a childe that is wilful and uncounsellable as Rehoboam who was a childe at forty years old when as his Father was a man at twelve Age is no just measure of wisdome and royalty without wisdome is but eminent dishonour Solomon the wise chose him an excellent Council of state whom Rehoboam refused to hear being as much more wilful than his Father as lesse wise all head Turk Hist Keckerm Politic Ulysses interrogat quaie regnum esset Cyclopicum responde◠Silenus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no heart losing those ten tribes with a churlish breath and returning to Jerusalem lighter by a Crown than hee went forth Hee and his green-headed Council was like Acribiades and his Army where all would be Leaders none Learners Or it may bee it was now in Israel as once it was in Persia and as now it is in Turkey when the Great Turk stands at the dangerous door where if any Counsellor delivered any thing contrary to the Kings mind flagris caedebatur hee was chastised with Rods Or as in Regno Cyclopico ubi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where no man cared for better counsel but each one did what was good in his own eyes Such cannot long subsist But in the multitude of Counsellors So they bee good Counsellours better than Balaam was better than Achitophel better than those of Aurelius Tertul. Apol. by whom the good Emperour was even bought and sold One special thing the Primitive Christians prayed for the Emperour was that God would send him Senatum fidelem a faithful Council There were in Josiah's dayes horrible abominations And why The Princes were as roaring Lions the Judges Wolves c. Zeph. 3.3 Queen Elizabeth was happy in her Council by whom shee was most-what ruled and grew amiable to her friends and formidable to her enemies both at home and
9.17 God stands not upon multitudes he buried the old World in one universal grave of waters And turning the Cities of Sodome and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow 2 Pet. 2.6 This is a good sense Howbeit I cannot but incline to those that expound Hand to hand for Father and Childe in regard of the following hemistich But the seed of the righteous shall be delivered As if the Prophet should say The wicked traduce a cursed stock of sin to their Children and shall therefore bee punished in their own person or at least in their posterity Psal 49.11 13 14. This their way is their folly yet their posterity approve their sayings Therefore like sheep they are laid in the grave death shall feed on them c. Vers 22. As a Jewel of gold in a Swines snout It is a small praise saith one to have a good face and an evil nature No one means saith another hath so enriched Hell as beautiful faces Aureliae Orestillae praeter formam nihil unquam bonus laudavit saith Salust In Aurelia Orestilla there was nothing praise-worthy but her beauty Art thou fair saith an Author be not like an Aegyptian Temple or a painted Sepulcher Art thou foul let thy soul bee like a rich pearl in a rude shell Si mihi difficilis formam naturae negavit Sapph ap Ovid. Ingenio formae damna rependo meae So is a fair woman which is without discretion Sic dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in luto saith Salvian Fair and foolish ones abuse their beauty to pride and incontinency and so give occasion to some Diogenes to say O quam bona domus malus hospes O fair house but ill inhabitant Vers 23. The desire of the righteous is onely good i. e. So far as hee is righteous or spiritual hee delights in the Law of God after the inward man willing in all things to live honestly Heb. 13.18 Evil motions haunt his minde otherwhiles but there they inhabit not Lust was a stranger to David as Peter Martyr observes out of Nathans Parable There came a Traveller to this rich man 2 Sam. 12.4 The main stream of his desires the course and current of his heart ran upon God and godliness Psal 119.4 5. And Psal 39.1 3. Hee resolved to do better than hee did The spirit ever lusteth against the flesh howbeit when the flesh gets the wind and hill of the spirit all is not so well carried As the Ferry-man plyes the Oar and eyes the shore home-ward where hee would bee yet there comes a gust of wind that carries him back again so it is oft with a Christian But every man is with God so good as he desires to bee In vita libro scribuntur qui quod possunt faciunt et si quod debent non possunt â—ern They are written in the book of life that do what good they can though they cannot do as they would But the expectation of the wicked is wrath i. e. The good they expect proves to bee indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish Rom. 2.8 9. woful perplexities and convulsions of soul which will bee so great and so grievous as will make them rave and rage with madness and fury especially because they looked for a better state Vers 24. There is that scattereth and yet increaseth Bounty is the most compendious way to plenty neither is getting but giving the best thrift The five loaves in the Gospel by a strange kinde of Arithmetick were multiplied by Division and augmented by Substraction So it will bee in this case But it tendeth to poverty St. Austin descanting upon those words Psal 76.5 They have slept their sleep all the rich men and have found nothing in their hands for so hee reads that Text And why is this saith Hee Nihil invenerunt in manibus suis quia nihil posuerunt in manu Christi They found nothing in their own hands because they feared to lay up any thing in Christs hands Manus pauperum gazophylacium Christi saith another Father The poor mans hand is Christs treasury Vers 25. The liberal soul shall bee made fat See the Note on Matth. 5.7 and my Common-place of Almes Vers 26. The people shall curse him i. e. Complain and cry out of him as the people of Rome did of Pompey in another case Nostrâ miseriâ tu es Magnus In another case I say for in this I must acquit him remembring that speech of his when being by his office to bring in Corn from a far Country for the peoples necessity and wished by his friends to stay for a better wind hee hoysed up sail and said Necesse est ut eam non ut vivam There is a necessity of my going not so of my life If I perish I perish Hence hee was the peoples Corculum or Sweet-heart as it is said of Scipio Nasica Vers 27. Hee that diligently seeketh good Hebr. Hee that is up betime to promote the publike good as Joseph who came not in till noon to eat meat as Nehemiah who willingly brake his sleep and traded every talent for his peoples comfort As Scipio Africanus who usually went before day into the Capitol in cellam Jovis and there stayed a great while quasi consultans de Rep. cum Jove Gell. lib. 7. cap. 1. as consulting with his God about the Weal-publike whence his deeds were pleraque admiranda saith mine Author amiable and admirable the most of them And as Daniel who though sick yet rose up and did the Kings business Chap. 8.27 It shall come to him It shall come certainly suddenly irresistibly and as wee say of foul weather unsent for God will say to such as Aulus Fulvius did to his trayterous son and then slew him Non Catâ—linae te genui sed patriae The Lord shall pour upon him and not spare because hee cruelly oppressed spoiled his brother by violence and did that which is not good among his people therefore hee shall dye in his iniquity Ezek. 18.18 Vers 28. Hee that trusteth to his riches shall fall Riches were never true to any that trusted to them The rich Churl that trusted and boasted that hee had much goods laid up in store for many years when like a Jay hee was pruning himself in his boughes hee came tumbling down with the arrow in his side Luke 12.15 16. c. So did Nebuchadnezzar Belteshazzar Herod c. The righteous also shall see and fear and laugh at such a one saying Loe this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthned himself in his wickedness Psal 52.6 7. But I am like a green Olive tree c. vers 8. Agreeable whereunto is this that follows here But the righteous shall flourish as a branch whiles the wicked Foenea quadam felicitate temporaliter florent Aug. Epist 120. exoriuntur ut exurantur flourish and ruffle for a time but shall
Cabbin Chest and corner above-board were searched and some things found to draw him further on so that the hatches must bee opened which seemed to bee unwillingly done and great signs of fear were shewed by their faces Speeds hist of great Britain fol. 1174. This drew on the Doctor to descend into the hold where now in the Trap the Mouse might well gnaw but could not get out for the hatches went down and the sails hoysed up which with a merry gale were blown into England where ere long hee was arraigned and condemned of high Treason and accordingly executed at Tiburn as hee had well deserved Vers 13. The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips His heart is oft so full of venome that it cannot bee hid but blisters his tongue and breaks out at his lips to his own ruine as it befell Story Campian Garnet and other Popish poysonful Spiders who were swept down by the hand Justice and drew their last thred in the Triangle of Tiburn Detexit facinus fatnus non implevit as Tacitus saith of one that was sent by the Senate to dispatch Nero but bewrayed and betrayed himself But the just shall come out of trouble They suffer sometimes for their bold and free invectives against the evils of the times or otherwise for discharging their consciences but they shall surely bee delivered There is yet one man saith Ahab Micaiah the son of Imlah by whom wee may inquire of the Lord but I hate him for hee doth not prophesie good concerning mee but evil It is very probable that Micaiah was that disguised Prophet who brought to Ahab the fearful message of displeasure and death for dismissing Benhadad for which hee was ever since fast in Prison deep in disgrace But God with the temptation made a way for him to escape So hee did for Peter Act. 12. Paul 2 Tim. 4. All the Apostles Act. 4. John Baptist indeed was without any law right or reason beheaded in prison Act. Mon. fol. 1423. as though God had known nothing at all of him said George Marsh the Martyr And the same may bee said of sundry other faithful witness to the truth but then by death they entred into life eternal Mors fuit aerumnarum requies which was Chaucers Motto besides that heaven upon earth they had during their troubles Philip Lansgrave of Hesse being a long time prisoner under Charles the fifth was demanded what upheld him all that while Respondit divinas consolationes Martyrum se sensisse hee answered that hee had felt the divine comforts of the Martyrs The best comforts are usually reserved for the worst times Vers 14. A man shall bee satiated with good c. There are empty Vines that bear fruit to themselves Hos 10.1 And as empty Casks sound loudest and base metal rings shrillest so many empty Tatlers are full of discourse sed cui bono as hee said Plato and Xenophon thought it fit and profitable that mens speeches at meals should bee written And if Christians should so do what kinde of books would they bee Mat. 12. Mal. 3. And yet for every idle word account must bee given as for every good word there is a book of remembrance Much fruit will redound by holy speeches to our selves much to others Paul sheweth that the very report of his bands did a great deal of good in Cesars house A poor captive Maid was the means of Naamans conversion As afterwards the words of his servants were greater in operation with him than the words of the great Prophet Elisha One seasonable truth falling upon a prepared heart hath oft a strong and sweet influence Sometimes also though wee know that which wee ask of others as well as they do yet good speeches will draw us to know it better by giving occasion to speak more of it wherewith the Spirit works more effectually and imprints it deeper so that it shall bee a more rooted knowledge than before for that satiates the soul that is graciously known and that is graciously known that the Spirit seals upon our souls In the morning therefore sow thy seed and in the evening with-hold not thy hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper this or that or whether they both shall bee alike good Eccles 11.6 And the recompence of a mans hands shall bee given unto him Hee shall eat the fruit of his doings Isa 3.10 For the talk of the lips if that bee all tendeth onely to penury Prov. 14.13 Nos non eloquimur magna sed vivimus said they of old Origens teaching and living were said to bee both one Hee cannot look to bee satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth qui operibus destruit quod recte docet who sayes one thing and doth another A smoothe tongue and a rough hand carries away double judgement Vers 15. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes Hee thinks his own wit best Arachne ap Ovid. Consilii satis est in me mihi hee will not part with his Commonwealth of bables for the Tower of London And such a fool is every natural men Job 11.12 wise enough haply in his generation so is the Fox too wise with such a wisdome as like the Ostrich-wings makes him out-run others upon earth and in earthly things but helps him never a whit towards heaven nay hinders him and hangs in his light as it fared with the Pharisees Matth. 21.31 Of such it may bee said as Quintilian said of some over-weeners of themselves that they might have proved excellent Scholars if they had not been so perswaded already so might many have been wise if they had not been conceited of their own wisdome and saved if not over-well perswaded of their good estate to God-ward They clasp and hug the barn of their own brain with the Ape till they strangle it At parit ut vivat regnetque beatus Hor. Ep. 2. Cogi posse negat But hee that hearkneth to counsel is wise Hee that suspecting his own judgement takes advice of wiser than himself seldome miscarries There is that self-love in many that they think their Mole-hill a Mountain their Kestril an Eagle their Goose a Swan And being self-conceited they love to bee flattered Not so the wise man hee knows that humanum est errare And that Triste mortalitatis privilegium est licere aliquando peccare Hee is therefore glad of good counsel and thankful for a seasonable reproof Let the righteous smite mee Vers 16. A fools wrath is presently known Hee hath no power over his passions Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fool and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suddenly rashly is from the same root Like Tow hee is soon kindled like a pot hee soon boyls and like a candle whose tallow is mixt with brine as soon as lighted hee spits up and down the room A fool uttereth all his minde Prov. 29.11 The Septuagint render it All his anger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
once heard a dying Swan sing most sweetly and melodiously which in her life time hath no such pleasant note As on the other side Syrens are said to sing curiously while they live but to roar horribly when they dye Such is the case of the godly and the wicked when they come to dye Vers 33. Wisdome resteth in the heart of him c. Hee sets not his good parts and practices a sunning as vain-glorious fools use to do that they may bee cried up Epist ad Julian consolator and applauded As Hierome calls Crates the Philosopher wee may call the whole Nation of them so Gloriae animal popularis aurae vile mancipium a base hunter after praise of men The truly wise concealeth himself till hee seeth a fit time and may bee compared to the red Rose which though outwardly not so fragrant is inwardly far more cordial than the Damask being more thrifty of its sweetness and reserving it in it self Or to the Violet which grows low hangs the head downward and hides it self with its own leaves Whereas the Marrigold of nothing so good a smell opens and shuts with the Sun which when it is set it hangs down the head as forlorn and desperate So that which is in the midst of fools is made known Jehonadab must needs see what zeal Jehu hath for the Lord of Hoasts His piety is shored up by popularity c. Vers 34. Righteousness exalteth a Nation True Religion and the power of godliness is the beauty and bulwark of a State So are good Laws enacted and executed Deut. 28.13 This made the faithful City Isa 1.21 to bee the Princess of Provinces Lam. 1.1 that land a land of desire an heritage of glory Jer. 3.19 even the glory of all Nations Ezek. 20.6 Josephus calls that Commonwealth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Prospers conceit is that Judaeâ— were so called because they received jus Dei It was said of old Angli quasi Angeli and Anglia regnum Dei. England was called the Kingdome of God and Albion quasi Olbion Polyd. Virg. a happy Country the Paradise of pleasure and Garden of God Now the Lord is with us while wee are with him c. But if wee cast off the yoke of his obedience as Capernaum though lifted up to heaven wee shall bee brought down to hell Sins are the Snuffes that dim our Candlestick and threaten the removal of it The leven that defiles our Passeovers and urges God to pass away and depart from us The reproach that will render us a Proverb and a by-word Deut. 28. an astonishment and an hissing Jer. 25.9 like Sodome and her sisters a reproach and a taunt Ezek 5.15 which to prevent Isidor Currat poenitentia ne praecurrat sententia Mittamus preces lachrymas cordis legatos Cyprian Let us break off our sins and cry mightily to God For otherwise a dismal change a sad removal of our Candlestick may bee as certainly foreseen and foretold as if visions and letters were sent us from heaven as once to those seven Churches of Asia Rev. 2. 3. Vers 35. The Kings favour is toward a wise servant As was Pharaohs toward Joseph Solomons toward Jeroboam Dariusses toward Daniel Henry the eighths toward Cromwell whom for his wisdome and faithfulness hee raised from a mean man son to a Blacksmith to bee first Master of his Jewel-house then Baron of Okeham in Rutlandshire then Knight of the Garter Earl of Essex Lord great Chamberlain and lastly ordained him his Vicar general Speed And if Kings do thus what will not the King of Kings do for every faithful and wise servant of his whom he hath made Ruler over his houshold Mat. 24.45 Verily I say unto you that hee shall make him Ruler over all his goods vers 47. yea partaker of his Masters joy Mat. 25. But his wrath is against him that causeth shame Such as was Jeroboam at length Haman Shebua Ziba Gehezi Ahitophel Judas c. It fares with many Princes as it doth with the creature called Millipeda which the more feet it hath the slowlier it goeth Corrupt servants hinder the course of Justice that it cannot run down as a torrent This reflects upon their Lords and at length falls heavily upon themselves CHAP. XV. Vers 1. A soft answer turneth away wrath IT is easier to stir strife than to stint it Hard to hard will never do But lay a flut upon a pillow and you may break it with ease Frangitur ira gravis quando est responsio suavis What more boisterous than the winds tamen iidem imbribus sopiuntur saith Pliny yet are they laid with soft showrs How soon was David disarmed by Abigails gentle Apology and made as meek as a Lamb So were the hot and hasty Ephraimites by Gideons milde and modest answer Judg. 8. By long forbearing is a Prince perswaded and a soft tongue breaketh the bones Prov. 25.15 Howbeit some persons must bee more roughly dealt with or they will never have done Nettles hardly handled sting not as they will if gently touched in some cases especially as when Gods glory is ingaged When Servetus condemned Zâ—inglius for his harshness hee answers In aliis mansuetus ero Ep. ad Sâ—rvâ—â— in blasphemiis in Christum non ita In other cases I will bee milde but in case of blasphemies against Christ I have no patience So Luther in a Letter to Staupicius Inveniar sane superbus c. modo impii silentii non arguar dum Dominus patitur Let mee bee counted proud or passionate so I bee not found guilty of sinful silence when the cause of God suffereth Madness in this case is better than mildness Moderation here is meer mopishness nay it is much worse But grievous words stir up anger Heb. make it to ascend viz. into the nostrils as fire in a chimney when blown up with bellows Some men have quick and hot spirits yea some good men as those two brethren sons of thunder how soon was their choler up Luk. 9.55 Now hard and harsh words do cast Oyl upon the flame and set their passions a float and then there is no ho with them Fertur equis auriga nec audit currus habenas How was Saul enkindled by Doeg and David by Nabals currishness Rehoboam with one churlish breath lost ten Tribes And Adrian the Emperour gave the Cryer great thanks who when hee was bidden to quiet the tumultuous people with an imperious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio in vit Adr. Hold your tongues hee held out his hand onely and when the people listened with great silence as the manner was to hear the Cry Hoc vero inquit Princeps vult This is that said hee that the Emperour requires of you viz. to bee silent The best answer to words of scorn and petulancy saith One is Isaacs Apology to his brother Ishmael patience and silence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Either reply not at all or else so that
commanded one of better carriage to give the same counsel and then they made use of it The people of Rome sware they would not beleeve Carbo Liv. though hee sware Much lesse do lying lips a Prince Or any ingenuous man as some render it A Princes bare word should bee better security than another mans oath said Alphonsus King of Arragon When Amurath the Great Turk was exhorted by his cruel Son Mahomet to break his Faith with the Inhabitants of Sfetigrade in Epirus hee would not hearken saying Turk Hist fol. 328. That hee which was desirous to bee great amongst men must either be indeed faithful of his word and promise or at leastwise seem so to bee thereby to gain the minds of the people who naturally abhorre the government of a faithless and cruel Prince What a foul blur was that to Christian Religion that Ladislaus King of Hungary should by the perswasion of the Popes Legate Ibid. 291. break his oath given to this Amurath at the great battel of Varna and thereby open the mouth of that dead Dog to rail upon Jesus Christ And how will the Papists ever bee able to wipe off from their Religion that stain that lies upon it ever since the Emperour Sigismund by the consent and advice of the Council of Constance brake his promise of safe conduct to John Hus and Hierome of Prague and burnt them But they have a rule to walk by now Fides cum haereticis non est servanda Promises made to Hereticks are not bee observed And it is for Merchants say they and not for Princes to stand to their oaths any further than may stand with the publike good This Divinity they may seem to have drawn out of Plato who in his third Dialogue of the Common-wealth saith that if it bee lawful for any one to lye it may bee lawful doubtless for Princes and Governours that aim therein at the Weal-publike But God by the mouth of his Servant and Secretary Solomon here assures us it is otherwise In vita Apollon l 3. c. 14. Vers 8. A gift is as a precious stone c. Heb. As a stone of grace Like that precious stone Pantarbe spoken of in Philostratus that hath a marvellous conciliating property or the wonder-working Loadstone that among other strange effects reckoned up by Marbodeus and Pictorius doth possessores suos disertos Principibus gratos reddere make those that have it well-spoken men and well accepted of Princes Whithersoever it turneth it prospereth Most men are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and love with shame Give yee Yet some Persian-like spirits there are as hath been made good before by the examples of Luther Galeabrius and some others that regard not silver and as for gold in such a way they have no delight in it Isa 13.17 But these are black Swans indeed The most sing Quis nisi mentis inops oblatum respuat aurum Who but a fool would refuse offered gold Vers 9. Hee that covereth a transgression seeketh love In friendship faults will fall out These must bee many of them dissembled and not chewed but swallowed down whole as Physick-pills for else they will stick in a mans teeth and prove very unpleasant See the Note on Prov. 10.12 But hee that repeateth a matter separateth very friends Hee that is so soft and sensible of smallest offences so tender and ticklish that hee can put up nothing without revenge or reparation Hee that rips up and rakes into his friends frailties and makes them more in the relating having never done with them hee shall soon make his best friends weary of him nay to become enemies to him Vers 10. A reproof entreth more into a wise man c. A word to the wise is sufficient A look from Christ brake Peters heart and dissolved it into tears Augustus being in a great rage ready to pass sentence of death upon many was taken off by these words of his friend Mecaenas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio in Aug. â—â—â—â— Maul loc com written in a Note and cast into his lap Tandem aliquando surge carnifex When Luther was once in a great heat Melancthon cooled him and qualified him by repeating that verse Vince animos iramque tuam qui caetera vincis Master you passions you that so easily master all things else Than an hundred stripes into a fool Hic enim plectitur sed non flectitur corripitur sed non corrigitur Beaten hee is but not bent to goodness amerced but not amended The Cypress the more it is watred the more it is withered Ahaz was the worse for his afflictions so was the railing Theef Jeroboams withered hand works nothing upon his heart Hee had herein as great a miracle wrought before him saith a reverend man as St. Paul had at his Conversion Dr. Preston yet was hee not wrought upon because the Spirit did not set it on Vers 11. An evil man seeketh onely rebellion viz. How to gain-stand and mischieve those that by words or stripes seek to reclaim him Some read it thus The rebellious seeketh mischief only hee is set upon sin hee shall bee sure of punishment No warnings will serve obdurate hearts wicked men are even ambitious of destruction Judgements need not go to finde them out they run to meet their bane they seek it and as it were send for it But this they need not do for a cruel messenger shall bee sent against him God hath forces enough at hand to fetch in his Rebels viz. good and evil Angels Stars Meteors Elements other creatures reasonable unreasonable insensible The stones in the wall of Aphek shall sooner turn Executioners than a rebellious Aramite shall scape unrevenged Not to speak of Hell-torments prepared for the Devil and his Angels and by them to bee inflicted on Rebels and Reprobates Vers 12. Let a Bear robbed of her Whelps meet a man A Bear is a fierce and fell creature the Shee-bear especially as Aristotle noteth but most of all when robbed of her Whelps which shee licketh into form and loveth without measure To meet her in this rage is to meet death in the face and yet that danger may bee sooner shifted and shunned than a furious fool set upon mischief Such were the primitive Persecutors not sparing those Christians whom Bears and Lions would not meddle with Such an one was our bloody Bonner Act. Mon. who in five years space took and roasted three hundred Martyrs most of them within his own Walk and Diocess Such another was that merciless Minerius one of the Popes Captains Ibid. who destroyed two and twenty Towns of the innocent Merindelians in France together with the inhabitants and being intreated for some few of them that escaped in their shirts to cover their nakedness hee sternly answered that hee knew what hee had to do and that not one of them should escape his hands but hee would send them to hell to dwell among Devils Vers 13. Who
so rewardeth evil for good c. Ingratitude is a monster in nature and doth therefore carry so much more detestation Nihil est tam inhumanum c. quam committere ut beneficio non dicam indignus sed victus esse videare Cic. as it is more odious even to themselves that have blotted out the image of God Some vices are such as nature smiles upon though frowned at by divine Justice not so this Licurgus would make no law against it because hee thought none could bee so absurd as to fall into it Amongst the Athenians there was an action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a Master against a servant ungrateful for his manumission not doing his duty to his late Master Such were again to bee made bond-slaves Val. Max. lib. 2. cap. 1. Zonaras in Annal. Turk hist 642. Who can chuse but abhor that abominable act of Michael Balbus who that night that his Prince Le◠Armenius had pardoned and released him got out and slew him And that of Mulcasses King of Tunes who cruelly tortured to death the Manifet and Mesner by whose means especially hee had aspired to the Kingdome grieving to see them live to whom hee was so much beholding And that of Dr. Watson Bishop of Lincoln in Queen Maries dayes Act. Mon. fol. 1843. who being with Bonner at the Examination of Mr. Rough Martyr a man that had been a means to save Watsons life in the dayes of King Edward the sixth to requite him that good turn detected him there to bee a pernicious heretick who did more hurt in the North parts than a hundred more of his opinion Whereunto may bee added that of William Parry who having been for Burglary condemned to dye was saved by Queen Elizabeths pardon But hee ungrateful wretch sought to requite her by vowing her death anno Dom. 1584. Speed fol. 1178. To render good for evil is divine good for good is humane evil for evil is bruitish evil for good is Devilish Evil shall not depart from his house i. e. From his Person and Posterity though haply hee may escape the lash of mans Law for such an abhorred villany See this fulfilled in Sauls family for his unworthy dealing with David in Muleasses and many others Jeremy in a spirit of Prophecie bitterly curseth such and foretelleth the utter ruine of them and theirs Chap. 18.20 21. c. shall evil be recompenced for good saith hee Therefore deliver up their children to the famine and let their wives bee widows Let a cry bee heard from their houses c. Vers 14. The beginning of strife is as when one lets out water It is easier to stir strife than stint it Lis litem generat As water it is of a spreading nature Do therefore here as the Dutch-men do by their banks they keep them with little cost and trouble because they look narrowly to them and make them up in time If there bee but the least breach they stop it presently otherwise the Sea would soon overflow them Fertur in arva furens cumulo Virgil. Aneid 2. camposque per omnes Cum stabulis armenta trahit The same may fitly bee set forth also by a similitude from fire which if quenched presently little hurt is done As if not behold how great a wood a little fire kindleth James 3.5 saith Saint James If fire break out but of a bramble it will devour the Cedars of Lebanon Judg. 9.15 Cover therefore the fire of contention as William the Conquerour commanded the Coverfeu-bell Therefore leave off contention before it bee medled with Antequam commisceatur Stop or step back before it come to further trouble Satius est recurrere quam malè currere better retire than run on in those ignoble quarrels especially ubi vincere inglorium est atteri sordidum wherein whether hee win or lose hee is sure to lose in his credit and comfort Wee read of Francis the first King of France that consulting with his Captains how to lead his Army over the Alps into Italy whether this way or that way Amaril his fool sprang out of a corner where hee sate unseen and bad them rather take care which way they should bring their Army out of Italy again It is easie for one to interest himself in quarrels but hard to bee dis-ingaged from them when hee is once in Therefore Principiis obsta withstand the beginnings of these evils and study to bee quiet 1 Thes 4.11 Milk quencheth wild-fire Oyl saith Luther quencheth lime so doth meeknesse strife Vers 15. Hee that justifieth the wicked and hee that condemneth the just c. To wrong a righteous man in word onely is a grievous sin how much more to murther him under pretence of Justice as they did innocent Naboth as the bloody Papists do Christs faithful witnesses and as the Jews did Christ himself crying out Wee have a Law and by our Law hee ought to dye c. This is to play the Theef or Man-slayer cum privilegio this is to frame mischief by a Law Psal 94.20 The like may bee said of that other branch of in justice the justifying of the wicked Bonis nocet qui malis parcit Hee wrongs the good that spares the bad better turn so many wild-Boars Bears Wolves Leopards loose among them than these monstrous men of condition that will either corrupt them or otherwise mischieve them For thou knowest this people is set upon mischief Exod. 32.22 They cannot sleep unlesse they have hurt some one Neither pertains this Proverb to Magistrates onely but to private persons too who must take heed how they precipitate a censure Herein David was to blame in pronouncing the wicked happy and condemning the Generation of Gods children Psal 73. for the which over-sight hee afterwards shames and shents himself yea be fools and be beasts himself as well hee deserved vers 22. Vers 16. Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool c. Wealth without wit is ill bestowed Think the same of good natural parts either of body or mind so for authority opportunity and other advantages Whereto serve they if not rightly improved and employed Certainly they will prove no better than Uriahs letters to those that have them or as that sword which Hector gave Ajax which so long as hee used against his enemies served for help and defence but after hee began to abuse it to the hurt of hurtlesse beasts it turned into his own bowels This will bee a bodkin at thy heart one day I might have been saved but I wofully let slip those opportunities that God had thrust into my hands and wilfully cut the throat of mine own poor soul by an impenitent continuance in sinful courses against so many disswasives Oh the spirit of fornication that hath so besorted the minds of the most that they have no heart to look after Heaven while it is to bee had but trifle and fool away their own salvation
