of the world the Hebrew Doctors understand the element of fire Judicium sit penes Lectorem Let the Reader judge Vers 25. Was I brought forth Or begotten Thus Wisdome describes her eternity in humane words and expressions for our better apprehension Which while Arrius either knew not or weighed not hee here hence took occasion to oppose the Deity of our Saviour and to propagate that damnable errour in the Eastern Churches to the ruine of many souls This Arch-heretick Arrius sitting on the stool to ease nature at Constantinople voided there his entrails And now Mahometisme is there as the excrement of Arrius Vers 26. Nor the fields nor the highest See the Note on vers 24. Vers 27. When hee prepared the heaven Or caused them to bee prepared took order to have it done viz. by mee who was with him and by whom hee made the worlds Joh. 3.35 Heb. 1.3 Joh. 1.3 Col. 1.16 For the Father loveth the Son and hath put all things into his hand When hee set a compass Or drew a circle round about the earth meaning the Out-spread firmament of heaven Gen. 1.6 Howbeit the Hebrews understand it of the world of Angels called by them the third world or the third heaven whereunto St. Paul also seems to allude 2 Cor. 12.2 Vers 28. When hee established the clouds above That they might bee kept there as it were in Tuns and Bottles till hee would have them to pour down their dew or rain Vers 29. When hee appointed the foundations That it should remain unmoveable though it hang in the air as it were by Geometry Ovid. Terra pilae similis nullo fulcimine nixa Aâ—re suspenso tam grave pendet â—nus Vers 30. Then I was by him Accursed then for ever bee that blasphemous assertion of the Arrians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was a time when hee was not This Scripture so much abused by them makes utterly against them But Hereticks pervert the Scriptures saith St. Peter 2 Pet. 3.15 A metaphor from those who put a man upon the rack and make him speak that which hee never thought Tertullian calls Marcion the Heretick Mus Ponticus because of his arroding and gnawing the Scripture to make it serviceable to his errours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As one brought up with him Or as a nourisher that is as a maintainer and upholder of that his excellent workmanship of Creation Heb. 1.3 The Septuagint render it I was with him making all fine and trim Eram apud cum aptans so Irenaeus More pueri qui alatur risum captans ac concilians Mercer Rejoycing alwayes Or laughing with him This as the very Jews are forced to confess doth notably set forth that unspeakable sweetness and joy that the blessed God findeth in the apprehension of his own wisdome which say they is one and the same with God himself Vers 31. Rejoycing in the habitable part That is In the humane nature wherein the fulness of the God-head dwelt bodily by means of the hypostatical union Or in the Saints whose hearts the Lord Christ inhabiteth by faith Or in the work of Creation which Christ did without either tools or tool Vers 32. Now therefore hearken unto meâ— Audite senem juvenes said Augustus to his seditious Souldiers and had audience And shall not Wisdome that is so ancient as before the Creation so eminent as to make and conserve a world so gracious with the Father c. shall not shee bee hearkened to For blessed are they And blessedness is the mark that every man shoots at Vers 33. Hear instruction and bee wise This way wisdome enters into the soul Hear therefore For else there is no hopes Hear howsoever Austin coming to Ambrose to have his ears tickled had his heart touched Vers 34. Waiting at the posts of my doors At the Schools and Synagogues say the Hebrews where men should come in with the first and go forth with the last as door-keepers do which was the office that David desired Psal 84. Vers 35. For who so findeth mee findeth life Lest any man should hold it too hard a task to wait at Wisdomes gates as Princes guards or as the Levites did in the Temple shee tells them what they shall have for so doing And shall obtain favour Which is better than life Gods favour is no empty favour It is not like the Winters Sun that casts a goodly countenance when it shines but gives little heat or comfort As air lights not without the Sun nor wood heats without fire so neither can any thing yeeld comfort without Gods favour Vers 36. Wrongeth his own soul Rapit animam suam Hee plunders his own soul of its happiness yea hee cruelly cuts the throat thereof being ambitious of his own destruction CHAP. IX Vers 1. Wisdome HEbr. Wisdomes in the plural and this either honoris causa for honours sake or else by an Ellypsis as if the whole of it were Wisdome of Wisdomes as the Song of Songs for a most excellent Song Cant. 1.1 Junius renders it Summa sapientia See the Note of Chap. 1.20 Hath builded her house That is the Church 1 Tim. 3.15 See the Note there Shee hath hewn out her seven pillars Pillars and polished pillars Any thing is good enough to make up a mud-wall but the Churches Pillars are of Marble and those not rough but hewn her safety is accompanied with beauty Vers 2. Shee hath killed her Beasts Christ provideth for his the best of the best fat things full of marrow wines on the lees c. Isa 26. his own flesh which is meat indeed his own blood which is drink indeed Joh. 6.55 besides that continual feast of a good conscience whereat the holy Angels saith Luther are as Cooks and Butlers and the blessed Trinity joyful guests Shee hath mingled her Wine That it may not inflame or distemper Christ spake as the people were able to hear lisping to them in their own low language So must all his Ministers accommodating themselves to the meanest capacities Mercers note here is Cum sobrietate tractandae Scripturae The Scriptures are to bee handled with sobriety Shee hath also furnished her table So that it even sweats with variety of precious viands wherewith her guests are daily and daintily fed Mr. Latimer sayes That the assurance of Salvation is the sweet-meats of this stately Feast But what a doâ—t was Cardinal Bobba who speaking in commendation of the Library of Bonony which being in an upper-room hath under it a Victualling-house Angel Roccha in Vatican p. 395. and under that a Wine-cellar had thought hee had hit it in applying thereunto this Text Wisdome hath built her an house hath mâ—ngled her wine and furnished her table Vers 3. Shee hath sent forth her Maidens So Ministers are called in prosecution of the allegory for it is fit that this great Lady should have suitable attendants to teach them innocency purity and sedulity as Maidens keeping the word in
confuso quodam temperamento mixtae that is there was a strange mixture of great Vertues and no less Vices found in this King But as for the pure his work is right For why Hee works by rule and therefore all his actions are uniform Hee is also one and the same in all estates of life 2 Cor. 1.17 18 as gold is purged in the fire shines in the water Did I use lightness saith St. Paul or is therewith mee Yea Yea and Nay Nay No But as God is true so our word toward you was not Yea and Nay I did not say and unsay do and undo c. Vers 9. It is better to dwell in a corner of the house-top Their house-tops were made flat by order of the Law The sense is then A man had better abide abroad sub dio exposed to wind and weather yea to croud into a corner and to live in a Little-ease than to cohabit in a convenient house with a contentious woman that is ever brawling and brangling that turns conjugium into conjurgium by inserting the Dogs letter r and leading her husband a Dogs life Such a one was Zillah Peninnah Xantippe the wife of Phoroneus the Law giver Bruson lib. 7. cap. 22. who upon his death-bed told his brother Hee had been a man happy if hee had never married Aristotle affirms that hee that hath miscarried in a wife Arist in Rhet. hath lost more than half the happiness of his life Rubius Celer and Albutius Tertius were held happy among the Romans because the former had lived with a wife three and forty years and eight months the latter five and twenty years sine querela without quarrelling or contending And this they gave order should bee engraven upon their Grave-stones See the Note on Prov. 19.13 Vers 10. The soul of the wicked desireth evil Sinful self-love the choak-weed of all true love prompteth the wicked man to envy the good and wish the evil of all but himself Hard-hearted hee is and inhumane unless it bee in a qualm of kindness as Saul to David the Aegyptians to the Israelites or meerly in dissimulation as John Oneale father to the Earl of Tyrone Camd. Elis that Rebel 1598. inscribed himself in all places I am great John Oneale friend to the Queen of England and foe to all the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said one wicked Emperour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said another striving to out-vie him Dio. When I dye let the world bee confounded Nay whilest I live let it bee so said the other Monster His neighbour findes no favour in his eyes Whether hee sink or swim it is no part of his care What cares that churl Nabal though worthy David dye at his door so long as himself sits warm within feeding on the fat and drinking of the sweet The Priests and the Levites saw the wounded man that lay half dead and lent him no help It was well they fell not upon him and dispatched him as dogs fall upon a man that is down or as when a Deer is shot the rest of the Herd push him out of their company Such cruel beasts David complains of Psal 69.26 And such fierce salvages St. Paul foretels shall bee in these last and worst dayes Hard hearts shall make hard times 2 Tim. 3.3 Vers 11. When the scorner is punished c. See the Note on Prov. 19.25 And when the wise is instructed Or when hee accurately considers the wise and observes both their integrity and their prosperity by Gods blessing thereupon for the word imports both hee resolves to play the wise-man Vers 12. The righteous man wisely considereth c. Hee fore-seeth its fearful fall and is not offended at their present prosperity For God hee knows will shortly overturn it This consideration cures hi◠of the fret as it did David Psal 37. It doth also instruct him in many points of heavenly wisdome as it did the Church Isa 26.11 1 Cor. 10 11. The destruction of others should bee an instruction to us that wee may wash our feet in the blood of the wicked Psal 52.6 Vers 13. Who so stoppeth his ear at the cry c. This was fulfilled in Pharaoh Haman the rich glutton Hatto Archbishop of Mentz Mauricius the Emperour and many others who might have better provided for their own comfort in sickness and other exigences had they been more pitiful to poor people Whereas now when they shall lye tossing and tumbling upon their sick beds roaring as Bulls and tabring upon their breasts c. Nah. 2.7 God will not hear them Men will say It is good enough for them All hearts by a Divine hand will bee strangely set off from the merciless as it befell Scianus Vers 14. A gift in secret pacifieth anger That is say some alms rightly performed as Matth. 