will be but as a drop of wrath forerunning the great storm as a crack forerunning the ruine of the whole building That is a known text If you will not yet for all this hearken unto me then I will punish you seven times more and seven times more and seven to that Levit. 26.18 28. Three severall times God raiseth his note and he raiseth it by sevens and those are discords in Musick Such saying will be heavy songs and their execution heavy pangs to the wicked Verse 15. I will go and return to my place To my palace of Heaven so the Chaldee rendereth it I will withdraw my Majestie and return into the habitation of my holinesse which is in heaven I will go from them that they may come to themselves with the Prodigal I will forget them that they may remember themselves I will trouble my self no further with them when God comes against sinners he is said to come out of his place and so to disease himself Esay 26.21 with Lam. 3.33 that they may be afflicted and weep and mourn after me Jam. 4.9 I will take my rest and I will consider in my dwelling place as Esay 18.4 I will hide my face from them I will see what their end shall be for they are a very froward generation c. Deut. 32.20 and they shall see that I will be as froward as they for the hearts of them Ps 18.26 I will gather them in mine anger and in my fury and I will leave them there Ezek. 22.20 that they may know the worth of my gracious presence which they have not prized by the want of it and be pricked on thereby to pray Return O Lord how long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants O satisfie us early with thy mercy c. Psal 90.13 14. Thus mothers use to leave their children or at least turn their backs upon them till they mourn and make moane after them Thus the Lion seems to leave her yong ones till they have almost killed themselves with roaring and howling but at last gasp she relieves them whereby they become the more couragious God also will return to his people when they once turn short again upon themselves and see their sin-guiltinesse and seek his favour This is Gods end 1 Cor. 11.32 and the happy effect of affliction sanctified 1 King 8.47 Till they acknowledge their offence Heb. Till they become guiltie till they plead guiltie and carry themselves accordingly blushing and bleeding in my presence Thus Saint James Be afflicted or be miserable Chap. 4.9 ye are so but see your selves to be so tremble and humble at Gods feet for mercy give glory to God my Son and confesse thy sin Josh 7.19 The viper beaten casts up her poison The traytour on the rack confesseth all He that in affliction acknowledgeth not his offence and seeketh Gods face is more hard-hearted then a Jew as is to be seen here and Psal 78.34 and 1 Sam. 7.6 In the year of Grace 1556. at Weissenston in Germany a Jew for theft was in this cruell manner to be executed He was hang'd by the feet with his head downward betwixt two dogs which constantly snatcht bit at him The strangenes of the torment moved Jacob Andreas a grave Divine to go to behold it Coming thither he found the poor wretch as he hung repeating verses out of the Hebrewes Psalms wherein he cried out to God for mercy Andreas hereupon took occasion to counsell him to trust in Jesus Christ the true Saviour of mankind Melch. Adam in vit Jac. Andreae the Jew embracing the Christian faith requested but this one thing that he might be taken down and baptized though presently after he were hanged again but by the neck as Christian malefactours suffered which was accordingly granted him Lat. Serm. Latimer reports a like story of one in his time who being executed at Oxford was cut down but not quite dead And means being used to recover him he came again to himself and then confessed all his villany which before he would not be drawn to do In the life of Master Perkins also mention is made of a lusty fellow at Cambridge who being upon the ladder and affrighted with the forethought of hell-torments was called down a gain by Master Perkins who prayed with him and for him so effectually as that the beholders could not but see a blessed change thereby wrought in the prisoner Master Fuller and Mr. Clark in Mr. Perk. his life who took his death with such patience and alacritie as if he actually saw himself delivered from the hell which he feared before and heaven opened for the receiving of his soul to the great rejoycing of the beholders How well might these men say with Themistocles Periissem nisi periissem I had been undone if I had not been undone David was brought home by the weeping-crosse Psal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod lib. 1. Alsted Cbroni pag. 325. 119.67 Affliction was a better Schoolmaster to Queen Elizabeth then Master Ascham Nocumenta documenta said Craesus when he was in the hands of his enemies The Burgundians well beaten by the Hunnes fled to Christ the God of the Christians and embraced his Religion and seek my face Out of a deep sense of their sin-guiltinesse This is the work of Faith as the former of Repentance God was not so gone from his people nor so far out of their call but that if they could find a praying heart he would find a pittying heart if they would acknowledge their offence he would forgive the iniquity of their sin Psal 32.5 If they would set their Faith a work as she in the Gospel did of whom it is said that when Christ would have hid himself it could not be for a certain woman whose daughter was diseased came and fell at his feet fetcht him out of his retiring-room Mark 7.24.25 he would break the heavens and come down from his place Isai 64.1 2. he would come leaping over all lets and impediments those mountains of Bether or of division to the relief of his people See this set forth Cant. 5. with the Notes there Provided that they seek not so much their own ease and ends as his face and favour the sense of his presence and light of his countenance the fear of his name and comforts of his spirit Thus David Psal 63.1 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee in a dry and barren Land Carnall prayers in time of misery are but such as the dry earth or the hungry raven make They are the prayers of nature for ease not of the spirit for grace such as was that of Pharaoh when the rack made him roar the rod slatter See Zach. 7.5 6. with the Notes In their affliction they will seek me early Manicabunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. They will morning me so the Orginall hath it They will do it saith God
Him see to it where my soul shall rest who took so much care for it as that he laid down his life for it Verse 28. And it shall come to passe afterwards sc In the dayes of the Messiah which is called the world to come Heb. 2.5 but especially after his Ascension see Ioh. 7.37 Act. 2 where this prophesie was fulfilled and this place taken for the first text preached on by the Apostles verse 17. to the conversion of three thousand soules at one sermon For together with the word there went forth a power Luk. 7. 2 Tim. 1.7 even that Spirit of power of love and of a sound mind here promised to be powred out not distilled only see the Note on Zech. 12.10 and that upon all flesh Spirit upon flesh the best thing upon the basest yea upon all flesh without respect of persons or difference made of sex age or condition provided that they know and acknowledg themselves to be but flesh Gen 6.3 corrupt and carnal animas etiam incarnavimus Bern. as an Ancient complaineth and that whatsoever is of the flesh is flesh Ioh. 3.6 for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean that whole Man is in evill and whole evill in Man neither can it be gotten out in any measure till the heart be mollified and made tender as flesh Ezeh 11.19 and 36.26 27. which cannot be done till men be taught of God and drawn out of darknesse into his marvelous light till they be spiritualized 2 Cor. 3.18 and transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord. and your sons and your daughters shall prophesie This was fulfilled Act. 2. as St. Peter sheweth For the new Testament is but the old unfolded and fulfilled as was also typified in the two Cherubims of the sanctuary looking intently into the Propitiatory Christ Rom. 3.25 but with their faces turn'd one towards another Exod. 25.20 See Act. 26.22 It was fulfilled I say in that visible descension of the holy Ghost upon the Apostles and the rest Act. 2. Act. 8.15 17. and 10.44 So that this makes nothing at all for the Enthusiasts raptures and dotages the true offpring they are Funcc Chronol of those ancient Euchites or Messalanii who leaving their trades gave themselves to much sleep and called their dreams and phantasies prophesies Anno Dom. 371. your old men shall dream c. your yong men shall see visions i. e. God will no less open his will unto them then he did of old to the Prophets by dreams and visions for by the conduct of the Spirit they shall be led into all truth and holinesse they shall be all a royall Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.5 Rev. 1.6 full of all goodnesse filled with all knowledge able also to admonish one another Rom. 15.14 Verse 29. And also upon the servants they shall be the free-men and women of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 7.22 by as full a measure of Gods free and noble Spirit bestowed upon them as upon their Masters and Mistresses The Trent Translation hath it upon my servants and my handmaids But there is no such pronoun in the Original though it is true that all that have the spirit are his and the contrary Rom. 8 9. Eph 1.13 The scope of the text is as Mercer well noteth to shew that ut gratuitum commune Christi beneficium sic spiritus as the benefits of Christ are free and common to all his people so is the Spirit And surely next to the love of Christ in dwelling in our nature we may well wonder at the love of the holy Ghost that will dwell in our defiled soules and act in them as he doth For there are diversity of gifts but the same Spirit 1 Cor. 11.4 as the divers smels of flowers come from the same influence and the diverse sounds in the organ froin the same breath Verse 30. And I will shew wonders in the heavens Prodigia beneficia credentibus a Lapid malefica horrifica incredulis saith Cornelius a Lapide who interpreteth the text of those signes and wonders that shall precede the day of judgment and for confirmation here of alleageth chap. 3.2 together with Mat. 24.29 Luk. 21.25 And had he looked a little higher into those chapters and taken in all the troubles that befell the Church from our Saviours ascension to his second comming together with those horrible calamities and confusions that shall befall the wicked for contempt of the Gospell and persecution of the professors thereof he had done right in mine opinion It is ordinary with the Prophets to set forth horrible commotions by such figurative expressions See Ier. 4.23 c. Isay 13.10 Rev. 6.12 Those that have received the Spirit of Adoption must not dream of a delicacy but expect persecution Christ came to send fire on the earth Luk. 12.49 Neither may Persecutors hope to escape unpunished but look to be pursued by divine justice See the Note on Rev 6.15 How heavie was the hand of God upon Jerusalem that slaughter-house of the Saints and afterwards upon the Ten Persecutors of Rome 1 Nero whom Tertullian rightly calleth Dedicatorem damnationis Christianorum quippe qui orientem fidem primus Rema cruentavit the first bloody Persecutor of the Christian religion lost thirty thousand of his subjects by the pestilence had his army utterly routed and cut off in Britanny both the Armenia's revolted from him the Senators rose up against him and compelled him to be his own deaths-man 2 Demitian was butchered by his souldiers 3 Trajan dyed of a dropsie 4 Severus dyed miserably here at York 5. Maximinus with his sonn was cut in peeces 6. Decius dyed in a farr country 7. Valerian was flea'd by Sapores king of Persia who took him prisoner 8. Aurelian was slain by his own men 9. Dioclesian poisoned himself 10 Maximian hang'd himself What should I speak of Julian Anastasius Heraclius c. The French persecutors Francis the second Charles the ninth Henry the third the Guises c. Philip the second of Spain who returning out of the Low countries fell into a storm and suffered shipwrack to the great danger of his life Hist of Gennc of Trent 417. He said he was delivered by the singular providence of God to root out Lutheranisme which he presently began to do with all his might He afterwards died miserably of the lousie disease Q. Mary died of a tympany or else of grief of heart for K. Philip's unkind departure Speed forraine losses Callice surrendred hurt done by thunders from heaven and by fire in the royal navie extream dearths raging her conceptions fayling c. What heavy judgments befell divers particular persecutors of those times Poole Gardiner Bonner Morgan Story Burton see Acts and Mon. 1902. 1904. c. 1915. George Eagles alias Trudge-over the world having hid himself in a cornfeild was Mr. Leigh his Saints Encouragement Ep. to Read for mony descried
rejoycing was as to devour the poor i. e Poor me they devoured in secret as if God had been nothing aware of their doings and this was their exultation or rejoycing they took pleasure in their cruelty and promised themselves impunity Verse 15. Thou diddest walk thorough the sea c. q. d. Shall they thus prevaile by iniquity and did they carry the ball upon the foot till they had gotten the goale Hath ever any waxed fierce against God and prospered Iob. 9.4 I trow not Thou that of old didd'st walk through the red sea did'st tread it or Psal 56.7 foot it and that most swiftly as if thou had'st had thy change of horses thorow the heap of great waters which thou laid'st on heaps for thy peoples sake so that instead of being swallowed up they were preserved thereby Thou Lord I say hast many times since when all hope failed opened a faire way for thy servants to escape out of greatest dangers and so I trust thou wile againe when they most stand in need of thine heavenly help Cum res est in acie novaculae c. God will be seen of his in the Mount Verse 16. When I heard my belly trembled c. Heard what That speech of thine verse 3. whereunto the Prophet now returneth after a long digression for the peoples support and comfort Digressions in divine discourses are not alwayes and absolutely unlawfull God sometimes draweth aside the doctrine to satisfie some soule which the preacher knowes not and sparingly used it quickeneth attention O Lord I have heard thy speech touching Israels captivity chap. 1. and after that the Chaldeans calamity chap. 2. and was afraid verse 2. Neither was this a slight or sudden pang and soon put over but such as soaked to the very roots so that my belly or my heart in my belly trembled See Prov. 20.27 my lipps quivered through want of naturall heate which in this fright was gone inward to succour the heart as souldiers upon the approach of an enemy run into the castle at the voice at the dreadfull denunciations of judgements rottennesse entred into my bones Poetico more ex signis describit saith Gualther The Prophet in manner of a Poet describeth his great feare by the gracious effects and signes thereof in his body that I might rest in the day of trouble This was the fruit of his holy feare of Gods imminent judgements and that contrition of spirit that followed thereupon viz. that both Hee and all that took part with him in those pious practises of sensiblenesse and self-abasement should have peace with God and be able to call their soules to rest in the evill day when he commeth up c. i. e. The Chaldean spoiler he will invade them with his troops Or cut them in peeces And that this was done See 2 King 25. and the book of Lamentations thorowout Howbeit in judgement God remembreth mercy as the Prophet had pray'd for besides the favour that the Jews found at Babylon by meanes of Daniel and others Cyrus having taken that city gave commandment that no Jews or any that spake the Syrian tongue should be hurt as Xenophon relateth and after this he gave them free leave to return home Verse 17. Although the figtree shall not blossom Here the Prophet sheweth a well settled and a sedate mind indeed that he had attained and by prayer waded unto a blessed composednesse and sabbath of spirit such as the cock on the dunghill medled not with neither knoweth the worth of it being the most precious and peerlesse jewel that ever the heart of man came acquainted with It hat been before noted that the Prophet here taketh out his own lesson of living by faith in the faile of outward comforts Origens teaching and living were said to be both alike Habakkuks were so Divinity is practicall If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them As lessons of Musick must be practised and a copy not read onely but imitated so is it here It is a blushful thing quando dicta factis erubescant as Tertullian hath it Plus sanctimoniae conspicitur in ipso libello quà m in libelli Auihore when mens lives put their words to the blush when Sanctiores sunt aures plebis quà m corda sacerdotum there are more heavenly doctrines in the peoples cares then ever were in the preachers heart as Hilary hath it when as One said of Erasmus his Enchiridion there is more holinesse in an Authours book then in his bosom Exemplis sanè qui docet ille docet Aristotle requireth in a Teacher Arist Rhetor. Epist ad Epbes that he shew himself a patern of his own rules and it is a good thing to teach saith Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if thou practise the same that thou teachest That is an excellent commendation indeed that is given to a late eminent Divine amongst us Mr. Sam. Crook that his life was but one continued Commentary upon his doctrine and an exemplary sermon consisting of living words or of words translated into works The just shall live by his faith saith Habakkuk and that I do so it shall well appear by my living upon God when I have nothing else to subsist with by beleeving him upon his bare word and that against sense in things invisible and against reason in things incredible Although the figtree c.. q d. Let warr come on and with warr famine as it befell Ierusalem at the last siege in the dayes of Zedekiah 2 King 25.3 Ier. 52.6 Lam. 2.11 12. there was no relief left for the people the enemy had eaten up all as Joel 2. and made cleane work so that faithlesse men were woe-begone and ready to run mad for the sight of their eyes Deut. 28.24 with 51. and to devour their own fingers as Pope Boniface 8. did when shut up close prisoner in St. Angelo and sorely straitened Verse 18. Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation This joy of the Lord was the Prophets strength Nch. 8.10 and kept his head above all waters of affliction So it was Davids at the sack of Ziglag 1 Sam. 30.6 when Saul at the same time for want of it ran first to the witch and thence to the swords point A Good man hath God for his portion and if any occasion of discontent or trouble befall him he retireth into his Counting-house and there seeth himself so well stored with unloosable graces and invaluable priviledges that he cannot be greatly moved Psal 62.2 His soule in greatest straights can magnifie the Lord and his spirit rejoyce in God his Saviour Disquieted he may be sometimes for a season till he hath recollected and better bethought himself we are staggering saith the Apostle but not wholy sticking 2 Cor. 4.8 for not the evenest waights but at their first putting into the ballance do somwhat sway both parts thereof not without some shew of inequality which
servants and services never the like known we pull upon our land Amos his famine not of bread but which is a thousand-fold worse of hearing the words of the Lord. A famine long since foretold and feared by our Martyrs and Confessours Am. 8.11 and now if ever if God forefend not in procinctu to fall upon us as the most unworthy and unthankfull people that ever the Sun of heaven beheld or the sun of Christs Gospel shone upon so fair and so long together The best way of prevention is prevision and reformation beginning at our own as Gidcon did at his fathers houshold Judg. 6.27 And the best Almanack we can rely upon for seasonable weather and the lengthening of our tranquillity is our obedience to God love to our neighbours care of our selves c. Verse 12. Then Zerubbabel the sonne of Shealtiel c. So mighty in operation so quick and powerfull is the good word of God in the mouthes of his faithfull Ministers when seconded and set on by his holy Spirit See for this Esay 55.10 11. Jer. 23.28 29. Act. 19.20 1 Cor. 14.24 25. Heb. 4.12 See that scala coeli ladder of heaven as One calleth it Rom. 10.14 15. and consider how mightily the word of God grew and prevailed in those primitive times It spread thorow the world like a Sun beam saith Eusebius it was carried about into all places as on Eagles or rather as on Angels wings Athanasius of old and Luther alate were strangely upheld and prospered against a world of Opposites to the truth they preached Melch. Adâ—m in vit Farel Farellus gained five great cities with their territories to Christ How admirably and effectually King Edward the sixth was wrought upon by a sermon of Bishop Ridleys touching works of charity see his life written by Sir John Heywood Pag. 169 170 c. It is the spirit that quickeneth the seed of the word and maketh it prolificall and generative And as in the body there are veins to carry the blood and arteries to carry the spirits that quicken the blood so is it with the word and spirit in the soul If Gods Spirit open not mans heart the word cannot enter If he illighten not both Organ and Object Christ though never so powerfully preacht is both unkent and unkist as the Northern Proverb hath it The word heard profited them not because not mixt with faith in them that heard it Heb. 4.2 They heard it onely with the hearing of the ear with that gristle that grew on the outside of the head whereas they should have drawn up the inward ear to the outward that one and the same sound might have pierced both But this all that hear cannot do because all are not of God Joh. 8.47 and so have not his ear-mark spirituall senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil Heb. 5. ult they have an heavy ear which is a singular judgement Esay 6.10 With all the remnant of the people i.e. The generality of the returned captives followed their leaders A remnant they are called because but few in comparison of those many hedge-rogues Mr. Dyke calleth them potters they are called 1 Chro. 4.23 men of base and low spirits that dwelt still in Babylon among plants and hedges being the base brood of those degenerated Israelites who when liberty was proclaimed for their return to Jerusalem chose rather to get their living by making pots for the king of Babylon These are ancient or rather obsolete things as Junius rendreth it worn out and forgotten and indeed they deserve to be utterly forgotten and not written or reckoned among the living in Jerusalem Esay 4.3 Obeyed the voyce of the Lord their God with the obedience of faith and this they did by the good example of their Rulers Thus when Crispus the chief Ruler of the Synagogue beleeved many of the Corinthians beleeved also Acts 18.8 When the kings of Judah were good or evil the people were so likewise Great men are the looking-glasses of their countrey according to which most men dresse themselves Qualis Rex talis grex Why compellest thou the Gentiles said Paul to Peter sc by thine example to Judaize Gal. 2.14 and the words of Haggai the Prophet whose mouth God was pleased to make use of And this is added for a confirmation of the Prophets calling to the work because of long time before there had been no Prophet among the people nor any to tell how long as the Church complaineth Psal 74.9 as the Lord their God had sent him Heb. according as the Lord their God had sent him after the same manner they heard and obeyed the Prophet as the Lord had sent him they did not wrest his words to a wrong sence nor did they question his Commission but receiving it as the word not of man but of God they set forthwith upon the work yeelding as prompt and present obedience as if God with his own mouth had immediately spoken to them from heaven and the people did fear before the Lord as if He himself had been visibly present in his own person So Saint Peters hearers Acts 10.33 Now therefore say they we are all here present before God to hear all things commanded thee of God If young Samuel had known that it was the Lord that called him once and again he would not have returned to his bed to sleep If men were well perswaded that the God of heaven bespeaks them by his faithfull Ministers they would not give way to wilfull wandrings but hear as for life and fear to do any thing unworthy of such a presence they would work out their salvation with fear and trembling yea work hard at it as afraid to be taken with their task undone Psal 103. â—3 Eccles 12. They that fear the Lord will keep his covenant saith David Fear God and keep his commandements saith Solomon And in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousnesse is accepted of him saith Peter Acts 10.35 Verse 13. Then spake Haggai the Lords messenger Or Angel See the Note on Mal. 1.1 Then speaks Namely on the four and twentieth day of the moneth as it is in the last verse untill which day they had been building for three weeks together But Governour Tatnai and his complices came upon them and discouraged the people and hindred the work Ezra 5.3 It was but need full therefore that Gods command should be repeated and a speciall promise added I am with you saith the Lord. Where we may well take up that of Tully concerning Brutus his Laconicall Epistle Quam multa quà m paucis how much in a little I am with you saith the Lord you need not therefore fear what man can do unto you God is All-sufficient to those that are Altogether his See 2 Chron. 15.2 Cint 2.15 The Church is called Jehovah Shammah that is The Lord is there Ezek. 48.35 God is in the middest of her shee shall not be moved Psal 46.5 Immota
is I will accept your worships Psal 73.23 24. though in this meaner temple If God may have the substance of worship hee stands not much upon the circumstance The sick may pray upon their beds the persecuted in chambers Acts 1. yea in dens and caves of the earth Heb. 11.38 The Church in Queen Maries dayes met and prayed oft together in a cellar in Bow-church-yard It was one of the laws of the twelve tables in Rome Ad divos adeunto castè pietatem adhibento Act. Mon. opes amovento Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not desire viz. in comparison of obedience 1 Sam. 15.22 but as a better thing mine ears hast thou opened Psal 40.6 Hypocrites by cold ceremonies think to appease God they observe the circumstance neglect the substance they stick in the bark of religion gnabble on the shel offer the skin keep back the flesh serve God with shewes shall be served accordingly Verse 5. According to the Word Or as Tremellius hath it better Cum VERBO quo pepigeram vobiscum with the WORD in and sor whom I covenanted with you c. So my Spirit remaineth among you And so it is a gracious promise that the whole Trinity will be with them The particle eth seemeth put for gnim◠and the article He is emphatical shewing that by Word is meant the second person often called the Word both in the Old Testament 2 Sam. 7.21 with 1 Chron. 17.19 and in the New Luke 1.2 John 1.1 1 John 5.7 The Caldee seemeth to favour this interpretation for he rendreth it My Word shall be your help Hierome Albertus Nyssen and Haymo dissent not Haggai and other Prophets and Patriarches of old did well understand the mystery of the Sacred Trinity See my note on Gen. 1.1 Elihu speaks of the Almighty his makers Job 35.10 Solomon the same Eccles 12.1 Cant. 1.11 which Jarchi interpreteth of the Trinity Isay hath his Trisagion or Holy Holy Holy chap. 6.3 and chap. 42.5 Thus saith God the Lord He that created the heavens and they that stretched them out So Deut. 6.4 When Moses beginneth to rehearse the law and to explain it the first thing he teacheth them is the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is One Three words answering the three persons and the middle word Our God deciphering fitly the second who assumed our nature as is well observed by Galatinus Others observe that the last letters in the Original both in the word Hear and in the word One are bigger then ordinary as calling for utmost heed and attention The old Rabbines were no strangers to this tremend mystery as appeareth by R. Solomons note on Cant. 1.11 We will make c. though their posterity desperately deny it The Greek Church was not so sound in this fundamental point therefore their chief City Constantinople was taken from them by the Turks as Estius observeth on Whitsunday or as others on Trinity Sunday which day saith our Chronicler the Black Prince was used every year to celebrate with the greatest honour that might be Speed 723. in due veneration of so divine a mystery Now Christ is here and elsewhere called The Word either because hee is so often promised in the Word Or else because by him Gods will was manifested and revealed to men and that either mediately in the Prophets whence Peter Martyr thinketh that phrase came Then came the Word of the Lord that is Christ Or immediately himselfe Heb. 1.2 and 2.3 That I covenanted with you Or in whom I covenanted and whence Christ is called the Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3.1 Christ then was a Saviour to those of the Old Testament also Rev. 13.8 the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World Christ undertook to pay his peoples debt in the fullnesse of time and hereby they were saved A man may let a prisoner loose now upon a promise to pay the debt a year after See Heb. 9.15 and take notice of the unity of the faith in both Testaments they of old saw Christ afarre off in the promises they saluted him and were resaluted by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11. When ye came out of Egypt Ye that is your ancestours Things done by the parents may be said to be done by the children because of the near conjunction that is between them Hence Levi is said to pay tithes in Abraham and Adams sinne is imputed to us all Heb. 7. So my spirit remaineth amongst you Not the substance but the gifts of the Spirit not the tree but the fruits Those whom God receiveth into the covenant of grace he endues them with the spirit of grace See Rom. 8.9.11 How else should they be able to perform their part of the Covenant sith we cannot so much as suspirare unlesse he doe first inspirare breath out a sigh for sinne till he breath it in to us by his Spirit Hereby then we may know whether or no we are in Covenant with God the Devill will be sure to sweep all that are not sc if his spirit remain in us Jer. 31.35 working illumination 1 Cor. 2.14.15 Mortification Rom. 8.13 Motion Rom. 8.14 Guifts 1 Cor. 12.4 7 8. c. Fruits Gal. 5.22.23 strength Esay 11.2 Courages as here Fear ye not Cur timet hominem homo in sinu Dei positus Aug. why should such fear man who have God in Christ by his Spirit standing with them and for them The righteous may be bold as a lyon he hath the peace of God within him and the power of God without him and so goes ever under a double guard what need he fear It is said of Achilles that he was Styge armatus and therefore could not bee wounded But he that is in covenant with God is Deo Christo Spiritu Sancto armatus and may therefore be fearlesse of any creature Verse 6. For thus saith the Lord of hosts i. e. the three persons in Trinity as appeareth by the note on the former verse Howbeit the Author to the Hebrews chap. 12.25.26 applyeth the words to Christ whence observe that Christ is Lord of hosts and God Almighty even the same second person that is called haddabhar the Word in the former verse is very God Compare John 1.3 with Col. 1.14.16 and Iohn 1.9 with Iohn 8.12 and Iohn 1.11 with Acts 3.13.14 c. See those cohaerencies of sentences Iohn 9.3.4 and 11.4 and 12.39.40 besides the Apostles argument Heb. 1.4 That one Gospel written by St. Iohn who was therefore called the Divine by an excellency as afterwards Nazianzen also was because he doth professedly assert and vindicate the Divinity of Christ ever strongly impugned by the Devill and his agents those odious Apostates and hereticks ancient and moderne And no wonder for it is the Rock Mat. 16.18 setting him forth 1. as coessential to the Father his onely begotten sonne Iohn 1.14 One with the Father in essence and power
the Angell of Gods presence and that went before the people in the wildernesse Such were those of the blood-royall and that succeeded David in the government but especially such were the Apostles Christs Mighties who should be endued with so many graces in majesty Authority Strength and truth that men should receive them Cornelius like as so many Angels of God yea even as Christ Jesus Gal. 4.14 Verse 9. I will seek to destroy I will make inquisition and diligent scrutiny I will draw them out of their lurking-places to execution as Saâ—l went to seek David upon the rocks of the wild-goats those high steep and craggy rocks 1 Sam. 24.2 which could not but be very tedious both to himself and to his souldiers to march in But he was set upon 't and would leave no place unsearched See his charge to the Ziphites to take knowledge of all the lurking-holes where he hid himself and to bring him word that he might seek him thorough all the thousands of Judah 1 Sam. 23.23 The Lord need not do so to find out his enemies for in him they live move and subsist Col. 1.17 they are everunder his view and within his reach He sitteth upon the circle of the earth Is 40.22 and can easily shake them out of it as by a canvasse Yea he sits in the height of heaven and wherein they deale proudly he is above them Exod. 18.11 disclosing their cabinet-counsels as he did Benhadads and blasting their designes to destroy all nations God stands not upon multitudes he takes not the tenth man but destroyes all nations be they never so many of them that come against Ierusalem that oppose or affront his people either with their virulent tongues or violent hands When a rabble of rebels shall set themselves against the Lord and against his Christ his mysticall Christ the Church he will utterly destroy them Mercer the word signifieth he will destroy them ut nihil reliquum maneat that there shall be no remainder of them Woe therefore to the Churches enemies for their destruction ever goes with the saints salvation Philip. 1.28 29. Esay 8 9. Prov. 11.8 Gods jealousie Zach. 1.14 and justice 2 Thess 1.6 will effect it surely severely suddely Verse 10. And I will pour upon the house of David Pour as by whole paile-fuls God is no penny-father no small gifts sall from so great a hand he gives liberally Iam. 1.15 and is rich to all that call upon his name Rom. 10.12 abundant in kindnesse Exod. 34.6 plenteous in mercy Psal 103.8 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ hath over-abounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath overflowed all the banks 1 Tim. 1.14 indeed it hath neither bank nor bottom Oh pray for that blisse-full sight Eph. 1.18 and 3.18 19. that Spirit of wisdome and revelation of grace and of supplications Or deprecations of that utter destruction that shall befall other nations God will save his people but so as by prayer Psal 32.6 2 Chron. 7.14 Zach. 13.9 he will grace his own ordinance draw many suitours and derive many prayses to himself See Ezek. 36.37 Psal 50.15 and 116.2 Some render it a spirit of grace and of lamentations sc before the Lord when they felt the nailes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where with they had pierced Christ pricking their own hearts Act. 2.37 punctually pricking and piercing them and they shall look upon the whom they haue pierced Dacaru whom they have dâ—ggered or digged as Psal 22.16 him they shall look upon and lament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 1.7 Lam. 3. their eye shall affect their heart for the eye is the instrument both of sight and of sorrow and what the eye never sees the heart never rues The Sun looketh upon the earth draweth up vapours thence and distilleth them down again so doth the Sun of the understanding which till it be convinced the heart cannot be compuncted Sight of sin must precede sorrow for sin The The prodigall came to himself ere he repented of his loose practises men must bethink themselves or bring back to their hearts as the Hebrew hath it 1 King 8.47 ere they will say We have sinned and dealt perversely we have committed wickednesse See Ier. 8.6 Psal 38.18 An infant in the womb cryes not because he sees not but as soon as it comes into the light he sets up his note Get therefore your eyes anointed with eye-salve with this spirit of grace and supplications so shall you soon see saith Mr. Bradford martyr your face foull arrayed and so shamefull saucy mangy pocky and scabbed that you cannot but be sorry at the contemplation thereof It is the spirit that convinceth the world of sin neither can the waters till his wind bloweth Psal 147.18 A sigh is not breathed out for sin till the spirit imbreach the same into us and they shall mourn for him Or for it viz. for their crucifying the Lord of glory in their forefathers and having a great hand in it themselves sith their and our sins were thorns and nails that pierced him the lance that let out his heart-blood c. We bound him with cords we beat him with rods buffetted him with fists reviled him with our mouths nodded at him with our heads c. We were the chief actours and principal causes that set awork Judas Pilat c. Oh stand a while with the devout women and see him bleeding groaning dying by the wounds that we gave him and mourn affectionatly over him as here they shall mourn with such outward pomp and rites as are used at fune ralls as wringing the hands beating the breasts shaking the head and the like externall gestures and expressions of heavinesse and shall be in bitternesse by inwardnesse of extream grief as when Davids heart was leavened with it Psal 73.21 it was sowred with goodly sorrow and sowced in the teares of true repentance So Peter went forth and wept bitterly Mat. 26.15 waters of Marah flowed from Mary Magdalens eyes which were as a fountain for Christs feet here sorrow was deep and down-right producing repentance never to be repented of The sorrow we conceive for an unkindnesse offered to Christ must not be slight and sudden but sad and soaking like that of the Israelites met at Mizpeh when they drew water before the Lord 1 Sam. 7.6 whereunto the Prophet Jeremy seemeth to allude when he seriously wisheth that his head were waters c. Ier. 9.1 and David with his rivers of teares Psa 119.136 His heart was soft and soluble now softnesse of heart discovers sin as the blots run abroad and seem biggest in wet paper and as when the Cockatrice egge is crushed it breakes forth into a viper Isa 59.5 Now to make and keep the heart soft and tender the consideration of Christs dolorous passion must needs be of singular use and efficacy as the sight of Câ—sars bloody robes brought forth greatly affected the people of Rome and edged them to revenge The
hath it Ad ablutionem peccatoris menstruâ—â—â— For washing clean the sinner and the menstruous woman alluding as doth also the Chaldee to the waters of expiation made of the ashes of a red cow Num. 19.11 17. See the Note there and importing the purging both of he sinners and she-sinners Or as some will have it both of Actual and Original sin Lo this is the vertue of Christs merit and spirit 1 Cor. 6.10 11. far beyond that of Abanah Pharphar of Jordan and Siloam which yet are said not onely to wash and scour but also to heal and cure The Saracenes naturally stink like goats but by washing themselves and their children in the pool of Siloam Saligniacus Adrichom Plin. lib. 31. cap 11. Isidor lib. 13. Orig c. 13. Heyl Geog. 285. they become sweeter The Turks make use of it to sharpen their eye-sight At Cyzicum there is a well called Cupids well the water whereof is said to quench the fire of lust This is better yet then those Bathes of Rome concerning which Seneca no lesse wittily then truly complained Postquam munda balnea inventa sunt spurciores sunt qui lavant Or those wanton Bathes of upper-Badin in Helvetia much frequented yet not so much for health as filthy pleasure They that are in Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 they are not onely washed from their wickednesse Jer. 4.14 but bereft of their swinish natures nè tanquam sus ad volutabrum c 2 Pet. 2.22 Verse 2. gnotsabim terriculorum scar-crows I will cut off the names of the idols Heb. of the fray-bugges as they are likewise called 1 Sam. 31.9 1 Chro. 10.9 Psal 115.4 in contempt as Priapus in Horace furum qniumque Maxime formido Or grievous idols as Psal 16.4 because they tormented the mindes of the superstitious and put them to great pains to no purpose as is to be seen in Popish Pilgrims who though used hardly and lose much of their estates and other comforts yet satisfie themselves in this I have that I came for viz. the sight of a dumb idol as Calvin noteth on that place Seek ye my face Now of these mawmets and monuments of idolatry these Balaams blocks the Lord here promiseth to rid the land as he did under the Maccabees And as in the Primitive Church he did by the Christian Emperors stiled therefore by the superstitious Iconomachi and Iconaclastae and of late by the renowned Reformers as at Geneva Bern Basile where they were burnt all together on an Ash-wednesday of Gods own making and here in England by the command of King Edward the sixth who the self same day obtained a signal victory at Muscleborough-field and they shall no more be remembred Unlesse it be with shame and detestation as Ezech. 16.61 Psal 16.4 Hos 14.8 Ephraim shall say what have I to do any more with idols He shall pollute the idols which he once perfumed and say unto them Get you hence Isay 30.22 I was an obstinate Papist saith Latimer of himself as any was in England and a grosse Idolater c. But after that he came to a sight of his errour he so far forth abhorred idols that being brought forth after he was condemned to die to see a procession Act. and Mon. fol. 1230. he ran as fast as his old bones would carry him to one Spensers shop neer Karfax in Oxford and would not once look toward it and also I will cause the Prophets So they will needs be called and counted when as they are no better then unclean spirits see the Geneva-Note here or at least are acted and set on work by that unclean spirit the Devil See Mat. 12.43 Mar. 1.26 Iohn 8.44 Rev. 16.13 with the Notes indeed they are false Prophets Mat 7.15 false teachers who privily bring in damnable heresies 2 Pet. 2.1 vanae orationis cui nulla veritatis vel virtutis ratio subest sunt artifices stultè loquaces garruli saith Montanus they are loud lewd liers inspired by that unclean spirit the father of lies Junius in loc ut impurati impurent alios seducant seducti that being themselves defiled and seduced they may defile and seduce others For by corrupt teachers Satan catcheth men as a cunning fisher by one fish catcheth another that he may feed upon both and the unclean spirit to passe out of the land This connexion is worthy to be noted saith reverend Calvin here because it shews us the source of all errours viz. the letting loose the reins to perverse teachers I confesse saith He we are apt enough of our selves to run after falsities such is the corruption of our natures Sed interea ubi grassatur licentia quidvis docendi necesse est corrumpi totam pietatem sic misceri omnia ut nihil differat lux à tenebris c. But where in matters of Religion every man may think that he lists and utter what he thinks and defend what he utters and publish what he defends and gather disciples to what he publisheth this libertas prophetandi this liberty or licentiousnesse rather of prophecying alasse poor England must needs bane the Church and bring in confusion God therefore here gives us to know that a Church canot stand unlesse false teachers be forbidden to turn the truth into a lie and to prate at their pleasure against the word of God and this saith He is diligently to be noted Videmus enim ut hodiè nebulones quidam c. For we see how at this day certain vile persons take it up for a principle that the Church is not free unlesse every man may be suffered to preach or broach what he pleaseth and that it is greatest cruelty to punish an heretike and not to give him leave to blaspheme the truth But the Prophet here sheweth that the Church of God cannot be kept in pure state nor stand intire and safe unlesse the rashnesse and impudency of such be restrained as dare pervert sound and sincere doctrine Thus He. Verse 3. And it shall come to passe that when any shall yet prophesie Here the Prophet sheweth how God will effect the former promise He will first give unto his people a spirit of judgement and then a spirit of burning as Esay 4.4 so that they shall be able to discerne both good and evil Heb. 5.14 2 Pet. 2.17 and not be led away with the errour of the wicked to fall from their own stedfastnesse they shall also be adeo percici zelo so carried on by a zeal of Gods glory and so blessedly blown up as I may so say in his cause that they shall fall upon their dearest relations in this case and labour to bring their own children to condigne punishment according to the Law of God in that behalf provided Deut. 13.8 9. Neither let any object here Ob. Sol. that this is Old Testament we find no such thing in the Gospel For the Prophet here
Exod 22.8 yet did this evil prevail in Israel 2 Chron. 33.6 Jer. 27.9 and here It was done by unlawful means as Saul said to the witch Divine unto me by the familiar spirit 1 Sam. 28.8 and it was a thing hateful to God even as high rebellion 1 Sam. 15.23 sith the ground of this familiarity is a diobolical contract ovort or covert explicit or implicit It is fitly called the black Art for there 's no true light in them that use it Isai 8.19 they depart from God and his testimony ib. and so tempt the devil to tempt them This was Sauls sin for which the Lord killed him 1 Chron. 10.13 and hath threatened to cut off all from among his people that do enquire of such Levit. 20.6 Thou hast been partaker with the adulterer Psal 50.18 so are such with sorcerers Surely the wounds of God are better then the salves of Satan as Ahaziah found it And they which in case of losse or sicknesse c. make hell their refuge shall smoke and smart for it in the end Satan seeks to them in his temptations they in their consultations seek to him and now that they have mutually found each other if ever they part it is a miracle He is an unspeakable proud spirit and yet will stoop to the meanest man or woman to be at their command the witch of Endor is twice in one verse 1 Sam. 28.7 called the Mistrisse of the Spirit because in covenant with him whereby he may cheat them and their clients of Salvation Every one that consults with him worships him though he bow not as Saul did neither doth that old man-slayer desire any other reverence then to be sought unto and against the adulterers Sept. the adulteresses Adultrinum qu â—si ad alterum out alterius torum a going up to another mans bed as Reuben did and was severely sentenced for it Gen. 49.4 It was to be punished with death even by the law of Nature because the society and purity of posterity could not otherwise continue amongst men Nebuchad nazzar roasted in the fire Zedekiah and Ahab two false prophets of Judah because they committed adultery with their neighbours wives Jer. 29.22 23. The Egyptians used to cut off the nose of the adulteresse the Prophet alludes to this Ezek. 23.25 The Athenians Lacedemomans and Romans were very severe against this sin as Plutarch recordeth in his parallels The old French and Saxons also as Tacitus tells us By Gods law they were to be stoned to death and the High-priests daughter was to be burned for this fault Lev. â—1 9 a peculiar punishment and not to be paralleld in the whole law If men fail to fall upon such it is an hainous crime saith holy Job and an iniquity to be punished by the Judges Venus ab antiquis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicla See Pro. 5.8 Chap. 31.10 God himself will do it Heb. 13.4 and did it effectually 1 Cor. 10.8 and on the filthy Sodomites Gen. 19. and on Charles 2. King of Navar who was much addicted to this sin which so wasted his spirits that in his old age he fell into a Lethargy To comfort his benumbed joynts he was bound and sewed up in a sheet steeped in boyling Aquavitae The Surgeon having made an end of sewing him and wanting a knife to cut off his threed took a wax candle that stood lighted by him But the flame running down by the threed caught hold on the sheet which according to the nature of the Aquavitae burned with that vehemency that the miserable king ended his dayes in the fire But say the adulterer be neither stoned nor burned yet God usually stoneth such with a stony heart Hos 4.11 which is a most fearful judgment and when they die burneth them with the hottest fire in hell Prov. 2.18 the whores guests go down to the dead Heb. el Rephaim to the Giants to that part of hell where those damned monsters are See 2 Peter 2.10 and mark the word Chiefly and against false swearers A sin of an high nature condemned by the height of nature and punished by the Heathens Perjurij poena divina exitium humana dedecus This was one of the laws of the twelve tables in Rome God punisheth perjury with destruction men with disgrace Tissaphernes the Persian General being ovecrome by Agesilaus King of Spartans craved three-moneths truce and had it They both sware to be quiet on both sides Tissaphernes soon brake his oath Cornel Nepos in vit Ages but Agesilaus religiously kept it saying that Gods and men would favour him for his fidelity but curse and execrate the other for his perjury God shewed Zachary a flying role long and large ten yards long and five broad full of curses against the false swearer with commission to rest upon his house Zac. 5.3.4 which he he holds his castle and where he thinks himself most secure Michael Paleologus Emperour of Constantinople made the Greek Church acknowledge the Popes supremacie and did many other things contrary to his oath and therefore lieth obscurely buried shrouded in the sheet of defame saith the Historian Turk hist So doth Rodulphus Duke of Sueveland who by the Popes instigation broke his oath of allegiance to Henry the Emperour and by the cutting off his faithlesse right hand lost his life So doth Sigismund the Emperour for his false dealing with John Husse Ladislaus king of Hungary for his perjurious setting upon Amurath the great Turk at the battle of Varna where he was deservedly defeated What a blur was that to the old Romans if true that Mirchanes the Persian General should say of them Roman is promitcere promptum est c. Procop. 1. de bello Persic The Romans will promise any thing and swear to it but perform nothing that makes against their profit There were at Rome such as could lend an oath at need and would not stick to swear that their friend or foe was at Rome and at Interamna both at once How slippery the Papists are and how bloody both in their Postions and dispositions is well known to all But God is the avenger of all such because they call him to witnesse a falshood and dare him to his face to execute his vengeance See Zach. 8.17 and against those that oppresse c. Either by denying diminishing or delaying their wages The vulgar rendereth it Who calamniate or make cavils to detain wages which is the poor hirelings lively-hood whereupon he setteth his heart Deut. 24.15 and maintaineth his life which is therefore called the life of his hands Isai 57.10 because upheld by the labour of his Hands He gets it and eats it and is in his house like a snail in his shell crush that and you kill him This is a crying cruelty Jam. 5.4 and hath a woe against it Jer. 22.13 Jam. 2.13 Laban is taxed for it Gen. 31.7 and for those that are guilty if they mend not and make restitution Master
