〈◊〉 Sept. or else from porters who set their several shoulders to the same burden The Saints may the better doe so because they have the Spirit to lift with them and over anent them as the Apostles word importeth Rom. 8.26 Let them therefore endeavour by all good means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Eph. 4.3 that they may say as holy Miconius did of himselfe and his colleagues at Gotha in Thuringia Cucurrimus certavimus laboravimus pugnavimus vicimiv viximus semper conjunctissimi We ever ran together strove laboured fought vanquished and did altogether in much peace and concord This is Christian-like indeed See Act. 1.14 and 2.1.46 and 4.32 animo animaque inter se miscebansur saith Tertullian they were all of one heart and of one minde The very Heathens acknowledged that no people in the world did hold together and love one another so as Christians did To see their travels saith Master Fox concerning the Saints here in times of persecution their earnest seeking burning zeal readings watchings sweet assemblies love concord godly living faithfull marrying with the faithfull c. Act. Mon. 750. may make us now in these our dayes of free profession but lamentable divisions to blush for shame They served the lord with one shoulder we shoulder one another they kept unity with purity without schisme much lesse heresy glorifying the God and Father of ovr Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and with one mouth Rom. 15.6 with a pure lip as it is here we are quot homines tot sententiae so many men so many mindes How many religions are there now amongst us saith one Old heresies new vampt Our Saviour Christ saith if the Son of man come shall he find faith c Yes sure he may find many faiths so many men so many faiths Pudet opprobria nobis c. It is not peace but party that some men mind saith another 1 Cor. 14.23 their chief studies are studium partium studium novarum rerum part-taking and novelling But what saith the Apostle If ye speak with several tongues will not he that comes in think ye are mad so when the world hears of so many dissonant opinions will they not think wee are runne wild Is it not a shame to us that the Turks should say we may sooner look that the fingers on our hands should be all of one length then that the Christians should be all of one judgement why should any Julian jeare us for our divisions why should any Campian hit us in the teeth with our many sects and schismes Pardon may be got for our other sinnes by faith in Christs blood Ad fratres in Suevia Lutheran discordiam neque si sanguinem fundamus expiabimus saith Oecolampadius to the Lutherans of his time our scandalous discords God will judge Verse 10. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia Heb. of Chush that is of Arabia Chusaea which lay betwixt Judea and Egypt Confer Esay 18.1 7. Some understand it of Ethiopia which is beyond the river Nilus and hath two very great rivers See this in part fulfilled by that Ethiopian Eunuch Act. 8. Euseb lib. 1. cap. 1. Alvarez hist Aethiopic neither may we think that he was alone in that countrey Matthias the Apostle is said to have preached the Gospel to the Ethiopians The large region of Nubia there had from the Apostles time as 't is thought professed the Christian faith till about 200 years since it forsook the same The kingdome of Habassia held by Presbyter John See Breerw Enquiries 156.197.159.174 are yet Christians differing from us in a few ceremonies onely See the Note on Chap. 2.12 My supplyants My praying people that ply the throne of grace and multiply strong suits pouring out a flood of words in humble supplication as the Hebrew signifieth continuing instant in prayer as knowing that their safety here and salvat on hereafter is of me alone Even the daughter of my dispersed Jews and Gentiles elect of both sorts Joh. 11.52 scattered here and there as the salt of the earth upon the face thereof to keep it from putrifying Danaeus thinketh that there is mention made of the daughter of the dispersed affectionately namely both to describe the earnestnesse of the Saints in serving God for women quicquid volunt valdè volunt and that this so goodly and and joyfull a spectacle or sight of women worshipping and servng God and of Virgins especially might stirre up and move affections It is easy to observe that the New Testament affordeth more store of good women then the old who can make masculine prayers mingled with tears And as Musick upon the waters sounds further and more harmoniously then upon the land so doe prayers well watered Shall bring mine offering Heb. my meat-offering or rather my wheat-offering their hodies and souls Rom. 12.1 that best of facrifices for a reasonable service Minchath◠a solemn present such that the Chaldee paraphrast might expresse He translateth it thus They shall bring as presents unto me the banished of my people who were carried captive and shall return by my mercies Some think that here is foretold the return of the Jewes to their own land toward the end of the world to set up the spirituall worship of God there the famous Church that shall be among them full of sanctity and ridde of all wicked ones verse 11 12 13. the joy and gladnesse that shall possesse their soules verse 14. through Gods removing of all cause of fear from them verse 15. the encouragement they shall receive from others verse 16. and which is the cause of all this the apparent arguments of Gods great love and favour vers 17. the quality of those that shall be received to be citizens of this New Jerusalem verse 18. the utter rooting out of all their enemies verse 19 the fame and dignity that this Church of the Iews shall be of among all nations vers 19 ◠Thus they quà m rectè iudicium sit penes Lectorens Verse 11. In that day shalt thou not be ashamed There is an holy shame for sinne such as was that of Ezra chap. 9.6 of the penitent Publican Luk. 18.13 and of those good souls in Ezekiel who blushing and bleeding loathed themselves for their abominations To be ashamed on this sort is no shame Ezek. 16. but a signe of that godly sorrow that worketh repentance never to be repented of and not to know shame to be frontlesse and impudent is the note of a naughty man Verse 5. But that which God promiseth here is that he will cover their sinnes not impute them Psal 32.1.2 and that he will by his grace preserve them from scandalous and reproachfull practises that might render them ignominious and despicable see Psal 19.39 shiring upon them himselfe and giving them honour in the hearts of others as he did Solomon Them that rejoyce in the
stayes not here in the porch or lobbyes but passeth into the presence yea privy-chamber ver 2. yea my thoughts in posse before I think them Deus intimo nostro nobis intimior The word is to God a sea of glasse Rev. 4 6. a clear transparent body and his eyes are as a flaming fire Reu. 1.14 which needs no outward light because it seeth extramittendo by sending out a ray Psal 139.12 so that the night shineth as the day the darknesse and the light are both alike to him What wonder therefore though he know Ephraim and Israel is not hid from him And how should this both humble them for which cause it is here urged and caution them for the future as it did that holy man who had written upon the walls and windowes of his study these verses Ne pecces Deus ipse videt bonns Angelus astat Accusat satanas et lex mens conscia culpae c. For now O Ephraim thou committest whoredom and Israel is defiled in body and soul Eph. 4.19 rushing into all impiety without restraint working all uncleanness with greediness being filled withall unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy murder debate deceit c. Rom. 1.29.30 All these evil things come from within and defile a man Mar. 7.23 worse then any leprosie worse then the vomit of a dog or the mire of a swine It is the pollution of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 it is the putrefaction of a dead carcase the sanies of a plague-sore the devils excrement and that which defileth far worse then that which is cast into the draught Mar. 7.21 It sets defilement upon our selves others the whole land Jer. 3.1 yea upon the visible heavens which must therefore be purged by that last fire And this was typified by those many Leviticall washings and purification of garments vessels persons c. Wash you therefore make you clean put away the evil of your doings c. Esay 1.16 Wash thy heart from wickedness O Jerusalem 〈◊〉 hands onely as Pilate though those too Jam. 4.8 Jer. 4.14 Cleanse your selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 17.1 Of the flesh that is fleshly lusts and gross evils as uncleanness earthly mindedness or Of spirit that is those more spirituall lusts that lie more up in the heart of the countrey such as are pride creature-confidence self-deceit presumption c. Out with all these there 's both a stain and a sting in them Run to the Bath of Christs blood that blessed fountain Zech. 13.1 and there wash and be clean Look not upon Gods Jordan with Syrian eyes as Naaman did Abanah and Pharphar may wash and scoure but Jordan is for cure And if God see fit to Iay us a frosting to fetch out our filth yea or cast into the fire to take away our defilements let us be contented Verse 4. They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God Or their doings will not suffer them That is they are so habituated and hardened in sinfull practices that they are not onely disinabled to conversion but evil-affected thereunto they stand a-crosse to all good to their sinewes of iron they have added browes of brasse Isai 48.4 to their sin they adde rebellion which is as bad as witch-craft 1. Sam. 15.23 till at length they lose all passive power also of being