6.1 pacifieth Gods displeasure confer Dan. 4.27 And the Jews at this day write this sentence of Solomon in an abbreviature upon their Alms-box This sense suits well with the verse afore-going Buxtorf Synag Jud. But I conceive the Wise-mans drift here is to shew how prevalent gifts are if closely conveyed especially which takes away the shame of open receiving and what a pave they have to an amicable reconciliation Thus Jacob pacified Esau Abigail David Hezekiah the Assyrian that came up against him 2 King 18.24 25. Howbeit this doth not alwaies do the deed Our Chronicler tells us that the Lady de Bruse had by her virulent and railing tongue more exasperated the fury of King John whom shee reviled as a Tyrant and a murtherer of her husband than could bee pacified by her strange present viz. four hundred Kine Speed 572. and one Bull all Milk-white except onely the ears which were red sent unto the Queen See the Note on Chap. 17.8 Vers 15. It is joy to the just to do judgment They love it dearly and therefore cannot but rejoyce in it exceedingly I rejoyce at thy word as one that findeth great spoyl Psal 119.162 wherein the pleasure is usually as much as the profit Besides as every flower hath its sweet savour so every good duty carries meat in the mouth comfort in the performance Hence the Saints alacrity in Gods service so far as they are spiritual I delight in the Law of God Rom. 7. after the inward man saith Saint Paul who yet but a little before complained of a clog But destruction shall bee to the workers of iniquity Wicked men are great workmen they put themselves to no small pains in catering for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof yea and this they do with singular delight as the opposition implies they weary themselves to commit iniquity Jer. 9.5 and yet they give not over but lye grinding day and night in the Mill of some or other base lust Now what can come of this better than utter destruction which indeed is the just hire of the least sin and will befall the workers of
but fell into a great perplexity of conscience acknowledged his fault to the Owner and promised restitution if ever able to make it And take the name of my God in vain Hee saith not lest I being poor steal and be fined burnt in the hand whipped c. No but lest I take thy name in vain that is cause thy name to stink among the ungodly open their mouths break down the banks of blasphemy by such a base sin committed by such a forward Professor Good men take Gods Name in vain no way so much as by confuting and shaming their Profession by a scandalous conversation such as becometh not the Gospel of Christ Moreover they count sin to bee the greatest smart in sin as being more sensible of the wound they therein give the glory of God than of any personal punishment Vers 10. Accuâ—e not a servant unto his Master Unless it be in an Ordinance for the benefit of both Much lesse may we falsly accuse Wives to their Husbands as Stephen Gardiner and other Court-parasites did King Henry the eighth his Wives to him of Adultery Heresie Conspiracy c. Children to their Parents as the Jesuits the Popes Bloud-hounds did Charls eldest Son of Philip King of Spain for suspicion of Heresie whereupon he was murdered by the cruel Inquisition one friend to another a sin that David could not endure Psal 101. and Christ the Son of David as deeply disliked it in the Pharisees those make-bates that by accusing his Disciples to him one while and him to his Disciples another while sought to make a breach in his Family by setting off the one from the other Lest he curse thee and thou be found guilty Lest to cry quittance with thee he rip up thy faults such as it will be for thy shame Et dici potuisse non potuisse râ—fâ—lli He that speaketh what he should not shall hear of what he would not Put them in mind to speak evil of no man falsly and rashly without cause and necessity And why For we our selves also even I Paul and thou Titus were sometimes foolish disobedient c. Tit. 3.1 2 3. and may haply hear of it to our shame and sorrow if wee irritate others thereunto by way of recrimination Vers 11. There is a generation that curseth their father An evil and an adulterous generation doubtless a bastardly brood as were those in the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 3. a generation of Vipers that make their way into the world by their Dammes death These monsters of men are doomed to destruction Levit. 20. Hell gapes for them as also it doth for such as revile or denigrate their Masters Magistrates Ministers Benefactours Ancients There is a certain Plant which our Herbalists call Herbam impiam or wicked endweed whose younger branches still yeeld flowers to over-top the elder Such weeds grow too rife abroad It is an ill soyl that produceth them But of this before Vers 12. There are a generation that are pure c. As the ancient Puritans the Novatians Donatists Catharists Illuminates Non habeo Domine cui ignoscas said one Justitiary I have done nothing Lord that needs thy pardon Yee are those that justifie your selves saith Christ to the Pharisees All these things have I done from my youth what want I yet said one of them that farre over-weened his own worth and raâ—ed himself above the market In all my labours they shall finde none iniquity in me saith guilty Ephraim that were sin Hos 12.8 that were a foul businesse to find iniquity in Ephraim whose iniquities were yet grown over his head as appears throughout that whole Prophecy That Man of Sin the Pope will needs be held sinless and sundry of his Votaries say they can supererrogate And are there not amongst us even amongst us such Sinners before the Lord that stand upon their Pantofles and proudly ask who can say black is their eye There is a generation of these that is a continual succession of them Such dust-heaps you may finde in every corner And yet is not washed from their filthinesse Either of flesh or spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 they wallow in sin like Swine and welter in wickednesse which is filth and bloud Isa 4.4 the vomit of a Dog 2 Pet. 2.22 the excrement of the Devil the superfluity or garbage of naughtinesse and the stinking filth of a pestilent Ulcer as the Greek words used by St. James chap. 1.21 doe signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole world lyeth in wickednesse 1 Joh. 5.19 as a Lubber in a Lake as a Carcase in its slime Nil mundum in mundo and yet who so forward to boast or their good hearts to God-ward Vers 13. Oh how lofty are their eyes The eyes are the seat of pride and disdain which peep out at these windows The Hebrews have a saying that a mans minde is soonest seen in oculis in loculis in piculis in his eyes expences cups See chap. 6.17 Vers 14. There is a generation whose teeth c. These are sycophants and greedy gripers Speed of whom before often in this book In the year 1235. there were spread through England certain Roman usurers called Caursinâ— quasi capientes ursi devouring bears quoth Paris who had intangled the King Nobles and all that had to do with them These were called the Popes Merchants Sanguisuga Hirudo ab haerendo Non missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 15. The Horse-leech hath two daughters That is two forks in her tongue whereby she first pricketh the flesh and then sucketh the blood Hereunto Salomon seemeth to resemble those cruel cormorants spoken of in the former verse By the horse-leech some understand the devil that great red Dragon red with the blood of souls which he hath sucked and swallowed 1 Pet. 5.8 seeking whom he may let down his wide gullet whiles he glut-gluts their blood as the young Eaglets are said to do Joh. 39.30 by a word made from the sound By the horse-leeches two daughters they understand Covetousness and Luxury whom the devil hath long since espoused to the Romish Clergy Jegna legundum Cujus avaritiae totus non sufficit orbis Cujus luxuriae meretrix non sufficit omnis Vers 16. The grave Which in Hebrew hath its name of craving It is a Sarcophagus feeds on flesh and it as little appears as once in Pharaohs lean kine or as in those that having a flux take in much but are neither fuller nor fatter The word here used may be rendered Hell called by the Latins Infernus ab Inferendo from the devils continual carrying in souls to that place of torment And the barren womb Barren women are most desirous of children which yet are certain cares but uncertain comforts How impatient was Rachel how importunate was Hannah One hath well observed that the barren women in Scripture had the