fry weep and gnash live and die a dying life a living death not for a time or times or half a time t Rev. 12.14 oh happy they if ever they might hope an end but ever and ever and beyond all time throughout all eternity Oh considerchis all ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you u Psal 50.22 Save your selves from this tormenting Tophet and be forwarned to flee from the wrath to come See what miserable slaves ye are to Satan being altogether as much in his power and clutches x Act. 26 18 as he that goes gyved is in the gaolers or he that goes up the ladder pininond and hoodwinkt in the hangmans and for how little good advantage ye lay forth your selves and toyl out your lives in wearisome * Ier. 9.5 Psal 55.10 wickednesse Do but summon the sobriety of your senses afore your own judgments and see what uncessant pains ye are at and all to go to hell whiles you do wickedly with both hands earnestly y Mic. 7.3 working hard at the works of the flesh but putting your gets into a bottomlesse bag z Hag. 1.6 Nay that 's not all for he that soweth the winde shall reap the whirelwinde a Prov. 22 8 Hos 10 12 saith Solomon that is he that soweth the wind of sin and vanity shall reap the whirlwinde of vengeance and misery And he that soweth to his flesh shall of the fiesh reap that corruption that is contradistinguisht to life everlasting b Gal. 6.8 for the wages of sin is death c Rom. 6. ult Sursum cursum nostrum dirigamus minantem imminentem exterminantem mortem attendamus ne simul cum corporis fractura animae jacturam faciamus temporal spiritual and eternal And is it nothing to lose an immortal soul to purchase an everliving death hear then set thy self in good earnest to see and sigh under Satans servitude be sensible of his yoke as galling thy neck and let it make thee cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this unsufferable servitude Behold I am more miserable then Samson at the mill for he had hope in his death d Prov. 14.32 but what hope have I When God shall take away my soul e Job 27.8 I am more miserable then Zedekiah in cold irons for though he los his eyes yet he escaped with his life but I alasse am am dead while alive f 1 Tim. 5.6 a very living ghost a walking sepulchre of my self I am more miserable then Ieremy in the dungenon for he found friends and means of enlargement but to which of the Saints shall I turn my self g Job 5.1 or where shall I finde help or rescue in heaven or earth I am more wretched then Israel in Egypt for if they performed their tasks they escaped the lash but I after all my best services done o the devill am laden with stripes and shall be scourged with scorpions * â—â—â—nsideret his quilibet quam jod 1 sir servitus servhe priacipi immò tyranno diabolo qui subditos sibi infandis divexat modis Bucer Thus make moan to thy self first and tenmake out to Christ next for manumission and enlargement for if the son set you free you shall be free indeed h Ioh. 8.36 Cry to the Lord Christ in the words of the ancient Church O Lord other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us but we will remember thee only and thy name i Isa 26.13 Thy name is as an oynt munt powred out theresore the Virgins love thee k Cant 1.3 O pour upon my dry soul of that precious oyntment and stablish me with thy free spirit l Psal 51 12 for where thy spirit is there is liberty m 2 Cor. 3.17 from both the commanding and the condemning poer of sin and Satan O deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove to these wicked ones x in thy righteousnesse rid me and set me free For a day in thy courts is better then a thousand other-where I had rather be a dore-keeper in the house of my God o Ps 84.10 11 then to be Satans chlef-favourite or one of the privy chamber For the Lord God is a Sun and a shield the Lord will give grace and glory large wages grace and glory what things be these one would think that were reward enough for such sorry service as we can do him a best ey but then her 's more then enough for no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Oh bountifull God! who would not chuse and covet to be thy servant who would not gladly stand waiting at the posts of thy gates p Prov. 8 34 if haply at any hour of th day he might hear thy happy call and be hired into thy heavenly Vineyard who would not â—un through thick and thin * Quidam ad omnia viae vitae hujus exercitia non solum ambulant sed currunt imò potius volant Bern. Serm. 3. de Asc Dom. to compasse such a gainfull service And yet 't is a world to see a wonder to behold how strangely men hang off here how hard they are to be wonn to the setting in hand with the works of the Lord miserably slighting God offers and letting slip their golden opportunities of getting into his employment They talke sometimes of the wages but shrink at the work as the Israelites talked of the reward of Goliath's conquest yet fled from it when they had done q 1 Sam. 17.24 25 The land is good said those faint-hearted spies but the cityes are walled up to heaven and the inhabitants unconquerable They wish well other-whiles to heaven as he that kneeled to our Saviour with good master r Mat. 19.16 Turpe est impios diabolo tam strenuèservire nos Christo pro sanguinis â—retio nihil rependere Cyprian lib. de oper et eleemos in his mouth they could be glad with Balaam to dye the death of the righteous but to live their precise and austere life that goes to the heart of them they cannot frame to it O blinder then Beetles the merchant refuseth no adventure for the hope of gain the hunter shrinketh at no weather for love of game the souldier declineth no danger for desire of glory or spoile the bear breaks in upon the hives contemning the stings And shall we fain to our selves an ease in not understanding or an idlenesse in not seeking after that service that will be a means unto us not only of avoyding intollerable and endlesse torments which is the devills meed and wages but also of attaining immeasurable and immortall glory pleasure and gain which is Gods reward and guerdon For glory honour and peace to every man that works good to the lew first and also to the Gentile Å¿ Rom. 2 10 And contented godlinesse
carried captive by Kederlaomer Whereas else he would make a short work upon the earth Rom. 9.28 If the mourners were once marked and set safe out of harmes way he would soon say to the Angell Ezek 9. Smite and spare not Look what Elisha once said to Jehoram King of Israel the same saith God to all ungodly persons Surely were it not that I regard the presence of Iehoshaphat the good king of Judah 2 King 3.14 I would not look toward thee nor see thee Add hereunto that God not only spareth and blesseth but also graceth and gifteth the wicked with excellent abilities and endowments for his peoples behoof and benefit as Saul with a spirit of government for Israels sake and of prophecy for Davids safety the Egyptians with Jewels for the use of the sanctuary and those that shall hear Depart ye with the power of prophesying and doing miracles for the Churches use and benefit Nay more Prov. 21.18 the wicked shall be a ransome for the righteous and the transgressour for the upright Thus God gave Egypt for Israels ransome Isa 43.3 4. I gave Ethiopia and Seba for thee And why Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee Therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life Thus is the righteous delivered out of trouble and the wicked comes in his stead Prov. 11.8 SECT IX OH but we see it otherwise often that those you call righteous are not delivered Ob. Sol. And what more sure then sight First sight though the most certain sense may be deceived about its own object if it want a clear middle For example A man beholds a staff part through the clear ayre and part through the dark water and so deems it crooked when indeed it is straight So the purblind world beholding the Christian life thorough the dark middle of prejudice judgeth it miserable and disconsolate not knowing that to the righteous there ariseth light out of darknesse joy out of grief good out of evill comforts out of crosses and those equivalent to deliverances Those mentioned in that little book of Martyrs Heb. 11. though tortured and tympanized yet they would not be delivered that they might obtain a better resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was never merrier with the three children then in the midst of the furnace where the son of God was walking with them Dan. 3. Gen. 28. Iacobs heart was never so light as when his head lay hardest Secondly there is a double deliverance One keeping us from the evill and another keeping us under it that it shall not hold us much lesse hurt us And this later way at least every of Gods Jewels is made up and delivered For though ye have layne among the pots all burnt and swooty yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers of yellow gold Psal 68.13 Delivered then the righteous are we see though not delivered That they are not here fully freed from trouble they may thank themselves in a great measure For as the subjection of the creature to us depends upon our subjection to God and our peace with men upon our keeping peace with him Iob 5.23 So our subjection to God and peace with him here being only inchoate and imperfect we recover our safety from the creatures and peace with men but in part and unperfectly But look what is wanting therein is recompensed with spirituall peace even here Ioh. 16 â—3 how much more hereafter And say that God suffer his Jewels to be killed all day long and counted as sheep to the slaughter yet precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints Psal 116.15 Rom. 8. and neither life nor death shall sunder them from Gods love in Christ Jesus So that if they ' scape not his sword without yet they shall ' scape the terrour within which is that that sets an edge upon the sword and makes it enter into the soul The godly man shall be able in the worst times to call his soul to rest with David Psal 116.7 1 Sam. 30.6 Luc. 21. Deut. 20. and to comfort himself in the Lord his God in a common combustion then when others shall be at their wits ends and even mad again for the sight of their eyes and perplexity of their spirits Death he knowes is the worst that can befall him and that ever since it ran through the veins of Christ crucified is so sweetened unto him that he is little or no whit amazed at the fore-going gripes which are but as the throwes of Child-birth by which the soul is borne out of this lothsome body into endlesse felicity Oh therefore the safety and dignity of a true Christian whom very pain easeth whom death reviveth whom dissolution uniteth whom lastly his very corruption preserveth and sin glorifieth As for our full deliverance from all annoyances we grone within our selves and with patience wait for it even the redemption of our bodies Rom. 8.23 24. Pectatum tametsi non bonum tamen in bâ—num Aug. And when that happy day once begins to shine forth then look up if ever for your redemption draweth nigh Luc. 21.28 The Lord Christ will then lift up your heads as Pharaoh did his Butlers take you from the prison to the palace and restore you to your ancient honours and offices loft in Adam as to be Kings Priesty Judges Benchers c. He shall say unto you then as once to Israel Behold I will settle you after your old estates and will do better unto you then at your beginnings and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Ezek. 36.11 This meditation setled David â—â—eedingly Psal 17. where having spoken of the men of this world Psal 17.15 which have their portion here he presently subjoynes As for me I shall behold thy face in righteousnes I shall be satisfied when I awake that is out of the dust of death with thine image This also kept Jobs head above water when else he had been overwhelmed with floods of affliction Job 19.25 26 I know that my Redeemer liveth c. And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God Daniel 12.1 2. Though things be otherwise darkly delivered yet when the Jews were to lose land and life then plainly the Resurrection is named And Heb. 11.35 we read of some that were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection Joh. 11.24 I know saith Martha that my brother shall rise at the Resurrection at the Consolation saith the Syriack Translator And well he might call it the Consolation to the righteous for these prerogatives and priviledges that shall befall all such in that day SECT X. FIrst a glorious resurrection of their dead bodies by vertue of the mystical Union they have with Christ The bodies of the Saints though
a pitcht battle Here iâ— was saith Adrichomius that Gideon fought the Midianites Iudg. 6.7 Saul the Philistines 1 Sam. 31. Ahab the Syrians 1 King 20. And here Zachary the last of Jehu's line was slain and with him the kingdom of Israel received such a wound that it could never rise again Monaâ—chies have their times and their turns their rise and their ruine Junius renders it Propter Vallem Jericho I will break the bow of Israel because of the wall of Jezreel that is saith he because of the slaughter of Ahabs house there made by Jehu 2 King 10 Jehu's Tent in that execution was rewarded as an Act of Justice quoad substantiam operis and yet punished as an Act of policy quoad modum for the perverse end Finibus non officijs a vitijs discernuntur virtutes saith Augustine By the ends and not by the works done are vertues distinguished from vices Two things make a good Christian and declare him so good Actions and good Aimes And although a good aime doth not make a bad Action good as in Vzza yet a bad aime makes a good action bad as here in Jebu There may be then we see malum opus in bona materia a work materially good which yet may never prove so formally and eventually sc when there is a fail either quoad fontem or quoad finem A thing which I see in the night may shine and that shining proceed from nothing but rottenness Blazing comets though but comets as long as they keep aloft shine bright But when they begin to decline from their pitch they fall to the earth and infect the Air. So when Illuminates forsake the Lord and minde onely earthly things being all for self they lose their light and go out in a snuffe Jehu's golden calves made an end of him and his though he made an end of Ahabs house and Baals worship His rooting out of Ahabs race was but to settle the crown better upon his own head Like unto him was our Richard the third who well knowing saith the Historian it was no pollicy to play the villaine by half-deal is resolved to leave never a rub to lie in the way Daniels hist 218. that might hinder the true running of his bowle Like unto him also saith Master Calvin upon this text was our king Henry the eighth who cast off some degree of Popery so farre as would serve his own turn but there were the six Articles in force that whip with six cords as that Martyr called it for which many suffered at that time Acts Mor. And whereas like Sylla he commanded others under great penalties to be no Papists himself was either Papist or Athiest jearing at some for their old Mumpsimus and at others for their new Sumpsimus as he profanely called the Reformation hanging Papists on the one side of the hedge for denying his Supremacy and burning Protestants on the other side thereof for denying Transubstantiation c. And hence it may be thought is that dreadfull and dismall ruine that is now in these our dayes and in the fourth generation or succession befaln the royall family The house of Jehu fareth the worse for Jehu Offa king of East-Saxons lived in the time of Charles the great and was a potent Prince But the many injuries he did and the murther he committed in his house upon Ethelbert king of East-Angles coming to him under a publike faith and a suitor to his daughter were justly revenged upon his posterity which after him declining in the end lost all But to return to Jehu we shall find 2 Kin. 10.30 Daniels hist p. 111. that God said that because Jehu had shed the blood of Ahab in Jezreel that he would reward him for it and that his children to the fourth generation should sit upon the throne of Israel and govern that Kingdom And yet for miscarriage in the manner justly plagueth his posterity As Xerxes crowned his Steeresman in the morning and yet hanged him in the afternoon of the same day And as Marescal de Thermas the French Generall first Knighted a French souldier in Scotland who first mounted a besieged Fort by that means taken and then hanged him within an hour after for doing it without order See more of this in the Note upon the former verse Verse 6. And she conceived againe To shew in a continued allegory the weak and wofull estate of the ten tribes when the Assyrian took from them all the land of Gilead and Galilee together with all the land of Nepthali and carried them captive subduing in a manner five tribes of Israel to wit those without Iordan who as they had first their inheritance given them so they were now first carried captives and the tribes of Zabulon and Nepthali who were seated in the land of Galilee And this was the first captivity of Israel see 2 Kings 15.29 Esay 9.1 And bare a daughter This age is compared to a daughter because from that time forward after the bow of Israel was so broken as Verse 5. they should be no more able to defend themselves than if they were a common-wealth of women Their spirits should be so cowed out and emasculated their backs so bowed down with unsupportable burdens and bondages Vt de Ctanmerâ— Melc Ad. that there was scarcely place left of a worse condition nor hope of a better Like them were those we read of Esay 51.23 that yeelded to such as would but say to them Bow down that we may go over you Hom Jl. sic Virg Phrygiae neque enim Phryges Or as those in Nahum 3.13 Their men shall be as women 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 timerous and cowardly like Issachar's Asse Gen 49.15 whose lot fell in Galilee Iosh 19.18 or those fugitives of Ephraim Iudg. 12.4 that therefore bare a brand of dishonour because they would not rather die bravely then live basely Of such it may be said as of Harts and Stags they have great horns and strength but do nothing with them quia deest animus because their spirits are imbased as the Israelites in Egypt were of old by Pharoah and as the Grecians are at this day by the Turk call her name Loruhamah When God once calls a people or a person by this name we may well write upon their dores if any place be yet left for prayer any good to be done by it Lord have mercy upon them their condition is deplorable if not desperate Vade frater in Cellam et dic Miserere mei Deus Brother go into thy Cell and say Lord have mercy upon me said Crantzius to Luther when he began to declaime against the Pope for he looked upon him as an undone man Scultet Annal. and yet he was not But those are doubly undone to whom God shall say as here to Israel I will no more have mercy Heb I will add no more to shew mercy but my so oft abused mercy shall turn into fury That it
world and all Nations set by God are as a drop of a bucker or dust of a ballance they can no more stand before him then a glasse-bottle can before a cannon-shot 1 Cor. 8.4 Isai 40.15 It was bootlesse therefore for this adulteresse to hope for help from her lovers when God once took her in hand He would give her her due Ipsis spectantibus stantibus instar stipitum whiles they look on and stood like so many stocks not daring to stir for her rescue and relief See for this Rev. 18.10 with the Note Verse 11. I will also cause her mirth to cease Idolaters are frollick and jovial the greatest mirth-mongers the merry Greeks of the world set altogether upon the merry pin Job 21.13 they spend their dayes in pleasure and suddenly turn into hell Thus it was with these old idolaters See Amos 6.4 And thus it is with the Papists at this day They have a Proverb amongst them Spiritus Calvinianus est spiritus melancholicus A Calvinisticall spirit is a melancholy spirit Turn Protestant once and you must for ever bid adieu to mirth and jollity and lead a Monkish melancholy life In their supplication to King Iames for a Toleration they used this as an argument for their Religion above ours because more suitable and pleasing to mans nature Revel 13. It is indeed an alluring tempting bewitching religion Sir Walter Rawleigh knew what he said That were he to chuse a Religion for licentious liberty lasciviousnesse and merry-living he would be a Papist Hence the whole world is said to wonder after the Beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quâ—d omnium animalium amicus sit Isidor which is said to be like unto a Leopard or Panther Now the Panther is admired and followed by most other beasts of the field and thence hath his name either for the beauty of his hide or for the sweetnesse of his smell So is the Pope for those sensual delights and swinish pleasures he alloweth his followers Lupanar utriusque Veneris Roma condidiâ— saith Agrippa concerning Pope Sixtus Quintus But what should I rake in that dunghill Such sinfull mirth as it is base born so it is of short continuance God will make it to cease and to go soon out in a vexing snuffe For why There is a snare or cord in the sinne of the wicked sc to strangle their joy with but the righteous sing and are merry Prov. 29.6 yea they are merry or right set in their mindes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Sept. here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostles word signifies Iames 5.13 and therefore they sing yea and shall sing for joy of heart when wicked men shall crie for sorrow of heart yea howle again for vexation of spirit Esay 65.14 Mean-while their mirth is but the hypocrisie of mirth It may wet the mouth but not warm the heart smooth the brow but not fill the breast It is like a little counterfeit complexion As they repent only in the face Mat. 6.16 so they rejoyce only in the face 2 Cor. 1.5.12 Indeed they revel rather then rejoyce the end of that mirth is heaviness Pro. 14.13 as lightening is attended with thunder as comets end in a pestilent vapour Let the Lord but turn his hand take away his corn c. destroy vine and fig-trees c. and this carnal mirth is at an end their light is put out in obscure darknesse they lye down in sorrow and are all Amort they are filled with unmedicinable perplexities and are ready to run mad Deut. 28.34 Whereas a godly man as he hath a constant spring of comfort within him and can be merry without musick so he can stand under the greatest weight of affliction without buckling as Paul he can be medjis tranquillus in undis as Noah he can confidently say wth Habakkuk Although the figtree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the Vines c. Yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Chap. 3.17 Her feast-dayes her new-moones Not the matter of their joy onely shall be abolished but the times too She shall neither have holy-dayes nor good dayes as they are called Esth 8.17 to keep and celebrate Here then the Lord shewes how he will uncover this harlots nakednesse Viz First he will strip her of her spirituals and next of her temporals Verse 12. Her feast-dayes new-moons sabbaths and solemn-feasts were but apish imitations of those commanded by God whose ape Satan will needs be Habent vespae favos simiae imitantur homines Waspes also have honey-combs as well as Bees and apes will be doing at mens actions Satans synagogue may seem a true Church The ten revolted Tribes kept also diverse solemne dayes partly commanded by the Law as new-moons and sabbaths and partly instituted by Ieroboam in honour of their idols as now among the Papists in pretended honour of the Saints with feasting dancing ringing roaring of organs c. These solemnities therefore the Lord here first utterly disowneth calling them her feast-dayes her sabbaths c. and none of his because they did lacte gypsum miscere mingle lime with milk as Irenaeus saith of Plato Non mea tua funt as Martial saith of his Epigrams ill read by another And secondly that he will take them away sc by carrying themselves away captive See Chap. 9.4 5. and so pull off their vizour wash off their varnish of rites and ceremonies and lay them open to all in their own colours Verse 12. And I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees Not her wine and her figs onely i. e. her delicious drinks and sweet-meats even all her plenty sed vineta ipsa ficeta as Rivet observeth which shews a great deal of anger for fruit-trees were not to be destroyed in an enemies countrey like as he discovered a great deal of fear of the Spanish Inquisitours Heyl. Geog. 52 c. that brought one of them his pears which he had sent for tree and all by the roots It is wisdome to meet God by repentance lest he stub up root and branch together lest he overturn overturn overturn so as it shall be no more Ezek. 21.27 lest he crie Cut it down Luke 13.7 why cumbreth it the ground sith it is not for fruit let it be for the fire whereof she hath said These are my rewards The wages of my wickednesse the hire of my Harlotry Deut. 23.18 Ezek. 16.34 pretium mâ—ritorium Adultery is costly Whores must have their rewards they lie in wait for a prey Prov. 23.20 and will soon bring a rich man to beggery Prov. 6.26 Solomon himself was so exhausted by such shee sinners so they call them Cruces et crumenio ulgas suck purses the Poet calleth them that he was forced to oppresse his Subjects to supâ—ly his coffers which occasioned the losse of ten Tribes Harlots know no other language but that of the
others sensuall sins and fleshly lusts such as are here instanced whoredome and drunkennesse do war against the soule 1 Pet. 2.11 do take away the heart they besot and infatuate a man they rob him of his reason and carry away his affections c. Grace is seated in the power of nature Now these carnall sins disable nature and so set it in a greater distance from grace They make men that formerly seemed to give light as a candle to become as a snuff in a socket drowned in the tallow or as a quagmire which swallowes up the seed sown upon it and yields no increase Who are voyd of the spirit but such as are sensual Jude 18.19 And who are they that say unto God depart from us but those that dance to the timbrel and harp c. Job 21.11 They saw God and did eat and drink Exod. 24.11 that is say some though they had seen God yet they curned againe to sensuall pleasures as if it had reference to that eating and drinking and rising up to play upon the dedication of their calf Lib. de mirabil auscult which was presently after Aristotle writeth of a parcel of ground in Sicily that sendeth forth such a strong smell of fragrant flowers to all the fields and grounds there abouts that no hound can hunt there the sent is so confounded with the sweet smell of the flowers Let us see to it that the pleasures of sin take not away all sent and sense too of heavenly delights that the flesh as a Syren befoole not wisdomes guests and get them away from her Prov. 9.16 as Elian tels of a whore that boasted that she could easily get all Soâ—rates his Schollers from him but he could not recover one againe from her Indeed none that go unto her return againe saith Solomon Prov. 2.19 for she gets their hearts from them as David found and Solomon complained David was never his own worthy againe after he had moyled himself with that beastly sin And Solomon when he gave himself to wine and women though his mother had sufficiently warned him Prov. 31.3.4 he quickly took hold of folly Eccles 2.3 his sensualities drew out his spirits and dissolved him brought him to so low an ebb in grace that many question his salvation Bellarmine reckons him among reprobates but I like not his judgement Let ministers of all men this is spoken of the Priests chiefly as some think see to it that they fly fleshly lusts that they exhort the younger women with châ—sâ—â—ty as St. Paul bids Timothy and drink if any yet but a little wine for their beaâ—ths sake remembring that the sins of Teachers are teachers of sins and that their evill practises fly far upon those two dangerous wings of Example and Scandall Ministers should be no wine-bibbers or Alestakes 1 Tim. 3.3 nè magis solliciti de mero quâ—m de vero magis ament mundi delicias quam Christi divitias lest being lovers of pleasure more then lovers of God that should befall them that Solomon foretelleth Prov. 23.33 thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine heart shall utter perverse things Venter aestuans mero spumat in libidinem Hieron Aristot Ovid. 2. deremed Amor. A belly filled with wine foameth out filthinesse saith Hierom. Wine is the milk of Venus saith Another Vina parant animos Veneri saith a third Whoredome is usually ushered in by drunkennesse Hence they stand so close together in this text Verse 12. My people ask counsel at their stocks that is at their Images which are here called stocks in contempt as Hezekiah called the brazen serpent when it was idolized by the people Nehushtan or a piece of brass and as Julius Palmer martyr called the Rood in Pauls a Jackanapes Act. mon. and as the poet in contempt of his own God Priapus brings him in saying Olim truncus eram ficulnus Horat inutile lignum So the Prophet cryes shame upon the house of Israel See that graphicall description of their madnesse Esay 44.11 c. Rivet in loc for saying to a stock thou art my father and to a stone thou hast brought me forth Jer. 2.27 But to such senselesse practises men fall many times when they grow sensuall See 2 Thes 2.10 Rev. 17.5 Spiritull whoredome and bodily go usually together Rivet tels us here of a Noble-man that went out of the Church from hearing mass into the very next house where he kept a whore and said to the by-standers a lupanari ad missam unum tantum esse passum that there is but one step from the masse to a whore-house and their staff that is saith Kimchi their false-prophets upon whom they leane and by whom they are led as a blind man by his staff But I rather think it is meant of Rabdomancy a kind of odd way of divining by rods and staves as Nebuchadnezzar is brought in doing Ezek. 21.22 and was common in those Eastern parts Or else hereby are meant the Southsayers and Magicians rods as Exod. 7.12 Heb. 11.21 it is said that Jacob worshipped leaning upon the top of his staff and thereby lifting up his body to do reverence to God where the Vulgar text omitting the prepsition hath committed a manifest errour in saying that Jacob worshipped the top of his rod or staff as if there had been some picture there ingraven the Hebrew is towards the beds-head And it is certaine that Jacob worshipped none but God and bowed himself either towards the beds-head or leaning upon his staff to testifie his humility faith and hope which adoration how far it was from the worshipping of Images which the papists vrge from this place who seeth not for the spirit of whoredomes hath caused them to erre That unclean spirit Zech. 13.2 the devill who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Synesius saith a delighter in idols drives them sataâ—ico impetu to commit whoredome both spirituall and corporall with strength of affection Now if that spirit of errour 1 Jon. 4.6 and of giddinesse Esa 19.14 cause men to erre and carry them with a vehement Impetus to idol-worship which indeed is devil-worship what wonder men that are that way bent know not of what spirit they are little think that they are acted and agitated by the devill O pray with David Psal 143.10 that that good spirit of God may lead us into all truth and holinesse and they are gone a whoring from under their God i. e. from under the yoke of his obedience they are gone out of his precincts and therefore also out of his protection as a whore that forsaketh her husband and is therefore worthily cast off Verse 13. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the hils c. as nearer to heaven and in an apish imitation of the Patriarches who before the Tabernacle was set up sacrificed in high places as Abraham on mount Moriah c. that their bodyes being mounted aloft they might
gapes for him where he shall rue it among reprobates Well he may flourish a while and feel no hurt as Saul did not of many years after his rejection and as the Pharisees after Christ had said of them Let them alone they are blind leaders of the blind Mat. 15. But they shall pine swelter away in their iniquities Lev. 26.39 which is the last of those dismall plagues there threatened they shall not be purged till Gods wrath hath rested upon them Ezek. 24.13 so that now they may go and serve every one his idols sith they have such a mind to it Ezek. 20.39 and sith they have made a match with mischief they may take their belly-full of it Oh let us feare lest this should be any of our cases that God should say let him alone he is resolved of his way and I of mine he will have his swinge in sin and I am bent to have my full blow at him I am fully perswaded saith a Reverend man now with God that in these dayes of grace the Lord is much more quick and peremptory in rejecting men then heretofore the time is shorter neither will he wait so long as he used to do See for ground of this Heb. 2.3 God is oft quick in the offer of his mercy Go and preach the Gospel saith Christ Go and be quick tell men what to trust to that as fooles they may not be semper victuri ever about to be better but never begin to set seriously to work He that beleeveth shall be saved he that beleeveth not shall be damned I shall not longer dally with him Destruction cometh and they shall seek peace and there shall be none Mischief shall come upon mischief and rumour upon rumour then shall they seek a vision of the Prophet but the law shall perish from the Priest and counsel from the ancient c. Ezek. 7.25.26 when men are even dropping into hell and have an hell afore-hand in their consciences then they 'le send hastily for the minister as they did in the sweating-sicknesse here so long as the ferventnesse of the plague lasted Then the Ministers were sought for in every corner you must come to my Lord you must come to my Lady c. But what if God have said of such a one Let him alone as he reproved Samuel for mourning for Saul and as he forbad Jeremy to pray for the Jewes and his Apostles to take care for the Pharisees Oh how dreadfull is that mans condition and what can a Minister say more then what the king of Israel said to the woman that complained to him of the scarcity of Samaria If the Lord help thee not 2 King 6.27 whence shall I help thee out of the barne-floore or out of the winepresse If any dram of comfort be applied to a wicked man the truth of God is falsified and that Minister will be reckoned amongst the devils dirt-dawbers upholsters Ezek. 13.18 that dawb with untemper'd morter sow pillowes under mens elbowes Let such alone therefore and let God alone to deale with them Verse 18. Their drink is sowre That is they are past grace and it is now past time a day to do them good for thou seest how the matter mends with them even as sowre alemends in summer and how they even stink above ground as Psal 14.2 Vina probantur odore colore sapore c. but their wine hath neither good colour smell nor favour or tast it 's dead and gone and they are as trees twice dead and rotten Jude and therefore pulled up by the roots such as the Latines call vappae that is past the best and now good for nothing See Esay 1.22 what life or sweetnesse can be in Apostates yea how sowre and unsavoury to such are all fleshly comforts They use to drink away their terrours and drive away their melancholy dumps with merry company But will that hold what are such plasters better then the devils Anodynes then his whistle to call men off from better practises there is a cup in the hands of the Lord it is full of mixture but extreme sowre and the very dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them up Psal 75.8 though it be eternity to the bottom they have committed whoredome continually Here they are taxed for whoredome as before for drunkennesse so some carry it and afterwards for covetousnesse This is that flagitiorum triga whereby the Prophet perswadeth Judah to shake off Israel as not fit to be conversed with He had charged them before with fornication of both sorts here he sheweth how unwearied they were in their wickednesse and withall how intense for fornicando fornicati sunt they have done wickedly as they could they have eeked out their idolatries and adulteries and though wearied and even wasted with the multitude of their wickednesses yet they have not given over but are unsatisfiable and would sin in perpetuum as that filthy fornicatour who said he would desire no other heaven but to live for ever on earth and to be carried from one brothel-house to another She hath wearied her self with lies and yet her great scum went not forth out of her Therefore shall it be in the fire Ezek 24.12 Therefore shall gracelesse wretches be tormented for ever because they would sin for ever and therefore suffer all extreamity Mic. 7. because they do wickedly with both hands earnestly wofully wasting the marrow of their time the flower of their age the strength of their bodies the vigour of their spirits in the persuit of their lusts in the froth and filth whereof is bred that worme that never dieth which is nothing else but the furious reflection of the soul upon its own once wilfull folly and now wofull misery her rulers with shame do love Give ye Her shields o shamefull do love Give ye where there is in the originall an elegant Agnomination that cannot be englished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ahabhu hibhu Dilexerunt Afferte not Afferre as the Vulgar corruptly readeth it The Dorick dialect the horsleaches language Give Give they are perfectly skilled in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gift-greedinesse is all their delight like the ravens of Arabia that full gorged have a tuneable sweet record but empty screech horribly Plerique offictarij saith One Very many rulers do as Plutarch reporteth of Stratocles and Dromoclites a couple of corrupt officers Plutarch in politic qui sese mutuo ad messem auream invitare solebant who were wont to invite one another to the golden harvest thereby meaning the Court and the judgment-seate These follow the administration of justice as a trade onely with an unquenchable and unconscionable desire of gaine which iustifieth the common resemblance of the Courts of iustice to the Bush whereunto while the sheep flieth for defence in weather he is sure to lose part of his fleece Now are these Sheilds are they not
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
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
businesses and transactions in contracts and covenants he removeth bounds who cozeneth and circumventeth another in any matter 1 Thes 4.6 These must remember that God is the avenger of all such Heb. 10. and that it is a fearfull thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God The Papists fall foul upon us as Innovatours and removers of the ancient bounds because we reject their Ecclesiastical traditions and unwritten verities as they call them commended unto us by the Ancients and embraced by whole nations for many ages To whom we answer that Multitude and Antiquity are but ciphers in Divinity they must at least have no more authoritie then what they can maintain Let them boast with the Gibeonites of their old shooes mouldy bread c. we hold us to the Scriptures for our limits and land-markes unmoveable and immutable And when they shall ask us as they oft do where was your Religion before Luther we answer as one once did In the Bible where yours never was Erasmus met with an adversary so silly as to charge him for a remover of the ancient bounds Erasm in Apolog. because he had anew Translated the New Testament a work of singular use to the Church of Christ in those dark times therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water which shall overflow the bankes to overwhelm those that remove the bounds Yea God will pour it upon them by whole pailefuls or spouts as they call them at sea Or if but by vials as Rev. 16.1 which are vessels of narrow mouthes and pour out slowly howbeit they drench deeply and distill effectually the wrath of God which wretched sinners shall never be able to avoid or abide Oh when God shall set himself to set open the cataracts of his wrath as once at Noahs flood and to come against a sinner with a deluge of destruction to pour out his indignation upon him as water hastily heavily irresistibly what will he do and where will he finde refuge This made David pray so hard Let not the waterfloods overflow me nor the deep swallow me up Psal 69.15 It is the privâ—ledge of every godly person that in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh to him Psal 32.6 Or if they come up to his neck yet they shall not take away his breath for his head is ever above water Washt he may be as Paul was in the shipwrack drowned he cannot be Sink he may seem to do once and again to the bottom but he shall up again with Jonas if out of the deep he call upon the Lord who will set him on a rock that is higher then he Verse 11. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgement Calumniam passus est Ephraim so the vulgar hath it Ephraim was false accused and slandered he suffered much by Sycophants who depraved his good actions drew him before the judgement-seats and there oppressed him as Jam. 2.6 But the word here used signifieth all manner of injuries and oppressions whether by vexatious suits by fraud or by force virulent tongues or violent hands wrangling or otherwise wronging a man to his crushing and utter undoing many times For a poor man in his house is like a snaile in his shell crush that and you kill him Ephraim was crushed in judgement by his countrymen who would do him no right but much more by the cruell Assyrians who soon after this carried him captive and left him without all remedy of law without hope of a better condition or place for a worse And what wonder though men so set against him when God was pouring out his wrath upon him as water sith all creatures are up in arms against Gods rebels If the cause go against a man though he have never so much right on his side for oft-times cedit viribus aequum might overcomes right and he be broken in judgement Let him see whether things be right between God and himself and if broken in judgement let him be of a broken spirit and he shall be relieved because he willingly followed after the commandment He was too sequacious and obsequious to Jeroboam and his Princes commanding him to worship the golden calves Queniam voluit juit like a tame fool or at least as a foolish childe so this Prophet calleth him he was soon won over he came off with little ado Jeroboam did but hold up his finger and he had him straight A mere fatuellus carried away to those dumb idols even as he was led 1 Cor. 12.2 a Melchite such a generation of Heretickes there were in the Primitive Church Niceph. so called because they followed the examples and decrees of the Emperours resolving to be of the Kings Religion whatsoever it were right or wrong The Russians are such at this day God and their Emperour they say know best what 's truth or falshood and it is their part to obey not to enquire But all Christs sheep are rationall and will try before they trust look before they leap the spirituall man judgeth all things yet he himself is judged by no man 1 Cor. 2 15. Shew him a clear text of Scripture for what you would perswade him to and convince him thereby that it is the minde of God and you may have what you will of him Jam. 2.1 But for these masters of opinions such as are magistri nostri Parisienses that obtrude their own placits upon people and require to be beleeved upon their bare word without further proof he abhors them And for the decrees of Princes and Rulers if they crosse the Scriptures he will take leave to disobey them as the Apostles did Acts 4.19 as the three children in Daniel did and Daniel himself Chap. 6. and as all the holy confessours and Martyrs both ancient and modern did Act. and Mon. The Bishop of Norwich asked Roger Coo Martyr whether he would not obey the Kings Lawes he answered yes as far as they agree with the Law of God I will obey them Then said the Bishop whether they agree with the word or not we are bound to obey them if the King were an infidell Act. and Mon. fol. 1550. Coo answered If Shadrach Meshach and Abednego had done so Nabuchadnezzar had never confest the living God True it is that Magistrates must be obeyed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil those that are good must be obeyed as God those that are bad for God but then it must be in licitis in things lawfull and warrantable by the word and herein we must not frame excuse The blessed Virgin though unweildy went four dayes journey so far it was from Nazareth to Bethlehem to obey Augustus his decree the charge was not so peremptory but the obedience was as exemplary Whoso keepeth the commandment sc of the King shall know no evil thing Eccles 8.4.5 And whereas some might reply why then let 's do all the King bids us without sciscitation without further delay
the face of Iesus Christ and he shall come unto us as the rain As the showres of blessing Ezek. 34.26 rain of liberalities Psal 68.9 rain of righteousnesse Hos 10.12 Citò exaudi me Domine complue me saith Austin upon those words of David My soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land Hear me quickly O Lord rain righteousnesse upon my dry soul fill me with the fruits of thy Spirit whose work it is to illuminate and sanctifie as it is the Fathers to heal verse 1. and the Sons to revive and raise us together with himself the first-fruits of them that sleep verse 2. as the latter and former rain unto the earth sc in perfection of gifts and graces by degrees wrought in our hearts Or in seasonable and sutable comforts as rain in seed-time softening the ground and a little before harvest to plump and fill up the corn in the ear Verse 4. O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee c See how soon the Prophet changeth his note Hitherto he had set forth their repentance in sense of mercy now all on the sudden he upbraideth and threatneth them for their incorrigiblenesse and inconstancy Ministers must turn themselves as it were into all shapes and fashions both of speech and spirit to win people to God Aarons bels must be wisely rung saith One. Sometimes the Treble of Mercy sounds well M. Neh. Rog. At other times the Tenour of Judgement or Counter-tenour of reproof sounds better and it oft falls out that the Mean of Exhortation soundeth best of all It is his wisdom to observe circumstances and know how to curse as well as blesse chide as well as comfort and speak warre to a rebell as well as peace to a friend And herein indeed lieth the wisdom and faithfulnesse of a Teacher Then and onely then shall he prove himself sincere and unpartiall when he holds this course What shall I do unto unto thee It is as if God should say I have done mine utmost as Esay 5.5 Mich. 5.3 and now am at a stand and can scarce tell what to do more See the like expostulatory complaints Ier. 2.30 31. Chap. 5.3 Amos 4.6 Esay 26.10 Matth. 11.16 17 18. 23.37 I would but thou wouldest not As the loving hen is alwayes caring for her chickens and calling them about her that she may gather and guard them from the mischief of all vermin but they will needs be stragling and so perish So if Gods people will not hearken to his voice if Israel will none of him what can he do lesse then give them up to their own hearts lusts Psal 81.12 yea give them up to the devil to be further hardened to their just destruction saying That which will die let is die All that God can do is as here to mourn for their obstinacy and fool-hardinesse in rejecting his grace as he wept over Jerusalem Luke 19.42 We should also do the like Esay 24.16 Jer. 4.19 Rom 9.2 Acts 2.40 crying out with Esay My leannesse my leannesse and with Jeremy My bowels my bowels and with Paul I have great heavinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart for my perverse Countrey-men Peter calleth them an untoward generation such crooked pieces that there was no working upon them A cunning Carver can cut the similitude of any creature yet not on a crooked or rotten stick Where lieth the fault surely in the crookednesse of the stick and not in the Carvers cunning so is it here When men wrestle with God as Deut. 32.5 shift him off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostles word signifieth Heb. 12.25 take up the bucklers against the sword of his Spirit lest it should prick them at heart as Acts 2.37 and let out the life-blood of their lusts that they might live what can the Lord do in this case more then pity their unhappinesse and punish them for their stubbornnesse as the Judge pitieth a malefactour as he is a man but yet condemneth him as a thief or murtherer Tell me not here that God could have done more for Ephraim and Iudah then the did Matt. 8.2 and they might have said in answer to Gods question here as that Leper in the Gospel did Why Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean Hence it is God by his absolute power can make iron swim rocks stream forth water stones to yeeld children to Abraham he can do whatsoever he pleaseth save without means c. But it is his actuall power that man must look to And so he having tied the end and the means together cannot say Divines because hee will not bring men to the end without their using those means which tend unto the end for that is the ordinary course which he hath decreed to use and which he will not alter but upon speciall occasion as our Saviour noteth in the cure of Naaman and in the feeding of the widow of Sarepta Luke 4.26.27 for your goodnesse is as the morning cloud c. This people hearing God say What shall I do unto you might possibly reply why what should you do but rain down righteousnesse upon us and load us with loving-kindnesses for we are good all over we have returned and done right in thy sight as it is said of those hypocrites Ier. 34.15 16. and as Peter saith of some Apostates in his time that they were clean escaped from them who live in errour and for matter of practise they had also escaped the pollutions of the world knew the way of â—ighteousnesse and seemed very forward in it were as the fore-horses in a Teem â—ing-leaders of good exercises c. who yet afterwards fell off to the world tur◠〈◊〉 from the holy commandements and returned with the dog to their vomit and with the washed sow to her wallowing again in the mire And this is that which the Lord here upbraideth this people with and so stops their mouthes viz. that their goodnesse or mercifulnesse their piety toward God and charity toward men â—as nothing else but a morning-cloud Jude ver 12. a waterlesse cloud as Jude hath it a meer flaunt or flash an out-side onely an empty sound a vain pretence It was also as the morning-dew which is soon dried up by the Sun-beams In a word they were both false and fickle unsteady and unstable constant onely in their inconstancy Hence this patheticall complaint of them God knew not where to have them and therefore not what to do with them These were never right with God because not stedfast in his covenant Psal 78.36 37. they are unstable as water therefore they shall not excell Gen. 49.4 they never were a willing people in the day of Christs power Psal 110 3. his power was never put forth upon them to subdue their wils to Gods will They never yet attained to that spirit of power of love and of a sound minde 2 Tim. 1.7 Inconstancy comes from weaknesse The strength of Israel repenteth not 1 Sam.