Vers 17. A friend loveth at all times Such a friend was Jonathan Hushai the Archite Ittai the Gittite who stuck close to David when hee was at his greatest under B. Morton But such faithful friends are in this age all for the most part gone in Pilgrimage as hee once said and their return is uncertain David met with others besides those above mentioned that would bee the causes but not the companions of his calamity that would fawn upon him in his flourish but forsake him in his trouble My lovers and friends stand aloof c. The Antients pictured Friendship in the shape of a fair young man bare-headed meanly apparelled having on the out-side of his garment written To live and to dye with you and on his forehead Summer and Winter His breast was open so that his heart might bee seen and with his finger bee pointed to his heart where was written Longè Propè Far and near Humphrey Duke of Glocester being wounded and overthrown by the Duke of Alenzon at the battel of Agincourt was rescued by his brother King Henry the fifth who bestriding him delivered him from danger c. Speed And a Brother is born for adversity Birth binds him to it and although at other times fratrum concordia rara brethren may jar and jangle yet at a straight and in a stresse good nature will work and good blood will not belie it self And as in the natural so in the spiritual brotherhood Misery breeds unity Ridley and Hooper that when they were both Bishops differed so much about Ceremonies could agree well enough and bee mutual comforts one to another when they were both prisoners Esther concealed her kindred in hard times but Gods people cannot Moses must rescue his beaten brother out of the hand of the Egyptian though hee venture his life by it Vers 18. A man void of understanding striketh hands Of the folly and misery of rash suretyship See Chap. 6.1 2 c. with the Notes there In the presence of his friend Or before his friend that is before his friend do it who was better able and more obliged Thus like a Woodcock hee puts his neck into the ginne his foot into the stocks as the Drunkard and then hath time enough to come in with the fools had I wist and to say as the Lion did when taken in the toil Si praescivissem If I had foreseen this But why should there bee amongst men any such Epimetheus such a Post-master an after-wit Vers 19. Hee loveth transgression that loveth strife It s strange that any should love strife that Hell-hag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And yet some like Trouts love to swim against the stream like Salamanders they live in the fire of contention like Phocion they hold it a goodly thing to dissent from others like Pyrrhus they are a people that delight in war Psal 68.30 Like Davids enemies I am for peace saith hee that was his Motto but when I speak of it Psal 120.7 they are for war These unquiet spirits are of the Devil doubtlesse that turbulent creature that troubler of Gods Israel Hee knows that where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work James 3.16 and that hee loveth transgression that loveth strife hee taketh pleasure in sin which is the cause of his unquietnesse Good therefore and worthy of all acceptation is the counsel of the Psalmist Cease from anger and forsake wrath fret not thy self in any wise to do evil Psal 37.8 Hee that frets much will soon bee drawn to do evil An angry man stirs up strife and a furious man aboundeth in transgression Prov. 29.22 Hence our Saviour bids Have salt within your selves that is mortifie your corruptions and then bee at Peace one with another Mark 9.50 Hence also Saint James saith that the wisdome from above is first pure and then peaceable And Saint Paul oft joyns faith and love together there can bee no true love to and good agreement with men till the heart bee purified by faith from the love of sin And hee that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction Eventually hee seeketh it though not intentionally that exalteth his gate that is his whole house a part being put for the whole which hee that builds over-sumptuously is in the ready rode to beggery the begger will soon have him by the back as they say quaerit rupturam hee will shortly break Others read the words thus And hee enlargeth his gate that seeketh a breach that is say they hee that picketh quarrels and is contentious setteth open a wide door to let in many mischiefs Vers 20. Hee that hath a froward heart findeth no good Who this is that hath a froward heart and a perverse tongue Solomon shews Prov. 11.20 viz. the hypocrite the double-minded man Jam. 1.8 that hath an heart and a heart Psal 12.2 One for God and another for him that would have it as that desperate Neapolitan boasted of himself And as hee hath two hearts so two tongues too 1 Tim. 3.8 wherewith hee can both bless and curse talk religiously or prophanely according to the company James 3.10 11. speak Hebrew and Ashdod the language of Canaan and the language of Hell like those in an Island beyond Arabia of whom Diodorus Siculus saith that they have cleven tongues Antiq. l. 3. so that therewith they can alter their speech at their pleasure and perfectly speak to two persons and to two purposes at once Now how can these Monsters of men expect either to finde good or not to fall into mischief How can they escape the damnation of Hell whereof hypocrites are the chief inhabitants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 24.31 yea the free-holders as it were for other sinners shall have their part with the Devil and hypocrites Vers 21. Hee that begetteth a fool doth it to his sorrow Solomon might speak this by experience and wish as Augustus did Utinam coelebs vixissem aut orbus periissem Hof 4 O that I had either lived a batchelour or died childlesse to bring forth children to the murtherer children to the Devil that old man-slayer Oh what a grief is this to a pious Parent how much better were a miscarrying womb and dry breasts What heavy moan made David for his Absolom dying in his sin How doth many a miserable Mother weep and warble out that mournful ditty of hers in Plutarch over her deceased children Quo pueri estis profecti poor souls what 's become of you And the Father of a fool hath no joy No more than Oedipus had who cursed his children when hee died and breathed out his last with Per coacervatâ—â— percat domus impia luctus No more than William the Conquerour had in his ungracious children or Henry the second who finding that his sons had conspired against him with the King of France Daniel fol. 112 fell into a grievous passion cursing both his sons and the day wherein himself was born and in
that distemperature departed the world which himself had so oft distempered Vers 22. A merry heart doth good like a medicine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Septuagint render it And indeed it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All true mirth is from rectitude of the mind from a right frame of soul When Faith hath once healed the conscience and grace hath husht the affections and composed all within so that there is a Sabbath of Spirit and a blessed tranquillity lodged in the soul then the body also is vigorous and vigetous for most part in very good plight and healthful constitution which makes mans life very comfortable For si vales bene est And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go thy waies saith Solomon to him that hath a good conscience eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart Eccles 9.7 8 9. sith God accepteth thy works Let thy garments bee alwaies white and let thy head lack no ointment Live joyfully with the wife of thy youth c. bee lightsome in thy cloaths merry at thy meats painful in thy calling c. these do notably conduce to and help on health They that in the use of lawful means wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not bee weary they shall walk and not faint Isa 40.31 But a broken spirit drieth the bones By drinking up the marrow and radical moisture See this in David Psal 32.3 whose bones waxed old whose moisture or chief sap was turned into the drought of Summer his heart was smitten and withered like grass his daies consumed like smoak Psal 102.3 4. his whole body was like a bottle in the smoak Psal 119.83 hee was a very bag of bones and those also burnt as an hearth Psal 102. Aristotle in his book of long and short life assigns grief for a chief cause of death And the Apostle saith as much 2 Cor. 7.10 See the Note there and on Prov. 12.25 All immoderations saith Hippocrates are great enemies to health Vers 23. A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosome i. e. closely and covertly as if neither God nor man should see him The words may bee also read thus Hee that is the corrupt Judge taketh a gift out of the wicked mans bosome there being never a better of them as Solomon intimateth by this ambiguous expression Stapleten Rain is good and ground is good yet ex corum conjunctione fit lutum So giving is kind and taking is courteous yet the mixing of them makes the smooth paths of justice foul and uneven Vers 24. Wisdome is before him that hath understanding Or Vultut index animi Profecto oculis animus inhabitat Plin. the face of an understanding man is wisdome his very face speaks him wise the government of his eyes especially is an argument of his gravity His eyes are in his head Eccles 2.14 hee scattereth away all evil with them Prov. 20.8 Hee hath oculum irretortum as Job had chap. 31. and Joseph had oculum in metam which was Ludovicus vives his Motto his eye fixt upon the mark hee looks right on Prov. 4.25 hee goes through the world as one in a deep muse or as one that hath haste of some special businesse and therefore over-looks every thing besides it Hee hath learned out of Isa 33.14 15. that he that shall see God to his comfort must not onely shake his hands from taking gifts as in the former verse but also stop his ears from hearing of blood and shut his eyes from seeing of evil Vitiis nobis in animum per oculos est via saith Quintilian Quintil. declam sin entereth into the little world thorow these windows and death by sin as fools finde too oft by casting their eyes into the corners of the earth suffering them to rove at randome without restraint by irregular glancing and inordinate gazing In Hebrew the same word signifies both an eye and a fountain to shew saith one that from the eye as from a fountain flows both sin and misery Shut up therefore the five windows that the house may be full of light as the Arabian Proverb hath it Wee read of one that making a journey to Rome and knowing it to bee a corrupt place and a corrupter of others entred the City with eyes close shut neither would hee see any thing there but Saint Peters Church which hee had a great mind to go visit Alipius in Austin being importuned to go to those bloody spectacles of the gladiatory combats resolved to wink and did But hearing an out-cry of applause looked abroad and was so taken with the sport that hee became an ordinary frequenter of those cruel meetings Vers 25. A foolish Son is a grief to his Father See the Note on chap. 10.1 and 15.20 Vers 26. Also to punish the just is not good The righteous are to be cherished and protected as those that uphold the state Semen sanctum statumen terrae Isa 6.13 What Aeneas Sylvins said of learning may bee more properly said of righteousness Vulgar men should esteem it as silver Noble-men as gold Prines prize it as pearls But they that punish it as persecutors do shall bee punished to purpose when God makes inquisition for blood Psal 9. Nor to strike Princes for equity Righteous men are Princes in all Lands Psa 45. yea they are Kings in righteousnesse as Melchisedec Indeed they are somewhat obscure Kings as hee was but Kings they appear to bee by comparing Mat. 13.17 with Luk. 10.24 Many righteous saith Matthew many Kings saith Luke Now to strike a King is high-treason Daniels Hist 198. And although Princes have put up blows as when one struck our Henry the sixth hee onely said Forsooth you do wrong your self more than mee to strike the Lords annointed Another also that had drawn blood of him when hee was in prison hee freely pardoned when hee was restored to his Kingdome saying Alass poor soul hee struck mee more to win favour with others than of any evil will hee bare mee So when one came to cry Cato mercy for having struck him once in the Bath hee answered that hee remembred no such matter Likewise Lycurgus is famous for pardoning him that smote out one of his eyes yet hee that shall touch the apple of Gods eye as every one doth that wrongeth a righteous man for equity especially shall have God for a revenger And it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10. Vers 27. Hee that hath knowledge spareth his words Taciturnity is a sign of solidity and talkativeness of worthlesness Epaminondas is worthily praised for this saith Plutarch that as no man knew more than hee so none spake less than hee did And a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit Or of a cool spirit The deepest Seas are the most calm Where river smoothest
speak hath not God given us two ears and one tongue to teach us better to precipitate a censure or passe sentence before both Parties bee heard to speak evil of the things that a man knows not or weakly and insufficiently to defend that which is good against a subtle adversary Austin professeth this was it that hardened him and made him to triumph in his former Manichism that hee met with feeble opponents and such as his nimble wit was easily able to overturn Oecolampadius said of Carolostadius that hee had a good cause but wanted shoulders to support it Vers 14. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity Some sorry shift a man may make to bustle with and to rub thorow other aylements and aggrievances disasters or diseases sores or sicknesses of the body as the word here properly importeth Let a man bee sound within and upon good terms at peace with his own conscience and hee will bravely bear unspeakable pressures 2 Cor. 1.9 12. Paul was merry under his load because his heart was cheary in the Lord as an old beaten Porter to the Crosse maluit tolerare quà m deplorare his stroak was heavier than his groaning as Job chap. 23.2 Alexander Aphrodiseus gives a reason why Porters under their burdens go singing because the mind being delighted with the sweetnesse of the musick Problem 1. Numb 78. the body feels the weight so much the lesse Their shoulders while sound will bear great luggage but let a bone bee broken or but the skin rubbed up and raw the lightest load will bee grievous A little water in a leaden vessel is heavy so is a little trouble in an evil conscience But a wounded spirit who can bear q. d. It is a burthen importable able to quail the courage and crush the shoulders of the hugest Hercules of the mightiest man upon earth who can bear it The body cannot much lesse a diseased body And if the soul bee at unrest the body cannot but co-suffer Hence Job preferred and Judas chose strangling before it Bilney and Bainbam Act. Mon. fol. 938. after they had abjured felt such an hell in their consciences till they had openly professed their sorrow for that sin as they would not feel again for all the worlds good Daniel chose rather to bee cast into the den of Lions than to carry about a Lion in his bosome an enraged conscience The primitive Christians cried likewise Ad Leones potiùs quà m ad Lenones adjiciamur What a terrour to himself was our Richard the third after the cruel murther of his two innocent Nephews and Charls the ninth of France after that bloody massacre Hee could never endure to bee awakened in the night without musick or some like diversion But alass if the soul it self bee out of tune these outward things do no more good than a fair shooe to a gowty foot or a silken stocken to a broken legg Vers 15. The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge Such as can keep the bird singing in their bosome and are free from inward perturbations these by meditating on the good Word of God and by listening to the wholesome words 〈◊〉 others get and gather knowledge that is great store of all sorts of knowlâ—â—â—e that which is divine especially and tends to the perfecting of the soul Vers â—â— A mans gift maketh roomth for him This Jacob knew well Gen. 43.11 and therefore â—â—de his Sons take a present for the Governour of the Land though it were but of every good thing a little So Saul 1 Sam. 9.7 when to go to the man of God to enquire about the Asses But behold said hee to his servant if wee go what shall wee bring the man what have wee See more in the Note on Chap. 17. vers 8. 23. Vers 17. Hee that is first in his own cause seemeth just The first tale is good till the second bee heard How fair a tale told Tertullus for the Jews against Paul till the Apostle came after him and unstarcht the Oratours trim speech Judges had need to get and keep that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Alexander boasted of to keep one ear clear and unprejudiced for the defendant for they shall meet with such active Actors or Pleaders as can make Quid libet ex quolibet Candida de nigris de candentibas atra as can draw a fair glove upon a foul hand blanch and smooth over the worst causes with goodly pretences as Ziba did against Mephibosheth Potiphars wife against Joseph c. Hee must therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Athenian Judges were sworn to do hear both sides indifferently and as that Levite said Judg. 19. Consider consult and then give sentence doing nothing by partiality or prejudice Vers 18. The lot causeth contentions to cease As it did Josh 14.2 Where it is remarkable that Joshua that lotted out the Land left none to himself and that portion that was given him and hee content withall was but a mean one in the barren mountains So again Act. 1.26 where it is remarkable that this Joseph called Barsabas seeing it was not Gods mind by lot to make choice of him now to succeed Judas in the Apostleship was content with a lower condition therefore afterwards God called him to that high and honourable office of an Apostle if at least this Joseph Barsabas were the same with that Joseph Barnabas Act. 4.36 as the Centurists are of opinion See the Note on Chap. 16.23 Vers 19. A brother offended is harder to bee won c. Whether it bee a brother by race place or grace Corruptio optimi pessima Those oft that loved most dearly if once the Devil cast his club betwixt them they hate most deadly See this exemplified in Cain and Abel Esau and Jacob Polynices and Eteocles Romulus and Remus Caracalla and Geta the two sons of Severus the Emperour Robert and Rufus the sons of William the Conquerour the Civil dissentions between the houses of York and Lancaster wherein were slain eighty Princes of the blood-royal the dissentions between England and Scotland Daniel 192. which consumed more Christian-blood wrought more spoil and destruction and continued longer than ever quarrel wee read of did between any two people of the world As for Brethren by profession and that of the true Religion too among Protestants you shall meet with many divisions and those prosecuted with a great deal of bitternesse Eucholcer Nullum bellum citius exardescit nullum deflagrat tardius quà m Theologicum No war breaks out sooner or lasts longer than that among Divines or as that about the Sacrament a Sacrament of love a Communion and yet the occasion by accident of much dissention Melch. Adam in vita This made holy Strigelius weary of his life Cupio ex hac vita migrare ob duas causas saith hee For two causes chiefly do I desire to depart out of this world First That I may injoy the
could say Job 9.30 31. If I wash my self with snow-water and make my hands never so clean yet God would plunge him in the ditch so that his own cloths should abhor him And if thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities saith David who should stand before thee Psal 130.3 Vers 10. Divers weights and divers measures c. See the Notes on chap. 11.1 16.11 Now if the very weights and measures are abomination how much more the men that make use of them And what shall become of such as measure to themselves a whole six daies but curtal Gods seventh or mis-imploy it Vers 11. Even a childe is known by his doings c. Either for the better as wee see in young Joseph Sampson Samuel Solomon Timothy Athanasius Origen c. It is not a young Saint an old Devil but a young Saint an old Angel Or for the worse as Canaan the son of Ham who is therefore cursed with his Father because probably hee had a hand in the sin Ismael Esau Vajezatha the youngest son of Haman Esth 10.9 Hebricians observe that in the Hebrew this youths name is written with a little Zain Amama but a great Vau to shew that though the youngest yet he was the most malicious against the Jews of all the ten Early sharp say we that will be thorn Vers 12. The hearing ear and the seeing eye c. There are that have ears to hear and hear not that have eyes to see and see not for they are a rebellious house Ezek. 12.2 Now when God shall say to such as Isa 42.18 Hear yee deaf and look yee blind that you may see when hee shall give them an obedient ear and a Scripture-searching eye senses habitually exercised to discern both good and evil Heb. 5.14 so that they hear a voyce behind them saying This is the way c. and they see him that is invisible as Moses then is it with them as it is written Eye hath not seen nor ear heard c. i. e. Natural eye never saw natural ear never heard such things 1 Cor. 2.9 10 But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit Vers 13. Love not sleep lest thou come to poverty In sleep there is no use either of sight or hearing or any other sense And as little is there of the Spiritual senses in the sleep of sin Zach. 4.1 It fared with the good Prophet as with a drowsie Person who though awake and set to work yet was ready to sleep at it and Peter James and John if the Spirit hold not up their eyes may be in danger to fall asleep at their prayers Matth. 26. and so fall into Spiritual poverty for if Prayer stands still the whole trade of Godliness stands still And a powerless Prayer proceeding from a spirit of sloth joyned with presumption makes the best men liable to punishment for profaning Gods Name so that he may justly let them fall into some sin which shall awaken them with smart enough See chap. 19.15 with the Note Vers 14. It is naught it is naught saith the buyer Or saith the possessour and so Melancthon reads it as taxing that common fault and folly of slighting present mercies but desiring and commending them when they are lost Virtutem incolumem odimus sublatam ex oculis quarimus invidi Israel despised the pleasant land Psal 106.24 and the precious Manna Numb 11.6 and Solomons gentle Government 1 King 12.4 Our corrupt nature weighs not good things till we want them as the eye sees nothing that lyes upon it Vers 15. There is gold and a multitude of rubies Quintilian defines an Oratour Vir bonus dicendi peritus A good man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that can deliver himself in good language Such a master of speech was St. Paul who was therefore by those Heathen Lystrians called Mercury because he was the chief Speaker Acts 14.12 Such afore him was the Prophet Isaiah and our Saviour Christ who spake as never man spake his enemies themselves being Judges Such after him was Chrysostome Basil Nazianzen famous for their holy eloquence So were Mr. Rogers and Mr Bradford Martyrs in whom it was hard to say whether there were more force of eloquence and utterance in preaching Act. Mon. fol. 1782. Justin lib. 1. or more holinesse of life and conversation saith Mr. Fox Now it Darius could say that he preferred one Zopyrus before ten Babylons And if when one desired to see Alexanders Treasures and his Jewels he bade his Servants shew him not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not his talents of silver and such other precious things but his friends Liban exemplar Progym Chri. 1. What an invaluable Price think we doth the King of Heaven set upon such learned Scribes as doe out of the good treasure of their hearts throw forth good things for the use of many Vers 16. Take his garment and so provide for their own indempnity See the notes on chap. 6.1 2 3 4 5. And take a pledge of him for a strange woman i. e. for a Whorish woman utcunque tibi sit cog nita vel etiam cognata Hee that will undertake for such a ones debts or run in debt to gratifie her should bee carefully lookt to and not trusted without a sufficient pawn Euseb in vit Constant How can hee bee faithful to mee that is unfaithful to God said Constantinus Chlorus to his Courtiers and Counsellors Vers 17. Bread of deceit is sweet to a man Sins murthering-morsels will deceive those that devour them There is a deceitfulnesse in all sin Heb. 3.13 a lye in all vanity Jer. 2.8 The stollen waters of adultery are sweet Prov. 9.17 but bitternesse in the end such sweet meat hath sowre sauce Commodities craftily or cruelly compassed yeeld a great deal of content for present But when the unconscionable Cormorant hath swallowed down such riches he shall vomit them up again God shall cast them out of his belly Joh. 20.15 Either by remorse and restitution in the mean time or with despair and impenitent horrour hereafter His mouth shall be filled with gravel Pane lapidoso as Seneca hath it with grit and gravel to the torment of the teeth that is terrour of the Conscience and torture of the whole man Such a bitter-sweet was Adams Apple Esaus mess the Israelites Quails Jonathans Hony the Amalekites Cates after the sack of Ziklag 1 Sam. 30.16 Adonijahs Dainties 1 King 1. which ended in horrour ever after the meal is ended comes the reckoning Men must not think to dine with the Devil and then to sup with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdome of Heaven to feed upon the poyson of Asps and yet that the Vipers tongue shall not slay them Job 20.16 When the Aspe stings a man it doth first tickle him so as it makes him laugh till the poyson by little and little gets to the heart Speed in Q. Elizah and then it pains
so is good news This and many more of these Proverbs Salomon might well utter out of his own experience for he sent out into farre Countries for Gold Horses and other Commodities 1 King 9.26 besides Ambassies of state and enquiries into the natures and qualities of forein parts and peoples Of the Conversion of other Countries to the faith he could not then hear as wee now may and lately have good news from New-England Neither had he the happiness to hear that which we have not only heard but seen and handled of the Word of life 1 Joh. 1.1 He had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Promise but we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the joyful tidings the sum of all the good newes in the World as the Angels those first Messengers cleped it Luk. 2.10 Jesus is a short Gospel and the good newes of him should drown all discontents yea make our very hearts dance Levaltoes within us as Abrahams did though hee heard of him only by the hearing or the ear or saw him afarre off Heaven is called a farre Country Matth. 25.14 good news from thence brought in by the hand of the Holy Ghost witnessing with our spirits that we are the Sons of God and if Sons then Heirs of that farre Country of that fair City whose maker and builder is God how welcome should that be to us and how inexpressibly comfortable See 1 Pet. 1.8 Vers 26. A righteous man falling down before the wicked i. e. Doing any thing though by meer frailty unbeseeming his Profession or that redounds not to the scandal of the weak only as Gal. 2.11 but to the scorn of the wicked as 2 Sam. 12.14 is as a troubled fountain c. is greatly disgraced and prejudiced What a blemish was it for Abraham to fall under the reproof of Abimelech for Sampson to be taken by the Philistims in an Whore-house for Josiah to be in-minded of his duty by Pharaoh Necho for Peter to be drawn by a silly Wench to forswear his Master c was not the Fountain here troubled when trampled by the feet of these beasts the Spring corrupted when Conscience is thus defiled and gashed Let it be our care to cleanse this spring of all pollutions of flesh and spirit as a troubled fountaine will clear it self and as sweet water made brackish by the coming in of the salt yet if naturally it bee sweet at length it will work it out Vers 27. It is not good to eat too much honey For it breeds choler and brings diseases So for men to search their own glory i. e. To be desirous of vain-glory Gal. 5.26 to seek the praise of men to hunt after the worlds plaudite to say to it as Tiberius once answered Justinus Situ volueris ego sum Si tu non vis ego non sum I am wholly thine I am only thy Clay and Wax this is base and in-glorious this is to be Gloriae animal popularis aurae vile mancipium the creature of vaine-glory Hier. ep ad Julian Consolater a base slave to popular applause as Hierome calls Crates the Philosopher who cast his goods into the Sea meerly for a name Some doe all for a name as Jehu and the Pharisees like Kites they flutter up a little but their eye is upon the carrion The Chaldee Paraphrast by their glory understands the Majesty of the Scriptures which to David were sweeter than honey These wee must search but not over-curiously Ne qui scrutatur majestatem opprimatur aegloria as the vulgar here hath it lest prying into Gods Majesty we be oppressed by his glory Vers 28. He that hath no rule over his own spirit Cui non est cohibitio in spiritum suum that reigns not in his unruly affections but suffers them to run riot in sin as so many head-strong Horses or to ride upon the backs one of another like Kine in a straight This man being not fenced with the wall of Gods fear lies open to all assaults of Satan and other enemies Ephes 4.26 27. Jam. 4.7 as Laish Judg. 18. or Hazor that had neither gates nor bars Jer. 49.31 or the Hague in Holland which the inhabitants will not wall Heyl. Geog. as desiring to have it counted rather the principal Village of Europe than a lesser City CHAP. XXVI Vers 1. So honour is not seemly for a fool HOnour is the reward of vertue dignity should wait upon desert Sed dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in luto as Salvian Honour is as fit for a fool as a Gold-ring for a Swines snout Sedes prima vita ima will never suit The order of nature is inverted when the vilest men are exalted Psal 12.8 it is a foul incongruity and of very evil consequence Cicer. de divina◠lib. 2. For thereby themselves will be hardened and others heartened to the like prosperous folly Felix enim scelus virtus vocatur saith Tully The study of vertue also will be neglected when fools are preferred and Gods heavie Wrath poured out in full measure upon these uncircumcised Vice-gods as I may in the worst sense best term them who mis-represent him to the world by their ungodly practices as a wicked crooked unrighteous Judge Vers 2. As the Bird by wandring and the Swallow i. e. As these may fly where they will and no body cares or is the worse So here And as Birds tired with much wandring and not finding where to rest return again to their Nest after that they have beat the air with weary wing so the causelesse curse returns to the author Cursing men are cursed men So the curse causlesse shall not come What was David the worse for Shimei's rash raylings or Jeremy for all the Peoples cursings of him chap. 15.10 Or the Christian Churches for the Jewes cursing them in their daily Prayers with a Maledic Domine Nazaraeis or the reformed Churches for the Popes Excommunications and Execrations with Bell Book and Candle The Pope is like a Wasp no sooner angry but out comes a sting which being out is like a fools dagger ratling and snapping without an edge Sit ergo Gallus in nomine Diabolorum The Devil take the French said Pope Julius the second Annal. Gallie as he was sitting by the fire and saying his Prayers upon news of his Forces defeated by the French at the battel of Ravenna Was not this that very mouth that speaketh great things and blasphemies Revel 13.5 And as qualis herus talis servus like master like man a certain Cardinal entring with a great deal of pomp into Paris when the people were more than ordinarily earnest with him for his fatherly benediction Quandoquidem said he hic populus vult decipi decipiatur in nomine diaboli Forasmuch as this people will be fooled let them bee fooled in the Devils name And another Cardinal when at a Diet held at Ausborough the Prince Electors Ambassadour was in his Masters name present at Masse but would
Father who tells him there that which hee found true by experience Loe children are an heritage of the Lord c. for by all his Wives Salomon had none but one Son and him none of the wisest neither Vers 2. What my son and what the son of my wombe An abrupt speech importing abundance of affection even more than might be uttered There is an Ocean of love in a Parents heart a fathomless depth of desire after the Childes welfare in the mother especially Some of the Hebrew Doctors hold that this was Bathsheba's speech to her son after his fathers death when she partly perceived which way his Genius leaned and lead him that then shee schooled him in this sort q. d. Is it even so my son my most dear son c. O doe not give thy strength to women c. Vers 3. Give not thy strength to women Waste not unworthily the fat and marrow of thy dear and precious time the strength of thy body the vigor of thy spirits in sinful pleasures and sensual delights See chap. 5.9 Nor thy wayes to that which destroyeth Kings Venery is called by one Deaths best Harbinger It was the destruction of Alexander the great of Otho the Emperour called for his good parts otherwise Miraculum mundi of Pope Sextus the fourth qui decessit tabidus voluptate saith the Historian dyed of a wicked waste and of Pope Paul the fourth of whom it passed for a Proverb Eum per candem partem animam profudisse per quam acceperat The Lacedemonian Common-wealth was by the hand of Divine Justice utterly overturned at Leuctra for a rape committed by their Messengers on the two Daughters of Scedosus And what befell the Benjamites on a like occasion is well known out of Judg. 20. that I speak not of the slaughter of the Shechemites Gen. 34. c. Vers 4. It is not for Kings to drink wine i. e. To bee drunk with Wine wherein is excess Ephes 5.18 where the Apostle determines excessive drinking to bee down-right drunkenness viz. when as Swine do their bellies so men break their heads with filthy quaffing This as no man may lawfully doe so least of all Princes for in maxima libertate minima est licentia Men are therefore the worse because they are bound to be better Nor for Princes strong drink Or as some read it where is the strong drink It is not for Princes to ask such a question All heady and intoxicating drinks are by statute here forbidden them Of Bonosus the Emperour it was said that he was born non ut vivat sed ut bibat not to live but to drink and when being overcome by Probus he afterwards hanged himself it was commonly jested that a tankard hung there and not a man But what a Beast was Marcus Antonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strabo Camd. Elis that wrote or rather spued out a book concerning his own strength to bear strong drink And what another was Darius King of Persia who commanded this inscription to bee set upon his Sepulcher I was able to hunt lustily to drink wine soundly and to bear it bravely That Irish Rebel Tiroen Anno 1567. was such a Drunkard that to cool his body when hee was immoderately inflamed with Wine and Uskabagh hee would many times bee buried in the earth up to the chin These were unfit men to bear rule Vers 5 Lest they drink and forget the Law Drunkennesse causeth forgetfulness hence the Ancients feigned Bacchus to bee the sonne of forgetfulness and stands in full opposition to reason and religion when the Wine is in the Wit is out Plutarch in Sympos Seneca saith that for a man to think to be drunk and yet to retain his right reason is to think to drink rank poyson and yet not to dye by it And pervert the judgement c. Pronounce an unrighteous sentence which when Philip King of Macedony once did the poor woman whose cause it was presently appealed from Philip now drunk to Philp when hee should be sober again The Carthaginians made a Law that no Magistrate of theirs should drink wine The Persians permitted their Kings to be drunk one day in a year only Solon made a Law at Athens that drunkenness in a Prince should be punished with death See Eccles 10.16 17. Vers 6. Give strong drink to him c. To those that stand at the barre rather than to them that sit on the bench Wine maketh glad the heart of man Judg. 9.13 Psal 104.15 Plato calls Wine and Musick the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mitigaters of mens miseries Hence that laudable custome among the Jews at Funerals to invite the friends of the deceased to a feast and to give them the cup of consolation Jer. 16.7 And hence that not so laudable of giving Wine Bacchus afflictis requienâ— mortalibus affert Tibul. mingled with Myrrhe to crucified Malefactors to make them dye with lesssense Christ did not like the custom so well and therefore refused the potion People should be most serious and sober when they are to dye sith in Death as in Warre non licet bis errare if a man miss at all he misses for all and for ever Vitellius trepidus dâ—in temâ—lentus Vitellius therefore took a wrong course who looking for the messenger Death made himself drunk to drown the fear of it And Wine unto those that be of heavie hearts Heb. bitter of spirit as Naomi was when she would needs be called Marah Ruth 1.20 as Hannah was when she pleaded that she had neither drunk Wine nor strong drink though at that time she had need enough of it but was a Woman of a sorrowful spirit 1 Sam. 1.15 as David was when his heart was leavened and sowred with the greatness of his grief and he was pricked in his reins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 73.21 This grief was right because according to God 2 Cor. 7.11 so was that bitter mourning Zach. 10.12 and Peters weeping bitterly These waters of Marah that flow from the eyes of repentance are turned into wine they carry comfort in them there is a clear shining after this rain 2 Sam. 23.4 Such April-showers bring on May-flowers Dejicit ut revelet premit ut solatia praestet Enecat ut possit vivificare Deus Vers 7. Let him drink and forget his Poverty And yet let him drink moderately too lest he increase his sorrows as Lot did and not diminish them for drunkennesse leaves a sting behind it worse than that of a Serpent or of a Cockatrice Prov. 23.32 Wine is a prohibited ware among the Turks which makes some drink with scruple others with danger The baser sort when taken drunk are often bastinadoed upon the bare feet And I have seen some saith mine Author after a fit of drunkennesse lye a whole night crying and praying to Mahomet for intercession Bluâ—tâ— voyage p. 105. that I could not sleep neer them so strong is conscience even where