own Lovers of pleasures are set as last and worst in that catalogue of wickednesse in the last daies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3.4 Vers 9. Also my wisdome remained with mee Outward things are dead things and cannot touch the soul a lively spirit unless by way of taint Solomon if not at first yet at length was fearfully tainted by them making good that of the Poet Stultitiam patiuntur opes Ardua res haec est opibus non tradere mores Martial Et cum tot Croesos viceris esse Numam Vers 10. And what soever mine eyes desired c. I fed them with pleasant pictures shews sights and other objects of delight which yet have plus deceptionis quam delectationis able to entice and ready to kill the intangled Lactant. How many are there that have died of the wound in the eye David knowing the danger prayeth Psal 119.37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding of vanity Job steps one degree further from a prayer to a vow chap. 31. yea from a vow to an imprecation ver 7. If our first parents fell by following the sight of their eyes and lust of their hearts what can Solomon or any of us promise our selves qui animas etiam incarnavimus who have made our very spirit a lump of flesh prone to entertain vice yea to solicit it For my heart rejoyced in all my labour This is not every worldlings happiness For some live not to injoy what they have raked together as that rich fool in the Gospel others live indeed but live beside what they have gotten as not daring to diminish ought but defrauding their own genius and denying themselves necessaries So did not Solomon and yet hee found not the good hee sought for neither as hee tells us in the next words Nor is it want of variety in these pleasures but inward weakness an emptiness and insufficiency in the creature In heaven the objects of our delight and blessedness shall bee though uniform yet everlastingly pleasing Vers 11. Then I looked on all the works A necessary and profitable practice well worthy our imitation viz. to recognize and review what wee have done and to how little purpose wee have wearied our selves in the multitude of our counsells Esay 47.13 God looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited mee not Hee will deliver his soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light Job 33.27 28. Tully could tell Nevius that if hee had but well weighed with himself those two words Quid ago What do I Orat. pro Quintio his lust and luxury would have been cooled and qualified And behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit In the very pursute of them is much anguish many grievances fears jealousies disgraces interruptions discontentments Next it is seldome seen that God allows to the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment Something they must have to complain of that shall give an unsavoury verdure to their sweetest morsels and make their very felicity miserable Yet all this avails mee nothing so long as I see Mordecai saith Haman the Kings minion Lastly after the unsanctified enjoyment follows the sting of conscience that will inexpressibly vex and torment the soul throughout all eternity And there was no profit under the sun Nullae emolumenta laborum nothing but labour for travell no contentation but desperation no satisfaction but endless vexation as children tire themselves to catch a butterflie which when they have caught profits them nothing onely fouls their fingers Or rather as the dropsical body by striving to quench thirst by drinking doth but increase the disease and in the end destroy it self Vers 12. For what can the man doe that cometh after the King q. d. who is it that can out-doe me in this review and discovery Neither is this a vain-glorious vaunting of his own vertues but an Occupation or prevention of an objection thus Obj. It may be thou hast not perfectly known the difference of things and so hast not rightly determined Sol. To this he answers that he hath so quit himself in searching and trying the truth in these points that it is not for any other to goe beyond him And having removed this rub having carried this dead Amasa out of the way that might have hindred his Hearers march hee proceeds in his discourse Vers 13. Then I saw that wisdome excelleth folly i. e. Philosophy and Humane wisdome though it cannot perfect the mind nor make a man happy yet it is as farre beyond sensuality and brutishnesse as light is beyond darknesse Those that seek for the Philosophers Stone though they misse of their end yet they find many excellent things by the way So Philosophers Politicians Moralists though they missed of the pearl of price yet they sought out other goodly pearls with that wise Merchant Mat. 13.45 for the which they have their just praise and profit Vers 14. The wise mans eyes are in his head Hee judiciously pondereth things past 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Descrip of the world chap. of China Heyl. Geog. and prudently ordereth things present and providently fore-seeth to prevent dangers likely to ensue The Chineses use to say of themselves that all other Nations of the world see but with one eye they only with two Italians tell us that whereas Spaniards seem wise and are fools French-men seem fools and are wise Portugals neither are wise nor so much as seem to bee so they themselves both seem wise and are so This I could sooner beleeve if from a better mouth than their own Romani sicut non acumina ita non imposturas habent saith Bellarm. The Romans those wittiest of the Italians are neither very subtile nor very simple But the fool walketh in darknesse Hee hath neither fight nor light but is acted and agitated by the Prince of Darkness who holds his black hand before the eye of such mens minds and blinds their understandings dealing with them as Pliny saith the Eagle deals with the Hart shee lights upon his horns and there flutters up and down filling his eyes with dust borne in her feathers that at last he may cast himself from a rock and so be made a prey unto her One event hapneth to them all As did to Josiah and Ahab in the manner of both their dying in battel They may be all wrapt up together in a common calamity Aug. and Sapientes sapienter in gehennam descendant the worlds great wise men goe very wisely down to hell there for want of saving grace fools and wiser men meet at one and the same Inne though by several wayes at one and the same Haven though from several coasts Vers 15. As it happeneth to the fool so it happeneth It is with men as with Counters though in the account one stand for a penny another for a pound yet in the bag there is no difference
Moses was to Aaron Though he fall he shall arise for the Lord puts under his hand Psal 37.24 But woe to him that is alone Because Satan is readiest to assault when none is by to assist Solitarinesse therefore is not to be affected because it is the hour of temptation For he hath not a second to help him up As Elizabeth Cowper the Martyr in Queen Maries dayes had who being condemned and at the stake with Simon Miller when the fire came unto her she a little shrank thereat crying once Ha when Simon heard the same he put his hand behind him toward her and willed her to be strong and of good chear for Good Sister said he Ib. 1981. we shall soon have a joyful and sweet supper it is but winking a little and you are in heaven With these and the like speeches she being strengthned stood still and quiet as one most glad to finish that good work It was therefore a devillish policy in Julian and other Heathen Persecutors to banish Christians into farre Countries one from another and to confine them to Isles and Mines where they could not have accesse one to another Vers 11. Again if two lye together then they have heat Heat of zeal and good affection Did not our hearts burn within us said those two Disciples Luke 24. when Christ once made the third with them and by holy conference kindled them So when Silas and Timotheus came from Macedonia Paul was pressed in spirit Acts 18.5 Warm he was before but now all of a light fire as it were Those dull daughters of Jerusalem by hearing the Spouse describe her beloved as shee doth from top to toe were fired up with desire to joyn with her in seeking after him whom her soul loved The lying together of the dead body of one with the bones of Elisha gave life to it so doth good company give life to those that are dead in sin Let two cold flints bee smitten together and fire will come forth So let two dull Christians conferre and communicate their soul-secrets and it shall not repent them they shall find the benefit of it Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades saith God to Job chap. 38.31 These Pleiades be the seven Stars that have all one name because they all help one another in their work which is to bring the Spring and like seven Sisters so are they joyned together in one constellation and in one company Wee see that God will have the sweetest works in Nature to bee performed with mutual help The best time of the year the sweetest warmth cometh with these Pleiades and the best time of our life cometh when wee lye together in true love and fellowship No sooner had the Philippians received the Gospel but they were in fellowship to a day Phil. 1.5 They knew that as sincerity is the life of Religion so is society the life of sincerity Vers 12. And if one prevail against him c. Vis unita fortior God bade Gideon to go down to the Camp of the Midianites and if he feared to go then to take with him his servant Phurah 1 Sam. 26 Jonathan will not goe without his armor-bearer David without Abishai Christ when to begin his Passion in the Garden took Peter James and John with him for the benefit of their prayers and company Psal 122.3 Cant. 7. Matth. 16. though they served him but sorrily My dove is but one Cant. 6.9 Jerusalem is a City compact together The Church is terrible as an Army with banners the gates of Hell cannot prevail against her Unity hath victory but division breeds dissolution as it did once in this Island when Caesar first entred it Dum singuli pugnant universi vincuntur saith Tacitus of the ancient Britans The Turks pray daily that the differences amongst us Christians may be heightned Camer medit Hist cen 2. cap 23. Rich. Axiom Polit. p. 86 for that will soonest undoe us And one of their Emperours when his Council disswaded him from a Warre against the Germans because of their multitude said that he feared them not because sooner would his fingers be all of one length than their Princes all of one mind And a three-fold cord is not easily broken A proverbial confirmation well interpreted by Lyra Quanto plures boni in amicitia conjuncti sunt tanto status corum melioratur The more they are that unite so they bee good the better it is with them See 2 Sam. 10.9 10 11 12. We lose much of our strength in the losse of friends our cable is as it were untwisted Hence David so bemoans the loss of Jonathan 2 Sam. 1. and made him an Epitaph Hence St. Paul counted it a special mercy to him that Epaphroditus recovered Phil. 1.27 Vers 13. Better is a poor and wise childe Such as was Joseph David Daniel and his three Camerades c. apt to learn ready to receive instruction and as careful to follow it And well doth the Preacher joyn poverty with wisdome for Nescio quomodo bonae mentis soror est paupertas saith he in Petronius and Paupertas est Philosophiae vernacula Poverty is the proper language of Philosophy and wisdome is undervalued and little set by Those wisest of the Greeks were very poor Alian l. 2 Aristides Phocion Pelopidas Epaminondas Socrates Ephialtes So were those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy Heb. 11.38 They wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute c. Sweet-smelling Smyrna was the poorest of all the seven Churches Revel 3. yet hath the richest price set upon it Lactantius dyed miserable poor so did Theodorus Gaza that learned Greek Of Archimedes thus sings Silius Sil. lib. 14 Nudus opum sed cui coelum terraeque patebant But I am fully of Aeneas Sylvius his judgement that Popular men should esteem wisdome as silver Noble-men as gold Princes as pearls Of Queen Elizabeth that peerlesse Princesse it is said Camb. Eliz. that she hated no lesse than did Mithridates such as despised vertue forsaken of fortune Erasm Than an old and foolish King Brabanti quo magis senescunt eo magis stultescunt So doe many men of quality Monarchs and others weak and yet wilful short-witted and yet self-conceited such as were Saul Rehoboam Jehoiakim Nebuchadnezzar our Henry the third called Regni dilapidator and that James that reigned in Scotland in our Edward the fourths time Daniels Hist of whom it is storied that hee was so much wedded to his own opinion that hee could not endure any mans advice how good soever that hee fancied not Ibid. hee would seldom ask counsel but never follow any Xerxes in his expedition against Greece Val. Max. lib. 9 cap. 5. is reported to have called his Princes together and thus to have spoken to them Lest I should seem to follow mine own counsel I have assembled you and now do you remember that it becomes