converted and so are transformed as it were into so many devils having by custome contracted a necessitie of sinning they are become incurable they neither will nor can return to their God they will not frame their doings to it The Vulgar hath it their studies the Septuagint their counsels Castalio their endeavours Pagnine their pains c. The Originall is very elegant and metricall Lo ijttenu magnallchem Lashub el Elohehem I scarce know a like text in all the Scripture unlesse it be that Lam. 5.16 Oi na lanu chi chattanu Woe to us that we have sinned which is so elegant also in the Originall that Master Wheatly of Banbury who used to be very plain in his Preaching and not to name a Greek Latine or Hebrew word Master Leigh nis Saints encouragement c. ep dedic quoted it once in the Hebrew as witnesse learned Master Leigh who lived some while under his Ministry But to return to the text whereas some might possibly conceive or reply Ephraim is far gone indeed but he may return No never saith God for he will not give his minde to it or shew his good will he is even set and there is no removing of him he hath made his conclusion and is as good as ever he meaneth to be They are so far from yielding themselves unto the Lord as 2 Chro. 30.8 that they stand in full opposition to him yea send messages after him We will not have this man to rule over us The Jewes were an untoward generation saith Peter Act. 2.40 they by their obstinate refusall of the Gospel judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life saith Paul Act. 13.46 there were unmalleable unframeable so knotty that they were fit for nothing but the fire so nastie that they were fit for no place but the dunghill And why the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them The devill is at Inne with them as that Martyr said he even sits abrood upon them Master Bradford Eph. 2.2 hatching all manner of evil counsels and courses he worketh effectually in these children of disobedience as a smith doth in his forge an artificer in his shop he acts them and agitates them making their souls and all the powers thereof nothing else but a shop of sin their bodies and all the parts thereof tooles of sin their lives and all their actions of both soul and body a trade of sin a web of wickedness spun out and made up by the hands of the devil and the flesh an evil spinner and a worse weaver Hence they he rotting all their lives long in the graves of sin wrapt up in the winding sheet of hardness of heart they will not frame their doing to turn to God and blindness of mind they have not known the Lord and as a carcase crawleth with woâ—mes so do these men swarm with those noisome lusts that are able to poisorâ—â—â— an honest heart How can it be otherwise the spirit of fornication is in the mâ—â—dest of them as a King in his Kingdom yea hath filled their hearts from corner to corner as he had done the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira Act. â— That unclean spirit besiegeth the puâ—est hearts and compasseth them about seeking to devour them 1 Pet. 5.8 but they keep him out stedfast in the faith or if he any way get in they quickly cast him out again so that he cannot long rest or roost much lesse raign there for the Spirit of God keepeth them 1 Joh. 5.18 Caietan and that evil one toucheth them not tactu qualitativo with a deadly touch
in Ramab Clangite clamate not with the inverse trumpets of Furius Fulvius which sounded a retreat when they should have sounded an alarme But blow ye the cornet give notice to all the countrey that Hannibal est ad portas the enemy is at the very gates sending a summons and sounding for a surrender The desolation of warre had been denounced in the former verse here it is proclaimed as it were by sound of Trumpet the Prophet acting the part of an herauld and by a rhetoricall hypotyposis representing the enemies approach as if it were already under view and not foretold but acted before their eyes Rhetorick we see here is an art sanctified by Gods Spirit and may lawfully be used in handling of Gods word The Scripture is full of it in every part and happy is that Minister that thereby can make himself master of his hearers affections as potent in his Divine Rhetorick as Pericles or Cicero were in their humane Let him by our Prophets example strive to make the things whereof he preacheth to the people as reall before their eyes as possibly he can The power of a ministery consisteth much in this to set forth sin Christ heaven hell in such lively colours that the hearer though unlearned may be convinced of all judged of all and having the secrets of his heart made manifest 1 Cor. 14.84 25. he may fall down on his face worship God and report that God is in the Minister of a truth Chrysostom Eze k. 4.1 Lo this is Preaching indeed For as every sound is not Musick so neither is every Pulpit-discourse Preaching Nihil frigidius est doctore verbis solummodo philosophante c. Ezekiel must lay siege to Jerusalem pourtraying it upon a tile c. So did Jeremy and other Prophets use signes and similitudes Saint Pauls speech and Preaching was not indeed with enticing words of mans wisdom he did not so paint the window as to keep out the light but yet in demonstration of the Spirit 1 Cor. 2.4 and of power close to the conscience Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah that is in the bounds of the Kingdom of Judah Gibeah of Benjamin Gibeah of Saul And the trumpet in Ramah Samuels country afterward called Arimathaea Josephs country this is said to be in the borders of Israel Strong garrisons they were both and places of great resort they are now alarmed and bidden to prepare for the approach of the Assyrian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cry aloud at Bethaven Or Bethel as Chap. 4.11 a city as it is said of Athens Acts 17.16 wholly given to idolatry and therefore more stupid and stubborn then the rest Here therefore the Prophet cries louder then ordinary classicum canit sic clamat ut stentora vincere possit he sets up his note that he may the sooner awaken them and cause them to apprehend their danger as present and reall Bethaven was the great place of superstition and now Rome is the nest of Antichrist the habitations of devils and the hold of every foul spirit a cage of every unclean and hatefull bird therefore the Angel crieth mightily with a strong voice saying Babylon is fallen is fallen certò citò penitus surely suddenly utterly Rev. 18.2 After thee ô Benjamin who art at the back of Bethaven and farest the worse for her neighbourhood like as Hamath did for Damascus Zech. 9.2 See the Note there Some understand Hostis adest the enemy is at they heeles make away or stand upon thy guard for thou art like to be put to 't And this concise kind of warning here given implies a minde moved and disturb'd either with fear or anger Verse 9. Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke Correptionis vel Correctionis ut Pagninus when thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity c. Psal 39.11 God hath a day for such sharp rebukes or childings by way of conviction or Argument as the word signifieth wherein he will be sure to carry it with a great deal of sound reason and evident demonstration so that Ephraim shall have nothing to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vastri ita ut videntes obstupescant c. why he should not be desolated yea so desolated as to make the beholders amazed thereat as the Hebrew word importeth God will not now dally with Ephraim or deal favourably with him as heretofore he will not shake his rod at him only but wast it to the very stumps he shall be utterly destroyed from being a people the day that now comes is a black day indeed a day not of instruction but of destruction not of correction but of execution a very doomesday wherein God will bring them into the furnace and there leave them Ezek. 22.20 And that none may think this sentence over severe or not so sure but that it might be avoyded or vacated see what followeth in the text among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be i.e. Either I have forewarned them sufficiently but they would take no warning which is both a just presage and desert of their ruine Or else thus I am now fully resolved upon their ruine neither is there cause that any man should deceive himself with a vain hope as if these evils that I foretell should not befall you Experience the mistresse of fools shall teach you that the sentence I now pronounce is precise and peremptory not conditionall as heretofore but absolute and unchangeable and this I here assure you of by this solemn contestation Vers 10. The Princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound A wickedness condemned by the law and light both of Nature Deut. 19.14 Prov. 22.28 and Scripture Deut. 27.17 The Princes are mentioned because corruption in a people as putrefaction in a fish begins at the head Now the land-mark or limit is removed many wayes As first Religione in Religion when the true is changed into that which is false as was here in Queen Maries dayes against her promise to the Suffolk men Secondly in Regione Tarnon in the civil State when one man violently invadeth the right of another as Ahab did Naboths vineyard and no man must question them because it is facinus majoris Abollae the fact of a great one Junenal Thirdly In officio in a mans office or particular station when he keeps not within his circle but take liberty to transgresse prescribing new worships as 2 King 16.10 11. 2 Coro 28.23 taking upon them to teach Ministers what to teach them as Mic. 2.6 or themselves invading the Ministeriall office uncalled thereunto as did Jeroboam 1 King 13.4 and Vzziah 2 Chron. 26.16 to their cost This saith an Interpreter is grandis culpa et atrox crimen a foul fault a crimson crime Let our Lay-preachers and Levellers look to it unlesse they covet a curse Deut. 27.17 He that breaketh an hedge a serpent shall bite him Fourthly In negotio in