of the chiefest good Serranus compiled and composed with such a picked frame of words with such pithy strength of sentences with such a thick series of demonstrative arguments that the sharp wit of all the Philosophers compared with this Divine discourse seems to be utterly cold and of small account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Experientia optima magistra their elaborate Treatises of Happiness to be learned dotages and laborious losse of time How many several opinions there were amongst them concerning the Chief Good in Solomon's days is uncertain divers of them hee confuteth in this book and that from his own experience the best School-dame But Varro the learned'st of the Romans reckoneth up 280 in his time and no wonder considering mans natural blindness not unlike that of the Syrians at Dothan Aug. de civ Dei lib. 18. or that of the Sodomites at Lots door What is an eye without the optick spirit but a dead member and what is all humane wisdom without divine illumination but wickedness of folly yea foolishness of madness as our Preacher not without good cause calleth it A spirit there is in man saith Elihu viz. the light of reason and thus far the Animal-man goes and there hee makes an halt Eccles 7.15 hee cannot transcend his orb but the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding Job 32.8 God had given Solomon wisdom above any man Abulensis saith above Adam in his innocency which I believe not He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Macarius was called a man at twelve years old Niceph. His Father had taught him Prov. 4.4 His Mother had lessoned him Prov. 31.1 The Prophet Nathan had had the breeding of him But besides as he was Jedidiah loved of God so he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taught of God And being now when hee penned this Penitential Sermon grown an old man he had experimented all this that hee here affirmeth So that hee might better begin his speech to his scholars than once Augustus Caesar did to his souldiers Audite senem juvenes quem juvenem senes audierunt Young men hearken to mee an old man whom old men hearkened unto when I was yet but young Have not I written for you excellent things in counsels and knowledge Prov. 22.20 Or Have I not written three books for thee so some read those words Proverbial Penitential Nuptial See the Note there Nescis temerarie nescis Ovid. Metam Quem fugias ideoque fugis Job 4. Esay 55. Surely if thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that speaketh unto thee thou wouldst encline thine ear and hear thou wouldst listen as for life it self Knowest thou not that I am a Preacher a Prince Son of David King in Jerusalem 2 Cor. 3.1 Regis epistolis acceptis quo calamo scriptae sint ridiculum est quaerere Greg. Luke 13.28 Bellarminus Solomonem inter reprobos numerat and so do come multis nominibus tibi commendatissimus much commended to thee in many respects But need I as some others epistles of commendation to my Readers or Letters of commendation from them Is it not sufficient to know that this book of mine both for matter and words is the very work of the Holy Ghost speaking in mee and writing by mee For Prophecy comes not by the will of man but holy men of God speak it as they are moved by the holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 And albeit this be proof good enough of my true though late repentance whereof some have doubted some denied it yet take another Of the Preacher Or of a preaching Soul for the Hebrew word Koheleth is of the feminine gender and hath Nephesh Soul understood or of a person re-united and reconciled to the Church Anima congregata cum Ecclesia se colligens Cartw. and in token of reconciliation to God re-admitted by him to this Office in his Church like as Christ sealed up his love to Peter after his shameful fall by bidding him feed his lambs and to the rest of the Apostles that had basely forsaken him by saying to them after his resurrection Peace be unto you As my Father hath sent mee even so send I you Receive yee the holy Ghost John 20.21 See the like mercy shewed to St. Paul 1 Tim. 1.12 Howbeit some learned men here observe that it is no new thing in the Hebrew tongue to put feminine names upon men as Ezra is called Sophereth descriptrix a Shee-scribe in the very same form as Solomon is here called Koheleth a Preacheress and the Gospel-preachers Mebaseroth Psal 68.11 with Esay 52.7 either to set forth the excellency and elegancy of the business or else to teach Ministers to keep themselves pure as Virgins whence they are also called Wisdomes Maids Prov. 9.3 and Christs Paranymphs John 3.29 to present the Church as a chaste Virgin to Christ 2 Cor. 11.2 The Son of David So Christ also is said to be Mat. 1.1 as if David had been his immediate father The glory of children are their fathers Prov. 17.6 to wit if they be godly and pious The Jews made great boasts that they were the seed of Abraham Mat. 3.9 John 8.33 And that caitiff Elymas the Sorcerer Act. 13.6 had surnamed himself Barjesus or the son of Jesus as if hee had been of neerest alliance to our Saviour of whom all the families of heaven and earth are called Eph. 3. What an honour is it now accounted to be of the posterity of Latimer Bradford Ridley c How much more of David that man of renown the Father of our princely Preacher who himself took also not scorn to teach and do the office of a Preacher Psal 32.9 and 34.11 though he were the Governour of Gods people Psal 78.71 and head of many Heathen Psal 18.43 The like may be said of Joseph of Arimathea who of a Counsellor of State became a preacher of the Gospel so did Chrysostome a noble Antiochian Ambrose Lieutenant and Consul of Millain George Prince of Anhalt Earl Martinengus John a Lasco a noble Polonian and sundry others of like quality and condition Psal 138.4 5. and 119.72 the Psalmist shews by prophecying that they that have tasted of the joys of a crown shall leave the throne and palace to sing with the Saints and to publish the excelling glory of God and godliness King in Jerusalem and of Jerusalem The Pope will allow the Duke of Millain to be King in Tuscany but not King of Tuscany Solomon was both Prov. 1.1 See the Note there Spec. Europ Hither came the Queen of Sheba from the utmost parts of the earth to hear him here hee wrote this excellent book these words of delight which he had learned from that one Shepheard the Lord Christ ch 12.10 11. and hath left them faithfully set down for the use of the Church so honouring learning with his own labours as Sylverius said of Caesar Here lastly it was that he soveraigned
time held so that it bee well limited Carnal mirth and abuse of lawful things doth mightily weaken intenerate and emasculate the spirit yea it draws out the very vigour and vivacity of it and is therefore to be avoyded Some are so afraid of sadnesse that they banish all seriousnesse they affect mirth as the Eel doth mud or the Toad ditches These are those that dance to the Timbrel and Harp but suddenly turn into Hell Job 21. Vers 3. Yet acquainting my heart with wisdome i. e. resolving to retain my wisdome but that could not be For whoredome and wine Hos 4.11 and new wine take away the heart they dull and disable nature and so set us in a greater distance from grace they fight against the soul 1 Pet. 2.12 Arist de mirah auscul lib. 8. and take away all sent and sense of heavenly comforts Much like that parcel of ground in Sicily that sendeth such a strong smell of fragrant flowers to all the fields thereabouts that no Hound can hunt there And here I beleeve began Solomons Apostasie his laying the reigns in the neck to pursue sinful pleasures pleasing himself in a conceit that he could serve God and his lusts too A Christian hath ever God for his chief end and never sins with deliberation about this end he will not forgo God upon any terms only he erres in the way thinking he may fulfill such a lust and keep God too But God and sin cannot cohabit and Gods graces groaning under our abuses in this kind cry unto him for help who gives them thereupon as he did to the wronged Church Rev. 12.14 the wings of an Eagle after which one lust calls upon another as they once did upon their fellow-souldiers Now Moab to the spoyl till the heart be filled with as many corruptions as Solomon had Concubines Vers 4. I made me great works I took not pleasure in trifles as Domitian did in catching and killing flyes with his Pen-knife or as Artaxerxes did in making hafts for Knives or as Solyman the great Turk did in making notches of horn for Bowes but I built stately houses planted pleasant Vineyards c. A godly man may be busied in mean low things but he is not satisfied in them as adequate objects hee trades for better commodities and cannot rest without them I builded mee houses Curious and spacious such as is the Turks Seraglio or palace said to bee more than two miles in compass William Rufus built Westminster hall and when it was done found much fault with it for being built too little Daniels hist saying It was fitter for a chamber than for a hall for a King of England and took a plat for one far more spacious to bee added unto it I planted mee vineyards That no pleasant thing might be wanting to mee To plant a vineyard is a matter of much cost and care but it soon quits cost by bearing first plenty of fruit in clusters and bunches many grapes together Secondly by bearing pleasant fruit no fruit being more delectable to the taste than is the grape nor more comfortable to the heart than is the wine made of the grape Judg. 9.13 Solomon had one gallant vineyard at Baal-hamon that yeelded him great profit Cant. 8.1 Vers 5. I made mee gardens so called because garded and enclosed with a wall Cant. 4.12 like as we call garments quasi gardments in an active acception of the word because they guard our bodies from the injury of wind and weather The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gan comes likewise from a word that signifieth to protect or guard And there are that give this for a reason why the Lord forbad the Jews to keep swine because they are such enemies to gardens whereof that country is very full And Orchards Heb. Paradises famous for curious variety and excellency of all sorts of trees and forcin fruits resembling even the garden of God for amenity and delight Athenaeus Diod lib. 2. cap. 4. Q. Curt. lib. 5. And herein perhaps hee gratified Pharaoh's daughter the Aegyptians took great pleasure in gardens like as that King of Assyria did his wife Horto pensili with a garden that hung in the ayr to his incredible cost Vers 6. To water therewith the Wood i. e. the gardens or hort-yards that were as large as little woods Christs garden in the Canticles as it hath a wall Vers 5. so a well to water it and make it fruitful Vers 7. I got mee servants c Too many by one sc Jeroboam who rent ten tribes from his sonne Iâ— is well observed by an Interpreter that Solomon among all his delights got him not a Fool or Jester which some Princes cannot bee without no not when they should bee most serious It is recorded of Henry the third King of France that in a Solemn procession at Paris hee could not bee without his Jester Epic. hist Gallicae who walking between the King and the Cardinal made mirth to them both There was sweet devotion the while Melanch in Hesiod I had great possessions of great and small cattel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pecudes postea synechdochicâ—s opes significant sic pecunia a pecude So chesita signifies in Hebrew both mony and a lamb Vers 8. I gathered me also silver and gold Gold of Ophir now called Peru where the Spaniards are said to meet with more gold oar than earth Besides his great gifts from other Princes as Hiram Queen of Sheba c. his royal revenue Petrarch his tributes from forein nations subdued by his Father David to a very great value Sixtus the fourth was wont to say that a Pope could never want mony while he could hold a pen in his hand His predecessor John 22. left in his treasury to his heirs 250 tonnes of gold Boniface the 8. being plundered by the French Heidfield was found to have more wealth saith mine Authour than all the Kings of the earth could have raised by one years revenue It should seem by the peoples complaint after Solomons death 1 King 12.4 that hee lay over heavy upon them by his exactors and gold-gatherers which caused the revolt of the ten tribes One act of injustice oft loseth much that was justly gotten Kedarlaomer and his fellow-Kings were deprived of the whole victory because they spared not a man whom they should have spared Ill-gotten gold hath a poysonful operation and will bring up the good food together with ill humors Job 20.15 And the delights of the sons of men These drew out his spirits and dissolved him and brought him to so low an ebbe in grace his wealth did him far more hurt than his wisdome did him good it is as hard to bear prosperity as to drink much wine and not bee giddy it is also dangerous to take pleasure in pleasure to spend too much time in it as Solomon for seven years spent in building Gods house spent thirteen in his
own Lovers of pleasures are set as last and worst in that catalogue of wickednesse in the last daies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3.4 Vers 9. Also my wisdome remained with mee Outward things are dead things and cannot touch the soul a lively spirit unless by way of taint Solomon if not at first yet at length was fearfully tainted by them making good that of the Poet Stultitiam patiuntur opes Ardua res haec est opibus non tradere mores Martial Et cum tot Croesos viceris esse Numam Vers 10. And what soever mine eyes desired c. I fed them with pleasant pictures shews sights and other objects of delight which yet have plus deceptionis quam delectationis able to entice and ready to kill the intangled Lactant. How many are there that have died of the wound in the eye David knowing the danger prayeth Psal 119.37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding of vanity Job steps one degree further from a prayer to a vow chap. 31. yea from a vow to an imprecation ver 7. If our first parents fell by following the sight of their eyes and lust of their hearts what can Solomon or any of us promise our selves qui animas etiam incarnavimus who have made our very spirit a lump of flesh prone to entertain vice yea to solicit it For my heart rejoyced in all my labour This is not every worldlings happiness For some live not to injoy what they have raked together as that rich fool in the Gospel others live indeed but live beside what they have gotten as not daring to diminish ought but defrauding their own genius and denying themselves necessaries So did not Solomon and yet hee found not the good hee sought for neither as hee tells us in the next words Nor is it want of variety in these pleasures but inward weakness an emptiness and insufficiency in the creature In heaven the objects of our delight and blessedness shall bee though uniform yet everlastingly pleasing Vers 11. Then I looked on all the works A necessary and profitable practice well worthy our imitation viz. to recognize and review what wee have done and to how little purpose wee have wearied our selves in the multitude of our counsells Esay 47.13 God looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited mee not Hee will deliver his soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light Job 33.27 28. Tully could tell Nevius that if hee had but well weighed with himself those two words Quid ago What do I Orat. pro Quintio his lust and luxury would have been cooled and qualified And behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit In the very pursute of them is much anguish many grievances fears jealousies disgraces interruptions discontentments Next it is seldome seen that God allows to the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment Something they must have to complain of that shall give an unsavoury verdure to their sweetest morsels and make their very felicity miserable Yet all this avails mee nothing so long as I see Mordecai saith Haman the Kings minion Lastly after the unsanctified enjoyment follows the sting of conscience that will inexpressibly vex and torment the soul throughout all eternity And there was no profit under the sun Nullae emolumenta laborum nothing but labour for travell no contentation but desperation no satisfaction but endless vexation as children tire themselves to catch a butterflie which when they have caught profits them nothing onely fouls their fingers Or rather as the dropsical body by striving to quench thirst by drinking doth but increase the disease and in the end destroy it self Vers 12. For what can the man doe that cometh after the King q. d. who is it that can out-doe me in this review and discovery Neither is this a vain-glorious vaunting of his own vertues but an Occupation or prevention of an objection thus Obj. It may be thou hast not perfectly known the difference of things and so hast not rightly determined Sol. To this he answers that he hath so quit himself in searching and trying the truth in these points that it is not for any other to goe beyond him And having removed this rub having carried this dead Amasa out of the way that might have hindred his Hearers march hee proceeds in his discourse Vers 13. Then I saw that wisdome excelleth folly i. e. Philosophy and Humane wisdome though it cannot perfect the mind nor make a man happy yet it is as farre beyond sensuality and brutishnesse as light is beyond darknesse Those that seek for the Philosophers Stone though they misse of their end yet they find many excellent things by the way So Philosophers Politicians Moralists though they missed of the pearl of price yet they sought out other goodly pearls with that wise Merchant Mat. 13.45 for the which they have their just praise and profit Vers 14. The wise mans eyes are in his head Hee judiciously pondereth things past 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Descrip of the world chap. of China Heyl. Geog. and prudently ordereth things present and providently fore-seeth to prevent dangers likely to ensue The Chineses use to say of themselves that all other Nations of the world see but with one eye they only with two Italians tell us that whereas Spaniards seem wise and are fools French-men seem fools and are wise Portugals neither are wise nor so much as seem to bee so they themselves both seem wise and are so This I could sooner beleeve if from a better mouth than their own Romani sicut non acumina ita non imposturas habent saith Bellarm. The Romans those wittiest of the Italians are neither very subtile nor very simple But the fool walketh in darknesse Hee hath neither fight nor light but is acted and agitated by the Prince of Darkness who holds his black hand before the eye of such mens minds and blinds their understandings dealing with them as Pliny saith the Eagle deals with the Hart shee lights upon his horns and there flutters up and down filling his eyes with dust borne in her feathers that at last he may cast himself from a rock and so be made a prey unto her One event hapneth to them all As did to Josiah and Ahab in the manner of both their dying in battel They may be all wrapt up together in a common calamity Aug. and Sapientes sapienter in gehennam descendant the worlds great wise men goe very wisely down to hell there for want of saving grace fools and wiser men meet at one and the same Inne though by several wayes at one and the same Haven though from several coasts Vers 15. As it happeneth to the fool so it happeneth It is with men as with Counters though in the account one stand for a penny another for a pound yet in the bag there is no difference
between Him and thee therefore see to it that thou come to him with all possible reverence humility and self-abasement See Job 42.6 1 King 18.42 Matth. 26.38 It is observable that when the great Turk comes into his Mosche or Temple he lays by all his State and hath none to attend him all the while Therefore let thy words bee few But full as the Publicans were Luk. 18.13 O quam multa quam paucis Oh how much in a little said Tully of Brutus his Epistle so may wee say of that Publicans prayer how much more of the Lords prayer set in flat opposition to the Heathenish Battologies and vain repetitions usual with Pagans and Papagans c. See the Note on Mat. 6.7 8 9. It is reported of the ancient Christians of Aegypt Quod brevissimis raptim jaculatis orationibus uti voluerint ne per moras evanesceret hebetaretur intentio August that they made very short prayers that their devotion might not bee dulled by longer doings Cassian also makes mention of certain religious persons in his time Qui utilius censebant breves quidem orationes sed creberrimas fieri c. who thought it best that our prayers should bee short but frequent the one that there might bee continual intercourse maintained between God and us the other that by shortness wee might avoid the Devills darts which hee throws especially at us while wee are praying These bee good reasons and more may bee added out of Matth. 6. as that our Heavenly Father knows what wee need c. That which the Preacher here presseth is the transcendent Excellency and surpassing Majesty of Almighty God I am a great King saith Hee Mal. 1. And I look to bee served like my self Hos 14.2 Therefore take unto you words neither over curious nor over careless but such as are humble earnest direct to the point avoiding vain bablings needless and endless repetitions heartless digressions tedious prolixities wilde and idle discourses of such extemporary petitioners as not disposing their matter in due order by premeditation and withall being word-bound are forced to go forward and backward like Hounds at a loss and having hastily begun they know not how handsomly to make an end Vers 3. For a dream commeth through the multitude of business When all the rest of the senses are bound up by sleep the soul entreth into the shop of the fancy and operates there usually according to the businesses and imployments of the day past Tertull. de anima cap. 49. fierividentur quae fieri tamen non videntur saith Tertullian those things seem to bee done in a dream which yet are not seen to be done at all these are but vanae jactationes negotiosae animae the idle toffings of a busy minde In like sort a fool a heartless sapless fellow that being sensual and void of the spirit of grace and supplications hath neither the affections nor expressions of holy prayer multiplies words without knowledge thinks to make out in words what hee wants in worth being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plutarch saith of Alcibicdes one that could talk much but speak little His voyce is known by multitude of words It is but a voyce that is heard it is but a sound that is made like the uncertain sound of a Trumpet that none can tell what it meaneth what to make of it Corniculas citius in Africa quam res rationâ—sque solidas in Turriani scriptis reperias saith one Beringer Contra Id. Cum. Lauret Aristot De divinat per insom So here If there be any worth of matter in the fools words it is but by chance as Aristotle saith that dreams doe by chance fore-tell those things that come to passe Let it be our care to shun as much as may be all lavish and superfluous talkativenesse and tediousnesse but especially in prayer lest wee offer the sacrifice of fools and God be angry with us For as it is not the loudnesse of a Preachers voyce but the weight and holiness of his matter and the spirit of the Preacher that moves a wife and intelligent hearer so it is not the labour of the lips but the travel of the heart that prevails with God The Baalites Prayer was not more tedious than Elijah's short yet more pithy than short And it was Elijah that spake loud and sped in heaven Let the fool learn therefore to shew more wit in his discourse than words lest being known by his voyce hee meet as the Nightingale did with some Laconian that will not let to tell him Vox in es praeterea nihil Thou art a voyce and that 's all Vers 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God deferre not to pay it See the Note on Deut. 23.21 It is in thy power to vow or not to vow Vovere nusquam est praeceptum saith Bellarmine We have no command to vow That of David Lib. 2. de Monac cap. 15. Vow and perform to the Lord your God is not purum praeceptum saith Mr. Cartwright a pure precept but like that other Be angry and sin not where anger is not commanded but limited So neither are wee simply commanded to vow but having voluntarily vowed we may not deferre to pay it delayes are taken for denials excuses for refusals For he hath no pleasure in fools He needs them as little as King Achish did 2 Sam. 22.15 he abhors them Psal 5.5 as deceitful workers as mockers of God Jephta in vovendo fuit stultus in praestando impius Jephta was a fool in vowing Hieron and wicked in performing But he that vowes a thing lawful and possible and yet de-deferres to perform it or seeks an evasion is two fools for fayling sith Vers 5. Better it is that thou shouldest not vow q. d. Who bad thee bee so forward Why wouldst thou become a voluntary Votary Dicta factis deficientibus erubescunt and so rashly ingage to the losse of thy liberty and the offence of thy God who expected thou shouldst have kept touch and not have dealt thus slipperily with him Thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God Acts 5.4 As the truth of Christ is in me saith Paul 2 Cor. 11.10 so he bindes himself by an oath as the learned have observed And as God is true our word toward you was not Yea and Nay 2 Cor. 1.19 20 for the Son of God who was preached among you by mee was not Yea and Nay but in him all the promises of God are Yea and Amen Why what of that might some say and what 's all this to the purpose Very much for it implieth that what a Christian doth promise to men how much more to God he is bound by the earnest penny of Gods Spirit to perform He dares no more alter or falsifie his word than the Spirit of God can lye And as he looks that Gods promises should bee made good to him so is hee careful to pay that
ward off his blow to moâ— up ones self against his fire Why should vain man contend with his Maker Why should hee beat himself to froth as the surges of the Sea do against the Rock Why should hee like the untamed Heifer unaccustomed to the yoke gall his neck by wrigling make his crosses heavier than God makes them by crosseness and impatience The very Heathen could tell him that Deus crudelius urit Tibul. Eleg. 1. Quos videt invitos succubuisse sibi God will have the better of those that contend with him and his own Reason will tell him that it is not fit that God should cast down the bucklers first and that the deeper a man wades the more hee shall bee wet Vers 12. For who knoweth what is good for man Hee may think this and that to bee good but is mostly mistaken and disappointed Ambrose hath well observed that other creatures are led by the instinct of Nature to that which is good for them The Lion when hee is sick cures himself by devouring an Ape the Bear by devouring Ants the wounded Dear by feeding upon Dittany c. in ignoras O homo remedia tuo but thou O man knowest not what is good for thee Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good saith the Prophet and what doth the Lord require of thee but this instead of raking riches together to do justly and to love mercy and instead of contending with him to humble thy self to walk with thy God Micah 6.8 For who can tell a man what shall bee after him When the Worms shall bee scrambling for his body the Devils haply for his soul and his friends for his goods A false Jesuite published in print Camd Elis Dilexi virum qui cum corpore solveretur magit de Ecclesiarum statu c. some years after Queen Elizabeths death that shee died despairing and that shee wished shee might after her death hang a while in the air to see what striving would bee for her Kingdome I loved the man said Ambrose of Theodosius for this that when hee died hee was more affected with care of the Churches good than of his own CHAP. VII Vers 1. A good name is better than precious ointment YEa than great riches Prov. 22.1 See the Note The initial letter of the Hebrew word for Good here is bigger than ordinary Majusculum to shew the more than ordinary excellency of a good name and fame amongst men If whatsoever David doth doth please the people Rom. 1.2 if Mary Magdalens cost upon Christ bee well spoken of in all the Churches if the Romans Faith bee famous throughout the whole world if Demetrius have a good report of all good men and St. John set his seal to it this must needs bee better than precious ointments the one being but a perfume of the nostrils the other of the heart Sweet ointment olfactum afficit spiritum reficit cerebrum juvat affects the smell refresheth the spirit comforts the brain A good name doth all this and more For First As a fragrant scent it affects the soul amidst the stench of evil courses and companies It is as a fresh gale of sweet air to him that lives as Noah did among such as are no better than walking dunghills and living sepulchres of themselves stinking much more worse than Lazarus did after hee had lain four daies in the grave A good name preserveth the soul as a Pomander and refresheth it more than musk or civil doth the body Secondly It comforts the conscience and exhilatates the heart cheers up the mind amidst all discouragements and fatteth the bones Prov. 15.30 doing a man good like a medicine And whereas sweet ointments may bee corrupted by dead flies a good name proceeding from a good conscience cannot bee so Fly blown it may bee for a season and somewhat obscured but as the Moon wades out of a cloud so shall the Saints innocency break forth as the light and their righteousness as the noon-day Psal 37.6 Buried it may beee in the open sepulchres of evil throats but it shall surely rise again A Resurrection there shall bee of names as well as of bodies at the last day at utmost But usually a good name comforts a Christian at his death and continues after it For though the name of the wicked shall rot his lamp shall bee put out in obscurity and leave a vile snuff behinde it yet the righteous shall bee had in everlasting remembrance they shall leave their names for a blessing Isa 65.15 And the day of death than the day of ones birth The Greeks call a mans birth-day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginning of his Nativity they call the begetting of his misery Man that is born of a woman is born to trouble saith Job chap. 14.1 The word there rendred Born signifieth also generated or conceived to note that man is miserable even so soon as hee is warm in the womb as David hath it Psal 51.5 If hee lives to see the light hee comes crying into the world Ad Marc. cap. 11. a flet is vitam anspicatur saith Seneca Insomuch as the Lawyers defined 〈◊〉 by crying and a still-born childe is all one as dead in Law Onely Zoâ—â—staâ— is said to have been born laughing but that laughter was both monstrous and ominous Justin lib. 1. For hee first found out the black Art which yet profited him not so far as to the vain felicity of this present life For being King of the Bactrians hee was overcome and slain in battel by Ninus King of the Assyrians St. Austin who relates this story saith of mans first entrance into the world Nondum loquitur tamen prophetat Ere ever a childe speaks hee prophesies by his tears of his ensuing sorrows Nec prius natus quam damnat no No sooner is hee born but hee is condemned to the Mines or Gallies as it were of sin and suffering Hence Solomon here prefers his Coffin before his Cradle And there was some truth in that saying of the Heathen Optimum est non nasci proximum quam celorrime mori For wicked men it had been best not to have been born or being born to dye quickly sith by living long they heap up first sin and then wrath against the day of wrath As for good men there is no doubt but the day of death is best to them because it is the day-break of Eternal Righteousness and after a short brightness as that Martyr said gives them Malorum ademptionem bonorum ademptionem freedome from all evil fruition of all good Hence the antient Fathers called those daies wherein the Martyrs suffered their birth-daies because then they began to live indeed sith here to live is but to lye a dying Eternal life is the onely true life saith Austin Vers 2. It is better to go to the house of mourning To the terming-house as they term it where a dead corps is laid forth for
of life Money also is a thorn-hedge of very good use Job 1.10 so it be set without the affections and get not into the heart as the Pharisees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did Luk. 11.41 their riches were got within them and by choaking the seed kept wisdome out Wisdome giveth life to them that have it For God is both a Sun and a shield or shadow he will give grace and glory c. Psal 84.11 Life in any sense is a sweet mercy but the life of grace and of glory may well challenge the precellency No marvel therefore though wisdome bear away the bell from wealth which as it serves only to the uses of life natural so being misused it drowns many a soul in perdition and destruction 1 Tim. 6.9 and proves the root of all evil ch 16.10 yea it taketh away the life of the owner thereof Prov. 1.19 See the Note there It is confessed that wealth sometimes giveth life to them that have it as it did to those ten Jewes that had treasures in the field Jer. 41.8 and doth to those condemned men that can take a lease of their lives But Nabals wealth had undone him if Abigails wisdome had not interposed And in the other life money bears no mastery Adam had it not in Paradise and in Heaven there is no need of it Vers 13. Consider the work of God c. q. d. Stoop sith there is no standing out See God in that thou sufferest and submit God by a crooked tool many times makes straight work he avengeth the quarrel of his Covenant by the Assyrian that rod of Gods wrath though hee thinks not so Esay 10.7 Job could discern Gods arrows in Satans hand and Gods hand on the Armes of the Sabcan robbers He it is that killeth and maketh alive saith holy Hannah he maketh poor and maketh rich hee bringeth low and lifteth up 1 Sam. 2.6 7. All is done according to the counsel of his will who as he may doe what he pleases so he will be sure never to over-doe his holy hand shall never bee further stretched out to smite than to save Esay 59.1 This made David dumb for he knew it was Gods doing It is the Lord said Eli let him doe Psal 39. 1 Sam. 3.18 and I will suffer lest I adde passive disobedience to active Aaron his Predecessor had done the like before him upon the same consideration in the untimely end of his untowardly children Levit. 10.3 Jacob likewise in the rape of Dinah Gen. 34.5 Agnovit hand dubie ferulam divinam saith Pareus on that text hee considered the work of God in it and that it was in vain for him to seek to make that straight which God had made crooked There is no standing before a Lion no hoysing up sayl in a tempest no contending with the Almighty Whoever waxed fierce against God and prospered Job 9.4 Who ever got any thing by kicking against the pricks by biting the rod which they should rather have kissed See Esay 14.27 Job 9.12 13. 34.12.10 Set God before your passions when they are up in a hurry and all will bee husht Set down proud flesh when it bustles and bristles under Gods fatherly chastisements and say soberly to your selves shall I not drink of the cup that my Father who is also my Physician hath put into mine hands stand under the cross that he hath laid on my shoulders stoop unto the yoke that he hangeth on my neck Drink off Gods cup willingly said Mr. Bradford the Martyr and at first when it is full lest if we linger wee drink at length of the dregs with the wicked Ferre minora volo ne graviora feram That was a very good saying of Demosthenes who was ever better at praising of vertue than at practising of it good men should ever doe the best and then hope the best But if any thing happen worse than was hoped for let that which God will have done be born with patience Vers 14. In the day of prosperity be joyful Here wee have some fair days some foul crosses like foul weather come afore they are sent for for as fair weather the more is the pity may doe hurt so may prospenity as it did to David Psal 30.6 who therefore had his interchanges of a worse condition as it was but needful his prosperity like checker-work was intermingled with adversity See the circle God goes in with his people Circulus quidem est in rebus humanis Deus nos per contraria crudit Naz. Orat. 7. in that thirtieth Psalm David was afflicted vers 5. hee was delivered and grew wanton Then troubled again vers 7. cries again 8 9 God turns his mourning into joy again Thus God sets the one against the other as it were in aequilibrio in even balance for our greatest good Sometimes he weighes us in the balance and findes us too light Then he thinks best to make us heavie through manifold temptations 1 Pet. 1.6 Sometimes hee findes our water somewhat too high and then as a Physician no less cunning than loving he fits us with that which will reduce all to the healthsome temper of a broken spirit But if wee bee but prosperity-proof there is no such danger of adversity Some of those in Queen Maries dayes who kept their garments close about them wore them afterwards more loosely Prosperity makes the Saints rust sometimes therfore God sets his Scullions to scoure them make them bright though they make themselves black This scouring if they will scape let Solomons counsel be taken In the day of prosperity be joyful i. e. serve God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things and reckon upon it the more wages the more work Is it not good reason Solomons Altar was four times as big as Moses his and Ezekiels Temple ten times bigger than Solomons to teach that where God gives much he expects much Otherwise God will curse our blessings Jer. 12.13 Mal. 2.2 Make us ashamed of our revenues through his fierce anger and destroy us after he hath done us good Josh 24.20 In the day of adversity consider Sit alone and be in meditation of the matter Psal 4.4 Lam. 3.28 commune with your own consciences and be still or make a pause See who it is that smites thee and for what Lam. 3.40 Take Gods part against thy self as a Physician observes which way nature works and helps it Consider that God afflicts not willingly or from his heart it goes as much against the heart with him Psal 119.75 as against the hair with us Lam. 3.33 Hee is forced of very faithfulnesse to afflict us because hee will be true to our souls and save them he is forced to diet us who have surfeted of prosperity and keep us short He is forced to purge us as wise Physicians doe some Patients till he bring us almost to skin and bone and to let us bloud even ad deliquium animae till we swoon