you rather to obey than to advise Vers 14. For out of prison hee commeth to reign As Valentinian the Emperour Sultan Mustapha the great Turk Daniels hist fol 480. Anno Dom. 1622. Our Henry the fourth who was crowned the very same day that the year before hee had been banished the realm As on the other side Henry the sixth was sent again prisoner to the Tower the same day that hee had been carried through the City as it were in triumph and had heard the shouts of the commons in every street crying God save King HENRY Loe Hee that had been the most potent Monarch for Dominions saith the Chronicler that ever England had Speed 881. was not now the master of a mole-hill nor owner of his own liberty So that in him it appeared that mortality was but the stage of mutability when a man born in his Kingdome yea born to a Kingdome became thus miserably poor Furthermore Henry Holland Duke of Excester grand-childe to John of Gaunt may serve as a fit instance and example to all how uncertain Adams sonnes are of any continuing greatness For saith Phil. Commines I once saw him run on foot bare-legged after the Duke of Burgundies train Date obolum Bellisario begging his bread for Gods sake but hee uttered not his name Speed 887. hee being the nearest of the house of Lancaster and brother in Law unto King Edward the fourth from whom hee fled And being known what hee was Burgundy gave him a small pension to maintain his estate Vers 15. I considered all the living c. Hee means the multitude that shallow-brain'd but great and many-headed beast making defection from their old Prince though never so prudent and setting up his own sonne against him as they dealt by David more than once meerly out of an itch of instability Omnes Solem orientem adorant contenmunt occidentem Macro expirante Tiberio Caium fovebat Cui Tiberius Tu recte inquit Macro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio. and affectation of novelty Now as this is to others so to Kings also a vexation to see already the common aspect of their people bent upon another object before the time to behold them worshipping the rising sunne as the Proverb is and themselves laid aside in a manner as broken vessels out of request in comparison Crowns have their cares and crosses and high seats are never but uneasy O vilis pannus O base clout said one King concerning his diadem were it but known how many molestations and miseries do attend thee Nemo foret qui te tollere vellet humo no man would deign to take thee up lying at his feet Antoninus the Philosopher said often that the Empire was Malorum Oceanus an ocean of mischiefs and another caused it to bee written upon his tombe Felix si non imperitassem Happy had I been if I had never reigned It is seldome seen as before hath been observed that God allows unto the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment be they never so well deserving Something they must have to complain of that shall give an unsavory verdure to their sweetest morsells and make their very felicity miserable Vers 16. There is no end of all the people i. e. They are infinitely discontented and restless in their desires after a new and another Governour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Thucydides long since observed the present government be it never so good is always grievous O that I were made Judge in the Land 2 Sam. 15.4 said Absolom O that thou wert said the people who yet had soon enough of him And so had they of their new King Saul whom contra gentes they would needlesly have after the manner of all other nations 1 Sam. 8.6 7. How soon did the Baptist grow stale to the Jews that had lately heard him gladly and was no more set by than a reed shaken with the wind John 5. Mat. 11. How suddenly did they change their note concerning Christ from Hosanna to Crucifige The common people are like to children saith an Interpreter that rest not contented with any School-master like to servants that love to change every year their masters People are desirous to hear new Preachers as Feasters to hear new Songs and new Instruments Ezek. 33.32 CHAP. V. Vers 1. Keep thy foot QVa. d. Wouldst thou see more of the worlds vanity than hitherto hath been discoursed get thee to the Sanctuary as David did Psal 73. For as they that walk in a mist see it not so well as those that stand on a hill so they that have their hands elbow-deep in the world cannot so easily discern what they do as those that go a little out from it To the House of God therefore to the Temple and Synagogues to the Churches and Oratories steer thy course take thy way Onely see to thy feet i. e. keep thy senses and affections with all manner of custody from the mire of wicked and worldly matters Shooes wee have all upon our feet that is to speak in St. James his phrase filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness in our hearts Jam. 1. Exod. 3.5 Josh 5.15 that must bee put off at Gods School-door as God taught Moses and Joshuah And Pythagoras having read Moses belike taught his scholars as much when hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put off thy shooes when thou sacrificest and worshippest His followers the Pythagorians expounded his meaning when they would not have men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worship God carelesly or by the way but prepare themselves at home aforehand And Numa Pompilius one that had tasted of his learning would not have men worship the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the by and for fashion but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch at good leisure and as making Religion their business In the Law of Moses the Priests were commanded to wash the inwards and the feet of the sacrifice in water And this was done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Philo not without a mystery sc to teach us to keep our feet clean when wee draw nigh to God Antonius Margarita in his Book of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Jews tells us that before their Synagogues they have an iron plate against which they wipe and make clean their shooes before they enter and that being entred they sit solemnly there for a season not once opening their mouths but considering who it is with whom they have to do Thus it was wont to bee with them But alate though they come to their Synagogues with washen hands and feet yet for any shew of devotion or elevation of spirit Spec. Europ they are as reverent saith one that was an eye-witness as Grammar-boys are at school when their master is absent Their holiness is the meer outward work it self being a brain-less head and a soul-less body And yet upon the walls of their Synagogues they
Rabshekah those are empty words an aery thing for counsel and strength are for the war so some read the words and not in a Parenthesis as our Translation hath it Neither yet bread to the wise To the worldly wise Those Young Lions doe lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing Psal 34.10 Prov. 30.8 Panem demensi Their daily bread day by day food convenient for them they shall be sure of Dwell in the land and doe good and verily thou shalt bee fed Psal 37.5 by vertue of a promise and not by a providence only as the young Ravens are Nor yet riches to men of understanding Plutus is said by the Poets to bee blind Epit. hist Gallic and Fortune to favour fools Of Pope Clement 5. the French Chronicler saith Papa hic ditior fuit quam sapientior This Pope was rather rich than wise Aristides was so poor that he brought a flurre upon Justice saith Plutarch as if she were not able to maintain her followers Phocion also Pelopidas Lamachus Aelian lib. 2. Ibid. l. 5. Ephialtes Socrates those Greek Sages were very poor Epaminondas had but one garment and that a sorry one too Lactantius had scarce a subsistence Many wise men have been hard put to 't Paupertas est Philosophiae vernacula saith Apuleius Rhodigin l. 29. c. 10. Nor yet favour to men of skill Rara ingeniorum praemia rara item est merces saith one wit and skill is little set by small regard or reward is given to it whereas popular men should esteem it as silver said Aeneas Sylvius Noblemen as gold Princes as pearls But time and chance happeneth to them all i. e. Every thing is done in its own time and as God by his providence ordereth it not as men will much lesse by hap-hazard for that which to us is casual and contingent is by God Almighty fore-appointed and effected who must therefore bee seen and sought unto in the use of means and second causes And if things succeed not to our minds but that wee labour in the fire yet wee must glorifie God in the fire and live by faith Vivere spe vidi qui moriturus erat Vers 12. For man also knoweth not his time His end say the Septuagint and Vulgar What may befall him in after time say others Flebile principium melior fortuna sequatur Accidit in puncto quod non speratur in anno So are the Sons of men snared in an evil time This is the reddition of the former proposition As the fishes are taken c. So are gracelesse men snared c. Security ushers in their calamity when they say peace and safety then sudden destruction breaks in upon them as travel upon a woman with child and they shall not escape 1 Thes 5.3 God made fair weather before Pharaoh till hee was in the