fetch them thence into captivity Oft they had been warned not to go down to Egypt for help and they must needs be hard bestead that fled thither True it is that the Egyptians are renowned in histories for a thankful people and the Israelites are charged not to abhor an Egyptian because they were once strangers in his land Diod. Sic. l. 2. Dent. 23.7 and had tasted of his courtesies But withall they could not but know how hardly the Egyptians had dealt with their fore-fathers and how treacherously also with them and that they ought not de jure to have returned thither upon any tearms Sed Deus quem destruit dementat and although here they were resolved for Egypt yet Chap. 11.5 God resolveth otherwise and voluntas Dei necessitas rei his will shall stand when all 's done And they shall eat unclean things in Assyria Things forbidden by the law as swines-flesh c they shall be forced to eat or starve they must not look for liberty of conscience in Assyria nor have that favour to make a difference of meat as Daniel had Chap. 1. but as Ezekiel baked his barley-cakes with mans-dung Even so said the Lord shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the heathen whither I will drive them So haughty they were grown that their fathers house could not hold them therefore they shall be giad of huskes with hogs as that prodigal they shall eat as the heathens sith they would needs act as the heathens They thought it was hard with them in their own land when the floores and the wine-presse would not feed them vers 2. But now it is farre worse when forced by hard hunger they are glad of any meat be it clean or unclean neither have they any more mind to be so merry with other nations as vers 1. or cause so to be their stomacks craving and themselves with Drusus in Tacitus ready to eat the stuffings of their bed or with the Jewes in the last siege of Jerusalem not onely to feed upon dogs rats cats c. but the leather of their shooes girdles targets bridles yea Pontanus Hegesippus oxe-dung was a precious dish unto them and the shreddings of pot-hearbs cast out and trodden under foot c. Vers 4. They shall not offer wine-offerings unto the Lord Non libabunt multò minus litabunt they shall not have wherewith to offer sacrifice when they are in their banishment Chap. 3.4 much lesse to serve God with cheerfulnesse to exhilarate his heart with their wine-offerings Judg. 9.13 to chear up themselves with the wine and oyle-offerings Num. 15.5 which were symbols and signes of the Merit and Spirit of Christ for the Ceremonial Law was their Gospel it was Christ in figure and the deprivation of them threatened the deprivation of grace and glory Now therefore sith such a sad condition and such sinking of spirits abided this people what reason had they to rejoyce with joy as others Neither shall they be pleasing to him Heb. they shal not be sweet or mingled for as sweet and sowre maketh the best sawce so the mixture of things of divers qualities maketh the sweetest confections and most pleasing to the palat but so shall not be these mens wine-offerings to God if any they should present but sowre and savourlesse He is now resolved to take another course with them to glorifie himself in their calamity and to give unto them another while the cup of the wine of the fiercenesse of his wrath Rev. 16.19 that is to delight as much in their misery as a man would do in drinking off a bowle of generous wine Their sacrifices shal be unto them as the bread of mourners i. e. as funeral-feasts whereof read Jer. 16.7 8. Ezech. 24.17 made ad levandum luctum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eaten in heavinesse by those that were polluted by the dead and therefore altogether unfit for sacrifice sith God loveth a cheerful service and will not have any of his come off heavily See Levit. 10.19 Deut. 13.7 and 26.14 Mal. 2.13 where those unkind husbands are blamed for causing their wives when they should have been cheerful in Gods service to cover the Lords altar with tears with weeping and with crying out so that he regarded not the offering any more So Ezr. 9.5 that holy man though till then he sat astonied at the sins of the people yet he arose from his heavinesse at the evening sacrifice for he knew that even sorrow for sin might be a sinful sorrow if unseasonable and sullen for it sowres a mans spirit and makes his services unacceptable to God For their bread for their soul shal not come into the house of the Lord Their bread That is their meat-offering or other sacrifices see Mal. 1.7 with the note for their soul that is for themselves soul is oft put for the whole person shal not come rightly and in due manner unto divine acceptation into the house of the Lord it should not have come into the Temple while it stood and the Levitical service was orderly performed how much lesse shall it be accepted now in a strange land being the bread of mourners Others by the bread for their soules understand their natural and necessary sustenance He speaks say they of that meat-offering Levit. 2.5 appointed for a spiritual use yet called here the bread for their life or livelihood because God esteemed it no other then common meat Tarnouius by the house of the Lord here understandeth the Church as Chap. 8.1 and 9.5 and 2 Tim. 2.20 The door of this house saith he is Christ Joh. 10.9 and door-keeper the holy spirit ibid. vers 3. the foundation and corner-stone Christ Eph. 2.20 the wall is God Zach. 2.9 the stewards the ministers 1 Cor. 4.1 Eph. 2.19 those of the houshold the Saints c. What will ye do in the solemn day c. q. d. How will ye do to laugh and leap then as ye do now vers 1. How will you be able to support your selves to keep your hearts from dying within you when you call to mind and consider your former solemnities and festivities which now alas in your captivity you are utterly deprived of Time was when you went with the multitude to the house of God with the voyce of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy-day Psal 42.4 with dancing eating drinking and joy Deut. 16.14 15. Judg. 21.19.10 But now the scene is altered your singing is turned into sighing your mirth into mourning your joy into heavinesse and you must needs hold your selves so much the more miserable that you have been happy The Epicures indeed held that a man might be chearful against the most exquisite torments 1. In consideration of his honesty and integrity Ex praeteritc rum voluptatum recordatione Cic. de finib l. 2. Senec. de benef l. 4. c. 22. 2. In consideration of those pleasures and delights that formerly he had enjoyed and
hedge-fruits how should he say of such clusters of Gomorrah Destroy it not for there is a blessing in it The good soul as she bears all her fruit in Christ Ieh 15.2 so she keeps all her fruit for him Cant. 7.13 Es 65.8 and cries out Propter te Domine propter te As all his springs are in her so all she has and is is for him and if she had more and better she could beteem it him Hence it is that when he comes into his garden upon her invitation Cant. 4.16 to eat his pleasant fruits he gathereth his myrrhe with his spice he eateth his honey with his hony-comb as it were crust and crumb together Chap. 5.1 He takes in good part the better and worse-performed services he passeth by failings in the manner where the heart is upright for the main wicked men present also some kind of fruit as the oak bears some kind of apples and acorns but they are not mans meat swine indeed will haunch them up so the devil likes well enough of these self-fruits but they make not to Gods palat Delicata res est Spiritus Dei our oaken apples will not down with him Self must be strained out and God set up Tertull. that ye may be called Trees of righteousnesse the planting of the Lord that he alone may be glorified Esay 61.3 being filled with the fruits of righteonsnesse which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars Juxta ubertatem exuberant simulachris saith the Vulgar elegantly but yet short of the Original where there is a dainty Agnomination and a double Polyptôton For the sence the Prophet as he had accused Israel of emptinesse and selfishnesse so hee doth here of unthankfulnesse in abusing Gods plenty to the promoting of idolatry as if God had hired them to be wicked See the like before chap. 2.8 with the Note and consider how far against the ingenuity of a Christian it is to bee least for God when he hath most from him when his own turn is served then to turn his back from the Authour of all his good to do as the Moon that gettest furthest off the Sun when she is fullest of his light according to the goodnesse of his land Idolaters desire to be where there are good lands fruitfull fields that they may lavish upon their Mawmets that they may so beautifie or as the Hebrew word here is bonifie their images as Jezebel did her head with tires and brave dresses 2 King 9.30 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God or that endow another God and give gifts to him as that Text may be rendred Psal 16.4 What excessive cost the superstitious papists bestow upon their idols or images which are one and the same as we see here and especially upon their â—ady of Loretto the Jesuite Tursellinus hath set forth to the world And why they so much desire and endeavour to recover England praying for it as is to be seen written on the gates of their Colledges Jesu Jesu converte Angliam fiat fiat the reason is evident it is a good land and would easily yeeld them goodly images stately altars c. England was wont to be called the Popes asse and his puteus inexhaustus his pit of treasure that could never be drawn dry he was wont to say that he could never want money so long as hee could hold a pen in his fingers to write to England He received here-hence yearly Job Manl. loc com p. 492. above nine tunne of gold Now according to what they received they expended upon their images What a shame is it then for true worshippers that there is no proportion between their increases for God and their encreases from God that those that are rich in this world 1 Tim 6.17 18. are not rich in good works that they lay not by for pious and charitable uses according as God hath blessed them 1 Cor. 16.2 but that they should be the richer the harder as children that have their mouthes full and both hands full yet will part with none but spill it rather It is observed of men that grow very far that they have so much the lesse blood And so the fatter many men are in their estates the lesse blood life and spirits they have for God Verse 2. Their heart is divided sc From God whose soul therefore is justly disjoynted from them Ier. 6.8 They professed to worship the true God and yet they transferred the honour due to him alone upon dumb-idols they halted between two and would needs serve two Lords but God would none of that Be the gods of the Heathen good-fellows saith One the true God is a jealous God and will not part stakes with another The double-minded man is not for his service for he will be served truely that there be no halting and totally that there be no halving Good therefore and worthy of all acceptation is the counsell of St. Iames to such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chap. 4.8 Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double-minded or ye cloven-hearted Out with the corruption that cleaveth to your hearts and then there will be a constancy and evennesse in your mindes mouthes and manners which is absolutely necessary to such as draw nigh to God in holy duties and the contrary abominable Esay 29.13 Now shall they be found faulty Sinners against their own souls procurers of their own ruth and ruine And this they shall so clearly be convinced of as afflictiâ— dat intellectum smart makes wit that they shall cry out with Josephs brethren We are verily guilty Gen. 42.21 and conscience awakened shall answer as Reuben in the next verse Spake I not unto you saying Do not sin O do not this abominable thing and yee would not hear Did not the Prophets foretell you what would be the fruit of your idolatries did they not even slit up your hearts with the sacrificing knife of Gods word sharper then any two-edâ—â—d sword and lay all your evil thoughts naked and open 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or dissected quartered and cleft in the back-bone as the Apostles word signifieth Heb. 4.13 but ye would not then be convinced of all and falling down upon your face worship God as 1 Cor. 14.24 25 Now you are found faulty or guilty and cry peccavi or now you are that is shortly ye shall be wasted and desolated as some render it or now shall they die Interibunt so the Vulgar shall they perish how should they do otherwise whose heart that seat of life is cut in twain and whom the jealous and just God will cut in twain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tearing their souls from their bodies by death Satans slaughter-man and appointing them their portion with hypocrites Matth. 24.51 He shall break down their altars He that is God my God
shall be upon such as it was upon Balaam Satans spelman they shall be a portion for foxes Psal 63.10 as those that Astutam vapido servant sub pectore vulpem because of their own counsels He that goeth to school to his own carnall reason is sure to have a fool to his master an ignis fatuus that will bring him into the bogges and briers The wisdome of the fiesh is enmitie to God Nemo laeditur nisi à seipso See the Note on chap. 10. vers 6. Vers 7. My people are bent to backsliding from me they have a principle of Apostacie in them as those Galathians had of whom the Apostle I marvaile that you are so soon removed unto another Gospell Gal. 1.6 and as those old Apostates in the wildernesse who so soon as Moses his back was turned almost cryed out to Aaron Make us golden Gods This people was before accused to be acted by a spirit of fornication a certain violent impetus a strong inclination to whoredome and to be apt to backslide with a perpetuall backsliding all their recidivations and revolts were but a fruit of the bent of their spirits which were false and unsettled not resolved whether yet to turne to God though they were beset with so many mischiefs they hangd in suspence and rather inclined to the negative then else Suspensi sunt so Calvin Pareus and others read this text My people are in suspence or in a mamering whether to turne to me or not they hang in doubt as the same word is rendred Deut 28.66 God liketh not that his people should stand doubtfull as Sâ—â—pticks and adhere to nothing certainly to be in religion as idle beggars are in their way ready to goe which way soever the staffe falleth but that they should strive to a full assurance in what they beleeve Luk. 1.4 to be fully perswaded as ver 1. and to a firm purpose of heart in what they should practise Act. 11.23 Irresolution against sin or for God can hardly consist with the power of Godlinesse be not off and on with him halt not hang not in doubt what to do but follow God fully as Caleb did come off freely as David who had chosen Gods precepts when he was solicited to have done otherwise Psal 119.173 And again I have chosen the way of truth thy judgements have I laid before me ver 30. I have waighed them and am resolved to keep them I am come to a full determination Mr. Deodate senseth the words thus They desire and expect that I should turn in favour to them and relieve them whereas they should turn to me by repentance which they will not do and herein he followeth Arias Montanus Thus those stiffnecked Jewes in Jeremy expected that God should still deale with them however they dealt with him according to all his wondrous works chap. 21.2 presuming and promising themselves impunity and thus Judas also had the face to ask Mat. 26.25 as the rest did Is it I as resting upon Christs accustomed gentlenesse and that he would conceale him still as he had done certain daies before though they called them to the most High They that is the Prophets as vers 2. called them with great importunity upon every opportunity to the most High to God in opposition to those Dii minutuli petty deities whom they doted on See chap. 7.16 to come up to him to have high and honourable conceptions of Him not casting him in a base mould as those miscreants did Psal 50.21 but saying as David and with a David-like spirit Thous Lord art high above all the earth thou art exalted far above all Gods and there-hence inferring Ye that love the Lord hate evil Psal 97.9.10 I am God Almighty walk before me and be upright Gen. 17.1 The God of glory appeared to Abraham Act. 7.2 he so conceived of God and hence his unchangeable resolutions for God none at all would exalt him Heb. together he exalted not scarce a Hee a single man that would do it that would lift up his head to listen to such good counsel so some sence it or that would exalt and extol the most High who though he be high above all praise as Neh. 9.5 and cannot be praised according to his excellent greatnesse Yet is he pleased to account himself exalted and magnified by us when considering the infinite distance and disproportion that is betwixt him and us we lay our selves low at his feet for mercy we set him up in our hearts for our sole Soveraign 2 Sam. 18.3 we esteem him as the people did David more worth then ten thousand we give him room in our soules and with highest apprehensions most vigorous affections and utmost endeavours wee bestow our selves upon him as the only Worthy Now this is done but of a very Few and well done but of fewer yet so drossy and drowsy are mens spirits and so little is the Lord liâ—ted up by the sons of men See the Prophet Esay his complaint chap. 64.7 Vers 8. How shall I give thee up Ephraim Here beginneth the second part of this chapter full of many sweet Evangelicall promises and here if ever Mercy rejoyceth against Judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cervix or treadeth on the very neck of it as St. James his word importeth chap. 2.13 The Lord seemeth here to be at a stand or at strife with himself about the destruction of this people fore-threatened which well might have been a gulf to swallow them up and a grave to bury them in for ever being most worthy to perish as were the Cities which God destroyed in his wrath Gen. 19. Howbeit God in the bowels of his mercy earning and taking pitty of his Elect amongst them for he had reserved 7000. hidden ones that had not bowed their knees to Baal spareth to lay upon them the extremity of his wrath and is ready to save them for his mercies sake Heare how father-like he melts over them how should I expose thee O Ephraim how should I deliver thee up O Israel How should I dispose the as Admah how should I set thee as Zeboim q. d. Justice requires that I should lay thee utterly wast and even rain down hell from heaven upon thee as once upon Sodom and her sisters But Mercy interposeth her four several How 's in the Originall two onely expressed but the other 2. necessarily understood and by Interpreters fitly supplied foure such patheticall Interrogations as the like are not to be found in the whole book of God and not to be answered by any but God himself as indeed he doth to each particular in the following words My heart is turned within me that is the first answer The second My repentings are kindied together The third I will not execute the fiercenesse of my wrath The fourth I wil not return to destroy Ephraim And why First I am God and not Man Secondly the Holy One in the middest of thee My heart is turned or
turneth it self within me that is my mind is changed or at least is in doubt what to do in this businesse This is spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men and must be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agreeably to Gods greatnesse Here is mutatio rei non Dei effectus non affectus facti non consilij Repentance with man is the changing of his will Repentance with God is no more then the willing of a change ill is not a change of his will but of his work Confer Lam. 1.20 2.11 Am. 1.12 There are that render it My hart is turned against me that is against my former severe sentence of cutting them all utterly off at one blow Fiat Justitia pereat mundus Oh! I cannot finde in my heart to do it For my repentings are kindled together Simul aestuant viscera mea poenitentiâ So Tremellius My bowels are altogether on a light fire with repentings as Gen. 43.30 and 1 King 3.27 Now repentings are as improperly attributed to God as bowels There were a sort of ignorant Monks in Egypt who started this foolish and ridiculous question which yet bred no small stirres there Anno Dom. 403. An Deus corporeus sit Whether the Divine Essence be a body having hands heart bowels c The ruder sort of them held it affirmatively What blasphemies Vorstius hath vented in that base book of his de Deo I need not relate How God is said to repent hath been said already Sure it is Calvin that herein he graciously accommodateth himself to our rudenesse and speaketh as we are able to bear It appeareth that fury is not in God Esay 27.4 Our sins put thunder-bolts into his hands and it is Non nisi coactus with him when he proceeds to punishment His bowels are very ready to work in the wayes of grace and mercy toward sinners and the least act of faith in that mercy would certainly set bowels on work amain This the Church in Esay well knew and therefore prayed when deserted Look down from heaven c. Where is thy zeal and thy strength Esay 63.15 16. the sounding of thy bowels and of they mercies toward me are they restrained Doubtlesse thou art our Father notwithstanding thine austerities God seemeth sometimes to lose his bowels and then we must find them for him to sleep and we must awake him to hide himself and then we must fetch him out as the woman of Canaan did by the force of her faith Mark 7.24 25. God will come but he will have the faithfull prayers of his people to lead him I came for thy word Dan. 10.9 c. Verse 9. I will not execute the fiercenesse of mine anger Heb. the heat of it Gods bowels kindled and whatsoever might cause repentance came together and lay glowing as it were at his heart and this cooled and even quenched the heat of his wrath as the Sun-beams when they shine full upon the fire so that now hee resolves not to execute the height of his heat the extremity of his fury for then the spirit should fail before him Ephraim is Gods dear sonne his pleasant child whom when he hears bemoaning himself as Jer. 31.18 19 20. he soon repents him of the evil ans cries Satis hoc pro crimine magno Paulum supplicij lenem sunâ—â—sisse parenteâ—â— I will not return to destroy Ephraim I will not undo him twice over or utterly ruine him as those that have laid their enemy for dead returne to see whether he be dead out-right or as souldiers that have once pillaged a city return after a while to take all that little that was left before and to set the rest on fire God will not deal so hardly with Ephraim though he might do it Reprobates indeed shall have an evil an onely evil Ezek. 7.5 without mixture of mercy they must expect one plague upon another as it fared with Pharaoh till God had dashed the very breath out of his body c. But for his elect people Hath he smitten them as he smot those that smot them No but in measure in the branches onely hee stayeth his rough wind c. Esay 27.7 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hero And as Craesus his dumb sonne burst out into Kill not King Craesus So when enemies are ready to devour the Church or Satan to swallow Gods child up in despair his bowels work he can hold no longer but cries Save my child save my Church c. Why should the spirit fail before me and the souls which I have made I have seen his wayes and though bad enough I will heal him I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners Esay 57.16 17 18. For I am God and not man yea such a God as the like is not for pardoning iniquity and passing by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage Mic. 7.18 'T is naturall to him Exod. 34.6 't is usuall Neh. 9.17 there he is called a God of pardons as Esay 55.7 he is said to multiply pardons He hath commanded men to forgive an offending but repenting brother seventy times seven times in a day Mat. 18.22 What then will himself do For he is God Almighty and not man Man is an angry vindictive cruell creature one man is a Wolf yea a Devil to another unsociable implacable unmercifull as those were Rom. 1.31 Beware of men saith our Saviour to his disciples Matt. 10.17 absurd and wicked men 1 Thess 3.2 barbarous and bruitish skilfull to destroy Ezek. 21.31 Yea beware of good men when enraged What strange deaths did David soon after his foul fall and not fully recovered put the poor Ammonites to 2 Sam. 12.31 Further men as they are unmercifull so they are unmindfull of their promises But God is not a man that he should lie Num. 23.18 What he hath spoke with his mouth he will make good with his hand The eternity of Israel will not lie as men will Rom. 3.4 nor repent as men do whatever he may seem to do see the note on the former verse for he is not a man that he should repent 1 Sam. 15.29 Men are mutable the truest friend is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and easily changeable creature as the Heathen complained all in changeable colours as Tertullian saith of the Peacock as often changed as moved Not so Almighty God I am Jehovah I change not Mal. 3.6 See the Note there and remember still to retain high thoughts of God not measuring him by our modell as to think him to be as mercifull as we are as powerfull as our understanding can reach c. See Esay 55.8 9. and beg supernaturall grace without which it is impossible for a finite creature to beleeve the infinite Attributes of Almighty God the holy One in the middest of thee Though Israel had deeply revolted set up golden gods and done wickedly as they could so that there was no visible Church
12. do yeeld their strength i. e. their utmost fruits which they could not do without God into whom therefore the Prophet Hosea rightly resolveth the genealogie of corn wine oil c. Hos 2.22 It is no otherwise with us in spirituall regards For though we have grace yet we cannot bring forth that grace to act without new grace like as trees though they be fitted to bear fruits yet without the influence of the heavens Aug. Enchir. chap. 32. they cannot put forth that fitnesse in fruit Nolentem praevenit Deus ut velit volentem subsequitur ne frustra velit Verse 23. Be glad then ye children of Zion ye righteous Ones Psal 32.11 and none else for joy is the Just mans portion and none have any reason to rejoyce but such nay they are flatly forbidden it Hos 9.1 See the Note there Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Zion be joyfull in their king Let the Saints be joyfull in glory Gaudeant in re gaudeant in spe Psal 139.2.5 gaudeant de possessione gaudeant de promissione saith Bernard If Plato could tell the Musicians Philosophers knew how to dine and sup without them they could bee merry without a fidler how much more may Zions children Be it that there is a cord in the sinne of the wicked to strangle their joy with yet the righteous sing and are merry Prov. 29.6 In the greatest fail of all outward comforts they can rejoyce in the Lord their God as here and as David at the sack of Ziklag 1 Sam. 30.6 and Habakkuk amidst all the miseries of the world and malice of Satan Habak 3.17 It is in the Lord their God that they rejoyce it is an holy and spirituall joy not profane and carnall as is the worldlings who feedeth upon ashes c. Esay 44.20 rejoyceth in a thing of nought Am. 6.13 his joy is no better then a little counterfeit complexion crackling of thorns c. For he hath given you the former rain moderately as a pledge of his love and as a fruit of the Covenant Moderate showers ye shall have neither too much nor too hastie rain of righteousnesse in such measure and moderation as shall be needfull and he will cause to come downe for you The vanities of the Heathen cannot give rain Jer. 14.22 nor can the heavens yeeld showers God therefore must be waited upon Jam. 5.7 and prayed unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 18. and the thundring Legion so famous in Church-history He must not have cause given him to complain of mens brutishnesse and inadvertency as Jer. 10.13 14. the former rain that fell in October when they had sown 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saint James calleth it the morning-rain chap. 5.7 and the latter rain Heb. the gathering rain because it fills and fits the corn for ingathering as falling about May and a little afore their harvest In the first not moneth but primo quoquo tempore as soon as is fit See Zech. 10.1 with the Note Verse 24. And the floors shall be full of wheat Such fatness shall Gods footsteps drop that your houses shall be full of all precious and pleasant riches Prov. 24.4 so that you shall as rich men love to do de pleno tollere acervo Onely take heed you have not as that rich fool aenimam triticeam a wheaten soul that your abundance get not within you as the Pharisees did Lvke 11.41 so that they did not more possesse then were possessed by what they had that ye set not your hearts upon your riches Psal 62.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 difficile est opibus non â—radere mentens Mortial and the fats shall overflow There shall be plenty of all things as Prov. 3.10 the fruits and effect of that rain promised before And doth not God daily turn water into wine when of water falling upon the vine and concocted by the heat of the Sun he produceth the grape whence wine is pressed Verse 25. And I will restore to you the yeers c. I will so make up your former losses that there shall remain no signe nor sense thereof See a like promise Zech. 10.6 they shall be as though I had not cast them off with the Note there See also Esay 60.10 my great army sc the locusts see above verse 2 5 11. Magaleh chesoth Matteh cheloth Kimchi God is Lord of Hosts and as the Rabbines well observe he hath the upper and lower troops as his horse and foot ready prest Verse 26. And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied which what a great blessing it is see Hagg. 1.6 with the Note and Eccles 6.1 2. with the Note and praise the Name of the Lord your God Not haunch up Gods creatures as swine do swill but tasting the sweetnesse of the Creatour in them lift up many an humble joyfull and thankfull heart to Him This was better then the former blessing for naturally fulnesse breeds forgetfulnesse of God Deut. 32.15 That hath dealt wonderously with you Heb. ad mirificandum sc in so sudden and strange a change of his hand whereby he hath made himself marvailous as he delights to do by working wonders such as mans power connot perform nor reason reach unto and my people shall never be ashamed As they have been among the heathen ver 19. and as those are that pray to no purpose Deo confisi nunquam confusi Their faith is unfained and therefore their hopes unfaileable Rom. 5.5 Verse 27. And ye shall know that I am in the mid'st of Israel These temporall blessings shall seal up my love to you and presence of grace with you True it is that no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them Eccles 9.1 because all things come alike to all verse 2. But yet from this text we may comfortably conclude that if the good things of this life make us more cheerfull thankfull hopefull if Mercy excite us to duty and the sense of Gods love makes us love God his wayes and people with a desire to love them more then we are loved of God who is in us of a truth 1 Ioh. 4.10 19. and we may know it too For if instinct of nature teach dammes to know their young ones and the young their dammes shall not Gods spirit teach us to know him that he is in the middest of us not by his omnipresence only but by his gratious presence yea that he is the Lord our God and none else and that while we hold us to this anhcor-hold of the faithfull soul we shall never be ashamed Psal 31.1 That was a brave speech of Luther and one of those that a man would fetch upon his knees from Rome or Jerusalem to be author of them Joh. Manl. loc com pag. 145. Ipse videret ubi anima mea mansura sit qui pro ea sic solicitus fuit ut vitam pro ea posuerit Let
and I will one day read them aloud in the ears of all the world Fac ergo confitendo propitium quem taeciendo non facis nescium saith Austin Make therefore God thy friend by confessing thy sins to him which thou caust not by any means conceal from him they afflict the just they pinch and distresse him by their oppressions which are often here laid in their dish as an abomination to the Lord for he is mercifull See Chap. 2.6 they take a bribe Cophe◠A ransome to blinde their eyes as 1 Sam. 12.3 or a pacification of their pretended displeasure against heinous crimes brought before them Olim didici quid sint munera said a worthy man Once I have learned long since how dangerous a thing it is for men in place to meddle with gifts A publike person as he should have nothing to lose so nothing to get he should be above all price or sale c. they turn aside the poor in the gate that is in the place of Judicature This makes many that go to law to be at length of Themistocles his minde who professed that if two wayes were shewed him one to hell and the other to the barre he would chuse that which went to hell and forsake the other Another said that hee wondered much at two sorts of men viz. those that go to sea and those that go to law not so much that they did so at first but that after triall they would ever go a second time Verse 13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 According to that old and good rule Either keep silence or speak that which is better then silence There is a time to keep silence and a time to speak Eccles 3.7 and it is a singular skill to time a word Esay 50.4 to set it upon its circumferences Prov. 25.11 so to speak and so to do as those that shall be judged by the law of liberty Iam. 2.12 He that would be able to speak right and forcible words must first learn how and when to keep silence It is not good casting pearls before swine nor pulling a Bear or mad dog by the ear 'T is the true ambition of a Christian to study to be quiet 1 Thess 4.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to meddle with his own businesse to affect rather quietnesse from the wicked world then acquaintance with it and to passe thorow it with as little noise and notice as he can Not but that Gods faithfull servants must cry aloud and not spare lifting up their voyces like a trumpet c. Esay 58.1 and casting away the inverse trumpets of Furius Fulvus which sounded a retrait when they should have sounded an alarme But this must be done with godly discretion Zeal should eat us up but not eat up our widome saith One nor should policie eat up our zeal The Apostles professed that they could not but speak the things that they had heard and seen they must either vent or burst And yet holy Paul who was full of the spirit of judgement and of burning Esay 4.4 though he preached at Ephesus where hee lived two yeers and more together that they be no gods that are made with hands yet he made no particular invective against their great goddesse Diana whereon they so impotently doated Act. 19.26 37. He that hath a good mixture of zeal and prudence is like a ship well ballasted that sails with a prosperous gale but zeal without discretion is like fire on the chimney-top or like mettle in a blinde horse or the devil in the demoniack that cast him sometimes into the fire and sometimes into the water What a storm of persecution raised Bishop Abdias in Persepolis by his intemperate zeal not bridled with discretion as the Poets fable that Minerva put a golden bridle upon Pegasus lest he should flie too fast And it was some disadvantage to Paul when in the Councel though provoked and unjustly smitten he called the high-priest whited wall he was glad to excuse it by his ignorance We may not be too bold or too forward to speak in a good matter to such as hate him that rebuketh in the gate and abhor him that speaketh uprightly verse 10. for it is an evil time by reason of an evil and adulterous generation that make it so It is a day of evil as Psal 41.1 that is of difficulty and danger to those that dare speak out Such as were Tiberius his times That Tyger laid hold with his teeth on all the brave spirits that could speak their minds fitly and durst do it freely He put to death a certain Poet which in a Tragedie had inveighed against Agamemnon suspecting himself to be intended Senec. Freedom of speech used by the Waldenses in blaming and reproving the vices dissolute manners life and actions of great ones made them looked upon and persecuted as hereticks Girardus and enemies to the Sea Apostolike as Manichees Catharists what not Verse 14. Seek good and not evil that ye may live See verse 4. and 6. Oh Seek seek seek saith our Prphet as some of the Martyrs cryed out Pray pray pray Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Askew repeated those words two severall times together Mr. Marsh once adding Never more need To seek God is to seek good and to finde life for with him is the fountain of life Psal 36.9 To seek evil is to seek the devil who is that evil one it is as Solomon saith in a like case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death Prov. 21.6 and so the Lord the God of Hosts shall be with you to assist and accept you in seeking good to protect and provide for you in shunning evil Deal couragiously therefore and God shall be with the good 2 Chron. 19. ult as your seven-fold shield 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and exceeding great reward Gen. 15.1 See the note there as ye have spoken Vt praedicatis jactitatis as ye boast and bear your selves bold upon saying as Mic. 2.11 Is not the Lord amongst us none evil can come upon us But that 's as you make it for ye are upon your behaviour The fault is not in God but wholly in your selves if ye live not happily reigne not everlastingly at Paris ut vivat regnetque beatus Cogi posse negat Horat. ep 2. God is far from mens hearts and therefore far from their help for can two walk together except they be agreed Chap. 3.3 Verse 15. Hate the evil and love the good God doth so you must also or else never look for his gracious presence with you for idem velle atque idem nolle ea demum vera est Amicitia Cicer◠True friends do both will and nill the same things Minutius Foelix saith that he and his friend Octavius did so The like did Basil and Nazianzen Jonathan and David Corporibus geminis spiritus unus erat All Gods
make beleeve Where is the promise of his comming Let him make speed and hasten his work Esay 5.19 Jer. 17.15 that we may see it Let him increase his army and come down Judg. 9.29 Such jearing and daring spirits there are still abroad But do they provoke the Lord to anger are they stronger then he The great and terrible day of the Lord will come time enough to their cost they need not accelerate it Can they stand to his triall Job 26.14 or abide the thunder of his power to what end is it for you when God shall answer you as he did a far better man out of the whirlewind and say Job 38.2 3. 1 Pet. 4.18 Who is this that darkneth counsel by words without knowledge Gird up now thy loynes like a man c. Where then shall the ungodly and the wicked appeare what hils will they call upon to fall on them when the elements shall fall upon them like scalding lead or burning bell-mettall and yet all this be but the beginning of their sorrowes Now therefore be not ye mockers lest your bands be made strong Esay 28.22 God can easily hamper you if he once take you in hand the day of the Lord is darknesse and not light No interchange of light an evill an onely evill without mixture of mercy Ezech. 7.5 a black and dismal day of one mischief upon another in a continued series Affliction shall not rise up the second time Nah. 1.9 but ye shall totally and finally be destroyed wrath shall come upon you to the utmost 2 Thes 2. This is illustrated in the next verse by an apt Similitude Verse 19. As if a man did sly from a lion c. And so by running from his death should run to it by seeking to shun the shelves should split against a rock Incidit in Scyllam c. Alsted Chronol pag. 480. as Nicodemus Frischline that famous Poet Orator and Philosopher endevouring to escape out of close prison by casting himself out at a window the rope broke and he perished by falling headlong upon a rock So fareth it with those that feare not God Aliud ex alio malum One mischief treadeth on the heeles of another as Iobs messengers The clouds returne after the raine Eccle. 12.2 as in April-weather one showre is unburthened another is brewed and deep calleth upon deep at the noise of the water-spouts Psal 42.7 Evill shall hunt the violent man to destroy him Psal 140.11 your sins shall find out out as a blood-hound Num. 32.23 as it did that Popish Priest in London who having escaped the fall of Black-friers Anno. 1623. where Drury had his braines knockt out of his head together with his sermon and taking water with a purpose to saile into Flanders was cast away together with some others under London-bridge Jac. Revius de vit Pontif. 312. the boat being overturned And as Philip the second King of Spaine who going from the Low-countries into Spaine by sea fell into a storme in which almost all the Fleet was wracked his housholdstuff of very great valve lost and himself hardly escaped Hist of Counc of Trent 417. He said he was delivered by the singular providence of God to root out Lutheranisme which he presently began to do But the hand of God was upon him in an extraordinary manner Caros Scribonde inflit Princ. cap. 20. for beside the invincible Armado here defeated to his great heart-break for his pretended patience was but as the fever called Epialis wherein men are cold without but hot as fire within he fell into that most lothsome lowsy disease called Phthiriasis whereof at length he dyed and a Beare met him A Beare robbed of her whelpes which she licketh into forme and loveth above measure is a very fierce and fell creature To meet her in such a rage is to meet death in the very face and yet that danger may be sooner shifted and shunned then the heavy wrath of God avoyded or averted without true and timely repentance there is no way to run from him but by running penitently to him as in a tempest at Sea it is very dangerous to strike to the shore the safest way is to have sea-room and to keep in the Maine still or went into the house To shelter himself from the Beare as every creature in danger runneth to its harbour Prov. 30.26 Psal 104.18 and leaned his hand on the walles As being breathlesse in running and glad to stay himself on what he can next lay hold on Man like the vine must have somewhat to leane on if it be but a broken reed or bulging wall Psal 62.3 he shifts and sharks in every by-corner for comfort as the Papists stung by the Friers sermons do by pardons and pennances Prov. 23.32 which are but palliate cures for a serpent bites them the guilt of sin abiding biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder Verse 20. Shall not the day of the Lord be darknesse c. q. d. How say ye now when thus beset with mischief on all hands such as ye can neither avoyd nor abide must ye not needes subscribe to the truth of what I said verse 18. and do here againe repeate that you may the better observe it with greater emphasis and earnestnesse you shall not have the least glimmering of comfort ease direction or good counsel To what end then should you desire this dreadfull day of the Lord Are you in hast to be undone Verse 21. I hate I despise your feast-dayes wherewith ye think to stop my mouth and to make me your debter saying as that Romane Emperour when his enemy came against him Non sic Deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret we have not so served the Gods that they should serve us no better then to give the enemy the better of us The feast-dayes Antonin Philosoph refer Vulcat Gallic in Avidio Cassio Jer. 32.35 and solemne assemblies you so much bind upon are yours and not mine I never commanded them viz as you now use them neither came they ever into my mind So farr am I therefore from accepting your sacrifices as that I hate I despise I will not smell an elegant Asyndeton importing Gods utter distaste of what they did The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind Prov. 21.27 and assuring a sudden vengeance as in that quick and smart passage Go preach baptise He that beleeveth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 Will-worship and out-sidenesse in religion is very odious to the Almighty and stinks worse in his nostrils then any ill vapour from the vilest dunghill doth in ours or as those poisonous smels that ascended up once from the five cities of the plaine and brought down from him a counterpoyson of fire and brimstone Rome also that spirituall Sodom shall be destroyed in like sort with a terrible fire Rev. 17.16 and 18 8 9. for her
riches shall be made a spoil to the souldier Impius haec c. and thou shalt die in a polluted land i. e. In Assyria filled with the uncleannesse of the inhabitants from corner to corner as Canaan was Ezra 9.11 Lev. 26.38 Here thou shalt die for thine abominable idolatries to thy great regret Seldom do such escape the visible vengeance of God as by virulent tongues or violent hands persecute his true Prophets Whether Amos for his boldnesse was first scourged by Amaziah and then wounded to death by his son Vzziah as some will is uncertaine and Israel shall surely though thou wouldst not beleeve it verse 11. CHAP. VIII Verse 1. THus hath the Lord God shewed unto me viz. in this fourth vision whereby for better assurance and to shake them out of their desperate security Israels utter ruine is again foretold by a lively type which is here 1. propounded 2. expounded verse 3 5. that he may run that readeth it and none may fall but with open eyes Hab. 2.2 And behold a basket made up haply in the form of a dog as the word Calub seemeth to import of Summer-fruits Heb. of Summer that is of that which the summer affordeth toward the end of it especially when fruits ripen and even fall into the hand of the gatherer The summer it self hath its denomination from a root that signifieth to awaken Schindler Pagnin because then the fruits and flowers that seemed to be asleep all winter-long do awake as it were and shew themselves Verse 2. Amos what seest thou This the Lord asketh to stir up attention and affection in the Prophet who might haply need as much to be arroused as Zachary in like case did chap. 4.1 with whom it fared as with a drowsie person who though awaked and set to work is ready to sleep at it and I said A basket of Summer-fruit Apples saith Jerome figs say others and why not as well grapes ripened in the Summer-sun-shine Rev. 14.20 19.15 Whereby the Holy Ghost in the Revelation describeth such as are ready ripe for the wine-presse of Gods wrath Nahum compareth them to stubble laid out in the Sun a-drying that it may burn the better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nah. 1.10 The end is come upon my people An elegancy in the Originall beyond Englishing the Latine Interpreters have some of them assayed the like but they fall farre short of it The Old Testament is full of such Agnominations and God seemeth delighted with them See Jer. 1.11 12. 48.2 47.43 44. Lam. 3.47 Amos 5.5 Mic. 1.10 14. Zeph. 2.4 Exod. 2.10 Gen. 3.20 4.1 25. 5.29 17.5 21.5 6 c. There is a pedantique stile and a majestick an effeminate eloquence and a manly This latter is lawfull and may very well become the man of God who yet must not wit-wanton it in weightiest matters but shun those more gay and lighter flashes and flourishes wherewith the emptiest Celles affect to bee most fraught as they who for want of wares in their shops set up painted blocks to fill up vacant shelves as One well expresseth it The end is come upon my people Exitus exitium As the summer is the end of the yeer and the time of ripening fruits so now that this people are ripe for ruine An end is come is come is eome it watcheth for them behold it is come Ezek. 7.6 7. even the precise time and terme of their finall overthrow I will not again passe by them any more See chap. 7.8 God can passe by that is pardon his people better then any other Mic. 7.18 Ephes 6. like as they that are born of God and partake of the Divine nature can bear wrongs best of any compell them to go a mile they 'l be content if it may do good to go two yea as farre as the shoos of the preparation of the Gospel of peace will carry them But as the Saints of God may not be therefore injured which was Iulians jearing cruelty because they are meek so must not God be presumed upon and provoked because he is mercifull There is mercy with him that he may be feared saith the Psalmist for abused mercy turneth into fury and opportunities of grace are oft so headlong that if once past they are irrecoverable Wo be to that people or person to whom God shall say I will not again passe by you any more Verse 3. And the songs of the temple shall be howlings Heb. shall howle shall be turned into the black-santis as they call it cantus in planctum laetitia in lachrymas such as I hate chap. 5.23 and feel it grating mine ears as an harmonia discors there shall bee many dead bodies in every place Either through pestilence or sword Others read it thus In every place it shall bee said Proijce sile Out with them Make no words an earnest Aposiopesis See chap. 6.10 with the Note q. d. Patiently acquiesce in the just judgement of so mighty a God Or throw these dead bodies into pits and say nothing lest we be sequestred as unclean by the law It is no small misery to be under hard and heavy crosses and yet to be forced to dissemble and suppresse them to bite in pain and to disgest grief as horses do their choler by biting on the bridle I was dumb with silence saith David I held my peace even from good that is from just defence but my sorrow was stirred thereby my sore was exulcerate renewed as the Greek there saith and increased Psal 39.2 Give sorrow a vent and it will wear away Verse 4. Hear this ye that swallow up the needy that soop them up as drink our word soop seems to come of the Hebrew Shaaph that would make but a breakfast nay but a bit of them that would swallow them at once down their wide gullets and do for that purpose pant and even faint as well-nigh windlesse after them to devour them Hence they are called Man-eaters Cannibals Psal 14.4 See chap. 2.7 with the Note even to make the poor of the land to fail Heb. the meek of the land Poverty should meeken and tame mens spirits howbeit some are humbled but not humble low but not lowly Those that are both are oft oppressed by the Great Ones of the earth and even devoured as the lesser fish are by the bigger Ye have condemned and killed the just saith St. Iames to the wicked rich men of his time and he doth not resist you chap. 5.6 He onely committeth his cause to him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2.23 and indeed he need do no more then so for God is the poor-mans king as James the fifth of Scotland was termed for his charity yea he is the worlds refuge Awlen Penaugh as the great Turk vaingloriously stileth himself and would have the world to take notice that such poor people as lament to him shall be relieved by him although his ministers fail them or
then what the Scripture reporteth of them The Chaldees cut off abundance of them together with the Moabites Ammonites and other neighbour nations After that Iudas Macchabeus and his nephew Hircanus slew a great sort of them and then lastly the Romans and other Princes rooted them utterly out See Ioseph Lib. 1. Antiq. cap. 10. 1 Maccab. 5.65 2 Mac. 10.16 32. Verse 17. But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance God will turne againe their captivity as the streames in the South He stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to send them home he restored unto them both Religion and Liberty he did all that could be done for them by sending his Son amongst them in the fulnesse of time made of a woman c. made also unto all his people wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 Jesus hath delivered us from the wrath to come 1 Thess 1.10 Neither is there any other Name whereby heaven is to be had but onely by the Name of Jesus and there shall be holinesse Holinesse to the Lord as Zach. 14.20 See the Notes there All the Lords people shall be an holy nation 1 Pet. 2.9 Every inhabitant of the city of God shall be partaker of holinesse both imputed and imparted that for justification being inherent in Christ imputed to us this for sanctification imparted by Christ inherent in us and the house of Jacob shall possesse ' their possessions They returning from Babylon shall not onely recover their own possessions out of the hands of the Edomites Samaritans and Syrians by vertue of an Edict from king Darius but they shall also possesse the Edomites themselves and their territories when converted to the faith of Christ they shall bring their wealth unto the Church and as it is faid of Tyrus Esay 23.18 feed and clothe therewith the Saints of God Verse 18. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire c. The house of Jacob are the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin the house of Joseph are the ten tribes of Israel whereof Ephraim was the head The sence is this those two tribes together with such of the ten as joyned themselves to them either before or after the captivity shall invade Idumea burn it and subdue it as fire doth stubble fully drie This was done by Hircanus and Judas Macchabeus who compelled the Edomites to bee circumcised and so wholly possessed those parts Joseph 13. Ant. 17. that there were not any reliques of them remaining no not so much as one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint render it or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some read them any to carry corn after the camp or fire before it according to the custome of the Greeks and Easterlings which torch-bearer might as little bee violated as an Embassadour but here hee should bee cut off with the rest and not so much as a messenger left to relate the overthrow The Edomites were so utterly rooted out by Hircanus Alex. ab Alex. l. 5. c. 3. that they thenceforth ceased to bee Edomites and became Jews Those of them that were converted by the preaching of the Gospel ceased to be either Edomites or Jewes and became Christians The Apostles burning with the zeal of Gods glory and love to mens souls devoured and wasted the infidelity idols and vices of the Gentiles where-ever they came preaching Hence Chrysostom saith Peter was a man made all of fire walking among stubble Paul was insatiabilis Dei cuâ—tor an insatiable servant of Christ And to the like purpose it was that to one that desired to know what kind of man Basil was it is said there was presented in a dream a pillar of fire with this Motto Talis est Basilius Such an one is Basil And old Latimer when he was demanded the reason why so little powerfull preaching answered Deest ignis the spark of the spirit is wanting Howbeit this Prophecy as it began to be fulfilled at first by the Apostles and the Apostolicall persons that came after them so it is daily and shall be continually to the worlds end fulfilled by the faithfull preachers of Gods holy word who are clothed with a spirit of judgement and of burning Esay 4 4. and out of whose mouth proceedeth fire Rev. 11.5 to purge the gold and to consume the stubble Verse 19. And they of the South shall possesse the mount of Esau Those of the South that is the tribe of Judah For Iudaea was divided into five parts Josh 15. whereof one was Southward toward the coast of Edom ver 21. Another was in the vale or plain near unto the Philistines ver 33. Here then Obadiah sheweth that the Jews shall not onely recover their ancient inheritances but also much enlarge the same whereby he signifieth that the Church of Christ shall grow so very great that Jewry shall be too narrow for them see Zach. 10.10 the ancient bounders shall not receive them See Num. 24.17 Esay 11.14 The Gospel was soon spread not onely to the neighbour nations but to all the ends of the earth the Edomites Philistines c. are onely mentioned as being better known and more adverse to the Jews then other nations were and they of the plain the Philistines i.e. those five Lordships Gath Gaza Ascalon Ekron and Azotus all which countrey called Sarona Acts 9. Augustus gave to Herod the Ascalonite and after his death to his sons dividing it into Tetrarchies Luke 3.1 and they shall possesse the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria All which Hircanus subdued and destroyed their Temple built in mount Garizim and Benjamin shall possesse Gilead that is shall propagate and extend his habitation beyond Iordan and in respect of his exceeding great multitude shall be compelled to hold and possesse Gilead all the countrey betwixt Iordan and mount Libanus Thus Hierom with the Hebrew Scholiasts and many others who do also note that under these earthly felicities heavenly are described and that all this is chiefly accomplished under Christ when as the faithfull are made heirs and lords of all things by Him who is their Head See Ezek. 37.16 c. Verse 20. And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel c. i.e. the multitude of the Jews carried captive to Babylon returning at length into their own countrey shall possesse all the places of the Canaanites all the Maritine cities all the tract of ground as farre as Sarepta which is betwixt Tyre and Zidon therefore called Sarepta of Zidon 1 King 17.19 Here dwelt the Canaanites whom Asher could not expell Judg. 1.31 32. See Mat. 15.22 and the captivity of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad that is either in some citie of Assyria or in the utmost bounds of the Babylonish dominion as some interpret the word Sepharad by taking it asunder or as farre as Apharad so the Septuagint that is Euphrates The Hebrew Doctors as by Canaanites here they understand the Dutch and by Zarephath France so by Sepharad they will needs