simplicity as intending to beguile God which he cannot and man which he fain would and oft doth to further his worldly and wicked designes as Judas Herod Matth. 2.8 Pharisees Mat. 23.14 2. Falshoud opposite to truth as onely acting religion playing devotion compassiong God with deceit as the house of Israel here deceiving him not by impotency onely and in the event but by imposture and so in purpose contenting themselves with a shew with a semblance Luke 8.18 with a form of knowledge Rom. 2.20 and of godlinesse 2 Tim. 3.5 rather â—eeming to be good then seeking to be so These are hells free-holders and other sinners are said but to have their part with them There are that thus interpret this Text Ephraim compasseth me the Prophet preaching mercy and promising good things they beset me and gather close about me as desirous of my doctrine but it is in mendacio in hatâ—full hypocrysic see Ezek. 33.31 32. and when I crosse them never so little they craftily conspire to prejudice my Ministery to asperse my person c. To preach saith One is nothing else but to derive the rage of the whole world upon a mans self to become the But-mark yea the Center ad quod omnes lineae dolorum tendunt Meisner in loc to which all the lines of lies and falsehoods do tend but Judah yet ruleth with God To serve God is to rule with him as Livia said she ruled her husband Augustus by obeying him It is the greatest liberty Rom. 6.18 22. 1 Pet. 2.16 Abraham was a prince of God Jacob prevailed with God and had power as a Prince Gen. 32.28 Moses as if he had been Chancellour of heaven over-ruled the businesse and God is fain to bespeak his own freedom Exod. 32.10 Judah also is here said to rule with God to be potent with him because God was sincerely served amongst them and they held fast their first integrity the true religion was openly professed and the true worship of God incorruptly maintained in the Temple at Jerusalem This made Abijah though none of the best so boldly to boast and he prevailed so that there fell down of Israel slain four hundred thousand 2 Chron. 14.10 17. and yet the men of Judah that slew them were but four hundred thousand ina ll verse 3. Israels Apostacy is here aggravated by Judah's integrity they were not under the temptation of evil example Judah was the worse for them and not they for Judah and is faithfull with the Saints Or with the most Holy he keepeth the faith to God those Holy Ones the Father Son and Holy Spirit so some sence it as Josh 24.19 Prov. 9.10 he is far from those false and fraudulent dealings wherewith the ten Tribes seek to circumvent and beguile god Or thus Jâ—xlah is faithfull with the saints of former ages he holds to his old principles to the good old way wherein Abraham and the other Ancients went before him He is also faithfull with such as are sanctified the true priests of God consecrated to himself and set apart for holy use In opposition to the ten Tribes who went after those leaden priests made by Ieroboam of the lower sort of the people and well fitted to golden deities Lastly he is faithfull with the people of God those good souls that left the ten Tribes and went to Judah to the true worship of God With these Judah was faithfull courteous and communicative embracing and encouraging them all that might be This was a singular commendaton CHAP. XII Verse 1. EPhraim feedeth on wind Slender feeding unlesse Ephraim were of the Chamaeleon-kind quippe nec cor auro satiatur nec corpus aura Wind fills Esay 55.10 2 Cor. 9.10 but feeds not Ephraim had sowed the wind chap. 8.7 but to what profit Hee that ministreth seed to the sower and bread to the eater would here surely neither give bread for food nor multiply their seed sown but send them to the gods that they had chosen and to their confederates whom they so relied upon from whom they should reap the whirlwind See the Note on chap. 8.7 Wind we know bloweth up storms and tempests so doth idolatry and creature-confidence the tempest of Gods wrath that will never be blown over and followeth after the East-wind Which if he catch a great catch he is like to have of it Eurus est ventus urens exsiccans The East-wind is noted in Scripture for pernicious and hurtfull to fruits and herbs Gen. 41.6 Ezek. 7.10 and 29.17 Hos 13.15 violent it is also and spareth not men Ion. 4.8 The Seventy render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a burning blast as they do the former words Ephraim is an evil spirit by a mistake of the points Iob speaketh of some that fill their bellies with the East-wind they think to do so but it proves otherwise they snuff up the wind with the wild-asse but it tumours them onely and proves pestilentiall It is very dangerous for men to follow after their own conceits and counsels It may be worse to them upon their death-beds when they are lanching into the main of Immortality Euroaquilo then any rough East-wind or then any Euroclydon that wind mentioned Acts 27.14 Vna erusque uotusque ruunt Virg. that hath its name from stirring up stormes and is by Pliny called Navigantium pestis the Mariners misery An empty body meeting with tempests will have much ado to bear up If Ephraim first seed upon wind and then fall under the East-wind it must needs go hard with him The godly man who is filled with all the fulnesse of God Ephes 3.19 shall have him for a refuge from the storme a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storme against the wall Esay 25.4 His prayer is that of Ieremy chap. 17. vers 17. Be not thou a terrour unto me O Lord thou art my hope in the day of evil If the wind be not got into the earth and stir not there storms and tempests abroad cannot make an earthquake no more can afflictions or death an heart-quake where there is peace with God Such a mans mind immota manet is as mount Zion which cannot be removed He daily increaseth lies and desolation This being the fruit and consequent of those for flagitium flagellum sicut acus filum sinne and punishment are inseparable companions Wo unto them for they have fled from me destruction unto them because they have transgressed against me Hos 7.13 See the Note there To heap up lies is to hasten desolation A false witnesse shall not be unpunished and he that speaketh lies shall perish Prov. 19.9 They tell us of a threefold lie i. e. A merry lie an officious lie and a pernicious lie But the truth is every lie is pernicious and a man should rather die then lie He that lieth in jest may go to hell for it in earnest Iacob told his father an officious three-foldlie
have dealt by revenge and have taken vengeance with a deceitfull heart to destroy it for the old hatred Ezek. 25.15 17. and 26.2 Therefore I will execute great vengeances upon them with furious rebukes and they shall know that I am the Lord when I shall laymy vengeance upon them 2 Sam. 13.39 Joab never pleased David better then when he made intercession for banished Absolom for the soule of king David longed to go forth unto Absolom whom yet he had very just cause to be greatly displeased with God in a heat as it were against Israel offereth Moses a great fortune Exod. 32.10 but would have taken it very ill that Mosâ—s should have taken him at his word He is but a little angry with his people and soon repenteth him of the evill But woe be to those that help forward the indignation that deale by Gods afflicted as the Herd of Deer do which when any of the herd is shot the hest push him out of their company Camden It is said of Q. Elisabeth that she hated ho lesse then did Mithridates such as maliciously persecuted vertue forsaken of fortune Think the same of God He weareth his rod to the stumps and then throwes it into the fire He sets his horse-leeches to his people when he findes them sick of a plethory of pride when fulnesse hath bred forgetfulnesse saturity security and suffereth them to suck rill they burst and then treads them under his feet and puts them away as drosse Psal 119.118 119. Verse 16. Psal 42.7 Therefore thus saith the Lord Thus one deep calleth another the lower deep of our misery the higher deep of Gods mercy As Craesus his dumb son burst out into Kill not king Craesus so when enemies are ready to devoure the Church Gods bowels work he can hold no longer but cryes Save my child Handle the yong man gently for my sake See Ier. 31.20 Isa 57.16 I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wroth for the spirit should faile before me c. when the child swoons in the whipping God let falls the rod and falls a kissing it to fetch life into it againe A Physitian in some cases purgeth his patient till nothing be lest almost but skin and bone or blooddeth him ad deliquium animae till he faint and sink but yet his care is still to maintain nature so this heavenly Father and Physitian is carefull to keep up the spirits of his suffering Saints by comforts and cordials as here I am returned to Ierusalem with mercies Miserationibus visceralibus with multitudes of tender mercies that flow from the inwards from the bowels from the bosom and bottom of the heart had that of a Parent nay of a mother toward her child in an extremity as 1 King 3.26 And here observes how fully and sweetly the Angels prayer verse 12. is answered even ad cardinem desiderij Aug. Confes lib. 5. c. 8. God not only grants him according to his own heart but fulfills all his counsell as it is Psal 20.4 Le ts it be to him even as he will nay gives him an enlarged answer presseth upon him as Naaman did upon Gehezi's two talents when he desired but one How long wilt thou not be