without doubting Ver. 5. Synesius saith the divel is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Idol-lover Vnto the Priest No man might offer his own sacrifice though never so good but must bring it to the Priest and the Priest was to offer as well the poor man's lamb as the rich man's ox Ver 7. Vnto divels As they had don in Aegypt Ezek. 23.8 Deut 32.17 And as both Pagans and Papagans do 1 Cor. 10.20 Revel 9.20 The word here rendred divels signifieth rough ones Satyrs Isa 34.14 Satan is a rough rugged harsh spirit and such also are his imps as Esau Ismaël c. Ver. 9. Shall bee cut off i.e. Destroied not excommunicated onely as som do sens it Ver. 10. That eateth anie manner of blood See the Note on Gen. 9.4 Ver. 11. And I have given it you I have set it apart for a sacred use therefore you may not make food of that which is a figure of Christ Ver. 13. Which hunteth Though hee bee as hungrie as a hunter See 1 Sam. 14.32 33 34. CHAP. XVIII Ver. 1. And the Lord spake SEE the Note on Levit. 7.22 Ver. 2. I am the Lord your God Your Maker and Master Ver. 3. After the doings of the Land of Aegypt Where and in Canaan these hainous sins are counted peccadillo's as at this daie also they are in Spain Italie Turkie where their Catamites are their serious loves Sodomie is hardly held a vice bestialitie was boasted of by Mahomet their prophet In their ordinances The Aegyptians made it lawfull so did the Persians for brother and sister to couple together in marriage Of this and the like ordinances it might bee rightly said as once it was of the cerimonial Law that they were statutes that were not good and judgments whereby they should not live Ezek. 20.25 Ver. 4. To walk therein Not to halt therein nor to take a turn or two or for awhile as Samson went with his parents till hee met with an honie-comb but indesinenter ambulabo Psal 1 16.9 1 Cor. 9.24 as David saith Walk and not bee wearie Run and not faint as those Isa 40. ult So run that yee may obtein saith the Apostle Ver. 5. Hee shall live in them As the flame live's in the oil as the creature by his food so the spiritual life is mainteined by an evangelical keeping of God's commandments As on the contrarie everie motion of the soul out of this waie tend's to death beeing as the motion of the fish out of his element Ver. 6. None of you shall approach viz. To couple carnally with them Ezek. 18.6 Isa 8.3 Yea though it bee under a pretext of marriage for by marriage they seem to justifie their incest which make's it the wors saith Tostatus whose reason here I better like then that of Cardinal Campeius though it sound somwhat like If comparison should bee made said this carnal Cardinal much greater offens it is a Priest to have a wife then to have and keep at home manie harlots For they that keep harlots said hee as it is nought that they do Act. and Mon. fol. 790. so do they acknowledg their sin the other persuade themselvs to do well and so persist without repentance or conscience of their fact Ver. 7. Shee is thy mother And so it is against nature to lie carnally with her Aristotle tel's of a Camel that killed his keeper for caussing him to cover his dam and of an hors that cast himself down head-long after hee had don the like Hist animal l. 9 cap 47. Ver. 8. It is thy father's nakedness For the wife hath not power over her own bodie but the husband and when her chastitie is assaulted shee should saie saith Chrysostom Non est corpus meum sed mariti My bodie is not mine but my husband's Ver. 9. Or born abroad i.e. base-born which our English laws call natural children The Hebrews call them brambles and Mamzerim spots abroad and Shatukim such as must saie nothing when others are praising their parents The Greeks call bastards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 becaus they are their father's reproach and are subject to contempt and contumelies of others Ver. 10. For their's is thine own nakedness Children are but the father multiplied the father of another edition Ver. 14. Of thy father's brother The nakedness of whose wife is called his nakedness becaus man and wife are one flesh Mat. 19.6 See the Note there Ver. 17. It is wiokedness Wickedness with a witness and yet avowed for lawfull by som odious upstart Sectaries Hist Davidis Georg p. 28 29. Little non-such p. 5 6 7. who teach that those marriages are most laudable that are betwixt persons nearest in blood brother and sister father and daughter mother and son c. This they shame not to set forth in print Ver. 18. A wife to her sister i. e. Anie two women togethen Compare Ezekiel 1.9 Here Polygamie is flatly forbidden In which sin manie of the Patriarchs lived and died not through anie impietie the Lord testifying that their hearts were upright but meerly through the mistaking of this text as it may seem taking the word sister for one so by blood which was spoken of a sister by nation as those clauses to vex her and during her life do evince Ver. 19. Vnto a woman See the Note on Chap. 15.24 Ver. 20. To defile thy self As David how did hee moil himself with Bathsheba and chased away that pure spirit Psal 51.10 11 12. Casta Deus mens est Ver. 21. Pass thorough the fire Either to bee burned to death in honor of that abominable idol or to bee consecrated thereto by passing between two fires which scorched them See the Note on Mat. 5.22 Neither shalt thou prophane the name i. e. Caus it to bee prophaned and blasphemed by others as Pro. 30. 9. 1 Tim. 1.20 with the Note there Ver. 22. Thou shalt not lie with mankinde The Sodomites sin Gen. 19.5 See the Note there This saie the Hebrews was Ismaël's sporting with Isaac and this saie others was the sin of Joseph's brethren the evil report whereof hee brought to his father A sad report it was surely to our king Henrie the first that was brought him concerning his eldest son William who crossing the seas from France to England was with manie other Gallants cast away by shipwrack being Sodomiticâ labe infecti ferè omnes saith Guliel Parisiensis almost all of them infected with this abomination of going after strange flesh Jude 7 8. Ver. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. mag mor. cap. 5. Neither shalt thou lie with anie beast See what a foul sink of sin man's nature is who would think that anie such surpassing wickedness so Aristotle cal's bestialitie should ever enter into man's heart but there as in the sea is that Leviathan the divel and there are creeping things abominable and uglie lusts innumerable Ver. 24. The nations are defiled And yet are not the Scriptures defiled by
young Gentlemen at once Ver. 3. To defile my Sanctuarie Great sins do greatly pollute See Lev. 18.21 Ver. 5. I will set my face against that man See the reason Ezek. 16.20 21. Is this of thy whoredomâ— a small matter that thou hast slain my children and delivered them to pass thorough the fire for them This was an enraging sin such as God is absolute in threatning and will bee as resolute in punishing Ver. 6. I will cut him off Nemo cum serpente securus ludit Chrysolog Serm. 155. nemo cum diabolo jocatur impuné Ver. 7. For I am the Lord your God And God that is holie should bee sanctified in righteousness Isa 5.16 Ver. 8. I am the Lord that sanctifie you Vt acti agatis that yee may trade with your talents sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and lives and walk up to your principles Ver. 9. For everie one that curseth See the Note on Mat. 15.4 and on Exod. 21.17 Ver. 10. Shall surely bee put to death Adulterie was death long before this Law Gen. 26.11 and 38.24 So it was afterwards among the Greeks Romans and manie other Nations Jer. 29.22 23. Ver. 15. Yee shall slaie the beast Though innocent this shew's the hainousness of the sin See Chap. 18.9 Ver. 17. And see her nakedness In the Pope's war against the Albigenses those antient French Protestants when the Bishops had taken a great Town yielded to them they commanded the inhabitants both men and women to depart stark naked Jesuita vapulans p. 331. Partibus illis quae honestè nominari non possunt sanctorum illorum cruciatorum oculis expositis saith Rivet not suffering