holy violence as Tertullian saith the good people of his time did The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much but then it must be the working stirring labourfull prayer as the word signifieth that strives and struggles and straines every veine in the heart as Elias seemed to do by that posture in prayer of putting his head betwixt his leggs 1 King 18.42 that sets awork all the faculties of the soule and all the graces of the spirit that stirrs up dust as Jacob did maketh a man sweat as our Saviour who being in an agonie prayed the more earnestly Luk. 22.44 not without strong crying and teares and was heard in that he feared Heb. 5.7 For such a prayer when a man cryes to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mightily or with all his strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it availeth much it can do any thing as Paul using the same words saith I can do all things through Christ who streng theneth me Philip. 4.13 Yea let them turn every one from his evill way c. For else Prayer profits not Humiliation is to no purpose without Reformation Repentance for sin without repentance from sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there must be fruits meet for repentance answerable to amendment of life tantamount as repentance and that weigh just as much as it for Optima aptissima poenitentia est nova vita saith Luther the best and truest repentance is a new life and if gods people will humble themselves and pray and seek his face and withall turn from their evill wayes then he will do much for them 2 Chron. 7.14 and from the violence that is in their hands Heb. In the hollow of their hands where it lay hid as it were but not from God who here bids them turn from their wrong-dealing and rapacity This was their speciall sin ut in magnis imperijs emporiis magnae sunt rapinae therefore are they charged to relinquish it It is a speech saith Mercer like to that of our Saviour Go tell my Disciples and Peter c. Tell them all but be sure you tell Peter So here turn from all your evill wayes but especially from the violence that is in your hands See Es 59.6 Ezech. 23.27 Psal 7.4 The Hebrewes understand this text of restitution to be made of evill-gotten goods or wrongfully deteined from the right owners This say they must be done or the party can be no more renewed by repentance then a man could be legally purified by the washing of water when he continued to hold in his hand an unclean thing That of Austin is well known The sin is not remitted till that which hath bin ill-gotten from another be restored And that of Father Latimer Non remittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum Aug. Restore or else you will cough in hell and the Devils will laugh at you Gravell in the kidneys will not grate so upon you as a little guiltinesse in this kind will do upon your consciences The same Latimer tells us in a sermon of his afore K. Edw 6. that the first day that he preached about Restitution there came one and gave him twenty pounds to restore the next time another and brought him in thirty pounds another time another gave him two hundred pounds ten shillings The Law for restitution see Num. 5.6 7. the party must not only confesse but restore or he is not a true convert And this will well appeare when death comes to draw the curtaine and looke in upon a man Hence our Henry the 7. in his last will and testament after the disposition of his soul and body Speed 995. Turk hist fol. 767. he willed restitution should be made of all such monies as had unjustly been levied by his officers And the like we read of Selymus the grand Signiour in the Turkish history Verse 9. Who can tell if God will turn and repent This is the speech of one that doubteth and yet despaireth not like that of David praying for his sick child Who can tell whether God will be gratious to me that the child may live 2 Sam. 12.22 We are staggering saith Saint Paul but not wholy sticking 2 Cor. 4.8 They that go down to the pit of despaire as well as of the grave Es 38.18 cannot hope for thy truth but are hurried headlong into hell as the Gergesites swine were into the sea The Prophet Jonah was peremptory that by such a day Niniveh should be destroyed These men therefore had good reason to doubt if not of the pardon of their sins yet of the saving of their city All their hope is that this that Jonah denounced was not Gods absolute decree but onely his threatening and that conditionall too viz. except they repented This if they could do and heartily they knew not but that mercy might be yet had Keep hope in heart or the work will go on heavily Psal 43. ult Hope is the daughter of Faith but such as is a staff to her aged mother See the Note on Ioel. 2.14 Of God repenting I have spoken elsewhere Verse 10. And God saw their works i. e. He noted and noticed them to others Or he saw them that is he approved of them Videre Dei est approbare Let God but see Repentance as a rainbow appearing in our hearts and lives and he will never drown us in destruction But unlesse God sees turning he sees no work in a fast saith One upon this very Text. God may say to impenitent fasters saith Another as Isaac did to his father Behold the fire and wood but where is the lamb Or as Jacob did concerning Joseph Here 's the coat but where 's the child Get thee behind said Jehu to the messengers what hast thou to do with peace Confessions and humiliations are our messengers but if the heart be not broken if the life be not amended what peace The Talmudists note here that God is not said to have seen their sack-cloth and ashes but their repentance and works those fruits of their faith truth in the inward parts which God eyeth with singular delight Ier. 5.3 as the work of his own spirit Eph. 8.9 August Certum est nos facere quod facimus sed ille facit ut facimus and he is pleased to call his grace in us our works for our incouragement in well-doing and freely to crown it in us without any merit on our part That they turned from their evill way To which they were by nature and ill custome so wedded and wedged that they could never have been loosened but by an extraordinary touch from the hand of heaven The conversion of a sinner from the evill of his way is Gods own handy-work Jer. 31.18 2 Tim. 2.25 Ezech. 6.9 Plato went three times into Sicily to convert Dionysius the tyrant and could do no good on him Polemo of a drunkard by hearing Xenocrates is said to have become a Philosopher But what saith Ambrose to
Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own Mat. 20.15 Is thine eye evil because I am good Shall I not shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy Or enviest thou these poor Ninivites their preservation for my sake Cannot I provide for mine own glory and for thine authority by other means and wayes then thou imaginest Have patience Jonah and rest better satisfied with my dispensation Be swift to bear slow to speak slow to wrath For I wot well the wrath of man worketh not the righteonsnesse of God Jam. 1.19 20. This thou wilt see and say as much when come to thy self for now thou art quite off and being transported as thou art Nil audire voles Horaâ— nil discere quod levet aegrum Hierome seeks to excuse Jonah's anger but God here condemneth it as not well and Ionah himself partly by not answering again and partly by recording the story seems to say of himself as Father Latimer doth in another case I have used in mine earnest matters to say Serm. 3. Sund. in Advent Yea by Saint Mary which indeed is not well Anger is not altogether unlawful so it be well carried It is saith one a tender vertue and as it is not evil to marry but good to be wary so here Let a man ask himself this question Do I will to be thus angry and is mine indignation rightly regulated for principle object measure end If it be not the spirit of God will be grieved in the good soul and sensibly stirre Eph. 4.30 31. yea thou shalt hear the correcting voice thereof within thee saying Dost thou well to be thus angry Should not all bitternesse and wrath and anger and clamour and evil-speaking be put away with all malice And should ye not be kind one to another and 〈◊〉 hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Eph. 4.31 32. Vers 5. So Jonah went out of the city As not yet knowing what God might do though he found him inclinable to shew them mercy upon their repentance Or he might think haply that these Ninivites were onely sermon-sick penitent indeed for the present but it was too good to hold long these seemingly righteous men would soon fall from their righteousnesse and then be destroyed though for present somewhat favoured of God Mercer reads the text in the preterpluperfect tense and makes it an hysteron proteron thus exierat autem Jonas but Jonas had gone out of the city sc before he had shewed himself so hot and hasty against God and brawled with him as above Others think that when he saw which way the squares were like to go he flung out of the city in a great pelt and if God had fetcht him again with a flewet on the ear as Queen Elizabeth did the Earl of Essex her favourite Camb. Elisaâ— when being crossed by her of his will â—he uncivilly turned his back as it were in contempt he had done him no wrong But God is long-suffering c. He considereth whereof we are made and with what strong corruptions we are beset He knowes that sinne hath a strong heart and will not easily be done to death that nothing cleaves more pertinaciously or is more inexpugnable then a strong lust whether it be worldlinesse wantonnesse passionatenesse pride ambition revenge or the like these Jebusites will not easily be driven out these sturdy rebels will hardly be subdued these stick closest as a shirt doth to a leprous body and cannot be done off but with great adoe Now if Jonah be of a cholerick constitution and soon kindled if this evil of his nature have been confirmed by custome a second nature if Satan stirre up the coals and say to him as the people did to Pilat Do as thou ever hast done God graciously considereth all this and beareth with his evil manners and sat on the east-side of the city Quite out of the precincts where he might see their ruine and not suffer with them Faux after he had laid his train and ser it awork to fire the powder at such an hour was to have retired himself into Georges fields and there to have beheld the sport That Jonah was so uncharitable as to wish and wait the overthrow of Niniveh and not that they would rather return and live admits of no excuse But that expecting its overthrow according to that God had threatned by him he secured himself by separating from those sinners against their own souls was well and wisely done of him See Esa 48.20 and 52.11 2 Cor. 6.17 Rev. 16.4 Lot did so from Sodom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people from Core and his complices John and his disciples from Cerinthus the heretick he sprung out of the Bath from that blasphemer lest he should be punished with him so the Church of Ierusalem packt away to Pella c. â—â—sob l. â— c. â— and there made him a booth A sorry something wherein to repose himself till the indignation were over-past Ministers as good souldiers of Jesus Christ must suffer hardship be content to dwell in tents or to lie in huts till they come to the heavenly palace where they shall have a better building 2 Cor. 5.1 yea a throne in that city of pearl whose master builder is God Heb. 11.13 Turk hisâ— fol. 3 1â— Mean while let them not seek great things for themselves but as the Turks never build sumptuously for their own private uses but content themselves with simple cottages how mean soever good enough say they for the short time of our pilgrimage here so much more should Christians especially Ministers whose reward how little soever upon earth is great in heaven Let them live upon reversions and though their dwelling be but mean a booth or little better yet they shall have stately mansions above Maâ— 5.12 and in the mean time if they can but say as that Heathen did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God dwels here with me this house of mine is a little Church a tabernacle for the God of Iacob oh how happy are they in that behalf even above the great Turk with his Seraglio which is two miles in compasse yea with his whole Empire Turk hist which saith Luther is but a crust cast by the great house-keeper of the world to his dogs and sat under it in the shadow Having food and reyment saith the Apostle let us therewith be content 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the word rendred rayment signifieth any covering over head if it be but an haircloth Some say it signifies domicilium an house others say that houses are not named for that they were not any where to fix Estius Vt Hamaxâ—â—â— but to be ready to run from place to place and to leave house and all behind them or as souldiers burn their huts when the siege is ended that they may go home to their houses being discontentedly contented in the
mean while so should we glad to hover and cover under the shadow of the Almighty by the grace of faith quae te pullastrum Christum gallinum facit which makes Christ the hen and thee the chicken saith Luther till he might see what would become of the city whether God would not ratifie his word by raining down hell from heaven upon it as once he did upon sinfull Sodom or overwhelme it with the river Tigris as once he did some part of it saith Diodorus Siculus Diod. lib. 2. so that twenty furlongs of the town-wall were thrown down by it And the Prophet Nahum threateneth that with an over-flowing flood God would make an end of the place thereof chap. 1.8 Verse 6. And the Lord God prepared a gourd sc after that his booth was dried up and the leaves withered God by his providence and not without a miracle because without seed and so suddenly furnished Ionah with this gourd or ivy-bush or white vine or the plant called Palma Christi or Pentadactylon because it resembleth a mans hand with five fingers something it was but what is not certainely known Kimchi thus describeth it Est herba longis altis frondibus umbrosa It is an herb or plant that yeeldeth good shade with its long and large leaves And many yeares before him one Rabba son of Hanna said that it growes by the waters side is commonly set for shade-sake before tavern doores and that oyle is made of the seeds of it and made it to come up over Ionah Not only to refresh him who having been so lately in the whales-belly was haply more tender-skinned then before and not so well able to endure the heate of the Sun but also to make way to that reproof he afterwards gave him ver 10. Hoc enim exierno signo saith Mercer for by this outward signe God sporting with him as it were clearly convinceth him of his impatiency admonisheth him of his duty this He thinketh was not done till the forty dayes wore over to deliver him from his grief from his head-ach caused by the heat of the Sun which yet he cursed not as the scorched Atlantes are said to doe Or to exhilarate and refresh his spirits after his self-vexing for the hasty man never wants woe and the envious person because he cannot come at another mans heart feedeth upon his own Esa 5.7 Now though God chide him for his fault yet as a father he tendereth his infirmity and taketh care that the spirit faile not before him and the soule that he had made And it is as if he should say Ionah goeth on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his wayes and will heale him I will leade him also and restore comforts unto him Esay 57.16 17 18 As it is a rule in Physick still to maintaine nature so Ionah was exceeding glad Heb. rejoyced with great joy that is supra modum he was excessive in all his passions which speakes him a weake man Some think he rejoyced the more in the gourd as conceiving that God thereby voted with him and for him This was also Leahs errour when rejoycing in that whereof she should have repented rather she said Gen. 30.18 God hath given me my hire because I have given my maiden to my husband and she hath borne me a fist son So much mistaken are the best sometimes and so bladder-like is mans soule that filled with earthly vanityes though but wind and gone with a wind it growes great and swels in pride and folly but if prickt with the least pin of piercing grief it shriveleth to nothing Verse 7. But God prepared a worm All occurrences are to be ascribed not to Nature Fate or Fortune but to God who as he is Great in great things so is he not little in the least Maximus in magnis nec parvus in minimis He prepared first the gourd and then the worm and then the wind He was the great doer in all He so attempereth all that his people shall have their times and their turns of joy and sorrow These two are tyed together said the Heathen with chaines of Adamant hence also Ageronia's altar in the temple of Volupia Flut. See the circle God usually goes in with his Psal 30.5 6 7. c. to teach them that all outward comforts are but as grass or flower of the field which he can soone blast or corrode by some worme of his providing Moneo te iterumque iterumque monebo saith Lactantius I warn thee therefore will do it againe againe that thou look not upon those earthly delights as either great or true to those that trust them De opisicio Da. ad Dem. but as things that are not onely deceitfull because doubtfull but also deadly because delicious There is a worm lies couchant in every gourd to smite it a teredo to wast it besides the worm of conscience bred in that froath and filth for a perpetuall torment and it smot the gourd that it withered Plants have also their wounds diseases and death Lib. 17. cap. 14. saith Pliny The gourd being gnawed at the root and robbed of its moistness withered Sic transit gloria mundi But the righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree tree not like this palm-crist Psal 92.12 Now the palm-tree though it have many waights at the top and many snakes or wormes at the root yet it still sayes Alciat Emb. Nec premor nec perimor I am neither born down nor dried up but as Noahs olive drown'd kept its verdure and as Moses bush fired but not consumed so fareth it with the righteous persecuted but not forsaken c. 2 Cor. 4.8 9. and at death a crown of life awaites him Quanta perennis erit an immarcescible crown Sr. Thom. Bodlye 's posy an inheritance undefiled and that withereth not Pet. 1.4 that suffereth no Marasmus but is reserved fresh and green for you in heaven like the palm-tree which Pliny saith never loseth his leafe nor fruit or like that Persian tree whereof Theophrastus saith that at the same time it doth bud blossome and beare fruit Verse 8. God prepared a vehement East-wind The windes then blow not where they list at randome I mean and without rule but are both raised and layed againe by God at his pleasure He prepared and sent out of his treasures Jer. 10.13 this violent East-wind ◠Heb silent R. Selomoh so called either because it silenceth all other winds with its vehemency or because when it blowes men are made silent or deaf with its dinn so that their tale cannot be heard There are that by silent here understand a still low gentle East-wind that cooled not the heate of the avre inflamed by the Sun but rather added to it and set it on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greeks interpret it and this suites well with that which followeth and the Sun beat upon the head of
the Electour of Saxony he rightly answered Because he meddleth with the Popes tripple crown and with the Friars fat paunches Verse 9. Therefore night shall be unto you Ye shall be benighted your gifts blasted and your persons baffled your lamp shall be put out in obscure darknesse the sword shall be upon your arms and upon your right eyes your arms shall be clean dried up Zech. 11.17 and your right eyes utterly darkened Those illuminations and inspirations that ye seemed to have shall be taken from you and God shall passe that dreadfull sentence Take the talent from him even here in this life let him not have the least dram or drop of a prophetick Spirit of ministeriall abilities and then in the next world cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darknesse c. Mat. 25.28.30 and it shall be dark unto you that ye shall not divine Tenebrae vobis à divinatione vel propter divinationem so Calvin All the reward ye shall have for your divination shall be disgrace and confusion your folly shall be manifest unto all men as was that of Jannes and Jambres 2 Tim. 3.9 And the Sun shall goe down over the Prophets The same thing is set forth by sundry Metaphors for more assurance for Hypocritis nihil stupidius it is hard to perswade an hypocrite that evill is toward him see ver 11. Verse 7. Then shall the Seers be ashamed and the diviners confounded They shall be hissed and hooted at for Impostour and falsaries shame shall be the promotion of these fooles as it is at this day of the Heathen Philosophers of the Iewish Rabbins of the Popish Doctours and Schoole-men who once caried the bell for most acute and accurate Divines but now appear to be great triflers a rotten generation of dunghil-divines as one stileth them in detestation of whose vain jangling and doting about questions 1 Tim. 6.4 Luther saith Luth. tom 1. oper lat ep 47. Prope est-ut jurem c. I could swear almost that there was not a Schoolman that understood one chapter of the Gospel Latimer professed that by hearing Bilneys confession he learned more then afore in many yeares So from that time forward saith He Act. Mon. 917 I began to smell the word of God and forsake the School-doctours and such fooleries yea they shall all cover their lips And stand aloof as lepers See Lev. 13.45 Ezek. 24.17 22. Or they shall leave off their lying for I will stop their mouthes Ego illis os claudam Calv. that they shall not hereafter so much as mute any more The Septuagint render it All men shall abhorre them shall open their lips against them Montanus involuent mysta cem suam they shall wrap up their mustachoes which saith à Lapide the false Prophets wore upon their upper-lip incedebant comptuli and went neatly trimmed as do now the Calvinistical Ministers But if some do so yet this is better then the Popish priests shaving which is a ceremony so bald that some Priests in France are ashamed of the mark and few of them have it that can handsomly avoid it for there is no answer of God He comes not at them as sometimes he did to Abimelech Laban Balaam neither speake they according to his word for why there is no light in them Es 8.20 The Philosophers professing themselves to be wise but wanting the wiâ—dome from above became fooles Rom. 1.22 The Pharisees had they known any thing aright and as they ought they would not have crucified the Lord of glory 1 Cor. 2.8 Oracles they had and miracles enow but they rejected the counsel of God against themselves being not baptized Luke 7.30 or if they were yet remained they a viperous brood Mat. 3. and never attained to that answer of a good conscience toward God 1 Pet. 3.21 The Schoolmen often cite the Philosophers Lombard Passim seldome the Apostles they count the authority of Fathers as good as that of Scriptures neither doubt they to call the writings of the Eathers by the name of Scripture Was not this to set mens threshold by Gods threshold and their posts by his posts Ezek. 43.8 what marvel therefore though they became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened while they taught for doctrines mens traditions what marvell though Popish fopperies once so admired be now so much slighted since the world seeth further into them then formerly Notable is that passage in K. Henry the eights protestation against the Pope England is no more a babe there is no man here but now he knowes that they do foolishly that part with gold for lead c. Surely except God take away our right wits not only the Popes authority shall be driven out for ever Act. Mon. 990. but his name also shortly shall be forgotten in England We will from henceforth ask counsell of him and his when we list to be deceived when we covet to be in errour when we desire to offend God Truth and honesty c. Ver. 8. But truely I am full of power But doth it become the Prophet thus to praise himself Laus proprio sordescit in ore and those who vaunt most have oft the least courage as those creatures who have the greatest hearts of flesh are the most timerous as the Stag Panther Hare c. For answer it must be considered that the Prophet speaketh not here of his own good parts out of a vain glorious humour it was enough for him that he was all glorious within Psal 45.13 virtusque suo contenta theatro est but to separate himself from those false prophets aforementioned and to assert his calling by his qualifications as doth likewise St. Paul 2 Cor. 12. to those who sought a proof of Christ speaking in him The word rendered But truly signifies All which notwithstanding q. d. Albeit there is such a generall defection from God and such unfaithfulnesse in the Prophets of these times yet I am full of power lively and lusty vigorous and vivacious by the spirit of the Lord That noble Spirit as David calleth him that spirit of power Psal 51. 2 Tim. 1.7 of love and of a sound mind as Paul that putteth spirituall mettle into the soule and steeleth it against all opposition And truely if the spirit put not vigour into us how dead and flat are our duties and all ordinances like liquor that hath lost its spirits there is as much difference many times as betwixt cold water and Aquavitae and of judgment to discern of things that differ to time a word as the Prophet Esay hath it Esa 50.4 and to teach things profitable and proper to my auditours not as He in the Emblem that gave straw to the dog and a bone to the Asse or as those false Prophets who spake good of evill and evill of good and wisely to distinguish betwixt law and Gospel in praxi Gratias agat Deo
6.27 This is comfortable to consider of that is to be Ruler in Israel Matthew rendereth it a Captain that shall feed my people Israel Mat. 2.6 See the Note there whose goings forth have been from of old This is spoken of Christs eternal generation which none can declare Esay 53.8 What is Gods name and what is his Sons name if thou canst tell Prov. 30.4 The Scripture usually speaketh of this grand Mystery by way of circumlocution It is here spoken of in the Plurall number for the excellency of it Adoro plâ—niâ—udinem scripturarum Aug. In this Text then we have a description of Christ in his natures and offices See the like Rom. 1.3 4. and adore the fulnesse of the Scriptures Verse 3. Therefore will he give them up As a little before the day springeth it is darker then ordinary so before the day-spring from on high visited Gods people they were under very hard and heavy pressures and miseries whereby their desires after him were increased and ineagered The enemy oppressed them by Gods permission yea by his active providence that they might pant after a Saviour and sigh out with old Jacob their father Gen. 49.18 O Lord I have waited for thy salvation untill the time that she which travelleth hath brought forth She that is the Virgin Mary say some Or she that is say others the afflicted Church according to chap. 4.9 10. See the Notes there Shee must have a time of travell of trouble before she can bring forth and be delivered Luther saith well that the Church is haeres crucis and that every Christian is a Crucian we must suffer before we can reigne and bear the crosse or ere we wear the crown Then the remnant of his brethren i. e. the converted Gentiles whom Christ is not ashamed to call his brethren Heb. 2.11 12. shall return unto the children of Israel shall be proselyted and conjoyned to the elect Jews that there may bee one sheep-fold under one shepherd And the Lord shall be king over all the earth In that day there shall be one Lord and his name one Zech. 4.9 See the Note there Verse 4. And he shall stand and feed or rule in the strength of the Lord He shall stand and none shall be able to stirre him there shall be lifting at his government but it stands firm and fixed Earthly Monarchies have their times and their turnes their ruine as well as their rise The Roman Empire fell under the weight of its own greatnesse The Turkish although it be indeed very strong yet is it by many probably thought to be on the declining hand But Christ shall stand when all earthly greatnesse shall lie in the dust And He shall feed his flock in the strength of the Lord neither shall any ravenous Lion or grievous Wolf pluck them out of his hand because He and the Father are one Joh. 10.39 and God hath laid help on one that is mighty Psal 89 19. and in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God that is by the power of Gods word called his name Acts 9 15. and elsewhere This word hath a singular majestie in it whereby it aweth and affecteth mens consciences to the propagating of Christs kingdom viz when it is accompanied with the Spirit of God called his strength in the former clause And that these ever go together in all the subjects of Christs kingdom see Esay 59 21. As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon them and my word which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds sâ—ed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth Now that is ere long in Gods due time which oft seems long because we are short apt to antedate the promises in regard of the accomplishment to limit the Holy One of Israel and to set him a time to set his Sun by our diall Jer. 8 20. help they would have that Summer at furthest But as God never fails in his own time so he seldom comes at ours We must live by faith Hab. 2.2 and stay Gods leisure as David did for the kingdome and those in Esther for deliverance Gods promises will at length take their way over all Alpes of opposition but we have need of patience c. For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10 36 37. Verse 5. And this man shall be the peace The man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 that man that shall be as an hiding place from the winde and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land Esay 32.2 Winds and tempests will arise and that upon the Church Assyrians and Babylonians Nimrods brats will invade and infest her but that famous He afore-mentioned shall bee her peace her Prince of peace Esay 9.6 who giveth her pacem omnimodam peace internal external eternal called by the Apostle life and peace Rom. 8.7 This peace peace as Esay calleth it chap. 26 3. that is a multiplied renued continued peace this peace Regionis Religionis of Countrey and of Conscience as God hath promised and Christ hath purchased He merited and made it through the blood of his Crosse Col. 1.20 Esay 53.5 Ephes 2.16 And hence it was that as he was brought from heaven with that song of peace Luke 2.14 so he returned up again with that farewell of peace Joh. 14.27 left to the world the doctrine of peace Ephes 2.17 whose Ministers are messengers of peaceâ— Râ—m 10 15. whose followers are the children of peace Luke 10.6 whose unity is in the bond of peace Ephes 4.3 and whose duty is the study of peace Rom. 12.18 and to whom God hath promised I will give peace in your land c. And ye shall chase your enemies c. If any ask Lev. 25.6 7. how peace and pursuit of enemies can consist It is easily answered You shall have civil peace amongst your selve and besides an ability to quell and quiet forraigne enemies Or you shal have peace and if it hap that war arise you shall have the better in batteâ—â— If the Assyrian come into your land he shall be a loser by it if he tread in your palaces he shall retreat with shame and defeatment as it befell Sennacherib Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds that is a competent number of Chieftains and Champions with their victorious forces which shall repell the enemies and secure the Church Christo duce auspice Christo under Christ the Arch shepherd This some understand of the Apostles those anointed or authorized Ones as the word here signifieth the weapons of whose warfare were not carnall but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong-holds 2 Cor.
for his great goodnesse We are so joyfull that I wish you part of my joy c. The posy of the city of Geneva stamped round about their mony was formerly out of Iob Ibid. Post tenebras spero lucem After darknesse I look for light But the Reformation once settled amongst them they changed it into Post tenebras lux Light after darknesse Scultet Aunal Like as the Saxon Princes before they became Christians gave for their armes a black horse Cranz in Saxon. but being once baptized a white Verse 9. I will beare the Indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him The Church had sinned and God was angry with her So Zech. 1.12 Esay 57.17 What meane then the Antinomians to tell us that God is never angry with his people for their foule and flagitious practises no not with a fatherly anger nor chastiseth them for the same no not so much as with a fatherly chastizement Virg. Aeneid Is not this contra Solem mingere Godlinesse is on target against affliction Blind Nature saw this nec te tua plurima Pentheu Labentem texit pietas Onely it helpes to patient the heart under affliction by considering 1. That it is the Lord. 2. That a man suffers for his sin as the penitent theef also confessed Luk. 24.41.3 That the rod of the wicked shall not lie long upon the lot of the righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Say we then every one with David I know that thy judgements are right and thou hast afflicted me justly Psal 119.75 yea in very faithfulnesse hast thou done it that thou mightest be true to my soule And with that Noble Du-plessy who when he had lost his onely son a gentleman of great hopes which was the breaking of his mothers heart quieted himself with these words of David I was silent and said no word because thou Lord diddest it Psal 39. See my Love-tokens pag. 145.146 c. It shall be our wisdome in affliction to look to God and to reflect upon our sins taking his part against our selves as a Physician observes which way nature workes and helpes it until he plead my cause As a faithfull Patron and powerfull Avenger for though it be just in God that I suffer yet it is unjust in mine enemies who shall shortly be soundly paid for their insolencies and cruelties he will bring me forth to the light He will discloud these gloomy dayes and in his light I shall see light I shall behold his righteousnesse that is his faithfulnesse in fulfilling his Promise of deliverance in due time Meane-while I will live upon reversions live by faith and think to make a good living of it too All the wayes of God to his people are mercy and truth Psa 25.10 this is a soul-satisfying place of scripture indeed All the passages of his providence to them are not onely mercy but truth and righteousnesse they come to them in a way of a promise and by vertue of the Covenant wherein God hath made himself a voluntary debter to them 1 Joh. 1.9 Verse 10. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it c. Not onely shall I behold his righteousnesse as before but mine enemy shall see it and feel it too to her small comfort They shall see it when 't is too late to remedy it as they say the Mole never opens her eyes till pangs of death are upon her And shame shall cover her when she shall see that thou hast shewed me a token for good that thou hast holpen me and comforted me Psal 86.17 which said unto me Where is the Lord thy God So laying her religion in her dish whereby God became interested in her cause and concerned in point of honor to appear for her The Church is no lesse beholden to her enemies insolencies for help then to her own devotions for God will right himself and her together See Joel 2.17 with the Note Mine eyes shall behold her and feed upon her misery not as mine enemy but as Gods nor out of private revenge but out of zeal for his glory Now shall she be trodden down as the myre of the streets Erit infra omnes infimos she shall be as mean as may be Nineveh that great city is now a little town of small trade Babylon is nothing else but a sepulture of her self Those four Monarchies that so heavily oppressed the Church are now laid in the dust and live by fame onely so shall the Romish Hierarchie and Turkish Empire All Christs enemies shall shortly be in that place that is fittest for them sc under his feet as was before noted he will dung his Church with the carcasses of all those wilde boars and buls of Bashan that have trod it down Verse 11. In the day that thy walls are to be built In the type by Nehemiah chap. 3. who did the work with all his might and having a ready heart made riddance and good dispatch of it Mar. 16.15 In the truth and spiritually when the Gospel was to be preached to every creature and a Church collected of Jews and Gentiles The Church is in the Canticles said to be a garden enclosed such as hath a wall about it and a well within it Cant. 4.12 See the Note there God will be favourable in his good pleasure unto Zion Psal 51.18 and build the walls of Jerusalem His spirit also will set up a standard in his Saints against strong corruptions and temptations and make them more then conquerours even Triumphers Esay 59.19 Rom. 8.37 2 Cor. 2.14 In that day shall the decree be farre removed That decree of the Babylonians forbidding the building of the Temple and City shall be reversed and those statutes that were not good given them by Gods permission because they had despised his statutes Ezek. 20.24 25. shall be annulled and removed farre away Some read it In that day shall the decree go farre abroad and interpret it by Psal 2.7 8. of the doctrine of the Gospel Verse 12. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria To thee Ierusalem in the Type shall recourse be had from all parts as if thou wert the chief city of the world Pliny saith that in his time she was the most famous of all the cities of the East and Titus himself is said to have wept at the last destruction of it by his souldiers whom he could not restrain from firing the Temple To the new Jerusalem the Church of the New Testament in the Antitype from whence the Gospel was sent out to every creature which is under heaven Col. 1.23 and whereunto people of all sorts flowed and many nations came Mic. 4.1 2. with highest acclamations most vigorous affections and utmost indeavours bestowing themselves upon the Lord Christ Act. 2.9 c. Jerusalem in the Hebrew tongue is of the duall number in regard of the two parts of the city the upper and the nether town Or
as the Cabalists give the reason in regard of a twofold Jerusalem the heavenly and the earthly and the taking away of the earthly they say was signified by the taking away of the letter jod out of Jerushalaijm 2 Sam. 5.13 But Jerusalem which is above is free firme and full the desolate once so having many more children then she that hath an husband Gal. 4.26 27. whom the Lord of Hosts also doth blesse saying as a Father to them all Blessed be Egypt my people and Assyria the work of my hands and Israel mine inheritance Esay 19.23 24 25. and from the fortresse even to the river i.e. from all bounds and borders of the land yea of the world Psal 89.12 Tabor and Hermon are put for the East and West parts of the World shall people come in to the New Jerusalem which hath twelve gates On the East three gates on the North three gates on the South three gates and on the West three gates Rev. 21.12 13. See the Note there Verse 13. Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate Understand it not of the land of Caldea as A lapide doth but of Judea which must be desolated before the coming of Christ in the flesh And this is here foretold 1 Lest the impenitent by misapplying the former proimses should dream of impunity saeculi laetitia est impunita nequitia and 2. Lest the godly because of this desolation shortly to ensue Aug. should despair of the former promises Because of them that dwell therein for the fruit of their doings What their doings were and what the fruit thereof see Ier. 9.3 4 5 c 12 13 14 15 16. This Prophet could not but tell them of both though hee had small thank for his love and labour even as little as Moses had of that perverse people in the wildernesse His service among the Jews was in some sense like that of Manlius Torquatus among the Romans who gave it over saying Neither can I bear their manners nor they my government Ieremy once thought to have done so chap. 20.9 but might not He lived to see this prophecy of Micah fulfilled and was afterwards carried down to Egypt by his ungratefull countreymen where also for a reward of his 41. years uncessant pains in the Ministery as a Prophet they stoned him to death Bucholc Chronol who had been a brazen wall to his countrey ejusque commodis adangendis natus and a common blessing Verse 14. Feed thy people with thy rod Rule them with thy Seepter or feed them with thy pedum pastorale thy shepherds-rod or staffe Psal 23.4 This say some is the speech of God the Father to God the Son Or as others of God to the Ministers and Pastours charging them to take heed to his flock and to feed his Church But it seemeth rather to be a prayer of the Christian Church seeing the ruine of the Jewish Synagogue that Christ the chief Shepherd would do all good officer for his poor people feeding them with his rod that is with his word and Spirit guiding them with his eye Psal 32.8 leading them in the way everlasting Psal 139.24 lest seduced by their own lusts or other mens evil lives they should any way miscarry the flock of thine heritage Those poor of the flock Zach. 11.7 that hear his voice and follow him John 10.3 4.5 27. being holy harmlesse tractable sociable patient profitable as sheep which have wooll for raiment skin for parchment flesh for meat guts for musick c. Such shall go in and out and find pasture Joh. 10.9 pasture that will breed life and life in more abundance verse 10. See Psal 23.1 2 3 c. Davids Pastorall where he assureth himself as a sheep of Christs heritage that hee shall have all things needfull for life and godlinesse And so may every poor Christian grounding his faith upon the Covenant Ezekiel 34.25 28. which dwelleth solitarily in the wood Sleepeth in the woods Ezek. 34.25 where they meet with many a brush yea many a bruise verse 28. where they walk in dark and dangerous paths even in the valley of the shadow of death Psal 23.4 of the darkest side of death of death in its most horrid and hideous representations Feed them therefore fence them with thine omnipotent arm bear them in thy bosom see to their safety Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead Not bite upon the bare ground but feed pleasantly plentifully feed among the lillies frequent also the foddering places turn to the under-shepherds the Ministers and so return to the Arch-shepherd and Bishop of their souls following the Lamb wheresoever he goeth who will teach them many things and that out of deepest compassion Mar. 6.34 who will also shew them great and mighty things that they knew not Jer. 33.3 as in the dayes of old As thou wast with the Church of the Old Testament so be not wanting to that of the New but feed them according to the inegrity of thine heart and guide them by the skilfulnesse of thine hands Psal 78.72 Pull them out of the Lions mouth seek them up when lost tend them handle them heal them wash them drive them as they can go bearing the lambs in thy bosome Esay 40. Do for them as thou hast ever done for thy people in former ages So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever we will shew forth thy praise to all generations Psa 79.13 Verse 15. According to the dayes of thy comming out of the land of Egypt Here 's a present and full answer to the churches prayer so ready is the Lord to fulfill the desires of the righteous It is but Ask and Have and they are worthily miserable that will not make themselves happy by asking The summ of Christs answer is this As I led Joseph like a flock out of Egypt thorough the wildernesse and fed them there daily and daintily with Angels sood never was Prince so served in his greatest pomp so will I shew thee marvelous things at Babylon and bring thee thence with a mighty hand Ezek. 20.34 to make mee a glorious Name Esa 63.14 and both these deliverances shall be a most certaine type of thy spirituall redemption by Christ Loe thus will I do for thee as in the dayes of old ver 14. and so fit mine answer ad cardinem desiderij give thee not only the desire of thine heart Aug. Consc lib. 5. cap. 8. but the request of thy lipps Psa 21.2 letit be to thee even as thou wilt Mat. 15.29 Verse 16. The nations shall see and be confounded Considering how I have defeated and befooled them how I have made all their might to melt and moulder they shall stand amazed and be made a common table-talk as Belshazzar and the Babylonians were when Cyrus Gods servant suddainly brake in upon them and surprized their city which they held insuperable and as the Heathen Emperours of Rome were when the Christians under the
another Atheist is brought in saying Dextrae mihi Deus Virg. Aeneid lib. 10. telum quod missile libro So Sesostris king of Egypt in Sampsons dayes would needes be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord of the whole world and when he had conquered any countrey he caused these words to be engraven there upon marble pillars This countrey I gained by mine own strength c. So Antiochus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod l. 2. that little Antichrist is said to worship his God Mauzzim that is his forces and armies Dan. 11.38 It was Nebuchadnezzar that was here pointed at and how he deified himself and his own doings see Es 10.13 Dan. 4.26 and burn intense to their draggs whiles they ascribe to the instrument that which is due to God alone the chief Agent Hold out net said they well done dragge c. Hoc ego primus vidi said Zabarell Hoc ego feci saith Another But what saith Luther By mens boasting in this sort Haec ego feci haec ego feci Luth. in Psal 127. they become nothing better then mere Faeces dreggs and lees because by them their portion is fat By them that is by their net and dragge they think that their condition is well mended and their meat is fat opimus optimus God the giver of all this is not in all their thoughts but as the moon the fuller it is of light the further it getts from the Sun the fountain of her light so deale men with God Verse 17. Shall they therefore empty their net That they may fill it againe anew and so draw to themselves as to a pond or pool the wealth and power of the whole East Interrogatio precationis speciem habet saith Gualther This question is an effectuall prayer and it is as if the Prophet should thus say If as hitherto thou go on to wink at their wickednesse O God will they not grow more audacious every day and mischievous to mankind Arise therefore O Lord of recompences to the help of thy people Set up and shew thy self above the heathen that they may know themselves to be but men and not spare continually to slay the nations q. d. This cannot hold long and that it may not is mine earnest suite and supplication Lord when thou makest inquisition for blood remember their blood-guiltinesse Psal 9.12 and forget not the cry of the humble These cruell Chaldeans do not only subjugate but slay not a few but whole nations and that continually and that without mercy Is it not high time for thee to set to thy hand O preserver of men c. Note the Prophets ardency in prayer and learn of him to get upon the battlements and look up to see what comes of it chap. 2.1 This was also Davids practise Psal 5.3 where he useth the self-same military word atsappeh importing that he would be as a Spy upon a tower to see whether he prevailed with God whether he got the day CHAP. II. Verse 1. I will stand upon my watch To see what becomes of my prayer and what will be the issue of my doubts and temptations about Gods providence ruling the affaires of the world See the Note on chap. 1.17 There are spaces betwixt our prayers and Gods answers God harkens what Habacuc speakes and Habacuc must harken another while what God speakes This he had learned of David Psal 85.8 Prayer is a Christians angel seed dove messenger and must be looked after Who shootes an arrow or casts a boule and takes not notice where it lights They that observe not the answer of their prayers do as scoffing Pilate who asked in scorn of Christ what 's truth but staid not for an answer and set me upon the tower Heb set me firme and fast as a Champion that will keep his ground upon the tower or fortresse of divine meditation upon Gods word Nescio quomodo imbecillior est medicina quam morbus which alone hath virtutem pacativam a settling property to compose the soule when distempered and to lodge a blessed calme a sabbath of rest in it far above all Philosophicall Consolations whereunto when Cicero had ascribed very much yet he is forced to conclude that the disease was too hard for the medicine And this well appeared both in Socrates who died doubtingly and Cato who desperately slew himself after he had first read Plato's discourse concerning the immortality of the soule So foolish a thing it is to flie in distresse of mind ad consolatiunculas creaturulae as Luther speaketh and not to run to the Name of the Lord that strong tower Prov. 18.10 R. Kimchi reades the text thus I have set me in a circle q. d. I will not out till I have an answer why thou deferrest to punish the wicked and will watch to see what he will say unto me Or in me viz. by a Prophetick spirit by internall revelation 2 Sam. 23.1 Zach. 1.9 and 2.2 Preachers must still hearken what the Lord God saith unto them and in them speaking as the oracles of God 2 Pet. 4.11 and able to say with St. Paul I have received of the Lord that which also I deliver unto you 1 Cor. 11.23 For ut drachmam auri sine imagine Principis sic verba Praedicantis sine authoritate Dei contemnunt homines saith Lipsius Bring scripture or else you do but throw forth words without wisdome and to little purpose because they come not Cumprivilegio and what I shall answer when I am reprooved Heb upon my reproof or arguing Increpationis nomine tentationes intelligit saith Gualther Under the name of reproof he understandeth those temptations whereby his faith was assaulted when he saw bad men prosper good men suffer Satan and the world do usually set upon Gods servants with this weapon to unsettle their faith and to make them fall from their own stedfastnesse Dost thou still retain thine integrity said Jobs wife to him Seest thou not how little good there is to be got by Gods service that all things are in a huddle here below that they run on wheeles and have no certain course Thus the devill and his imps suggest to the godly and thereby greatly disquiet them setting their thoughts all on an hurricomb It was the case of David Psa 73. of Jeremy chap. 12.1.5 Of Basil under the heat of the Arrian persecution An Ecclesias suas prorsus dereliquit Dominus saith He what hath the Lord cast off all care of his churches Is it now the last houre c. Of many good people in Salvians time for whose satisfaction he was forced to write those eight excellent bookes De Gubernatione Dei as likewise Austin upon a like occasion did those two and twenty elaborate bookes De Civitate Dei and as the Prophet Habacuc here doth the following vision which he had for some time waited for and now receiveth as a gracious answer to his prayer chap. 1. for his own and others
a cry from the fish-gate called also the firstgate Zach. 14.10 whereat the Caldeans entred and caused a great hubbub as in such a case is usuall and an howling from the second Called by the Chaldee Paraphrast the bird-gate there was also one called the horse-gate Jer. 31.40 Some understand the text not of any gate Jerushalaijm but of the second part of the city for there was the upper town and the lower town whence Jerusalem is of the duall number and the tower of David on the hill of Zion Others of the Colledge where Huldad dwelt 2 King 22.14 a school of learning as the Chaldee interpreteth it and called Mishneh as you would say a place of repetition or of catechising the younger sort with whom nothing sticks but what is repeated to them over and over as the knife goeth over the whetstone Shanan Shanah repetire sicut in acuendo See Deut. 6.7 and a great crashing or shivering Heb. shebher from the hills Gareb and Goath Jer. 31.39 and the rest that were round about Jerusalem Psal 125.2 The Prophets scope is to shew that all places shall be full of tumult and out-cry upon the approach of the enemy They that would not listen to the sweet voice of God inciting and inticing them to repentance have now their ears filled with hideous and horrid notes and noises Verse 11. Howl ye inhabitants of Maktesh Or of the mortar or of the low and hollow place of the base-town where corn was brayed in mortars before Mills were in use These are here called upon to turn their laughter to mourning and their joy into heavinesse to weep and howl for the evils that shall come upon them Jam. 4.9 and 5.1 but especially for their sinnes the cause of those miseries for Gods judgements upon sinners are feathered from themselves as a fowl shot with an arrow feathered from her own body for all the merchant-people are cut down The merchant-men were wont to furnish the mortar-men such as dealt in corn spicery and the like These shall be cut down as being more like Canaanites a people devoted to destruction then Israelites a people saved by the Lord the shield of their help and the sword of their excellency Deut. 33.29 Vide Garol Paschalij legat cap. 7. p. 24. See Hos 12.8 with the Note He is a merchant the ballances of deceit are in his hand he loveth to oppresse See Amos 8 5 6. Mic. 6.10 11 12. Merchandise well managed is of great use to Kingdoms and States for many reasons 1. For descrying the counsels and strength of other Nations 2. For procuring the love and friendship of forreine Princes and people 3. for exchanging of commodities for non omnis fert omnia tellus 4. for gaining experience of many and great matters this caused Thales Hippocrates and Solon to exercise merchandise 5. It occasioned the building of many famous cities Massilia for one as Plutarch writeth Neverthelesse this honourable profession is much abused by those whom Nahum calleth cankerworms chap. 3.16 for their covetousnes luxury oppression bringing in unnecessary wares that emasculate and dissolve mens spirits and hereticall books that undoe their soules and lastly for their carrying out the wealth of their country to strangers yea to enemies sometimes Hence they are justly cut down by God and are to be ordered by the Magistrate according to Lev. 19.35 36. Deut. 25. Ezek. 45.9 10 11 12. all they that bear silver are cut off The rich traders that had marsupia plena and carried money in great burthens these shall be also cut off or silenced have nothing to say for themselves why they should not be destroyed with the rest as those that have been involuti argento as the vulgar translation hath it here so wrapped up in their money and affected to it as that it hath rather possessed them then they it Cor habent in aere non in athere their heart goeth after their covetousnesse Ezek. 33.31 Here they are called Portatores argenti silver-carriers sumpter-horses laden with thick clay Silver is that which the basest element yeeldeth the most savage Indians get servile apprentises work Midianitish Camels carry miserable muck-worms admire covetous Jewes swallow unthristy Ruffians spend c. It is to be wondred saith One that treading upon these minerals we cannot contemn them They lye furthest from heaven and the best of them are in India furthest from the Church and yet how many doth mony make to run quick to the devill on an errand and payes them home for their paines Verse 12. I will search Jerusalem with candles which yet he needs not do sith the darknesse hideth not from him but the night shineth as the day the darknesse and the light are to him alike Psal 139.12 Confer Iob 34.22 Ier. 23.24 Deo obscura lucent muta respondent silentium confitetur Night will convert it self into noon before God and silence become a speaking evidence His eyes also are a flaming fire that needs no outward light but sees by sending out a ray c. but when Jerusalem is threatened to be searched with ligâ—ts the meaning is that it shall be set all upon a light fire and the inhabitants ferretted out of their lurking-holes their Princes and potentates pulled out of privies and sepulchers by the pursuing enemy as Hierome out of Josephus here affirmeth they once were Besides that they shall be brought to a particular and punctuall account for their sins God will be very exact and accurate with them that way setting all their evill deeds in order before their eyes Psal 50.21 and bringing wrath upon them to the utmost 1 Thes 2.16 This is fearefull Psal 130.3 and shall be fulfilled especially at the last day when wicked men shall give an account minutatim of all their Atheisticall thoughts Psal 14.1 ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Iude 15. with the whole world flaming about their eares 2 Pet. 3.7 10 12. 1 Cor 4.5 2 Thes 1.8 and punish the men that are settled on their lees Coagulati curded or thickened congealed and condensed that are habituated and hardned in their evill practises that have got a sward nay a hoof upon their hearts that have brawny breasts and horny heart-strings that stick stifly in the mire of their sins as Moab Ier. 48.11 and being deeply drowned in the world are desperately divorced from God whom they basely fancy to be a God of clouts one that howere he speak big words yet will do neither good nor hurt mibi haec mortalia curat that say in their hearts As that saplesse fellow doth Psal 14.1 Some set their mouths against heaven and shame not to utter their reasonings and resolutions of this kind These are Epicuri de gregiporci such as was Lucretius Diageras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herace with his credat Iudaeus apella Herat. serm Nonego namque deos didici secuum