mercifull to Jerusalem saith He behold I am returned to Jerusalem with many mercies saith God I went away and hid me from it in my anger Hos 5.15 but am come again with many comforts to relieve it As all light is from the Sun and all waters from the sea so is all comfort from God In thy light shall we see light but Thou diddest hide thy face and I was troubled Psal 30.7 as when the Sun is eclipsed all creatures here flag and hang the head there is a drooping in the whole frame or nature and as when the extracting force of the Sun leaves the vapours that are drawn up they fall down again to the earth So sares it with the Church If God withdraw she lyes all amort yea she lieth open to all sorts of evils and enemies for her shadow is departed from her But he cannot be long absent such is his love he will repent for his people when he seeth their power is gone Dent. 32.36 when there is a dignus vindice nodus an extremity fit for divine power to interpose when misery weighs down nothing but mercy turns the scale then at furthest in the very turning and criticall point He will return to Jerusalem with mercies He will return to her not as the winter sun that casts a goodly countenance when it shines but gives little comfort and heat but with a Cornu-copia of all manner of blessings will he come my house shall be built in it saith the Lord of Hosts and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem that is both Church and State shall flourish God will both do good in his good pleasure unto Sion be will also build the walls of Jerusalem Psal 51.18 but mark that he saith in his good pleasure as here in tender mercies to teachus that all the good we enjoy is merely of mercy it is all of free grace for otherwise there should not be so much as any face of Church or common-wealth as we see in the Jewes at this day a miserable dissected people because Lo-ruhamah Hos 1. such as have not obtained mercy Then Ancestours acknowledged with all thankfulnesse for so undeserved a favour that Except the Lord of Hosts had left unto them a very small remnant Isay 1.9 they should have been as Sodom and like unto Gomorrah Had not the Angels laid hold upon Lots hand and the good Lord been mercifull unto him Gen. 19.16 he also had perished amongst those sinners against their own soules Jehoshua was a brand pluckt out of the fire Zech. 3.2 And when One said to Mr. Bradford the Martyr God hath done much for you since I first knew you and hath wrought wonderously in you to his glory he thus answered Truth it is for He hath dealt favourably with me Act. Mon. 1473. Ezra 9.13 in that he hath not punished me according to my sins but hath suffered me to live that I might seek repentance Thou hast punished us lesse then our iniquities deserve saith Ezra And it is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed saith the Church because his compassions faile not Lam. 3.22 Verse 17. Cry yet saying Thus saith the Lord of Hosts my cities Here are foure Yets in this one verse and all very gracious ones to break their hard harts and to raise their faith in his promised mercies For it is as if God should say Though I was sore displeased with your Fathers and ye are risen up in their roomes a very rate of rebels so that I have had indignation against you full seventy yeers ver 12. yet I do you to know and by my Propher I proclaime with great earnestness and evidence of truth that I do
10.11 he seeds on the corn but to beare and draw to plow and work where no refreshing was to be had till the work was done this that delicate heifer cared not to doe But he is an happy man that hath any hand in turning men from iniquity though fruit for present appear not The new birth of some is like the birth of the Elephant foureteen years after the seed injected into the womb And that divine Proverb is not seldome verified One seweth and Another reapeth Ioh. 4.37 The Ministry is Gods arme to gather people into his bosom and the weapons of our warfare are mighty thorough God 2 Cor. 10.4 Surely as the rain commeth down and the snow from heaven c. Esay 55.10 11. And as the rain from heaven hath a fatnesse with it and a speciall influence more then standing water so hath preaching more then reading Howbeit there may be fruit and yet invisible as in Elias his time Act. 18.10 And that which doth not yet appear may hereafter when the day of visitation comes See Iob 33.14 c. God may have much people in the city and Paul for the present not know so much A master doth not use to setup a light but there is some work to be done by it and seldome doth he send his servants afield with their siths to mow thistles only Let Gods faithfull witnesses prophesie out their 1260. Rev. 11.3 dayes bending themselves to that office uncessantly being instant in season and out of season and turning themselves as it were into all shapes and fashions both of speech and of spirit to turn people from iniquity 2 Chron. 19. and then God will be with the good as that Prophet speaks in another case The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise Prov. 11.30 Say he cannot win as he would but labour all night and take nothing yet he shall be paid for his paines as the Physitian is though the patient dye Curam exigeris non curationem saith Bern. It is the care not the cure of your charge that is charged upon you You may speak perswasively but it is God only that can perswade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Sem Paul may plant c. but God only giveth the increase You shall be held wise and shine as starrs in heaven whether you win soules or not As there are diversity of gifts so of operations 1 Cor. 12.6 and the Holy Ghost may and doth work when and how he pleaseth but usually he delights to honour those of most sincerity with most successe as 1 Cor. 15.10 Verse 7. For the Priests lips should keep knowledge How else should he be instant in lip-feeding Dan. 12.3 how should his lips present it unlesse they preserve it How should he wise others unlesse he be wise himself The Pope brags of an infalibillity and pleads this Text for it avouching that he knowes all things knowable and hath all wisdome and skill lockt up in scrinio pectoris in the cabinet of his breast But what will they say of sundry of their Popes that have been manifest hereticks Iohn the 23. was accused in the Councell of Constance for denying the Resurrection of the body and everlasting life And of all their Popes we may safely say as the Venetian Embassadors did when the Pope laid his hand upon his breast and said Hic est Arca Noae Lo here is Noahs Ark meaning that he was the Church virtuall and was enriched in all knowledge and in all utterance One of them presently replyed that in Noahs Ark there were unclean beasts as well as clean and so lest him further to apply The Priests lips indeed should keep knowledge But those of Malachi his times had forsaken the way and caused many to stumble ver 8. How this was we shall see when we come to it Meane-while we may take notice that non libro sacerdotis sed labro non codice sed corde conservatur scientia knowledge should be kept not in the Priests book but in his bosom as a storehouse neither should it lye low or long there but sit upon his lips that all may have benefit by it For the manifestation of the spirit is given to profit withall 1 Cor. 12.7 And it was death for the Priest to enter into the sanctuary without his golden bells about him that he might be heard by all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Paâ—tor A minister must be both able and apt to teach Praedicationis officium suscipit quisquis ad sacerdotium accedit saith Gregory Hee 's no minister that 's no preacher Nor can he be a Preacher that is not stored with knowledge of Gods will and peoples duty See Mat. 13.32 with the Note Walter surnamed Malclerk was surely no fit man to be Bishop of Carlile as he was by evill and corrupt meanes Anno. Dom. 1223. If the blind lead the blind both will fall into the ditch Mat. 15.14 but the blind guides will lye lowermost Vives in Aug. de civ Dei lib. 4. cap. 1. Pompon Laet. de Rom. Sacerdot and have the worst of it Varro complained of the Roman priests that they were ignorant of many things about their own rites and Religions Mucius Scaevola being their High-Priest derived Pontifex of Posse facere This derivation pleased not Varro but it intimated that such should both be able and active to teach the people knowledge B. Andr. It was a witty observation of a Bishop who was called in his time the gulfe of learning that Doceo to teach governs two accusative cases according to that Esay 28.9 Whom shall I teach knowledge Ministers saith He must have whom to teach what to teach viz. knowledge and must therefore give attendance to reading that they may the better to exhortation and doctrine 1 Tim. Ier. 3.15 4.13 that they may feed the people with knowledge and understanding And they should seck the law at his mouth as at an oracle they should depend upon the ministery as the people hung upon our Saviours lips Luk. 19. vlt. as David went into the Sanctuary to be resolved of his doubt Psal 73. though himself were a prophet and as Cornelius was appointed by the Angel to send for Peter for further information But what must men seek at the Ministers mouth The law 1 Pet. 2.2 1 Cor. 2. 2 Cor. 1. Lib. 1 de Consider the sincere milk of Gods word the minde of Christ the testimony of Jesus non nugas fabulas saith Bernard not trifles and fables not strong lines and strains of wit but the simple and plain words of God Non Oratorum filiâ— sumus sed Piscatorum said Nazianzen Ministers are not to study so much to please as to profit to tickle mens ears as to work upon their hearts They must not so paint the window as to keep out the light nor so put the sword of the spirit into a velvet