them to hide from the impure eies of those Pope holie fathers those parts that nature would have covered David that had faulted in looking lustfully on bathing Bathshedba praie's hard after hee had smarted for it Turn away mine eies from beholding vanitie Ovid. c. _____ Cur aliquid vidi cur noxia lumina feci _____ See Hab. 2.15 Of looking com's lusting especially when they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Apostle's word 2 Cor. 4.14 so look as the archer at the mark Ver. 21. They shall bee childeless Either barren or bereft for this is a sin saith Iob that root 's out all a man's increas Chap. 31.12 Hence that of Hosea They shall commit whoredom velo iipparedu they shall not increas Pered is a mule which is a beast verie libidinous but begetting nothing Solomon had manie concubines yet but one son and two daughters So had our Henrie 8. Hee had uncovered his brother's nakedness and was well-nigh childless by her Afterwards hee married manie wives and was blame-worthie for women but left no more children then Solomon did More happie hee was in them then Solomon for hee had Rehoboam a man neither wise nor fortunate as they call it his daughters but obscure and both of them subjects But Henrie had a Peerless Prince to his son viz. Edward 6. and his two daughters were both Soveraigns of an imperial Crown Ver. 24. Separated you With a wonderfull separation such as was that of light from darkness at the Creätion Ver. 25. Between clean beasts How much more then shall you abstein from those unlawfull copulations whereby men put off all manhood degenerate into dogs Rom. 1.27 Deut. 23.18 2 Sam. 3.8 Ver. 27. That hath a familiar spirit As Paracelsus had one confined to the pummel of his sword or els Erastus belie's him CHAP. XXI Ver. 1. There shall none bee defiled for the dead THis holie abstinence of the Priests in matter of mourning marriage c. figured the transscendent holiness of Christ The divels could call him that holie One of God Mark 1.24 It taught also both Ministers and people who are a Kingdom of Priests 1. Well to govern their passions and to bee paterns of patience 2. Ever to keep such a Sabbath of Spirit that by no dead works or persons dead in trespasses and sins they bee hindered in the discharge of the duties of either calling Ver. 2. And for his brother The high-priest might not for anie of these ver 10 11. nor might Eleazar and Ithamar for their dead brethren Nadab and Abihu Levit. 10.6 becaus in that case mourning might have seemed murmuring Ver. 3. And for his sister What and not for his wife Yes surely though shee bee not mentioned becaus shee is nearer then either daughter or sister See Ezek. 24.16 hee was a Priest but that was an exempt case an exception from what was ordinarily don Ver. 4. Beeing a chief man A vir gregis all whose actions were exemplarie and have not an impulsive onely but a compulsive power and propertie Gal. 2.14 Why compellest thou the Gentiles His example was a compulsion Ver. 5. They shall not make baldness c. So Chap. 19.27 Howbeit in humiliation for sin the Lord God of hosts called them all both Priests and people to weeping and mourning Jeel 2.17 yea to baldness and sackcloth Isa 22.12 Here wee cannot easily over-do Ver. 6. They shall bee holie Heb. Holiness i.e. all holie even as holiness it self meerly spiritual Not prophane the Name of their God Not do anie thing unworthie the majestie of the Ministerie but suffer the dead to burie their dead Mat. 8.22 Ver. 7. They shall not take a wife Lest his function bee disgraced That which Hosea was commanded to do against this prohibition Chap. 1.2 was but visional Or prophane defloured ravished Put away from her husband Becaus of evil report Ver. 8. Thou shalt sanctifie him i. e. Thou Moses shalt command him to bee sanctified as Exod. 19.10 Ver. 9. Shee shall bee burnt with fire A peculiar plague to shew the hatefulness of the sin Ver. 10. Shall not uncover his head So neither doth the Mufti among the Turks nor the Pope of Rome uncover to anie man but this is their pride and stateliness Ver. 11. Nor defiâ—e himself But appear impassionate as it were and more than a man Ver. 12. For the crown of the anointing Noting thereby that Christ now risen is crowned with glorie and honor Heb. 2.7 Zach. 6.12 and so shall wee with him Heb. 2.9 10.1 Cor. 15.47 48 49. Ver. 13. In her virginitie Such is Christ's wife 2 Cor. 11.2 Revel 14.4 Mat. 25. not giving her love or his worship to anie other Ver. 14. Of his own people A Jewess of anie Tribe Ezek. 44.22 2 Chron. 22.11 Ver. 15. Prophane his seed Disable them for the Priesthood by marrying such a wife as was forbidden him Ver. 17. That hath anie blemish Christ was without blemish so should all the Saints bee but especially Ministers of whom it should bee said as of Absalom that from top to toe there was no blemish in him 2 Sam 14.25 Ver. 18. Hee shall not approach Lest his Ministerie bee sleighted for his personal defects and deformities how much more for his ignorance envie indirect aims uneven walking injudiciousness unheavenlie
got a manchilde of the Lord she called him Cain a possession as David did Absolom his Fathers peace But Fallitur augurio spes bona sape suo Excellently Saint Gregory Ante partum liberi sunt onerosi in partu dolorosi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 post partum laboriosi And he shall rule over thee Yet not with rigor She must though to her grief and regret be subject to all her husbands lawful both commands and restraints But he must carry himself as a man of knowledg towards her and make her yoke as easie as may be It is remarkable Colos 3.19 That when the Apostle had bid Wives submit to your own husbands c. He doth not say Husbands rule over your wives for that they will do fast enough without biding but husbands love your wives and be not bitter unto them Vers 17. Because thou hast hearkned to the voyce of thy wife Our English Historian relating the deadly difference that fell out betwixt those two noble Seymours the Lord Protector Sir Johu Heywood in the life of K. Edw. 6. p. 84. and the Admiral his Brother in Edward the sixt time thorough the instigation of their ambitious wives passionately cryes out O wives The most sweet poyson the most desired evil in the world c. Woman was first given to man for a Comforter saith he not for a Counsellor much less a controller and director And therefore in the first sentence against man this cause is expressed Because thou hast obeyed the voyce of thy wife c. Cursed is the ground for thy sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arvuum ab Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence the Greeks and Latines borrow their words for ground of the Hebrew word that signifieth cursed The curse of emptiness and unsatisfyingness lyes upon it that no man hath enough though never so much of it The curse also of barrenness or unprofitable fruits whose end is to be burned Heb. 6.8 The whole earth and the works therein 2 Pet. 3.10 shall be burnt up It was never beautiful nor chearful since Adams fall At this day it lyes bed-rid waiting for the coming of the Son of God that it may be delivered from the bondage of corruption Rom. 8.20 Vers 18. Thorns also and thisties Vbi veritas dixit quod terra homini spinas tribulos germinaret subintelligendum fuit ait Petrareha rusticos tribulis omnibus asperiores Petrarch de remed ver fort Dial. 59. Judg. 8 7-16 The Clowns of Midian drove Jethroes daughters from the water they had drawn Rudeness hath no respect either to sex or condition Those Churls of Succoth were worthily threshed with thorns of the Wilderness and with bryars and thereby taught better manners Thou shalt eat the herb of the field And no longer feed on these pleasant fruits of Paradise which by thy sin thou hast forfeited Thus man is driven from his dainty and delicate dyet to eat husks with hogs as the Prodigal or at least grass with the Ox as Nebuchadnezzar and be glad of it too as our Ancestours who though they fed not at first on acorns as the Poets fable Hiâ—c holus quisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet if they could get a dish of good green herbs they held themselves as well provided for as if they had all Verse 19. Picherellus in Cosmâ—p In the sweat of thy face Or of thy nose as One rendreth it that sweat that beginning in thy brow runs down by thy nose through thy hard labour This is a law laid upon all sorts to sweat out a poor living to humble themselves by just labour to sweat either their brows or their brains for this latter also is a sore occupation Eccles 1.13 and the Ministers toyl is compared to that of those that cleave wood or work hard in harvest 1 Thess 3.5 Math. 10.1 â— 1 Cor. 9.14 See my true â—â—ealure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Shalt thou eat bread Not herbs onely as vers 18. And here take notice of an elegant gradation together with a mercifull mitigation of mans misery Thou shalt eat earth ver 17. herbs vers 18. and now here Thou shalt eat bread that stay and staffe of mans life under his hard labour Panem dictum volunt à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isidor 1.20 Vntill thou returne unto the ground O earth earth earth bearâ— the word of the Lord i.e. Earth by creation Earth by corruption Earth by resolution This is the end of all men and the living should lay it to heart Jâ—â— 22.29 In this third of Genesis we find Mans Exodus This is the first text of mortality and all comments yea all dead corpses concur to the exposition of it Etiam mutâ— clâ—mant cadavâ—â—a Basil For dust thou art Think on this and be proud if thou canst We were created 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but now we live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Agapetus Had we so sweet a generation as that little creature Scaliger speaks of Exercit ad ad Cardan that is bred in sugar we might have had some ground of boasting but now we may sprinkle the dust of humility on our heads as the Ancients used to do in token that they had deserved to be as far under as now they were above ground And to dust thou shalt return By this limitation God restrains mans death here threatned to that earthy part of him his body The forest death is when a man dyes in his sins as those Jewes did Joh. 8.21 better dye in a ditch a fair deal when he is killed with death as Jesabels children Rev. 2.23 this is the second death The condemned person comes out of a dark prison and goes to the place of execution so do many from the womb to the tomb nay to that tormenting Tophet to the which death is but a trap-door to give them entrance Verse 20. And Adam caâ—â—ed his wives name Eve That is Life or Living Not per antiphraesim as some would have it much less out of pride and stomack in contempt of the divine sentence denounced against them both that they should surely dye as Rupertus would have it but because she was to be mother of all living whether a naturall or a spirituall life and likewise for a testimony of his faith in and thankfulness for that lively and life-giving oracle vers 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The mother of all living Have we not all as one father Mal. 3.10 so one mother did we not all tumble in a belly why do we then deale treacherously every man against his brother ib. This one consideration should charm down our rising and boyling spirits one against another as it did Abrahams Gen. 13 8. Verse 21. Coats of skins and clothed them God put them in leather when yet there was better means of cloathing to humble them doubtless and draw them to
Cavete ab hoc quem natura notavit is but a gold ring in a Swines snout as Solomon hath it or ornamentum in luto as another so it was in Alcibiades for a man and in Aurelia Orestilla for a woman yet surely where they meet they make a happy conjunction and draw all hearts to them as in Germanicus for a man in whom beauty and vertue strove for precedency and Artaxerxes Longimanus the son of Esther who is said to have been of all men the most beautifull and most bountifull So in Esther for a woman who obtained favour in the sight of all that looked upon her Esth 2.15 And Aspasia Milesia the wife of Cyrus who deserved to be stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fair and Wise as Aelian relateth As on the other side in Vatinius deformity of body strove with dishonesty of minde adeo ut animus ejus dignissimo domicilio inclusus videretur saith Paterculus Vers 12. Therefore it shall come to passe c. Note here saith Pererius the raging affection of the Egyptians that made no conscience of murther to enjoy their lust 2. Their blindness that made less account of murther then adultery Note again saith Piscator that beauty exposeth a body to the danger of dishonesty and that as the Poet hath it Lis est cum formâ magna pudicitiae Let those therefore that have beauty look to their chastity and possesse their vessels in holiness and honour Thesaurum cum virgo tuum vas fictile servet Vt caveas quae sunt noxia tuta time Filthiness in a woman is most abominable therefore is a Whore called a strange woman Vers 13. Say I pray thee thou art my sister The truth was here not onely concealed but dissembled As the Moon hath her specks so the best have their blemishes A Sheep may slip into a slough as soon as a Swine and an Apple-tree may have a fit of barrenness as well as a Crab-tree Vers 14. The Egyptians beheld the woman Pleasure is blamed in Xenophon for this that she ever and anon looketh back upon her own shadow Decet haberâ— oculos continenter maâ—â—â— linguam and giveth her eyes leave to rove and range without restraint An honest man saith Plautus should have continent eyes hands and tongue Nihil enim interest quibus membris cinoedi sitis posterioribus an prioribus said Archelaus the Philosopher to a wanton yonker The eye that light of all the members is an ornament to the whole body And yet that lightsome part of the body draweth too too oft the whole soul into darkness Job 31.1 This Job knew and therefore made a Covenant to look to his looks â—â—th of looking came luâ—â—ing Charles the fifth when the City of Antwerp thought to gratifie him in a Mask Job Mauliâ— loc Com. p. 34â— Saepe claufit senestram nâ— inspicâ—râ—t formosiores â—â—â—miâ—â—â— c. De Carolo 5. Pâ—reuâ— hist pres medul pag. â—08 Matth. 5.28 29 with the sight of certain fair Maids brought in before him almost naked he would not once look at them The young Lord Harrington when he should meet with fair women in the streets or elsewhere would usually pull his hat over his eyes as knowing that of our Saviour He that looks upon a woman to lust after her c. whereupon immediately follows If thine eye offend thee c. Eckius was sharply rebuked at a feast by a modest matrone for his uncivill glances and carriages in these words as Melancthon relateth Es tu doctor Joh. Manlii loc com p. 32â— Non existimo te in honesta familia sed in lupanari educatum Thou a Doctour I do not believe thou wast bred any where else but in a brothel-house See the Notes on Chap. 6. Vers 2. Vers 15. The Princes also of Pharaoh c. Flattering Courtiers please Princes humours and serve their delights though to the procuring of their plagues as here and in young King Joash If a ruler hearken to lyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod l. 3. saith Solomon all his servants are wicked Prov. 29.12 Aulicisunt instar spâ—â—uli saith One. And Mirifica est sympâ—thia saith another inter magnates parasitâ—s Herâ—dorus writeth that when Cambyses demanded of his Courtiers and Counsellours whether it were not lawfull for him to marry his own sister whom he greatly desired they answered That they found no law to license such a match but another law they found that the King of Persia might do what he would And the woman was taken into Pharaohs house Not for any worse purpose then to get her good will to become his wife Vers 16. And he entreated Aâ—ram well for her sake To the end that he might sollicite his sister to yeeld consent or might not be a back-friend at least out of displeasure because they had taken away his sister from him to the Court. So K. Hen. 8. advanced all Anne Bullens kindred c. Vers 17. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh Plagued him with plagues saith the Hebrew tormented him with torments or set him on the rack saith the Greek And for this he might thank his Court-parasites who put him upon this rape Chrysostome thinketh that Sarah was abed with the King and that in the bed God by his plague so restrained him that she remained untoucht But we cannot gather by the text that he intended to commit adultery sed quòd levitate vaga libidine peccavit but offended onely in going after the sight of his eyes a and lust of his heart as Solomon hath it Vers 18. What is this that thou hast done unto me God had reproved Pharaoh according to that Psal 105.14 He suffered no man to doe them wrong but reproved Kings for them and now Pharaoh reproves Abraham It is a sad thing that Saints should do that for which they should justly fall under the reproofe of the wicked we should rather dazle their eyes and draw from their consciences at least a testimony of our innocency as David did from Sauls when he said Thou art more righteous then I my son David Whose oxe have I taken saith Samuel And which of you can condemne me of sin saith Christ Now the life of a Christian should be a Commentary upon Christs life 1 Pet. 2. Ye are a holy nation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.9 a peculiar people that ye should preach forth his vertues and not hang his picture his image and graces in a dark hole but in a conspicuous place Bucer so lived that neither could his friends sufficiently praise him nor his foes justly blame him for any miscarriage Act Mon. And Bradford was had in so great reverence and admiration for his holiness that a multitude which never knew him but by fame Ibid. 1458. greatly lamented his death yea and a number also of Papists themselves wished heartily his life But to have Egyptians jear us and that for sin is threatned as a
us this City comes to be trodden under foot this sixth of May 1527. That City till it became idolatrous was ever victorious But since it hath been the nest of Antichrist it was never besieged but it was taken and sacked The God of Heaven purge out of our Church daily more and more that Land-desolating sin of Idolatry Zach. 14.11 and masse good his promise That there shall be no more the Canâ—â—â—ite in the house of the Lord of hâ—stes no evil spirit left in the Land Fiat Fiat For of England we may now well say Tacit. bist lib. 1. cap. 1. as he once did of Rome Nunquam magis justis judiciis approbatum est non esse curae Deâ— securitatem nostram esse vindictâ—â— Vers 8 And there went out the King of Sodom c. These five neighboring Kings were combined against the four Kings that invaded them It was not then a civile Dissension that worst of Wars such as was that of France and is now alass Hist of Counâ— of Treâ—t 647. of England wherein the sons fought against their Fathers and Brothers against Brothers and even women took Arms on both sides for defence of their Religion That was not more monstrous Heyl. Geog. pag. 289. That the Sneviâ—â—â— women threw their young children at the Romans their enemies instead of darts then that other was pitioâ—s between the Romans themselves those that were for Vitellius and the other for Vespasian That when the women brought the Vitellians victuals by night into the Camp they not onely refreshed themselves but their adversaries also with meat and drink Each man called to his adversary by name Dio in vitâ— visellii and said Accipe micommillto ede Non enim tibi gladium praebeo sed panem Accipe rursâ—m bibe Non euim tibi scutum sed poculum trado ut sive tu me interficias sive ego tâ— moriamur facilius atque ut ne me enervatâ atque imbecillâ manu occidas aut ego te Hae nostrae sunt exequiâ— nohis adhuc viventibus Thus they greeted over night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio. and the next day dispatcht one another they gave wounds and took wounds they slew and were slain as the same Author hath it Which as oft as I think on I cannot but highly commend that Speech of Othâ— the Emperor to his Souldiers a little afore he took his end I hate civil wars though I were sure to overcome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio. In vita Othonis Daniels Chrâ—n continued by Yrussel fol. 249. Omâ—e bellum sumitur facilè caeterum aegerrimè desinit Non enim in ejusdem potestate est initium belli ejusque finis Salust â—n Juguâ— I know not why any Englishman should love it that shall call to minde that in the civil Dissentions between the Houses of York and Lancaster there were slain â—re the quarrel ended fourscore Princes of the Blood Royal and twice as many Natives of England as were lost in the two Conquests of France War is easily taken up saith the Wise Historian but not so easily laid down again Neither is the beginning and the end of a War in any one mans power If the Scots should come in on the one side and the French or Irish on the other What an Acheldamâ— should we soon become what an Ire-land a seat of Wrath because a seat of War It is never to be forgotten by us That the Dissension between England and Scotland consumed more Christian blood wrought more spoil and destruction and continued longer then ever quarrel we read of did between any two people of the World Our Edward the first adjured his Son and Nobles That if he dyed in his journey into Scotland they should carry his Corps about Scotland and not suffer it to be interred till they had absolutely subdued the Countrey A desire more Martial then Christian a designe of revenge beyond his life Such spirits are raised in men that delight in war Psalm 68.30 O pray for the peace of Jerusalem So saith David Psalm 122.6 And so doth David in the next verse Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy pallaces The Athenians when they had gotten the better at Sea of the Lacedemonians were so overjoyed Tum primùm arae Paci publicae sunt factae eique Deae pulvinaâ— instâ—tutum Cornel. Nepos Psal 85.9 10. Luke 1.74 That they then first sâ—t up Altars to the Publike Peace and appointed a Cushion to be laid thereon for that godess to rest upon Oh would the Lord but once more grant us that Righteousness and Peace might kiss each other and Mercy and Truth meet in our Land How happy should we hold our selves how infinitely oblieged to sing Servati sumus ut serviamus How should we prize our restored Peace and improve it as Abraham did here to the paying of Tithes in token of thankfulness yea to the seting up of Altars not to Publike Peace as those Heathens but to the God of peace as Abraham after this did when he had concluded a peace with King Abimelech and his General Phicol Gen. 21.32 33. Vers 10. And the vale of Siddim was full of slime-pits Chosen therefore on purpose by the five Kings who fled and fell there or as some understand the Text made haste to fall down there Celeritèr se dejecerunt Piscat Eo coâ—silio ut hostes ignari locorum c. Idem sculking and scouting till their enemies should pursue them and so perish in those Pits But their cunning failed them For as they had travelled with iniquity and conceived-mischief so they brought forth a lye They made a Pit and digged it but fell into the ditch that themselves had made Psal 7.15 16. The way of this world saith One is like the vale of Siddim slimy and slippery full of Lime-pits and Pit-falls Springs and Stumbling-blocks laid by Satan to maim or mischieve us to procure our ruine or ruth To defeat him therefore as these four Kings did the five Let us tread gingerly stâ—p warily lift not up one foot till we finde sure footing for the other Let us look ere we leâ—p Alioqui saliens antequam videat Bern. de bon deser casurus est antequam debeat as Saint Bernard hath it Vers 11. And all their victuals Ezek. 16.49 Amos 4. Fulness of bread was a part of their sin and now cleanness of teeth is made a piece of their punishment in Gods just judgment Per quod quis peccat per idem punitur ipse Vers 12. And they took Lot God passeth not by the sins of his dearest Saints without a sensible check Lot for his affecting the first choyce had soon enough of it Strong affections bring strong afflictions as hard knots require hard wedges Earthly things court us that they may cut our throats These Hoasts welcom us into our Inne with smiling countenance that they may dispatch us in our Beds Beware