usually a conflux of vices like as there is of waters into the Sea witnesse Tyre and Sydon Corinth Carthage Capernaum c. Hence that proverb maritimi mores and that censure of such people littorales duri horridi immanes latrociniis dedicit omnium denique pessimi Those that dwell by the Sea-side are usually ill-conditioned fierce cruell theevish and the worst of men These Philistines were no better and are therefore here put under a woe and threatened with utter destruction The nation of the Cherethites i. e. Destroyers so the Philistines had stiled themselves as glorying to have conquered and cut off many people The old Latine translation rendreth it Gens perditorum The nation of Destroyers so doth Aquila Theodotion and Symmachus Now it comes to their turn to be destroyed according to Esay 33.1 That these Cherethites were a sort of Philistines See 1 Sam. 30.14 16. Ezek. 25.16 That they were valiant men appears by that legion of them that guarded David 2 Sam. 9.4 and 15.18 and were highly esteemed by him because they stuck to him in his affliction at Gath and also when Absolom was up in arms 2 Sam. 15.18 the word of the Lord is against you And not onely against Israel This was spoken as for the terrour of those Philistines who thought themselves out of the reach of Gods rod and slighted his word so for the comfort of the people of God who thought much that themselves should be so severely dealt with and the uncircumcised Philistines scape scot-free O Canaan the land of the Philistines Indeed of the Israelites Josh 13.3 but held by force by the Philistienes who were of the stock of the Canaanites but not subdued and had detained part of the land from the right owners for 800. years and upwards and now they come to be reckoned with Subitò tollitur qui diu toleratur I will even destroy thee that there shall be no inhabitant No setled inhabitant that shall fix there as the word signifieth Thus Poena venit gravior quo mage sera venit the longer God stayes the heavier he strikes Verse 6. And the sea-coasts shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds It shall be wast and untilled and therefore unfrequented by any but shepherds who pitch their tents up and down where they may best feed their flocks in desert places and folds for flocks God may do thus in his just judgement upon his enemies that live in his good land and not by his good lawes but wo be to our Depopulatours that drive out men and put in cattle that betray townes as Rome did Carthage with a distinction We will save the city but destroy the towne How dangerous it is to prove Abaddons appeareth by Gods punishing hand upon William the Conquerours issue in New-forrest wherein 36. Parish Churches had been demolished by him with the removing of all the inhabitants to make room for beasts or dogs-game There his second sonne Richard was gored in hunting by a Deer Speed Rufus his other sonne mistaken for a Deer was by chance shot thorow with an arrow Henry likewise his Nephew whilest he hotly pursued the chase was struck by a bough into the jawes and as Absalom left hanging untill he died Verse 7. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Iudah Who had not onely their owne countrey kept empty for them all the 70. yeers of captivity and not any displaced to make room at their return see the Note on Zach. 7.14 but liberty to make use of the Philistines countrey which was also further subdued by the Maccabees but especially by the Apostles who preached the Gospel and planted Churches in those parts as we read in the Acts chap. 8.26 40. and chap. 9.32 35 36. they shall feed thereupon They shall go in and out and find pasture under the great Shepherd and Bishop of their souls who shall feed them daily Joh. 10. 1 Pet. 4. and daintily among the lillies by the powerfull preaching of the Gospel among them In the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening Vbi temporis circumstantia securitatem notat saith Gualther The circumstance of time noteth their spirituall security evenings are oft dark and dangerous They shall lie down as cattle do that take no care they know whom they have trusted and are fearlesse for the Lord their God shall visit them Visit and redeem his people raising up an horn of salvation for them Luke 1.68 69. His visits are not empty visits Psal 8.5 his favours are not like the winter-Sun that lighteth but heateth not c. and turn away their captivity to their unexpressible comfort Psal 126.1 but especially when Christ ascending up on high leadeth captivity captive c. Col. 2.14 15. Ephes 4.8 Verse 8. I have heard the reproach of Moab How can he but hear who is all ear who is both above us and within us in whom we subsist Col. 1.17 And what will he sooner be sensible of then the reproachings of his people See Esay 37.23 and 57.3 4. But draw near hither ye sonnes of the sorceresse the seed of the adulterer and the whore See how he becalls them Against whom do ye sport your selves against whom make ye a wide mouth and draw out the tongue are ye not children of transgression a seed of falshood The Moabites and Ammonites were great jearers of the Jews and revilers of their religion These reproaches leniter volant non leniter violant cruell mockings the Apostle calleth them Heb. 11.36 David felt them as a murthering weapon in his bones Psal 42.10 God will call such men to an heavie reckoning one day as deride the power of godlinesse and the professours thereof Bede saith that this was the great sinne of the ancient Britanes immediately before their destruction by the Saxons and it is at this day both a presage and desert of our ruine that as the Turks count all fools to be saints so men with us account all saints to be fools and the revilings of the children of Ammon How good they were at it we may see in those words of Sanballat and his copesmate Tobiah the Ammonite Neh. 4.2 3. words as full of pride and scorne as profane wit or rancoured malice could make them and they lay so heavy upon Nehemiahs spirit that hee could not ease himself but by breathing heavenward verse 4. Hear O our God for we are despised and turn their reproach upon their own head and give them for a prey in the land of captivity c. Hear saith Nehemiah I have heard it saith God Thou hast seen it saith the Psalmist for thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it with thine hand Psal 10.14 and magnified themselves by speaking big and blustring words bubbles of words great swelling words full of wind 2 Pet. 2.18 these shall finde that such words are not winde but will be required in fire Jude 15. God is an utter enemy to boasting and threatning
three-hours darknesse especially but he delivering himself as a mighty Conquerour their horns stick fast as it were in his crosse as Abrahams ramme by his horns stuck fast in the brier c. and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom Myrrhe-trees some render it Here Christ that horseman and head of his Church keepeth himself as touched with the feeling of our infiunities Heb. 4.15 as suffering and sorrowing with his people who are fitly compared to myrtles that grow in a shady grove in vallies and bottoms and by waters sides amantes littorae myrtos Virg. Georg. Blessed are ye that sowe beside all waters Esay 32.20 Myrtles also are odoriferous and precious Esay 41.19 and 55.13 so are the Saints Esay 43.4 Colos 4.6 they cast a good scent where-ever they go by the grace of God that is in them as Alexander the Great is said to do by the excellent temperament of his body Lastly Levit. 23.40 with Neh 8.15 the Jews at their joyfull feast of Tabernacles used myrtle-branches among others to testifie their thankfulnesse for a settlement in the promised land after so long wandring in the wildernesse The Gentiles also in their solemn feasts enterludes and cingebant tempora myrto wore garlands made of Myrtle Virg. Georg Let us keep the feast Let us keep holy-day saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 5.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who himself did over-abound exceedingly with joy had an exuberancy of it at that constant feast of a good conscience Diogenes could say that a good man keeps holy-day 2 Cor 7.4 all the yeer about Christ crowneth the Kalendar of his peoples lives with continuall festivals here how much more in heaven Pliny tells us Plin. lib. 15. cap. 29. that ex myrto facta est ovantium corona subinde triumphantium of Myrtle was made among the Romans the crown or garland of those that did shout for victory or ride in triumph and behind him were there red horses i. e. horse-men Nam nimis crassum est illud commentum fuisse locutos equos saith Calvin here These horse men are Angels as verse 10. deputed to severall offices and executions for judgement foâ—mercy or both shadowed by the divers colours of their horses Verse 9. â—alvin Then said I O my Lord what are these Thus the Prophets enquired and searched diligently as saith Saint Peter 11 Epist 1.11 for the truth of things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hunters seek for game and as men seek for gold in the very mines of the earth who not content with the first oar that offereth it self to their view dig deeper and deeper till they are owners of the whole treasure See Prov. 2.4 and rest not till ye see that blissefull sight Ephes 1.18 19. and the Angel that talked with me Or in me as the Vulgar rendreth it This was some created Angel who might reveal things to the Prophet by working on the phantasie and spirit by way of information and instruction as Dan. 9.21 Luk. 1.11 Apoc. 1.1 I will shew thee what these be How ready are the holy Angels to serve the Saints Heb. 1.14 rejoycing more in their names of office then of honour of employment then preferment to be called Angels that is Messengers or Internuntio's then Principalities Thrones Dominions Ephes 1.20 accounting it better to do good then to be great to dispense Gods benefits then to enjoy them Hence they are with and about the Saints as their companions guides protectours monitours and rulers of their actions as here Verse 10. And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees The man Christ Jesus that is ever with his Church and in the midst of his people that feedeth among the lillâ—es and walketh in the middest of the seven golden candlesticks He being asked by the foresaid Angel answered him in Zacharies hearing for he is Palmoni hammedabber that excellent Speaker as Daniel calleth him and therefore asketh him of the vision Dan. 8.13 These are they whom the Lord hath sent As his Epoptai or Overseers and Intelligencers Not that God needeth them as Princes need the counsell and aid of their subjects The holy Angels receive möre from God then they performe or bring to him But he maketh use of their service about us 1. For the honour of his Majesty and comfort of our infirmity 2. To make out his love unto us by employing such noble creatures for our good 3. To make and maintain love and correspondency between us and Angels till we come to walk arm in arm with Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Zach. 3.7 and to be like unto them yea their equals Luke 20.36 if not more Ephes 1.23 Verse 11. We have walked to and fro thorow the earth Itavimus we have coursed up and down with incredible swiftnesse Hence they are called the charrets of God Psal 68.17 Heb. Gods-charret to note out their joynt-service as of one as here his horsemen ready prest to do his pleasure and behold all the earth sitteth still and is at rest excepting the Church alone which like Noah's Ark is ever tossed up and down till it rest at last on the everlasting mountain then she shall have her happy Halcyons then she shall see her enemies afar off as Lazarus did Dives or as the Israelites at the red-sea did their persecutours dead upon the shore Mean-while she must not expect to be calm and quiet for any continuance Joh. 16.33 Joh. 16.20 Esth 3.15 Esay 21.10 1 Cor. 3.9 In the world ye shall have trouble And ye shall weep and lament but the world shall rejoyce they shall revel and laugh themselves fat The king and Haman sat down to drink but the city Shushan was perplexed The Church is called Gods threshing-floor because threshed with continuall crosses and Gods-husbandry because he will be sure to plow his own ground and to make long furrows upon their backs whatsoever become of the waste and to weed his own garden though the rest of the world be let alone and grow wild Moab is not poured from vessell to vessell Jer. 48. Job 10.10 â— but setleth upon the lees when the Israel of God is poured out as milk and crudled like cheese as Job speaketh in another case Verse 12. Then the Angel of the Lord That Advocate with the Father Jesus the Juft One 1 John 2.2 who appeareth for his afflicted people and feelingly pleads for them as being afflicted in all their afflictions even the Angel of his presence that saveth them Esay 63.9 It much moved him to hear that Gods enemies were in better case then his people and this put him upon the following passionate expostulation O Lord of Hosts How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem c. Vsquequo Domine Calvin had these words much in his mouth thereby breathing out his holy desires in the behalf of the afflicted Churches Melch. Adam in vita with whose sufferings hee was more affected
God is a consuming fire who would set the briars and the thorns saith He that is the churches enemies against me in battel Es 27.4 I would go through them I would burn them together And yet he saith in the same place Fury is not in me Prov. 6.34 What will he do then when jealousie is in him as here Iealousie is the rage of a man and hath these three properties First it is exceeding watchfull and quick-sighted hardly shall the Paramour escape the husbands eye a wanton glance is soon noted and noticed God is no lesse sensible and observant of the least indignity done to his deare spouse his Hephzibah Gen. 4.6 Esth 7.8 be it but in a frown or a frump Why is thy countenance cast down saith God to that dog-bolt Cain Why dost lowre upon my righteous Abel What will he force the Queen also before me in the house If Davids enemies mow and make mouths at him Psal 40.15 if they cry Aha Aha so would we have it God will reckon with them for it If Edom say jearingly to the Prophet Watchman what of the night watchman what of the night If Ammon clap but his hands at Gods Israel if he stamp with the feet and rejoyce in heart only when it goes ill with the church God will stretch out his hand upon him and cut him off out of his countrey and he shall know that he is Jehovah Ezek. 25.67 yea that the Lord God of Israel is a jealous God He will be jealous for his land and pitty his people Ioel 2.18 Secondly jealousie is violent it is cruel as the grave the coales thereof are coales of fire Cant. 8.6 The same word is elsewhere put for fiery thunderbolts Psal 78.48 also for a carbuncle or burning feaver Deut. 32.24 Jealousie puts a man into a feaver-fit of outrage arms him with fiery darts yea with light-bolts makes him cast firebrands be ready to take any revenge Think the same of God in a way of justice He will spit in the face of a Miriam that shall but mutâ—er against his Moses Num. 12.14 what then will he do or rather what will he not do against Jezabel Athaliah Herodias c Thirdly jealousie is irreconcilable implacable Prov. 6.34 35. He will not spare in the day of vengeance He will not regard any ransom neither will he rest content though thou give many gifts what would not Balaac have given to have had his will upon Israel What large offers made Haman he would pay ten thousand talents of silver to those that had the charge of the businesse to destroy the Jewes Ahashuerosh yeelded but so did not God Esth 3.9 Esth 7.4 We are sold said Esther I and my people to be destroyed to be slain and to perish But God never consented to the bargaine He had warr with Amalec for ever and laid his hand upon his own throne as swearing to root him out Exod. 17.16 And this proud Agagite Haman shall feel the force of his curse in his very bowels Let the labouring Church but cry out Help O King heare O husband give eare O shepheard of Israel Isa 8.8 Isa 63.15 the enemy is come into thy land O Immanuel and the stretching out of his wings filleth the whole bredth of it Where is thy zeale or jealousie and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards me are they restrained Doubtlesse thou art our Father our Redeemer or neer kinsman nay our husband Thy church is unto thee A sister a spouse Esay 58.7 1 Cor. 6.17 Gen. 14. 1 Sam. 30.18 Ier. 12.7 Ier. 4.10 And canst thou hide thine eyes from thine own flesh from her that is joyned to the Lord and is one spirit shall Abraham venture for the rescue of his kinsman David of his two wives and wilt thou do nothing for the dearely beloved of thy soule shall she be given up into the hand of her enemies shall the sword reach unto the soule Let Christ but heare such words from the mouth of his Spouse and he will soon gird his sword upon his thigh he will act Phineas his part and execute judgement Psal 78.66 he will smite his enemies in the hinder parts whip them as men use to do boyes and so put them to a perpetuall reproach shame them for ever as a company of punyes or Zanies Verse 15. And I am very sore displeased with the Heathen that are at ease Heb. I am in such a heate as causeth fuming and foaming I am boyling-hot and even ready to burst out upon them to destroy them for the word here used hath great affinity with another word that signifieth to cut down and to destroy 2 King 6.6 and importeth an higher degree of displeasure a greater height of heate then either Anger or wrath as may be seen in that signall gradation Deut. 29.28 The Lord rooted them out of their land in Anger and in Wrath and in great Indignation The last of these three is this word in the Text Fervore maximo ferveo I am as hot as may be against those Heathens that are at ease at hearts-ease that come not in trouble like other men neither are they plagued as better men Psal 73.5 and are therefore secure and insolent above measure Iob 21.23 haughty and haunty so that the Church cannot rest for them they thrust with the shoulder and push with the horn as afterwards verse 18.19 with Dan. 8.4 yea they push the diseased Ezek. 34.21 which is a singular cruelty they help forward the assliction they fall like dogs upon the wounded Deere This David complaines of as an unsufferable grievance Psal 69 26. Esay 27. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded God smiteth his in mercy and in measure in the branches only Aug. and not at the root neque ad exitium sed ad exercitium Displeased he may be with his own and make bloody wails upon their backs if need be but then he lookes that others should pitty them and not lay on more load and seek to bring them to utmost extremity God puts his people sometimes into the hands of his enemies for correction sake Now they commonly being inraged with haughty revengfull and malicious desires exceed their commission and so derive the mischief upon themselves See Prov. 24.17 18 they cannot doe but they must overdoe as Nebuchadnezzar the rod in Gods hand Isai 10. and thereby utterly undoe themselves for ever For their cruelty comes up to heaven 2 Chron. 28.9 and God soon heareth the cry of his oppressed for he is gracious and avengeth himself on their pittilesse enemies standing over them and saying as Isa 47.6 I was wroth with my people I have polluted mine inheritance and given them into thine hand thou didst shew them no mercy upon the ancient hast thou heavily laid the yoke And againe Because these Philistines
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
regno graviore regnum est See Eccles 5.7 with the Note there CHAP. II. Verse 1. I lift up mine eyes againe and looked i. e. I looked wishly not sluggishly as betwixt sleeping and waking as chap. 4. I saw further by the spirit then common sense could have carried me I beheld Ierusalem in her future glory I looked intently I took aime not by the things which are seen but by the things which are not seen 2 Cor. 4.18 Heb. 11.27 Gal. 4.26 and behold a man The Man Christ Jesus as his Mother is called a Virgin Isa 7.14 the Virgin that famous Virgin that conceived and bare a Son that gat a man from the Lord Gen. 4.1 This Man called before and after an Angel as appearing in humane shape is here seen and set forth as an Architect or Master-builder going to take the plot of his Church see Rev. 21.15 and observe by the way how in that book the holy Ghost borrows the allegories and elegancies of the Old Testament to set out the story of the New in succeeding ages Verse 2. Whither goest thou This was great boldnesse But the Prophet understood himself well enough and Christ approves and assents to it in a gracious answer here and especially verse 4. Great is the confidence of a good conscience toward God See Esay 63.16 17. Hab. 1.12 We may come boldly to the throne of grace Heb. 4.16 1 Pet. 3.23 to measure Jerusalem This had been promised before Chap. 1.16 But for their further confirmation who saw a little likelyhood of such a reedifying and repeopling it is repeated Thus the Lord tendering our infirmity seals to us again and again in the holy Sacrament what he had said and sworn to us in his word Verse 3. And behold the Angel Zacharies Angel as One calleth him Went forth to take direction from Christ and to give the prophet further information See the Note on Chap. 1.9 and another Angel went out to meet him So ready is Christ to answer prayers and to satisfie his weak but willing people that draw near unto him with a true heart Heb. 10.22 If any such ask and misse it is because they ask amisse Jam. 4.3 Verse 4. Run speak to this young man Not go but Run yea fly swiftly with wearinesse of slight as Dan 9.21 Christ thinks it long ere his praying people hear from him Onely he will be enquired of by them Ezek. 36.37 Zachary seemes to have been a young Prophet and Christ remembred the kindnesse of his youth and became a wonderful counseller to him He gave to this young man or green-headed stripling knowledge and discretion Prov. 1.4 Epiphanius saith he was an old man and that he is called a young man because a client and disciple of the Angel that communed with him Where Angels are called men it was no dis paragement to Zachary to call himself a lad or servant considering his distance Thus Abrahams servant though old is called his boy Gen. 24.52 by a Catachresis That 's a good Note that One gives here That the Angel tells the prophet Mr. Pemble but the prophet must tell the people God using not the Ministery of Angels but men earthen vessels to bear his Name to his people Acts 8.26 and 9.6 and 16.9 Jerusalem shal be inhabited as towns without wals Or shall dwell in towns without walls viz. in the suburbs or villages there being not room enough within the walls to receive them This seemed an incredible thing to this poor remnant now returned from Babylon But it is the property and duty of beleevers to trust God upon his bare word and that against sense in things invisible and against reason in things improbable for the multitude of men and cattel therein That is saith Augustine of spiritual and carnal persons in the Chuch Catholike Verse 5. For I saith the Lord Igneus qui cominus arceat eminus terreat Theodor. will be unto her a wall of fire The Church Christs garden may seem to lie open to all incursions and disadvantages but as it hath a well within it Cant 4. So it hath a wall without it yea round about it better and stronger then that about Babylon or Susa in Persia the stones whereof were joyned together with gold as Cassiodorus testifieth Lib. 7. Var. Epist The Lacedemonians were forbidden to wall in their city of Sparta as being sufficiently fortified by the valour of the inhabitants The Hollanders will not wall the Hague though it have 2000 housholds in it as desirous to have it counted rather the principal village of Europe then a lesser city China is said to be surrounded with a strong wall of stone and England with walls of wood sc A puissant Navy But what 's all this either for defence or offence to a wall of fire who dare venture to scale such a wall It is not valour but madnesse to fight with a flame Fire is terrible to the fiercest creatures as Lions Leopards c. Shepheards and travellers were used to guard themselves by making great fires round about their night-lodgings to keep of wild beasts Some think the prophet alludeth to that custome others to the Angel guarding of Paradise with a flaming sword Instit Lib. 2. Cap 13. that is saith Lactantius with a wall of fire The Church may sit and sing we have a strong city salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks Esay 26.1 Heb 1.7 Gen. 32.1 He maketh his Angels spirits his ministers a flame of fire These met and ministred unto Jacob at Mahanaim making a lane for him These are the watchmen over the walls of the new Ieru salem and of the mountains about the same Isai 62. as the word importeth These fiery charets and horsmen appeared for Elisha by whole legions 2 Kin. 6.17 and do still pitch their camp round about the godly Psal 34.8 Who therefore cannot but be safe as being guarded by the peace of God within them and by the power of God without them through faith unto salvation and will be the glory in the midst of her God is the Churches both bulwark and beauty her muniment and ornament His presence his worship his Grace his protection is that tower in the midst of her Esay 5. that golden head of the picture that tower of the slock and strong hold of the daughter of Gods people Mic. 4.8 Hence the Ark is called the glory Rom. 9.4.5 and all comforts without it but Icabods 1 Sam. 4.20 Hence Judea is called the glorious land and Heathens are brought in saying Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people For what nation is there so great that hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for Deut. 4.5 6 7 And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and â—udgments so righteous as all this law c. Surely as Samsons strength and glory lay in
And it is a part of his joy that we shall one day bee where he is attended with innumerable Angels John 17.24 who will be glad of our company How much better cause have we then that Heathen to cry out O praeclarum diem cum ad illud animorum concilium coetumque preficiscar Cic. de seneclute cum ex hac turba colluvione discedam c. O what a brave and bright day will that be when wee shall go to that Congregation-house of blessed spirits and walk no longer in the way of this world which is like the land of Chabul dirty and dangerous like the vale of Siddim slimy and slippery 1 Sam 2. full of lime-pits and pitfalls snares and stumbling-blocks laid by Satan to maime or mischieve us O happy they that walk humbly with God who keepeth the feet of his Saints and hath charged his Angels to bear them up in their hands lest they dash their feet against a stone This whiles they are here Psal 90.12 and when they go hence to convey them thorow the air whereof the devil is the prince as thorow the enemies countrey into the heavenly habitations and there to entertain and welcome them with sweetest varieties felicities eternities sitter to be beleeved then possible to be expressed Verse 8. Hear now O Ioshua the high Priest Hear a sermon of Christ the Fountain of all this mercy bestowed upon thee and yet further promised unto thee Hear for thy self hear for thy whole Society Thou and thy fellows thy fellow-friends the rest of the priests thy fellows in service though inferiour in Office for there was a subordination of priests both before the Temple Num 3. and 1 Chron. 23.4 5. and under the Temple 2 Chron. 35.8 9. Types also of Christ and partakers of the benefit 1 Tim. 6.2 for they are men wondered at Erant omnibus probrosi saith Calvin They departed from evil and thereby made themselves a prey Esay 59.15 they were for signes and for wonders in Israel Esay 8.18 hissed and hooted at Psal 71.7 as those that affected to be singular and seraphicall They think it strange saith Saint Peter to his holy converts that you run not with them to the same excesse of riot speaking evill of you as if you were no better then mad-men Esay 59.15 1 Pet. 4.4 robb'd of your right minds as the word signifieth It is a French proverb He that would have his neighbours dog hang'd gives out that he is mad The primitive persecutours used to put Christians into bears and dogs skins or ugly creatures and then bait them so gracelesse persons put the saints of God into ugly conceits look upon them as strange creatures and then speak and act against them In our wretched dayes as the Turks count all fools to be saints so people account all saints to be fools and the more zealous among them monsters and miscreants Holy Statâ— As for Athanasius and Marcellus who have impiously blasphemed against God and have lived as wicked miscreants and are thereupon cast out of the Church and condemned we cannot receive them to the honour of Episcopacy said those fourscore Bishops in the mock-Synod of Sardis And Bede testifieth of the ancient Brittains immediatly before their destruction by the Saxons that they were come to that height of wickednesse as to cast reproach upon the professours of religion as upon the worst of men Doth not Saint Paul say as much 1 Cor. 4.9 We are made a theatre or are set upon the stage for a laughing-stock unto the world and to Angels and to men c For behold I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH The same that grew out of the root of Jesse when that goodly family was sunk â—o low as from David the King to Joseph the Carpenter See Esay 4.2 and 11.1 and 45.8 and 53.1 Ier. 33.15 where the Chaldee for Branch rendreth it Messiah as here also he doth And some have observed that themagh a Branch is by transposition of letters the same with Masciach Messias Samech and tsade being neer akin and of the same sound almost A servant Christ is called by reason of his Mediatorship taking upon him the form of a servant yea of a faulty servant that was to be beaten yea that being cruelly beaten was brought forth to the people with an Ecce homo Behold the man Behold saith God here Joh. 19.5 I will bring forth my servant the Branch bring him forth out of the bosom of his Father out of the womb of his Mother out of the types of the Law c. Verse 9. For behold the stone c. Another title given to Christ who is the foundation and chief corner-stone of his Church and another Behold prefixed as a starry Note or as a hand pointing to a remarkable matter All the Prophets pointed to Christ who is therefore called the Branch the Stone c. that in these creatures every where obvious as in so many optick glasses wee may see him and be put in continuall remembrance of him It being as necessary to remember Christ as to breathe saith a Father See Psal 118.22 Esay 28.16 1 Pet. 2.6 7 8. that I have laid and that I will engrave The Church is Gods building and we are his workmanship this artificiall manufacture created in Christ Jesus unto good works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 2.10 there being not so much of the glory of God in all his works of creation and providence as in one gracious action that a Christian performeth As for the glorious work of our redemption by Christ it was a plot of Gods own contriving a fabrick of Gods own erecting it was the Lords own doing and it is justly marvellous in our eyes Vpon one stone shall be seven eyes That is Christ shall draw all eyes and hearts to him as the stones of the Temple did the Disciples eyes Mat. 24.2 and Mar. 13.1 Master say they to Christ see what manner of stones and what buildings are here Thus some sence it I should rather by these seven eyes understand the Spirit in his severall operations upon Christ as Esay 11.2 for he received not the Spirit by measure as others but had as much of it as a creature could possibly have See the Note on Rev. 1.4 where the holy Ghost for his manifold good gifts and perfect givings is called The seven Spirits like as he is also stiled the seven golden pipes Zech. 4.2 3. There are that by these seven eyes upon one stone understand the Providence and Wisdome of Christ in the Government of his Church Hee is indeed as One saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All-Eye Sic spectat universos quasi singulos sic singulos quasi solos like a well-drawn picture hee eyeth all Christ as he is a living so he is also a looking stone he looketh at the miseries and matters of his Church Exod. 3.7 and saith as once I have seen I have
flesh be the spirit never so willing so ill-disposed is our most noble and immortal part the soule to supernall and supernaturall employments Meditation and prayer are the creatures of the holy Ghost Iude 20. and that we may not run out into extravagancies or put up yawning petitions we must watch and pray Mat. 26.41 yea watch while we are praying meditating c. against corruption within the sin that doth so easily beset us Heb. 12.1 and temptations without whether from the world the things whereof are so neer us and so naturall to us or from the devill who is ever busiest with the best as flies are with sweet-meats and with the best part of their best performances as in the end of their prayers when the heart should close up it self with most comfort Verse 2. What seest thou The sight was already in sight but the Prophet had not seen it or noted it if the Angel had not stirr'd him up to it If the Lord give us not sight as well as light if he inlighten not both Organ and Object too if he shine not into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of himself in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor 4.5 seeing we shall see but not perceive with Hagar we shall not be able to discern the fountain that is just before us I have looked Carefully viewed the sight It is expected ut acti agamus that having a talent of grace we trade with it that our will which at first conversion was meerly passive should be afterward active that we which once were darknesse but now are light in the Lord should walk as children of light Eph. 5.9 behold a candlestick that is the Church as Rev. 1.20 all of Gold pure gold as the Candlestick in the Tabernacle Exod. 25.31 which is therefore called the pure Candlestick Lev. 24.4 Exod. 31.8 noting out the Churches purity in doctrine and manners Chrysostome that golden Preacher testifieth of some Saints in his time that they were puriores coelo purer then the visible heaven Her Nazarites were purer then the driven snow whiter them milk ruddier then rubies their polishing was of Saphire c. Lam. 4.7 with a bowle Heb. gullah an oyle-glass or oyle-cruse a hollow round vessel quod pariter Latinè rectè gulam appellas saith a Lapide which you may not unfitly call a gullet or throat for as the throat receiveth the food and transmitteth it to the stomach so did this vessel receive the oyle to be transmitted to the lamps It figured Christ in whom it pleased the Father that all fulnesse should dwell Col. 1.19 for the Churches use Ioh. 1.16 and 3.34 and his seven lamps thereon signifying the manifold graces and diversity of gifts in the Church by the same spirit of Christ 1 Cor. 12.4 6. For of his fulnesse we all receive grace for grace Iob. 1.16 and seven pipes to the seven lamps Heb. seven and seven that is seven I say seven by the figure Anadiplosis saith Sanctius This is a better glosse then that of those that say the Hebrew text is corrupted as having two sevens for one These seven pipes you must imagine to be in the bottome of the bowle to distribute the oyle to each lamp the grace of Jesus Christ to each Christian that he may shine as a lamp or luminary in the world Phil. 2.15.16 holding forth the word of life as the hand doth the torch or the watch-tower the light and so the haven to weather-beaten Mariners Verse 3. And two Olive-trees by it The two chief branches whereof through the two golden pipes empty the golden oyle out of themselves ver 12. that is the spirit of grace infuseth all precious graces much more precious then gold that perisheth though it be tried in the fire into the Church Hence grace is called the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 yea Spirit 25. Danaeus his Note here is though from these two olive trees there was continuall oyle powred into that burning candlestick that it should never dry up or be put out yet are not these olives said to be pressed by any man which notwithstanding amongst us must needs after an ordinary manner be done that the oyle may flow or run from them Neither is this oyle said to flow nor with toyle and labour to be carried from one part or place into another that there may be alwayes oyle for the candlestick but there stand these olive trees growing and dropping down oyle into the Bowle and this of themselves without the help or service of any men or oyle-mills Mr. Pemble to shew saith Another Interpreter that Gods grace only is sufficient for his Church to repaire and maintaine the same without all other meanes against all opposition of man and this is the Scope of this vision Verse 4. What are these my Lord Or Sir which English word comes from Cyrus the Persian word for a Lord or great Prince as H. Stephanus will have it Others fetch it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 authority or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Lord and so the word Adoni in the text is usually rendred Others think our word Sir comes from the French Sieur whence Monsieur my Lord as the word Lord from the old Saxon Laford which commeth of Laef to sustaine like as the Hebrew Adonai from Eden a foundation or pillar that sustaineth the whole building It is written sometimes with Camets or long A in the end and then it is proper to God as having the vowels of Jehovah and is given to him 134. times in the old Testament Sometimes it is written with Bathach or short A and then it is applied to the creatures as here to the Angell Hinc Hispanorum Don saith Drusius what are these The Prophet had been before warned by the Angell to behold and heed the vision This he had done and yet was to seek of the sense and meaning of it as a man may look on a trade and never see the mystery of it or look on the hand-diall and never understand the curious clock-work within None can understand the mysterie of Christ but such as have the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2.7 11 16. such as are spiritually rationall and rationally spirituall such as are taught of God and conducted by his spirit into all truth Ioh. 16.13 No understanding of Gods riddles but by plowing with his heifer as I may say This the Prophet here knew and therefore applies himself to the Angell for information so did Daniel chap. 8.15 see chap. 9.22 Verse 5. Knowest thou not what these be Thus preparation is made to the ensuing interpretation of the vision by this dialogue that we might give better heed to that manifold wisdome of God made known to and by the Church Eph. 3.10 wherein the very Angels themselves are great students and daily proficients Docent proficiendo docendo proficiunt The best of men know not so much as they might have known Are
empty businesse an airy Nothing as words of the lips onely whereas counsel and strength are for the war thus some read that text Esay 36.5 Thirdly when the the Church is at lowest and all seems lost and desperate when the enemy is above fear and the Church below hope when she is talking of her grave like Israel at the red sea then is Gods season to set in it is his glory to help at a dead lift to begin where we have given over to relieve those that are forsaken of their hopes to come when we can scarce finde faith upon the earth God sees when the mercy will be in season When his people are low enough and the enemy high enough then usually appears the Churches morning-star then Christ came leaping and skipping over the mountains of Bether all impediments that might seem to hinder as sins of his people oppositions of his enemies and make the Churches mountain to be exalted above all mountains mole-hils in comparison of her Verse 7. Who art thou O great mountain So the enemies seemed to themselves set aloft and overtopping the low and poor estate of those feeble Jews as they called them Neh. 4.2 But the Virgin daughter of Zion despiseth them here Esay 37.22 and laugheth them to scorn she shaketh her head at them and saith whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed c It is good for thee to meddle with thy match and not to exalt thy self against the holy One of Israel Psal 76.4 5. Jer. 51.25 Babylon is called a destroying mountain sated upon a rock yet Gob will level and lay it low nough 26. Melch. Ad. who is more gloririous and excellent then those mountains of prey The stout-hearted are spoiled they have slept their sleep such as Sisera did and none of the men of might have found their hands when once they fell into the punishing hands of the living God He will soon level these lofty mountains they shall become a plain A champiagne that before seemed unpossible inaccessible Christs enemies shall be in that place that is fittest for them the lowest that is the footstool of Christ when the Church as it is the highest in Gods love and favour so shall it be highest in it self Gaudeo quòd Christus Dominus est alioqui totus desperassem writes Miconius to Calvm upon the view of the Churchs enemies Glad I am that Christ reignes for else I had been utterly hopelesse O pray pray saith another Saint for the Pope of Rome and his Conventicle of Trent are hatching strange businesses The comfort is that he that sitteth in heaven seeth them the Lord above hath them in derision For in the thing wherein they deal proudly God is above them and his will shall stand when they shall dung the earth with their dead carcasses Sciat Celsitudo Tua c. Let your Highnesse know saith Luther in a letter to the Duke of Saxony that things are otherwise ordered in heaven then they are at Ausborough where the Emperour Charls the fiâ—t had madea decree to root out the Reformed religion out of Germany But soon after the Turk broke into Hungary and the borders of Germany so that Cesar had somewhat else to do then to persecute the Protestants So the primitive persecutours fondly inscribed upon the publike pillars Deleto Christianorum nomine c. that they had blotted out the name of Christ and his religion from under heaven but this they could never effect with all the power of the whole Empire They found and complained that the Church might be shaken and not shivered concuti non excuti as 2 Cor. 4.8 9. Faecundi sunt Martyrum cineres the very ashes of the Martyrs were fruitful and their blood prolifical The Church conquers even when she is conquered as Christ overcame as well by patience as by power The people of Rome saith One saepè praelio victus nun juam bello they lost many battels but were never overcome in a set war at the long run they crushed all their enemies Bellarmine somewhat boasteth the like of the Church of Rome that she was never worsted in any set battel by the Protestants But if he had lived till these late yeers he would have known it otherwise And indeed he could not be ignorant of that famouss Bellum Hussiticum as they called it in Germany and the many fields fought and won by the Huguenots in France c. And if at any time the Church lose the day Victa tamen vincet Christ hath his stratagems as Joshuah had at Ai he seems sometimes to retire that he may return with greater advantage Certain it is he will thresh the mountains and beat them smal before his Zorobabels he will make the hills as chaff Esay 41.15 and he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings saying Grace Grace unto it i. e. He shall hold out to lay the very last stone of this new building with joy and with general acclamations and wel-wishes There was a promise for it long before Esay 44.28 This Zorobabel was not ignorant of as neither of that which followeth Chap. 45.1 2. that for the effecting of that promise God would go before him to make the crooked place streight to break in pieces the gates of brasse and cut in sunder the bars of iron i.e. to take away all rubs and impediments There it the like promise in the New Testament and it may be a singular incouragement to those that go on to build the tower of Godlinesse to prepare a tabernacle intheir hearts for the holy One of Israel that he may dwell in them and walk in them c. the gates of hell shall never prevail against them sith Christ as another Sampson hath flung them off their hinges hath destroyed the Devils works and laid the top-stone of his spiritual temple with shouting saying Grace grace unto it The meaning is saith an interpreter that the Angels the faithful and all creatures rejoycing at Christs kingdom established in the world shall desire God the Father to heape all manner of blessing and happinesse upon it Diodat See Psal 118.26 Or they shall acknowledge and preach that the Father hath laid up in him all the treasures of his grace and gifts of his spirit It is the observation of another Reverend man preaching upon this text that when we preach of humane wisdom and foresight we should fall down and cry as we are here taught Grace Grace unto it Mr. Tho. Goodwin Fast-serm before Parl. Apr. 27.1642 we are not to cry up Zerubbabel Zerubbabel any man or means whatever but to exalt the free grace of God the work of which alone it is and hath been Zerubbabel should bring forth the head-stone as master-builders used to do the first and last stone and the people should magnifie Gods meer free-grace and acknowledge that he was marvellous in their eyes Thus that learned Preacher who also by the lighted Candlestick here understandeth
simple means Spec. Erop yea by casual and crosse means this saith one is that miracle which we are in these times to look for For they shall rejoyce Or But they shall rejoyce or Nay they shall rejoyce nay they shall see viz. that which they despaired of ever seeing and were therefore much cast down about the perfection of the work and its glorious accomplishment And this shall be surely effected by Gods powerful and watchful providence called here those seven eyes of the Lord which run to and fro thorow the whole earth called elsewhere the seven spirits of God Rev. 5.6 and 1.4 and Gods spirit here Verse 6. so guiding and managing all affaires and occurrences that all the rayes and beames of providence issuing from those eyes might be seen to meet in the accomplishment of this as their ultimate ayme and scope See the Note on Chap. 3.9 Verse 11. Then answered I and said unto him No mean measure of understanding would content the prophet but he is still enquiring and incroaching upon the Angel so doth Moses upon God Exod. 33. He had not been long out of the Mount but he is asking God to shew him his glory which when he had seen yet he resteth not satisfied but must have more and yet more So David though deep-learned is ever and anon at it teach me thy statutes Spiritual learning is infused by degrees our hearts are as narrow-mouth'd vessels and God delights oft to hear of us Whither I go thou canst not come now but thou shalt afterwards Then shall ye know if ye follow on to know provided that ye beg and dig Prov. 2.3 4 5 and beat as the foul doth the shell to get out the fish and be discontentedly contented till ye come to see as ye are seen a spe ad speciem c. What are these â—w olives c. And. Verse 12. Joh. 13. Hos 6.3 What be these two olive-branches c. See the Notes on verse 3. and verse 7. Verse 13. Knowest thou not what c. See the Note on ver 5. Vers 14. These are the two anointed ones Heb. sonnes of oyl See the Note on verse 7. that stand by the Lord of the whole earth because by the candlestick and utensils of the Temple and Type of the Church which is at Christs right hand Psal 45. as he at his Fathers right hand Rom. 8. He is with all his to the end of the world and it is a part of his joy that we shall be one day where he is This Lord of the whole earth soveraigne over all but takes delight onely in such as Esther like he purifies and perfumes for royall use and these he loveth so affectionately as never any Lord did his subjects Zech. 3.17 He loves the gates of Zion more then all the dwellings of Jacoh Psal 87.2 CHAP. V. Verse 1. THen I turned me and lifted up mine eyes i.e. I prepared me to the receiving of a new vision nothing so comfortable as the former but no lesse necessary that the people by sense of sinne and fear of wrath might be taken off their wicked practises redeem their own sorrows and be accounted worthy to escape all those things that should otherwise come to passe as verse 11. and to stand before the Son of man at that dreadfull day This seemeth to bee the mind of the Holy Ghost Luke 21.36 in these two visions here recorded which while some Interpreters attend not in toto vaticinio neque coelum neque terram attingunt saith Calvin they are utterly out and behold a flying roll Or volume as Psal 40.10 or scroll of paper or parchment usually rolled up like the web upon the pin mi convolvuntur nostrae Mappae Geographicae as our Mappes are rolled up saith A Lapide and as in the publike Library at Oxford the Book or Roll of Esther an Hebrew Manuscript is at this day to bee seen D. Prid. Orat. 4. Amem Antibarb lib. 3. Volans velocissimum astionâ—s incursum significat Chrysost but here flying Not onely because spread wide open as Rabshakeh's letter 2 King 19.14 and as that Book of the Prophet Esaias Luke 4.17 but also as fleeting along swiftly like a bird ready to seiz on her prey Nemo scelus gerit in Pectore qui non idem Nemesin in tergo The Heathens thens named Nemesis their Goddesse of Revenge to take punishment of offend ours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because no man can possibly escape her They tell us also that their Jupiter writeth down all the sinnes of all men in a book or scroll made of a goatspelt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very word whereby Aquila and Theodotion two Greek Translatours do render the Hebrew of this Text. See Dan 7.18 Rev. 20.12 Symmachus turnes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Chapter or Abstract of a larger Book full of sinnes and Woes and yet it is of an unheard of hugenesse verse 2. and of very sad contents like that book of Ezechiel chap. 2.9 10. lamentation and mourning and woe or the first leaf of Bishop Babingtons book which he turned over every morning all black to inmind him of hell and Gods judgements due unto him for his sinnes Vers 2. What seest thou q. d. Mark it well and let thine eye affect thine heart let these things be oculis commissa fidelibus I see a flying book See the Note on verse 1. Some read it A double book according to the Chaldaick signification of the word as containing double that is manifold menaces and punishments of sinne But the Chaldee Paraphrast Septuagint and others render it flying as hasting and hovering over the heads of wicked persons the length thereof is twenty cubits c. Ten yards long and five broad Neither let men say that words are but wind as they did Jer. 5.13 For 1. Even wind when gotten into the bowels of the earth may cause an earth-quake as when into the bowels of the body an heart-quake 2. God threateneth those scoffers verse 14. that he will make that word which they tearmed wind to become fire and themselves fuel to feed it And as fire flyeth upon fuell fully dried Nah. 1.10 and consumeth it in an instant so Gods flying roll will lick up the evil-doers no otherwise then the fire from heaven after it had consumed the sacrifice the wood the stones and the dust licked up also the water that was in the trench 1 King 18.38 The threatnings of Gods Law the same with this Roll are as Erasmus saith of Ezek. 3.18 fulmina non verba lightbolts rather then words or if words yet they are as One saith Verba non legenda sed vivenda Words not to be read onely but lived at least not to be read as men do the old stories of forraigne warres wherein they are nothing concerned but as threatening themselves in every threat cursing themselves in every curse c. nor as
had collected an elected Church 1 Epist 5.13 and thence he writeth his Epistle to the sojourning Jews scattered thorow those Eastern parts chap. 1.10 from whence also those kings of the East Rev. 16.12 the converted Jews as some expound it are expected And who can tell whether this land of Shinar be not the same with that land of Sinim Esay 49.12 Confer Esay 11.16 Zach. 10.11 Or by the land of Shinar here may be meant exilium totius orbis their generall rejection by all nations the whole world being to them a Shinar that is a land of excussion and it shall be established c. This denoteth the diuturnity or perpetuity of their punishment CHAP. VI. Verse 1. ANd I turned and lift up mine eyes i. e. I passed on to another vision and 1 lifted up the eyes of my mind higher to heaven saith Hierom to receive a further revelation from God And whereas he saith I turned he declareth that God from on every side giveth his Church clear testimonies of his care of her so that she will give heed unto them and lift up her eyes there came four chariots out i.e. four squadrons of Angels Gods Warriours and Ministers of his manifold decrees which are here set forth by the name of brazen mountains 2 King 2.11 2 King 6.17 So Hab. 3.8 See chap. 1.8 with the Note Chariots the Angels are called in many places but especially Psal 68.17 The chariots of God in the Hebrew it is chariot in the singular to note the joynt service of all the Angels are twenty thousand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even thousands of Angels of chearfull ones so the Septuagint of such as serve the Lord readily and freely with joy and tranquillity and so do quiet his spirit Deut. 33.26 God rideth upon the heavens for Isra els help i.e. upon the Angels Heb. as it is said here vorse 8 give him full satisfaction The Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place that is the Angels by their swiftnesse and warlike prowesse make Sion the Church as dreadfull to all her enemies did not one of them so to Sennacherib as those Angels made Sinai at the delivery of the Law which was given in fire Deut. 33.2 The word rendred Angels in the above-cited Psal 68.17 and so the Chaldee plainly expresseth it is by some who derive it of Shaan to sharpen referred to chariots to note a kinde of chariots armed with sharp hooks used in warres as many humane Writers record And so it maketh something to the confirmation of this Interpretation Statius Macrob. Vegetius concerning Angels rather then the four Monarchies But the Angel himself is our best Interpreter verse 5. where being asked by Zachary what these chariots were he answereth These are the four spirits of the heavens which go sorth from standing before the Lord of all the earth a plain Periphrasis of the Angels chap. 1.10 See the Note there from between two mountains tanquam è carceribus as designed by Gods all disposing providence and power and ready prest at his appointment and pleasure to run their race do their office execute Gods judgements which are both unsearchable and inevitable and this the Poets hammer'd at in their ineluctabile Fatum as they called it Gods decrees lie hid under mountains of brasse as it were till they come to execution they run as a river under ground till they break out and shew themselves When he hath once signified his will then we understand it which before lay hid from us that is when these chariots come out from between the mountains of brasse when the event declareth what was the immutable decrce of God Hence the Psalmist Thy right cousnesse is like the great mountains thy judgements are a great deep this for the decree And for the execution Thou preservest man and beast Psal 36.6 but by such means and in such manner as to thee seemeth best It is our part to say Amen to his Amen and to put our Fâ—at and Placet to his The will of the Lord be done said those primitive Christians Act. 21.14 Here am I send me Esay 6.8 Verse 2. In the first chariot were red horses c. These severall colours seem to set forth the diverse ministrations of the Angels deputed to severall employments The black colour betokeneth sorrowfull occurrences and revolutions The white joyfull The red bloody The grisled sundry and mixt matters partly joyfull and partly sorrowfull But I easily subscribe to Him that said We must be content to be ignorant of the full meaning of this vision Tanta est profunditas Christianarum literarum saith Austin so great is the depth of divine learning that there is no fathoming of it Prophecy is pictured like a Matrone with her eyes covered for the difficulty For which cause Paulinus Nolanus would never be drawn to write Commentaries and Psellus in Theodoret asketh pardon for expounding the Canticles of Solomon Verse 4. What are these my Lord Difficulty doth but whet desire in Heroick spirites the harder the vision the more earnest was the Prophets inquisition he was restlesse till better resolved and therefore applieth himself again to his Angel Tutour rather then Tutelar whom for honour sake he calleth My Lord. See the Note on chap. 4.5 and take notice of the truth of Saint Peters Assertion concerning the Prophetick scrutiny 1 Pet. 1.11 with greatest sagacity and sedulity Verse 5. These are the four spirits of the heavens Angels are spirits Heb. 1.7 14. and spirits of heaven Mat. 24.36 Gal. 1.8 resembling their Creatour as children do their Father both in their substance which is incorporeall Hence they are called sons of God Job 1.6 and 38.7 and in their excellent properties Life and Immortality Blessednesse and Glory a part whereof is their just Lordship and command over inferiour creatures For like as ministring spirits they stand before the Lord of the whole earth who sends them out at his pleasure to serve his providence so they have as his Agents and Instruments no small stroke in the ordering and managing of naturall and civill affairs as may be seen in the first of Ezechiel The wheels that is the events of things have eyes that is something that might shew the reason of their turnings if we could see it And they are stirred but as the living creatures that is the Angels stirred them And both the wheels and living creatures were acted and guided by Gods spirit as the principall and supream Cause of all the Lord of the whole earth as he is here called that stand before c. As waiting his commands and ready to runne on his errand Mat. 18 10. Dan. 7.10 Jacob at Bethel saw them 1. ascending sc to contemplate and praise God and to minister to him 2. descending sc to execute Gods will upon men for mercy or for judgement Psal 103.20 For which purpose Ezekiel tells us that they have four faces to look every way when as