sanctified For by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Isa 27.9 Christ hath bought off all our corruptions redeemed us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 and God will have the price of Christs blood out what the word purgeth not the rod must like as what evill humours Summer purgeth not out by sweating Winter concocts by driving in the heat And as winter is of use for mellowing the ground and for killing worms and weed c. so is the crosse sanctified for quelling and killing fleshly lusts that fight against the soul He that hold the winds in his fist stayes his rough wind Esay 27.8 and lets out of his treasury such a wind as shall make his yong plants fruitfull and blow away their unkindly blossomes and leaves Black sope makes white clothes if God set in and set it on with his battle-dore as that Martyr phrased it Fowl and stained garments are whitened and purified by laying abroad in cold srosty nights Scouring and beating of them with a stick beats out the mothes and the dust so do afflictions corruptions from the heart Aloes kills wormes so do bitter crosses crawling lusts Rubarbe is full of choler yet doth mightily purge choler Hemlock is a deadly plant yet the juyce applyed heales ignis sacer and hot corroding ulcors and much asswageth the inflammation of the eyes The sting of a scorpion though arrant poyson yet is an antidote against poyson Nothing is better to cure a leprosie then the drinking of that wine wherein a viper hach been drown'd The viper the head and tail being cut off beaten and applied cures her own biting Affliction is in it self an evill a fruit of Gods wrath and a peece of the curse Christ alters the property to his and makes one poison antidotary to another and cures security by misery as Physitians oft cure a letharby a fever Every affliction sanctified rubbs off some rust melts off some drosse empties and evacuates some superfluity of naughtinesse strains out some corruption Iob 10.10 Christ straines out our motes whiles our hearts are powred out like milk with grief and fear he also keeps us from setling on the lees by emptying us from vessel to vessel Ier. 48.11 when as the wicked have no changes and therefore they fear not God Psal 73. they come not in trouble like other men therefore they face the heavens and their tongues walk thorough the earth All that are Christs people are sure of sore and sharp afflictions fiery tryals and tribulations piercing and pressing crosles Psal 34.19 Iam. 1.2 He will be sure to plow his own ground whatsoever becomes of the wast and to weed his own garden though the rest of the world should be let alone to grow wild He will cast his purest gold into the fire of afflictions but they shall lose nothing by it Gold cast into the fire wasteth not cast into the water rusteth not No saint was ever the worse for his sufferings but the better the least that can come of it is to do good duties with greater zeal and large affection Esay 26.9 Now who would not fetch such gold out of a fiery crucible and he shall purifie the sons of Levi Whom he had before faulted chap. 1. and 2. Or he may mean the Ministers of the Gospell called Priests and Levites Esay 66.21 Or rather all the royall Priest-hood of Gods people whose office is to â—ffer up spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus christ 1 Pet. 2.5 9. Rom. 12.1 2. Now for these Christ 1. Of bad make them good as he did Joses the Levite Act. 4.36 and many priests Act. 6.7 He makes them passe under the rod and so brings them into the bond of the covenant Ezek. 20.37 2. Of good he makes them better and brighter he powres them forth as molten mettall so the Septuagint read this text Gold that is melted in the furnace is not only purified but also made malleable yea fit for the mould Their bearts are brought down they speak as out of the ground Esay 29.4 in a low language and like broken men they put their mouths in the dust they lie low at Christs feet and say Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Thus haughty Hagar humbled by a sâ—â—tion harkeneth to the Angell and submits to her mistresse that yong gallant that in the pride of his prosperity in the ruffe of his jollity would not be warned when â—s flesh and his body was consumed when his bones clattered in his skin Prov. 5.11 12 13. and the mourners expected him at the doors he is of another mind and he 〈◊〉 talked with then like the beaten viper casteth up his poyson both of high mindednesse and of earthly-mindednesse and if you have any good 〈◊〉 to give him he is ready to receive it See the like Iob 33.19 20 21. c. and purge them as gold and silver Colabit cos Si◠〈…〉 saith the Vulgar He shall 〈◊〉 them as some liquor or liquid matter so that the purer part shall go thoro the strayner or colander and the dreggy may be left The same thing is again and again promised as for more certainty sake so to shew that the purity should be very great in the dayes of the gospell Howbeit for the comfort of his poor people who are conscious of more drosse then good oare Christ hath promised that he will resire them but not as silver he will not be over-exact with them Isa 48 1â— he will not mark all that 's amisse he will not contend very much lest the choice spiriâ—â— of his afflicted people should faile before him Isae 57.16 when the child swormâ—s in the whipping Christ lets falâ— the rod and falls a kissing it to fetch life 〈◊〉 it again As 't is a rule in physick still to maintain nature so God 〈…〉 to keep up his peoples spirits by cordials though he purge them 〈…〉 till he bring them almost to skin and bone that there may be a spring of bett 〈…〉 its 〈…〉 the Lord an affering in rightcousnesse Or a right offering a 〈…〉 holy dâ—ties from a right principle and to a right purpose Two things make a good Christian good 〈◊〉 and good aymes Though a good aâ—me doth not in â—e a bad action good as we see in Vzza yet a bad ayme makes a good action bad as we see in John If Gods work be not duely done we may meet with breaches instead of blessings 1 Chron. 15.17 David faâ—led but in a ceremony yet God waâ—angry Jâ—hâ—'s â—eal was rewarded in an act of justice quoad subâ—â—â—â—tion aperis in regard of the substance of the work and yet punished as an act of policy quoad mâ—dum for the perverse end Let no man measure himself by the matter of things done for there may be malum opus in bona materia an evill â—â—â—k in a good matter Works materiaâ—ly good may never prove so formally and 〈…〉
God Levite had one man Iudg. 19.11 Augâ—â—stin lived neither like a Lord for he cate his meat in woodden and marble dishes neither lived he like a begger for he used to eat with silver spoons Possidon in vit Aug. What pitty was it that Luther was forced to cry out in his Comment on Gen. 47. Nisi superesser spolium Egypti quod rapuimus Papae omnibus ministris verbi fame percundum osset Quod si sustentandi essent die contributione populi miserc profectò dâ—â—iter viverent If it were not for the spoil of Egypt which we have snatcht from the Pope all the Ministers of the word must have been affamished For if they should be put to live upon the free contribution of the people they would certainly have a miserable hard living of it Alimar ergo c. We are maintained then as I said of the spoiles of Egypt and yet that little that we have is prey'd upon by the Magistrate for the parishes and Schooles are so spoyled and peeled as if they meant to starve us all Thus Luther Melancthon comes after him and complaines in the year 1559. Principes favebant Luthero sed jam iterum vi letis ing ratitudinem mundi orga ministros c. The Princes did at first favour Luther but now ye see again the unkindnesse of the world to the Ministers of the word Calvia was so ill dealt with at Geneva together with other faithfull Ministers there that he was forced once to say Certè si hominibus servivissem c. Truly if I had served men in my Ministry I had been very ill requited Melch. Adam in vita But it s well that I have served Him who never failes his but faithfully performeth with the better who sever he hath promised them Our Doctour Stoughton observed that the manner of very many in the City was to deal with their minister as Carriers doe with their horses viz. to lay heavy burthens upon them and then to hang bels about their necks they shall have hard work and great commendations Serm. â—n 1 Sam. 2.30 but easy commons be applauded for excellent preachers have good words but slight wages Thus in the City but what measure meet men with in the Countrey Hear it from a Countrey-Minister mouth How many thousands in this land faith He stand obnexious in an high-degree to the judgements of God for this sin of sacriledge which is the bane of our people and blemish of our Church Some there are who rob God of his main tythes yet are content to leave him still the lesses they pluck our fleeces and leave us the taglocks poor Vicarage tithes whilest themselves and children are kept warme in our wooll the Parsonage And and others yet more injurious who think that too much would the law but allow them a pair of sheers they would clip the very taglocks off Mr. Reg. his Strange Vin. in Valest pag. 303. These with the deceitfull taylour are not content to shrink the whole and fair broad-cloth to a dozen of buttons but they must likewise take part of them away and nimme the very shreds which only we have left After they have full gorged themselves with the Parsonage grains they can sinde means either by uncoscionable leases or compositions to pick the Vicaridge-bones c. Thus He and much more to the like purpose Our blessings faith Another eminent Divine are more then those of old our burthen lesse And yet how unwilling comes even a little to the