of the worlds cut throat kindnesses consort not with Sodomites lest ye partake of their plagues Hamath lyes nigh to Damascus in place and fares the worse for its neighborhood Zach. 9.2 Lot loseth his goods and liberty 2 Chro. 18.31 19.2 Jehosaphat had well-nigh lost his life for loving those that hated God Vers 13. And there came one that had escaped A Sodomite likely but a servant to Gods good providence 2 Pet. 2.9 Eph. 4. Psal 126 4. for Lots rescue The Lord knoweth how to deliver his c. He that led captivity captive can turn our captivity as the streams in the South Vers 14. He armed his trained servants Or catechised such as he had painfully principled both in Religion and Military Discipline tractable and trusty ready prest for any such purpose It is recorded to the commendation of Queen Elisabeth that she provided for war even when she had most perfect peace with all men Camdens Elis fol. 164. Darts foreseen are dintless Vers 15. Smote them and pursued them Abram came upon them as they were secure sleepy and drunken as Josephus writeth So did David upon the Amalekites 1 Sam. 30.16 and Ahab the Syrians 1 King 20.16 The division of his company and taking benefit of the night wacheth the use of godly policies and stratagems Vers 16. And he brought back all the goods The five Kings were deprived of the whole victory because they spared not a man whom they should have spared One act of injustice oft loseth much that was justly gotten Beware saith a Reverend Writer hereupon of swallowing ill gotten wealth Mr. Whatelyes Archetypes it hath a poysonfull operation and like some evill simple in the stomack will bring up the good food together with the evill humours And also brought again his brother Lot Many a crooked nature would have thought of the old jar and let Lot taste of the fruits of his departure In a friends distress let former faults be forgotten and all possible helps afforded And the women also and the people The hope of this might haply move that officious messenger to address himself to the old Hebrew vers 13. little set by till now that they were in distress Generall Vere told the King of Denmarke Spec bellisacri 253. that Kings cared not for souldiers no more did the King of Sodome for Abraham and his Reformadoâ—s untill such time as the Crowns hang on the one side of their heads Vers 18. Melchizedek King of Salem Who this Melchisedek was is much controverted Some would have him to be the holy Ghost Others the Lord Christ in the habit of a King and Priest The Jerusalem Targum saith Hu Shem Rabba This was Shem the Great and of the same opinion are not a few of the Hebrew Doctours and others But what should Shem do in Canaan which Country fell not to him but to his brother Ham To this they answer That by the instinct of the Holy Ghost he left his own posterity now fallen away for most part to Idolatry and came to the land of Canaan a type of Heaven and the place from whence peace and salvation should be preached to all people If this were so it might very well be that Amraphel who was of Shems lineage Dr. Prideaux Lâ—â—t de Melchis p 95. and his fellow-souldiers moved with reverence of this their great Grand-father Shem might forbear to molest him at Salem or invade his territories when they wasted and smote all the neighbour-nations But then on the other side if Melchisedek were Shem why doth not Moses calf him so but change his name 2. Why did not Abram dwelling so near visit him all this while that was so near allyed to him and so highly respected by him as it was meet 3. Why did Melchisedek the Grand-father take tithes of his Nephew to whom he should rather have given gifts and legacies 2 Cor. 12.14 Most likely Melchisedek was a Canaanite of the Canaanites yet a most righteous King and Priest of the most High God and so a pledge and first-fruits of the calling of the Gentiles to the knowledge and obedience of Jesus Christ of whom he was a lively type Heb. 7.2 Brought forth brend and wine This he did as a King as a Priest he blessed Abraham which latter therefore the Apostle pitcheth upon Heb. 7.1 as being to treat of Christs Priesthood The Papists think to finde footing here for their unbloody sacrifice in the Masse Melchisedee say they as a Priest offered bread and wine to God for he was a Priest of the living God So they render it Tert. de Praescrip advers haeret or rather wrest this text to make it speak what it never meant Caedem Scriptuarum faciunt ad materiam suam they murther the Scriptures to serve their own purposes saith Tertullian Where can they shew us in all the Book of God that the Hebrew word Hotsi here used signifieth to offer But any thing serves turn that hath but a shew of what they alleadge it for A Sorbonist finding it written at the end of St. Pauls Epistles Missa est Bee-hive of Rom. Church chap. 3. fol. 93. Nelancthon orat de encom eloquentiae Pref. to his book of the Sacraments c. brag'd he had found the Masse in his Bible So another reading Joh. 1.41 Invenimus Messiam made the same conclusion A third no whit wiser then the two former speaking of these words I now write upon Rex Salem panem vinum protulit fell into a large discourse of the nature of Salt Agreable whereunto Dr. Poynes writes that it was foretold in the Old Testament that the Protestants were a Malignant Church alleadging 2 Chron. 24.19 Mitâ—â—batque prophetas ut râ—vâ—rterentur ad Dominum quos â—rotestantes illi audire nolebant Vers 19. And he blessed him Lo here an instance of the communion of Saints Melchisedek doth all good offices to Abraham a beleever though a stranger not of curtesie onely and humanity but of charity and piety Vers 20. And he gave him tithe of all Not of the Sodomites goods which he restored wholly ver 23. but of the other lawfull spoyle he had taken from the foure conquered Kings in testimony of his thankfulness to God the giver of all victory Vers 21. And the King of Sodome said He that a few dayes since faced the heavens and cared not for foure Kings can now become suppliant to a forlorn forreigner Affliction will tame and take down the proudest spirits they buckle in adversity that bore their heads on high in prosperity In their moneth you may finde these wild-asses Give me the persons Abram did so Jer. 2.24 and yet they were no whit amended by their late captivity or former servitude from both which now they are freed by Abraham but still held captive by the Devill who owes them yet a further spite as we shall see Chapt. 19. Vers 22. I have lifted up my hand A swearing
the Popes Express for in Popish Councels the Bishops and others have no more to do but simply inclinaâ—o capite to say Placet to that which in the Popes name is propounded to them As nothing was resolved by the Trent-Fathers but all in Rome whence grew that blasphemous Proverb Hist of Counc of Trent 497. Rev. 16.3 Brightman which habhor to relate This Councel was that sea upon which the second Angel poured out his vial and it became as the blood of a dead man and every living soul died in that sea Cavete Vers 4. And Jacob said These petty passages are recorded when the acts of mighty Monarchs are unmentioned to shew Gods dear respect to his poor servants The Lion and Eagle were not offered in sacrifice as the Lamb and Dove were Master Fox being asked whether he knew such an honest poor man answered I remember him well I tell you I forget Lords and Ladies to remember such So doth God Vers 6. And behold Rachel his daughter Note that our least and ordinary actions are ordered and directed by God as Nathaneel's being under the fig-tree c. Joh. 1.48 Birds flying seem to flie at liberty yet are guided by an over-ruling hand of Heaven so are our thoughts affections actions Sic curat Deus universos quasi singulos sic singulos quasi solos saith Augustine Rachel by a divine providence meets Jacob at the Well so doth the Church that shepherdess Cant. 1.7.8 meet Christ in his Ordinances