Gods watch-men they stand sentinell in heavens turret And that the sole of their feet is like the sole of Calves feet round and ready to go either forward or backward with greatest facility that as they see every way so they are apt to go every way for the dispensing of Gods benefits and executing of his chastisements toward the Elect and vengeance on the reprobates All this they do justly 2 Sam. 24.17 2 King 19.35 Gen. 19.11 Acts 12.23 Rev. 16.16 diligently and purely with faith in receiving Gods commands Rev. 15.6 clothed in pure white linen and having their breasts girded with golden girdles Let us labour to obey God as Angels do else we may be Angels for gifts and yet go to hell Verse 6. The black horses which are therein c. These Angels are appointed to severall Countries The black horses to Babylon which lay North from Judaea to inflict vengeance The white horses are sent with them to deliver the Church out of Babylon and to bring their brethren for an offering unto the Lord upon horses and in chariots and in litters and upon mules and upon swift beasts to Gods holy Mountain Jerusalem Esay 66 20. And the grisled go forth toward the South countrey To shew that the punishments of Egypt and Arabia which lay South-ward from Judaea should be somewhat mixed and mitigated they should be in better case then Babylon yet not so good as that the Jews should dream of a happy estate in those countries but rather repair to Judaea and there keep them sith those that are out of Gods precincts cincts are out of his protection Psal 91.9 10 11 12. Verse 7. And the bay went forth c. Junius reads it And the strong or confirmed ones that is the Angels armed with power and authority from God for the execution of his will Esay 10.34 Lebanon shall fall by a mighty One that is by an Angel 2 Thess 1.7 they are called the Angels of Gods power and elsewhere principalities and powers and sought to go that they might-walk to and fro thorow the earth Not onely toward the South as verse 6. This doth not teach that the Angels are more carefull of this world then God is of whom they desired it But first that they can do nothing without commission from Him Secondly that they are ever ready to offer their service and to yeeld obedience upon the least intimation of the Divine pleasure Verse 8. Then cried he upon me That I might the better observe it sith he spake it with so great vehemency Have pacified my spirit i.e. perfecerunt voluntatem meam as the Chaldee here hath it they have done my work thoroughly to my great content When the Churches enemies are slaughtered God inviteth the birds and beasts to a feast as it were for joy and taketh as much delight in their just punishment as any man can do in a cup of generous wine whence it is called the wine of Gods wrath Rev. 14.10 See Deut. 28.63 Verse 9. And the word of the Lord came unto me saying This second part of the Chapter is not a vision but a Sermon or an historicall prediction of what was really to be done For as Gods Spirit was quieted and as it were comforted by the Angels faithfull execution of their offices so He seeks by this Prophecy to quiet and comfort the spirits of his people the Iews that were returned out of Babylon For these finding themselves beset with enemies and exigencies might possibly despair of ever seeing the accomplishment of those promises and prophecies of the kingdome restored to the house of David and of the great glory of the second Temple above the first To keep up their hearts therefore is this declaration made them of the kingdome and priestood of Christ under the typicall coronation of Jehoshuah the High-priest Vers 10. Take of them of the captivity i. e. Of the returned captives even of Heldai Num. 16.2 of Tobijah and of Jedaiah Men famous in the Congregation men of renown That these four mentioned here taking in Josiah who is also called Her verse 14. were Embassadours from the godly Jews in Babylon and brought their gists as Junius thinketh I cannot affirm But that they were the same with Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego as the Jews and Hierom tell us I do not beleeve Josiah seemeth to be the Hoste to the other three as Gaius was to St. Paul and other good people Though some think rather he was either treasurer for the Temple or else a gold-smith and one that could make crowns Calvin conjectures from the fourteenth verse where it is said that the crowns shall be to these men for a memoriall that being men of authority they were deeply guilty of infidelity and impatiency because they â—aw not a present performance of the promises they were discontented themselves and discouraged others Ye have need of patience saith the Apostle to those short spirited Hebrews chap. 10.36 who found it more easie to suffer evil thento wait for the promised good and come thou the same day Either the same day these men came from Babylon Or the self-same day that the Lord spake to the Prophet is hee commanded to go not to put it off a day longer for the people needed a speedy and hasty comfort No sooner had God prepared the people but the thing was done suddenly as 2 Chron. 29.36 No sooner were they ripe but he was ready He is a God of judgement a wise God that knowes when to deal forth his favours As till then he waits to be gracious Esay 30.18 His fingers itch to be doing good in his good pleasure to Sion as the mothers breasts ake when now it is time the child had suck He exalteth the lowly he filleth the hungry with good things When once David is poor and needy God will make no tarriance Psal 40.17 when his soul is even as a weaned child then he shall have the kingdom Psal 131.2 Verse 11. Make crowns Two saith Piscator one of gold for the Kingly dignity another of silver for the Priesthood Three saith A Lapide who makes it a type as of Christs threefold office so of the Popes triple crown which later relateth rather to Prides picture drawn by the old Romanes with three crowns on her head On the first whereof was in scribed Transcendo on the second Non obedio on the third Perturbo Danaeus thinks it likely by the 14. verse that here were foure crowns made according to the number of the foure persons here mentioned that brought in the gold and silver Ribera will have it to be all but one crown made of both metalls and called crowns for the greatnesse of it Chald. vertit Facies coronam magnam as Wisdomes for singular wisdome Pro. 1. Behemoth Beasts for an huge beast Iob 40. The Verb singular tihieh ver 14. seemes most to favour this conceit of his But in Hebrew the singular is oft put for the
this it was reinhabited for that bloody Herod that slew the Infants was borne there being sirnamed Ascalonita and at this day it is a strong garison of the Saracens Saladine pulled down the walls of it but our Richard the first set them up again as Adrichomius telleth us out of Gul. Tyrius Verse 6. But a bastard shall dwell at Ashdod Perhaps he meaneth Alexander In descripâ— Tur. sanâ— who was a bastard by his mother Olympia's confession The Greek here hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stranger an alien or one of another generation as the Greeks under Alexander and afterwards the Jews under the Maccabees Whence the Chaldee turnes this Text thus The house of Israel shall dwell in Ashdod and shall be there as strangers which have no father In the Acts we find that the Jewes were scattered up and down Palestina and some found at Azotus or Ashdod chap. 8.40 and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines that is their wealth strength and whatsoever else they gloried in and grew insolent and injurious to the Church Verse 7. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth That is his bloody prey for saith Aben-Ezra these Philistines did according to the salvage custome of those times eat of the flesh and drink of the blood of their slain enemies and I will keep them from devouring my people any more and his abominations Hoc est praedas abominabiles saith Calvin his abominable spoils his bloody robberies and pillages and he that remaineth The small remnant of Jews not yet altogether devoured by these cruell Canniballs the Babylonians Philistines and other enemies even he shall be for our God Though they be but an Hee a small poor company of them yet God will both own them and honour them and he shall be as a governour in Iudah They shall all be Magnifico's little Princes of high rank and dignity even as Governours in Iudab God will honour them in the hearts of all men See chap. 12.8 and Ekron as a Iebusite i. e. either slain or slave and tributary I know this Text is otherwise expounded by Iunius and others but I now like this Interpretation as most proper Verse 8. And I will encamp about mine house Though it be otherwise but ill fenced and fortified yet I will see it safegarded and secured from the inrodes and incursions of enemies who are ranging up and down and not onely robbing but ravishing Psal 10.9 For what was Alexander but an Arch-pirate a strong theef as the Pirate whom he had taken told him to his teeth And whether here be intimated by these words because of him that passeth by and him that returneth something of Alexanders voyages who passed by Judaea into Egypt and to Ammons Oracle with his Army and thence returned to Persia by the same way not hurting the Jewes or something about the many expeditions of the Seleucidae and Lagedae to and fro from Egypt to Syria and back again among which hurly-burly the Jewes State stood fast though sometime a little shaken I dare not say saith a learned Interpreter It may be both those and all other the like dangers are here generally comprized and no oppressour shall passe thorow them any more Chald. No Sultan not the Turkish tyrant Lord of Greece as verse 13. say those that take the text of the Jew glorious state at last Calvin thinkes that by this clause he only expounds what he had figuratively said before Danaeus takes it of violence and oppression among themselves or of wringing and vexing by their own rulers they shall be free from violence both abroad an at home for now have I seen with mine eyes i. e. I have taken good notice of it I have seen I have seen as Exod. 3.7 and mine eye hath affected mine heart I have well observed that the enemy is grown unsufferably insolent and therefore come to rescue and relieve my people The Chaldee hath it thus I have now revealed my power to do them good Ahen-Ezra makes these to be the Prophets words of himself q. d. I have seen all this in a manifest vision But this is frigidum imo insulsum saith Calvin and odd conceit unlesse we refer it with Montanus to the following words and make this the sense which yet I like not so well Behold I see in the spirit with the eyes of my mind the Lord Christ comming and entring with state the city and temple Verse 9. Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion Draw all thy waters with joy out of this welspring of salvation Loe here is the summ of all the good news in the world Ier. 31.12 and that which should make the saints everlastingly merry even to shouting and singing in the height of Zion that their king commeth This should swallow up all discontents and make them sing Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he that commeth in the name of the Lord. behold thy King commeth Not Zorobabel or Judas Maccabeus as some Jewes interpret it nor yet Alexander the Great as some others but a greater then he even Messiah the Prince as Christ is stiled Dan. 9.25 who shall cut off the charret c. as it followeth in the next verse yea all the 4 charret or Monarchies as some expound chap. 6. how much more Tyrus Gaza Ekron Damascus c. of which he spake before in this chapter unto thee i. e. meerely for thy behoof and benefit and not for his own Other kings are much for their own profit pleasures pomp c. Christ emptied himself of all his excellencies that we might be filled with his fulnesse he is just and having salvation That he may justifie thee by his righteousnesse and save thee by his merit and spirit The Vulgar rendreth it Iust and a Saviour so doth the Chaldee Salvation properly denotes the negative part of mans happinesse freedome from all evils and enemies but it is usually taken for the positive part also viz. fruition of all good because it is easier to tell from what then unto what we are saved by Jehovah our righteousnesse lowly Or poor afflicted abject See them set together Zeph. 3.12 and Phil. 4.12 I have learned to want and to be abased Poverty rendreth a man contemptible and ridiculous Pauper ubique jacet men go over the hedge where it is lowest the poor are trampled upon and vilipended as Luke 16.30 This thy Son he scorned to call him brother because he was poor Now Christ became poor to make us rich 2 Cor. 8. Rom. 2.7 a worm and no man nullificamâ—n populi as Tertullian phraseth it that we might be advanced to glory and honour and immortality Neither was he more low and mean in his estate then lowly and meek in mind as farr from pride and statelinesse as as his state was from Pomp and magnificence riding upon an asse A poor silly beast used by the meaner sort of people yea upon a colt the foale of an asse Heb. asses
their cruelty the valour of the patients the savagenesse of the persecutours strove together till both exceeding nature and belief bred wonder and astonishment in beholders and readers These were those lion-like men of the tribe of Judah that took the kingdom by violence Judah which signifieth the Confessour had the kingdom as Levi had the Priest-hood both forfeited by Reuben who was weak as water Gen. 49. and I will save the house of Joseph that is Ephraim but for the ten tribes whom God here promiseth to save not to bring back saith the Geneva-Note on Ver. 9. But others there are that gather from these words and these that follow that God will not onely preserve them but reduce and resettle them in their own countrey yea and multiply them so abundantly as that their countrey shall not be able to hold them Verse 10. Whence cometh Ashurs and Egypts subjection to Christ that is all the tract of the East and of the South verse 1. and their perpetual establishment in the faith Verse 12 And I will bring them again to place them I will place them in their houses as Hos 11.11 The Sept. render it I will cause them to dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compos The Caldee I will gather together their captivity Some special mercy is assured them by this special word of a mixt conjugation for I have mercy upon I them Here 's a double cause alledged of these so great and gracious promises and both excluding works First Gods mere mercy Secondly his Election of grace for I am the Lord their God This latter is the cause of the former for God chose his people for his love and then loveth them for his choice The effects of which love are here set down 1. That he heareth their prayers I will hear them 2. That he reaccepteth and restoreth them in Christ as if they had never offenced against him They shall be as though I had not cast them off That was a cutting speech and far worse then their captivity Jer. 16.13 When God not onely threateneth to cast them out of their countrey into a strange land but that there he would slew them no favour Here he promiseth to pitty them and then they must needs think deliverance was at next door by and they shall be as though I had not cast them off And this the sooner and the rather because they called them out-casts saying This is Zion whom no man seeketh after Jer. 30.17 The Jewish Nation saith Tully shew how God regards them that have been so oft overcome viz. by Nehuchad-nezzar Pompey c. God therefore promiseth to provide for his own great name by being fully reconciled to his poor people whom the world looked upon abjects for I am the Lord their God And if I should not see to their safey Psal 119. it would much reflect upon me This David well knew and therefore prayes thu I am thine Lord save me and will hear them Or I will speak with them speak to their hearts It is no more saith One then if a man were in a fair dining-room with much good company and there is some speciall friend whom he loveth dearly that calleth him aside to speak in private of businesse that neerly concerneth him and though he go into a worse room yet he is well enough pleased So if God in losse of friends houses countrey comforts whatsoever will speak with us will answer us the losse will be easily made up Philip Lantgrave of Hesse being a long time prisoner under Charles 5. was demanded what upheld him all that time He answered that he had felt the favour of God and the Divine consolations of the Martyrs There be Divine comforts that are felt onely under the crosse I will bring her into the wildernesse and there speak to her heart Hos 2.13 Israel was never so royally provided for with Manna Quails and other cates as when they were in the wildernesse The crosse is anointed with comfort which makes it not onely light but sweet not onely not troublesome and importable but desirable and delightful saith Bernard Thy presence O Lord made the very gridiron sweet to Laurence saith another How easily can God make up our losse and breaches Verse 7. And they of Ephraim shall be as a mighty man The same again and in the same words for more assurance because the return of the ten Tribes might seem a thing more incredible Erant enim quasi putridum cadaver saith Calvin here they were as rotten carkasses and they had obiter onely heard of these promises as if some grain of feed should be dropt by the high-way-side for they were now as aliens from the Common-wealty of Israel and their hert shall rejoyce as throught wine Which naturally exhilarateth Psal 104.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is called by Plato one of the Mitigaters of humane misery See Prov. 31.6 with the Note Some nations use to drink wine freely before they enter the battel to make them undaunted Some think here may be an allusion to such a custom I should rather understand it of that generous wine of the spirit Eph. 5.18 yea their children shall see it Therefore they were not to antedate the promises but to wait the accomplishment which should certainly be if not them yet to theirs after them even a full restauration in due season Verse 8. I will hisse for them and gather them As a shepheard hisseth or whistleth for his flock See Judg. 5.16 where it should not be translated the bleatings of the flocks but the hissings or whistlings of the shepheards to their flocks when they would get them together God who hath all creatures at his beck and check can easily bring back his hanished gather together his dispersed with a turn of a hand Zech. 13.7 with a blast of his mouth as here as if any offer to oppose him herein he can blow them to destruction Iob. 4.9 He can frown them to death Psal 80.16 He can crush them between his fingers as men do a moth Psal 39.11 and crumble them to crattle Psal 146.4 Like sheep they are laid in the grave death shall feed on them and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling Psal 49.14 For I have redeemed them I have in part and that 's a pledge of the whole my hands also shall finish it as Chap 4.9 God doth not his work to the halves neither must we but if he shall be All in All unto us we must be altogether His Cant. 2.16 His is a covenant of mercy ours of obedience which must be therefore full and finall as Christ hath obtained for us an entire and everlasting redemption Heb. 9.12 and they shall increase as they have increased By verue of that promise to Abraham Gen. 13.16 I will multiply thy seed as the dust of the earth and Gen 15.5 as the stars of
expanse as a curtain or as a molten looking-glasse Job 37.18 Job 26.7 2. From the wisdome of God in laying the foundation of the earth and hanging it by Geometry as we say in the midst of heaven like Archimedes his pigeon equally poized with its own weight Terra pilae similis nullo fulcimine nixa Ovid. Fast l. 5 Aere subjecto tam grave pendet onus 3. From the goodnesse of God who formeth the spirit of man within him who hath made us these souls Esay 57.16 which he doth daily create and infuse into mens bodies yea and that alone without any help of their parents hence hee is called the Father of spirits Heb. 12.9 and the spirit of a dying man is said to return to God that gave it Eccles 12.7 This last text convinced Augustine who held sometime with Origen that the soul as well as the body was begotten by the parents farre more then the peremptory rashnesse of Vincentius Victor who censured boldly the Fathers unresolvednesse Chemnitius when hee doubted concerning the originall of a rationall soul and vaunted that he would prove by demonstration that souls are created de novo by God Aristotle Natures chief Secretary was much puzled about this point of the soul which indeed cannot fully bee conceived of nor defined by man Onely this we can say that the soul as it comes from God so it is like him viz. One immateriall immortall understanding Spirit distinguisht into three Powers which all make up one Spirit Verse 2. Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling Or slumber or poyson A Metaphor taken from a cup of generous wine but empoysoned so that those that drink of it do presently tremble grow giddy sleepy sick as heart can hold Poyson in wine works more furiously Thou hast made us to drink the wine of giddinesse saith the Church Psal 60.3 In the hand of the Lord is a cup and the wine is red it is full mixed c. The Prophet here seems to allude to Jer. 25.15 Esay 29.8 Jer. 31.7 Ovid saith of the river Gallus that whoso drinketh of it runneth mad immediatly Hierom telleth of a Lake neer Naples whereinto if a dog be thrown he presently dieth The like is reported by Josephus of the Lake Asphaltites Jerusalem shall be a murthering morsell to those that swallow it His meat in his bowels is turned it is the gall of aspes within him Hee hath swallowed down her spoil and he shall vomit it up again Job 20.14 15 God shall rake it out of his belly He shall have as little joy of his tid-bits of his sweet draughts as Jonathan had of his honey whereof he had no sooner tasted but his head was forfeited Pliny speaketh of a kind of honey that poysoneth because it is sucked out of poysonous flowers Our Chronicler telleth us Speed 1210. that at Alvelana three miles from Lisbon many of our English souldiers under the Earl of Essex perished by eating of honey purposely left in the houses and spiced with poyson The enemies of the Church make a dangerous adventure they are even ambitious of destruction they run to meet their bane as did those Philistines at Mizpeh 1 Sam. 7. And had they but so much wit as Pilats wife in a dream they would take heed of having any thing to do with those just men of eating up Gods people as they eat bread Psal 14.4 of bowsing in the bowles of the Sanctuary with Baltasar who fell thereupon into a trembling Dan. 5.6 so that his loyns were loosed and his knees knockt one against another when they shall be in the siege And so about to do their last and worst against the Church The people of Rome was saepe praelio victus nunquam bello saith Florus they lost many battles but were never overcome in a set warre at the last at the long-runne as they say they crushed all their enemies so doth the Church See Psal 129. thorowout and the story of the Maccabees Verse 3. I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone Such a stone as that wherewith the woman brake Abimelech his brainpan at the tower of Thebez Judg. 9.53 He had slain all his brethren upon one stone verse 5. he receives therefore his deaths-wound by a stone and that by the hand of a woman which was his greatest grief The like death befell Pyrrhus king of Epirotes slain at the siege of Argos with a tyle thrown by a woman from the wall So was Earl Simon Mountfort that bloody persecutour of the Albigenses in Irance A woman discharged an engine at him Cades Justif of the Church from the walls of Tholouse and by a stone parted his head from his shoulders The virgin daughter of Zion shall do as much as all this comes to for her besiegers though all the people of the earth be gathered together against her For why she hath a strong champion that in maintaining her quarrell will dash them to pieces and grind them to powder Luke 20.18 They are no more able to stand before him then a glasse-bottle before a cannon-shot Hence her confidence her laughing and shaking her head by way of derision at her stoutest enemies Esay 37.22 She knows that all that burden themselves with her shall be cut in pieces Hamans wife could tell so much If Mordecai said she be of the seed of the Jews Esih 5.13 before whom thou hast begun to fall thou shalt not prevail against him but shalt surely fall before him A Jew may-fall before a Fersian and get up and prevail But if a Persian or whosoever of the Gentiles begin to sall before a Jew he can neither stay nor rise There is an invisible hand of omnipotency that strikes in for his own and confounds their opposites That little stone cut out without hands Christs humane nature is called a tabernacle not made with hands not of this building Heb. 9.11 that is not by an ordinary course of generation smiteth the four mighty Monarchies and crumbleth them to crattle Dan. 2.34 Hierom upon this text and after him other Interpreters both Ancient and Modern tell us that the Holy Ghost here alludeth to a certain exercise or game used much among the Jews namely to take up a great round stone for the triall of a mans strength lifting it up from the ground sometimes to the knees sometimes to their navels sometimes to their breasts and sometimes as high as their heads or above their heads At which sport many times they did grievously hurt themselves or at least scarify and make cuts in their flesh See Levit. 21.5 where the same word is used The Churches enemies shall strive and try who shall do her most hurt but the stoutest of them all shall be fooled and foiled in the end The irrepairable ruine of Rome is graphically described and even set forth to the eye Rev. 18.21 by a notable gradation An Angel a mighty Angel taketh a stone a great stone
God is a figure and sacrament Living waters they are called that is running as a Spring not standing as a poole The godly esteeme of life by that stirring they find in their souls Isa 38.15 16. In all these things is the life of my spirit else they lament as over a dead soule O live D. Hâ—rris live saith a Reverend man live quickly live much live long Many live more in a day then others in a year for life consisteth in action and so much every man liveth as he acteth graciously Up therefore and be doing something of worth whereof ye may testifie that ye have lived And for this get a principle of life the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus and then if ye live in the Spirit yâ—â—hall also walk in the spirit Gal. 5.25 and not fulfill the lusts of the siesh verse 16. The waters of the sea though by their natural course they follow the center yet by obedience to the Moon they are subject to her motion and so turn and return ebbe and flow and are kept in continual motion to keep them from corruption so those that are spiritual though naturally they are carried downward and the best that of themselves they can do is but dead work Yet so farre as they are spiritualized heavenlized they are acting for God and all their deeds are wrought in him John 3.21 It is their great care to weare out not rust out to burn out not to be blown out yea to flame out not to smother out to serve out their generation as David did not to idle it out to live their utmost and not as Job 27.15 with 23. to be buried before half dead in summer and winter shall it be such is the perennity and perpetuity of true grace it ever flowes more perennis aquae As it is not like the River Araris of which Cesar saith Câ—s de bel Gal. l. 1. that it cannot with eyes be discerned whether it flow forward or backward so slow and still is its motion so neither is it like the brook Cherith that dryed up before the Prophet 1 Kin. 17.7 because there had been no raine in the Land or like the River Novanus in Lombardy which saith Plinie at every Midsomer solstice swelleth and runneth over the banks but at mid-winter is clean dry But as the waters of the Sanctuary Lib. 2. cap. 130 Ezek. 47.4 c. And as the poople of Siloe which served all Jerusalem and was for every use to the citizens or Hezakiah's watercourses 2 Kin. 20.20 Neh. 3.15 16. whereunto some think that the Prophet here alludeth He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow Rivers of living waters But this he spake saith the Evangelist of the spâ—rit which they that believe on him should receive John 7.38 39. Verse 9. And the Lord shall be King over all the carth At the sounding of the seventh Angel the Kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reigne for ever and ever Rev. 11.15 17. Cosmographers tell us that if we divide all the known world into thirty parts the Heathens part is as nineteen of this thirty the Mahometans as six the Christians as five only And of those that professe the name of Christ three parts at least of those five are possest by Idolatrous Papists who say they believe in one only true God but indeed set up many He-saints and She-saints whom they adore with divine worship and therein are no better then Pagans Hence they are called Gentiles Rev. 11.2 and are said to worship Divels Râ—v 9.20 with 1 Cor. 10.20 Cardinal Bombus saith of their Saint Franciâ— that he was in numcrum Deorum abâ— Ecclesia Rom. relatus At Ruremund in Gelderland a play was acted by the Jesuites In Hist. Ven. Anno Dom. 1622. under the title of the Apotheosis of St. Ignatius the founder of that Order In the year 610. Boniface the fourth ordained the feast of All-saints after that he had obtained of the Emperour the Idol-temple at Rome called the Pantheon Jac. Ren. de vit Pont. 309. wherein he placed the Virgin Mary in the roome of Cybcle the Mother of the Heathen Gods Now the time is yet to come and oh that it were come that all false worship laid aside and abandoned the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall be brought in and from the Jews as some gather from this Text compared with others shall the Gospel go out to all Nations of the world Isay 2.3 who with one consent shall submit themselves to Christ Ashur and Egypt all those large and vast Countries the whole tract of the East and of the South shall embrace the faith of Christ and be converted Isa 19.23 24 25. and 27.12 13. Mich. 7.11 12. Psal 68 31. and 72.9 10 11. Rev. 21.14 O dieculam illam Neither need we think it incredible God can hisse for them and fetch them in ' suddenly he can cause a Nation to conceive and bring forth in one day Esay 66.8 9. A Text that Cardinall Poole in a letter to Pope Julius the third abused by applying it to the bringing in of Popery again so universally and suddainly in Queen Maries dayes shall there be one Lord Be the Gods of the Heathen good-fellows saith One the true God is a jealous God and will not share his glory with another Be it that to Pagans and Papagans there are Gods many and Lords many to us there is but one God and but one Mediatour betwixt God and man the man Christ Jesus As for all others say we of them as that Heathen once did Comemno minutos istos Deos modò Jovem propitium habeam I care not for those petty-deities so long as Jehovah favoureth me Heare O Israel saith Moses Deut. 6.4 Jehovah thy God Jehovah is one The Hebrew word there used for One hath Daleth the last letter which also stands in number for â—our extraordinary great in the Originall to signifie say the Jew-Doctors that this one God shall be worshipped in the foure corners of the earth and his Name one that is One way of worship all Superstitions being abolished see Mich. 4.5 Or his Name that is his glory as Psal 8.1 his transcendent excellency shall be supereminent He shall have a name above all names that at the name of Jesus every knee may bow Thus the word Name is used both in Divine and Humane Authors Gen. 6.14 Men of Name that is of Renown so Numb 1.16 and 16.2 Acts 1.15 the number of Names that is of the chiestaines that were fit to act in the Election Contrary whereunto is men without name Job 30.8 men written in the earth Jer. 17.30 shrouded in the sheet of shame ingloria vita recedit and whose happinesse it is to be forgotten in the City Eccles 8.10 So the Poets call Eminent and famous men Nomina as Ovid doth Augustus Vive
valiant in fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens subdued kingdomes fought the Lords battles Heb. 11.32 34. They saw by faith what is on the other side of the shore of this mortality and that put mettle into them The valour of the Gauls was admired by the Romans it proceeded from that instruction they had from their Druides The life of the K of Sweden by M. Clark of the immortality of the soul The Swedes upon the same ground shewed incredible courage in the late German warres running into apparent danger like flies into the candle saith One as if they had not seen it Faith fears no colours What brave spirits hath God raised up amongst us alate fighting as it were in blood to the knees for Religion and liberty resolved either to vanquish or die as the Black Prince 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with that Lacedemonian either to live with the Gospel or to die for it And how valiant the restored Jews shall once be upon their enemies the Turks who now hold their countrey till their iniquities be full who can tell Sure it is that Israel after their victory over Gog shall spoil those that spoiled them and rob those that robbed them saith the Lord God Ezek. 39.10 And then perhaps it is that the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together as a prize or booty gold and silver and apparell in great abundance Look how Abraham stripped the four kings of their plunder Gen. 14.16 Gideon the Midianites Iudg 8. David the Amalekites 1 Sam. 30.18 Iehosaphat the Ammonites they were three dayes in gathering the spoil it was so much 2 Chron. 20.25 so it may fall out one day with their posterity The Jew Doctours as they have a saying that whatsoever befell unto the Fathers is a figne unto the children so of Abrahams victory over the four kings they write that it befell unto him to teach that four kingdomes those kingdomes spoken of in Daniel should stand up to rule over the world and that in the end his children should rule over them and they should all fall by their hand R. Menachem on Gen. 14. and they should bring again all their captives and all their substance Verse 15. And so shall be the plague of the horse of the mule of the camel All the beasts of service made use of by the enemy shall consume in like sort as their masters First for a punishment to their owners who must needs suffer losse thereby Hence Saul was so sedulous in seeking the lost asses Secondly to shew how God is displeased with and will severely punish all that are instrumentall to the Churches calamities or serviceable to their sinne The serpent is cursed cut shorter by the feet and made to wriggle upon his belly yea confined to the dust for his diet So God curseth and abhorreth all instruments of idolatry Esay 30.22 Num. 31.22 23. Deut. 7.25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire the very visible heavens because defiled with mans sinne are to be purged by the fire of the last day Verse 16. Every one that is left of all the nations i.e. that hath escaped the plague verse 12. and is beaten into a better mind as those Hunnes that vanquished by the Christians concluded that Christ was the true God and became his subjects God had promised before to subvert the Churches enemies but here to convert them which is farre better And it shall appear to be so as conversion cannot be hid you cannot turn a bell but it will make a sound and report its own motion See Gal. 1.23 for they shall even go up sc to the Temple which stood upon mount Moriah to worship the king the Lord of Hosts Esay 16 1◠to send a lamb or an homage peny to the Lord of the whole earth and to keep the feast of Tabernacles In a due manner which had not been rightly done a marvellous thing all along during the reigne of David Solomon and all those succeeding Reformers till about these times as appears Neb. 8.16 17 19. The sence of this text is that the converted Gentiles shall joyn with the Jews in the sincere service of God according to his will and not according to their own brains and fancies that they shall worship him with the same rites in the same places and assemblies which they do that Jehovah may be one and his name one amongst them as verse 9. that there may be no more Jew and Gentile Barbarian or Scythian bond or free but Christ may be all and in all Col. 3.11 That those two sticks being joyned into one Ezek. 37.16 all Israel may be saved Rom. 11.26 and raised as from the dead verse 15. the Gentiles also may have their part in the same resurrection All this is here set forth in such termes and under such types as were then most in request as of going up to the Temple keeping the feast of Tabernacles c. All which expressions are parabolicall symbolicall and enigmaticall framed to the capacity of the Jews much addicted to these legall rites and shadows then in use but now done away Col. 2.17 Heb. 10.1 whatever the Jews conclude from this text for their continuance under Messias his kingdome Christians have their feasts or holy-dayes too 1 Cor. 5.8 yea their feast of Tabernacles in a mystieall sence 1 Pet. 2.11 Heb. 11.1 9. Verse 17. Even upon them shall be no rain i. e. Nullam misericordiam assequentur saith Theodoret They shall get no good at Gods hand Judaea was sumen totius orbis as One saith a very fat and fertile countrey but yet so as that her fruitfulnesse depended much upon seasonable showres the former and latter rain and the Prophet seemeth here to allude to that of Moses Deut. 11.10 c If God did not hear the heaven and the heaven the earth the earth could not hear the corn wine and oil nor those hear Jezreel Hos 2.19 Judaea was not like that countrey in Pliny ubi siccitas dat lutum imbres pulverem where drought made dirt rain made dust but if the heaven were iron over them the earth would soon be brasse under them and not yeeld her increase See Psal 65.9 Esay 30.23 and then where would they be quickly sith Animantis cujusque vita in fuga est life would be lost if not maintained by daily food Rain is in Scripture put 1. Properly for water coming out of the clouds Deut. 11.11 Prov. 16.15 nourishing the herbs and trees 2. Metaphorically for Christ his Gospel and his graces wherewith the souls of men are made fruitfull in good works Esay 45.8 Deut. 32.2 Hos 6.3 The want of rain is on the contrary made here and Rev. 11.5 a signe of a curse It waiteth not for the sonnes of men Mic. 5.7 but it accomplisheth what God appointeth Esay 55.10 11. Why it falleth here and now we know not and wonder Vers 18. And if the
their holinesse as Davids children were by their garments of diverse colours For as he that hath called them is holy so are they also holy and that in all manner of conversation and communion too even when they deale with carnal men and in common matters and the pots in the Lords house shall be like the bowles before the Altar All this must be understood of the spirituall service which should be in the Christian church described by the ancient ceremonial service as Isa 60.7 and 66.23 Mal. 1.11 And it is to shew that the efficacy force and operation of the holy Ghost shall be far more plentifull through Christ in the Church of the Gospell then it was in times past under the law See Heb. 8.6 Eph. 3.5 Isa 44.3 4. Verse 21. Yea every pot in Ierusalem c. That is saith Danaeus God shall as God-like be worshiped of every faithfull person in his own house as he was of old in his Temple by the Jews Calvin adds ut quicquid aggrediantur homines sit sacrificium so that whatsoever good men enterprize shall be a sacrifice God shall smell a savour of rest from them they of life and peace from him there shall be no more the Canaanite The merchant saith the vulgar after Aquila and the Chaldee that is the Simoniack the Church-chopper such mony-merchants as Christ whipt out of the Temple Mat. 21.12 Ioh. 2.15 But better render it Canaanite The Phenicians those great merchants were Canaanites who were indeed great Merchants Hos 12.7 Ezek. 17.4 but here it stands for a wicked man an hypocrite that botch of Christian society Pura erit Ecclesia ab omnibus inquinamentis saith Calvin the Church shall be purged of all such Pests See Rev. 22.27 no such owles shall be seen flying in the Churches welkin God will by the due exercise of discipline and otherwise be daily purging out all scandals as such men are called Mat. 13.41 and causing the unclean spirit to passe out of the land Zach. 13.2 I conclude with Theodoret Dominus Omnipotens hanc vocem veram esse hoc tempore praestet c. God Almighty make good this promise unto us at this time that there may be no cursed Canaanite found amongst us but that we may all live according to the doctrine of the Gospell and expect that blessed hope and comming of the great God our Saviour Jesus to whom with the Father and holy Spirit be glory for ever Amen A COMMENT OR EXPOSITION Upon the Prophesie of MALACHI CHAP. I. Verse 1. THE burden that is the burdenous Prophecy as Tremellius renders it A burden as 1. enjoyned and imposed upon the Prophet to utter Lyra. Figuicr to cry aloud and not spare to life up his voice as a trumpet c. straining every vein in his heart to do it declayming lustily against sin and sinners and proclayming hell-fire for them in case they amend not This is a businesse of some burthen Chrysost onus ipsis etiam Angelis tremendum This was typified in the staff-rings that were made to continue upon the Ark the Kohathites shoulders felt wherefore If God had not helped those Levites they could never have borne the Ark 1 Chron. 15.26 St. Paul was very sensible of the ministeriall burthen rowling upon him daily 2 Cor. 11.28 And Latimer leaped when lighted of his Bishoprick 2. As burdening the people with their sins and breathing out threatnings for the same for sin how lightly soever accounted of hales hell at the heels of it and procures divine vengeance which is a burthen unsupportable It brake the Angels backs and made the son of God groan piteously 1 Pet. 2.24 then when he bare our sins in his body on the tree His soul was heavy therewith even to the death and had he not had the better shoulders had not God laid help on One that was mighty even the mighty strong God as he is stiled Esay 6.6 he had fainted and failed under his burthen David complaines that his sins were gone over his head and like a sore burthen were too heavy for him to bear Psal 38.4 That which comforted him was that no sooner he had said Peccavi I have sinned 2 Sam. 12. but the Prophet Nathan said Transtulit Deus peccatum tuum God hath translated thy sin upon Christ hath caused thy sin to passe over to him and as it were by a writt of Remove hath cast thy burthen upon his shoulders And this incomparable merey David afterwards celebrateth Psa 32 4 5. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me the guilt of finne and sense of wrath quelled him and killed him almost for his naturall moisture was turned into the drought of summer he was turned into a very skeleton or a bag of bones a bottle in the smoke wofully wanzed he was and wasted But for remedy I acknowledge my sin unto thee saith he I fled by faith to the true Scape-goat Christ Jesus on whom was laid as a burthen the iniquitie of us all Isai 53.6 Rom. 5.8 And thou presently forgavest the iniquity of my sinne that is the guilt of it that till then lay like a load of lead upon my conscience and as an obligation bound me over to condigne punishment Cam for want of this comfort ran roaring up and down my sinne Gen. 4.13 that is my punishment is greater then I can heave And a farre better man then Cain even holy Job with whom God was but in jest as it were cries out that his calamitie was havier then the sand of the sea Job 6.3 and that yet his stroake was heavier then his groaning Chap. 23.2 Those that have ever felt the misery of a laden conscience can tell what an evill and bitter thing sinne is Jer. â— Those that now run away with it and make as light of it as Sampson did of the gate of Gaza shall one day groan out Woe and alas when God shall set himself to load them with tortures in hell who do now load him with their sinnes and weary him out with their imquities Esay 43.24 For prevention oh that they would be perswaded to believe the Prophets that their souls might prosper to be sensible of sins burden that Christ might ease them to take upon them his burthen which is onus sine onere and would be no more burthen to them then the wings are to the bird whereby he is born aloft that they would imitate porters who being called and offered money to beare a burden will poise it and weigh it in their hands first which when they see they are not able to stand under no gain will entice them to undertake it Do we provoke the Lord to anger are we stronger then he Heb. 10. Is it not a fearfull thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God Is the the wrath of a King as the roaring of a lyon as the messengers of death surely they that tremble not in hearing
kind of people Before they pray men should see whether they are persons fit to pray for God accepts not of a good motion from an ill mouth Jer. 11.10 11. Joh. 9.31 1 Joh. 3.22 Psal 66.16 A wicked man wants contrition humility faith hope feeling fervency he hath not a spirit of grace and supplication to endite his prayers he hath not an Intercessour in heaven to present and perfume his prayers The breath wherein our prayers ascend should be like pillars of smoke perfumed with Christs myrrhe and incense Otherwise our words will be like the Egyptian pots recking out the strong smelling onions and garlick of our own corruption such as God can take no pleasure in neither will he accept such an offering at our hands Verse 11. For from the rising of the sun c. where as they might object If you will not have service from us you can have none at all for other people walk every one in the name of his God Mic. 4.5 and the Gentiles have their vanities and doctrines of vanities Ier. 14.22 and 10.8 wherewith they are wholy taken up Take you no care for that saith God here for from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles I will provide for mine own great Name that is for my glory for so Gods Name is used in that sense Exod. 9.16 Psal 8.1 I will be no loser by your rejection for I have other people that will more reverence me and do me better service so that I need not be beholding to you I have from East to West those that will make hard shift but I shall have service done me I can set a signe and send to Tarshish Pul and Lud c. that have not heard my fame neither have seen my glory Isa 66.19 20. and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses and in charrets and in litters c. that though sick weakly and unfft for travell yet they shall come on end and rather in litters then not at all they shall be content to suffer any hardship for heaven as the stone will fall down to come to it 's own center though it break it self in an hundred peeces The Gentiles once converted shall fly as a cloud Isa 60.8 that is with greatest pernicity and swistnesse yea they shall in such flocks come to the Church as if a whole flight of doves driven by some hawk or tempest should scour into the columbary and rush into the windowes There are that have observed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus Dieu Gott c. that the name of God in all the maternall languages confisteth of foure letters to intimate that he hath his people in all the foure quarters of the earth out of all countries nations and languages Deut. 6.4 Heare O Israeh The Lord our God is one Lord. In the Original the last letter of the word Heare is greater then the rest as calling for all possible heed and attention So likewise is the last letter in the word One which being Daleth and standing usually for Four as a numerall letter signifieth say the Hebrew-Doctours that this One God shall be worshipped in all the four corners of the earth This Cyprian hath also gathered from the Greek letters of the name Adam A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which do severally signifie the four quarters of the world East West North and South to teach that Christ the second Adam will fetch his people from all parts and hath therefore built his Church his new Ierusalem four-squar Rev. 21.16 and placed on the East three gates on the North three gates on the South three gates and on the West three gates ver 13. that all from all parts may have free and open accesse unto him Babylon was in like manner built four square as Heredotus testifieth Lib. 1. and Constantinople is so scituate betwixt Europe and Asia as if it were fatally founded to command both This is much more true of Vranople the city of the great King Turk hist. 1153. open to all commers as the Aedilis or Chamberlains house in Rome was O thou that hearest prayers to thee shall all flesh come saith the Psalmist come with a courage Psal 65.2 sith they are sure as of accesse so of successe in all their suites thorough Christ the Mediatour who hath made both one Eph. 2.14 and hath broken down the middle-wall of partition between Iews and Gentiles This the perverse Jews could never abide to heare of nor can they to this day And therehence is it that they have in their expositions basely depraved this text and corrupted the true sense of it as is to be seen in the Chaldee Paraphrast and David Kimchi calling us still Goi Mamzer bastard Gentiles and cursing us in their daily prayers which are not sure that pure offering mentioned in this verse and interpreted by them of the prayers of the holy Jews every where disperst The rejection of the Jews and acception of the Gentiles into grace and favour is a hidden mystery such as maketh the Apostle of the Gentiles cry out O the depth 1 Rom. 11.23 yea it is a part of that great mystery of Godlinesse 1 Tim. 3.16 that God manifested in the flesh should be preached unto the Gentiles and beleeved on in the world Let us pitty the poor hardened Jews and pray the rending of the vail that is yet spread over them that the rebuke of Gods people may be taken away from off all the earth Isa 25.7 8. Let us also praise God who hath made us Gentiles meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 And take heed that we sin not away our light and cause God to take his kingdome from us giving it to a nation that will bring him better fruit Mat. 21.43 we have a fair warning given us by the example of the Jews Rom. 11. Seest thou another shipwrack look to thy tackling from the rising of the sun from the East of Judaea the sun of Christs Gospel passed by the south of Greece to the West of the Latine Church and these Islands of ours that lye in the Sea Vide Scapul in Them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into which the Sun is said to go down or to lye down as in its tabernacle of rest which is an expression of the old Greek Poets and the Originall word here used agreeth to it All the danger is lest the Gospell in this it 's Solar motion be travelling for the West of that other world the American parts and quitting it's present places of residence and unworthy possessours And then sarewell England Oh let us pray that that dismall day may never arise wherein it shall be said that the glory is
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
children who commonly take after the mother as did most of those Idolatrous kings of Judah and follow the worser side though it be the weaker as the conclusion in a Syllogisme follows the weaker proposition The birth we say followeth the belly and most men we see do matrissare take after the mother in matters of religion Hereunto might be added that Gods service must by these unequal matches necessarily be hindered if not altogether omitted to gratifie a froward Zipporah or a mocking Michol and the better party forced to see and hear that that cannot but grieve the Spirit of God Besides danger of disloyalty and a cursed posterity as Edomites of the daughters of Heth. D. Hall Here then I could joyn with that Reverend Contemplatour in that holy wish of his that Manoah could speak so loud that all our Israelites might hear him Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren or among all Gods people that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines If Religion be any other then a cypher how dare we not regard it in our most important choyces how dare we yoke our selves with any untamed heifer that beareth not Christs yoke what mad work made that noble pair of naughty-packs Iezabel and Athaliah in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah the later beginning her reigne in the same year that the former perished as Bucholcer observeth And who knoweth not what a deal of mischief was done to the poor people of God in France by Katherine de Medices Q. Mother with the advice and aslistance of the Cardinall of Lorrain Concerning which two it was said Non audet stygius Pluto tentare quod ander Effraenis Monachus plenaque frandis anus Verse 12. The Lord will cut off the man that doth this Though the Magistrate be carelesse and corrupt though he either cannot punish this evil it being growen so universall or will not and so impunity in the Magistrate maketh impenitency in the offendours God will take the sword in hand and cut off every mothers child that doth this Metaphora est à Medicis â—â—â—la Polan nisi currat poenitentia as a chirurgion cutteth off a rotten member so will God destroy such for ever he will take them away and pluck them out of their dwelling places and root them out of the land of the living Psal 52.5 Neither shall this be done to himself onely but to his wretched posterity such a legacy like Joabs leprosie leaves every gracelesse man to his children for so the Chaldee here rendreth and interpreteth that proverbiall expression in the text both the master and the scholler Sic R. Salom. filium filium filii his sonne and his sous sonne though he teach never so well by wholesome instruction and politicâ— advisement to prevent the mischief Agreeably hereunto for sence Piscator rendreth this text thus The Lord will cut off his children that doth thus the children that he begets of the daughter of a strange god An heavy curse surely and frequently inflicted as upon Ahab though he to avoid it so followed the work of generation that he lest seventy sonnes behind him which yet would not do and him that offereth an offering c. that is Although he be a Priest Or Although he seek to make peace with me by an offering as hoping thereby to stop my mouth or stay my hand to expiate his sin or to purchase a dispensation as those Mic. 6.6 7. and Esay 58.2 3. Thus Saul sacrificeth Ahab trembleth and humbleth Ieroboams wile goeth to the Prophet Ioab taketh hold of the horns of the Altar the king of Persia having lost some of his children by untimely death as Ciesias reporteth sends earnestly to the Jews for prayers for him and his Ezra 6.10 So did Maximinus in like case to the Christians Tully tells us that they which prayed whole dayes together and offered sacrifice 〈◊〉 Dâ—vr ut sâ—â— liberi superstites sibi essent that their children might out-live them these were 〈◊〉 called superstitiou persons afterwards the word was taken in a larger sense But devotion without holy conversation availes nothing to avert Gods judgements Isa 1.12.15 and â—6 3 He that killeth an Ox unlesse withall he kill his curruptions is as if he slew a man he that sacrisiccth a lamb unlesse by faith he ley hold upon the Lamb of God is as if he cut off a dogs nick he that effereth an oldâ—tion c. This men are hardly drawn to viz. to part with their sins to cail the traytours head over the wall to hang up the heads of the people before the Sun Sin harboured in the soule is like Achan in the army or Jonas in the ship much paines the marriners were at and much losle too to have saved Jonas from the sea they ventured their own casting away ere they would cast him over-board but there could be no calme till they had done it effectually So it is here Full fain men would keep their sins and yet lave their foules but that 's impossible God will not be bribed Psal 50. nor brought to suster sin unrepented to escape unpunished Poor soules when stung by the Friers sermons they set them penunces pilgrimages all sorts of good works which stilled them a while and for them they thought they should have pardon So many run now â—mongst us to holy duties but with the same opinion they did them a bribes for a pardon These dig for pearle in their own dunghils make the meanes their mediat urs 〈…〉 think to save themselves by riding on horses c. Verse 13. And this have ye done againe Or in the second place q. â— Nor content to have married strange wives yea have brought them in to your lowfull wives to their intolerable vexation so adding this sin to the former as a greater to the lesse This is still the guise of gracelesse men to add druakeâ—â—â—sse to thirst rebellion to sin to amasse and heape up one evill upon another till wrath come upon them to the ut mest For three transgressions and for soxr I will not turn away their punishment Am. 1. that is so long as the wicked commit one or two inâ—â—uities I forbear them but when it comes once to threes and fours how much more to so many scores hundreds thousands as one cipher added to a figure makes it so many tenns two so many hundreds three so many thousands c. God will bear with them no longer Of those old Israelites it is demanded not without great indignation on Gods part How oft did they provoke him in the wildernesse and grieve him in the desart Yea they turned baâ—â— and tempted God c. Psal 78.40 41. Good men if they fall once into foule practises they fall not often Of Judah it is expressely recorded that he knew Tamar no more Lot indeed committed incest two night together but the orifice of his lust was not yet stopped by repentance