heart of the red sea The old World Sodom Amnon Belshazzar Herod the rich Fool were all suddenly surprized in the ruff of their jolity Jerusalem had three years of extraordinary great plenty Joseph before her last utter destruction Philosophers tell us that before a Snow the weather will bee warmish when the wind lyes the great rain falls and the air is most quiet when suddenly there will be an Earth-quake Vers 13. This wisdome also have I seen i. e. This fruit and effect of wisdome have I observed that through the iniquity of the times it is slighted and left unrewarded if joyned with a mean condition And it seemed great unto me Though not unto the Many who value not wisdome if meanly habited according to its worth consider not that Saepe sub attrita latitat sapientia veste that within that leathern purse may be a pearl of great price and in those earthen pots abundance of golden treasure I know thy poverty but thou art rich Revel 2. The Cock on the dung-hil understands not this That which seems great to a Solomon Multis pro vili sub pedibusque jacet Stultorum enim plena sunt omnia Vers 14. There was a little City Such as was Lampsacum besieged by Alexander and saved by Anaximenes Rhodes besieged by the Great Turk Rochel by the French King Geneva by the Duke of Savoy This last a little City a small people environed with enemies and barred out from all ayd of neighbour Cities and Churches Brightman yet is strangely upheld Well may they write as they doe on the one side of their coyn Scultet Deus noster pugnat pro nobis Our God fights for us Vers 15. Now there was found in it a poor wise man Such as was Anaximener at Lampsacum and Archimides at Syracuse Vat. Max. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. lib. 14. of whose wisdome Plutarch testifieth that it was above the ordinary possibility of a man it was divine And of whose poverty Silius assures us that hee was Nadus opum sed cui coelum terraeque paterent By his warlike devises and engines hee so defended his City against Marcelius the Roman General that the souldiers called him Briareus and Centimanus a Giant invincible there was no taking of the Town as Livy relates it The City of Abel was delivered by a wise woman that was in it 2 Sam. 20. The City of Coccinum in the Isle of Lemnos See Judges 9.35 Turk hist 413. by Marulla a Maiden of that City Hippo could not bee taken whiles Augustine was in it not Heidelberg whiles Pareus lived Elisha preserved Samaria from the Syrians and the Prophet Isaiah Jerusalem from the Assyrians They shall not shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shields nor cast a bank against it saith the Lord Isa 37.33 Jeremy had preserved it longer but that his counsel was slighted Indeed hee was a Physician to a dying State Tunc etenim docta plus valet arte malum Yet no man remembred that same poor man Had hee been some Demetrius Phalareus or such like Magnifico hee should have had an hundred statues set up in honour of his good service Hee should have heard Saviour Saviour as Flaminius the Roman General did or Father Father as Huniades after hee had defeated Mesites the Turk But being poor hee is soon set aside and neither succoured nor honoured This is Merces mundi the worlds wages The Dutch have a Proverb that a man should bow to the tree that hath sheltered him in a storm But many well-deserving persons Sed restituta serenitate abeuntes vellicarent have cause to complain as Elias did when hee sate under the Juniper or as Themistocles did when hee compared himself to a Plane-tree whereunto his Country-men in a tempest would run for refuge but when once took up they would not onely leave him but pull the leaves from him Are you weary said hee once to them of receiving so many good turns from one man Vers 16. Then said I wisdome is better c. This
with dust See Jer. 2.25 Wo to their soul to their very soul All wickedness hath a woe hanging at the heels of it but especially that which is grown impudent a noon-day-Devil The Septuagint here have it thus Wo to their soul for that they have taken evil counsel saying let us bind the just One for that he is not for our purpose or profit Wherein they do insinuate the Mysterie of Christs Passion saith Oecolampadius and do manifestly tax their own Nation Epiphanius testifieth of the Jews at Tiberias after the last destruction of Jerusalem that it was usual with them when any of their dear friends or kindred were at the point of death Epiphan apud Lonicer in Theat Histor p. 96. to whisper these words secretly into their ears Crede in Jesum Nazarenum crucifixum Believe in Jesus of Nazareth whom our Chieftains crucified for he it is who shall come to judge thee at the last day Now if this be true how great is the obstinacy and impudence of that perverse people who still sin against such strong convictions Ver. 10. Say ye to the Righteous Tell them so from me saith God for their comfort and encouragement Zuinglius when he had preached terrour to the wicked was wont to add Probe vir hoc nihil ad te All this concerneth not thee O thou godly man When the dogs in a house are beaten the Children will be apt to fright and cry So when the wicked are threatened good men are apt to be troubled Say therefore to such and let them know assuredly That it shall be well with him Heb. that good sc shall betide him whatever befalleth others God shall be with the good 2 Chron. 19. ult Yet God is good to Israel to the pure in heart Psalm 73.1 Eccl. 8.12 For they shall eat the fruit of their doings They shall reap in due time if they faint not they shall eat of the fat and drink of the sweet Isa 25.6 See chap. 65.13 Prov 14.14 with the Notes Ver. 11. Wo to the wicked This Sentence should ever sound in the wicked mans ears for a powerfull retentive from wickedness considering the evil Consequent thereof that doleful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wo and alass for evermore And when thou art making saith One a covenant with sin say to thy soul as Boaz said to his kinsman Ruth 4.4 At what time thou buyest it thou must have Ruth with it If thou wilt have the pleasure of sin the wayes of wickedness thou must also have the vengeance and wrath of God with it and let thy soul answer as he here doth No I may not do it I shall mar and spoil a better Inheritance I shall inherit a curse c. Look saith Mr. Bradford Martyr to the tag tyed to Gods Law the malediction which is such as cannot but make us to cast our currish tails betwixt our legs Serm. of Repentance if we believe it Jun. It shall go ill with him Vtcunque sibi de rebus praesentibus gratuletur Though he stroake himself on the head saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imaginations of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst Deut. 29.19 Tell him from me saith God Evil sc shall betide him Yea An evil an only evil awaiteth him Ezek. 7.5 let him look for it The reward of his hands shall be given him He shall reap as he sowed drink as he brewed Gal 6.7 8. Mox aut poena manet miseros aut palma beatos Quisque suae vitae semina jacta metet Vers 12. A for my people Now the people of my wrath and of my curse Loammi discovenanted discarded Children are their oppressours Rulers he calleth them not as being too good a Name for them but Oppressours and these were boyes and women i. e. such as were no wiser then children nor had any more command of their passions then weak women Heyl. Cosmâ—g and were therefore unfit for Government Brunhild the wife of Sigebert King of Metz Friâ—egund the wife of Chilperick and Katherine Medices wife of Henry the 2. are said to be the Furies of France What work they made in that Kingdom in their generations by abusing their Husbands love and authority Histories are full The like did Jezabel in Israel Athaliah in Judah and Dame Alice Pierce here in England in King Edward the thirds dayes This Woman being the Kings Concubine and presuming on his favour whom in his old age she had subdued grew so insolent that she imprisoned Sir Peter la Mare Speaker for the Parliament Dan. Hist 257. intermeddled with Courts of Justice and other Offices where she her self would sit to effect her desire which though in all who are so exalted are ever excessive yet in a woman most immoderate as having less of discretion and more of greâ—diness Heliogabalus in a merriment set up a Senate of Women but then their Ordinances were correspondent as what Attire each Woman should use how they should take place when salute c. But these in the Text working upon their Husbands Impotencies who were children in the sence that Shechem the son of Hamor is so called Gen. 34.19 Neque distulit puer a lad or a boy because swayed not by right reason but by blind affection exacted of the poor people unreasonable Tributes and Pensions for the maintenance of their pride and luxury Est haec ingens plaga saith One this is a great mischief to a State such as Greece and Rome sometimes groaned under Diophantus the son of Themistocles once boasted that he Ruled all Greece because he Ruled his mother she Ruled his Father and he Ruled Greece Cato also complained Mulieres regunt nos nos Senatum Senatis Romam Roma orbem Our Women said he Rule us we Rule the Senate the Senate the City and the City the whole world Qui beaâ—â—ficant te O my people they which lead thee Or those that bless thee and pronounce thee happy saying as do thy false-Prophets those flatterers because thou hast with thee the Oracles and Ordinances of God the Ceremonies and Sacrifices praising thee therefore and promising thee all happiness soothing thee up in thy sins c. Qui ducunt te seducunt False Guides they are and Destroy the way of thy Paths Heb. They swallow up that is they hide from thee thy duty and so harden thee in thy sin Ver. 13. The Lord standeth up to plead Or to debate Job 9.3 Prov. 25.8 9. to argue the case and to hear pleas He is content for the clearing of his Justice and conviction of sinners to submit his courses unto scanning See chap. 5.3 Judicate quaeso Judge I pray you so Jer. 2.9 Wherefore I will yet plead with you and with your childrens children will I plead But when that is done He standeth to judge the people And the Lord will enter into Judgement ver 14. three several words are here made use of for Judgement to shew saith Oecolampadius