is holy both in body and spirit 1 Cor. 7.34 and this with delight out of fear of God and love of vertue God did much for that libidinous Gentleman who sporting with a Curtezan in a house of sin happened to ask her name which she said was Mary Mountaignes Essayes whereat he was stricken with such a remorse and reverence that he instantly not only cast off the Harlot but amended his future life But the Sinner shall be taken by her See the Note on Prov. 22.14 The Poets fable that when Prometheus had discovered Truth to men that had long lain hid from them Jupiter or the Devil to crosse that design sent Pandora that is Pleasure that should so besot them as that they should neither mind nor make out after Truth and Honesty Vers 27. Behold this I have found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have found it I have found it said the Philosopher Vicimus Vicimus we have prevailed we have prevailed said Luther when hee had been praying in his Closet for the good successe of the consultation about Religion in Germany So the Preacher here Aperit sibi diligentia januam veritatis Amb. having by diligence set open the door of truth cries Venite videte Come and see my discoveries in the making whereof I have been very exact counting one by one Ne mole obruerer lest I should bee oppressed with many things at once Vers 28. Which yet my soul seeketh but I finde not There is a place in Wiltshire called Stonage for divers great stones lying and standing there together of which stones it is said Camden that though a man number them one by one never so carefully yet that he cannot finde the true number of them but that every time he numbers them he findes a different number from that he found before This may well shew as one well applies it the erring of mans labour in seeking the account of wisdome and knowledge For though his diligence be never so great in making the reckoning he will alwayes be out and not able to find it out One man among a thousand Hand facile invenies multis è milibus unum There is a very great scarcity of good people These are as Gideons three hundred when the wicked as the Midianites lye like Grashoppers for multitude upon the earth Judg. 7. and as those Syrians 1 King 20.27 they fill the country they darken the air as the swarms did the Land of Aegypt and there is plenty of such dust-heaps in every corner But a Woman among all those have I not found i. e. Among all my Wives and Concubines which made him ready to sing Foemina nulla bona est But that there are and ever have been many gracious Women see besides the Scriptures the Writings of many Learned men De illustribus foeminis It is easie to observe saith one that the New-Testament affords more store of good Wives than the Old And I can say as Hierom does Novi ego multas ad omne opus bonum promptas I know many Tabithaes full of good works But in respect of the discoverie of hearts and natures whether in good or evil it is harder to find out throughly the perfect disposition of a Woman than of Men. And that I take to be the meaning of this text Vers 29. That God hath made man upright viz. In his own Image i. e. knowledge in his understanding part rightnesse in his will and holinesse in his affections his heart was a lump of love c. when he came first out of Gods Mint he shone most glorious clad with the royal robe of righteousnesse created with the imperial crown Psal 8.5 But the Devil soon stript him of it he cheated and cousened him of the Crown as we use to doe children with the apple or whatsoever fruit it was that he tendred to Eve Porrexit pomum surripuit paradisum Bernard Lib. 1. legis allegor Hee also set his limbs in the place of Gods Image so that now Is qui factus est homo differt ab eo quem Deus fecit as Philo saith Man is now of another make than God made him Totus homo est inversus decalogus whole evil is in man and whole man in evil Neither can hee cast the blame upon God but must fault himself and fly to the second Adam for repair But they have sought out many inventions New tricks and devises like those poetical fictions and fabulous relations whereof there is neither proof nor profit The Vulgar Latine hath it Et ipse se infinitis miscuit quaestionibus And hee hath intangled himself with numberless questions and fruitless speculations See 1 Tim. 1.4 and cap. 6.4 doting about questions or question-sick Bernard reads it thus Ipse autem se implicuit doloribus multis but hee hath involved himself in many troubles the fruit of his inventions shifts and sherking tricks See Jer. 6.19 CHAP. VIII Vers 1. Who is as the Wise man Velut inter stellas Luna minores QUa dic Hee is a matchless man a peerless Paragon out-shining others as much as the Moon doth the lesser Stars Plato could say that no Gold or Precious stone doth glister so gloriously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the prudent spirit of a good man Gen. 41.38 Thou art a Prince of God amongst us said the Hittites to Abraham Can wee finde such a man as this Joseph in whom the Spirit of God is said Pharaoh to his Counsellors Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him on the earth c Job 1.8 My servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all my house and shall bee of my Cabinet-Counsel Numb 12.7 To him God said Tu verò hic sta mecum But do thou stand here by mee Exod. 34.5 Sapiens Dei comes est saith Philo. Look how Kings have their Favourites whom they call Comites their Cousins and Companions so hath God Nay the righteous are Princes in all Lands Psal 45.16 Kings in righteousness compare Mat. 13.17 with Luk. 10.24 the excellent Ones of the Earth Psal 16.3 the Worthies of the world Hom. 55. in Matth. Heb. 11.5 fitter to bee set as Stars in Heaven and to bee continually before the Throne of God Chrysostome calls some holy men of his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Earthly Angels and speaking of Babylas the Martyr hee saith of him Magnus at que admirabilis vir hee was an excellent and an admirable man Orat. contra Gentiles c. And Tertullian writing to some of the Martyrs sayes Non tantus sum ut vos alloquar I am not good enough to speak unto you Oh that my life and a thousand such wretches more might go for yours Oh why doth God suffer mee and other such Caterpillars to live saith John Careless Martyr in a letter to that Angel of God Mr. Bradford as Dr. Taylor called him that can do nothing but consume the alms of the
head lack no oyntment That thou mayst look smooth and handsome See Matth. 6.16 17. Oyntments were much used with those Eastern people in Banquetings Bathings and at other times Luk. 7.46 Mat. 26.7 By garments here some understand the affections as Col. 3.8 12 which must alwayes be white i. e. cheerful even in times of persecution when thy garments haply are stained with thine own bloud By the head they understand the thoughts which must also be kept lithe and lightsome as anoynted with the oyl of gladnesse Crucem multi abominantur crucem videntes sed non videntes unctionem Crux enim inuncta est saith Bernard Many men hate the Crosse because they see the Crosse only but see not the Oyntment that is upon it For the Crosse is anoynted and by the grace of Gods holy Spirit helping our infirmities it becomes not only light but sweet not only not troublesome Aug. but even desirable and delectable Martyr etiam in catena gaudet Paul gloried in his sufferings his spirit was cheered up by the thoughts of them as by some fragrant oyntment Vers 9. Live joyfully with the Wife whom thou lovest As Isaac the most loving Husband in Scripture did with his Rebecca whom he loved Gen. 24.67 not only as his Country-woman Kins-woman a good Woman c. but as his Woman not with an ordinary or Christian love only but with a conjugal love which indeed is that which will make marriage a merry-age sweeten all crosses season all comforts She is called the Wife of a mans bosome because she should be loved as well as the heart in his bosome God took one of mans ribs and having built it into a Wife laid it again in his bosome so that she is flesh of his flesh yea she is himself as the Apostle argues and therehence enforceth this duty of love Ephes 5. Neither doth he satisfie himself in this argument but addes there blow to blow so to drive this nayl up to the head the better to beat this duty into the heads and hearts of Husbands All the dayes of the life of thy vanity Love and live comfortably together as well in age as in youth as well in the fading as in the freshnesse of beauty Which he hath given thee i. e. The Wife not the Life which hee hath given thee For marriages are made in Heaven as the Heathens also held God as he brought Eve to Adam at first so still he is the Paranymph that makes the match Prov. 18.22 and unites their affections A prudent Wife is of the Lord for a comfort as a froward is for a scourge All the dayes of thy vanity i. e. Of thy vain vexatious life the miseries whereof to mitigate God hath given thee a meet-mate to compassionate and communicate with thee and to bee a principal remedy for Optimum solatium sodalitium no comfort in misery can be comparable to good company that will sympathize and share with us For that is thy portion And a very good one too if she prove good As if otherwise Arist in Rhetor. Aristotle saith right he that is unhappy in a Wife hath lost the one half at least of his happinesse on earth And in thy labour which thou takest c. They that will marry shall have trouble in the flesh 1 Cor. 7.28 let them look for it and labour to make a vertue of necessity As there is rejoycing in marriage so there is a deal of labour i. e. of care cost and cumber Is it not good therefore to have a Partner such an one as Sarah was to Abraham a Peece so just cut for him as answered him right in every joynt Vers 10. Whatsoever thy hand findes to doe doe it with thy might Wee were made and set here to be doing of something that may doe us good a thousand years hence our time is short our task is long our Master urgent an anstere man c. work therefore while the day lasteth yea work hard as afraid to be taken with your task undone The night of death comes when none can work That 's a time not of doing work but of receiving wages Up therefore and be doing that the Lord may be with you Praecipita tempus mors atra impendet agenti Silius Castigemus ergo mores moras The Devil is therefore more mischievous because hee knowes he hath but a short time Rev. 12.12 and makes all the haste he can to out work the children of light in a quick dispatch of deeds of darknesse O learn for shame of the Devil as Latimer said once in another case therefore to doe your utmost because the time is short or rolled up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor 7.29 as sayls use to bee when the ship drawes nigh to the harbour This argument prevailed much with St. Peter to bestirre him in stirring up those hee wrote unto because hee knew that hee must shortly put off his tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.13 14. The life of man is the lamp of God saith Solomon God hath set up our lives as Alexander when hee sate down before a City did use to set up a light to give those within to understand that if they came forth to him whiles that light lasted they might have quarter as if otherwise no mercy was to be expected Vers 11. That the race is not to the swift Here the Preacher proveth what hee had found true by experience by the event of mens indeavours often frustrated that nothing is in our power but all carried on by a providence which oft crosseth our likeliest projects that God may have the honour of all Let a man be as swift as Asahel or Atalanta yet hee may not get the goal or escape the danger Speed The battel of Terwin in France fought by our Henry 8. was called the battel of spurres because many fled for their lives who yet fell as the men of Ai did into the midst of their enemies At Muscle-borough-field many of the Scots running away so strained themselves in their race Life of Edw. 6. by Sir John Heywood that they fell down breathlesse and dead whereby they seemed in running from their deaths to run to it whereas two thousand of them that lay all day as dead got away safe in the night Nor the battel to the strong As we see in the examples of Gideon Jonathan and his armour-bearer David in his encounter with Goliah Leonidas who with six hundred men worsted five hundred thousand of Xerxes host Dan. 11.34 They shall be holpen with a little help And why a little that through weaker means we may see Gods greater strength Zach. 4.6 Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord This Rabshakeh knew not and therefore derided Hezekiah for trusting to his prayers Esay 36.5 What can Hezekiah say to embolden him to stand out What I say saith Hezekiah I have words of my lips that is Prayer Prayer saith
being little less than a Monster What so monstrous as to behold green Apples on a tree in winter and what so indecent as to see the sins of youth prevailing in times of age among old decrepit Goats that they should bee capering after capparis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fruit of Capers as the Septuagint and Vulgar render it here Because man goeth to his long home Heb. to his old home scil to the dust from whence hee was taken Or to the house of his eternity that is the grave that house of all living where hee shall lye long till the Resurrection Tremellius renders it in domum saeculi sui to the house of his generation where hee and all his contemporaries meet Cajetan in domum mundi sui into the house of his world that which the world provides for him as nature at first provided for him the house of the womb Toward this home of his the old man is now on gate having one foot in the grave already Hee sits and sings with Job My spirit is spent my daies are extinct the graves are ready for mee Job 17.1 And the mourners go about the streets The proverb is Senex â—os non lugetur An old man dies unlamented But not so the good old man Great moan was made for old Jacob Moses Aaron Samuel The Romans took the death of old Augustus so heavily that they wished hee had either never been born or never died Those indeed that live wickedly dye wishedly But godly men are worthily lamented and ought to bee so Isa 57.1 This is one of the dues of the dead so it bee done aright But they were hard bestead that were fain to hire mourners that as Midwives brought their friends into the world so those widows should carry them out of it See Job 3.8 Jer. 9.17 Vers 6. Or ever the silver cord bee loosed Or lengthened i. e. before the marrow of the back which is of a silver colour bee consumed From this Cord many sinews are derived which when they are loosened the back bendeth motion is slow and feeling faileth Or the golden bowl be broken i. e. The heart say some or the Pericardium the Brain-pan say others or the Piamater compassing the brain like a swathing-cloath or inner rind of a tree Or the pitcher bee broken at the fountain That is the veins at the Liver which is the shop of sangnification or blood-making as one calls it but especially Vena porta and Vena cava Read the Anatomists Or the wheel bee broken at the cistern i. e. The head which draws the power of life from the heart to the which the blood runs back in any great fright as to the fountain of life Vers 7. Then shall the dust return to the earth c. What is man saith Nazianzen but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soul and Soil Breath and Body a puff of wind the one a pile of dust the other no solidity in either Zoroaster and some other antient Heathens imagined that the soul had wings that having broken these wings shee fell headlong into the body and that recovering her wings again shee flies up to Heaven her original habitation That of Epicharmus is better to bee liked and comes nearer to the truth here delivered by the Preacher Concretum fuit discretum est rediitque unde venerat terra deorsum spiritus sursum It was together but is now by death set asunder and returned to the place whence it came the Earth downward the Spirit upward See Gen. 2.7 God made man of the dust of the earth to note our frailty vility and impurity Lutum enim conspurcat omnia sic caro saith one Dirt defiles all things so doth the flesh It should seem so truly by mans soul which coming pure out of Gods hands soon becomes Mens oblita Dei vitiorumque oblita coeno Bernard complains not without just cause that our souls by commerce with the flesh are become fleshly Sure it is that by their mutual defilement corruption is so far rooted in us now that it is not cleansed out of us by meer death as is to bee seen in Lazarus and others that died but by cinerification or turning of the body to dust and ashes The spirit returns to God that gave it For it is divinae particula aurae an immaterial immortal substance that after death returns to God the Fountain of life D. Prest The soul moves and guides the body saith a worthy Divine as the Pilot doth the ship Now the Pilot may bee safe though the ship bee split on the rock And as in a chicken it grows still and so the shell breaks and falls off So it is with the soul the body hangs on it but as a shell and when the soul is grown to perfection it falls away and the soul returns to the Father of spirits Augustine after Origen held a long while that the soul was begotten by the Parents as was the body At length hee began to doubt of this point and afterward altered his opinion confessing inter caetera testimonia hoc esse praecipuum that among other testimonies this to bee the chief to prove the contrary to that which hee had formerly held Vers 8. Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher Who chose for his Text this Argument of the vanity of humane things which having fully proved and improved hee here resumes and concludes Vide supra Vers 9. And moreover because the Preacher was wise Hee well knew how hard it was to work men to a beleef of what hee had affirmed concerning earthly vanities and therefore heaps up here many forcible and cogent Arguments as First that himself was no baby but wise above all men in the world by Gods own testimony therefore his words should bee well regarded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our wise men expound to day said the Jews one to another Come let us go up to the house of the Lord c. Cicero had that high opinion of Plato for his wisdome that hee professed that hee would rather go wrong with him than go right with others Averroes over-admired Aristotle as if hee had been infallible But this is a praise proper to the holy Pen-men guided by the Spirit of Truth and filled with wisdome from on high for the purpose To them therefore and to the word of prophecy by them must men give heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place c. 2 Pet. 1.19 Hee still taught the people knowledge Hee hid not his talent in a Napkin but used it to the instruction of his people Have not I written for thee excellent things or three several sorts of Books viz. Proverbial Penitential Nuptial in counsels and knowledge Prov. 22.20 Synesius speaks of some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Synes that having great worth in them will as soon part with their hearts as with their conceptions And Gregory observeth that there are not a few who being enriched with spiritual gifts
Caveatur osculum Iscarioticum consign their treachery with so sweet a symbol of amity yet those that love out of a pure heart fervently do therefore kiss 1 Pet. 1.22 as desiring to transfuse if it might bee the souls of either into other and to become one with the party so beloved and in the best sense suaviated That therefore which the Church here desireth Heb. 1.1 is not so much Christs coming in the flesh that God who at sundry times and in divers manners had spoken in times past unto her by the Prophets would now speak unto her by his Son as some have sensed it as that shee may have utmost conjunction to him and nearest communion with him here as much as may bee and hereafter in all fulness of fruition Let him kiss mee and so seal up his hearty love unto mee even the sure mercies of David with the kisses of his mouth Not with one kiss onely with one pledge of his love but with many there is no satiety no measure no bounds or bottome of this holy love as there is in carnal desires ubi etiam vota post usum fastidio sunt Neither covers mee to kiss his hand as they deal by Kings or his feet as they do the Popes but his mouth shee would have true kisses the basia the busses of those lips whereinto grace is poured Psal 45.3 and where hence those words of grace are uttered Prov. 31.26 Mat. 5.2 3 c. Hee openeth his mouth with wisdome and in his lips is the Law of kindness Hence her affectionate desires her earnest pantings inquietations and unsatisfiablenesses Shee must have Christ or else shee dies shee must have the kisses of Christs mouth even those sweet pledges of love in his word or shee cannot bee contented but will complain in the confluence of all other comforts as Abraham did Gen. 15.2 Lord God what wilt thou give mee seeing I go childeless Or as Artabâ—zus in Xenophon did when Cyrus had given him a cup of gold and Chrysantas a kiss in token of his special favour saying that the cup that hee gave him was nothing so good gold as the kiss that hee gave Chrysantas The Poets fable that the Moon was wont to come down from her orb to kiss Endymion It is a certain truth that Christ came down from Heaven to reconcile us to his Father to unite us to himself and still to communicate unto our souls the sense of his love the feeling of his favour the sweet breath of his holy Spirit For thy Love is better than Wine Heb. Loves The Septuagint and Vulgar render it Ubera Thy breasts but that is not so proper sith it is the Church that here speaks to Christ and by the sudden change of person shews the strength and liveliness of her affection As by the Plural Loves shee means all fruits of his love righteousness peace joy in the Holy Ghost assurance of Heaven which Mr. Latimer calls the sweet-meats of the feast of a good conscience There are other dainty dishes at that feast but this is the banquet this is better than Wine which yet is a very comfortable creature Psal 104.15 and highly set by Psal 4.7 Plato calls wine a musick miseriarum humanarum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief allayments of mens miseries Vers 3. Because of the savour of thy good ointments Or To smell to thy ointments are best Odoratissimus es As the Panther casts abroad a fragrant savour as Alexander the Great is said to have had a natural sweetness with him by reason of the good temperament of his body So and much more than so the Lord Christ Euseb that sweetest of sweets Hee kisseth his poor persecuted people as Constantine once kissed Paphnutius his lost eye and departing for here hee comes but as a suter onely till the marriage bee made up in Heaven hee leaves such a sweet scent behinde him such a balmy verdure as attracts all good hearts unto him so that where this all-quickning carkass is there would the Eagles bee also Mat. 24. The Israelites removed their tents from Mithcah which signifies sweetness to Cashmonah which signifies swiftness Numb 33.29 To teach us saith one that the Saints have no sooner tasted Christs sweetness but they are carried after him presently with incredible swiftness Hence they are said to have a nose like the Tower of Lebanon Cant. 7. for their singular sagacity in smelling after Christ and to flee to the holy Assemblies where Christs odors are beaten out to the smell as the clouds Isa 60.8 or as the Doves to their windaws For why they have their senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil Heb. 5.14 and their love abounds yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement Phil. 1.9 Thy name is as ointment poured forth There is an elegant allusion in the Original betwixt Shem and Shemen that is Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Ointment And Christ hath his name both in Hebrew and Greek from ointment for these three words in signification are all one Messias Christ Anointed See the reason Isa 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord that oil of gladness Heb. 1.9 is upon mee because hee hath anointed and appointed mee to preach good tidings to the meek 2 Cor. 2.2 14 15 16 c. Now when this is done to the life when Christ crucified is preached when the Holy Ghost in the mouth and ministry of his faithful servants shall take of Christs excellencies as it is his office to do Joh. 16.14 and hold them out to the world when hee shall hold up the tapestry as it were 2 Tim. 2.5 and shew men the Lord Christ with an Ecce virum Behold the man that one Mediatour betwixt God and Man the Man Christ Jesus See him in his Natures in his Offices in his Works in the blessed Effects of all This cannot but stir up wonderful loves in all good souls with hearty wishes 1 Cor. 16.22 that If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ hee may bee Anathema Maranatha accurst upon accurst and put over to God to punish Therefore the Virgins love thee i. e. All that are adjoyned to mee in comely sort as chast Damosels to their Mother and Mistress The elect and faithful are called Virgins for their spiritual chastity They are Gods hidden ones as the word here used signifieth as they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paellae absconditae propter secretiorem educationem Riv. Speed 1236. Psal 83.3 they are not defiled with the corruptions that are in the world through lust for they are Virgins Rev. 14.4 Else the Bride would not suffer them about her Psal 45.14 Of Queen Elizabeth it is said that shee never suffered any Lady to approach her presence of whose stain shee had but the least suspition These follow the Lamb wheresoever hee goeth ib. as the other creatures follow the Panther for his sweet odors as birds
Contrariwise the godly in the fulness of his want is in an All-sufficiency because hee is in Christ Col. 3. who hath filled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the neuter gender not onely all the hearts of his people but All things hee hath filled up that emptiness that was before in the creature and made it satisfactory I sate down under his shadow with great delight Heb. I delighted and sate down The Church being scortcht with troubles without and terrours within ran to Christ for shelter and found singular comfort Psal 91.1 Isa 25.4 Tua praesentia Domine Laurentio ipsam craticulam dulcem fecit saith an Antient Philip Lantgrave of Hesse being a long time prisoner under Charls the fifth was demanded what upheld him all that time Respondit divinas Martyrum consolationes se sensisse hee answered that Christ came in to him with such cordials as kept up his spirits above beleef There bee divine comforts that are felt by the suffering Saints that others taste not of nor themselves neither at other times When the childe is sick out come the conserves and sweet-meats Never sits hee so much on his Mothers lap and in her bosome as then And his fruit was sweet to my taste i. e. His word and promises which I rolled as Sugar under my tongue and sucked therehence more sweetness than Sampson did from his hony-comb Psal 19.10 119.103 Jer. 15.16 Luther said hee would not live in paradise Tom. 4. Oper. Lat. if hee might without the Word at cum verbo etiam in inferno facile est vivere saith hee but with the Word hee could live even in Hell it self True it is that those that have not the Spouses palate finde no such sweetness in Christ or his promises Most men are so full gorged with the Devils dainties so surfeited with sins sweet-meats that they finde no more relish in the good Word of God Multi in terris manducant quod apud inferos digerunt Aug. than in the white of an Egge or in a dry chip These feed upon that now that they must without repentance digest in Hell there will bee bitterness in the end Whereas they that by sucking those full-strutting breasts of consolation the promises have tasted and seen how good the Lord Christ is as their souls are satisfied with fat things full of marrow with the very best of the best Isa 25.6 so hee shall make them to drink abundantly of the river of his pleasures Psal 36.9 hee shall take them into his Wine-â—eller and fill them with gladness Vers 4. Hee brought mee to the banquetting-house Heb. to the house of Wine where hee giveth mee that which is better than Apple-drink as vers 3. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ 2 Cor. 1.5 The lower that ebb the higher this tide as is to bee seen in the Martyrs who went as merrily to die as ever they did to dine sang in the flames and felt no more pain than if they had lain upon beds of Roses This their persecutors counted stupidity and vain-glory but they knew not the power of the Spirit and the force of Faith as Mr. Philpot told scoffing Morgan who coming to confer with him asked him How know you that you have the Spirit of God Mr. Philpot answered By the Faith of Christ which is in mee All by Faith quoth Morgan do yee so I ween it bee the spirit of the buttery which your fellows have had that have been burned before you who were drunk the night before they went to their death Act. and Mon. fol. 1653. and I ween went drunk unto it Whereunto Philpot replied It appears by your communication that you are better acquainted with the spirit of the buttery than of God Meethink you are liker a scoffer in a Play than a reasonable Doctor to instruct one Thou hast the spirit of illusion and sophistry which is not able to countervail the Spirit of truth Thou art but an Ass in the things of God c. God shall surely rain fire and brimstone upon such scorners of his Word and blasphemers of his people as thou art The like sensure was passed upon Nicholas Burton Martyr in Spain who because hee went chearfully to the stake and embraced death with all gladness and patience Ibid. 1866. his tormentours and enemies said that the Devil had his soul before hee came to the fire and therefore his sense of feeling was past These carnal creatures meddle not with the true Christians joy neither know they the privy armour of proof the joy of Faith that hee hath as an aes triplex about his heart making him insuperable and more than a Conquerour Rom. 8.35 True grace hath a fortifying comforting virtue which the world knows not of like as true gold comforts and strengthens the heart that Alchymy gold doth not And as a man that by good fare and plenty of the best Wines hath his bones filled with marrow and his veins with good blood and a fresh spring of spirits can endure to go with less cloathes than another because hee is well liâ—ed within So it is with a heart that by oft feasting with Christ in his Ordinances and by much reading and ruminating upon the Scriptures called here the Banquetting-house or Wine-celler as most are of opinion hath got a great deal of joy and peace such an one will go thorow troubles and make nothing of them yea though outward comforts utterly fail Hab. 3.17 Rom. 5.15 And his banner over mee was love As a Standard erected as a banner displayed so was the love of Christ shed abroad in her heart by the Holy Ghost who had also as a fruit of his love set up a Standard in her against strong temptations and corruptions Isa 59.19 and thereby assured her of his special presence like as where the colours are there is the Captain where the Standard there the King The wicked also have their banners of lust covetousness ambition malice under which they fight as the Dragon and his viperous brood Rev. 12.7 against Christ and his people but they may read their destiny Isa 8.9 10. Associate your selves O yee people stand to your arms repair to your colours c. yet yee shall bee broken in peeces gird your selves and yee shall bee broken in peeces c. Take counsel together and it shall come to nought c. for God is with us Immanuel is our General And how many do you reckon him for as Antigonus once said to his souldiers that feared their enemies numbers Surely if Christ bee for us and hee is never from us Matth. 28.20 but as Xerxes was wont to do hee pitcheth his tent and sets up his Standard in the midst of his people as once in the wilderness who can bee against us Rom. 8.31 And though many bee yet No weapon that is formed against the Church shall prosper how should it fith shee hath such a
Champion as Christ who is in love with her and will take her part fight her quarrel and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn Isa 54.17 As the ecclipsed Moon by keeping her motion wades out of the shadow and recovers her splendour So it shall bee with the Spouse Yea shee shall bee able to answer those that reproach and cast dirt upon her for her keeping close to Christs colours and suffering hardship for him as the Emperour Adrian did the Poet Florus who sate on an Ale-bench and sang Nolo ego Caesar esse Ambulare per Britannos Rigidas pati pruinas c. The witty Emperour replied upon him assoon as hee heard of it Melanchthon in Chron. Carion Nolo ego Florus esse Ambulare per tabernas Latitare per popinas Pulices pati rotundos Vers 5. Stay mee with flaggons Not with cups or bowls onely but with flaggons larger measures of that Wine that was set before her in Christs Wine-house Comfort mee with Apples such as fall from Christs Apple-tree spoken of in the former verse the precious mellifluous promises which are sweet like the Apples of the Garden of Eden as the Chaldee here hath it Boulster mee up with these for I am even sinking and swooning with an excess of love with an exuberancy of spiritual joy in God my Saviour such as I can hardly stand under Stay mee therefore saith shee to the Ministers Poly. hist cap. 56. Smells are applied to the nostrils of them that faint those pillars to support the weak Gal. 2.9 and to comfort the feeble minded 1 Thes 5.14 Stay mee or sustain mee with flaggons comfort mee with Apples Solinus tells of some near the River Ganges that live odore pomorum sylvestrium by the smell of Forrest Apples which is somewhat strange For I am sick of love Surprized with a love-qualm as an honest Virgin may bee meeting her Love unawares enjoying him in the fulness of joy and fearing the loss of his company for a long season Lomb. Seâ—t lib. 3. distine 34. Vide August Epist 121. ad Hoxorâ— This is timor amicalis which Lombard thus describeth ne offendamus quem diligimus ne ab eo separemur The fear of love is lest wee should offend him whom our soul loveth and so cause him to withdraw Hic timor transit in charitatem saith Gregory This fear passeth into love and overwhelms the spirit sometimes This was it that made Jacob when hee saw nothing but visions of love and mercy cry out How dreadful is this place This made that mixture of passions in those good women that coming to look Christ Gosr in Vit. Bern. departed from the grave with fear and great joy From this cause it was that Bernard for a certain time after his conversion remained as it were deprived of his senses by the excessive consolations hee had from God Cyprian writes to his friend Donatus that before his conversion hee thought it impossible to finde such raptures and ravishments as now hee did in a Christian course Epist l. 1. Confess l. 6. c. 22. Hee begins his Epistle thus Accipe quod sentitur antequam discitur c. Augustine saith the like of himself What unconceiveable and unutterable extasies of joy then may wee well think there is in Heaven where the Lord Christ perpetually and without intermission manifesteth the most glorious and visible signs of his presence and seals of his love Hee pours forth all plenteous demonstrations of his goodness to his Saints and gives them eyes to see it minds to conceive it and then fills them with exceeding fulness of love to him again so that they swim in pleasure and are even overwhelmed with joy a joy too big to enter into them they must enter into it Mat. 25.21 Oh pray pray with that great Apostle that had been in Heaven and seen that which eye never saw that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened Verbis exprimi non potest experimento opus est Chrys you may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints Ephes 1.18 3.19 A glory fitter to bee beleeved than possible to bee discoursed An exceeding excessive eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Such a weight as if the body were not upheld by the power of God it were impossible but it should faint under it How ready are our spirits to expire here when any extraordinary unexpected comfort befalls us The Church is sick of love Jacobs heart fainted when hee heard of Josephs life and honour in Egypt The Queen of Sheba was astonied at Solomons wisdome and magnificence so that shee had no spirit more in her Viscount Lisley in Henry the Eighths time died for joy of an unexpected pardon What then may wee think of those in Heaven and should not wee hasten in our affections to that happy place Oh do but think saith one though it far pass the reach of any mortal thought what an infinite inexplicable happiness it will bee to look for ever upon the glorious body of Christ shining with incomprehensible beauty far above the brightest Cherub and to consider that even every vein of that blessed body bled to bring thee to Heaven Think of it I say and then exhale thy self in continual sallies as it were of most earnest desires to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ which is far the better Phil. 1.23 As in the mean while let thy soul sweetly converse with him in all his holy Ordinances but especially at his Holy Table where hee saith unto thee as once to Thomas Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and bee not faithless but beleeving Let thy soul also there reciprocate and say My Lord and my God! Whom have I in Heaven but thee and in Earth Psa 73.25 none in comparison of thee Rabboni Come quickly Vers 6. His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace mee As if shee should have said I called unto you my friends to relieve and raise mee falling into a spiritual swoon but behold the consolation that is in Christ Phil. 2.1 2 the comfort of love the fellowship of the Spirit the bowels and mercies of my dear Husband hee hath fulfilled my joy hee hath prevented your help or at least hee hath wrought together with the means and made it successeful You have stayed mee with flaggons Psal 23.2 but hee hath restored my soul You have bolstered mee up with Apples but when that would not do hee hath put his left hand under my head as a pillow to rest upon and with his right hand hee hath embraced mee as a loving Husband cherisheth his sick wife and doth her all the help hee can Ephes 5.29 The whole virtue and power of the Ministry cometh from Christ They do their worthy indeavour to stay and under-prop our Faith but