not of the head the wife must not usurp authority over her husband nor yet of the foot she may not be trampled upon or disregarded as an underling A bone not of any anterior part she is not â—raelaâ—a preferred before the man neither yet of any hinder-part she is not postposita set behind the man but a bone of the side of the middle of the indifferent part to shew that she is thy companion and the wife of thy covenant A bone she is from under the arm to put man in mind of protection and defence to the woman A bone not far from his heart to put him in mind of dilection and love to the woman Neither can the rib challenge any more of her then the earth can do of him And as he was ignorant when himself was made so he knew as little when his second-self was made out of him both that the comfort might be greater then was expected as also that he might not upbraid his wife with any great dependance or obligation he neither willing the work nor suffering any pain to have it done Shine she must with the beams of her husband Share she must with him in his masterly government of the family as Sarah did with Abraham by Gods allowance Gen. 16. and as the Roman Ladies were wont to say to their husbands Vbi tu Caius ibi ego Caia where you are Lord I am Lady That over-lordly carriage of husbands towards their wives and that usage of them as drudges is condemned by the Heathen Philosophers in the very Barbarians themselves as a great ataxy and disorder in the family and the wife of thy covenant And is it nothing to be covenant-breaker with a wife especially where God also is ingaged as above said Foedus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab eadem radice perform your trust make good the troth you have plighted Otherwise if the fruits of the flesh grow out of the trees of your hearts surely Ser. of Rep. p. 70. surely saith Master Bradford Martyr the devil is at inne with you you are his birds whom when he hath well fed he will broach you and eat you chaw you and champ you world without end in eternall wo and misery Verse 15. And did not he make one Another forcible argument against Polygamy and adultery See our Saviours explanation of it Mat. 19.4 5 6. with the Notes there The onely wise God made but one woman for one man at the first creation and ordained that those two should be one flesh two in one flesh not three or four or as many wives as a man is able to maintain as among the Turks who as a just hand of God upon them are grievously vexed with jealousie not suffering their women to go to Church nor so much as look out at their own windows Bâ—unt 106. Or if they go abroad upon any occasion they must go muffled all but the eyes Sardus tells us that the old Brittains would ten or twelve of them take one woman to wife Belike women were rare commodities with them As likewise men were in Judaea when seven women took hold of one man saying We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparrel onely let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach Esay 4.1 That is we will maintain our selves and thee onely be thou an husband to us and let us have children by thee yet had he the residue of the spirit Or breath so that he could as easily have made more and breathed into their faces the breath of life And although it is not said of the woman that God breathed into her the breath of life as of Adam whence Tertullian concludes that she had both body and soul too from Adam yet Austin rightly gathereth that their souls were both alike imbreathed by God 10. Lib sup Genes Otherwise the scripture would not have been silent in it no more then it is in the new manner of the creation of her body Thence also it is that Adam saith not This is soul of my soul but bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh Gen. 2.23 Souls are not propagated by the Parents but created of God and joined to the body by an occult operation Augustine following Origen held the contrary for a long time At length he began to doubt and after a while changed his opinion Hierom stoutly defending the contrary against him Aristotle also understood the truth hereof and concluded that the soul was divine and came from above and. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 2. c. 9. de gen anim though of nothing yet is it made a matter more excellent then the matter of the heavens in nature not inferiour to the Angels An abridgement it is of the invisible world as the body is of the visible And why may we not say that the soul as it came from God being divinae particula aurae so it is like him One immateriall immortall understanding spirit distinguisht into three powers which all make up one Spirit In this respect it is said Gen. 9.6 that in the image of God made he man There is a double image of God in the soul One in the substance of it this is never lost and of this that text is to be understood The other is the supernaturall grace which is an image of the knowledge holinesse and righteousnesse of God and this is utterly lost and must be recovered This the ancient Heathens hammered at when they fained that the soul once had wings but those being broken it fell head long into the body where when it hath recovered it's wings it flies up to heaven again That was very good counsell given by a godly man to his friend not to busie his brains so much in enquiring how the soul entred into the body as how it may depart comfortably out of the body And seeing the soul is more excellent then the body saith another grave Divine like as Jacob laid his right hand upon the younger but his left upon the elder so our best care and the strength of our thoughts should be for the soul younger as much as it is then the body they should be but left-hand thoughts for the body and wherefore one that he might seek a godly seed Heb. a seed of God not a bastardly brood a spurious issue a Mamzer as the Hebrews call such that is labes aliena a strange blot a seed of the adulterer and the whore Esay 57.3 but such as God appointeth and approveth such as may be holy with a federall holinesse at least if not sanctified from the womb as some have been and are lastly 1 Cor. 7.14 such as in and by whom the Church and religion may be propagated and not idolatry spread and increased therefore take heed to your spirit that is to your wife which is the residue of your spirit keep and cherish her so Remigius and Lyra interpret it
But they do better that expound it by that of Solomon Keep thy heart with all diligence Prov. 4.23 and by that of the Apostle Mortific therefore your members which are upon earth fornication uncleannesse inordinate affection evil concupiscence c. Col. 3.5 These are those that defile the man Mat. 15.19 20. These make his heart a filthy dunghill of all abominable lusts and his life a long chain of sinfull actions a very continued web of wickednesse therefore take head to your spirits that is to your affections keep those pure and chaste abstain from fleshly lusts that fight against the soul Take heed where you set gunpowder sith fire is in your heart Austin thanks God that the heart and temptation did not meet together Look well to the affections for by those maids Satan woes the mistresse Look to the cinque-ports the five senses shut those windows that death enter not in thereby Take heed to thy fancy we allow an horse to praunce and skip in a pasture which if he doth when backt by the rider we count him an unruly and unbroken jade So howsoever in other creatures we deny them not liberty of fancy yet wee may not allow it in our selves to frisk and rove at pleasure but by reason bridle them and set them their bounds that they shall not passe The Lord quieteth the sea and turns the storme into a calme Psal 107.29 If then the voluptuous humours in our body which is but as a cup made of the husk of an acorne in respect of the Sea will not be pacified when the Lord saith unto them Be still every drop of water in the sea will witnesse of our rebellion and disobedience and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth He had convinced them of this sinne before verse 14. Now he admonisheth them to abrenounce and abandon it Lo this is the true method and manner of proceeding in administring admonitions The judgement must be convinced ere the affections can be wrought to any thing like as in the law the lamps were first lighted before the incense was burned First know thine iniquity and then turn from it Jer. 3.13 14. Exhortation is the end of doctrine science of conscience reformation of information conversion of conviction and wo be to those that being convinced or reproved for their faults get the bit between the teeth as it were and run away with their rider When I would have healed Ephraim then his iniquity brake out as if it were to crosse me like the leprosie in his forehead Hos 7.1 what can such sturdy rebels expect better then that God should resolve as Ezek. 24.13 as if he should say Thou shalt have thy will but then I will have mine too I shall take another course with thee sith thou refusest to be reformed hatest to be healed thou shalt pine away in thine iniquities Levit. 26.39 O fearfull Verse 16. For the Lord the God of Israel saith that he hateth putting away Heb. Put away q. d. God hates that Put her away Put her away that is so much in your mouthes For because you are justly reproved for Polygamy for keeping two wives you think to mend that fault by putting away your old ones and plead you may do it by a law licensing divorces But the Lord would ye should know that he hates such your practises and the rather because you maliciously abuse his law as a cloke of your wickednesse Divorce is a thing that Gods soul hateth unlesse it bee in case of adultery which breaks the marriage knot and malicious perpetuall desertion This last was the case of that noble Italian convert 1 Cor. 7.15 Galeacius Caracciolus Marquesse of Vico as is to be seen in his life written by my much honoured brother Mr. Samâ—el Clark in the second part of his Marrow of Ecclesiasticall history pag. 101. who by the consent of Mr. Calvin Peter Martyr and other learned Divines who met and seriously debated the case sued out a divorce against his former wife who had first maliciously deserted him and had it legally by the Magistrate at Geneva granted unto him after which he married another Anno 1560. The Civill Law of the Empire permitted divorce for diverse other causes And these Jews for every light cause if but a blemish in the body or crookednesse of manners pretending to hate their wives would write them a Bill of divorce and turn them off Our Saviour deals against this matth 5. and 18. See the Notes there This sinne was also rife among both the Athenians who were wont to put away their wives upon discontent Archcol Attic. 140. or hope of greater portions c. and the Romans whose Abscessionale or Writ of divorce was this onely Res tuas tibi habeto Take what is thine and be gone It is ordinary also among the Mahometans But the Lord God of Israel saith here that he hateth it and it appeareth so by his practise to his Spouse the Church See Jer. 3.1 Joh. 13.1 and then say that Gods mercy is matehlesse and that he takes not advantages against his revolting people but follows them with his favour no otherwise then as when a man goes from the Sun yet the Sun-beams follow him shine upon him warm him c. Zanchy and some others reads the text thus If thou hatest her put her away in that discourse of divorces which he wrote upon occasion of Andreas Pixzardus his divorce as indeed agreeing best with the matter he undertook to defend But in another book of his he utterly disliketh the doings of Luther and some other Dutch Divines who advised Philip Lantgrave of Hesse to marry alteram hoc est Zanch. Misc Epist dedit adulieram his former lawfull wife being yet alive Archbishop Grindall by cunning practises of his adversaries Leicester and others lost Queen Elizabeths favour Camb. Elizab. Arslibishop Abbots also died in disgrace for opposing Semmersets abhorred match with the Countesse of Essex Figuier as if he favoured Prophecyings c. but in truth because he had condemned an unlawfull marriage of Julio an Italian Physician with another mans wife whilest Leicester in vain opposed against his proceedings therein for one covereth violence with his garment This Text had been easie had not Commentatours the Hebrew Doctours especially made it knotty Rabbi David in opening of it obscurior videtur quam ipsa verba quae explicare conatur seems to be more obscure then the words themselves which he undertaketh to open saith Figueir who also reciteth the expositions of severall Rabbines Concerning which I may say as One did once when being asked by another whether he should read such a Comment upon Aristotle answered Yes when Aristotle is understood then read the Comment The plain sence is this These wicked Jews pretended the Law of God as a cloke and cover of their sinne that it might be no sinne to them And though the Lord had protested to hate their divorces
yet they pleaded I know not what liberty permitted them by Moses but this was but a politike coverture of iniquity Mat. 18.8 9. The like hereunto was the sin of Saul 1 Sam. 15. of Jezabel 1 King 21.13 of those Jews Joh. 19.7 of those Libertines 2 Pet. 2. Jam. 2.8 9. of all Heretikes that plead Scripture for their heresies and some others impudently impious who lest they should seem to be mad without reason abuse Gods holy word to the defence of their unreasonable and irreligious practises These mens judgement now of a long time lingereth not and their damnation sleepeth not 2 Pet. 2 3. therefore take heed to your spirit A repetition of the dehortation of which see verse 16. Good things must be often inculcated Phil. 3.1 one exhortation must peg in another till they stick in our souls as forked arrows in the flesh Men do not use to lay ointments onely upon their lame limbes but rub them and chafe them in so here Austin perswades the Preacher so long to insist upon a necessary point till by the gesture and countenance of the hearers he perceiveth that they understand and relish it Chrysostome being asked by his people when he would give over preaching against swearing answered Never till you leave your swearing Verse 17. Ye have wearâ—ed the Lord with your words Laborare scâ—â—stis Dommunâ— so the Vulgar renders it Ye have put the Lord to pain as it were ye have even tired out his patience whilest yee have made him to serve with your sinnes and have wearied him with your iniquities Esay 43.24 I have long time holdon my peace I have been still and refrained my self saith the Lord Esay 42.14 Now will I cry like a travailing woman that hath long time bitten in her pain I will destroy and divour at once God can bear and forbear as well as any other Who is a God like unto thee for this saith Micah chap. 7.17 Were the patientest man upon earth in Gods room but for a very short space to see and hear the provocations and indignities daily done unto him by the sinfull sonnes of men he would soon be weary of it he would quickly make a short work upon the earth Rom. 9.28 It would trouble his patience to spread out his hands all a day long to a rebellious people Esay 65.2 to give forty dayes respite to Nineveh that bloody city full of lies and robbery Nahum 3.1 to be grieved fourty yeers long with a perverse people and to suffer their evil manners in the wildernesse Acts 13.18 to bear four hundred years with those wretched Amorites who had filled the land from one end to the other Ezek. 4.5 6 with their abominable uncleannesses Ezra 9.11 In the fourth of Ezekiel God is brought in as lying upon his left side for three hundred and ninety years a long while to lie on one side without turning on the other and all to set forth his long-sufferance Our text tells us that hee is patient even ad defatigationem usque toward the wicked he bears till he can bear no longer See the like Rom. 9.22 and the reason Rom. 2.4 and the ill use that is made of it Eccles 8.11 12 13. till they tire out him that is indefatigable Jer. 15.6 and make him weary of repenting But is this a safe course they take 1 Cor. 10.22 Do they provoke the Lord to wrath Are they stronger then he Hear ye now O house of David Is it a small thing for you to weary men but yee will weary my God also Esay 7.13 Will he not put an end to his abused patience that justice Deut. 16.20 Ezek. 1. justice as Moses hath it actuall and active justice may take place God in Ezekiel is said to sit upon a throne to shew his slownesse but this throne hath wings to shew his swiftnesse to come if need require His patience passeth along as a pleasant river But if men stop the course of it by their blasphemies and contumelies as here and presse him with their provocations as a cart that is loaden with sheaves Am. 2.13 God will surely have his full blow at them Nah. 1.2 6. Rom. 2.4 Heb. 12.29 with your words that is with your continuall contentions and quiblings or with those ensuing words blasphemous enough and Atheisticall together with your bold justification of them yet ye say wherein c. when ye say every one that doth evil c. As if they should say God punisheth not but prospereth the wicked therefore he loveth and favoureth them above better men Job Jeremy and David were once for a fit in the same errour but soon recanted it when once the waters of the Sanctuary had cured their eye-sight Psal 73.17 for such are sand-blind and cannot see far off 2 Pet. 1.9 or where is the God of judgement q. d. No where either there is no God or at least Corn. à Lapid not a God of that exact precise impartiall judgement such an Emphasis there is in the Heb. Diagoras turned Atheist because his adversary that had robbed him was not presently thunder-struck The like is recorded of Porphyry Lucian Averroes and others See the Notes on chap. 3.14 15. CHAP. III. Verse 1. BEhold I will send my messenger It is well observed by the learned that this whole Prophecy of Malachy though distinguished as now into severall Chapters yet is but one entire Sermon at once delivered Those Atheists that asked in the precedent verse and they did it with an accent too that they might not be slighted where is the God of judgement are here fully answered and that they might the better attend they have it with a note of pregnancy Behold I will send c. q. d. differtur quidem judicium sed non aufertur Tandem veniet profectò veniet Judgement comes not so soon as you call for it but come it will be sure it will For behold I send in the present tense my messenger the Baptist and at his heels as it were Messiah the Prince who shall reforme and rectifie all disorders For judgement saith He come I into the world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind Joh. 9.39 And then you that call for judgement shall have enough of it when ye see my Messenger harbinger or herald know that I am hard at hand Behold this is set here as the sound of a trumpet before some Proclamation to arouse mens attention I will send Heb. I do send or am sending though the thing was not done till four or five hundred years after but in Gods purpose and promise it was a done thing already All things are present with him for he is a pure act his whole essence is wholly an eye or a mind he is all things eminently exemplarily and contains all things in himself Hence he knows temporal things after an eternall manner mutable things immutably contingent things infallibly future things
sword by his presence and preaching Surely his sanne is â—â— his hand though the devil and his imps would fain wring it out Augustin Mat. 3.12 Jer 23.20 and he will thâ—roughly purâ—ge his â—loo mali in area nobiscum esse possum in horrco non pessunt he will drive the chaff one way and the wheat another for what is the chiff to the wheat saith the Lord he will purifie the souls of his Saints in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfained love of the brethren 1 Pet. 1.22 So that they shall be united to such and separated from sinners Fire we know congregat homog nea segregat heterogenea for what fellowship hath light with darknesse The spirit of Christ called a spirit of judgement and of burning washeth away lo here resiners fire and sullers 〈◊〉 the filth of the daughter of Zion and purgeth the blood of Jerusalem from the midest thereof Esay 4.4 By silth and blood understand their exceslive bravery mentioned chap. 3. which now they had learned to call by another name since their own names were written among the living in Jerusalem verse 3. And here God made good to them that he had promised Chap. 1.25 that he would purely purge away theeir drosse and take away all their tinne and that though their sinnes were as sear let they should be white as 〈◊〉 though red like crimson they should be as wooll verse 18. Fullers 〈…〉 as some render it is of singular use to fetch out stains and spots and to a biter wooll 5 Pâ—naria â—â—de Puin lib. 1â— chap. 3. 〈…〉 So much more is the blood and spirit of Christ to whiten sinfull 〈◊〉 and to make men his Candidates Such were those Corinthians 1 Eph. 6.11 Such were some of you that is as bad as bad might be lepers all over but ye are washed sc by that Fuller of soules Christ Jesus And if any ask How washed It sollowes but ye are sanctified but ye are just ified in the name that is 〈◊〉 by the merit of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God The Jews in their Talmud hammer at this when they question What is the name of Messias Their answer is Hhevara Leprous sc by imputation 2 Cor. 5. â—0 Esay 53.6 August de Râ—â—na in Concil Basil whence also he is said by one to be Maximus peccatorum the greatest of sinners and he sitteth among the poor in the gates of Rome carrying their sicknesses according to that Himself took our infirmities and here our â—â—knesses There are two things in guilt 1. The meit and desert of it 〈…〉 took not 2. The obligation to punishment this he took and so he 〈◊〉 that is bound to the punishment of sin which also he suffered even to the â—â—â—sion of his blood that true Pactolus or rather Jordan whereby he hath cleamed his people from sins both guiltinesse and filthinesse We have inveterate staines which will hardly be got out till the cloth be allmost rub'd to peeces 〈…〉 leaves so close to us Jer. 1â— 13 that fire and fullers sope is but needfull to setch it off Nature and custome have made our spots like that of the Leopard which no art can cure no water wash off because they are not in the skin only but in the flesh and bones in the sinews and in the most inner parts Hence David prayeth again and again to be washed thorowly to be purged with hyssop to be washed and wrung in this fullers sope of Christs blood and with the clean water of his holy spirit This is the only true Purgatory the Kings bath the fountain opened for sin and for uncleannesle Zach. 13.1 Here Christ washeth his not only from outward defilement but from their swinish nature that when washed clean they may not as else they would wallow in the next guzzle Here are those soveraign mundifying waters of the Sanctuary which so wash off the corruption of the ulcer that they cool the heat and stay the spred of the infection and by degrees heal the same Hither poor sinners need not come as to the poole of Bethesda one by one but as Turks to their Mahomet Papists to their Lady by troops and Caravans true Christians to their All-sufficient Saviour how much more In that poole of Bethesda the Priests used to wash their sacrifices because no unclean thing might come within the Temple Itinerar Scrip. pag. 20. The water was of reddish colour and ran into that place in great abundance and therefore it was called saith One the house of effusion This shadowed out that every of Christs sheep must be washed in the poole of his blood before they can be meet sacrifices an offering unto the Lord in righteousnesse as it is in the next verse Other blood slaines what is washed in it this blood of the spotlesse lambe whiteneth as fuilers sope and purifieth from all pollution of flesh and spirit Rev. 7.14 This is he that came by water and blood even Jesus Christ not by water only but by water and blood 1 Ioh. 5.6 The Priests of the old law were consecrated first with oyle and then with blood So was Christ first with the spirit Esa 61.1 and then with his own blood for our benefit Verse 3. And he shall sit as refiner i. e. he shall stick to the work and not start from it till he bring forth judgement to victory Mat. 12.20 that is till he have perfected the work of grace begun in his people for he is Authour and finisher of their faith Heb. 12.2 and by patience made them perfict and entire wanting nothing Iam. 1.4 Christ who is the God of all grace and hath called them to his eternall glory will after they have suffered 〈◊〉 in his fornace or fining-pot Pro. 17.3 of afflictions wake them perfect stablish strengthen settle them 1 Pet. 2 Cor. 9 8. 5.10 yea make all grace to abound toward them that they alwayes having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work For which holy purpose Christ our Refiner hath his fire in Zion and his furnace in Ierusalem Isai 31.9 his conslatories and his crucibles wherein his third part being brought thorough the fire shall be resined as silver is resened and tried as gold is tried Zach. 13.9 that the triall of their faith who have glorified him in the very fires Isa 24.15 being much more precious then that of gold that perisheth may be found to praise and honour and glory 1 Pet. 1.7 True gold will undergoe the tâ—iall of the seventh fire which Alchymy gold will not Christ Jesus after that he hath been to his people as a refiners fire and fullers sope that is after that he hath justified and sanctified them also in some part will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver that is he will be serious accurate and assiduous in scouring them from corruption by correption in purging out the remnants of sin by affliction
darknesse but reproove them rather s Eph. 5 11. with a number more that I might add with ease That one of Solomon for all My son saith he if sinners entive thee consent thou not If yet they say Come with us let us lay wait for blood c. Cast in thy lot amongst us let us all have one parse My son walk not thou in the way with them resrain thy foot from their path t Pro. 1 10 11 14 15. For their way in the issue of it is the way to hell going down to the chambers of death u Prov. 7.27 Even that second death as the scripture tearms it which though hand joyu in hand w Prov. 16.5 and they muster up and unite their forces as hoping haply to scape in the croud or to carry it away cleanly because a multitude yet they shall never be able to avoid or abide For the wicked be they never so many of them shall be turn'd into hell and whole nations that forget God x Psal 9.17 This the Patriarch Noah that I may shew you secondly the practise of the point in some particular examples of ancient and later times this I say Noah beleeved ere he saw and therefore lived to see what he had afore beleeved not whole Nations only but a world-full of wicked people swallowed up together in one universall grave of waters their spirits being now in prison 〈◊〉 in everlasting chaines under darknesse unto the judgement of the great day y 1 Pet. 3.19 The foresight whereof by a lively faith being warâ—â—â— of God of things not seen as yet z Heb. 11.7 made him walk uprightly with God evea in his geaeration a Gen. 6.9 Now for him to walk alone in a divers way to a worid of wicked people as Chrysoscome hath it b Solus ipse diversâ â—mbulavit viâ virtutem malitiae praeferens c. Chrysost Hom. 22. in cap. 6. Genef to keep himself unspotted in such a foul season as anotherspeakes of him c inter corruprissimos minere incorruptnÌ„ Pare in Gen 6 nay like a right orient and illustrious planet not only to hold out a constant counter-motion to that of the vulgar but also to shine so fair with a singularity of heavenly light spirituall goodnesse and Gods sincere service in that daâ—kâ—st midnight of damned impiety this was that whereby he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousnesse which is by faith e Heb. 11.7 The next in the Apostles roul there remembred and registred is Abraham that precious man pall'd as a brand out of Vr of the Chaldees from whence he went forth forsaking father f Iosh 24.2 house and friends who served other Gods beyond the slood not knowing whither he went saith the text g Hâ—b 11.8 nor much daring so long as he had God by the hand For whom also his first care was where ever he came setting up Altars to Jehovah h Gen. 12.6 7 8. 13.4 18. in the mid'st of those Idolaters and making open profession of his service before the people or the land which was a reall confutation of their heathenish fopperies Thus Aoraham then and thus after him Johua by his example which he therefore useth and urgeth in that parliament he called and held at Shechem a little afore his death I took your father Abraham saith he there in Gods behalf from the other side of the flood c. i Josh 24.2 whose children ye shall shall well approve your selves if ye walke in the sheps of his fâ—ith k Rom. 1.12 by putting away the â—trange gods from among you as he and serving the Lord l Josh 24.14 In which holy practue however you come off choose you this day whom you will serve though in evils of sin there be no choise whether the gods of your sathers leyond the slood Malorum non est electio Aâ—â—â—t or tke gods of the Amornes in whose land ye dwell but as for me and my house we will serve Jehoveh The time would fail me to tell of Job who would not part with his Integrity to die for it m Job 27.5 6 though instigated thereunto by the wife of his bosome n Job 2 9 Chrysostom set on doubtlesse by the Devil who of all the parts of his body had leâ—t his conâ—ue onely free from blisters if haply he might be drawn to curse God therewith and die To tell you next of David who therefore loâ—ed Gods statutes exceed ngly because min had made void his Lâ—w o â—sal 119.126 127. and Psal 39 2 resolving first uqon filence among wicâ—ed company could not hold his spirit so burnt c. p 1 King 19.10 Rom. 11.3 Of Elias who though alone and singular continued therefore zealsus for the Lord of Hosls because they had argg'd down has Aâ—â—s c. Of Micaâ—ah who would not flatter the King though 400. false prophets had done it afore him q 1 King 22 Of Obadith that fea ca God 〈◊〉 in a common defection r 1 King 8.12 c. Look to the New Testament and there you have our Saviour eaten up with the zeal of his Fâ—â—â—ers house when by all sorts polluted s Joh. 2.17 his Apostles soon after his departure resolving to obey God even comora goutes against whatsoever opposition and not to swim down the stream of the times for any menaces of the Council t Act. 4. Pâ—â—ul that heavenly spark burning in spirit against a Church full of unbeleeving Jewes at Corinth u Act. 18.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intus apud se aestuabat prae zeli ardore and openly contesting with the Gentiles at Athens about their senselesse superstition w Act. 17. So he gave thanks afore meat in the midst of Infidels Act. 27.25 What should I stand longer to tell you of Timothy so abstemious and temperate among the luxurious Ephesians x A people so dehauched that they made a law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let there bee never an honest man amougst us And it is storied that they therefore cast our one Hermodorus as by an ostracisme because he was a good busband and a temperate man that Saint Paul was fain to prescribe him a â—â—le wine for hish alihs 〈◊〉 y 1 Tim. 5.23 Of Antipas who held forth the word of life even to the death where Savans â—hâ—one was z Rev. 2.13 Of Neâ—o's family to whom Saint Paul sends salutations a Philip. 4 22. Of Polyâ—â—â— that blessed Martyr of sâ—â—us Christ who being sollicited by the Tyrant to do sacrifice to the â—doll and so to provide for his own safety as diverse others had done before him Fourâ—core and â—dde yzers sud he have I served my Master Christ and â—e never deceived me an shill I now desem him God forbid me any such wickednesse I scorn to be delivered upon any such dishonourable termes b
Cam guilty l Gen. 4.10 or if earth do not heaven will reveal the iniquity m Ier. 20.27 Servi ut taâ—eant jementa loquentur luvenal Yea the very beasts have a wordist to passe upon evill-doers as the asse upon Balaam n 2 Pet. 2.26 A bird of the ayre shall carry the voice and tell the matter o Eccle. 10 20 Or it all tlâ—ese should faile yet the eyes of the Lord run to and fâ—o beholding the evill and the good p Prov. 15 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mus Neither is he an 〈…〉 as the Epicures dreamt but he hath a revenging eye as the hrathen Poet. and hand to q Esa 5.25 as the holy Prophet assure us the remembrance whereof reyn'd in Ioseph from yeelding to the wicked motion of his wanâ— on mistresse though he might have commâ—tted that folly and the world have been never the wiser r Gen 39 9 Lastly it cleanseth also from secret sins such as the world never comes acquainted with for such as fear the Lord shall not be â—â—sited of evill Å¿ Prov. 19.23 It weeds by pâ—crisy t Iosh 24.14 out of the heart and pride and arrogancy and every 〈◊〉 way u Prov. 8.13 be it but in thought as is to be seen in Iob who durst not once 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ully upon a maid because God he knew saw his wayes and coumed 〈…〉 w Iob 31.1 1 Loe this was it that mâ—de him retrain wanton lookes and 〈…〉 wâ—ckednesse cleausing himself from all fi lt himsse of slesh and spirit so persâ—â—ling holâ—â—ss 〈◊〉 the fear of God x2 Cor. 7.1 Secondly this holy fear as it frames the heart to a shâ—â—ing of sin so it formes it no leâ—e to the dâ—ing of duty and that 1. toward God 2. toward men For God first it mâ—keth a man 1. beleeve him 2. â—â—â—y him First it trembleth all out as mâ—ch at the threats of God mouth as at the stâ—okes of his hand y Esay 66.2 as is to be seen in Habakkuk z Hab. 3 16 And the scripture noteth 〈◊〉 of the Patriarch Noah that moved with fear he beleeved a Heb. 11.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aâ—d the denvered Israeliâ—â—s possest with this filiall fear beleeved God and â—is servant Moâ—es b Ex 14. nlt. Thus it frames a mans heart to saith in Gods word c Prov. 13 13 And so it doth secondly to the obedience of his will for they that fear the Lord will keep his covenant d Ps 103.13.18 yea they will work hard at it e Act. 10.35 as afraid to be taken with their tasks undone Thus it orders us in point of duty toward God and no lesse toward men both our selves and others For others first this fear of the Lord teacheth both rich and poor their seve all duties The rich it teacheth 1. not to brow-beat or oppresse their poorer brethren f Gen 42 18 This do and live saith Ioseph for I fear God and that 's your secâ—â—â—ty As if he should say â—â—ntend you no huâ—t though ye are fallen into my danger for it stands nâ—t with that scar of God that hath taken up my heart And ought ye not to have walked in the fear of God g Nehem. 5.9 said Nehemiah to those mercilesse usurions Israelites that had engrated upon their brethren 2. To be hospitable and haâ—borous ready to relecve the necessitous such especially as are of the houshold of saith This we see in Obadiah h 1 King 8.12 13 for the old testament and Cornelius for the new he feared God saith the text and he gave much almes i Act 10.1 2 As on the other side to him that is afflicted saith Iob pitry should be shewed from his friend but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty k Iob 6.14 What cares Nabal the churle though worthy David dye at his doore so long as he may sit warme within eating of the fat and drinking of the sweet All his Logick is little enough to conclude for himself Shall I take my bread and my flesh that I have kill'd for my shearers and give it to men whom I know not whence they be l 1 Sam. 25.11 No why should he say but the fear of God would have taught the foole * Nabal is his name and folly is with him moe wit But Secondly as it formeth the rich to their duties so the poorer sort too whom it rendreth 1. Content with their pittance as knowing that Better is a little with the fear of the Lord then great treasure and trouble therewith m Prov. 17 12 2. Far from envying the rich sith God hath meted out to each one the portion of his allowance n Acts 17 26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with this condition that where much is given much shall be required o Luke 12.48 Let not thine heart envy sinners saith Solomon but for an antidote against that evil disease be thou in the fear of the Lord all day long p Prov. 23.17 Lastly for our selves in what estate soever the fear of the Lord will make and keep a man in prosperity 1. humble 2. thankfull as in adversitie 1. patient 2. confident In prosperity it teacheth 1. Humility according to that of the Wise-man By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches q Prov. 22.4 c. where you may observe a very close connexion of humility and the fear of the Lord set forth by an elegant asyndeton in the originall there being no grammaticall copulative set between them but such a near affinity intimated as if they were the very same thing and the one praedicated of the other as termes convertible 2. Thankfulnesse as appears in the example of Job and David and may be gathered out of that text in Jeremy Neither say they in their hearts Let us now fear the Lord our God that giveth rain both the former and latter rain in his season c. r Jer. 5 2â— One would think he should rather blame them there for not saying Let us praise the Lord our God c. but that former includes this latter for he that truely feareth God will not fail to be thankfull Next in time of adversity the fear of God is of no small use and benefit for 1. It makes men patient willing to bear Gods hand and to wait his leisure to seek remedy onley in Gods wayes and to accept of it onely upon his termes Thus those holy women in Peter being under the crosse of unequall yoke-fellows might not seek to win their loves by plaited hair or garish attire but by a meek and quiet spirit and by a chast conversation coupled with fear Å¿ 1 Pet. 3.3 Adde hereunto in the last place that the fear of God keeps men confident in the evil day holds up their hearts from dejection and disquietment For it brings a man before God in prayer t Prov.
of the Apostle By him let us offer the sacrifice of praise and so any other spirituall service that shall finde acceptance to God continually h Heb. 13.15 And by him we have accesse by one spirit unto the father i Eph. 2.18 This was shadowed out of old by the door of the tabernacle which as it never was or any hard or debarring matter but of a veile easily penetrable so at the passion of our â—avâ—our it did of its own accord rend in sunder to shew our easie accosse unto and high acceptance with God in any holy duty through Christ the peace-maker k Eph. 2.14 This also was not obscurely typified by the high Priest's plate wherein was fairly engraven Holinesse to the Lord which was to be upon his forehead the forefront of his miter that he might beare the iniquitie of the offerings which the children of Israel should offer in all their holy offerings and it should be alway on his forehead to make them acceptable before the Lord l Exo. 28.36 38. But thirdly as it is by the mercy of the father and the me it of the son so is it also by the hand of the holy ghost upon them that God is so greatly pleased with the suite and services of his people the Apâ—stie instancet in â—ne religious duty we may safely extend it to all the rest Likewise saith he the spirit helpeth our infirmities m Rom 8.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he sets his shoulder to the work together with us as th word there imports For we silly soules know not what we should pray for as we ought we neither know what for the matter nor as we ought for the manner But the spirit it self against all the roarings and repinings of the flesh maketh loud and shâ—ill intercessions for us in this case with groanings which cannot be uttered * Excitat vehemens desiderium liberationis accendit quoque alios affectus ammi ut gaudium et amorem adeò ut ardeant supra modum eâ— naturam communem longè exaperent Rolloc and that thus 1. He lets us see our want of God which nature studiously covereth 2. He sets before us the excellency and worth of finding favour with God the thought whereof never entereth the naturall mans heart n 1 Cor. 2 9. 3. He stirreth up and kindleth in us strong affections in prayer dictating words and expressions answerable to those affections In short he workes all our workes in us o Esa 26.12 Quoties video te susphâ—rtem non dubito spiritum aspirantem â—yprian as the prophet saith for we cannot so much a suspirare unlesse he do first inspirare breath out a sigh for sin except the spirit do first breath it into us Much lesse can we make an effectuall and comfortable prayer or do any thing else that 's truely good without him Sith prayer think the same still of any other holy duty is the breath of the spirit the pulse of the spirit without whom what is prayer else but an empty ring a tinkling Cymball Pray saith St. Iude in the holy ghost p Iede 20. set 1 Cer 14.15 Eph 5 18. And then he that searech the heart will easily know the minde of the spirit that he intercedeth for us according to God q Bom. 8.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or worthy of God and to his greatest liking Such another phrase the Apostle hath of Godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7. where he calleth it A sorrow according to God r 2 Cor. 7.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Luke 6.12 he continued all night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the prayer of God that is a spirituall god-like sorrow and such as issueth from the spirit of God For the wind must blow ere the waters flow Å¿ Psa 147.18 Dike saith the Prophet And it is the fire of the spirit saith a Divine in our hearts as in a still that sendeth up those dews of repenting tears into our heads that drop forth of our eyes Think the like of christian watchfulnesse Even Peter James and John those pillars t Gal 2.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will be ready to sleep and buckle yea and that in the houre of remptation u Mat 26.41 too if the spirit do not quicken them and as it were hold up with forks their heavy eye-lids And for reading of the Scriptures look how the Philistines could never understand Sampsons riddle till they plow'd with Sampsons heifer x Judg 14.18 so neither can we conceive or relish the deep things of God without the ayde and assistance of the spirit of God y 1 Cor 2.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As on the other side With his holy spirit and by it we are sanctified unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus z 1 Pet. 1.2 purified in obeying the truth unto unfained love of the brethren a 1 Pet. 1.22 quickened unto all goodnesse righteousnesse and truth b Eph. 5.9 caused to keep Gods commandements c Ezek. 36.27 himself setting us to work * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 working all our works for us d Esay 26.12 sanctifying all the works of our hands yea sanctifying the offering up both of our selves and our services to God as the Altar sanctifies the gift e Rom. 15 16. and opening us a welcome accesse to to God in all our performances f Eph. 2.18 who as he knowes the meaning and minde of his spirit g Rom. 8.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so he cannot but accept that sacrifice that is kindled by the fire of his own spirit upon the true Altar Christ his own son This is the first Reason taken from the three persons in the Godhead SECT III. The Doctrine further confirmed by reasons from the Saints THe next respecteth the saints themselves whose persons first are elect holy and beloved Colos 3.12 whose performances in the second place have a true and reall goodnesse in them and are therefore dearly accepted and highly accounted of in the sight of God For the first It cannot be denied but that by nature all are alike hatefull to the Almighty Reas 2 Neither is it for any goodnesse he discerns in one more then another that he puts any difference He loves his people merely because he loves them h Deut. 7.7 the ground of his love being only in himself He adopts them according to the good-pleasure of his will i Eph. 1.4 without the least defect in himself or desert in the creature It is otherwise with us then it was with those maids in Ahâ—shueâ—osh his time they were first perfumed and purified afore he chose one for himself k Esth 2.10 God found us in our blood when he said unto us live l Ezek. 16.6 and Christ gave himself for his people that he might sanctifie and present them to himself a glorious church m Eph. 5 26 What was
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again want we any good 't is no more but run to God for it who takes it in high scorn we should seek to any other If any man want wisdmi and by consequence any good thing else let him ask it of God n Jam. 1.5 expounded ob sol ob sol 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Antigon apud Plutar. ob sol Oh but my deserts are nothing They are as much as he looks for he gives unto all men not sels or payes them for wages I know his reward is with him to give unto every man according to his works and then my share will be a very smal or nothing rather Nay he gives liberally saith the apostle not as befits us to receive but as becomes him to give Now no small things can fall from so great a hand as his Yca to such and such he will give and liberally Nay to all men without exception can they but name the name of the Lord Jesus in prayer and do their good will to depart from iniquity they shall be saved Oh but I have these and these discouragements My sins presse me down o 2 Tim. 2.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oh that I cannot look up p Psal 40.12 sol and prick me in the foot that I cannot come neer Fear not for this God upbraides no man neither with former faults or present failings if heartily disclaimed and soundly set against The Publican departe Gods presence never awhit the lesse justified for his former extortions because truly humbled q Luk. 18.14 Take heart therefore upon all occasions to go boldly unto the throne of Gods grace in full assurance r Heb. 4. ult of finding him facile to stretch out his golden scepter upon the first sight of us as we appear in his Christ in whom he is abundantly well pleased ſ Mat. 3. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Look what Zedekiah spake faintly and flateringly to his Princes you know that the king can denie you nothing t Ier. 38.5 Hence their stile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what the Heathens falsely report of some of their Princes that never any departed pensive out of their presence the same is most true of our God Never came any unto him aright in his ordinances but he received thus much comfort and incouragement at least that he would come again Noah's dove brought an olive leaf in her mouth at first and that was encouragement to send out a second time and a third also and then better tidings So though the Lord hold his people off at first and seem to slight them yet his heart is still toward them and his hand is still under them there is a secret supporting grace upholding the Saints in their greatest desertions God hears sometimes when he seems to do nothing lesse and love entirely where he makes shew to hate extreamly as David dealt with his Absolom and s the son of David with the woman of Canaan Quest But how shall I know that God hearkens and hears when he seems to neglect and suspends his answer well enough Answ and 1. By a cast of his countenance 2. By the verdict of thine own conscience First you may guesse at Gods good minde and meaning towards you by a smile of his face by a cast of his countenace as a petitioner may read in the kings looks while his petition is in reading what the successe shall be If the king smile upon it and look cheerfully he is made as if the king frown and bend his brows upon it he is dashed Just so it is between God and his people in performance of religious duties The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous as wel as his ears open to their cryes u Psal 34.15 16. As o' to'ther side the face of the Lord as well as his heart is against them that do evil as the Psalmist there opposeth them A good man gathers by Gods countenance cast upon him in his service how he shall speed And this is his priviledge to be admitted into Gods presence-chamber when the wicked stand without doors amongst dogs and devils x Rev. 22.15 For an hypocrite shall not come before him y Iob 13.16 saith Job but the upright shall dwell in his presence z Psal 140.13 saith David The wicked man stands at the gate like a vagrant but comes not into the house to see whether the master be preparing for him an almes or a cudgel whereas a good man like a good Angel stands alwayes before the face of God who doth not hide his face from him but when he cryes unto him he hears a Psal 22.24 Secondly consult thine own sanctified conscience for thy better satisfaction and resolution in this case Conscience is Gods spie and mans over-seer excusing or accusing cheering or checking in Gods stead as there is occasion It may fitly be called our God in the sence that Moses was Pharaohs b Exod. 7.1 Come see a thing that tells all that ever we have done c Joh. 4.29 nay all that ever God doth as touching our salvation being enlightened and sanctified by the holy Ghost For as God knows the meaning of his spirit d Rom. 8.27 so doth the spirit know the meaning of God Now this spirit witnesseth together with our spirits e Rom. 8.16 Nay it disdaineth not for our comfort to give in evidence at the bar of our consciences that we are Gods children and our services good in his sight refreshing our hearts after holy actions with a secret content Weemse with a hidden approbation Now therefore as the High priest of the old Testament might read Gods minde in his Urim and Thummim born upon his brest though he heard no voice though hesaw no shape so may a christian inform himself from within what the Lord thinks of him and hi works he need but reflect upon his own conscience if not bemisted or abused by Satans temptaions and it will do him to know what his acceptation is in heaven If our hearts condemn us not saith Saint Iohn then have we confidence toward God And whatsoever we ask we receive of him f 1 Joh. 3.21 22. either in the same kinde we ask or a better By a clearing chearing conscience God testifies as once by fire from heaven that he is well pleased with our sacrifices c. CHAP. VI. Doctr. V. God perfectly remembreth and plentifully requiteth all our labours of love to him and his And there was a book of remembrance written before him for them that feared the Lord c. A Figurative speech Oblivis enim in Deum non cadit Parabolicw̄c hac dicta sunt pro humano captu Pol. and framed to our capacity for it befalles not God to be forgetful or to stand in need of a remembrancer It was in a distemper you may be sure that David asked Hast thou forgotten to be merciful
the Saints are so set upon the thoughts of Gods Name they are taught and inabled thereunto by that holy spirit their domesticall Monitour and sweet inhabitant For know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the holy ghost that is in you p 1 Cor. 6 19 And if their bodies are the Spirits temples surely then their soules are his Holy of Holies wherein are continuall pillars of incense ascending q Cant. 3.6 good and holy thoughts I meane abounding by the operation of the Holy ghost whose immediate motions they are we being not able of our selves to think one good thought r 2 Cor 3.5 There never entred into the heart of a naturall man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him ſ 1 Cor. 2.9 10. ◠But God hath revealed them to us by is spirit whose worke it is 1. To enlighten 2. To enlarge the heart wherein he takes up His first work is to beat out new windows in the dark soules of men to let in a new light thereinto to give us thereby some fight of God some sense of his sweetnesse some glimpse of his glory Not as he is in himself in the brightnesse and perfection of his essence for so he is incomprehensible and the light whereby he should be seen inaccessible t 1 Tim. 6.16 Nor yet so perfectly here as he stands described unto us by his Attriutes and actions that 's reserved for a better life But his back-parts u Exo. 33.23 only with Moses that holy and reverend Name of his Jehovah Jehovah strong mercifull gratious longsuffering c. x Exod. 34.6 Thus much the spirit gives us to see of God though somewhat obscurely y 1 Cor. 13.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as through a grate only or as in a glasse in a riddle or as an old man through spectacles the greatest part of our knowledge being but the least part of our ignorance And Secondly having thus opened our eyes and turned us from darknesse to light he turnes us next from the power of Satan to God z Act. 26.18 that whereas heretosore we were acted and agitated by the Prince of the power of the ayre a Eph. 2.2 the God of this world who had first blinded our minds b 2 Cor. 4 4 and then set abroad upon our hearts and affections hatching out thence whole swarmes of evill thoughts and litters of lusts that fight against the soul c 1 Pet. 2 11 So now being possessed by a better spirit we are enlarged and enabled to captivate and conforme our thoughts to the soveraignty of Gods grace the rules of his word and the remembrance of his Name Fourthly their new Nature Reas 4 that blessed frame of Gods grace erected in them by the spirit that great Architect that plants the heavens and layes the foundation of the earth that he may say to Zion Thou art my people d Esay 57.16 This Divine Nature e 2 Pet. 1.4 as Peter calls it and renewed Image of God this habit of heavenly-mindednesse putteth Gods servants upon a continuall fresh succession of holy thoughts For besides that their phantasy or thinking-faculty being a chief inward sense of the soul is seizedupon for God to the utter dessolving of that old frame of vile thoughts and lusts those strong-holds wherein satan had entrencht f 2 Cor. 10.4 5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself the whole spirit soul and body of a Christian is sanctified throughout g 1 Thes 5.23 God writes his law in our hearts h Heb. 8.10 stamps his image upon the spirit of our minds i Eph. 4.23 makes us partake of the god-like nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world thorough lust k 2 Per. 1.4 c. Hence an ability of holy thoughts and affections for as the man is such are his dispositions and meditations The liberall man deviseth liberall things l Isa 32.8 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things m Mat. 12. And as from within out of the old heart proceed evill thoughts n Mark 7.21 c. so from the sanctified heart proceed sanctified thoughts and gracious considerations and respects to God and his Name Reas 5 Lastly we may argue for the truth and certainty of this point of the godly mans practise from the many near and dear relations he stands in to God together with the daily dealings he hath and often use he makes of his Name For God first he is the good mans friend and father Prince and portion God and guide his All in All o Colos 3.11 he hath given up his name to Gods truth devoted himself to his fear p Psal 119.38 sworne himself to his service q Psa 119.119 and endeavours nothing more then to love him with all his heart with all his soul and with all his thought which is that first and great commandement of the law whereupon the rest hang r Mat. 22.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a hing upon a nail or as beads upon a string And secondly for the name of God they run to it in any stresse as to a strong tower ſ Prov. 18.10 they walk in his name t Micah 4.5 as in a Garden or gallery they rejoyce in it as in all treasure u Psal 119 14 yea what ever they do in word or deed they do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ x Colos 3.17 c. Now can we possibly rejoyce in Gods name run to it upon all occasions walk in it talk of it do all in it and yet not minde it not be much in the thought of it Again can we acquaint our selves with the Almighty vouch him for our God set him up for our Soveraigne coverse familiarly with him as our friend walk before him y 1 King 9 4◠in uprightnesse and integrity walk with him z Gen. 6.9 in an humble familiarity walk after him a Deut. 13.4 by an entire obedience and ready conformity and yet not frequently think on him 't is not possible SECT III. Vse 1. Those that habitually think not upon God fear not God NOw for application Are all Gods people such as think upon his Name Use 1 This then serveth first to shut all such out of this holy society andto evince them void of Gods true fear that think not dayly and diligently upon God that make not his name the matter of their meditation that say not in their hearts Let us now fear the Lord our God b Ier. 5.24 c. The wicked saith David through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts c Psal 10.4 Eating and drinking buying and felling building and planting plowing and reaping c. are in his thoughts but God falls not into his thoughts the whole day thoroughout Or