Lawes by Ordinances the ceremonial and by everlasting Covenant the Decalogue Others by Lawes the municipal Lawes of the Common-wealth by Ordinances the Lawes of Nations as not to violate an Embassadour c. by everlasting Covenant the Law of Nature which is that Light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world John 1.9 Ver. 6. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth The Chaldee and Vatablus render it the perjury viz. in transgressing the Laws c. which they had covenanted and sworn to observe See Psalm 119.106 That dreadful curse of the Jews Matth. 27.25 is come upon them to the utmost devouring their Land and desolating the Inhabitants thereof Though the curse causeless come not yet God sometimes saith Amen to other mens curses as he did to Jothams upon the Shechemites Judg. 9.57 How much more to mens banning themselves Ver. 7. The new wine mourneth As being spilled and spoiled by the enemy All the merry-hearted do sigh Who were wont to sing away care and to call for their cups Ver. 8. The mirth of Tabrets ceaseth Quicquid laetitiarum fuit in luctum vertitur Ver. 9. They shall not drink wine with a song Revel it as they had wont to do non convivabuntur pergroecando We use to call such merry-griggs that is Greeks Ver. 10. The City of confusion Vrbs desolanda destined to desolation whether it be Babylon Tyre Jerusalem or any other Mundum intellige in quo nihil nisi vanum saith Oecolampadius that is by this City of vanity so the Vulgar translateth it understand the world according to that of the Preacher Vanity of vanities all is vanity Austin in the beginning of that excellent work of his De Civitate Dei maketh two opposite Cities the one the City of God the other the City of the Devil the one a City of Verity the other a City of vanity Ver. 11. There is a crying for Wine The Drunkards weep the Ale-stakes yell because the new Wine is cut off from their mouthes Joel 1.5 All joy is darkened Heb. It is eventide with joy As the ayr in the evening waxeth dark so shall their mirth be turned into heaviness The mirth of the land is gone Together with their liquor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wine is by Simonides called the expeller of sadness Ver. 12. In the City is left desolation There is nothing of any worth left but havock made of all it is plundered to the life as now we phrase it since the Swedish Wars Custom is the sole Mint-Master of currant words Ver. 13. When thus it shall be in the midst of the Land Or for so it shall be in the land among the people as in the beating of an Olive-tree c. En misericordiae specimen still there is a remnant reserved for royal use quando omnia passim pessum â—unt God never so punisheth but he leaveth some matter for his mercy to work upon A Church on earth he will ever have Ver. 14. They shall lift up their voyce c. Laudabunt Deum laetabuntur this Elect remnant in all Countries shall be filled with spiritual joy and peace through the belief of the Truth which shall vent it self by singing praises to God And here we have the very mark of the true Church which is to celebrate and profess the great and glorious Name of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ For the Majesty of the Lord Or for the magnificence that great work of his especially of divulging his Gospel all the world over and thereby gathering his Church out of all Nations They shall cry aloud from the sea i. e. From the Islands and transmarine parts as we do now from great Brittain thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift calling to our Neighbour-nations and saying Ver. 15. Glorifie ye God in the fires In ipsis ignibus in the hottest fires of afflictions rejoyce in hope be patient in tribulation praise God for crosses also this is Christianorum propria virtus saith Hierom. Jun. In the Isles of the sea Quicunque quocunque loco inter quoscunq sitis Ver. 16. From the uttermost part of the land have we heard songs Or Psalms aliquid Davidicum The Martyrs sang in the fire Luther in deep distress called for the 46. Psalm to be sung in contemptum Diaboli in despight of the Devil Maerore ac macie conficior Even glory to the Righteous To Jesus the just One 1 John 2.2 But I said my leanness my leanness The Prophets flesh was wasted and consumed with care and grief for his graceless Country-men See the like in David Psalm 119.158 and Paul Rom. 9.1 2. Wo unto me Or Alass for me The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously They have crucified the Lord of Glory upon a desperate and deep malice out of most notorious contumacy and ingratitude This was with most treacherous treachery to deal treacherously this was to do evil as they could Ver. 17. Fear and the pit and the snare are upon thee Metaphora à venatoribus a Metaphor from Hunters elegantly expressed in the original by words of a like sound God hath variety of plagues at command his quiver is full of shafts neither can he possibly want a Weapon to beat his Rebels with If the Amorites escape the Sword yet they are brain'd with Hail-stones Josh 10. If the Syrians get into a walled Town yet there they are baned by the fall of a Wall upon them 1 King 20. Ver. 18. He who fleeth from the noise of the fear See Am. 5 19. with the Note and learn to fear God the stroke of whose arm none may think to escape For the windows from on high are opened The cataracts or sluces of the clouds as once in the general Deluge The foundations of the earth do shake Heaven and earth shall fight against them and conspire to mischieve them Ver. 19. The earth is utterly broken down This he had said before Oyl if not well rub'd in pierceth not the skin Menaces must be inculcated or else they will be but little regarded Let Preachers press matters to the utmost drive the nayl home to the head not forbearing through faint-heartedness nor languishing through luke-warmness Ver. 20. The earth shall reel too and fro like a drunkard As the Inhabitants thereof had drunk in iniquity like water Job 15.17 so they should now drink and be drunk with the Cup of Gods wrath And shall be removed like a cottage Or lodge but or tent so shall they be tossed and tumbled from one place to another And the transgression i. e. The punishment of your transgression Observe here the wages and the weight of sin Ver. 21. The Lord shall punish the host of the high-ones that are on high Altitudinis in excelso Hereby he may mean the Jews Gods first-born and therefore higher then the Kings of the earth Psalm 89.27 though now for most part degenerated and therefore in the next words also heavily
his manumission Val. Max. l. 2. c. 1. and not doing his duty to his Master for such were again to be made bond-slaves if the crime could be proved against them Ver. 15. And you were now turned Being frighted into a temporary reformation but all was in hypocrisy as now well appeareth Falling Stars were never but Meteors In proclaiming liberty every one to his neighbour Your servants were your neighbours and their flesh as your flesh Neh. 5.5 and should have been so considered In the Law the servant paid the half-shekel as well as his Master And in the Gospel Servus est domini sui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as there is neither Jew nor Greek so neither bond not free but all are one in Christ Jesus Gal. 3.28 whether he be Lord or losel And ye had made a Covenant before And have not all done so in Baptism that Beersheba or well of an oath Ver. 16. But ye turned Exprobrat recidivum Judaeorum scelus qui scilicèt primam virtutem turpiter deluserint violarint He upbraideth them and deservedly with their Apostacy and perjury Peter also thundereth against such 2 Pet. 2. And polluted my name sc By the violation of your solemn vow so doth every profligate professour and ungirt Christian Whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure Liberty is a desirable and delectable commodity Those that live in Turky Persia yea or but in France c. esteem it so Ver. 17. Ye have not harkened unto me in proclaiming liberty Ye have not done it because ye have not continued to do it ye have lost the things that you had wrought Behold I proclaim a liberty for you God loves to retaliate Here he abandoneth these Apostates to the plagues instanced Let them use you at their pleasure saith God I have no mercy for such mercilesse wretches neither care I what becometh of you Ver. 18. That have transgressed my Covenant His Covenant he calleth it by a weighty Emphasis because about a businesse by him commanded and wherein he was engaged not as a bare spectatour but as a severe avenger of their perjury Hom. Il. l. 3. Tul. de Invent Liv. l. 1. Virg. Aeneid 8. Hinc foedus à foedo animali diviso When they cut the Calf in twain To shew the correspondency of wills whereunto the contracters did bind themselves and the punishment of dissection or other violent death whereunto they submitted themselves in case they brake promise The rise of this rite in covenanting See Gen. 15.9 10 17. The Heathens used the like ceremony as is to be seen in Homer Cicero Livy Virgil caesa jungebant faedera porcâ The Romans cut a sow in twain and when it was divided the Faeciales or heralds gave one half to one party and the other half to the other and said So God divide you asunder if you break this Covenant and let God do this so much the more as he is more able Ver. 19. The Princes of Judah These were most of them cut in pieces by the King of Babylon as the calf had been Ver. 20. And their dead bodies Chap. 7.33 16.4 Ver. 21. Which are gone up from you But will be upon you again ere long they are but gone back to fetch bear as it were You have deceived you servants with a vain hope of liberty and so you do now your selves See chap. 37.8 22. Ver. 22. Behold I will command i. e. By a secret instinct I will move CHAP. XXXV Ver. 1. THe Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord The eighteenth Sermon ordine tamen arbitario non naturali delivered divers years before the former and here placed not in its proper order but as it pleased him that collected them into this Book Ver. 2. Go unto the house of the Rechabites So called of one Rechab the Father of Jonadab who was famous for his Piety in Jehu's dayes 2 Kings 10.15 three hundred years at least before this Prophecy of Jeremy They were of the posterity of Jethro Moses Father-in-Law and lived up and down in the land upon their employments weaned from the world and exercising themselves in the Law of God See 1 Chron. 