Christ have regested And is that the part and posture of a vigilant Christian Might it not better have beseemed you to have had your loyns girt up your lamp in your hand and your self to have waited for your Lords return that when hee came and knocked you might have opened unto him immediately Luk. 12.35 36 Or being got to bed must you needs mend one fault with another Is it such a pains to start up again and let in such a guest as comes not to take any thing from you but to enrich you much more than once the Ark did Obed-Edom And in this sense some take those words in the former verse for mine head is filled with dew c. as if Christ came unto her full of the dew of blessings to enrich her Sure it is that Christ is no beggerly or niggardly guest His reward is with him hee brings better commodities than Abrahams servants did to Laban or the Queen of Sheba to Solomon even purest gold whitest rayment soveraign eye-salve any thing every thing that heart can wish or need require Revel 3.17 19. How unworthily therefore deal they and how ill do they provide for themselves that either deny or delay to entertain him when either by the motions of his Spirit by the words of his mouth or by the works of his hands he knocks at the doors of their hearts and would come in to them How do they make void or reject the counsel of God against themselves with those unhappy Lawyers Luk. 7.30 being ingrati gratiae Dei as Ambrose speaketh and judging themselves unworthy of ever-lasting life with those perverse Jews Acts 13.46 Who can say it is otherwise than righteous that Christ should regest one day upon such ungrateful Gadarens Depart from mee yee wicked that such as say to him as Felix did once to Paul Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee Acts 24.26 should hear from him Get you to the Gods whom yee have chosen for I will not help you c. and that those that would not obey this sweet precept Open to mee c. Come down Zachaeus Luke 19.5 for to day I must abide at thy house c. should have no other left to obey but that dreadful Go yee cursed c. The Church here did but lust a while and linger when shee should have been up and about and shee soon rued it deerly bewailed it bitterly Now what was it that she did Did shee rate Christ for comming at such unseasonable hours did shee answer him currishly or drive him from her door No surely but onely pleads excuse and pretends inconvenience Shee had put off her cloathes washt her feet c. A great chare shee had done and it would have undone her doubtless to have dressed her again and set her fair feet on the foul ground There is none so wise as the sluggard Prov. 26.16 Hee hath got together a great many excuses which hee thinks will go for wisdome because by them hee thinks to sleep in a whole skin Sinne and shifting came into the world together But what saith the Apostle Surely his counsel is most excellent and worthy of all acceptation Heb. 12.25 See that yee refuse not him that speaketh sc by his Blood Word Sacraments motions of his Spirit Mercies c. Look to it as the Greek hath it that yee refuse not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gr that yee shift him not off by frivolous pretences and idle excuses as those recusant guests did Mat. 22.5 as Moses would have done Exod. 3.11 14. 4.1 10. and Jeremiah c. 1.6 So again Heb. 2.3 How shall wee escape if wee neglect so great salvation Hee saith not if wee reject renounce persecute but if wee neglect let slip undervalue c. If when God sends forth his mercy and his truth Psal 57.3 and looks that wee should send a Lamb to that Lamb of God the Ruler of the land Isa 16.1 wee send messages after him saying Wee will not have this man to rule over us Luk. 19.14 Wee break his cords those cords of love Hos 11.4 and kick against his bowels and instead of serving him make him to serve with our sins and even weary him with our iniquities Isa 43.24 How shall wee escape What hill shall hide us What will yee do in the end thereof Vers 4. My Beloved put in his hand by the hole Or Dimissit manuâ— a foramine He let fall his hand from the hole where hee was lifting at the latch or seeâ—ing to put by the bar hee took it so unkindly to bee so ill answered that hee â—â—parted in displeasure and would bee no further troublesome Sleep on noâ— quoth hee as Mark 14.41 and take your rest Hee that will hear let him â—â—ar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Pompâ—io Romano ap Plutarch and he that hath a minde to forbear let him forbear Ezek. 3.27 but at his own peril the best that can come of it is repentance that fair and happy daughter of an ugly and odious mother Delicatares est Spiritus Dei saith one The â—pirit of God is a delicate thing and hee that grieves that holy thing whereby â—ee is sealed by giving way to a spirit of sloth and slumber may lose his joy of faith and go mourning to his grave And although with much a do he maâ— get assurance of pardon yet his conscience will be still trembling as Davids Psal 51. till God at length speak further peace Even as the water of the Sea after a storm is not presently still but moves and trembles a good while after the storm is over Take heed therefore Cavebis autem si pavebis Rom. 11.21 But to take the words as they are here translated My Beloved put in his hand by the hole that is hee touched mine heart by his holy Spirit and notwithstanding my discourteous dealing with him left a sweet remembrance of himself behind him As hee would not away but continued still knocking till hee had an answer so though the answer pleased him not yet hee called not for his love-tokens back again hee cast her not off as Ahashuerus did Vashti no hee hates putting away Mal. 2.16 but as the Sun with his bright beams follows the passenger that hath turned his back upon it So deals Christ by his back-sliding people Psal 23.6 Jonah 2.8 Jer. 3.22 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow mee all the daies of my life saith David follow mee though I forsake mine own mercies saith Jonah And as the same Sun-beams do convey the heat and influence thereof to the earth thereby calling out the herbs and flowers and healing those deformities that winter had brought upon it So doth Christ that Sun of Righteousness arise to his servants that are benighted with sin and sorrow with healing in his wings that is with the gratious influence of his holy Spirit conveying the vertues of his blood to their
Vine unto him Jer. 2.21 the plantation and supplantation whereof is here 1. parabolically propounded Secondly more plainly expounded Some read it To his Vineyard Others for his Vineyard See Matth 21.33.34 Mar. 1.1 12. Luke 20.9 16. My Beloved See how oft he harps upon this sweet string and cannot come off What a man loveth he will be talking off as the Huntsman of his hounds the Drunkard of his cups the worldling of his wealth c. Ten times in nine verses together doth St. Paul mention the name of Jesus 1 Cor. 1. c. shewing thereby that it was to him mel in ore melos in aure jubilum in corde the sweetest Musick Hath a Vineyard So the Church is here ver 7. and elswhere frequently and fitly stiled Confert autem vineae saith Oecolampadius To a Vineyard is the Church compared for sundry reasons Nulla pâ—ssessio majorem operam requierit Cato Itali dicunt Vinea est tinea Soli antemeridiano meridiano atque postmeridiano expostus Pisc as the great care men take about it the great delight they take in it the sweet fruits they expect from it the great worth of its fruit the little worth of its stemm Ezek. 15.3 if it prove fruitless the lowly and feeble condition thereof the continual need it hath to be dressed supported sheltered pruned Joh. 15.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amputat putat In a very fruitful hill Heb. in an horn the son of oyl that is an horny-hill bowing like a half-Moon and so exposed to the Sun beams all the day long Some say that Judea lyeth in the form of a horn like as the Low-Countries do in the form of a Lion unde Leo Belgicus The son of oyl or fatness that is exceeding sat Judas is called Sumen totius orbis a Land flowing with Milk and Honey Ezek. 20.6 a very Cornucopia of all comforts Basil telleth us that it was a Tradition of great Antiquity that Adam when he was thrust out of Paradise ut dolorem leniret for a mitigation of his grief chose Judea that most fruitful Countrey for a place to dwell in whence it is that Sodom and her sisters which were a part of that Countrey are said to be pleasant as the garden of God Gen 13.10 Pro Sepivit alii vertunt Fodâ—t pastinavit plantavit Ver. 2. And he fenced it Maceria munivit He hedged it in or walled it about protecting his people from the rage of enemies wherewith that Countrey was begirt God was a wall of fire to them Zech. 2.5 and a wall of water to them as Exod. 14.22 whence their land though part of the Continent is called an Island Isa 26.6 not only because separated from other Countries but because secured and made media insuperabilis unda And gathered out the stones thereof He not only cast out the Cananites but flatly forbad Idolatry and all other wickednesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every scandal or rock of offence that might hinder their growth or turn them out of the way Heb. 12.13 And planted it with the choicest Vine Heb. Sorek the Vines of which place Judg. 16.4 may seem to be the best and choicest like as now in Germany are the Vines of Herbipolis See Jer. 2.21 The Saints of God are noble Plants and of choice spirits they are the chiefest Personages and of highest account in Heaven And built a Tower in the midst of it for both Beauty Defence and Conveniency This may be meant of Jerusalem or the Temple therein that Tower of the flock and the strong Hold of the Daughter of Gods people Mic. 4.8 Religion set up in the power and purity of it is the beauty and bulwark of any place And also made a Wine-press therein for the pressing of the Grapes and saving of the Vine but alass that labour might have been saved for any grapes he gat or wine he made Fallitur augurio spes bona saepe suo Little good is done many times by the most pressing and piercing Exhortations and Arguments used by Gods faithful Prophets And he looked that it should bring forth grapes i. e. good grapes as little thinking ut opera perdatur spes eludatur to have lost all his care and cost as he did For who planteth a Vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof or who feedeth a Flock and eateth not of the milk of the Flock 1 Cor. 9.7 And it brought forth wild-grapes stinking stuffe as the word signifieth that which was naught and noysom grapes of Sodom and clusters of Gomorrah Deut. 32.32 33. He looked for the fruit of the spirit but behold the works of the flesh Gal. 5. No whit answerable to his continual care culture and custody they made him as One saith a contumacious and contumelious retribution Thus the wicked answer Heavens kindness with an ungrateful wickedness Ver. 3. And now O ye Inhabitants of Jerusalem Here we have Gods Plea before his Sentence and therein his Appeal to them and his Inditement against them First he appealeth to the Jews themselves maketh them Judges in their own cause So Nathan dealt by David and Jesus by the wicked Jews of his time Mat. 21.40 Judicate quaso only judge a righteous Judgement John 7.24 and then I dare report me to the conscience of any one amongst you and will therehence fetch witness Between me and my Vineyard With which I am now at variance Sin is that hell-bag make-bate trouble-town that sets odds betwixt God and his greatest favourites Ver. 4. What could have been done to my Vineyard See the like angry expostulations Jer. 2.5 Mic. 6.3 when God hath done all that can be done to do wretched men good they oft do their utmost to defeit him and undo themselves Quid debu facere Domino meo quod fecerim said Austin of himself by way of penitent confession quis ego qualis ego quid non mali ego The Cypress-tree the more it is watered the less fruitful so it is with many people But God can no way be charged with their barrenness At Paris ut vivat regnetque beatus Horat. Cogi posse negat Ver. 5. And now go to I will tell you c. God loveth to fore-signifie to warn ere he woundeth and to foretell a judgement ere he inflicteth it This he doth that he may be prevented Amos 4.12 Prolata est sententia ut non fiat Well might the Lord say Fury is not in me Isa 27.3 I will take away the hedge thereof Hedge and Wall shall be taken away at once from an ungrateful people and all laid open to the wrath of God and rage of enemies it shall be opentide indeed See Psalm 80.12 13. And what may be reasonably pleaded against God at such a time when he may say to men as Reuben did to his brethren Did not I warn you saying Sin not It shall be eaten up it shall be trodden down All shall run to ruine as it did at Jerusalem by the
went with him to New-England By sins mens bands are made strong as by repentance they are loosened videte ergo ut resipiscatis mature Ver. 23. Give ear and hear my voice hearken c Being to assure the faithful of Gods fatherly care of their safety and indemnity amidst all those distractions and disturbances of the times he calleth for their utmost attention as knowing how flow of heart and dull of hearing the best are how backward to believe Luk. 24.25 and apt to forget the consolation Heb. 12.5 See the Note on Mat. 13.3 Ver. 24. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow Or every day Doth he not find him somewhat else to do besides Preponit parabolam rusticam sed magna sapientia refertam Sua sunt rebus omnibus agendis tempora novandi arandi occandi aequandi serendi metendi colligandi excernendi grani suae rationes singulis And shall not the only wise God afflict his people with moderation and discretion yea verily for he is a God of judgement and waiteth to be gratious chap. 30.18 We are no longer plowed then needs and whereas we may think our hearts soft enough it may be so for some grace but God hath seeds of all sorts to cast in the wheat and the rie c. and that ground which is soft enough for one is not for another God saith Chrysostom doth like a Lutanist who will not let the strings be too slack lest they marr the musick nor suffer them to be too hard-stretcht or scrued up lest they break Ver. 25. When he hath made plain laid it level and equal Doth he not cast in the fitches See on ver 24. The appointed barley Hordeum signatum Whatsoever is sealed with a seal is excellent in its own kind so are all Gods sealed ones Eph. 4.30 Ver. 26. For his God doth instruct him to discretion Being a better Tutor to him then any Varro de Agricultura Cato derè Rustica Hesiod in his works and dayes Virgils Georgicks or Geonomica Constantino inscripta Some read the verse thus And he beateth it out according to that course that his God teacheth him that is according to the judgement of right reason God is to be praised for the art of Agriculture How thankful were the poor Heathens to their Saturn Triptolemus Ceres c. Ver. 27. For the fitches are not threshed out c. So are Gods visitations diversly dispensed he proportioneth the burthen to the back and the stroke to the strength of him that beareth it sparing his afflicted as a man spareth his Son that serveth him Thus Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto death but not unto death and why see Phil. 2.27 Some of the sweet smelling Smyrnians were in prison ten dayes and no more Rev. 2.10 Ver. 28. Bread-corn is bruised yet not mauled or marred That of Ignatius is well known Commolor dentibus ferarum ut purius Domino panis fiam Because he will not ever be threshing it As he is not ever sowing mercies so he will not alwayes be inflicting miseries Nor bruise it with his horsemen Or with his horses-hoofs Ver. 29. This also cometh forth from the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As doth likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 1.17 Which is wonderful qui mirificus est consilio magnificus opere Chap. XXIX Ver. 1. WO to Ariel to Ariel i. e. to the brazen altar Metonymia adjuncti Synecdochica Ezek. 43.15 16. called here Ariel or Gods lyon because it seemed as a lyon to devour the sacrifices daily burnt upon it Here it is put for the whole Temple which together with the City wherein it stood is threatned with destruction The City where David dwelt Both Mount Moriah whereon stood the Temple and Mount Zion whereon stood the Palace both Church and State are menaced with Judgements Temporal in the eight first verses and Spiritual in the eight next The rest of the Chapter is no less Consolatory then this is Comminatory Add ye year to year i. e. feed your selves on with these vain hopes that years shall run on alwayes in the same manner See 2 Pet. 2.4 Ezek. 12.22 Let them kill sacrifices and thereby think but falsly and foolishly to demerit God to themselves as that Emperor did who marching against his enemy sacrificed and then said Non sic deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret Antonin Philosop we have not so served God that he should serve us no better then to give our enemies the better of us see Isa 58.3 Jer. 7.21 Hos 9.1 Ver. 2. Yet I will distress Ariel though a sacred place Profligate Professors are the worse for their priviledges The Jew first Rom. 2.9 And it shall be unto me as Ariel i. e. it shall be full of slain bodies as the Altar is usually full of slaughtered beasts and swimmeth as it were in blood So Jer. 12.3 Isa 34.6 Arias Montanus giveth this sense Jerusalem which once was Ariel that is a strong lyon shall now be Ariel that is a strong curse or a rain of malediction Ver. 3. And I will camp against thee round about I will bring the woe of war upon thee a woe that no words how wide soever can possibly express see this accomplished 2 King 25.4 And will lay seige As the Captain General of the Chaldees Ver. 4. And thou shalt be brought down from those lofty pinacles of self exaltation whereunto thy pride hath peirhed thee And speak out of the ground humillime submissime thou shalt speak supplicatione with a low voice as broken men who wast wont to face the heavens and speak in spite of God and men speak big words bubbles of words See Jer. 46.22 And thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit cujus vox est gracilis flebilis hiulca confusa gemebunda Out of the ground as the Devil at Delphos did Ver. 5. Moreover the multitude of thy strangers thy forreign Auxiliaries these shall do thee no good but be blown away as with a whirlwind It shall be at an instant suddenly The last siege and sack of Jerusalem was so by a specialty as is to be read in Josephus And some Interpreters understand this whole Chapter of the times of the new Testament because our Saviour and St. Paul do cite some places herehence and apply the same to those their times not by way of Accommodation only but as the proper and true sense of the text as Mat. 15.8 9. Rom. 11.8 1 Cor. 1.19 Ver. 6. Thou shalt be visited with thunder and earth-quake i. e. fragosis repentinis vehementibus immedicabilibus plagis with ratling sudden violent and unmedicinable miseries and mischiefs as if heaven and earth had conspired thine utter undoing Some apply this to the prodigies that went before the last devastation of Jerusalem whereof see Joseph lib. 7. cap. 12. Ver. 7. Shall be as the dream of a night-vision Both in regard of thee to whom this siege and ruin
himself safe till he come thither And his Princes shall be afraid of the Ensign lifted up by Gods Angels in the slaughter of their fellows Whose fire is in Zion Who keep house there sumpta Metaphora à re Oeconomica there he had his fire and his chimney sc in the Temple from whence also came this destruction to the enemy Psal 76.2 3. with the Notes there CHAP. XXXII Ver. 1. BEhold a King Hezekiah in the type Christ in the Antytipe Shall reign in righteousness Regiment without righteousness is but robbery with authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Princes shall rule in Judgement Not as Shebna and those other placed in by wicked Ahaz do now whiles the King is young and not so well able to weed them out Evil under-rulers are a great mischief to a State Nerva was a good Emperor and so was Aurelian but so bought and sold by bad Counsellors and inferior Magistrates that the people were in a worse case then when they were under Nero. Hezekiah would see to his Princes that they were right Christ hath none about him but such All his people are righteous Isa 60.21 his Ministers and Officers especially These are Princes in all lands Psal 45 16. yea they are Kings because righteous ones Mat. 13.17 compared with Luk. 10 24. Ministers especially are Plenipotentiaries under Christ Mat. 18. John 20. Ver. 2. And a man shall be i. e. Each man of those forementioned Princes Or that man viz. Hezekiah how much more the man Christ Jesus shall be a comfort to distressed Consciences an absolute and All sufficient Saviour such as his people may trust unto for safety here and salvation hereafter Ver. 3. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim Or shall not be closed they shall not wink or be wilfully ignorant Festucam quaerunt unde oculos sibi eruant shutting the windows lest the light should come in or seeking straws to put out their eyes withall as Bernard expresseth it And the ears of them that hear shall hearken they shall listen to Christs word as for life they shall draw up the ears of their souls to the ears of their bodies that one found may pierce both they shall hear what the Spirit speaketh to the Churches Ver. 4. The heart also of the rash Heb. of the hasty ones such as are headlong and inconsiderate that weigh not things that say not What shall we do in the end thereof And the tongue of the stammerers that once did but bungle at holy discourse pronouncing as it were Sibboleth for Shibboleth and marring a good tale in the telling as not understanding either what they say or whereof they affirm 1 Tim. 1.7 Shall be ready to speak plainly shall be forward to speak fruitfully having an holy dexterity therein The Corinthians are commended for their utterance 1 Cor. 1.5 they could express themselves firly and they would do it freely Limpida nitida To speak plainly Heb. neat or clear words A Metaphor from clear or fair weather Ver. 5. The vile person shall be no more called liberal Benefici magnifici Domini That sapless fellow Nabal shall no more be called Nadib that is Bountiful benefactor or Gracious Lord. Of Arch-bishop Bancroft was made this Distich Here lyes his Grace in cold clay clad Who dyed for want of what he had In Ahaz his time the worst of men gat honours and offices Hezekiah would look to that Dignity shall henceforth wait upon desert and flattery shall be utterly out of fashion and request at Court Our old English Bibles have it thus A niggard shall not be called a gentle or gentleman Nor the Churl said to be bountiful The Hold-fast whose Logick is all little enough to conclude for himself shall not be cleped a Magnifico The Vulgar Latine hath it Neque frandulentus appellabitur major Ver. 6. For the vile person will speak villany Why then should he be advanced to great places why should he be smoothed and soothed up with high titles The adversary and the enemy is this wicked Haman said Esther chap. 7.6 Before some had stiled him Noble others Great and some perhaps Vertuous only Esther giveth him his own Pessimus iste That most wicked Haman so Go tell that fox saith our Saviour and God shall smite thee thou whited wall saith St. Paul to Ananias c. Nomina rebus consentanta imponentur a spade shall be called a spade Bernard a fool a fool there shall not be nomen inant crimen immane sedes prima vita ima ingens authoritas nutans stabilitas c. And his heart will work iniquity Exegefis flagitiosi the true portraiture of an evil Magistrate Judex locusta civitatis est malus Scalig. Ver. 7. The instruments also of the chur are evil There is an elegancy in the Original cujus lepos in vertendo perit By his instruments or vessels are meant say some his evil arts and deceits of all sorts Or as others hold his under-Officers and Teasors Even when the needy speaketh right right or wrong he is sure to be undone the doing of any thing or of nothing he findeth alike dangerous Ver. 8. But the liberal deviseth liberal things Beneficus beneficia cogitat munificentias consultat consulit in opposition to the churl ver 7. He is of a publike spirit and studyeth how and where to do most good Augustus Caesar was for this called Pater patriae Charls the great Pater orbis Claudian thus bespake Honorius Tu civem patremque geras tu consule cunctis Non tibi nec tua te moveant sed publica damna And by liberal things shall be stand One would think he should fall rather but he knows what he does and that not getting but giving not hoarding but distributing is the way to thrive Ver. 9. Rise up ye women that are at ease Secure sedentes ye Court-ladies whose pride hath brought on the wars chap. 3.25 Or ye hen hearted Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or ye lesser Cities and villages of Judah rise up and rouse up your selves ad exhibendum honorem verbo Dei in honour of Gods holy word as Judg. 3.20 Ver. 10. Many dayes and years shall ye be troubled A just punishment of your former security which usually ushereth in destruction Dayes above a year your calamity shall last by the invasion of the Assyrians but not two full years take that for your comfort For the Vintage shall fail War makes woful work and waste Ver. 11. Tremble ye women Adhortatio ad poenitentiam saith Hyperius an exhortation to repentance not unlike that of St. James chap. 4.9 10. Afflict your selves Trepidate O tranquillae Tremel and weep and mourn let your laughter be turned into mourning your Joy into heaviness Ver. 12. They shall mourn for the teats That it for their Corn and wine The Heathens called Ceres their goddess of plenty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mammosam fullteated some sense it thus
their confidence was the fruit of prayer At the lifting up of thy self If God do but arise only his enemies shall be scattered and all that hate him shall flee before him Psal 68.1 See the Note there Ver. 4. And your spoiles shall be gathered The spoile of the Assyrians Camp now become yours as 1 Sam. 30.20 Like the gathering of Catterpillars Quae ad hominum concursum omnes repente disperguntur which are soon rid when men set themselves to destroy them Ver. 5. The Lord is exalted He hath made him a name gained abundance of honour For he dwelleth on high Whence he can poure down plagues at his pleasure on his proud enemies and fill Zion with Judgement and Righteousness Ver. 6. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times Thy times O Hezekiah but especially O Christ Or the stability of thy times and strong safeguard shall thy wisdom and knowledge be By his knowledge that is by faith in him shall my righteous servant Jesus Christ justifie many Chap. 53.11 but these are also sanctified by him the fear of the Lord is their treasure they hold faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack 1 Tim. 1.19 See the Note there The fear of the Lord is his Treasure The spirit of this holy fear rested upon Christ Paradin in symbol chap. 11.2 and good Hezekiah was eminent for it not for civil prudence only this was flos regis the fairest flower in all his garland this is solidissima regiae politiae basis as one saith the best policy and the way to wealth Ver. 7. Behold their valiant ones or their Heralds Messengers Heb. Hen Erelam Behold their Erel or their Ariel chap. 29.1 2. that is their Altar shall they i. e. the Assyrians cry without sc in mockery twitting the Jews with their Sacrifices as no way profitable to them Mr. Clarkes Eng. Martyrol So the profane Papists when they murthered the poore Protestants at Orleans sang in scorn Judge and revenge my cause O Lord Others Have mercy on us Lord. And when in the late persecution in Bohemia divers godly Nobles and Citizens were carried to prison in Prague the Papists insultingly cried after them Why do ye not now sing The Lord raigneth The Embassadours of peace thar went for peace having for their Symbol Pacem te poscimus omnes but could not effect it Weep bitterly so that they might be heard before they entered the City Vide quam vivide see here how lively things are set forth and what a lamentable report these Embassadours make of the state of the country and the present danger of losing all Ver. 8. The high-ways lye waste and by-waies are more frequented through fear of the enemy He hath broken the Covenant Irritum factum est pactum He took the money sent him but comes on nevertheless though he had sworn the contrary 2 King 18.14 17. It is said of the Turks at this day that they keep their leagues which serve indeed but as snares to intangle other Princes in no longer then standeth with their own profit Turk Hist 755. Their Maxime is There is no faith to be kept with dogs whereby they mean Christians as the Papists also say There is no faith to be kept with Hereticks whereby they mean Protestants But why kept not Vladislaus King of Hungary his Faith better with Amurath the great Turk or our Henry the third with his Barons by Papal dispensation Vah scelus vae perjuris He hath despised the Cities and will not take them for his Subjects he scorneth the motion He regardeth no man He vilipendeth and slighteth all Jewels generally Metaphora Prosâ—popoetica Ver. 9. The earth mourneth and langisheth Or the land luget languet thus they go on in their doleful relation Miserrima sunt omnia atque miseranda What sad work hath Antichrist made of late years in the Christian world what desolations in all parts Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down Sharon is like a wilderness East West North P. al. 80 13. and South of the Land are laid wast by the enemy and the avenger that boare out of the wood that bear out of the Forest Ver. 10. Now will I rise saith the Lord now Now now now Emphasin habet ingeminatio vocis Nunc This now thrice repeated importeth both the opportunity of time and Gods readiness to relieve Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses When things are at worst they 'le mend we say Now will I lift up my self who have hitherto been held an underling and inferiour to the enemy Ver. 11. Ye shall conceive chaff ye shall bring forth stubble Gravidi estis stramine parietis stipulam So did Pharaoh Antiochus Julian c. so doth Antichrist and his Champions notwithstanding his bloody alarmes to them such as was that sounded out in the year 1582. Vtere jure tuo Caesar sectamque Lutheri Ense rota ponto funibus igne neca And that other to the King of France not many years since exhorting him to kill up all the Protestants per Galliam stabulantes the very words of the Popes Bull that had any stable-room in France Your breath as fire shall devoure you shall blow up the fire that shall consume your chaff and stubble Your iniquity shall be your ruine Ezek. 18.38 Turdus sibi malum cacat Hic est gladius quem ipse fecisti this is a sword of thine own makeing said the Souldier to Marius when he ran him thorough with it Ver. 12. And the people shall be as the burning of lime As hard chalk-stones which when burnt to make lime crumble to crattle As thorns cut up Sear-thornes that crackle under a pot and are soon extinct The Hebrews tell us that the Assyrian Souldiers were burnt by the Angel with a secret fire that is with the pestilence as Berosus cited by Josephus witnesseth and our Prophet hinteth as much in many passages Lib. 10. cap. 1. Ver. 13. Hear ye that are afar of Longinqui propinqui Gods great works are to be noted and noticed by all The Egyptians heard of what God had done to the Assyrian Army and memorized it by a monument as Herodotus relateth Ver. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid At the invasion of the Assyrian Herod l. 2. Justin those that formerly fleared and jeared Gods Prophets and their menaces now fear and are crest faln ready to run into an anger-hole as we say It is as natural for guilt to breed fear and disquiet as for putrid matter to breed vermine Sinners especially those in Zion where they might be better and are therefore the worse a great deal have galled consciences and want faith to fortify theâ—r hearts against the fear of death or danger and hence those pitiful perplexities and convulsions of soul in the evil day what wonder if when they see all on fire they ring their Bells backwards if instead of mourning for their sins and