and transforme you dayly into the same image of his from glory to glory q 2 Cor. 3 ult causing you to shine as the pearle which being often beaten upon by the Sun-beames becomes at length lightsome radiant as the Sun it self By walking much in the hot Sun men gather blaknesse but there is a glistering luster set upon their hearts and faces that with Moses ascend up into the mount of God and behold his glory r Exod. 34.29 That take a turn or two every day upon Mount Tabor and contemplate his beauty and brightnesse ſ Math. 17.2 These get such an excellency of experimentall wisdome hereby as makes their faces shine t Eccles 8 1◠valere est philosophari inquit Seneca Ego verò dixerim valere est meditari eloquia divina Horum meditatio valetudo mea vita mea Scultet Observ in Marc. and their lives Angelicall Secondly for the sweetnesse and pleasure of it who would not wish himself an Anchoret pent up in the voluntary prison-wales of Divine meditation David met with marrow and fatnesse hony and hony-comb surpassing delight and cordiall comfort in his heavenly exercise For in the multitude of my perplext thoughts within me thy comforts refresh my soule u Psal 94.19 How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God x Psal 139.17 c. And Moses after forty dayes converse with God in the mount where he had been rapt and ravished in spirit all the while was so little satisfied therewithall that he presently after he came down againe maketh a new motion I beseech thee O Lord shew me thy Glory y Exod. 33.18 Indeed this Divine meditation is a very heaven upon earth a beginning of that beatifical vision a hansell of heavens happinesse an having of one foot already in the porch of Paradise a very foretast of eternll life It is none other to the Saints then as the fiery Charret was to Elias for by it men are transported from earth to heaven in their spirits to have their conversation above and to be so far ravished sometimes in their thinking upon Gods Name as that they know not those things that are before them * Augustinus dum sanctae Trinitatis mysterium solus in cubiculo sedens contemplatur ita à seipso abscesserat ut à muliere quae illum consulere cupiebat saepius interpellatus nihil responderet imò ne respiceret quidem mulier denique quia se contemptam putavit abiret tristis Marul lib. 2. cap. 4. Sab. lib. 2. cap. 6. minde not those persons that are about them But being in the body are carried as it were out of the body z Mat. 17.4 and so far lost in the endlesse maze of spirituall ravishments that they could almost wish with Peter still to be there z Mat. 17.4 that they cannot well tell with Paul whether they are in the flesh or out of the flesh a 2 Cor. 12.3 this only they can tell that they see unspeakable excellencies tast incomparable sweetnesses in that good name of his such as no tongue of men or Angels is able to expresse Thirdly as it is pleasant so it is profitable and that 1. to others for meditation makes a full man and fit for Christian conference which is nothing else but the cloathing of our mentall conceptions with suitable expressions * Verbaq provisam rem c. Hor. 2. to our selves and first for the avoyding of evill meditaion upon God and his name awakeneth the drowsy heart weeds out inward corruptions prevents the intrusion of trifling fancies deceitfull dreams vain hopes carnall fears foul and fleshly lusts which else will muster and swarm in the best heart like the flyes of Egypt Leaves the devill no room for his black and blasphemous suggestions and injections defeats the world that wily adversary which else will be ready to catch us up and defile our hearts with spirituall fornication if Dinah-like she finde them roving And secondly for furtherance in good it is many wayes profitable for hereby we shall get intimate acquaintance with God the fountain of goodnesse grow up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ b 2 Pet. 3.17 which is the ground-work of all true religion and is therefore by a specialty called Theology * As St. Iohn and after him Greg. Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 attain to a great measure of spirituall wisdome and holinesse above our ancients c Ps 119.97 98 treacherous enemies prove tall christians expert christians full of all goodnesse filled with all knowledge d Rom. 15. not without a comunication of Christs secrets even to have the minde of Christ e 1 Cor. 2. ult c. Lastly is is also necessary both in regard of God and our selves For God first he calls for it requires a Thought-worship a service of the spirit for why himself First is a spirit f Ioh. 4. and every one requires to be served like himself Secondly he gave us these spirits endued us with reasonable soules with thinking faculties that we might return them upon him again by thinking industriously upon his Name g 2 Cor. 6.20 Thirdly he upholds mans minde in its thought and workings for in him we move with the motions of the minde no lesse than of the body h Act. 17.28 Fourthly he will account with us for our thoughts as his precious talents i Eccles 9.11 12. ult Rom. 2.15 Fiftly he will reward us for the right managing of them as he did David k 2 Sam. 7.16 the prodigall l Luc. 15 18 and these good people in the text Secondly in respect of our selves this duty is necessary Thoughts are the principles of Action m Pro. 4.23 Cogitation is the fountain of all both communication and conversation causing the current of both to run either muddy or clear according to its self For this is the manner and method of it as the learned have well observed Thoughts tickle andexcite the affections first which kindle upon a thought as tinder upon a spark These stirr and carry the will as winds do the ship The will as a Queen commandeth all the inferiour powers to execute what the thoghts have suggested the affections seconded and her self accepted And is there not a just necessity then of well-imploying the thoughts SECT VIII Directions 1. For the matter of good meditations BUt because he that exhorts to a duty and directs not how to do it is as he that snuffs a lamp and powrs not in oyle to maintain it let us lay down certain Rules and directions for 1. the Matter 2. Manner 3. Measure 4. Means of better performing this piece of Gods service and part of our duty For the Matter first of our best thoughts it must be Gods holy Name according to the text A little word but of large extent and very comprehensive For besides that it signifies Gods
self as is above said it noteth out also 1. all that is or can be known concerning God by the reasonable creatour * Rom. 1.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are his essentiall Attributes communicable and incommunicable Indeed they are all incommunicalbe to speak properly and as the thing is for they are infinitely otherwise in God then thy are in the creature in whom they are only by some 〈◊〉 resemblance and proportion These are his Simplenes Infinitenes Life Love Wisdome Power Holinesse Justice Goodnesse c. All which are but one in God for whatsoever is in God is God they are distinguished only for our better apprehension the Lord speaking to us of these things as divers one from another only in regard of our shallow capacities And this truth though we cannot so well comprehend yet we are bound to beleeve n Philip. 3.12 Credise vult Deus non examinari non judicari Aug. Our safest eloquence concerning God is our silence Hooker Deus sphaera est cujus centrum ubique peripheria nusquam Empedocles though we cannot subdue it to our understandings yet we must strive to be subdue unto it Here then think of God as one not to be thought of as one whose wisdome is his justice whose justice is his power whose power is his mercy and all himself Good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present every where without place contayning all things and yet sustayn'd of nothing And here the well is deep and we want a bucket o Joh. 4.11 A wise ignorance therefore in these high points is better then a foolish wisdome It is sufficient here that we be of Gods Court thogh we be not of his Councel * We cansee but his back-parts and live and we need see no more that we may live But secondly Gods Name as it notes out the properties of God so his Ordinances also I mean all these means whereby he is pleased to manifest himself unto the world As 1. his works whether common to the world as Creation and providence the making and maintyning of all things by both which he may be groped out p Act. 17 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaketh in the dark or rather he is made visible q Rom. 1.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We cannot see the Sun in rota as the School-men speak that is in the eircle wherein it runs but only the beams of it No more can we see God in his essence you may see him in his word in his works c. Preston of Gods Attributes as the same Apostle saith elsewhere to the dimmest eye as the beams of the Sun are by reflection or as letters refracted and broken in a pair of spectacles And here in contemplating these generall works of God remember to tast the sweetnesse of God in the creature and to delight thy self more in a spirituall then in a naturall use of the same Secondly those works are Gods Name that are more proper and peculiar to the Church such as are Predestination Redemption Justification Sanctification c. Precious blessings and never enought thought upon and admired no though we should think upon nothing else all the dayes of our lives nay as long as the dayes of heaven shall last as that Martyr once said These are the works of God Secondly his word r Act. 9.15 Mal. 1.9 7 11 12 Micah 4.5 and all other means of salvation as the Sacraments Prayer discipline c. with whatsoever belongeth else to Christian religion is comprised under this Name of God Her 's a large field then of matter you see wherein you may freely and fruitfully expatiate and feed your thoughts with these sweetest varieties and most necessary pleasant profitable and excellent objects And to them that think upon these good things shall be mercy and truth ſ Prov. 14.22 SECT IX 2. For the manner of doing this duty well both for substance and circumstance BUt then secondly see as wel to the manner as matter of your meditaion For it is the manner that makes or marrs every action of religion and as a good garment may be marr'din the making so may a good duty in the doing The rules here to be observed if we would do this good work well concerne 1. the circumstances 2. substance of this service The circumstances are time and place For the time first there must be a taking heed lest at any time there be in us an evill heart of unbeleef to depart away from the living God t Heb. 3.12 But besides a continuall care of keeping alwayes a good conscience and communion with God and of raysing up the heart by occasionall meditation taken up from matters ever where occurring and offering themselves to our senses that may minde us of God as the spirituall mans fire will ever be aspiring Nehemiah u Neh. 2.2 for instance that man of ejaculations and much acquaintance with God But besides this I say there must be a set and solemn thinking upon Gods Name on sett purpose all the powers of the soul being concentricke and drawn into one point that we may attend upon God all the while as near as may be without distraction x 1 Cor. 7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore I should judge it fit that some convenient portion of time should be redeemed from other occasions and purposely allotted and appointed for the better and more thorough discharge of this most necessary but yet much neglected duty Secondly for the place where we meditate let it be retired and secret for the preventing of distraction which else will certainly grow upon us by the singular policy and malice of the devil who taking all advantages of our carnality and knowing how near and familiar earthly things are to our senses how remote and supernaturall heavenly things y Prov. 24.7 he labours therefore all he can by outward objects to distract and divide * Divide regna Machia Anima dispersa fit minor the faculties of the soul by uncomely motions and impertinent thoughts so to slaken the earnestnesse of our affections and bereave us if possible of the benefit of our best meditations Retire we therefore into some secret place whensoever wee would meditate Peter did it upon the leads z Acts 10.9 Isaac in the field a Gen. 24 63 David in his closet b Psal 4.4 Jacob upon the high-way to Mesopotamia c Gen. 21.12 to whom therefore so good a day was followed with so sweet a night For he saw the blessed Angels climbing up and down that sacred ladder at the top whereof is the Father the whole length whereof is the Son the Spirit firmly fastning all such thereunto as duely meditated that they may bee transported unto blisse eternall Now in the next place for the substance of this duty let it be done in manner and form following First cheerfully for God
of my hand they shall deliver their own souls they shall have their own lives for a prey Something there is that God will yeeld to prayer then Cartwr in loc when he is most bitterly bent against a people or person Mat. 24.20 Pray saith our Saviour after he had foretold such an affliction as never had been nor should be the like pray saith he that your flight be not in the winter for that will be tedious nor on the sabbath for that will be grievous Whereupon a learned Interpreter makes this note In maxima severitate aliquid permittit precibus Something God will graciously yeeld to prayers in his greatest severity Admirable is that and for the present purpose most apt and apposite that Polanus reports of a terrible earth-quake in the territories of Berne in Swisserland by means whereof a certain high mountain carried violently over other mountains ' ore-whelmed and covered a whole township that had ninety families in it one half house only excepted wherein the master of the family with his wife and children were with bended knees calling earnestly upon God This fell out no longer ago then in the year 1584. Polan Syntag. Theolog tom ◠lib. 5. cap. 21. de terr aemotu mortuus est Polan Anno. 1610 Mat. 21.21 and is related by Amandus Polanus a famous Divine who lived not many yeers since at Basill not many miles distant from the place where the thing fell out In which notable example who seeth not as in a mirrour the marvelous force and efficacy of faithfull prayer standing Aaron-like with his incense betwixt the living and the dead and verifying that of our Saviour Verily I say unto you if ye have faith and doubt not ye shall say unto this mountain Remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove yea be thou removed and cast into the sea and it shall be done And All things whatsoever ye shall aske in prayer beleeving ye shall receive Oh blessed Saviour Eph. 1.19 what could have fallen from that sweet mouth of thine more for the glory of thy free grace and our greatest encouragement to ply the throne of grace with dayly suites that God would open our eyes to see the exceeding greatnesse of his power towards us that beleeve according to the working of his mighty power There is in the Originall a sixfold gradation and all too little Words are too weak to utter it SECT VIII Be comforted in the consideration of his power where diverse objections of weak Christians are answered SIngular comfort to all that belong to the Lord of Hosts Use 4 to consider that God hath a power alwayes prepared an army ever in readinesse 1. to preserve them 2. to provide for them For their preservation Dan. 3.17 first Our God is able to deliver us either from the fire or in it this was the support of those three brave Worthies in Daniel and may be ours that lean on the Lord and the power of his might Shall the Philistins rely upon their Goliath Papists an their he-saints and she-saints Turks on their Mahomet Heathens on their Tutelaries and not we encourage our selves in the Lord our God as David not cheer up our hearts in this man of warr whose name is the Lord of Hosts the Lord mighty in battle Oh say with the church in Micah Micah 4.5 All people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever For their rock is not as our Rock Deut. 32.31 our enemies themselves being Judges Contemno minutos istos Deos modo Jovem propitium habeam said that Heathen If God be for us what need we fear what man or devill can do unto us Rom. 8 31 Ob. Sol. Oh but mine enemies are many and mighty Yea but thy champion is the Lord of hosts with whom it 's nothing to save whether with many or with no power I his staid up Asa's heart against a thousand thousand enemies 2 Chron. 14 22 But they are fierce and furious Ob. Sol. What of that I know whom I have trusted saith Paul and I am sure that he is able to keep that I have committed to him against that day 2 Tim. 1.12 I have been delivered out of the mouth of the lion And the Lord shall deliver me from all evill c. 2 Tim. 4.17 18. Did not the Lord appear to Joshuah with a naked sword in his hand Nudatum nimirum ensem suum nunquam deposuit sed inde usque ab Adae lapsu eum in Ecclesiae suae defens c. Bucholc as captain of the Host Did not the Angels fight for Hezekiaeh and environ Iacob at Mahanaim Elisha in the mount c and hath not the Lord charged them still to pitch their tents round about the righteous They appear not unto us it 's true now as of old because the church now needs not such confirmations and Christ being ascended and the spirit plentifully bestowed God would that our conversation should be in heaven and not that the Angls should converse so visibly with us on earth But they still pitty our humane frailty and secretly suggest both counsell and comfort they also keep us from perils and dangers of body and soul who else could not subsist no not an hour Next for provision of necessaries God hath taken and bound over the best of the creatures to purvey for his people and to bring them in maintenance the heaven Pro. 20.30 31 Rex ferarum Isidor lib. 10. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the earth the corne the wine the oyle the best of the best is for them Hos 2.20 21. The Lions saith the Psalmist and the Lion is the king of beasts or the ricb among the people as the Septuagint have it shall hunger and starve those that will be sure to have it if it be to be had wicked rich men not only rob but ravish the poor Psal 10.9 10 when they have gotten them into their nets that is their debts bonds mortgages as Chrysostom expounds it Hence they are called men-eaters Cannibals Psal 14.4 Loe these Cormorants these yong Lions shall lack and suffer hunger but those that seek the Lord shall want nothing that is good Psal 78.14 Pluviam escatilem petram aquatilem Tertull. Vix unquam major fuit gloria illius populi in terra Canaan quà m in deserto Buchol He will rain down bread from heaven and set the flint-stone abroach and turn the wildernesse into a Paradise before his people shall pine and perish Never was Prince so served in his greatest pomp as the rebellious Israelites in the desert How good shall we finde him then to those that please him Elias is fed one while by an Angell another while by a Raven But if both should have failed him as the brook Cherith did yet he that took away his meat could have taken
away his stomack as he did also for 40. dayes together in the mount of God In a word the Lord of hosts hath a thousand means ready and at hand to provide for his people his strength and wisdome ever busieth and bestirreth it self for their comfort The Lord saith Peter who had tried it knowes how to preserve his own 2 Pet 2.9 Phil. 4.12.13 1 King 22. Heb. 11. Act. 7. and to deliver the godly out of temptation And I can do all through Christ that strengtheneth me saith Paul whether it be to be full or to be hungry to abound or to be abased A beleever walks about the world like a Conquerour as Michaiah did after he had seen the Lord on his throne with all the host of heaven about him So Moses after he had by faith seen him that is invisible and Steven after he had seen the son of man on the right hand of God Angels authorities and powers being made subject unto him 1 Pet. 3.22 And as in temporall so in spirituall regards also this holds true for the soul and inward man of the heart much distressed many times by wicked spirits in high places Ephe. 6.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about our interest in heavenly priviledges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Xerxis exercitu Aristi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 1.19.2 Cor. 12 9 Luke 22.31 Rev. 12.8 11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom 8 37 They have the upper ground of us which is no small advantage they assault us out of the air and there-hence buffet and batter us with their fiery darts so called for the dolour and distemper they work in us like a fire in the flesh and the likest hell of any thing with the haile-shot hell-shot of their temptations But God succours us by the supplies of his spirit and by the visible ministry of his angels as he did our Saviour in his agony and after his great temptations His grace is sufficient for us his strength made perfect in our weaknesse The serpents head is broke his work dissolved his trenches thrown down and himself driven out of the field by the Captain of our salvation the author and finisher of our faith who hath also prayed that our faith fail not even at such times as Satan desires to have us as a challenger Goliath-like desires to have one of the other side to combate with Michael and his angels have disarmed and driven out the dragon and his angels they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb yea the saints do overcome or are more then conquerours because through faith in Christ they overcome before they fight they are sure of victory aforehand And although Satan is said to make warre upon the Saints and to overcome them Revel 13.7 yet this is but spoken according to humane conceit and in regard of outward persecutions But thanks be to God who maketh us alwayes to triumph through Christ 2 Cor. 2.14 The gates of hell shall not prevail against us that is Mat. 16.18 all the power and policy of hell combined for in the gates sate the Elders to consult in time of peace and at the gates was planted the best munition in time of warre Impostours should deceive if it were possible the very Elect as that third part of the stars of heaven but that cannot be Object not here that Satan with a full mouth as a fell Lion roars upon you Obj and threatens to ruin you It is a Spanish Proverb The Lion is not so fierce as he is painted Sol. Satan in sidiis tanquam Leo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 5 8. Christus insub sidiis tanquam Leo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thes 1.10 Obj. Rev. 12.15 Draco multis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scaligero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quia animal venenatum homini infestū Sol. Rom. 16.20 Colos 2.15 1 Cor. 15.55 1 Joh. 4 nor is the Devil so powerfull 〈◊〉 he makes himself well he may shake his chain at us but he cannot set his fangs in us well he may nibble at the heel but he cannot hurt us in the head He that is born of God keepeth himself and that wicked One toucheth him not that is Tactu qualitative saith Cajetan with a deadly touch Besides Christ is a Lion also even the Lion of the Tribe of Judah the victorious Tribe that can out-roar Satan and easily over-master him As for thee that humblest thy self at his feet for mercy assure thy self he will never trample on the yeelding prey Oh but Satan is not onely a Lion but a dragon hee not onely roars but spets poyson yea spews out of his mouth floods of venemous and violent temptations yea he is a great red dragon colour'd and died red as it were with the blood of souls he hath swallowed and besides he hath seven heads to plot and ten horns to push me into the pit of perdition Rev. 12.3 True all this but Mi-ca-el who is as the strong God Christ our onely Michael hath with his sore and great and terrible sword punished Leviathan that crooked piercing serpent and slain the dragon that is in the sea Esay 27.1 Under our feet he will tread him shortly as he hath done already under his own triumphing over him on the crosse with Death where 's thy sting hell where 's thy victory To be brief The Lamb with his two horns can do more then the dragon with his ten Stronger is he that is in you then he that is in the world Christ is that stronger man that casts out the strong man armed out of his castle and spoils his goods Oh but he hath so strongly entrenched himself in my heart Obj by a herd of base lusts and a frame of evil thoughts that he will hardly ever out if at all The weapons of our warfare are not carnall Sol. but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong-holds or trenches casting down imaginations and every thing that exalts it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Christs Ministers are called his white horses whereon he rides about the world conquering Rev. 6.2 and to conquer And although for their persons they be mean and contemptible yet their message and ministery is that power of God to salvation Rom. 1.16 Luk. 10 which the Devil cannot stand before Our Saviour saw Satan falling as lightning from the heaven of mens hearts when the Apostles were abroad preaching the Gospel We preach Christ crucified saith St. Paul unto the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Gentiles foolishnesse But unto them that are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdome of God 1 Cor. 1.22 23. And a verse or two before It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that beleeve As unlikely a means in the worlds eye to do such a feat as the blowing of rams horns to over-turn
the walls of Jericho But what matter is it how unlikely the means are if in the hands of Omnipotency An Ox-goad in the hand of a Shamgar an Asse-bone in the hand of a Sampson may do much so here The Devil must needs down if God once send forth his Pauls to open mens eyes to turn them from darknesse to light Acts 26.18 and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgivenesse of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Christ Oh Obj but the Devil tells me I shall never inherit for I am not sanctified by faith Settle that first be sure by sound and infallible evidences Sol. See that thy faith and other graces be of the right stamp effectuall faith laborious love patient hope c. 1 Thes 1.3 and then sing a Requiem to thy self as Luther once did after a grievous conflict the Psalm De profundis Joh Manly loc com in contemptum Diaboli in defiance to the Devil Onely be advised not to pore over-much upon thy sanctification which in the best is unperfect but to take comfort of thy Justification which is compleat and absolute In confident consideration whereof St. Paul triumphantly cries out Rom. 8.33 34 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen so long as it is God that justifieth Or as Austin reads it Shall God that justifies us Who is he that condemneth Do Angels No they rejoyce in our conversion and call us their fellow-servants But who then Do the insensible or unreasonable creatures They in their kind are in covenant with us Hos 2.18 and in earnest expectation groan nay travell together with us waiting and as it were lying bed-ridden the while for our full manifestation â—â—en the redemption of our bodies Rom. 8.19 c. But who is it then Do our own hearts condemn us No neither if not bemisted and abused by Satan for being justified by faith we have so farre peace with God that we glory in tribulation by the confident intergatory of a good conscience toward God Rom. 5.1.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 3.21 1 Joh. 3.20 But say our own hearts do wrongfully accuse us yet God is greater then our hearts as well for good as for evil to do us right notwithstanding a misgiving or misguided heart of our own But say then who is he that condemneth us Is it the Devil and his wicked imps Let them do their worst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 12. He is indeed the accuser of the brethren but Christ our Advocate is ever ready to non-suit and cast out all his accusations The Spirit also is in direct and full opposition to this Accuser called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Comforter or Pleader for us Yea what apology or clearing of your selves Rev. 12.10 pleading our evidences to our spirits and helping us upon true repentance to make apology for our selves 2 Cor. 7.11 such as God admits of and accepts As for that old Serpent the Accuser of the brethren he is cast down already and all his limbs shall bee cast after him ere long into the burning lake In the mean while what cares the prisoner at the barre though the gaoler and his fellow-prisoners passe sentence of death upon him in the gaole so long as the Judge acquits him from the bench And as little need any servant of the Lord of Hosts stand upon the censurs of earth and hell so long as God thinks well of him and all the Hosts of God combine for his comfort Oh Obj but I have hosts within me that do me all the despite and displeasure The flesh lusteth against the spirit and other-whiles gets the better of it Besides there be bands of fleshly lusts 1 Pet. 2.11 which like armed souldiers lie billetted in my bosome and ever and anon fight against my soul Yet bee of good comfort the spirit also lusteth against the flesh so that thou canst not do what thou naturally wouldest Sol. Gal. 5.17 thy new nature will not suffer thee as Paul would have gone to a certain place but the Spirit forbade him As for thy lusts be they never so lordly God can easily cut the combes nay the throats of them and let out their life-blood My Father is stronger then all and None can take you out of his hands The weak brother shall be holden up amidst a world of scandals without Joh. 10 Rom. 14.4 and staggerings within for God is able to make him stand He can preserve a fire alive upon the face of the Ocean a spark of the spirit amidst a world of wickednesse within He can cause weak and worthlesse grashoppers to become a great nation Ioel 1.6 a mighty people chap. 2.2 a huge army ib. Esay 30.22 Psal 19.5 He can make the house of Israel pollute the idols which they had once perfumed with incense and to say to their familiar devils get thee hence He can stop or strike back the course of the Sun though it rejoyce as a strong man to run his race Naturally and freely it giveth light but he can turn it into darknesse and blood The mountains of themselves are ponderous and pressing yet at Gods command they skip like lambs Think the same of our dull and undutiful hearts God can quickly oyl them and nimble them drawing us by his free spirit so as we shall run after him as a baldder of it self is a heavy substance and unapt for motion but being filled with winde it will scarce ' bide in a place So we being filled with the holy Ghost shall finde our feet as hinds feet upon the everlasting mountains no longer shackled by corruption Psal 119. but at very good liberty to run the wayes of Gods commandments It s most sure we are not strained at all in God but in our own bowels He is both able and ready both to cover and cure our sins and sicknesses In the dayes of his flesh he offered himself to his patients and was found of them that sought him not He heal'd them also of diseases hereditary and such as all the Physitians in the countrey might have cast their caps at Now he hath lost nothing by heaven you may be sure neither of his will nor skill to do the same cures upon mens souls as once he did upon their bodies nay he cured their bodies onely in reference to their souls and still hangs out his table of cures Math. 8.17.18 to draw custome Rev. 3.18 Lo thus we have searched and so it is Hear it and know it for thy good Iob. 5.27 CHAP. II. The Lord will finde a fit time to make up his jewels from the worlds misusages And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my Jewels Doct GOd is the Lord of hosts This is a point hath been hitherto proved and improved Followes now a second Observation Confirmat
kings as Iosephus relates it He was faithfull in all Gods house as a servant Joh. 8.35 but that was not all For the servant abideth not in the house for ever as the son doth Moreover the kings of the earth take tribute of their servants and subjects but their children go free Mat. 17.26 Behold Gods children are all manumitted by Christ and possessed of a twofold freedome 1. Multò plures sunt gratiae privativae quam positivae Gerson Privative from the dominion and damnation of sin from the rigour and irritation of the law from the captivity and cruelty of the devill from the danger of death and horrour of hell c. This is a priviledge far beyond that of a citizen of Rome which yet might neither be suffered to beg nor be bound with thongs Act. 22.29 Rom. 8. And this is that the Apostle calls the glorious liberty of the sons of God as elsewhere he couples Adoption with glory Rom. 9.4 includes it in glory Rom. 8.30 and puts it for glory Rom. 8.23 Freed Gods children are not I confesse of crosses and corrections for then were they bastards and not sons He scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Joh. 14.18 but he never leaveth them orphans helpelesse comfortlesse In the midst of desertion the sorest kinde of affliction they may nay they must call him Father and ask him blessing Esay 64.7 8 9. and he knowes not how to say them nay coming unto him in that name and under that notion Should a parent see his sick childe pant and look pittifully cry out as once the Shunamites son to his father O my head my head my heart is sick my head is heavy I am weary with paines what shall I do where shall I rest c. He could not turn his back upon him and neglect his moans much lesse could he continue to strike him lifting up his feeble hands for mercy and looking upon him with watery eyes but would rather set himself to seek out and to do him all possible ease and comfort Hic cum triste aliquid staruit fit tristis ipsa Cuique ferè poenam sumere poena fua est Ovid. 2 de Pont eleg 2. To say God hath cast you off because he hath hid his face is a fallacy fetcht out of the Devils Topicks And shall not the God of all mercy and the Father of all consolation pity his poor children that are distressed or diseased and send deliverance Will he not melt over his childe and burn his rod Will he not hold him up with one hand as he did Iacob when he beats him down with the other will he not look through the chinkers to see how we do when he hath shut us up close prisoners will he not deal by us as the mother deals by her little-one makes him beleeve she will cast him away to the puttock or pitch him headlong into the pool when yet she keeps fast hold on him 2. Positive and so he is made a free-denison of Jerusalem that is above and possessed of all the priviledges of that supernall citty See a brief extract of them in that 1 1 Cor. 3.22 23. All things are yours A very large charter All illuminations inspirations gifts and graces of the spirit gifts of Gods ministers and the abler sort of Christians all these are not more their own then yours to use you have title to them and interest in them and may claime them for your own Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world you are heirs of it together with faithfull Abraham Or life grace to spend it well or death to the wicked a trap-dore to hell Janua vita porta coeli Bern. but to the saints an inlet into eternall happines or things present all occurrences are sanctified to you or things to come heaven waits for you hell hath nothing to do with you Thus all is yours as the Apostle there reiterates it though not in possession unlesse it be in our Head yet in use in right or by way of reduction as we say the worst things are Gods childrens they are heirs of the kingdome saith Iames heads destinated to the diadem Jam. 2.5 Serms non valet exprimere experimento opus est Chrys Lati simus non securi gaudentes in spiritu sancto scd tamen caventes à recidivo Bern. saith Tertullian Their priviledges as sons are fitter to be beleeved then possible to be discoursed And this should make them hold up their heads but not too high and be cheerfull but not withall scornefull CHAP. V. God will pity and pardon his people their wants and weaknesses And I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serves him HOw graciously God will deal with his dear children in respect of their pious performances is here sweetly set forth by an exquisite simile Shindler Pentag miserebor misericordia commovebor Figuier Clementiâutar Trem. polan. In quo duplex est aemoris ratio c. Figuier De Cartulone filio à patre Machaeo ob contemptum cruci affixo lege Just lib. 18. Heb. 13.18 from the dealing of an indulgent father with his obsequious childe I will spare them saith he nay that 's not full enough I will pardon and pity them I will commiserate and compassionate them as Pharaohs daughter once did the forlorne infant she found among the flags I will use clemency and shew kindnesse unto them And how As a man doth to his own son that serves him In which comfortable expression there is a double declaration saith an Interpreter of Gods fatherly affection as thus We cannot but shew love even to a stranger that observes us As o' tother side we dislike and detest even a son that slights us But a son and a serviceable son what father can chuse but love and like well of And shall God the father of all the father-hoods in heaven and earth shew lesse love to his obedient children that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 willing at least to keep a good conscience and are faithfull in weaknesse though weak in faith No but he will kindly accept of what they are able and remit the rest He will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serves him Than the which I know not what the good Lord could have spoken more effectually for the setting forth of his own fatherly compassion or for the setting of our hearts in sound consolation Take it thus God will surely shew like mercy and mildenesse to his obedient children in Doct their faults and faculties in their wants and weaknesses as the kindest father would do to his dearest son that serves him SECT 1.2.3.4 Reasons from God out of Micah 7.18 19. THis is no new doctrine for besides that the Text is for us in so many words almost the man whose eyes are open hath said it He hath said Num. 23.21 who heard the words of God who saw the visions of the Almighty God
Iohn Careles 110.1 When the righteous shine as bright as silver upon the celestiall shelf as that martyr said and surpass us as farr as the lily doth the thorns Cant. 2.2 or as the gold doth the coals in the goldsmiths shop yea they are the throne of Christ Exod. 17.16 his Iewels Mal. 3.17 his ornament Ezek. 7.20 the beauty of his ornament and that set in majesty ib. a royall diadem on the head of Jehovah Esay 62.3 and so they shall one day appear to be though now they do not 1 Ioh. 3.2 it shall be no hard matter to discern them Between the righteous and the wicked Here they are together in the church militant and ever have been Sinners in Sion Isa 33.14 sacrificing Sodomites Isa 1.10 a devill in Christs family Ioh. 13.10 All men have not faith 2 Thess 3.2 all the Lords people are not holy Num. 16.3 that any are 't is just wonder What is man that he should be clean and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous Iob 15.14 None are so but such as are arraied with that fine white linnen and shining the righteousnesses of the saints Rev. 19.8 that twofold righteousnesse Imputed and Imparted of Justification and of Sanctification See both 1 Cor. 6.11 and seek after both by Christs Merit and Spirit by his Value and Vertue He is Iehovah our righteousnesse Ier. 23.5 and of his fulnesse we all receive Ioh. 1.16 He it is that makes us to differ from the wicked of the world that have hearts full of hell and are ever either hatching cockatrices eggs or at best weaving spiders webbs vanity or villany is their whole practise The best among them would serve god and yet retain their lusts too as Solomon thought he could follow sinfull pleasures and yet keep his wisdome And with such we must converse whiles in this world Tares will be with the wheat goats among the sheep righteous and wicked together God permits it so to be for the glory of his free grace and for the triall and exercise of his people Our care must be the greater for evill men indanger good men as weeds do the corn as bad humours the blood or an infected house the neighbourhood We must resolve as Ioshuah to serve the Lord howsoever because a difference shall be one day set between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Where we see that not serving of God not sacrificing is a sinne Eccles 9 2. Not robbing onely but the not relieving of the poor was the rich mans ruin Not gluttony onely but overmuch abstinence may overthrow the body Omission of diet breeds diseases so doth omission of duties and makes work for hell or for the Physitian of our souls Let us therefore have grace whereby we may serve God with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12.27 Serve him as old Zachary in his Canticle saith we should do Luke 1.74 75. First out of sense of his dear love in our deliverance by Christ whereinto the deeper we dive the sweeter Servati sumus ut serviamus This will make us love to be his servants Esay 56.7 fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.12 Secondly serve him without fear slavish fear serve him with an holy security in full assurance of his gracious assistance and acceptance yea though thorough infirmity we misse or marre his work yet he will spare us Mal. 3.17 Thirdly serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse in all parts and points of duty shew your integrity both for subject and object not picking or chusing ' your work nor sticking at any thing but willing in all things to please God He doth not Gods but his own will that doth no more then himself will Fourthly serve him sincerely in holinesse and righteousnesse before him or as in his presence Set the Lord ever at your right hand look him full in the face approve your hearts and lives unto him do him but eye-service and it sufficeth Fifthly serve him constantly all the dayes of your lives hire your selves to him for terme of life why should you desire to shift or fleet where can you mend your selves either for fairnesse of work or fulnesse of wages Can the son of Iesse give you vineyards c. said Saul to his servants so may God say Can the world do for you as I both can and will if you cleave to me with full purpose of heart Sure it cannot c. FINIS An Alphabeticall Table of all the Principall things contained in this whole WORK A ABstinence Pag. 265 Admonition rejected p. 60 61. the best need it p. 480. Râ—ch 1. admonished by an Hermite p. 321 Adoption the whole Doctrine of it p. 912 913 914 915 916 c. Adultery goeth along with idolatry p. 69 70 71. punished p. 57 664 Affliction is Gods thorn-hedge p. 27. 't is usefull p. 26. humblâ—th us p. 89. teacheth us 90. maketh us pray ib. is Gods vocall instruction to us 377. Comforts under it 385. Difference of afflictions that befall saints and sinners 414 421. Saints are thereby purged 591 592 661 662. tried 593. gratified 593. How to live by faith in affliction 888 889. Despondency under affliction reproved 890. Suffer it patiently 891 892. though not presently delivered 893. Helps thereunto ib. 894. God a Father to his afflicted 928 Alchymy a pick-purse p. 420 Alexander M. meeting the high-priest p. 520 Ambition unsatisfiable p. 422 Amos who p. 221 Amurath 3 stabbed to death p. 579 Angels readily serve the Saints p. 504 537. and why 504. they are our Gardians 512. heavenly spirits c. 537 Anger rash the evil of it p. 326 Antiquity falsified by Papists p. 561 Apostasie p. 67. Apostates 74â— it is very dangerous 178 Apparrell pride in it condemned p. 448 Assurance labour after it p. 153 208. be not unsetled 618 Astrologie judiciary condemned p. 446 Atheists practicall p. 450 B BAal who p. 30. Baalim what 37 B. Babingtons three-leaved book p. 686 Baptisme promised p. 583 Bastards reproached p. 652 Bath of Christs Blood p. 660 Beauty lovely p. 281. stained with evil manners 408 Be Best in worst times and why 695 696 697 698 c. Blasphemy punished p. 676 Blood-guiltinesse wofull p. 406 Borbonius anagrammatized p. 23 Bribery condemned p. 73 354 382 C CAlling of the Gentiles p. 623 Get a lawfull Calling p. 309 Calvins Institutions when and why written p. 273. Calvin belied by A Lapide p. 601 Cardinals pompous creation p. 25 Censure not others harshly p. 936 937 940 Chemarims who p. 446 Children soon corrupted p. 83. unnaturall children 384. degenerate children 642. a fathers huge love to his children 585. Sennacherib why slain by his own sons 399 Church described by her afflictions p. 594. restlesse here 504. is invincible 527 576. is under persecution 594. she shall be delivered 887. onely she must pray for it 888. she is married to Christ 897 hath him for her Head 13 Christ his yoke is
carried captive young and old naked and barefoot even with their buttocks uncovered c. as it is said of their confederates the Egyptians Esay 20.4 and as it shall be done at length to that purple whore of Rome who shall be stript naked broil'd and eaten Revel 17.16 A cold sweat stands already upon her limbs and for a presage of her future ruine it is observed that Rome since it became Papall was never besieged by any but it was taken As for their late Masculine attempts and atchievements if any it is but as here in the Kingdom of Israel a lightning before death as the blaze of a candle a little afore it goes out the bulging of a wall that 's ready to come down or as it was said of Carthage a little afore it was taken Morientium bestiarum violentiores esse morsus dying beasts bite cruelly Verse 9. Call his name Loammi Nomen extremum deploratum saith Pareus the last and most lamentable name of all containing a most heavy but spiritual and therefore lesse sensible punishment viz. an utter abjection and abdication from the covenant from grace from God from life eternall For ye are not my people But being totally cashiered and discovenanted Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me O children of Israel saith the Lord Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt and the Philistims from Caphtor Amos 9.7 and the Syrians from Kir q. d. True it is I have brought you up out of Egypt and therein you greatly glory but have I not done as much as all this for those profane Nations here mentioned with and amongst whom henceforward I shall reckon you for you are no people of mine but discarded and dispeopled Till the Covenant made with Abraham all Nations were suffered to walk in their own wayes as fishes passe at liberty thorow the paths of the Seas Psal 8.8 One person was no more respected then another But as soon as it was said I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee the Church became as fish cast into a Pond for peculiar use and was divided from other Nations Act. 14.16 no otherwise then light was from darknesse in the first creation or then Goshen was from Egypt in that wonderfull separation But here God seems to rescind his own act to cast off the people of his purchase and utterly to disown them as once before he also did when he fathered them upon Moses saying Thy people which thou hast brought out of Egypt c. Exod. 32.7 But this we must know is no other then mutatio rei non Dei effectus non affectus facti non consilij not a change of Gods will but onely of his works For hath God indeed cast away his people God forbid Rom. 11.1 2. God hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew Thus saith the Lord God If heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done saith the Lord. Jer. 31.37 And albeit by an angry Aposiopesis he say here I will not be your God The word God is not in the Original ab irato omittitur saith Mercer yet to shew that he is Bagnal Chemah One that can rule his wrath as Neb. 1.2 he subjoyneth here verse 10. Verse 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel i. e. of the Israel of God those Jews inwardly the Circumcision indeed which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus putting no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3.3 Bern. but saying each for himself as that good Father did Horreo quicquid de meo est ut sim meus All my care is to be found in Christ sc when sought for by the justice of God not having mine own righteousnesse which is of the law Beza but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Phil. 3.9 Lo to such Israelites indeed and of such it is here promised the Lord in Judgement remembring Mercy that they shall be the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbered This was first promised to Abraham and afterwards confirmed with an oath Gen. 22.16 It began to be fulfilled when by the preaching of the Apostles so many of both Jews and Gentiles came in and were converted to the faith of the true Messiah as S. Paul expoundeth this text Rom. 9.24 25. and he had the mind of Christ It shall have its full accomplishment when the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and all Israel shall be saved Rom. 11.26 Then the Church shall be as the stone that smote the Image it shall become a great mountain and fill the whole earth Though the beginning of it be small yet the later end of it shall greatly increase Job 8.7 for all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Christ he shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth Psal 72.8 11 17 Great is the paucity of Gods people for present but let us by the help of this promise get above that stumbling block Cosmographers tell us that if we divide all the known world into thirty parts the Heathens part is as nineteen of this thirty the Mahometans as six the Christians as five only And of those five more then the one half is held by idolatrous Papists But let not this discourage us it will be otherwise one day for the Scripture cannot be broken And although God may seem utterly to have abandoned his ancient people the Jews the ten Tribes especially yet they as well as the rest shall be vouchsafed this honour to be called to the participation of Christ Ezek. 37.16 19. Jer. 3 12 13 c. Esay 11.12 13. Obad. 20. Zach. 10.6 Rom. 11.26 If God after so dreadful a threatning come in with his non-obstante as he doth likewise Psal 106.8 and elsewhere and say yet the number of the children of Israel shall be c. who shall gain say him Their interpretation is too narrow that understand this text of the increase of this people in all their dispersions until the time of their conversion And that of Rabbi Ezra is pretty though not proper that as the sand keeps the waves of the sea from breaking in and drowning the world so doth Israel preserve man-kind from perishing by the waves of Gods wrath It should have been considered by him and the rest of those refractary Rabbines that at that general conversion of the Jews here plainly foretold there shall be some stubborn spirits that will not even then stoop to Christ but will be filled with envy as those cankered Pharisees their fore-fathers were Acts 13.44 45. to see almost the whole City come together to hear Christ Yea they will be ready to say as John 12.19 perceive ye how ye
prevaile nothing behold the whole world follows him Now against these spiritual spirits the wrath of God shall be revealed from heaven Rev. 21.8 Dan. 12.2 Esay 65.11 12 13 14 15 16 17. and it shall come to passe that in the place where it was said unto them As if God did now even repent and would make them a full amends make them glad according to the time Psal 90.15 and in that very place when and where they had seen evil Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in Jerusalem Zech. 12.6 The Jews it is thought shall dwell in their own Countrey Jer. 3.18 23.8 Ezek. 37.11 12. Amos 9.14 15. and God have a very glorious Church in the Land of Canaan But that 's not all The Gentiles who shall be made a spiritual Israel though in time past they were not a people yet now are they the people of God and which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy 1 Pet. 2.10 yea such a signal mercy as S. John cannot look on without an Ecce admirantis Behold Qualem quantum As 2 Pet. 3.11 saith he what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God 1 John 3.1 Yes the sons of the living God who as he lives so he gives us all things richly to enjoy and is therefore to be trusted 1 Tim. 6.17 And that we should not only be Gods people but his sons reconciled but adopted and not only be so but be called so have the name and the note the credit and the comfort Well might the Apostle say that the grace of God herein had abounded even to an overflow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 1.14 Well may Oecolampadius say as he doth upon this very Text Vide ut major gratia quam peccatum Behold how as sin abounded grace superabounded Serm. 6. de Nativit Well might Leo say Omnia dona excedit hoc donum c. This is a gift of God that exceedeth all gifts that man should call God Father and God call a man his sonne this is a greater dignity then to be called an Angel Archangel Cherubim Seraphim c. See more of this in my Righteous mans Recompense part 2. doct 5. Calvin upon this verse noteth that there is an emphasis in these words It was said and It shall be said The latter sheweth that till the Lord speak peace to his people and say to their souls that he is their salvation they cannot have the comfortable assurance of their Adoption and acceptation into his favour Eph. 1.13 After that ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation ye believed and were sealed with that holy spirit of promise Again if God by his Prophets have said to any ye are not my people c. he will effect it God heweth men by his Prophets and slayeth them by the words of his mouth Hosea 6.5 Elisha hath his sword as well as Jehu and Hazael 1 Kings 19.17 Ezekiel besiegeth Jerusalem and overthroweth it Jeremy is set over nations and kingdoms to root out and pull down c. Chap. 1.10 S. Paul hath vengeance ready for the disobedient 2 Cor. 10.6 And what Gods Ministers do on earth he ratifies in heaven Mat. 16.19 and 18.18 Verse 11. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together i. e. they shall unite into one body and one religion and shall all make one entire Kingdome John 12. Ezek. 37.22 24. Christ once lifted up shall draw all things to himself and wherever this carcase is Mat. 24. there will the spiritual Eagles be also Caiaphas like another Balaam prophesied that Jesus should die for that Nation And not for that Nation only but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad John 11.51.52 Zeph. 3.9 This is the gathering together here mentioned Christ shall be one amongst his people and his name one Zeâ—h 14.9 See the Note there they shall serve the Lord with one shoulder It seems to be a Metaphor taken from Oxen that are yoked together and that set their shoulders joyntly to the work Surely the more the Gospel prevaileth the more peace there will be They shall be gathered together in that day So when Christ shall be preached and obedience yielded to his government Esay 9.7 then shall there be a blessed harmony of hearts then shall they flie in flocks to the ordinances as the doves to their windows then shall they come to the Lords house upon horses and in charrets and in litters Esay 66.20 and appoint themselves one head The Lord Christ called David their King chap. 3.5 A multitude gathered under this one Head and united to him is a Church This head is indeed appointed and set up over the Church by God Psal 2.6 Eph. 1.22 But the Saints are said to appoint Christ their head and indeed to set the Crown upon his head as Cant. 3.11 when they chuse him and embrace him for their Soveraign when with highest estimations most vigorous affections and utmost endeavours of unfained obedience they set him up in their hearts and serve him in their lives giving him the preheminence and holding all in Capite in Christ yea holding of the head as the Apostles expression is Col. 2.19 not of Paul or Apollo or Cephas That Popish Buzzard was utterly out who said that he had found in the Dictionaries that Cephas signifieth an Head and that therefore Peter was head of the Church For neither doth Cephas signifie an Head but a Stone or Rock nor if it did would that prove what he alledgeth it for Judah and Israel shall appoint to themselves one head not more then one The Church is not bellua multorum capitum neither is there any need of a ministerial head of the Church Indeed there is a contradiction in the very mention of it as one well observeth a Ministerial Head it is absurd to speak it and they shall come up out of the land i. e. They shall be gathered into the heavenly Jerusalem saith Occolampadius They shall come up from their miserable life saith Luther from their earthly affections saith Hierom. Rather from Chaldea or where ever they lie captivated and dispersed to Jerusalem there to joyn in the same way of worship as once the twelve Tribes did before the schism under Jeroboam with the Christian Church and so go on the way to the kingdom of heaven for great is the day of Jezreel i. e. of Christ saith Hierom who is Gods seed and shall see his seed and so prolong his dayes by a succession of Saints Esay 53.10 for whom God also will do great things in that day of his power Psal 100.3 when there shall be a marvellous increase of his Church which he shall sow with the seed of men and of beasts Jer. 31.37 Ezech. 36.38 revealing his arm another etymologie of the word Jezreel