Psal 23.2 3. Vers 7. Neither is it time c. Time is a precious commodity and must be thriftily husbanded The common complaint is We want time But the truth is we do not so much want Non parùm habemus temperis sed multum perdimus Sen. as waste it as the Heathen observed which they that do are wastfullest prodigals for of all other possessions two may be had together but two moments of time cannot be possest together This made the Philosopher so parsimonious of time Senec. Epist Nullus mihi per otium exit dies I cannot afford to cast away a day partem noctium studiis vendico part of the night I take for my studies So did Charles the Great and after him Charles the fifth He had for that purpose as his Instructor Turrianus of Cremona ever with him who when at any time in the field against the enemy spent what hours he could spare in the studie of the Mathematicks As if he had been of Cato's minde That great men must be able to give good account non minus otii quà m negotii no less of their leasure then of their labour His constant custom was saith Cicero Cato in Orig. Cic. desenect to call to minde at evening what thing soever he had seen read or done that day King Alfred that reigned here Anno Dom. 872 is said to have cast the natural day into three parts Eight hours he spent in praying studie and writing eight in the service of his body eight in the affairs of State Which spaces having then no other engine for it he measured by a great wax light Dan. Chron. fol. 13. divided into so many parts receiving notice by the keeper thereof as the several hours passed in the burning Qui nescit quo vita modo volat audiat horas Quà m sit vita brevis nos docet ille sonus Vers 8. We cannot until all the flocks As we are not by the example of these shepherds to enterprise things above our strength Psal 131.1 so neither to be discouraged by every dissiculty but to lend and borrow help one of another each man pleasing his neighbour for his good Rom. 14.2 and serving him in love to edification Divisae his operae sed mens suit unica pavit Ore Lutherus oves flore Melancthon apes Vers 9. For she kept them Leah might be left at home for the tenderness of her eyes A man is to see that all under his roof have a fit employment as the Master gave each servant his task Matth. 25.15 his talent according to his several ability secundum peritiam potentiam And every one hath some excellency or other in him can we but finde and improve it God hath dispensed his gifts diversly for the common benefit And as in the same pasture the ox can finde fodder the hound a hare the stork a lizard the fair maid flowers so there is none so worthless but something may be made of him some good extracted out of the unlikeliest Yea wisdom is such an Elixar as by contaction if there any disposition of goodness in the same metal it will render it of the property Vers 10. Went neer and rolled the stone c. If he did this alone as the Text seemeth to say it was very strange He might put forth his strength to gratifie Rachel and to insinuate himself into her love Vers 11. Lifted up his voice and wept For joy that he had so happily light upon his kinswoman It argued also his great affection and passion of minde for her sake Love is exstatical nec juris se sinit esse sui Animus est ubi amat non ubi animat He kisseth Rachel as if he would have transfused his soul into her Ovid. Amor. lib. 2. Magin in Geogr. and wept aloud not as those vain lovers who ut flerent oculos erudiêre suos Nor as the Brasileans whose faculty is such that tears are for a present salutation and as soon gone as if they had said How do you But as Joseph wept over Benjamin the Prodigals father over him c. Vers 12. That he was her fathers brother And therefore made so bold with her upon no further acquaintance His kisses were not unchaste but modest such as were common among kinred And yet here care must betaken that Satan corrupt not our courtesie or more intimate acquaintance with never so near an alliance Flyes may settle upon the sweetest perfumes and putrifie them S. Paul saw cause to exhort Timothy 2 Tim. 5.2 that mortified young man to exhort the younger women as sisters With all purity because through the subtilty of Satan and the deceit of his own heart even whiles he was exhorting them to chastity some unchaste motions might steal upon him A great deal of caution doth no hurt Abundaus cautela non nocet Vers 13. He ran to meet him and embraced him All in hypocrisie as the Hebrews hold There be many Labans hot at first cold at last friendly in the beginning froward in the end A free friend at first a kinde friend to the last is Rara avis in terris Mic. 7.5 Trust not in a friend put not confidence in a brother c. Look rather unto the Lord as the Church doth there he is the onely Suresby as they say and will never fail us when the World as Laban will shew it self at parting if not before He told Laban
he might be put to death instead of his father This he obtained after much suite and most gladly dyed for him At Gaunt in Flanders when a father and his son were condemned to dye together the Earl desirous to make trial whether of the two were more loving granted that he should live that would cut off the others head And after much adoe between them the father Philip. Cameâ—ar Cent. 1. cap. 92. by many arguments perswaded his son to be his executioner CHAP. XLV Vers 1. Then Joseph could not refrain NO more can Jesus in the extream afflictions of his brethren Esay 42.14 he must cry like a travelling woman which though she bite in her pain for a while cannot long contain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herodot As Croesus his dumb son burst forth into Kill not King Croesus so when the Church is over-laid by Satan or his instruments his bowels work he can hold no longer but cryes Save my child Do the young man Absolom no hurt I was but a little displeased and they have helped forward the affliction Zach. 1.15 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies or bowels Their groans and moans as every word of Judah's pathetical speech to Joseph are as so many darts and daggers at his heart he must take course for their relief and rescue For he is a very tender-hearted Ioseph said that Martyr and though he speak roughly to his brethren and handle them hardly M. Sanders Act. and Mon. 1â—64 yea and threaten grievous bondage to his best beloved Benjamin yet can he not contain himself from weeping with us and upon us with falling on our necks and sweetly kissing us c. as he sweetly goes on in a letter to his wife pray pray for us every body we be shortly to be dispatched hence to our good Christ Amen Amen Cause every man to go out from me That he might weep his fill and not discover his brethrens faults to strangers It is wisdome in plaistering the wounds of others to clap our hand on the place that the world may be never the wiser Mercer thinks that Ioseph concealed from his very father the hard dealings of his brethren with him for if he had known he would likely have set some note upon them for their cruelty as he did upon Simeon and Levi for their bloody butchering of the Shechemites Vers 3. I am Joseph What a word was that At the hearing thereof what a strange conflict of contrary passions fell out in the hearts of the Patriarchs Wonder doubt reverence fear hope guiltiness joy grief struck them at once Shall it not be so with the Jews at their glorious conversion when they shall hear I am Jesus of Nazareth Zach. 12.10 Rev. 1.7 whom ye have persecuted and pierced See the Notes on Chap. 38. ver 27. Vers 4. I am Ioseph your brother Therefore you are to expect no hard sentence from a brothers mouth Christ is not ashamed nor will be at last day to call us brethren Pattern of Piety He that was willingly judg'd for me said that good woman will surely give no hard sentence against me We may say boldly to him as Ruth did to Boaz Spread thy skirt over me for thou art a neer kinsman Ruth 3.9 Vers 5. Now therefore be not grieved c. See here a lively image of Christs love toward his enemies for whom he prayed and dyed to give them repentance and remission Act. 5.31 This Angel of the Covenant first troubles the waters and then cures those cripples that step in This Sun of righteousness first draws up vapours of godly grief and then dispells them A bruised reed shall he not break and smoaking wick shall he not quench Mat. 12.20 till he bring forth judgment to victory that is weak grace to perfection To preserve life Animant is cujusque vita in fugaest saith the Philosopher and must be maintained by means Isai 57.10 Hence it is called the life of our hands because upheld by the labour of our hands Vers 7. God sent me before you He it is that by a powerfull providence orders all the disorders of the world by a certain counsell to his own ends and at length to his own glory The hands that nailed Christ to the cross were wicked hands Act. 2. 