painsullest Minister And those that upon a kind of conscience pay other duties think all lost that goes to the maintenance of the Ministery D. Sclaiter and that wish such repining as if that were mony of all other worst bestowed c. and prove me now herewith Dignatio stupenda A wonderful condescension that God should call upon man to take experiment of him to make but a triall to put it to the proof whether he will not prosper the penitent This is somewhat like that other passage Psal 34. O tast and see that the Lord is good c. or that Come and let us reason together O the never-enough adored depth of Gods goodnesse that he should stoop so low to us clay and dirt dung and wormes-meat 1 He is so high Psal 113.6 that he is said to humble himself to behold things done in heaven If he look at all out of himself to see but what the Angels do he doth therein abase himself That he will deal so familiarly with us who are no better then so many walking-dunghils as to bid us prove him what he will do for us this deserves acknowledgement and admiration in the highest degree Should he have used martiall law with these malapert miscreants in the text that had robbed him of his rights and not only have reproved them and cursed them wit a curse of penury but have Draco-like written his lawes in blood upon them he might have justified his proceedings But thus to commune with them and not only to prescribe them a remedy for removall of the curse Bring ye all the Tythes c. but thus to perswade with them Suhest jurandi spectes Figuier and to permit them to prove his bountifulnesse in giving and his faithfulnesse in keeping promise with them and that with an oath as some conceive if I will not open the windowes of heaven then never beleeve me more what a wonderfull goodnesse was this Surely we may well say of it as Chrysostom doth of the happinesse of heaven Sermo non valet exprimere experimento opus est We can never sufficiently praise it but must take the counsell he gives us and prove it Prove me c. There is an unlawfull and damnable proving or rather provoking of God when men separate the means from the end holinesse from happinesse will needs live as they lift and yet presume they shall be saved by the unknown mercies of God Such were those that tempted and provoked he most high God and kept not his testimonies Psal 78.56 like as before they had lusted exceedingly in the wildernesse Psal 106.14 and tempted God in the desert whilest bearing themselves over-bold upon their external priviledges they refused to observe his statutes and keep his lawes This sin in the new Testament is called tempting the Spirit of the Lord Act. 5.9 Ananias and Sapphira did so when by a cunning concrivance they would needs prove and make triall whether God could deicry and would punish their hypocrisy So did Judas the traytour when he boldly demanded Is it I Lord. So do all gross hypocrites that present unto God acarcase of holinesse like Cham or that cursed Cozener Mal. 1.14 Such also as refuse Christs offers of grace and when he bids them as here Prove him if upon their obedience to the lawes of his kingdome he will not open the windowes of heaven and rain down righteousnesse upon them even mercies without measure and
at Johns coming Zach. 11.8 The Pharisees were held the best of those three si ad legem respexeris saith Tremellius if you look to the law and Saint Paul who was once a Pharisee of the Pharisees calleth them the most strictest Sect of the Jewish religion Act. 26.5 like those district ssimi Monachi among the Papists and yet there were seven sorts of Pharisees Talm. tract Suta cap. 3. as we find in their Talmud Hence much alienation of affection amongst them and great animosities father hating sonne and sonne father for truths sake as Mat. 10.35 So powerfull should John be in his Ministery that although the leprosie were gotten into their heads and were therofore held incurable Lev. 13.44 yet he should tuen the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdome of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord Luke 1.17 All head-strong and bâ—utiâ—h affections should be calmed and corrected as Isa 21.6 7 8. and the peaceable v. isdome from above inâ—tilled lam Eph. 4.3 3.17 so that they shall indeavâ—ur to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace And albeit some jarrs may fall out a betwixt Paul and Barnabas yet Gods people can soon pecce again and reunite Job Worver in Polymath Vt 〈◊〉 percussus non laeditur into no dividitur quidâ—m sed resundit â—esâ— spissior redit c. As the ayre divided by a stone or stroke soon closeth and thickencth the more Certainly there is no such onenesse and entirenesse any where as among the saints their love is spirituall Cant. 6.9 The very Heathenâ— acknowledged that no people in the world did hold together and love one another so as Christians did Tacitus observeth of the Jews that there was misericordia in promptu apud suos but contra omâ—â—s alios hostile odium mercy enough for their own countreymen amongst them but hostile hatred against all others they use to say that there is no Gentile but deserves to have his head bruised c. But John Baptist by hiâ— preaching made Jewish Pharisees and Roman soubliers according to the phrase that Josephus useth of him to convent and knit together in baptisâ—ne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antiâ—dib 18. cap 7. 〈◊〉 I conte and sinite the earth with a curse that is lest coming I smite c. For there is no doubt to be made of his coming and as little of his smiting if men amend not These words menace as many as resisted Iohns ministry with utteâ— destruction whether it be done against the whole nation or against a mâ—â— only Iob 34.29 The Romans came and took amay both their place and their Nation not for leâ—â—ng Christ alone as they feared Iob. 11.48 but for laying wicked hands upon him and putting to death the Lorn or life Act. 2.23 Iohn also preached damnation to them Mat 3. and so did our Saviour Aâ—at 23. where by eight dreadfull woes as by so many links of an adamantine chain he drawes chose irreformable hypoerites down to hell their place and thâ—n lâ—aves them to be reserved unto judgement S. Jerome waâ— called 〈…〉 the Churchthunderbolt Mr. Perkins was a most caâ—â—st preacher and would prâ—n unce the word Damne with such an Emphasis M. Fullers Holy State 90. as lest a 〈…〉 in his Auditouts eares a good while after And when Catechist of Christ-coâ—â—eage 〈◊〉 pâ—unding the commandernents he applyed them so home that he made his hearers hearts sall down and their hairs to stand opright almost And surely this 〈◊〉 the way to work upon hard-harted sinners whence the Apostle bids Tâ—ns rebuke with all autâ—oâ—ty and then turning him to the people as Carvin sâ—â—â—th it chang th â—â—em not to despise him for so doing Tit. 1.15 The Apeille knew well that men are for most part of delicate eares and can 〈◊〉 abide plain dealing Ahab hates Micâ—iah and hath him in prison ever since that creadsull denunciation of displeasore and death for dismissing Benhadad for he was probably that disguised Pâ—ophet for which he was ever since sast in prisâ—n deep in disgrace But truth must be spoken how ever it be â—â—ken and those that will not be pricked at heart as Act. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. â—ut take up bucklers to ward oss the blow must have the sword of the spirit sheathed in their bowels and bâ—thed in their blood for mall this we are a sweet savour unto God 2 Cor. 2.15 yea though a savour of death unto death The barren earth must be smitten with cuâ—sing and they that minde earthly things Terra autem sunt qui terrona sapiunt saiâ—â— A sbon have damnation for their end De civ Deil. 20. c. 29. so that St. Paul cannot speak of them 〈◊〉 teares of compâ—ssion Philip. 3.18 19. Oh that it might expresse from them teares of compunction Oh that they would be forewarned to slee from the wrath to come Oh that they would think upon eternity and by breaking â—fâ— their sins disarme Gods indignation justly conceived against them He therefore threateneth that he may not smite he proceed not to punish till there be no remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 Crudelem medicum intemperans aeger sacit An unâ—â—ly patient makes a cruell Physician O that we could all resolve to deal by our sins as Levis King of Fiance did by the Popes Bulls whereby he required the fruits of vacancies of all Cathedrall Churches of France Speed 496. about the year 1152. he cast them into the fire saying he had rather the Popes Bulls should restin the fire then his own soul should fiy in heil For a perclose of all take an observation of Amamas and before him of Baxtorfes that in many Hebrew Bibles the last verse save one of this Propesy as also of Ecclesiastes Isaiah and Lamentations is repeated again in the end thereof though without pricks lest any thing should be thought added to Gods word Factum hoc ex Scriharum decreto c. This the scribes thought fit to do either for the dignity of those repeated verses that the Reader might again ruminate and remind them or else as some will have it because all those bookes end in threatenings and sad speeches And therefore lest the Sun of Righteousnesse should seem to set in a cloud or not to shine upon the departing passenger they thought sit to leave the verse before to be last as being sweet and full of comfort that the Reader might Sampson-like goe his way feeding on that hony-comb Laus Deo in aeternum The Righteous mans Recompence OR A TRUE CHRISTIAN CHARACTERIZED AND ENCOURAGED Out of MALACHI 3.16 17 18. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord harkened and heard it and a booke of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his Name CHAP. I. The Text opened and analyzed THAT which was anciently spoken of Iohn Baptust who was