sacred solemnities And everlasting joy upon their heads As an unfadable crown 1 Pet. 1.5 and 5. 4. they shall passe from the jawes of death to the joyes of heaven Joy and gladnesse i. e. Outward and inward say some And sorrow and sighing Their joyes shall be sincere and constant CHAP. XXXVI and CHAP. XXXVII FOr these two Chapters see 2 King 18 and 19. with the Notes See also 2 Chron. 32. CHAP. XXXVIII Ver. 1. IN those dayes was Hezekiah sick See 2 King 20.1 2. 2 Chron. 32.24 with the Notes Ver. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. See as before Ver. 9. The writing of Hezekiah Scriptum confessionis A song of thanksgiving set forth by Hezekiah and here inserted by the Prophet Isaiah as a publick instrument and lasting monument of Gods great goodnesse to him in his late recovery such a thankful man is worth his weight in the gold of Ophir Heathens in such a case were wont to hang up tables in the Temples of their gods Papists build Chappels erect Altars hang up Memories as they call them and vow presents to their hee-Saints and she Saints But amongst us alas it is according to the Italian Proverb When the disease is once removed God is utterly defrauded Sciapato il morbo fraudato il sancto Aegrotus surgit sed pia vota jacent We may be wondred at not without cause as the Emperour Constantine marvelled at his people that were newly become Christians I marvel said he how it comes to passe that many of my people are worse now than before they were Christians Ver. 10. I said in the cutting off of my dayes When I looked upon my self as a dead man Here he telleth us what passed betwixt God and him whilest he lay desperately sick The utmost of a danger escaped is to be recognized and recorded This will both instruct the judgement enlarge the heart and open the mouth I shall go to the gates of the grave He maketh the grave to have gates either by a poetical fiction or else by a proverbial expression So the gates of death Psal 9. 13. 107.18 See 1 Sam. 2.6 I am deprived of the residue of my years sc that I might have lived in a natural course Vox baec queritantis quidem est Quis enim vult mori prorsus nemo Nature shunneth death as its slaughter-man Ver. 11. I said I shall not see the Lord In the glass of his Ordinances his love whereunto made Hezekiah so loth to depart as also his delight in the Communion of Saints and his desire to do more good amongst them on all occasions This made good Paul in a strait also Philip. 1.23 24. I loved the man said Theodesius concerning Ambrose for that when he died he was more sollicitous of the Churches welfare then of his own Even the Lord Non videbo Jah Jah I shall not see the Lord of the Lord Leo Castrius Deum Dei vel Deum de Deo That is Christ in the flesh as I had well hoped to have done so some sense it Others say He redoubleth the word Jah to express his ardent affection to Gods service and to intimate his desire of life to that purpose Ver. 22. Ver. 12. Mine age is departed Or my generation or my habitation here I have no settled abode no continuing City but am flitting as a shepherds shed I have cut off like a weaver my life By my sins I have shortned my daies as Gen. 38.7.10 Or rather God as a weaver that hath finished his web cutteth me out of the Loom of life We know what the Poets fain of the Fates Clotho colum bajulat Lachesis trabit Atropos occat He will cut me off with pining sicknesse Or from the thrum for the same Hebrew word signifieth both because of the thinnes and weakness of it From day even to night So that by night I shall be dead as they story of the Ephemerobii and as Aristotle writeth that the River Hypanis in Thracia every day bringeth forth little bladders out of which come certain flies which are thus bred in the morning fledgd at noone and dead at night Ver. 13. I reckoned until morning And then at utmost I thought there would be an end of my life and pain together for what through troubles without and terrours within he was in a woe case even as if a Lion had broke all his bones Hoc sentiunt qui magnis febribus aestuant saith an Interpreter Now whereas some say All dye of a feaver let us take care we dye not of a cold shaking fit of fear Ver. 14. Like a Crane or a Swallow so did I chatter Ita pipiebam perapta sunt similitudines Broken petitions coming from a broken heart are of singular avayl with God Psal 51.17 Ah Pater brevissima quidem vox est sed omnia complectitur saith Luther i. e. Ah Father it a short prayer but very complexive and effectual So is the prayer here recorded O Lord I am oppressed undertake for me Miserere mihi misero Tu tuam fidem interpone Hezekiah though a most holy man begged pardon at his death and flyeth to Christ his surety So did Augustine he prayed over the seven penitential Psalms and Fulgentius and Arch-Bishop Vsher Some render it Pertexe me weave me out lengthen my life to its due period Ver. 15. What shall I say This he seemeth to speak in a way of wondering at Gods goodness in delivering him from so great a death The like doth the Apostle Rom. 8.31 What shall we then say to these things He hath both spoken unto me Dixit fecit and himself hath done it He no sooner bade me be well but he made me so Thus he attributeth his recovery to the most faithful promise of God and not to the lump of figs c. I shall shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul Or I shall go quietly and chearfully all my years after my souls bitterness sc when it is past and gone Scultet Ver. 16. O Lord by these things men live By thy promises so performed the just do live by Faith and live long in a little while For life consisteth in action and some live more in a day then others do in a year An Elephant liveth two hundred years saith Aristotle three hundred and fifty saith Philostratus and yet man though of much shorter a continuance is not inferiour to an Elephant For this is not the best thing in nature saith Scaliger to live longest but to live to best purpose Now mans life is a way to life eternal Other creatures have that they live for Not so Man whilst here And in all these things is the life of my Spirit The godly esteem of life by that stirring they find in their souls Else they lament as over a dead soul So wilt thou recover me Or hast thou recovered me Ver. 17. Behold for peace I had great bitternesse Mar Mar the approach
7.38 39. Vet. 20. The beasts of the feild shall honour me i. e. In their kind they shall so shall brutish and savage persons Lib. 3. de Rep. Lib. 31. Mor. c. 5. when tamed and turned by the word of Gods Grace The malignities of all creatures are in man as Plato also observed in doloso enim est vulâ—es in crudeli leo in libidinoso amica luto sus c. Gregory by Dragons here understands profane and carnal people by Owls or Ostriches hypocrites These being converted shall sing Halleluja's to God but let them take heed that they turn not with the dog to their own vomit again c. 2 Pet. 2.22 For Ver. 21. This people I have formed for my self Even the Gentiles now as well as the Jews They shall shew forth my praise They shall preach forth the virtues or praises of him who hath called them out of darknesse into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 Ver. 22. But thou hast not called upon me O Jacob During the captivity they prayed not to any purpose as Daniel also acknowledgeth chap. 9.13 All this evil is come upon us yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth Nevertheless of his free Grace God brought them back again But thou hast been weary of me O Israel Accounting my service a burthen Non Mihi sed Deo fictitio and not a benefit See on Mal. 1.13 Ver. 23. Thou hast not brough me c Not Me but a God of thine own framing such a one as would take up with external heartless services formal courtings and complements Ver. 24. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane or calamus whereof see Plin. lib. 12. cap. 22. Neither hast thou filled me with the fat The Heathens had a gross conceit that their Gods fed on the steam that ascended from their fat sacrifices And some Jews might haply hold the same thing See Deut. 32.38 Psal 50.13 But thou hast made me to serve with thy sins With thine hypocrisy and oppressions especially Isai 1. The Seventy render it Thou hast stood before me in thy sins as outbraving me Thou hast tried my long patience in seeing and suffering thy sins to my great annoyance so Diodate paraphraseth And hast wearied me Exprimit rei-indignitatem cum iniquitate conjunctam God had not wearied them but they had wearied him sufficiently Some make these to to be the words of Christ to his ungratefull Country-men Ver. 25. I even I am he Gratuitam misericordiam diligentissime exprimit God diligently setteth forth his own free grace and greatly glorieth in it shewing how it is that He freeth himself from trouble and them from destruction viz. for his own sake alone That blotteth out thy transgressions Heb. am blotting out constantly and continually I am doing it As thou multiplyest sins so do I multiply pardons chap. 55.7 So Joh. 1.27 he taketh away the sins of the world Dulcis Metaph. One may with a pen cross a great summe as well as a little it s a perpetual act like as the Sun shineth the Spring runneth Zech. 13.1 Men gladly blot out that which they cannot look upon without grief Malunt enim semel delere quam perpetuo dolere so here we are run deep in Gods debt book but his discharge is free and full For mine own sake Gratis propter me Let us thankfully reciprocate and say as he once did Propter te Domine Propter te For thy sake Lord do I all Peccata non redeunt And will not remember thy sins Discharges in Justification are not repealed or called in again Pardon proceedeth from special love and mercy which alter not their consigned acts Ver. 26. Put me in remembrance sc of thy merits if thou hast any to plead Justitiaries are here called into Judgement because they slighted the Throne of Grace Ver. 27. Thy first Father Adam or Abraham say some And thy Teachers Heb. thine Interpreters Oratours Embassadours that is thy Priests and Prophets Ver. 28. Therefore I have profaned the Princes of the Sanctuary Or of holinesse that is those that under a pretence of Religion affected a kind of Hierarchy as did the Scribes and Pharisees who with the whole Jewish Politie were taken away by the Romans both their place and their Nation as they had feared Joh. 11.48 CHAP. XLIV Ver. 1. YEt now hear Hear a word of comfort after so terrible a Thunder-crack chap. 43.28 But there it is bare Jacob and Israel who are threatned here it is Jacob my servant and Israel whom I have chosen it is Jeshurun or the righteous Nation who are comforted And because we forget nothing so soon as the consolations of God as is to be seen in Christs Disciples and those believing Hebrews chap. 12.5 therefore doth the Prophet so oft repeat and inculcate them like as men use to rub and chafe in Ointments into the flesh that they may enter and give ease Ver. 2. Thus saith the Lord that made thee See on chap. 43.1 7 21. and observe how this Chapter runneth parallel with the former yea how the Prophet from chap. 41. to chap. 47. doth one and the same thing almost labouring to comfort his people against the Babylonian captivity and to arm them against the sin of Idolatry whereunto as of themselves they were over-prone so they should be sure to be strongly tempted amongst those Idolaters And thou Jeshurun Thou who art upright or righteous whith a twofold righteousness viz. Imputed and Imparted The Septuagint render it Dilecte or Dilictule my dearly beloved Ver. 3. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty Or upon the thirsty place hearts that hunger and thirst after righteousness Matth. 5.6 See the Notes there I will pour my Spirit and my blessing When God giveth a man his holy Spirit he giveth him blessing in abundance even all good things at once as appeareth by Matth. 7.11 with Luke 11.13 Here are three special operations of the Spirit instanced 1. Comfort 2. Fruitfulness 3. Courage for Christ ver 5. Ver. 4. As willows by the water-courses Not only as the grass but by a further growth as the willows which are often lopped sed ad ipso vulnere vires sumunt Vberius resurgunt altiusque excrescunt but soon thrust forth new branches and though cut down to the bottom yet will grow up again so will the Church and her Children Ver. 5. One shall say I am the Lords When God seemeth to cry out Who is on my side who then the true Christian by a bold and wise profession of the truth answereth as here After the way that they call heresy so worship I the God of my Fathers said that great Apostle We are Christians said those Primitive Professours and some of them wrot Apologies for their Religion to the persecuting Emperours as did Justin Martyr Athenagoras Arnobius Tertullian Minutius Felix and others The late famous
Gentlewomen and others like beasts and dogs being naked and coupled together were led into the woods and there ravished Such as resisted the Souldiers stript naked whipped them cropt their ears and so sent them home again I will not meet the as a man But as a Lion rather Absque omni humanitatis contemperatione Scult Tractabo te pro divina potentia mea Piscat thou shalt have vengeance without mixture of mercy See 2 Sam. 7.24 Isa 13.6 27.7 8 Hos 5.14 Men use sometimes to deal favourably with women but they shall not do so with thee Ver. 4. As for our Redeemer c. This comes in by way of Parenthesis for the comfort of Gods poor people Ver. 5. Sit thou silent Here he threatneth Babylon with loss of her former fame she shall be buried in obscurity and oblivion as out of sight and out of mind no longer called the Lady of Kingdoms but a wretched drudge ut de Hecuba tradunt Tragici For thou shalt no more be called Heb. thou shalt not add to be called Ocolampadius senseth it thus Thou wast wont to be called the Lady of Kingdoms now they shall call thee Non adjicies as desperate and irrecoverable And why Ver. 6. I was wrath See on Zach. 1. ver 15. I have polluted mine inheritance God is his peoples inheritance and they are his but now for their sins He had dealt with them as with a profane and unclean thing Thou didest shew them no mercy Heb. thou didst set them no bowels Cruelty cries for vengeance See Jer. 50.17 with 51.24 Vpon the ancient Who should have been born with for their age and weakness Ver. 7. I shall be a Lady for ever Presumption precedeth destruction Psal 10.6 Rev. 18.7 So that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart The daughter of Pride is security and pleasure is her neece ver 8. Nor didst remember the latter end of it Heb. her latter end Memorare novissima tua in aeternum non peccabis See Lam. 1.4 Ver. 8. Thou that art given to pleasure Delicatula It is not good to take pleasure in pleasure no not to go as far here as we may verecunda sunt omnia initia peccati sin seemeth modestat first c. Thou faist in thine heart I am sc the Lady of the world Heathen Rome was called by the Heathens Terarum dea gentiumque Rome Papal saith as much Rev. 17.4 And none else besides me i. e. None worth speaking off The Jesuites brag in like sort of their transcendent learning and professe skil beyond the periphery of possible knowledge I shall not sit as a widdow i. e. Be bereft of my Monarchy which is as it were my husband Neither shall I know the losse of children I shall not cease to subdue Countries and Kingdoms which are added unto me as so many children Ver. 9. But these two things shall come upon thee in a moment Accidit in puncto c. Babylon was suddenly taken in one night as the Prophet had foretold chap. 21. and as the history testifieth Dan. 5. Periit inter pocula For the multitude of thy sorceries Thy taking upon thee to divine of each mans life and fortune by the Stars and Horoscope for which profession the Chaldeans were famous But what a madness was it in Cardanus who by the like skill went about to demonstrate that it was fatal to our Saviour Christ Alsted Encycl lib 30. cap. 10. to dye the death of the Cross Ver. 10. Thou hast trusted in thy wickednesse God calleth that wickednesse which they counted wisdom None seeth me Ne Deus quidem novit rationes meas Graceless men having hid God from themselves think also to hide themselves from God Thy wisdom and thy knowledge Thy Magical arts and practices Quantus artifex pereo quadrabit in te peritum periturum Ver. 11. Therefore shall evil come upon thee An evil an only evil as Ezek. 7.5 both unexpected and inexpiable such as thou canst neither avoid nor abide Ver. 12. Stand now with thine enchantments Try thine utmost skill and let 's see what thou canst do forthy self Sen. Hâ—nc divinaâ—oâ—es per Antoâ—nomasiam Châ—lâ—aeâ— appellati this is spoken in way of derision Wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth But found them to be no better than toilesome toyes quae nec ignoranti nocent nec scientem juvant Against judiciary Astrology see Aug. de civ Dei lib. 5. cap. 1 2 3 4 5. Ver. 13. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels As all such are sure to be with a woe to boot as take counsel but not of God and that cover with a covering but not by his spirit that they may add sin to sin Isa 30.1 Thus do those vain Astrologers that pretend to read mens fates and fortunes in the Heavens velut in Minervae peplo and thence to foretell good and evil But experience frequently confuteth them as it did Abraham the Jew who foretold by the stars the coming of their Messiah Anno Domini 1464. And Albumazar a Mahometan Wizzard who predicted an end of the Christian Religion Anno 1460. at utmost A great flood was foretold by these Diviners to fall out in the year 1524. cum planetae comitis in piscibus celebrarent Hollinsh in 1524. This caused the Prior of St. Bartholomews in London wise-man-like to go and build him an house at Harrow on the hill for his better security Stand up and save thee Save thee if they can but Baltasar found they could not though he called for them all Dan. 5.7 8. and they likely had promised him an everlasting Monarchy as some did the Romans imperium sine fine but falsly for now the Roman Empire is at a very low ebbe and who shall be Emperour This was wâ—itten Sept. 19. 1637. is much questioned Ver. 14. Behold they shall be as stubble As dryed stubble Nah. 1.10 See the Note there They shall not deliver themselves Much lesse others There shall not be a coal to warm at Like a fire of flax which is soon extinct and leaves no embers or cinders behind it In a spiritual sense it may be said of most of our hearts and houses as here There 's not a coal to warm at Deest ignis as Father Latimer was wont to say the fire of zeal is wanting that flame of God Cant. 8.6 Ver. 15. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured But all in vain viz. with thy Wizzards and Diviners those deceivers of the people Cic de divinat lib. 2. concerning whom Cato once said Potest Augur Augurem videre non ridere Can those fellows look one on another and not laugh when they consider how they cozen people and cheat them of their moneys Cic. orat 4. in Ver. hence they are called merchants also in the next words as some think qui non tam coeli rationem quam coelati argenti ducunt Such
by reading Erasmus his Colloquies I the Lord will hasten it in his time Heb. In its time that is in the time of the New Testament but most compleatly and gloriously at the Resurrection shall all these things that are foretold be accomplished CHAP. LXI Ver. 1. THe Spirit of the Lord God is upon me Christ had graciously promised to accomplish his peoples happinesse in its due time chap. 60.22 Here he sheweth how and when he will do it viz. by himself anointed and appointed by his heavenly Father to be Messiah the Prince Dan. 9.25 Christ the Lord Acts 4.26 Priest Prophet and King of his Church a Saviour ex Professo consecrated as the Priests of old were first with oyle and then with blood So was he 1. By the holy Spirit invisibly at the first instant of his conception and visibly at his Baptism 2. By his own blood sprinkled upon him at his Circumcision but especially at his Passion which was another Baptism Matth. 20.23 Luke 12.50 Because the Lord hath anointed me Prae consortibus proconsortibus Psal 45.7 Above thy fellows and also for thy fellows as some render that text See Joh. 1.33 3.34 Luke 4.18 Acts 10.38 Heb. 1.8 with Psal 105.15 2 Cor. 1.21 22. 1 Joh. 2.20 27. Only unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Ephes 4.7 but God gave not the Spirit unto him by measure Job 3.34 he had it in an abundant and transcendent manner good measure pressed down shaken together and running over even as much as his humane nature was capable of Let the Saints love him for this Cant. 1.2 and labour to be more and more made partakers of his holinesse for of his fulnesse we all receive grace for grace Joh. 1.16 a persection in some sort answerable to Christs own perfection There are that observe in this text and not amisse the Mystery of the holy Trinity viz. God the Father anointing his Son Christ with the Holy Ghost See the like at Christs baptism Mat. 3.16 with the Note there To preach good tidings to the meck To preach this referreth to Christs Prophetical Office as doth binding up the broken-hearted to his Priestly and proclaiming liberty to the captives to his Kingly Office To these three offices as God he was consecrated set apart for a Mediator as Exod. 30.30 and as Man he was qualified as before That which Christ came to preach was good tydings goodspeâ— or Gospel as we call it the best news that ever came into the world Luke 2.10 This he came and preached not in his own person only but by his Prophets and Apostles Ephes 2.17 in whom he spake 2 Cor. 13.3 and before all whom himself preached the first Gospel to our first parents Gen. 3.15 even the Gospel of grace Vnto the meek Or lowly for humility and meekness are sâ—rores collactancae twin-sisters These are those poor that are Gospellized viz. the poor in spirit sensible of their utter indigency and nothingnesse Matth. 5.3 whereby also our Saviour proveth himself to John's disciples sent unto him for the purpose to be the true Messiah foreshewed by Isaiah and foreshadowed in him Matth. 11.5 Luke 7.22 He hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted This Christ doth as a fit High-priest sensible of our miseries Heb. 4.15 He hath manum medicam he is the true Samaritan Pungit ungit ut sanct not the Physician only but the Chirurgion of his people cataplasmans obligans plaistering and binding up their wounds given them by the Devil that wicked chief then when the Priest and the Levite the Law had passed them by and yeilded them no help at all The broken-hearted Broken with the sence of sin and fear of wrath so broken as if all their bones were rattling within their skin This was Davids case Psal 51.8 and this he pleads as one in case and capacity for mercy ver 17. he knew well enough that God poureth not the oyl of his mercy save only into broken vessels for whole vessels are full vessels and so this precious liquor would run over and be spilt upon the ground To proclaim liberty to the captives Liberty from the tyranny of sin and terror of Hell This Christ doth as a King with great power Joh. 8.32 34. Rom. 6.17 18. Col. 1.13 2 Tim. 2.26 And the opening of the prison i. e. Of Hell called here koach of lakach to receive because it is capacious and still taking in more company sic infernus dicicitur ab inferendo ut aliqui volunt Ver. 2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord The new and true Jubilee or year of releasment called here in the Hebrew the year of good-will like as the Elect are called the men of Gods good-will Luke 2.14 This year is now 2 Cor. 6.2 and the present now must be embraced and improved sith God is but a while with men in the opportunities of grace which opportunities are headlong and once past irrecoverable And the day of vengeance of our God Tribulation to them that trouble his people 2 Thes 1.6 7. Gog and Magog shall down in that day all Hamans be hanged up at that feast royal at the last day especially Luke 19.27 To comfort all that mourn This Christ did both by word and deed and this must all his Ministers do comfort the feeble-minded 1 Thes 5.14 not burdening mens consciences with humane traditions and merit of works Popery is a doctrine of desperation Apud Hebraeos ornatus est in verbis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 3. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion Here is shewed how it is that Christ comforteth his people sc by clearing up their consciences from the stain and sting of sin and by healing their natures causing them to grow in grace as trees of righteousness well rooted and well fruited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To appoint unto them sc Comfort as ver 2. To give unto them beauty for ashes Cidarim pro cinere lusum pro luctus risum pro rictu c. to turn all their sighing into singing all their musing into musick all their sadness into gladness all their tears into triumphs But then those that would rejoyce with joy unspeakable must stir up sighes that are unutterable for even Christ himself favos post fella gustavit tasted first of the sower and then of the sweet That they may be called Have the comfort and the credit of growing Christians full of goodness and filled with all knowledge able also to admonish one another as were those Romans chap. 15.14 to their eternal commendation See Joh. 15.5 8. Philip. 1.11 That he might be glorified As indeed he is by one gracious action performed by a fruitful Christian more then by all his works of Creation and Providence Ver. 4. And they shall build the old wasts Desolationes saeculi the Gentiles that have long lain forlorn and
obedient ye shall eat the good things of the land chap. 1.21 which that we may be Nolentem praevenit Deus ut velit Aug. volentem subsequitur ne frustra velit God worketh in us both to will and to doe of his own good pleasure Howbeit he expecteth that we shouâ—d go as far as we can naturally if ever we look that He should meet us graciously Though the Miller cannot command a wind yet he will spread his fails be in the way to have it if it come In those is continuance i. e. In those sins of ours and shall we be saved Or in those wayes of thine thy wayes of mercy and fidelity is permanency therefore we shall be saved our sins notwithstanding Ver. 6. But we are all as an unclean thing Both our persons and our actions are so for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean What a mercy is it then that God should look upon such walking dunghils as we are and accept the work of our hands And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Or as a coat of patches Panno ancumulenta Scultet a beggers coat vestis centonum vestis è vilibus paniculis consuta Heb. a cloth of separations a matury rag a menstrous clout nauseons and odious such as a man would loath to touch much more to take up Such are our best works as they proceed from us when there springeth up any sweet fountain of grace within us our hearts closely cast in their filthy dirt as the Philistines dealt by Isaac they drop down from their impure hands some filth upon that pure web the Spirit weaveth and make it a menstruous cloth Where then are Justitiaries our Merit-mongers c. Those that seek to be saved by their works Luther fitly calleth the Devils Martyrs they suffer much and take great pains to go to Hell We are all apt to weave a web of righteousness of our own to spin a thred of our own to climb up to Heaven by but that cannot be We must do all righteousnesses rest in none but Christs disclaiming our own best as spotted and imperfect And we all fade as a leaf That falleth to the ground in Autumn The Poet could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom And our iniquities like the wind have taken us away Out of thy presence and will hurry us to Hell if thou foresend not Ver. 7. And there is none that calleth upon thy Name i. e. Very few for that God had then a praying people this very prayer declareth Apparent rari nantâ—s in gurgite vasto but they were drowned in the multiude being scarce discernable That stirreth up himself to take hold of thee That rouseth up himself and wrastleth with God laying hold on him by faith and prayer resolved to retain him Let us go forth as Sampson did and shake up our selves against that indevotion and spiritual sloth that will creep upon us in doing good See for this Mr. Whitfield's Help to stirring up an excellent Treatise written upon this text For thou hast hid thy face from us Or though thou hast hid thy face Ne tuis quidem ferulis caesi resipuimus Ver. 8. But now O Lord thou art our Father Or Yet now O Lord thou art our Father therefore we shall not dye say they Hab. 1.12 boldly but warrantably See on chap. 63.16 We are the clay and thou art our potter This was grown to a Proverb among the Heathens also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man is a clod of clay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a piece of clay neatly made up saith Arrian upon Epictetus Fictus ex argilla luto homulus Orat. ad Pison saith Cicero And Nigidius was sirnamed Figulus or the Potter saith Augustine because he used to say that man was nothing else but an earthen vessel See 2 Cor. 4.7 5.1 We are all the work of thy hands Both as made and re-made by Thee therefore despise us not Job 10.8 9 Psal 138.8 Look upon the wounds of thy hands and forsake not the work of thine hands prayed Queen Elisabeth Ver. 9. Be not wroth very sore O Lord Neither over-much nor over-long but spare us as a man spareth his own son that serveth him This is commended for the best line in all Terence Pro peccato magno paululum supplicii satis est Patri Ver. 10. Thy holy Cities are a Wilderness And is that for thine honour Behold see we beseech thee Ver. 11. Our holy and our beautiful house The Church riseth higher and higher in her complaints to God we must do likewise Where our Fathers praised thee Their own praises there they mention not as not holding them worth mentioning Ver. 12. Wilt thou refrain thy self for these things Or Canst thou contain thy self at these things No he cannot witness his answer hereunto chap. 65.1 The obstinate Jews do in vain still recite these words in their Synagogues as Hierom here noteth Wilt thou hold thy peace And by thy silence seem to consent to the enemies outrages and our calamities Habet acrimonianâ— saith Hyperius there is some sharpness in these short questions and yet because they were full of faith and fervency they were highly accepted in Heaven And afflict us very sore Heb. Vsque valde unto very much or unto extremity CHAP. LXV Piscat Ver. 1. I Am sought of them that asked not for me I am sought that is I am found as Eccles 3.6 Or I am sought to by those that asked not of me viz. by the Gentiles who knew me not enquired not of me See Rom. 10.20 21. where the Apostle then whom we cannot have a better Interpreter expoundeth this verse of the calling of the Gentiles and the next verse of the rejection of the Jews and herein Esaias was very bold saith St. Paul so bold say Origen and others that for this cause among others he was sawn asunder by his unworthy Countrey-men See on chap. 1.10 I am found of them that sought me not The first act of our Coversion then the infusion of the sap is of God our will prevents it not but followes it See 2 Cor. 3.5 Rom. 8.7 Joh. 6.44 1 Cor. 12.3 Deut. 29.3 4. Psal 36.10 Note this against the Patrons of Nature Free-will men Papists especially who not only ascribe the beginning of salvation to themselves in coworking with God in their first conversion but also the end and the accomplishment of it by works of condignity meritorious of eternal life I said Behold me behold me We are not easily arroused out of that dead Lethargy into which sin and Satan hath cast us hence this Lo I Lo I. And here we have both Gods answer to the Churches prayer chap. 64. and the scope of the whole book as Oecolampadius observeth set down in the perclose viz. the coming in of the Gentiles and the casting off of the Jews for their many and mighty sins Amos 5.12 Prov. 1.24 Act. 26.1 Ver. 2. I have
my glory i. e. In Christ who is the brightness of his Fathers glory and in sending of whom the glory of his truth wisdom power justice and goodness shone forth as the Sun at noon Ver. 19. And I will set a sign among them This sign may very well be that visible pouring out of the gifts of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost under the symbol of wind and fire Scultet Act. 2. together with the signes and wonders whereby the Apostles doctrine was confirmed Others make this signe to be the Profession of the Christian faith Some also the Doctrine of the Gospel and especially the Sacraments And I will send those that escape of them i. e. The Apostles and their fellow-helpers such as were Barnabas Silas Lucas c. To Tarshish Pul To all parts of the Word East West North and South That draw the bow The Mosches or Moscovites say the Septuagint the Turkes saith one of the Rabbines See the Notes on Rev. 9.15 16 17. Ver. 20. And they shall bring all your brethren Now become all your brethren in Christ Sanctior est copula cordis quam corporis Religion is the strongest eye Vpon horses and in charets and in litters i. e. With much swiftnesse and sweetnesse though sick weakly and unfit for travel yet rather in litters than not at all The Apostles became all things to all men that they might gain them to Christ Ver. 21. And I will also take of them for Priests and for Levites For Evangelical Pastors and Teachers who have a distinct function and employment in the Church of the New Testament as the Priests and Levites had in that of the Old to teach instruct and edifie Gods people Ver. 22. For as the new heaven So shall there be a true Church and a Ministry for the good of my people to the worlds end It shall not be taken away as is the Jewish Polity and Hierarchy Ver. 23. And it shall come to passe that from one new-Moon to another God shall be served with all diligence and delight In the Kingdom of Christ here but especially in heaven it shall be holy-day all the week as we say a constant solemnity a perpetual Sabbath Act. Mon. King Edgar ordained that the Lords day should be kept here in England from Saturday nine of the clock till Munday morning The Ebionites kept the Saturday with the Jews and the Sunday with the Christians But here it is foretold and we see it fulfilled that all flesh i. e. all the faithful whether Jews or Gentiles shall not only keep every day holy-day 1 Cor. 5.8 by resting from sin and rejoycing in God but shall also both in season and out of season have their Church-meetings for holy services worshipping God from day to day and from month to month as the phrase is Esth 3.7 in spirit and in truth and having the continual feast of a good conscience Ver. 24. And they shall go forth and look upon the carkasses Rhetoricians tell us that in the introduction to a discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 milder affections suit best to insinuate but in the conclusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passionate passages such as may leave a sting behind them and stick by the hearers This Art the Prophet here useth for being now to period his Prophecy he giveth all sorts to know what they shall trust to The godly shall go forth i. e. salvi evadent liberi abibunt they shall have safety here and salvation hereafter They shall also look upon the carkasses c. they shall be eye-witnesses of Gods exemplary judgements executed on the wicked that would not have Christ to reign over them Rev. 19.21 who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord and from the presence of his power 2 Thes 1.9 This the righteous shall see and fear and laugh at them Psal 52.6 giving God the glory of his justice and goodness Some think they shall have at last day a real sight of hell and the damned there Rev. 14.10 and this may very well be Oh that wicked men would in their dayly meditations take a turn or two in hell and so be forewarned to fly from the wrath to come Is it nothing to have the worm of conscience ever grubbing upon their entrails and the fire of Gods vengeance feeding upon their souls and flesh throughout all eternity Oh that eternity of extremity Think of it seasonably and seriously that ye never suffer it The Jewish Masters have in some copies wholly left out this last verse as in other copies they repeat both here and in the end of Ecclesiastes Lamentations and Malachy the last verse save one which is more sweet and fuller of comfort and that for this reason that the Reader may not be sent away sad Amama in Antibarb and so fall into desperation But of that there is no such danger sith most people are over slight in their thoughts of hell-torments regarding them no more than they do a fire painted on the wall or a serpent wrought in Arras And besides Non sinit in Gehennam incidere Gehennae meminisse saith Chysostom to remember hell is a good means to preserve us from it This verse hath sufficient authority from our Saviours citing of it Mar. 9.44 See the Note there Plato also if that be any thing in his description of hell which he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fiery lake saith the same as here In Phaed. pag. 400. Inde dictus est Moses Atticus that their worm dyeth not neither is their fire quenched He might possibly have read Isaiah as he had done Moses T is thought Laertius telleth us that he travelled into Egypt where he conversed with some Hebrews and learned much of them And they shall be an abhorring to all flesh i. e. All good men abominate them now as so many living Ghosts walking carkases Eph. 2.2 Prov. 29. ult and shall much more at the last day when they shall arise again to everlasting shame and contempt Dan. 12. Scribendo haec studui bene de pietate mereri Sed quicquid potui Gratia Christs tua est A Commentary or Exposition upon The BOOK of the Prophet IEREMIAH CHAP. I. Ver. 1. THe words of Jeremiah Piscator rendereth it Acta Jeremiae The Acts of Jeremy Verba sive Res. as we say The Acts of the Apostles which Book also saith One might have been called in some sense The Passions of the Apostles who were for the testimony of Jesus in deaths often And the same we may safely say of Jeremy Serm. 4. contra A â—â—nos who although he were not omnis criminis per totam vitam expers which yet great Athanaesius affirmeth of him that is free from all fault for he had his out-bursts and himself relateth them yet he was Judaeorum integerrimus as of Phocion it is said that he was Atheniensum integerrimus a man of singular sanctimony and