23. And Iudas was sent to his place for being guide to them that took Iesus And yet they did no more Act. 1.16 then what Gods hand and counsell determined before to be done Act. 4.28 for his glory and the salvation of his elect This Pliny derides as a strange doctrine but Plato hammers at it when he saith Irridendum verâ— curam agere rerum humanarum illuâ— quicquid est summum Plin. lib. 2. cap. 7. that God doth always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indeed he doth all in number weight and measure as the wise-man saith He alters the property of his peoples afflictions and by an Almighty Alchymy turns dross to gold c. As a skilfull Apothecary he makes of a poisonfull viper a wholesome triacle Vers 8. It was not you that sent me Ioseph makes the best of an ill matter that they may not be over-whelmed with grief Ier. 31.19 Postquam osten sum fuerit mihi Tremell and so made a prey to the divell 2 Cor. 2.11 After I was made known to my self saith Ephrahim I repented Get thee saith Mr. Bradford Gods Law as a glass to look in so shalt thou see thy face foul-arraieâ— and so shamefull saucy mangy pocky and scabbed that thou canst not but be sorry at the contemplation thereof c. Especially if thou look to the tag M. Bradf Serm. of Repent pag. 26.27 tied to Gods Law the malediction which is such as cannot but make us to cast our currish tailes betwixt our legs if we believe it But here to cleer our eye-sight and keep us upright we must annoynt our eyes with Christs eye-salve Rev. 3.17 We read of a sensible eye-salve made of Christs spittle and clay Ioh. 9.6 As it were Bright in loc of the knowledg of Christ by his word which proceedeth out of his mouth as also of the knowledg of our selves who being made of earth do savour nothing else but earth Both of these two knowledges are to be joyned and beaten together in a lumpe else they help not For our misery acknowledged without Christ breedeth desperation and Christ without sence of our vileness presumption Vers 9. Come down unto me tarry not Christ seems to send from Heaven and say unto us in like sort God hath made me Lord of all come up unto me tarry not Should the King call us to court upon no other condition then to have and enjoy the pleasures and treasures there to be had old Iacob never went so willingly into Egypt as we should gladly accept and imbrace such a motion Vers 10. Thou shalt be neer unto me So sweet
say It was a merry world before there was so much preaching and teaching In terris manducant quod apud inferos digerant Aug. And ye shall eat Flesh with a vengeance which ye shall eat on earth but disgest in hell Vers 20. But even a whole moneth Deus saepè dat iratus quod negat propitius Patientia Dei quo diuturnior eò minacior Poena venit gravior quò magis sera venit Gods forbearance is no quittance fatted beasts are but fitted for the slaughter wicked men are killed with kindnesses Ease slayeth the foolish Prov. 1.32 Vers 21. Six hundred thousand foot-men In the conquest of Canaan there is no mention of horsemen The adversaries both Egyptians and Canaanites had horses and chariots not so this people of Israel See Psal 33.17 Vers 22. Or shall all the fish of the Sea Moses forgat belike the fowls of the ayr but God sent them such a drift of quailes as Moses dream't not of he fed them with meat of Kings bread of Angels Vers 23. And the Lord said unto Moses God bears with Moses here which afterwards he did not Num. 20.12 because then he shewed his distrust before the people God will not pass by the scandalous practices of his own people without a sensible check Vers 24. And set them round about the Tabernacle That the fear of the Lord might be upon them c. 2 Chron. 19.6 7. and that they might carry themselves worthy of God who had set them in place of Judicature To the company of the Areopagites Judges in Athens none were admitted but wise wealthy and noble men famous for good life and innocency Nay men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose behaviour was intolerable after they were chosen into the Colledg of the Areopagites abhorring and blushing at their former disposition changed their natures and embraced vertue Vers 25. Took of the spirit See the Note on vers 17. They prophesied Nec praedicendo nec praedicando but by uttering grave and wise sentences Apophthegmes or counsels as Moses did concerning the publike affairs of Israel by politicall and prudential speaking of things appertaining to government Vers 26. But there remained two of the men Being stayed by some lawful occasion as 1 Sam. 20.26 Jer. 36.5 or haply out of sense of their own insufficiency as 1 Sam. 10.22 Howsoever hereby it appeared to all the people that these seventy Seniours were set apart by God for the service Vers 27. And there ran a young man Three manner of persons said Mr. Latimer can make no credible information 1. Adversaries and enemies 2. Ignorant persons and without judgment 3. Whisperers and blowers in mens ears that will utter in hugger-mugger more then they dare avow openly Vers 18. My Lord Moses forbid Thus the spirit that is in us lusteth to envy Jam. 4.5 Nero omnium erat aemulus qui quoquo modo animum vulgi moverint Nero envyed every man that excelled Vers 29. That all the Lords people This is not meant of a salvificall teaching others but a political discoursing unto others See the Note on ver 25. Vers 32. And they spread them They fed without fear Jude 12. though foretold they should pay dear for these murthering morsels ver 20. that which they eat being saweed and that which they drank being spiced with the bitter wrath of God Job 20.23 Vers 34. They buried the people Who by a hasty testament bequeathed this new name to the place they lay buried in CHAP. XII Vers 1. ANd Miriam and Aaron spake She is set first because chief in the transgression Her discontent might arise from this that being a Prophetess she was not one of those seventy that were chosen to be helps in government Chap. 11. According to her name Miriam would be exalted Ambition rides without reins Because of the Ethiopian woman Zipporah the Midianitesse see Habac. 3.7 to whom he had been married many years before but they were resolved to pick a hole in Moses's coat An ungodly man diggeth up evil Prov. 16.27 but for Moses to be thus used by his own brother and sister was some triall of his patience To be derided by Egyptians is threatned as a misery Hos 7.16 but to be reproached by professors is very grievous Zedekiah feared more to be mocked by the Jews then by the Chaldees Jer. 38.19 For he had married an Ethiopian That was an old fault if any and should have been buried in oblivion Luther married a wife unseasonably when all Germany was now embroyled and embrewed in the blood of the Bores and when all Saxony was in heaviness for the death of their good Prince Elector Frederick This his best friends disliked and bewailed Mel. Epist ad Camerar As for Melancthon Quoniam vero inquit ipsum Lutherum quâ—dammodò tristiorem esse cerno perturbatum ob vitae mutationem omni studio benevolentia consolari eum conor Because I see him somewhat cast down saith He at the late change of his condition I strive all I can to comfort him Vers 2. Hath the Lord spoken only by Moses Every man would be something at home and many care not to raise themselves upon other mens ruines Self-love teacheth such to turn the glass to see themselves bigger others lesser then they are That man hath true light that can be content to be a candle before the Sun of others And the Lord heard it Without any delation of Moses But while Moses is dumb God speaks while he is deaf God hears and stirres The more silent the patient is the more shrill his wrong will be Vers 3. Now the man Moses was very meek So free from passions if Josephus may be believed that he knew no such thing in his own soul he only knew the names of such things and saw them in others rather then in himself Of Beza it is said quòd sine felle vixerit that he was without gall or guile and he lived to a great age as Moses did and as Mr. Dod did their meekness preserved them Above all the men And yet Moses could be angry enough when there was cause Exod. 11.8 16.20 Levit. 