stone y Rev. 2.17 Let them think basely of thy course but do thou think busily of Gods name and he will think as carefully of thy recompence even above all that thou canst aske or thinke z Eph 3 20 Up therefore that I may resume the exhortation and shut up all Up. I say and be doing and the Lord shal be with you a 1 Chr. 22.16 Why stand ye here idle all the day long b Mat. 20.6 Why linger ye and look thus one upon another c Gen. 42.1 Dies brevis est opus multum operarij pigri paterfam urget Quare castigemus mores moras nostras R. Simeon Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam multa tulit fecitque sudavit alsit Hor. You see your work you know your wages It is but an inch of time you have to take paines in and then eternitie of rest and recompence Where it would repent you nothing more if 't were possible there to repent then that you had begun no sooner wrought no harder It is no small incouragement in the mean-while to know that he sets down in his book of remembrance not how many yeares only but dayes nay hours we spend in his service what heat we suffer what cold what hunger what thirst what losse what straights waht danger what difficulty what every thing There was found in a besieged city a poore wise man saith Solomon and he by his wisdome delivered the city yet no man remembred that same poore man d Eccles 9.15 merces mundi This is the course of the world but t is othewise with God I know thy workes and thy labour e Rev 2.2 saith he to Ephesus not thy work only but thy labour in working not thy love only but thy labour of love not thy hope only but thy patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our father f 1 Thessalonians 1.3 Not thy crosses only but the number time place and measure of our crosses are with God Ille non tantum quat annes sed quat dies atque horas in illius cultu consu imus apugillinribus suis notat aestum frigora famem culturam bonorum c. Cart. Not thy peroson only but thy flittings are in his book and thy tearesin his bottle g Psal 56.9 yea the haires of thy head are numbred h Matthew 10.30 Quae pretio habemus ea numeramus c. not one of them shall perish much leste the head it self But though washed a little with Paul in the ship-wrack i Act. 27. yet thou shalt be landed safe at the Key of Canaan the kingdome of heaven CHAP. VII Doct. VI. Such as fear the Lord will be thinking upon his Name what it is to do so And that thought upon his Name HEre 's a further description of the parties in speech by a second property As they feared the Lord so they thought upon his Name Where comes to be considered first what is meant by Gods Name the object of their thoughts secondly what by thinking upon this Name which is the act of these ancient beleevers about that object Name here hath reference to God and his Name signifieth 1. Gods self in his unsearchable Essence or that unutterable subsistence that each person hath in the God-head * Shindler in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pro. 30.4 Jud. 13.18 2. All such names and titles of God his attributes actions ordinances and al things else that have any special print of Gods image stampt upon them are said to be gods Name upon them because by them he is known as a man by his name Next to think upon this Name of God is diversely glossed and expounded by interpreters He doth best in my opinion that saith to think upon Gods Name is nothing else but by sundry sad and serious meditations well to weigh and deeply to disgest whatsoever a man hath heard and learned of God and his wayes Thus Polanus succinctly and pithily This then was the guise of those godly ones of old and this is stil the property and practise of Gods faithful people who as they feared the Lord which is the first signe they are here set out by so as a fruit or rather root * aestimantibus gloriam nominis ajus Cald. Paraprast sapientibus corde peritis mysteriorum Dei R Abraham in intellectu suo inve nientibus omnes vias ejus judicium esse c. R. David Quigloriam Dei asserunt c. Gualther Qui supputant 1. in pretio babent nomen Dei Calvin Certain meminis cognitionein assiduâ mentis ruminatione pensitantes Folan in locum of that holy fear they think diligently upon his Name that is they bend and busie their best thoughts upon the things of his kingdome Hence we we may learn That it is the part and property of a man truly fearing God to be much in the meditation of he things of God Such as fear the Lord in truth will be thinking upon his Name * Hac lautione pietatis verae fontem indicat c. Gualther in locum Doct. SECT I. The Point proved by Seripture YOu see they go coupled in the text as individual companions and other where in scriptur it is made the mark of a man truly religious that he hat right thoughts that is well set upon those rightest objects God and his Name The thoughts of the righteous are right a Prov. 12 5 And again the desire of the righteous is onely good b Pro. 11.23 Not that any man in this viatory condition is so happy as to have his heart altogether empty of evil thoughts and desires * Magno studio superfluae cogitationes am◠putandae sunt Sed tamen amputare funditùs nequaquam pessunt Semper enim caro superslua generat c. Greg. Moral but that 's the thing he strives unto and breaths after he suffers not evil motions to roost in his minde to keep residence there to lodge in his inwards as Jeremies expression is he serves God in his spirit with Paul at least in his general resolution and intention He sets the Lord alwayes at his right hand c Jer. 4 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with David he walks continually in the sense of his presence and height of his countenance with Henoch Noah Abraham and others he wholly followeth after the Lord his God with Caleb f Josli 14 19. Num. 14.24 implevit post me As a ship under saile which is carried strongly with the wind c. in desire and endeavour at least he waites for God in the way of his judgements with the Church in Isai And the desire of his soul is to Gods name and the remembrance of him g Jsai 26.8 In which holy course if he be at any time interrupted as the best is many times he cryes out mournfully with the Church in the same Chapter O
but not given me up to death The plowers plowed upon my back but thou hast cut asunder their traces and provide liberally for them in the land of their captivitie as he did for Ezekiel Daniel and others he will be a little sanctuary unto them there and supplie the defect of all other comforts Or if he call them to higher sufferings he will give them an higher spirit if he free them not from the common destruction yet certainly from the common distraction If they resist unto blood yea unto losse of life yet in the midst of death they shall live conquer and raigne For blessed are they that dye in the Lord especially if withall they dye for the Lord for they shall rest from their labours rest in their beds each-one walking in his uprightnesse Esay 57.3 Heb. 4 There remaineth then a rest unto the people of God an eternall Sabbatisme such a day as knowes no evening or end or toile of travell that great Sabbath-day that comprehends and accomplishes all the Sabbaths of the law These were first the weekly Sabbaths wherein they rested from their week-day labours Secondly the seven-yeares-sabbath for every seventh yeare the ground also rested from tillage and manuring Thirdly the fifty-yeares-sabbath for every seventh seventh year was a year of Jubilee And then all debts were remitted all prisoners released and all mortgages restored to their right inheritours Heaven involves all these And that great day of the Resurrection when God shall chiefly make up his Jewels and redeeme Israel out of all her troubles called therefore the day of Redemption of the purchased possession for Gods peculiar Rom. 8.21 Psal 16.11 Rev. 3.21 2 Tim. 4.8 Rev. 2.26 2 Pet. 3.13 Heb. 12.22 Psal 16 9 10 11. 17. ult Rom. 8.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a bird out of a cage as longing for liberty or as a prisoner out of a grate looking for a pardon or as one out of a turret expecting his friends coming the people of his purchase This day I say shall set Gods people at rest from their labours and the creatures which now lye bed-ridden as it were waiting the good houre at rest from all their burdens and bondages into the glorious Jubilee of the children of God Who shall then have all their wrongs righted all their sins pardoned debts discharged bonds cancelled graces perfected desires satisfied and that heavenly inheritance mortgaged in paradise and long since forfeited shall be then restored Where they shall be possesed of all the pleasures at Gods right hand seated as Princes in thrones of Majesty crowned with diadems of immarcessible glory having power over all creatures and plenary possession of that now heaven and that new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse Beholding and being filled with the vision and fruition of Gods glorious presence amidst a world of blessed angels and crowned saints even all the court of heaven who shall joyfully meet and welcome them Oh let the forethought of those unutterable varieties felicities eternities lighten our spirits smooth our countenances and chear up our hearts as it did Davids and doth all the servants of God who with stretcht out necks look up long after and even hasten that happy day crying all with one minde and with one mouth Come Lord Jesus come quickly and exhaling their broken spirits in continuall sallies and egressions of love affecting not only a union but a unity with Christ SECT X. Reproof of forwardnesse and saintheartednesse in affliction SEcondly will the Lord indeed finde a set time to free his poor people of all their sorrowes and sufferings this then serves sharply to reprove that impatiency and shortnesse of spirit found in not a few of Gods dearest Jewels who because they are vilipended and undervalued by the blind world who know not the price of a heavenly Jewel and for that they are trode under foot for a time by these swine and slurried with the mire of their contempt and cruelty are drawn thereupon one while to fret and another while to faint begin to be out of all heart and hope of a better condition and to make against themselves these or the like desperate conclusions Surely I shall never winde out of these disgraces and distresses Esay 38.15 I shall go softly all my yeers in the bitternesse of my soul My state is past recovery I never look to see joyfull day more Abraham had a spice of this disease when he could enjoy nothing because he wanted one thing Gen. 15. 