not over all Ver. 6. For he shall be like the heath Wild-myrice that neither beareth fruit nor seed and is good for little but to burn or make beesomes See Heb. 6.8 Bastard tamarisk some call it others Juniper But shall inhabit the parched places of the wildernesse Such shall have no content or satisfaction Confer Mat. 12.43 the unclean spirit cast out walks in dry places c. not but that dry and wet is all one with him but it importeth his extream restlesnesse Ver. 7. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord See on ver 5. See also Psal 25.12 and 32.10 and 34.8 and 84.12 and 125.1 and 146.5 where David having entred a Caveat against creature confidence perswadeth people by trusting in God alone to provide for their own safety and happiness See Nah. 1.7 Such shall have marvellous loving kindness from God Psal 17.7 above all that can be uttered Psal 31.19 See Prov. 28.25 Ver. 8. For he shall be as a tree planted It is plain that he here alludeth to Psal 1.3 See the Notes there The laurel saith Pliny is never thunder-struck Sure it is that he who trusteth in God taketh no hurt his heart is fixed and unmoveable Psal 112.7 8. to endure things almost incredible Psal 27.3 Isa 14.32 confer Isa 26.4 5. True Trust will certainly triumph at length as that which leaneth on the Lord and the power of his might the surest support By the river The Hebrew here is Jubal and the Jubilee saith one had its name from this word which signifieth a stream or watercourse as carrying us to Christ who is the truth of this type Luk. 18.19 But his leaf shall be green Neither falling nor fading And shall not be careful in the year of drought A Metaphor setting forth the full assurance of faith that is in some good men such as was that holy Martyr who said I will henceforth be Carelesse according to my name John Careless Act. Mon. fol. 1743. Si fractus illabatur orbis Impavidum ferient ruinae Neither shall cease from yeilding fruit As they say the Lemmon tree doth not Theoph. Plin. but ever and anon sendeth forth new Lemmons assoon as the former are faln down with ripenesse Ver. 9. The heart of man is deceitful above all things The pravity and perversity of mans heart full of harlotry and creature-confidence deceiving and being deceived is here plainly and plentifully described and oh that it were duely and deeply considered Deceitful it is here said to be above all things no creature like it Varium est versutum versipelle tortuosum est anfractuosum fallax ideoque inscrutabile It is full of turnings and windings nooks and corners wiles and slights It deceived David as wise as he was and tripped up his heels as the word here used importeth Psal 39.1 2 3. so it did Peter Joh. 13.37 38. Fitly doth the Prophet here call our hearts deceitful in that word in the Original from whence Jacob had his name because our fleshly hearts do the same things to the spirit in doing of good which Jacob did to his brother supplant it and catch it by the heele while it is running the Christian race As Jehu offered sacrifice to Baal killing his Priests at the same time and this he did in subtilty to circumvent them See Dike of the deceitfulness of the Heart 2 King 10.19 and as Hushai went to Absoloms company to overthrow him so deale our deceitful hearts with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Neither is it deceitful only but deep so the Septuagint here render it those that are still digging in this dunghil do find it to be a very bottomlesse pit Yea it is Desperately wicked Desperately bent upon deadly mischief So that he gave no evil counsel who said to his friend Ita cave tibi ut caveas teipsum so see to thy self that thou beware of thine own heart Another prayed not amiss Lord keep me from that naughty man my self Take heed of the devil and the world said a certain Martyr in a letter to his wife but especially of thine own heart Non longe scilicet hostes Quaerendi nobis circumstant undique muros We have a Trojan horse full of armed enemies in the cittadel of our hearts We have Jebusites enough within us to undo us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Enchirid cap. 72. quos nec fugere possumus nec fugare It was no ill character therefore of a good man that is given by Epictetus a Heathen that he carefully watcheth himself as his own deadly enemy Who can know it None but a mans self 1 Cor. 2.11 nor yet a mans self neither for nothing is more common then self-deceit Gal. 6.3 Jam. 1.21 How much was Bellarmine that great Scholler mistaken and how ill read in his own heart when as the Priest coming to absolve him on his death-bed he could not remember any particular sin to confesse till he went back in his thoughts as far as his youth had he but thrust his hand into his own bosom with Moses he had brought it out leprous white as snow Had he looked well into his own heart he would have found it to be a raging sea of sin Isa 57.20 where is that Leviathan the devil besides creeping things crawling lusts innumerable This made blessed Bradford never look on any mans lewd life but he would strait cry out Lord have mercy upon me for in this my vile heart remaineth that sin which without Gods special grace I should have committed as well as he Ver. 10. I the Lord search the heart Be it never so full of shifts and fetches I cannot be deceived in it The watch-maker must needs know every turning and winding in the watch God is the heart maker and the heart-mender neither is there any creature no not any creature of the heart that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened before his eyes Heb. 4.13 Naked for the outside and opened for the inside 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dissected quartered and as it were cleft thorough the back-bone as the Apostles word there signifieth so opened as the entrailes of a man that is anatomized or of a beast that is cut up and quartered The heart and reines are taken to be the seat of the thoughts and affections yea of the strongest affection namely that which is for generation These are a mans inwardest and most remote parts so that it is hard for food or Physick to come at them Covered they are also with fat and flesh c. and yet they are not hid from Gods eye which is indeed a fiery eye Rev. 1.14 and therefore needeth no outward light Mans eye is like a candle which is first lighted and then extinct The Angels eyes are like the stars which shine indeed and in the dark too but with a borrowed light neither know they the thoughts of mens hearts further then they are discovered
if men go a little faster then others do They who will live godly in Christ Jesus and be set upon 't shall suffer persecution this gate-house might well be the Priests prison whither they used to send such as they took for false Prophets Ver. 3. Pashur brought forth Jeremiah To be judged say some but why then did he first smite him an Officer should retain the Majesty of the Law and not do any thing passionately To set him at liberty say others as perceiving that the Word of God could not be bound nor a Prophets mouth stopped by a prison as Pashur also shall well perceive ere Jeremy hath done with him Act. Mon. Bonner said to Hawkes the Martyr A faggot will make you believe the Sacrament of the Altar He answered No no a point for your faggot God will be meet with you one day So true is that of the Poet Pressa sub ingenâ—i ceu pondere palma virescit Sub cruce sic florent debita corda Deo The Lord hath not called thy name Pashur That is black-mouth as some derive it Junius q d. non Augustus sed angustus non nobilis sed mobâ—lâ—s futurus es Non tumor sed tiimor Daniel Thuan. or diffusing palenesse as others but on the contrary Magor-missabib i. e. Terrour round about or fear on every side a Proverbial form of speech denoting extreame consternation of spirit and greatest distress such as befell Tullus Hostilius King of Rome who had for his gods Pavor and Pallor dignâ—ssimus sanè qui deos suos semper haberet praesentes saith Lactantius wittily i. e. great pitty but this man should ever have had his gods at hand sith he was so fond of them Our Richard 3. and Charles the ninth of France a paire of bloody Princes were Magor-missabibs in their generations as terrible at length to themselves as they had been formerly to others and therefore could never endure to be awakened in the night without musick or some like diversion Ver. 4. I will make thee a terrour Heb. I will give thee unto a terrour i. e. I will affright thy conscience and then turn it loose upon thee so that thou shalt be à corde tuo fugitivus and thy friends shall have small joy of thee or thou help by them See on ver 3. Ver. 5. Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this City Thus Pashur prevailed nothing at all with good Jeremy by imprisoning him to make him give over menacing But as Baruch wrot the roll anew that had been cut in pieces and added besides unto it many like words chap. 36.32 so doth Jeremy here he will not budge to dye for it This was to shew the magnanimity of a Prophetical Spirit Ver 6. There shalt thou be buried In a dunghil perhaps as Bishop Bonner was and have cause enough to cry out as that great Parisian Doctour did from his heir when brought to be buried Parcite funeribus mihi nil prodesse valebit Heu infelicem cur me genuere parentes Ah miser aeternos vado damnatus ad ignes Spare funeral-costs why was I born By hells black feinds now to be torn Ver. 7. O Lord thou hast deceived me and I was deceived From hence to the end of the Chapter the Prophet Iterum more solitâ— causam suam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coram Deo agit Oecolamp not without some tang and taint of humane frailty grievously quiritateth and expostulateth with God about the hard usage and ill success he met with in the execution of his prophetical function But as ex incredulitate Thomae nostra confirmata est fides Thomas his unbelief serveth to the setling of our faith and as Peters fall warneth us to look well to our standing so when such a man as Jeremy shall miscarry in this sort and have such out-bursts oh be not high-minded but fear Some render the text Lord if I be deceived thou hast deceived me and so every faithful man who keepeth to the rule may safely say Piscator hath it persuasisti mihi Jehova persuasus sum O Lord thou perswadedst me and I was perswaded sc to undertake this Prophetical office but I have small joy of it some think he thus complained when he was put in prison by Pashur I am in derision dayly every one mocketh me This is the worlds wages The Cynik said of the Megarians long ago Better be their horse dog or Pander then their teacher and better he should be regarded Ver. 8. For since I spake I cryed out i. e. Ever since I took upon me the office of a Prophet I executed it vigorously I cryed with full mouth as chap. 4.5 Isa 58.1 I cryed violence and spoile Sc. will surely befall you by the Chaldees or I cryed out of my misusages Because the Word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me and a derision dayly This was all the recompence I reaped of my good-will to this perverse people and of my paines taken amongst them Few sins are more dangerous then those of casting reproaches upon Gods Word as here of snuffing at it Mal. 1.13 of enviously swelling at it Act. 13.45 of chatting at it Rom. 9.19 20. of stumbling at it 1 Pet. 2.8 of gathering odious consequences from it Rom. 3.8 Ex humano motu metu hoc in mentem incidit A Lap. Pisc Quoque magis tegitur tanto magis aestuat ignis Ovid. Chrysost de Lazaro Hanc legem ex hoc loco dat concionatori ne defatigetur nec ullo tempore sileat sive sit qui auscultet sive non Ver. 9. Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his Name i. e. I will give over preaching This said Latimer in a like case was a naughty a very naughty resolution But his Word was in my heart as a burning fire Ex sensu malae conscientiae propter illud propositum And here was the work of the Spirit against that carnal resolution of his Gods people cannot do the things that they would saith the Apostle Gal. 5.17 As they cannot do the good they would because of the flesh so neither the evil that they would because of the Spirit there is a continual conflict and as it were the company of two opposite armies Cant. 6.13 True grace will as little be hid as fire quis enim celaverit ignem And I was weary with forbearing and could not stay Jeremies service among the Jews was something like that of Manlius Torquatus among the Romans who gave it over saying Neither can I bear their manners nor they my government He began to think with that painful Patriarch that rest was good Gen. 49.15 and with the Olive Vine and Fig-tree in Jothams parable that it was best to enjoy a beloved privacy He was ready to say Bene qui latuit bene vixit And Bene qui tacuit bene dixit c. But this could not hold with him he saw well for
as the motion of the heart and lungs is ever beating and t is a pain to restrain it to hold the breath so here Strangulat inclusus dolor atque exaestuat intus Ovid. Trist Cogitur vires multiplicare suas Ver. 10. For I heard the defaming of many fear on every side This passage is borrowed from Psal 31.13 See the Note there Some render the text I heard the defamation of many Magor-missabibs many of his complices and Coryphaei spies set a work by him to defame and bespattle me Report say they and we will report Calumniare audacter broach a slander and we will blazon it set it afoot and we will set it afloat give us but some small hint or inkling of ought spoken by Jeremy whereof to accuse him to the King and State and we desire no more Athanasius was about thirty times accused and of no smal crimes neither but falsly The Papists make it their trade to belye the Protestants their chieftaines especially They reported of Luther that he dyed despairing of Calvin that he was branded on the shoulder for a rogue of Beza that he ran away with another mans wife c. And for their Authors they alledge Baldwin and Bolsecus a couple of Apostates requested by themselves and as some say hired to write the lives of these Worthies their profest enemies But any thing of this kind serves their turn and they cite the writings of these runnagates as Canonical All my familiars Heb. every man of my peace from such there is the greatest danger Hence one prayed God to deliver him from his friends for as for his enemies he could better beware of them Many friends are like deep ponds clear at the top but all muddy at the bottom Ver. 11. But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one Instar Gigantis robusti Vt formidabilis heros Pisc as a strong Giant and mine only champion on whom I lean Here the Spirit begins to get the better of the Flesh could Jeremy but hold his own But as the ferry man plyes the oar and eyes the shoar homeward where he would be yet there comes a gust of wind that carryeth him back again so it fared with our Prophet See ver 14.15 c. Ver. 12. But O Lord of hosts See chap. 11.20 and 17.10 Let me see thy vengeance on them Some pert and pride themselves over the Ministery as if it were a dead Alexanders nose which they might wring off and not fear to be called to account therefore but the visible vengeance of God will seise such one day as it did Pharaoh Ahab Herod Julian For unto thee have I opened my cause Prayer is an opening of the souls causes and cases to the Lord. The same word for opened here is in another conjugation used for uncovering making bare and naked Gen 9.21 Gods people in prayer do or should nakedly present their souls causes without all cover-shames or so much as a ragge of self or flesh cleaving to them Ver. 13. Sing unto the Lord praise ye the Lord Nota hic alternantis animi motus estusque Here the Spirit triumpheth over the flesh as in the next verses the flesh again gets the wind and hill of the Spirit Every good man is a divided man For he hath delivered the soul of the poor i. e. Of poor me as Psal 34.4 Ver. 14. Cursed be the day wherin I was born What a suddain change of his note is here out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing My brethren saith James these things ought not so to be Jam. 3.10 But here humane weakness prevailed and this part of the Chapter hath much of man in it The best have their outbursts and as there be white teeth in the blackest Blackmore and again a black bill in the whitest swan so the worst have something in them to be commended and the best to be condemned See on ver 7. Some of the Fathers seek to excuse Jeremy altogether but that can hardly be neither needeth it Origen saith that the day of his birth was past and therefore nothing now so that cursing it he cursed nothing This is lâ—ke those amongst us who say they may now without sin swear by the Masse because it is gone out of the Country c. Isidor that Jeremie's cursing is but conditional if any let that day be cursed c. Ver. 15. Cursed be the man Let him have a curse for a reward of his so good news Thus the Prophet in a fit of impatiency carrieth himself as one who being cut by a Surgeon and extreamly pained striketh at and biteth those that hold him or like him in the Poet Aeneid l. 2. Quem non incusavi amens hominumque Deumque Surely as the bird in a cage because pent up beats her self so doth the discontented person Look to it therefore Satan thrusteth in upon us sometimes praying with a cloud of strange passions such as are ready to gallow us out of that little wit and faith we have Resist him betimes The wild-fire of Passion will be burning whilst the incense of Prayer is in offering this scum will be rising up in the boyling pot together with the meat See Jon. 4.1 with the Note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exinde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jon. 4.4 Ver. 16. And let that man be A most bitter curse but causelesse The devil of discontent where it prevaileth maketh the heart to be for the time a little hell as we see in Moses Job David Jeremy men otherwise made up of excellencies These sinned but not with full consent A godly man hath a flea in his ear somewhat within which saith Dost thou well to be angry Jonah Ver. 17. Because he slew me not c. Why but is not life a mercy a living Dog better then a dead Lion See on Job 3.10 10.18 19. Vincet aliquando pertinax bonitas Rev. 2 10. Ver. 18. Wherefore came I forth c. Passions are a most dangerous and heady water when once they are out That my dayes should be consumed with shame Why but a Christian souldier may have a very great arrear 2 Tim. 4.7 8. CHAP. XXI Ver. 1. THe word that came unto Jeremiah from the Lord This History is here set down out of course For Jerusalem was not besieged till chap. 32. and Jehoiakim reigned Chapter 25. It was in the ninth year of Zedekiah that this present Prophecy was uttered Est hic hysterologia sive praeposterus ordo 2 King 25.1 2. This Zedekiah was one of those semiperfectae virtutis homines as Philo calleth some Professours cakes half-baked Hos 7.8 no flat Atheist nor yet a pious Prince Of Galba the Emperour as also of our Richard the third it is recorded that they were bad men but good Princes We cannot say so much of Zedekiah Two things he is cheifly charged with 1. That he brake his oath and faith plighted to the King of Babylon
to enter into Egypt This was to go out of Gods blessing as we use to say into the worlds warm sun-shine this was to put themselves into the punishing hands of the living God Ver. 18. Because of the Chaldaeans for they were afraid of them But they should rather have sanctified the Lord God in their hearts and made him their dread as Esay 8.13 The fear of man bringeth a snare but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Prov. 29.25 See the Notes there Ob incustodiaÌ„ Because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah And together with him many Chaldaeans whom Johanan and his captaines should have cautioned and better guarded as the King of Babylon would better tell them they thought and withall punish them for their neglect CHAP. XLII Ver. 1. THen all the Captains of the forces and Johanan Or even Johanan he among the rest and above the rest Ille huic negotio non interfuit modo sed etiam praefuit And Jezaniah the son of Hoshajah Brother belike to that Azariah chap. 43.2 a noble pair of brethren in evil And all the people Who follow their Rulers as in a beast the whole body followeth the head Drew near They came as clients use to do for learned counsel Ver. 2. Let we beseech thee our supplication be accepted before thee Here they seem to humble themselves before Jeremiah the Prophet which because King Zedekiah did not he came to ruine 2 Chron. 26.12 And pray for us unto the Lord thy God Good words may be found even in hell-mouth sometimes Who would think but these men had spoken what they did unfainedly and from their very hearts when as it soon after appeared that all was no better then deep dissimulation They had made their conclusion aforehand to go down to Egypt only in a preâ—ence of piety and for greater credit they would have had Gods approbation which sith they cannot they will on with their design howsoever fall back fall edge O most hateful hypocrisy O contumacy worthy of all mens execration Ver. 3. That the Lord thy God may shew us the way But they had set themselves in the way to Egypt before they came with this request to the Prophet why went they else to Geruth Chimham the rode toward Egypt chap. 41.17 why were they also so peremptory when they knew Gods mind to the contrary chap. 43. And the thing that we may do Good words all along but those we say are light cheap Quid vero verba quaero facta cum videam they were as forward to speak fair as their ancestours were in the wildernesse but oh that there were a heart in this people saith God to do as they have said Ver. 4. I have heard you behold I will pray The wisdom from above is perswasible easie to be intreated Jam. 3. ult and good men are ready to every good work Tit. 3.1 Jeremy hoped they might speak their whole hearts and promiseth to do his best for them both by praying and prophecying Whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you I will declare Sic veteres nihil ex se vel potuerunt vel protulerunt The Prophets spake as they were inspired by the Spirit of truth Christ spake nothing but what was consonant to the holy Scriptures The Apostles delivered to the Churches what they had received of the Lord Irenaeus lib. 3. Eccles hist lib. 4. cap. 14. 1 Cor. 11.23 Polycarp told the Churches that he delivered nothing to them but what he had received of the Apostles c. Ver. 5. The Lord be a true and faithful witnesse between us Did these men know what it was so solemnly to swear a thing Or were they stark Atheists thus to promise that with an oath which they never meant to perform At sperate Deum memorem fandi atque nefandi Their King Zedekiah paid dear for his perjury to God and men Ver. 6. Whether it be good or whether it be evil i. e. Whether it please us or crosse us Veniat veniat verbum Domini submittemus ei sexcenta si nobis essent colla said a good man once that is Let Gods Word come to us once and he shall be obeyed whatever come of it These in the text seem to say as much but they say it only neither was it much to be liked that they were so free of their promises and all in their own strength without any condition of help from heaven as if the matter had been wholly in their own hands and they had had free-will to whatsoever good purpose or practice O coecas mentes hominum We will obey the voyce of the Lord Yes as far as a few good words will go Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest Ovid. Ver. 7. And it came to passe that after ten dayes So long God held his holy Prophet in request and so he doth still his best servants many times thereby tying as it were the sacrifice to the hornes of the Altar How impatient those wretched Roysters were of such a delay we may well imagine the Chinois use to whip their gods when they will not hear and help them forthwith but God held them off as unworthy of any answer and seemed by his silence to say unto them as Ezek. 20.3 Are ye come to enquire of me As I live saith the Lord God I will not be enquired of by you Ver. 8. And all the people from the least unto the greatest For the Word of God belongeth to all of all sorts and as the lesser fishes bite soonest so the poor are Gospellized Mat. 11.5 when the richer stand out Ver. 9. Vnto whom ye sent me to present your supplication Heb. to make your supplication fall in his presence This I have not ceased to do ever since but had no answer till now and it may be that now you may the better regard it Cito data cito vilescunt Ver. 10. Then will I build you Promittitur felicitatio parabola ab architectura agricultura desumpta God promiseth to blesse and settle them by a two fold similitude used also by the Apostle 1 Cor. 3.9 ye are Gods husbandry ye are Gods building See chap. 24.6 For I repent me of the evil A term taken from men Gen. 6.6 though repentance in men is a change of the will but repentance in God is only the willing of a change mutatio rei non Dei See chap. 18.8 Ver. 11. Fear not the King of Babylon See on chap. 41.18 For I am with you to save you Not only to protect you from the Babylonian but also to encline his heart to clemency toward you ver 12. Ver. 12. And I will shew mercyes unto you Tender mercyes such as proceed from the bowels and of a parent nay a mother This was more then all the rest Ver. 13. But if ye say We will not dwell in this land Because more barren then Egypt and besides beset with many and mighty enemies Neither
The Commandement is a lamp and the law is light Come therefore to this light that your deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Joh. 3.21 Ver. 20. And hallow my Sabbaths By abandoning as well spiritual idlenesse as corporal labour And they shall be a sign See on ver 11. Ver. 21 22 23 24. See on ver 13 14 15 16. Ver. 25. Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good i. e. I gave them up to their own inventions and hearts lusts which was worse then to be delivered up to Satan because they were ingrati gratiae Dei as Ambrose hath it they received the grace of God in vain By statutes not good some understand the Ceremonial laws which commanded neither virtue nor vice in themselves Others such decrees and ordinances of God in the wildernesse as were not good for them but hurtful as that for the execution of the calf-worshippers of the Baal-peorites of Korah and his company of the murmurers at Kibroth hattaavah c. Solon being asked Whether he had given the best laws to the Athenians answered The best that they could bear Ver. 26. And I polluted them in their own gifts i. e. I rejected both their persons and presents as unclean So God would do our best performances wherein there would not else be so much as truth and sincerity found were they not wrought in us by the holy Spirit and perfumed with Christs sweet odours poured into them Ver. 27. Your Fathers have blasphemed me Because they trembled not at my judgements whiles they hung in the threatenings but went on wilfully in their wickedness putting it to the venture This is a kind of blasphemy Confer Num. 15.30 31. this is a sin scarce to be expiated with any sacrifice such a sinner must be cut off Ver. 28. For when I had brought them into the land It hath been already observed that good turnes aggravate unkindnesses and mens sins are much increased by their obligations Ver. 29. And the name thereof is called Bamah i. e. A high place a name good enough in it self but as used by them as odious to all good hearts as a brothelhouse is to a chast Matron she is the worse to pass by it and spetteth at it so should we in like case Exod. 23.13 Psal 16.4 See Hos 2.16 17. Zach. 13.2 Deut. 12.2 Ver. 30. Are ye polluted after the manner of your Fathers q. d. Are you good at that indeed and have you yet a face to thredbare that paltry proverb of yours The Fathers have eaten sower grapes c. Give over for shame Ver. 31. And shall I be enquired of by you Is it ever likely to do well think you Of witches good prayers as some call them one saith well Si Magicae Deus non vult tales si piae non per tales See Jer. 7.9 10. with the Notes Ver. 32. And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all You are laying a plot for an accommodation with the Babylonish idolaters a compliance with them and thereby you think to ingratiate to get their favour and friendship But please not your selves in such a project t will never be So no peace with Rome The Moderator Sancta Clara and other such as sought to bring us together made a pretty shew saith one if there had been no bible Such carnal professours are not unlike these in the text as seeing the wickeds full cups and their own harder condition are ready to revolt that waters of a full cup may be wrung out to them also Psal 73.10 We will be as the heathen And so help our selves as we can sith God will not help us Ver. 33. Surely with a mighty hand You are ready to say as Jer. 2.31 We are Lords we will come no more unto thee But I shall sure subdue you as so many perverse slaves or sturdy rebels So unhappy is Apostasie so little is got by strugling or by starting aside like a deceitful bow God will rule over such with rigour he will have the better of them to their small comfort Ver. 34. And I will bring you out from the people The heathens with whom you have incorporated hoping so to shun me and to be out of the reach of my rod but I shall sure find and ferret you out of all your starting holes I shall be meet with you Sennert de febrib l. 4. c. 15. so God was here with the English by the sweating sicknesse which hunted and haunted also our countrey-men in forrein parts singling them out from others It reigned or rather God reigned by it some forty years together Ver. 35. And I will bring you into the wildernesse of the people Into the most solitary and savage places of the world for a fulnesse of misery without the benefit of any good society And there will I plead with you face to face i. e. Solus cum solis sine arbitris having you there alone I will punish you to some purpose Ver. 36. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wildernesse Where their carkeises fell thick and threefold till they were all consumed Behold we dye we perish we all perish said they once to Moses in a pet shall we be consumed with dying Num. 17.12 13. Ver. 37. And I will cause you to passe under the rod and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant Why then Feri Domine feri smite Lord smite so my sins may be pardoned and my soul saved Hic seca hic ure ut in aeternum serves said an ancient do even whatsoever thou wilt with me so I may come to heaven though I come to it by weeping-crosse Ver. 38. And I will purge out from among you the rebells Making first a difference and then a riddance of them from among my Covenanters And they shall not enter into the land of Israel But either dye by the way or if they live to enter they shall find it a strange land to what they or their fathers left it Non eos perducam ad promissiones aeternas Oecol See Jer. 44.14 Lavater maketh the sense to be They shall not enter into the heavenly Canaan See the like Psal 95.11 Ver. 39. Go ye serve ye every one his idols q. d. You may for me and I had rather you would then dissemble as you do and play on both hands to the scandal of the weak and scorn of the wicked For my part I have done with you for ever take your own course And with your idols Away with these abominable mixtures I will be served truely and totally or not at all Ver. 40. For in mine holy mountain In my Church and among my faithful people for to these he now speaketh comfort There will I accept them Ibi occurram eis sc quasi in amplexum sponsae so some render and sense the text i. e. there I will meet them and accept them with much sweetnesse And there will require
vindictae meae in te exhausero till I have emptied my quiver spent my wrath upon thee Ver. 14. I the Lord have spoken it And you may write upon it Sententia haec stabit Think not that these are only big words bug-bear terms devised on purpose to affright silly people for do it I will yea that I will Ver. 15. Also the Word of the Lord See chap. 18.1 Ver. 16. Behold I take from thee the desire of thine eyes i. e. Thy wife who is impendiò dilecta visu pergratiosa thy dearly beloved and greatly delighted in With a stroke With pestilence palsy or some like sudden death This was no smal trial of the Prophets patience and obedience Let us learn to hang loose to all outward comforts Yet neither shalt thou mourn or weep Which might he have done Est quaedam flere voluptas Ovid. l. 4. ed Trist Fletus aerumnas lenâ—t Sen. Justa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would have been some ease to him for Expletur lacrymis egeriturque dolor As hindes by calving so do men by weeping cast out their sorrows Job 39.3 Ver. 17. For hear to cry Heb. be silent and so suffocate thy sorrows ne plangas ne plores Not as if the dead were not to be lamented tears are the dues of the dead Mors mea ne careat lachrymis or that it were unbeseeming a Prophet to bewail his dead Consort but to set forth by this figure the greatnesse of their ensuing sorrow bigger then any tears for Curae leves loquuntur ingentes stupent Bind the tire of thy head upon thee Mourners it seems used to go bare-headed and bare-footed to cover their Mustachoes to eat what their friends sent them in at such a sad time to chear up their spirits Jer. 16.5 7. The Prophet must do none of all this Singultus devorat but keep his sorrows to himself Ver. 18. And at even my wife dyed Though a good woman probably and to the Prophet a great comfort the sweet companion of his life and miseries yet she dyed suddenly and by some extraordinary disease All things come alike to all And I did in the morning as I was commanded Grievous though it were and went much against the hair with me yet I did it Vxorem posthabuit praecepto Dei Obedience must be yielded to God even in the most difficult duties and conjugal love must give place to our love to him Ver. 19. Wilt thou not tell us They well knew that there was something in it more then ordinary for the Prophet was no Stoike but sensible enough of what he suffered Ver. 20. Then I answered them The Prophet was ready to tell them the true meaning of all so should Ministers be See Job 33.23 with the Note Ver. 21. Behold I will profane my Sanctuary I will put it into the hands of profane persons to be spoiled and polluted for a punishment of your manifold pollutions of it The excellency of your strength The Jewes had too high a conceit of and did put too much confidence in their Temple which therefore they called as here the excellency of their strength the desire of their eyes and that which their soul pittied animarum indulgentiam The Temple of the Lord they cryed but the Lord of the Temple they cared not for Jer. 7. Ver. 22. And ye shall do as I have done Your grief shall be above teares you shall be so over gone with it besides you shall have neither leisure nor leave of your enemies to bewaile your losses c. Ye shall not cover See on ver 17. Antonius Margarita a Christian Jew hath written a book of the Jewish rites of superstitions at the burial of the dead and otherwise so hath Leo Modena another Jew but no Christian Ver. 23. But ye shall pine away for your iniquities Non tam stupidi prae moestitia quam prae malitia stipites Oecol This was long since threatened Levit. 26. and it is reserved to the last as not the least of those dismal judgements Ver. 24. Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign Portentum portending no good to you whether he were made dumb till these things were fulfilled as some gather from ver 27. I have not to say Ver. 25. When I take from them their strength their Kingdom Temple all And that whereupon they set their minds Heb. the lifting up of the soul or the burthen of their souls that whereof they are most sollicitous Ver. 26. To cause thee to hear it Viz. The performance of that which now thou foretellest but canst not be believed till Experience the mistrisse of fools hath better taugth it them Ver. 27. In that day shall thy mouth be openâ—d Mean-while make use of a sacred silence wait till a new Prophecy concerning this peope shall be committed unto thee as was done chap. 33. Till then prophecy against forreiners Ammonites Tyrians Egyptians CHAP. XXV Ver. 1. THe Word of the Lord Contra Gentes against those Nations chiefly that molested the Jews after their overthrow by the Babylonians Sins they had enow besides but for none did they suffer more deeply then for their malignity toward Gods poor afflicted The Ammonites Moabites Edomites and Philistines are here more briefly threatened The Tyrians and Egyptians more at large because it seemed impossible that they should be brought down Ver. 2. Set thy face against the Ammonites Look upon them firmo torvo minaci vultu as if then wouldst look through them and having so lightened thunder accordingly Against the Ammonites Who have had their part already of threatnings chap. 21.28 but not therir full due Ver. 3. Because thou saidst Aha Insolently insulting over mine Israel when under hatches as when a tree is down every man will be pulling at the branches and Leoni mortuo vel mus insultat but it is ill medling against Gods Church be it but by a frown or a frump as here An Aha or an Euge shall not escape unpunished Psal 35.21 Ver. 4. I will deliver thee to the men of the East To the Arabians Keturah's posterity who were Shepherds and Camel-masters They shall eat thy fruit and drink thy milk Sept. Thy fatnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est enim adeps lac coagulatum The Ammonites as now the Flemmings were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 butter-boxes as we say and lived much upon milk-meats So do we Let us use our plenty to Gods glory lest we lose all Ver. 5. And I will make Rabbah The Metropolis of the Ammonites it signifieth that Great City and was afterwards rebuilt by Ptolomy Philadelph and called Philadelphia Valet ima summis Mutare Hor. lib. 1. Od. 34. insignem attenuat Deus Obscura premens c. Ver. 6. Because thou hast clapped thine hands Manibus plaudis pedibus complodis c. God is very sensible of the least indignity and injury affront or offence done to his poor people by words looks gestures c. Cavete Ver.