1â— 16 Numb 16.15 c. Yea how blessedly blown up was he with a zeal for God Exod. 32.19 and what a stomack shews he in that case Nazianzen saith of Athanasius that he was Magnes Adamas a Load-stone in his sweet gentle drawing nature and yet an Adamant in his resolute stout carriage against those that were evil Vers 4. And the Lord spake suddenly God takes his part ever that fights not for himself Christ that said I seek not mine own glory adds But there is one that seeks is and judgeth Here he appears as a swift witness Mal. 3.5 c. a sharp revenger of his servants injuries The rule is Injuria illata legato redundat in legantem Wrong done to a messenger reflects on him that sent him Vers 7. My servant Moses is not so God had never so
proelium inibat vltimus conserto proelio excedebat he was first in the battell and last out And the same is storied of Albert Marquess of Brandenburg Buchole In congressibus prior pugnam iniit victor à proelio excessit vltimus Vers 10. Then proclaime peace unto it Heb. Shalt call unto it for peace This hath been the practice of most nations The Romans sent their caduceum et hastam the Herald was commanded Gel. lib. 16. cap. 4. to throw his weapons on the enemies ground with this speech Ego populusque Rom. hoâ—inibus Hermundulis bellum dico facioque I and the people of Rome bid battell to the Hermunduli Alexander the great when he besieged any city would send his Herald into it with a burning torch in his hand to proclaim that if any man would repair and submit himself unto him while that torch continued burning he should be safe otherwise Turk hist they should expect nothing but fire and sword Tamerlain when he came against any place first he hanged out a white flag of grace then a red and lastly a black flag to shew that now there was no hope of mercy for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God loves to give warning saith Herodotus a heathen And the Turks are of opinion â—b 344. that God would not prosper them in their assaults except they first make to their enemies some offer of peace how unreasonable soever it forceth not So they did at the last fatall siege of Constantinople Vers 11. And open unto thee As Tournay in France did to our Henry the eight with ten thousand pound sterling for the Citizens redemption yet was it never till then counted so invincible that this sentence was engraven over one of the gates Iannes ton me a perdu ton pucellage Speeds hist of Engl. 1001. thou hast never lost thy maiden-head Vers 13. Thou shalt smite every male thereof Let them pay for their pervicacy So Caesar answered the Adviatici Si priusquâ—m aries murum attigisset se de dissent Caes 2. Gallic Connestab 6. that he would have spared their city if they had yielded before he had assaulted And so the Duke D' Alva much blamed Prosper Columnus for receiving a castle upon condition after he had beaten it with the cannon Howbeit in the L. Protectours expedition into Scotland in the raign of Edward the 6. one castle when they understood they were not able to hold out and that their obstinacy had excluded all hope of pardon they made petition that they might not presently be slain but have some time to recommend their souls to God and afterwards be hanged Life of Edw. 6. by Sr. Jo. Heywood This respite being first obtained their pardon did the more easily ensue Vers 17. The Hivites and the Iâ—busites The Gergashites are not reckoned among the rest as neither are they Iâ—sh 9.1 happy because they accepted of conditions of peace Vers 19. Thou shalt not cut them down Fruit-trees might not be destroyed doth God take care for trees It was to teach us that if we bring forth fruit fit for Gods taste and rellish sanctifying God and Christ in our hearts we shall not be destroyed Oakes bring forth apples such as they are and acorns but not fit for meat CHAP. XXI Vers 1. IN the field Or elsewhere the field is instanced because in places more frequented murders are not so easily concealed or so commonly committed Vers 2. Then thy Elders Some of the Sanhedrin Vers 3. Shall take an heifer Signifying Christ who is the propitiation for his peoples sins 1 Joh. 2.2 Vers 4. Which is neither eared nor sown That is that afterwards should neither be tilled nor sown for horrour and hatred of the innocent blood there spilled So the mountains of Gilboah 2 â—am 1 Vers 5. And by their word i. e. According to that exposition that they shall give of Gods Word and not by any absolute or arbitrary power of their own Vers 6. Shall wash their hands An old ceremony used in this case by the Gentiles also as the Scholiast upon Sophocles sheweth See the Note on Matth. 27.24 Vers 27. And they shall answer To the Priests examining them and in Gods name making inquisition for blood Vers 8. And the blood shall be forgiven The fault of not well watching and guarding the place where the murther was committed Our King Alfred was the first that divided this Kingdome into Shires He ordained also that his Subjects should be divided into tens or tithings every of which severally should give bond for the good abearing of each other By this course men were not only careful of their own actions but each had an eye to all the nine for which he stood bound as the nine had over him Insomuch that a poor girle might travel safely with a bag of gold in her hand and none durst meddle with her The ancientest of these men were called the Tithingmen Vers 11. And hast a desire unto her This was permitted them as divorce was ob duricordiam But that is a base passage in the Turks Alchoran that God did not give men such appetites to have them frustrate but enjoyed as made for the gust of man not for his torment wherein his Creatour delights not and therefore they hold it lawful for a man to marry as many wives as he is able to maintain Vers 12. And she shall shave her head In token that she must renounce her heathenism and lead a new and holy life And if she thus consented to marry she saved her life by it so do those their souls that consent to Christ casting away their transgressions and paring off their superfluities by the constant practice of mortification Vers 13. A full moneth Worldly sorrow like a land-flood is for the present impetuous and violent but time wears it out Not so godly sorrow Vers 14. Because thou hast humbled her This expression shews that God approved not of his fact which yet he tolerated Vers 15. And another hated i. e. Less loved as Gen. 29.31 See the Note there Vers 17. A double portion According to this phrase Elisha 2 King 2.9 doth not desire a greater measure of the spirit then rested upon his master but only to excel the other children of the Prophets by a right of primogeniture Vers 20. He is a glutton The same word is used for a vile person Jer. 15 19. And indeed belly-gods Philip. 3.19 are dungy-gods Hab. 2.18 with Ezek. 4.17 18. A scavenger whose office is to empty is to be preferred before him that liveth but to fill privies Vers 21. Shall hear and fear See the Note on Chap. 19.20 Vers 23. For he that is hanged See the Note on Gal. 3.13 CHAP. XXII Vers 1. THou shalt not see thy brothers No not thine enemies Exod. 23.4 for have we not all one father Mal. 2.10 See the Note on Matth. 5.44 Vers 5. The woman shall not wear Because it is against