1 2. But Iacob was farr over-gone with it when together with his wife Rachel he refused to be comforted Gen. 37.35 and would needs go down into the grave unto his son Ioseph mourning as if all his merry dayes were past So the children of Iacob in Egypt Exod. 6.9 that could not take comfort in the sweet words of Moses and Aaron for the greatnesse of their oppressions The eare that tryeth words as the mouth doth meat Psal 34. was so imbittered with their extreme bondage that they could not relish any thing nor tast how good and sweet the Lord was This was Iobs fault when he cursed his day and the consolations of God were small unto him Elias also wisht himself dead in a passion and wist not that he was to be carried up ere long in a fiery charret And what can we say for David when he repented him of his repentance Psal 73.13 and another time said I shall surely fall one day by the hand of this same Saul notwithstanding Gods promise to me of the kingdome 1 Sam. 27.1 Gen. 25.32 Were it not better for me to save one Behold I am going to dye and what profit shall this birth-right do to me and to shift for my self by flying to the Philistines 1 Sam. 27.1 Psal 116.11 then by ' biding longer here to hazard my life upon the hopes of a kingdome being a mere uncertainty sith all men are liars not the Prophets themselves excepted Thus he in hast And thus the whole Church upon as little good advice Lam. 3.18 19. I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord Remembring mine affliction and my misery the wormwood and the gall Lam. 3.18 19 Lam. 4.22 Fidei murus tentationem ariete durius aliquantò pulsatus concussus facilè nutare acruinam minari incipit nisi divinitus sustentetur Bucholc Psal 43.7 This made her desperately conclude the book But thou hast utterly rejected us thou art very wroth against us And the very truth is the best faith long tried will something flag and hang the wing The best minds when troubled yeeld inconsiderate motions as water that is violently stirred sends up bubbles Adoò nihil est in nobis magni saith One quod non queat minui But for this we must take up our selves roundly and chide our hearts out of these distempers with Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Why
they regard not iniquity in their heart there is no way of wickednesse found in them Of the spirit of whoredomes see the Note on Chap. 4.11 And they have not known the Lord He knowes them well enough verse 3. and they shall know it Jer. 16.21 to their cost but they know not the Lord sc savingly and effectually for if they did they could not be so vile and vitious so loose and licentious A man is properly said to know no more of Gods minde then he practiteth like as of our Saviour it is said that he knew no sin that is 2 Cor. 5.21 he did none with an intellectuall knowledge he knew it how else could he reprove it but not with a practical and as it is said of Elies two sons that they knew not God because they obey'd him not Lo such was the ignorance of this people assected and acquired and this is peccatorum omnium fons et fomes the mother of all mischief and misery as hath been oft set forth in the Notes upon the former chapter Verse 5. And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face Pride is the great master-pock of the soul it will bud and cannot be hid Ezek. 7.10 It is the grandiabolo that filthy spirit that is gotten into the midst of men into the very heart of the country as it were It is the leprosie of the soul that breakes forth in the very forehead and so testifieth to his face It proceeds from ignorance of God and his will of a mans self and his duty hence that connexion of this verse and the former They know not the Lord And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face The Laodiceans were therefore proud because ignorant thou knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor c. So those question-sick phantasticks in Saint Paul were proud knowing nothing 1 Tim. 6.4 And I would not have you ignorant of this mystery saith he to his Romans Chap. 11.25 lest ye should be puffed up in your own conceits Humble Agur though full of heavenly light yet vilifies and nullifies himself to the utmost Prov. 30.2 and so exemplifies that Proverb of Solomen with the lowly is wisdom Prov. 11.2 And as wisdom maketh the face to shine and humility rendreth a man lovely so pride on the contrary sitteth in the face and deformeth it The proud man flattereth himself in his own lies till his iniquity be found to be hatefull Psal 36.2 till his swelling break forth in loathsome ulcers Thus Miriams pride testified to her face and Vzziah's and Sodoms Esay 3.9 The shew of their countenance witnessing against them Pride is a foolish sinne it cannot keep in it will be above-board and discover it self by lofty looks big-swoln-words proud gate ridiculous gestures garish attire that nest of pride but especially by stoutnesse and stubbornnesse against God and his wayes as here in this Text it is to be taken When men commit sin with an high hand and as it were in despite of God and on purpose to crosse him Hence it is that God so hateth this sinne above other for whereas all other sins flee from God pride le ts flye at him nay flees in his face saying Who is the Lord that I should obey him Hence he will be a swift witnesse against such and a severe Judge Learned Mr. Leveley reads this Text thus The excellency of Israel that is God as Amos 8.7 2 Sam. 1.19 will testifie to Ephraims face give in evidence against them He will indeed be Index Judex Vindex to such for he resisteth the proud and delighteth to stain their glory to cast dirt in those faces of theirs that are so hatcht with impudence as to face the very heavens and to contest with Omnipotency Hence their fall with a violence with a vengeance Therefore shall Ephraim and Israel fall in their iniquity Corruet they shall fall with a push with a powther as we say and in their iniquity that 's worse then all the rest Ye shall die in your sinnes saith Christ to those rebellious Jews Ioh. 8.21 that was a great deal worse then to die in prison to die in a ditch or in the worlds disfavour Or in their iniquity that is for their iniquity which is indeed the cause of calamities At the losse of Calice when a proud French-man demanded of an English Captain When will you fetch Calice again he gravely replied Quando peccata vestra erunt nostris graviora When you sinnes shall weigh down ours Tarnov in loc If any man ask saith Tarnovius upon this 〈◊〉 Vnde hodiâ—â—anta passim in Germania vastitas efficit hanc peccatorum atrâ—â—itaâ— Whence so great desolations in Germany It is for the grievousnesse of our â—â—iquity 〈◊〉 â—his was better yet then the result of that consultation held once at Hambo◠〈◊〉 â—â— sâ—me of his Latheran fellow-Ministers Vol. 1. p. 465. concerning the cause and cure 〈◊〉 manies calamities They concluded saith Mr. Borougâ—â—â— on Hosea from the mouth of a Minister there who told it him with grief that it was because their 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 not adorned enough which therefore they 〈…〉 A sad husinesse Solomon would have told them that it is a mans pride that brings him low Prov. 29.23 And that before destruction the heart of a man is haughty â—ov 18.12 And that pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit 〈…〉 fall Prov. 16.18 If the pride of Israel doth testifie to his face the next news we â—â—â—all hear of him is that Israel and Ephraim are fallen in their iniquity A bulging wall cannot stand a swelling sore will shortly break This shall they have for their pride because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of Hoasts The Lord will be terrible unto them for he will famish all the gods of the earth c. Zeph. 2.10 11. all those deunculi those pretty pictures that men so much dote upon which should not be suffered if for nothing else yet for the distraction they may cause in Divine worship In the Councel-chamber of the Lacedemonians no picture or image was suffered lest in consultation of weighty matters their mindes thereby might be distracted Irenaeus reproveth the Gnosticks for their pictures of Christ though made in Pilates time after his own proportion Austin denieth that images can be set up in Churches sine praesentissimo idololatriae periculo without exceeding great danger of idolatry In Psal 114. Epiphanius saith it is an abomination of desolation to set up pictures in the Churches of Christians Plutarch an Heathen saith Paul Jovius lib. 4. it is sacriledge And Solyman the great Turk when he had taken Buda in Hungary would not enter into the great Church there to give God thanks for the victory till all the images were cast out But this by the way onely Let us take heed by those mistaken Lutherans Esay 44.20 whom a deceived heart hath turned aside that we likewise