appointeth his Ministers their several stations together with the bounds of their habitations Shall eat the most holy things Ministers must eat as well as others they are not of the Camelion-kind cannot live upon air and the Lord Christ hath ordained that as they which waited at the Altar were partakers of the Altar so also should they that preach the Gospel live of the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.13 14. And the meat-offering and the sin-offering i. e. The Priests share out of them For besides their tithes and glâ—be or subburbs the Priests had many rich revenues and were far better provided for then now-adays Gospel-ministers are however begrudged that little that is allowed them Ver. 14. Then shall they not go out of the holy place Ministers may not leave their station lay aside their holy calling entangle themselves with worldly cares and businesses but Hoc agere make their Ministry their businesse giving themselves wholly to it Verbi Minister es hoc age this was Mr. Perkins his Motto And say to Archippus Take heed to the Ministry which thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfil it Coloss 4.17 But there they shall lay their garments And not go amongst the people in them lest they make themselves over-cheap or the people superstitious by placing holinesse in their seeing or touching those holy vestments And shall put on other garments Ministers Oecol as in doing their office they must use all becomming gravity and authority as the Embassadours of Christ so at other times they must familiarize themselves with their people becoming all things to all men in Paul's sense that they may win some Ver. 15. Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house The inner part of the Church the Church invisible is first and chiefly to be looked into rather then the external adjuncts as multitude prosperity clarity antiquity c. the Substantials rather then the Accidentals The Church of Rome borrows her mark from the market Plenty or cheapnesse c. Vilissimus pagus saith Luther the meane stvilage seems to me to be an ivory Palace if there be but in it a faithful Pastour and a few true believers Ver. 16. Five hundred reeds Loe here the large extent of the holy Catholike Church the Communion of Saints See the Note on chap. 40.1 Ver. 17.18 He measured the North-side five hundred reeds To shew that many should come from all coasts and quarters to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 8.11 See the Note there Ver. 20. He measured it by the four sides The Church is fair and firm for it is quadrangular so is every true member thereof homo quadratus four-square stedfast and unmovable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 always abounding in the Work of the Lord c. 1 Cor. 15. ult his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psal 112. He quits himself well in all estates and comes of a gainer Gold is purged in the fire shines in the water as on t'other side clay is scorcht in the fire dissolved in the water The new Jerusalem is said to lye four-square Rev. 21.16 See the Note there CHAP. XLIII Ver. 1. AFterwards he brought me Non nisi dimenso prius montis ambitu The Prophet saw not the glory of God till he had first seen the Mount measured the Temple restored Men must usually wait upon God in the use of means ere they see the King in his glory Even the gate that looketh toward the East Men must awake out of the West of wickednesse and stand up from dead courses and companies if Christ the day-star from on high shall give them light Ephes 5.14 Luke 2.78 79. Ver. 2. And behold the glory i. e. The vision of the glory God who by the East-gate had left the Temple and the City chap 10. doth now the same way return and filleth the house with the glory of his presence And his voice was like a noise of many waters Importing the multitude of his attendants and his irresistible power in his Gospel especially which is the power of God to salvation and like a mighty torrent bears down all before it And the earth shined with his glory How can it do otherwise when the Sun of righteousnesse cometh in place and irradiateth both Organ and Object 2 Cor. 4.6 Into Solomons Temple God came in a thick cloud not so here Light is now more diffused then ever woe be to those that wink or who seek straws to put out their eyes withal as Bernard hath it Ver. 3. And it was according to the vision Being so much the sweeter and the welcomer to me Hence he so oft repeateth it And the Jew-doctours observe that eight times in this one Verse Visionis ac videndi vocabulum repetitur the word for Vision and to see it is made use of When I came to destroy the City i. e. To foretel the destruction of it chap. 9.2 5. from which time forth it was a done thing See Jer. 1.10 with the Note And I fell upon my face In reverence to his Majesty in admiration of his mercy and in the sense of mine own unworthinesse The nearer any one cometh to God the lower he falleth in his own eyes and the more doth rottennesse enter into his bones Ver. 4. And the glory of the Lord See ver 2. By the way of the gate The ordinary entrance into the Temple There if anywhere God is to be found where should a man be sought for but at his house Say he be from home a while yet thither he returneth So here Ver. 5. So the Spirit took me up Who was fain upon my face The lowly shall be lifted up And brought me into the inner court As being a Priest so is every true believer 1 Pet. 2.9 Rev. 1.6 Filled the house Gods presence is the full glory of each good soul See Hag. 2.7 Ver. 6. And I heard him speaking unto me The man Christ Jesus standing by Here then is a meeting and the mystery of the blessed Trinity yea here is a double mystery to be taken notice of viz. those two wonderful unions of three persons in one God and of Christs two natures in one person Ver. 7. The place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet i. e. My Church which is unto me instead of heaven and earth Behold the place of my throne c. so some read it others as for the place of my throne c. Isa 66.1 No more defile But hallow for negative holiness alone is little worth Nor by the carcasses of their Kings i. e. Their idols not unfitly called carcasses Piscat 1. Because void of life 2. Stinking stuffe See Levit. 26.30 Jer. 16.18 These were oft brought in and countenanced by their Kings Ver. 8. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds By broaching falshoods for truth and setting humane devices in competition with the good Word of God That
those fenns and quagmires Job 40 21. they are void of the Spirit Jude 18 19. they say unto God Depart from us we had rather dance to the Timbrel and Harp Job 21.11 whoredom and wine and new wine take away their hearts Hos 4.11 he who had married a wife or rather was married to her sent word flat and plain he could not come others excused themselves more mannerly Mat. 22. such persons chuse to remain in the sordes of their sins and so are miserable by their own election They shall be given to salt Delivered up to strong delusions 1 Thes 2.15 16. vile affections Rom. 1.26 just damnation Rev. 22.11 Ver. 12. Shall grow all trees for meat Arbores esibiles these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 useful Christians such as whose lips are feeding and their tongues trees of life Prov. 11.30 15.4 See the Notes there Whose leaf shall not fade They will not fail to make a bold and wise profession of the truth See on Psal 1.3 Jer. 17.8 Neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed But as the Lemmon-tree which ever and anon sendeth new fruits assoon as the former are fallen down with ripeness Or as the Egyptian fig-tree which yeeldeth fruit seven times a year saith Solinus and if you pull off one fig another groweth up presently in the place thereof Because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary Hence their so great fruitfulness viz. from the divine influence Hos 14.8 the Word and Spirit going together Esa 59.21 hence it is that the Saints are neither barren nor unfruitful 2 Pet. 1.8 And the leaf thereof for medicine Gods people by their holy profession of religion do much good to many souls as did diverse of the Martyrs and Confessors Lucianus an ancient Martyr perswaded many Gentiles to the Christian faith by his grave countenance and modest disposition insomuch that Maximinus that persecuting Emperour durst not look him in the face for fear he should turn Christian And so Beda telleth us of one Alban who receiving a poor persecuted Christian into his house and seeing his holy devotion and sweet carriage Hist Ang. l. 1. c. 7. was so much affected with the same as that he became an earnest professour of the faith and in the end a glorious Martyr for the faith The like is recorded of Bradford Bucer and others Ver. 13. This shall be the border Here the Prophet returneth again to the dividing of the land begun chap. 45.1 2 c. having hitherto interposed many most memorable matters and of great use to the Church Joseph shall have two portions He had so by his fathers will and for his two sons adopted by his father Ver. 14. And ye shall inherit one as well as another Spiritual blessings are divided in solidum amongst the community of Gods people they all partake of one and the same saving grace of God righteousnesse of Christ and eternal life though there are several degrees of grace and of glory See Gal. 3.26 27 28 29. All Gods Sons are heirs heirs of God and coheirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 Ver. 15. And this shall be the border of the land i. e. Of the Christian Church the borders whereof are here set forth as far larger then those of the land of Canaan ever were From the great sea The Mediterranean sea The way of Hethlon From one end of the Kingdom of Damascus to another Ver. 16. Hamath Berothah Sibraim Towns of Arabia deserta All this is to set forth the amplitude of the Christian Church spread far and near upon the face of the whole earth and therefore rightly called Catholike Roman-Catholike is contradictio in adjecto for it is a particular-universal Ver. 17. And the border from the sea shoil be Hazar-Enan Forasmuch as the borders in this description of the land are set to be such as never were in the Israelites possession the Jew-doctours are will they nill they forced to confess that the land of Israel in the world to come shall be larger then ever it had been Now Heb. 2.5 Gospel-times are called the world to come Ver. 18. From Hauran A town of Arabia deserta Ptolomy calleth it Aurana but Felix in this This was Palmira afterwards Hadrianople that it is taken into the Church Ver. 19. From Tamar Hazazon-Tamar which was near the sea of Sodom v. 10. In Kadesh Not in Rephidim Ezod 17.7 Ver. 20 Till a man come over against Hamath To that place of the great sea from which lyeth a straight way from Hamath East-ward Ver. 21. So shall ye divide Epilogus est There is one and the same inheritance of the Saints in light Ver. 22. An inheritance unto you and to the strangers that sojourn among you What can the spiteful Jews say to this who stick not to say that rather then the bastard Gentiles so they call Christians should share with them in their Messiah they would crucifie him a hundred times over and over Under the old Testament though strangers lived with the children of Israel yet they had no inheritance with them at any time as now they are appointed to have Ver. 23. See on ver 22. CHAP. XLVIII Ver. 1. NOw these are the names of the tribes Who are in this chapter assigned their several seats and the land divided amongst them but this division is much different from that of old which was a plain prediction of a perfect and total abrogation of the Mosaical polity and Levitical worship together with a new state of the Church of God after the coming of Jesus Christ To the coast of the way of Hethlon Chap. 47.15 16 17. Judaea was not say Geographers above 200 miles long and 50 miles broad But R. Kimchi here noteth that the Talmudists affirm that the possession of Israel shall extend unto the utmost coasts of the earth Oecol id quod ex spiritu dictum existima This was well and truely spoken though they understood not what they spake as dreaming only of an earthly Kingdom Psal 89.11 12. But as elsewhere so here the land of Canaan is put for the whole world whereof all true believers are heires together with faithful Abraham Rom. 4. whether they be Jews or Gentiles Christs Kingdom runs to the end of the earth Psal 28. 72.8 A portion for Dan This tribe which was for their shameful revolt from the true religion Judg. 18. cut out of the roll as it were 1 Chron. 7. Rev. 7. is here reckoned first of those who had partem sortem part and lot amongst Gods people So true is that of our Saviour Many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first Mat. 19.30 20.1 Judge not therefore according to the appearance c. Repent and God will reaccept The sable of Antichrist to come of this tribe is long since exploded Ver. 2. From the East side to the West The longitude is described not the latitude for why Christs Kingdom is limitless and
shadow Psal 39.6 Ye shall be cut in pieces Practisers of unjust flatteries do oft meet with unjust frowns Ver. 6. Ye shall receive of me gifts and reward This was that they gaped after but missed of and therefore out of envy called not Daniel and his companions as some think lest they should share with them And great honour Great learning deserveth great honour Aeneas Sylvius was wont to say that popular men should esteem it as silver Noblemen as gold Princes prize it as pearles Ver. 7. They answered again and said Let the King c. Thus these proud boasters vaunt of a false gift and become like clouds without rain as Solomon hath it Prov. 25.14 See ver 4. Ver. 8. I know of certainty There 's no halting afore a cripple Politicians can sound the depth of one another Dan. 11.27 That ye would gain the time Chald. buy or redeem it that is make your advantage of it to evade the danger And indeed if these sorcerers could have gained longer time much might have been done for either the King might have dyed or been employed in war or pacified by the mediation of friends c. Time oft cooleth the rage of hasty men as 1 Sam. 25.33 How Hubere de Burgo Earl of Kent escaped the Kings wrath by a little respite see Godwins catalogue of Bish p. 193. Ver. 9. There is but one decree for you But that was a very tyrannical and bloody one T is dangerous to affront great men though in a just cause Eccles 10.4 Saevum praelustri fulmen ab arce venit Ovid. Procul à culmine◠procul à fulmine Till the time be changed The Latine hath it till there be another state of things See on ver 8. Tell me the dream and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof If you cannot tell it surely you cannot interpret it sith they are both of a divine instinct and nothing is hid from God Ver. 10. There is not a man upon earth Yes there is But this is the guise of worldly wisdom fingit se scire omnia excusat ac ocoulit suam ignorantiam it would seem to know all things and to be ignorant of nothing that is within the periphery of humane possibility Ver. 11. And it is a rare thing Exceeding mans wit Except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh They cohabit not with men that we might converse and confer with them Here these wisards 1. Superstitiously affirm a multitude of gods which the wiser heathens denyed Thales Pythagoras Socrates Plato Chrysippus c. 2. They deny Gods Providence as did also the Epicures who held that the gods did nothing out of themselves The Peripatetikes also held that they had nothing to do with things below the Moon yea the Platonists and Stoikes placed the gods in heaven only and other spirits good and bad in the aire which conversed with men and were as messengers betwixt them and the gods Thus these famous Philosophers became altogether vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened Rom. 1.21 3. They seem to affirm that man can know nothing of God unless he cohabited in the flesh with him But we have the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2.16 and the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psal 25.14 this is a Paradox to the natural man 1 Cor. 2.14 Lastly they deny the incarnation of Christ that great mysterie of godliness God manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 Joh. 1.14 Ver. 12. For this cause the King was angry and very furious A cutting answer may mar a good cause Prov. 15.1 See on ver 9. And commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon So rash is rage it is no better then a short madness Cicero Sed de vita hominis nulla potest esse satis diuturna cunctatio saith the Orator In case of life and death nothing should be determined without mature deliberation for like as Saturn the highest of the planets hath the slowest motion of them all Willet So saith one should Princes which sit in their high thrones of Majesty be most considerate in their actions Ver. 13. And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain And the wise men were slain saith the Vulgar Latine some of them likely were cut off The end of worldly wisdom is certain destruction And they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain Wicked decrees are wrested to the butchery of the Saints as was that of the six Articles here in Henry the eighths dayes Tremel Ver. 14. Then Daniel answered with counsel Retulit consilium causam he conferred with Arioch the chief slaughterman giving him good reasons wherefore to defer further execution This good turn he did for the Magicians and Astrologers who were his utter enemies Ver. 15. Why is the decree so hasty from the King Daniel though now in danger of his life forgetteth not his old freedom of speech and God so wrought that the King who was stiffe to the Magicians was tractable to Daniel ver 16. Ver. 16. Then Daniel desired the King to give him time Not to study or deliberate but to pray with fervency and perseverance which is the best help to find out secrets Jer. 33.3 And that he would shew the King the interpretation Beatus ait Plato qui etiam in senectute veritatem consequitur he is happy who findeth out the truth though it be long first saith Plato Ver. 17. Then Daniel went to his house A house then he had though he had lost house and home for God and thither he repaireth as to his Oratory well perfumed with prayers And made the thing known to Ananiah c. That they also might pray setting sides and shoulders to the work as country men do to the wheel when the cart is stalled Ver. 18. That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven All Gods children can pray Cant. 5.8 Those daughters of Jerusalem though not so fully acquainted with Christ yet are requested to pray for the Church But these three were men of singular abilities no doubt and were themselves deeply concerned Concerning this secret In case of secrets and intricacies or riddles of Providence prayer is most seasonable as being Tephillah the usual Hebrew word for prayer a repair to the Lord for enquiry or for his sentence Gen. 25.22 23. Ver. 19. Then was the secret revealed Oh the power of joynt prayer It seldom or never miscarrieth Act. 4. while the Apostles were praying together the house where they prayed shook to shew that heaven it self was shaken and God overcome by such batteries Alb. Mag. In a night vision Vigilia noctis as he watched in the night for he watched as well as prayed Eph. 6.18 Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven Who had not turned away his prayer nor his mercy from him Psal 66. ult They that pray heartily shall never want matter of praise
6.2 Shall he honour This doubling of the word seemeth to shew the Angels indignation at the indignity of the fact See the like Gen. 49.4 Ver. 31. Ver. 39. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds Heb. in the fortresses of munitions i. e. both in the Temple called elsewhere a strong-hold and in the places of defence near unto the Temple where he set a garrison to force the people to worship his Idols Whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory Or those whom he shall acknowledge to be favourers and furtherers of his abominable idolatry those he shall increase with glory he shall raise and prefer them as he did Jason Menelaus c. And he shall cause them to rule over many In praestantes illos so Piscator rendreth it over the godly Jews Gods Rabbines And he shall divide the land sc Of Judaea For gain Heb. for a price Sic omnia Romae vaenalia All things are saleable and soluble at Rome Ver. 40. And at the time of the end The year before his death Shall the King of the South Ptolomie Philometor And the King of the North Antiochus his third expedition into Egypt see ver 39 in favour of Physcon And shall overflow i. e. Victoriously overrun Egypt Ver. 41. He shall enter also into the glorious land Judaea as ver 16. but for no good In Greece they say Where the Grand Signior once setteth his foot there groweth no more grasse But these shall escape Because they shall side with him Ver. 42. He shall stretch forth his hand also He shall be very victorious toward his latter end that he may be the riper for ruine fatted ware are but fitted for destruction Ver. 43. Shall be at his steps i. e. Obey him as their Captain Ver. 44. But tidings out of the East c. It it seldom seen that God alloweth to the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment but something or other they must have to trouble them still Ver. 45. And he shall plant the Tabernacles of his palace i e 1 Mac. 3.40 4 3. He shall pitch his tent royal in token of full power given to his Captains Lysias and the rest in Emmaus near to Jerusalem to keep the Jews in subjection Between the Seas The Dead Sea and the Midland Sea Polyb. Joseph l. 12. c. 12. which are the bounds of Judaea called here the glorious holy mountain Yet he shall come to his end A loathsome and lamentable one See 1 Maccab. 6.8 2 Maccab. 9. not so much because he would have spoiled the Temple of Diana but because he did spoil the Temple at Jerusalem CHAP. XII Ver. 1. ANd at that time i. e. In the last dayes and toward the end of the World for in this Chapter seemeth to be set forth the State of the Church in the last times that it shall be most afflicted yet she shall be fully delivered by Christs second coming to Judgement Cyprian was in like sort wont to comfort his friends thus Venit Antichristus sed superveniet Christus Antichrist will come but then Christ will come after him and overcome him Shall Michael stand up i. e. The Lord Christ that Prince of Angels and Protector of his people not a created Angel much lesse Michael Servetus that blasphemous heretike burnt at Geneva who was not afraid to say as Calvin reporteth it se esse Michaelem illum Ecclesiae custodem that he was that Michael the Churches Guardian David George also another blackmouthed heretike said that he was that David foretold by the Prophets Jer. 30.9 Ezek. 34.23 Hos 3.5 and that he was confident that the whole World would in time submit to him Which standeth for the children of thy people For all the Israel of God to whom Christ is a fast friend and will he while the government is upon his shoulder Isa 9.6 And there shall be a time of trouble To the Jews by the Romans after Christs ascension Mat. 24.21 to the Christians by the Romists And at that time thy people shall be delivered The elect both Jews and Gentiles shall be secured and saved Every one that shall be found written in the book Called the writing or catalogue of the house of Israel Ezek. 13.9 and the Lambs book of life Rev. 21.27 which is nothing else but conscriptio electorum in mente divina saith Lyra the writing of the elect in the divine mind or knowledge such are said to be written among the living in Jerusalem Isa 4.4 Ver. 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust Many for all as Rom. 5.18 19. these are said to sleep which denoteth the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body The soul liveth in the sleep of death as it doth in the sleep of the body in this life And this the poor Jews when to lose land and life for the truth are here seasonably and plainly told of amidst other things that are but darkly delivered to bear up their sinking spirits Awake they shall as out of a sweet sleep those that are good and then be full of Gods Image Psal 17. â—it The wicked also shall come forth but by another principle and for another purpose they shall come out of their graves like filthy roads against this terrible storm c. Some to everlasting life Which is here first mentioned in the old Testament See Matth. 25.45 Joh. 5.29 And some to shame and everlasting contempt Christ shall shame them in that ample Amphitheatre and doom them to eternal destruction Graevissima paenarum pudor est saith Chrysostom Oh when Christ shall upbraid reprobates and say Ego vos pavi lavi vestivi c. which way will they look or who shall say for them They shall look then upon him whom they have pierced and lament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but all too late they shall be sore ashamed of their sinful practises which shall all be written in their foreheads and this shall be as a bodkin at their hearts that ever they turned their backs upon Christs bleeding embracements whilst they refused to be reformed hated to be healed Ver. 3. And they that be wise And withal do what they can do to wise others to salvation as all wise ones will for Goodnesse is diffusive of itself and would have others to share with it charity is no churl Shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament A good amends for their present sufferings chap. 11.33 with Rom. 8.18 Solomon allowed little or no considerable reward to his workmen Mat. 13.42 Cant. 8.12 but Christ doth For they shall shine as the firmament yea as the Stars yea as the Sun in his strength yea as Christ himself shineth they shall appear with him in glory Colos 3.4 Their souls shall shine through their bodies as the candle doth through the lanthorn their bodies shall also be so light-some and transparent saith Aquinas that all the veins humours nerves and bowels shall be
of death was to this good man bitter bitternesse and yet Christ had taken away from him the sting or gall of death so that he might better say then Agag did Surely the bitternesse of death is past or then Lucan doth of the Gaules and Britones animaeque capaces Mortis But thou hast in love to my soul Or thou hast embraced my soul out of the corrupting pit Complectendi verbum affectum planè paternum studium juvandi singulare exprimit For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back As an old oreworn evidence that 's out of date and of no use Here it is well noted that we must set our sins before our face if we would have God to cast them behind his back Psal 50 2◠and 51.3 Ver. 18. For the grave cannot praise thee i. e. Palam cum aliis openly and exemplarily See Psal 6.5 with the Notes David desires to live for no other end and so Hezekiah then to be glorifying of God They that go down into the pit Of the grave so of despair It is a sin for any man to say I am a reprobate for it keeps him in sin and cuts the sinews of endeavour Ver. 19. The living the living he shall praise thee Those that live the life of nature if withall they live the life of Grace and so are living living and not dead whilst they live for the wicked cannot praise God they can say God a thank and that 's all But as it is with the hand-diall the finger of the diall standeth at twelve when the dial hath not moved one minute so though their tongues are forward in praises yet their hearts stand still What they do this way is but dead work The Father to the Son shall make known and for this end Parents may desire to live longer Hezekiah did his part no doubt by wicked Manasseh who also at length repented and was saved Ver. 20. The Lord was ready to save Heb. The Lord to save Servati sumus ut serviamus Hezekiah was the better for his sickness God had brought health out of it as he doth out of all his by bringing the body of death into a consumption Therefore we will sing my songs Quales quae so illi saith Scultetus what kind of songs would he sing in the house of the Lord and in the hearing of all the people as long as he bad a day to live Surely this here recorded among and above the rest though it set forth his queritations and infirmities Deprimunt se sancti ut Deus exaltetur The Saints gladly abase themselves if thereby God may be exalted Ver. 21. Let them take a lump of figs Commendatur hic usus Medicinae The Patient must pray but withall make use of means trust God but not tempt him See the Note on 2 King 20. Ver. 22. See on 2 King 20.8 CHAP. XXXIX VErse 1 2 3 c. See 2. King 20.12 13 14 c. with the Notes thereon CHAP. XL. Ver. 1. COmfortye comfort ye my people Hitherto hath been the Comminatory part of this Prophecy followeth now the Consolatory Here beginneth the Gospel of the Prophet Isaiah and holdeth on to the end of the book The good people of his time had been forewarned by the foregoing Chapter of the Babylonian Captivity Those in after-times not only during the Captivity but under Antiochus and other Tyrants were ready to think themselves utterly cast off because heavily afflicted See ver 27. of this Chapter with Lam. 5.22 Here therefore command is given for their comfort and that Gospel be preached to the penitent the word here used signifieth first to repent then to comfort 1 Sam. 5. 35. 1 Sam. 12.24 This our Prophet had been a Boanerges a thundering Preacher all the fore-part of his life see one instance for all chap. 24. where Pericles-like fulgurat intonat totam terram permiscet c. Now toward his latter end and when he had one foot in the grave the other in Heaven he grew more mellow and melleous as did likewise Mr. Lever Mr. Perkins Mr. Whately and some other eminent and earnest Preachers that might be named setting himself wholly in a manner to comfort the abject and feeble minded Sunt eutem omnia plena magnis adfectibus Hyp. which also he doth with singular dexterity and efficacy This redoubled Comfort ye is not without its Emphasis but that which followeth ver 2. is a very hive of heavenly honey Ver. 2. Speak ye comfortably Speak to the heart as Gen. 34.3 Hos 2.14 Chear her up speak to her with utmost earnestness that your words may work upon her and stick by her do it solidly not frigidly That her warfare is accomplished Militiam not Malitiam as the Vulgar hath it The word signifieth also a set term of time See Dan. 9.2 and Gal. 4.4 God hath limited the Saints sufferings Rev. 2.10 Some by warfare here understand that hard and troublesome Pedagogy of Moses Law that yoke importable Act. 15.10 taken away by Christ That her iniquity is pardoned Heb. her iniquity is accepted Perfectam esse paenam ejus so Piscator rendreth it She might be under Gods hand though her sins were pardoned The Palsy-man heard Son thy sins are forgiven thee some while before he heard Take up thy bed and walk That she hath received of the Lords hand double i. e. Abundantly and in a large measure satis superque so much as to her merciful Father seemeth over and above more than enough She hath received double for all her sins and yet death is the just hire of the least sin Rom. 6.23 But this is the language of Gods compassions rolled together and kindled into repentings Jerusalem her self was of another judgement Ezra 9.13 Our God hath punished us lesse than our sins and yet he reckoneth that we fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ Col. 1.24 Ver. 3. The voyce of him that cryeth See Mat. 3.3 John 1.25 with the notes there but Luke citeth this text more fully than the other Evangelists applying it to the Baptist crying in the wildernesse sc of Judea where he first preached or as some sense it in the ears of a waste and wild people Hereby is meant the world saith one word of Gods grace barren in all vertue having no pleasing abode Diod. nor sure direction of any good way in it being full of horrour and accursed Ver. 4. Every valley shall be exalted Termes taken from the custome of Princes coming into a place viz. to have their way cleared and passages facilitated See on Mat. 3.4 Ver. 5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed i. e. Jesus Christ the Lord of glory Jam. 2.1 shall appear in the flesh Some interpreters understand this whole Sermon ad literam concerning Christ and Redemption wrought by him yet with an allusion to the Jewes deliverance out of Babylon for this was a type of that like as Cyrus also was of