2.55 Where they are called the families of the Scribes that dwelt at Jabez as being men learned in the Laws of God Of them came the Essenes a studious and abstemious Sect among the Jews and they might better then those Donatists have taken to themselves the title of Apotactici so called from their renouncing the world And give them wine to drink Heb. make them drink wine i. e. set it before them and then leave them to their own liberty Ver. 3. Then I took Jaazaniah Whether actually or in vision only it skilleth not but the former way probably Ver. 4. And I brought them into the house of the Lord That it might be made a publike businesse and so the better work upon all that should hear of it The son of Igdaliah a man of God A Priest and Prophet or Teacher of the people So in the new Testament others are called Gods children his servants and his people but Ministers only are called Gods men 1 Tim. 6.11 2 Tim. 3.17 Which was by the chamber of the Princes Or of the Prefects of the Temple that were next under the High-Priests Ver. 5. Drink ye wine T was a double temptation unto them 1. To have pots and cups of wine set befor them 2. To be bid drinke it by a Prophet and at Prophets chamber But they were resolved in obedience to their Father Jonadab to forbear Yet if Jeremy had said Thus saith the Lord Drink wine they ought to have done it but this he did not Ver. 6. We will not drink wine This they were resolved on not because they were perswaded as Mahomets followers are that in every grape there dwelt a devil but because Jonadab the son of Rechab their Progenitour 2 Kings 10.15 had two or three hundred years before charged them to forbear not thereby to establish any new arbitrary service or any rule of greater perfection of life as the Papists misalledge it in favour of Monkery and other will-worships and superstitious observances but only as a civil ordinance Hae leges vita potius erant honestatis quam salutis animae about things external the foundation whereof is laid in the word which commendeth modesty humility sobriety heavenly-mindednesse c. Ver. 7. Neither shall ye build house But be content and dwell in tents as the ancient Patriarches were and as your Ancestours in Midian removing from place to place after the manner of the old Nomades so shall ye be the better prepared for a change in the state which this good old man might foresee and foresignify to his Nephews enjoyning them therefore to follow their shipeherdy only as men lesse addicted to the world and bent for heaven That ye may live many dayes in the land Whilest ye obey my charge Long life is promised
for cutting the combs of the self-conceited Jews and convincing theâ—m of their wickednesse and wretchednesse thereby The Chapter consisteth of Law and Gospel ver 60 and is a lively type animae peccatricis poenitentis of an offending and repenting soul Ver. 2. Cause Jerusalem to know her abominations Which as yet she taketh no knowledge of Rebuke her therefore sharply that she may be found in the faith if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth Ver. 3. Thy birth Heb. thy cutting out Confer Isa 51.1 And thy Nativity Vide insignem gentalogiam vide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pudendum Mutato nomine de te Fabula narratur De nat deor Tully saith the old Britons were as barbarous as the Scythians duris genuit te cautibus horrens Caucasus Virg. Thy father was an Amorite An Amorite thou mayest seem to be rather then an Abramite for thou hast filled the land as they did Ezr. 9.11 from end to end with thine uncleanesse And thy mother an Hittite Those worst of women Gen. 27.46 Ver. 4. Thy navel was not cut None was so courteous as to do any of these necessary good offices for thee Plut. lib. de amore prol a poor forlorn helplesse wretch No creature is so shiftlesse as a new born babe which cast out and left to the wide world must needsly perish Ver. 5. None eye pittied thee No not thy mother in whose heart God had planted natural affection for that purpose Neither would thy Lucina become thy Levana two heathen deities to take thee up from the ground where thou layest alasse weltring in thy gore and more like to a slain then a live child Ver. 6. And when I passed by thee Not by chance as Luke 10.31 but of free choice and accorging to mine eternal purpose And saw thee in thy blood In this deplorable condition blood is in this verse thrice mentioned to set forth the greatnesse of mans misery in his pure or rather impure naturals and the freenesse of Gods Grace toward him all along Matth. 11.26 I said unto thee live God speaketh spiritual life to his poor people Isa 55.3 and oft repeateth to them his precious promises whereby they come to partake of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 Ver. 7. As the bud of the field He prosecuteth the Allegory of a miserable maiden with whom the matter beginneth to mend Jam enim menses patiebatur ubera creverant pili circa pubem so that now she was marriageable And thou art come to excellent ornaments Heb to ornaments of ornaments such as virgo nobilis cum jam est nubilis habet young Ladies have when grown up especially Whereas thou wast naked and bare Heb. nakednesse and rejection God looked upon us and loved us when as yet we had not a rag to our backs Cum tu nuda esses atque nudissima Ver. 8. Behold thy time was the time of love When thou wast both fit for marriage and desirous of it For as the man misseth his rib so the woman would be in her old place again under the mans arm or wing See Ruth 3.1 9. And I spred my skirt over thee See Ruth 3.9 with the Note I covered thy nakednesse and took thee into my care and company as a wife A marriage-rite is imported by this expression Yea I sware unto thee c. So much adoe God hath with us to make us believe The Apostle mentioneth the work of faith She hath somewhat to do before she can fasten Ver. 9. Then washed I thee with water I cleansed thee from all thy pollutions by the Merit and Spirit of my dear Son See 1 Cor. 6.11 And I annointed thee with oyl New-married wives were usually washed anointed and richly arrayed The dead also were washed as Dorcas and embalmed as Jacob and Prov. 31.8 they are called bene chaloph which signifieth change of raiment Death strips us all but happy are they whom Christ hath spred his skirt over See 2 Cor. 5.2 3 4. Ver. 10. I clothed thee also with broidred work Phrygionicâ veste variegatâ With variety of precious graces whereby thou didst outshine Solomon in all his bravery for one grain of faith is better worth then all the gold of Ophir and one remnant of Hope beyond all the gay cloathing in the world And girded thee about with fine linnen The Church hath a rich wardrobe for woollens and linnens Gods plenty of both Ver. 11. I decked thee also with ornaments See ver 7. such as render thee amiable and admirable Christ himself who was not moved at all with the offer of all the worlds good Matth. 4.10 confesseth himself ravished with them Cant. 4.9 Ver. 12. And I put a jewel on thy forehead Heb. on thy nose See on Gen. 24.47 Ver. 13. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver Yea with far better abiliments for what is gold and silver but the guts and garbage of the earth It was observed of Queen Elizabeth as of her father before her King Rich. 2. had one coat of gold and stone valued at 30000. maâ—kes that she loved to go very richly arrayed Hir sister Queen Mary had at her Coronation her head so laden with Jewels that she could hardly hold it up This was much but nothing to the Churches beauty and bravery which yet was all but borrowed as is said in the next Verse Thou didst eat fine flower and hony i. e. The very best of the best thou didst eat of the fat and drink of the sweet of my holy Ordinances Ver. 14. And thy renown went forth Pliny saith of Jerusalem that it was the most famous of all the Cities of the East of the World he might have said all things considered Through the comlinesse which I had put upon thoe As Abraham's servant put the jewels upon Rebecca See on ver 13. That 's a famous Canon of the second Araâ—sican Council Tales nos amat Deus quales futuri sumus ipsius done Can. 12. non quales sumus nostro merito God loveth us such as we shall be by his free-gift and not such as we are by our own merit Ver. 15. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty Thou grewest proud of it and thoughtest there was none such when as thou mightest well have said of it as he in the holy history did of his hatchet Alas Master it was but borrowed And plaidst the harlot Being fair and foolish Lis est cum forma magna pudicitiae Because of thy renown Being puft up with the greatnesse of thy name and fame which should have made thee more morigerous Prov. 27.21 See the Note there And pouredst out thy fornications Indifferently and impudently like a filthy strumpet His is was Quicunque vult come as come would so detestably insatiate wast thou The Papists boast of their Church that she is a pious Mother
saith an Expositor we also fear not to go down to the grave Rolloc so long as we may hear God saying unto us as once he did to old Jacob thinking of his journey to Egypt Fear not to go down into Egypt for I will go with thee and I will also bring thee up again Gen. 46.3 4. Further note how these three Martyrs carry themselves toward the tyrant they do simply obey his command and come forth they are not puffed up by the strangeness of the miracle wrought upon them neither do they tattle but suffer the matter it self and experience to speak shewing themselves to all sorts to be looked upon with greatest humility and modesty Ver. 27. And the Princes Governours and Captaines Who were more obstinate then the King and willing to have shut the windows leâ—t the light should shine in upon them but that there was no withstanding it Vpon whose bodyes the fire had no power See on ver 23. The creatures are at a league with the Saints Job 5.22 Ver. 28. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake Being convinced but not converted as appeareth by the next Chapter whatever Austin and others charitably thought to the contrary A wicked man may pray and praise God extemporally Job 27.10 And have changed the Kings word Chald. secundo loco habuerunt they have preferred Gods Word before it Ver. 29. Therefore I make a decree Magistrates then have to do with men in matters of Religion Deut. 13.6 Rom. 13.4 Which speak any thing amisse But was this all he would do for God after so clear convictions t' was very poor A professor of the Turks law proclaimeth before they attempt any thing that nothing be done against religion Ver. 30 Then the King promoted Restored them to their dignities and strictly forbad others to maligne or molest them CHAP. IV. Ver. 1. NEbuchadnezzar the King This bare title seemed sufficient to him who came now newly out of the fornace of sharp affliction whereby he was tamed and taken a link lower as we say Vnto all People Nations and languages This Epistolary Narrative or Proclamation was sent abroad a year or two before his death And here observe saith one an omission of twenty seven years history wherein the Church in Babylon had her Halcyons the Emperour being exercised in forrein wars Mr. Hueâ— and the Nobles disheartned from attempting any thing against those four Worthies as having had formerly such ill success That dwell in all the earth Thus this great King is made a Catholike Preacher of humility and moderation of mind Peace be multiplied unto you Courtesie and kind language in great ones draweth all hearts unto them as fair flowers do the eyes of beholders in the springtide Ver. 2. I thought it good Chald. It was meet or seemly before me It was my duty so Junius To shew the signes and wonders Signs they were because evident testimonies of Gods Wisdom Justice Power Wonders because worthy to be wondred at Ver. 3. How great are his signes Mark how he is enlarged here so should we If David bad had the thing in band he would have cryed out also for his mercy endureth for ever But Nebuchadnezzar celebrateth his Kingdom only and that also he had learned of Daniel chap. 2. Ver. 4. I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in my house Having subdued all mine enemies round about But in the year of my triumph behold a vision of my downfal Suspecta nobis debet esse tranquillitas And flourishing in my palace But flourishing estates free not the mind of burthensome cares Eccles 5.12 Ver. 5. I saw a dream which made me afraid It is seldom seen that God alloweth unto the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment Something they must complain of that shall give an unsavoury verdure to their sweetest morsels and make their very felicity miserable Ver. 6. Therefore I made a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon Whom yet he had formerly found to be no better then Braghards and Impostours Was this man truly converted Ver. 7. Then came in the Magicians As if they would do the deed Seducers make up with boldnesse what they want of true worth 2 Pet. 2.19 Ver. 8. But at last Daniel came in before me And why at last Why was he not sooner sent for If the Soothsayers and Sorcerers could have served the turn Daniel had never been sought to This is the guise of graceless men they run not to God till all other refuges fail them According to the name of my god and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods Is this the language of a true Convert Should not former sinful practises be looked upon with a lively hatred and mentioned with utter distaste Ver. 9. Because I know that the spirit of the holy godâ— is in thee The spirit of divination and Prophecy And no secret troubleth thee Chald. puts thee to businesse Now he who had slighted Daniel before to get what he desired abaseth himself below the dignity of a King to him Ver. 10. Thus were the visions of my head in my bed He readily rememembreth this dream of his and roundly relateth it the more to befool the wise-men sith the Scripture whereof they were ignorant but Daniel well versed in revealeth sufficient direction for the interpretation thereof sc Ezek. 31.1 12. The wisdom of this World is not unlike the pains taken by Moles which dig dextrously under ground but are blind against the Sun-light Ver. 11. The tree grew and was strong See Ezek. 17.12 24. Plato compareth a man to a tree inverted with the root above and the branches below he also calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an heavenly plant Homer calleth great men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 12. The leaves theref were fair and the fruit But because pride harboured under these leaves and poisoned these fair fruits they were broken down and trod under foot The beasts of the field had shadow under it Great is the benefit of civil government and far extending But mose men content themselves with a natural use of it as beasts of the field do of their food without improvement of any higher good Ver. 13. And behold a Watcher and an holy One i. e. An holy Angel active and watchful to know and do the will and commands of God for the good of the Church Hence Angels are said to be full of eyes Ezek. 1. and to stand alwaies beholding the face of God Matth. 18.10 as waiting an employment How ready was that Angel here ver 31. to interrupt the proud King from heaven and to tell him his doom So in the next words Ver. 14. How down the tree and cut off his branches One Angel seems to call to another to expedite the execution so earnest they are in the Churches revenge Rev. 18.21 Let the beasts get away Let this great Conquerour be stript at once of his train and dignity The Duke of Florence gave for his ensign a great
it partly that he might not seem to slight the Kings courtesy and to be disaffected and partly that thereby he might be the better known to the Persians for the comfort of Gods poor people And put a chain of gold about his neck and made a proclamation c. All this the King commanded to be done out of an admiration of Daniel's divine wisdom and that he might be dicti sui dominus as good as his word But not a word hear we of his repentance such was his stupidity nor doth Daniel exhort him to it because he saw him to be past feeling and knew that the decree was gone forth Ver. 30. In that night was Belshazzar slain By Gaddatha and Gobrya two of Cyrus his Commanders who had been wronged by Belshazzar Xenoph. Cyrop lib. 7. as Xenophon also testifieth and now took revenge on him after that they had betrayed the City and brought in Cyrus his army So fell that famous Babylon fuit Ilium ingonâ— Gloria Teuerorum Ver. 31. And Darius Called by Câ—â—sias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which comes near to Dariaves as the Chaldeâ— here calleth him He is thought to be the same with Cyaxares son of Astyages and uncle to Cyrus Being about threescore and two years old Born the same year say the Rabbins Sedar Olam wherein Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and destroyed it So Austin was born the same day is Afrike that Pelagius was in Wales say Chronologers by a wise and watchful providence of God for the good of his Church CHAP. VI. Ver. 1. IT pleased Darius Chald. Pulobrum fuit coram Dario. Order he knew must be observed or the kingdom could not continue Himself also was ancient and needed Assistants It was honour and work enough for him illos judicare quâ—s constituit judices aliorum as Petr. Blesensis saith that our Henry the second did to judge those whom he had made Judges of others The great Turk doth so to this day whence few of his Grandees his Visiers especially or chief Officers dye in their beds An hundred and twenty Princes For his 120 Provinces which afterward came to be 127 Esth 1.1 Monarchs will ever be adding Ver. 2. And over these three Presidents Triumvires five tres Rationalet three to whom the rest should Audit and be accountable And the King should have no dammage In his rights and in his revenues which were saith Herodotus yearly fourteen thousand five hundred and threescore Eubojan talents raised out of the several satrapies Ver. 3. Then this Daniel was preferred above the Presidents Chald. He became a conquerour over those Exarehes so that he might have been called as Charles the Great once was Pater Orbis the Worlds Father or as Titus the Worlds Darling Orbis deliciae Mirabiliae mundi or as Othe the third the Worlds wonder He was indeed no lesse and that Darius well found by him Whether he took him with him into Media as Hierom out of Josephus relateth I have not to say If he did it seemeth that after the death of Darius he returned again to Babylon and there served King Cyrus verse 28. Because an excellent spirit was in him Not only of Prophecy but of prudence justice zeal and other virtues which if a Governour want he is as a Sun without light a bird without wings a Master of a ship without an helm c. And the King thought to see him over the whole realm Thus dignity waiteth upon desert and envy upon dignity which made David love his hook the better after he had seen the Court and Daniel was never fond of this great preferment whereby for his own particular he got nothing nisi ut turbatior viveres occupatior interiret Feriunt summos fulmina montes as he said but vanity and vexation of spirit High-seats are never but uneasy neither want there those that are lifting at them and labouring to overturn them Ver. 4. Then the Presidents and Princes sought Chald. Were seeking they made it their businesse so to do Envious men are alwayes in excubiis set in their watch to observe where they may fasten their fangs and do most mischief See Prov. 27.4 with the Note But they could find none occasion His innocency thratled their envy and made them sith they could not come at his heart to feed upon their own Nor fault Neque in facto nec in signo and yet they waited for his halting as Psal 38.16 17. and watched as eagerly for it as a dog doth for a bone A blamelesse behaviour disappointeth malice and maketh it drink up the most part of its own venom Forasmuch as he was faithful Homo quadratus a square-dealing man and such as against whom lay no just exception Homo virtuti simillimus as Paterculus saith of Cato Major A man as like Virtue her self as could be possible Ver. 5. Then said these men But whatsoever they said Daniel said Ego sic vivam ut nemo eis credat My life shall be a real refutation of their lyes Against this Daniel This was the best language they could afford him so Behold this dreamer said Joseph's brethren and This fellow said the Pharisees of Christ and This Pest said they of Paul that most precious man upon earth In envy is steeped the venom of all other vices Except we find it against him concerning the Law of his God Whereof Daniel was both a strict observer in himself and a zealous preserver in others Religion then was the quarrel and all the fault they could find with him Novum crimen C. Caesar c. and yet no new accusation neither The first man that ever dyed dyed for religion and still All that will live godly in Christ Jesus if they will needs do it and be set upon 't shall suffer persecution Omnia cum liceant non licet esse pium Ver. 6. Then these Presidents and Princes assembled together to the King Or throâ—ged tumultuously as resolved to have that they came for James and John from the word here used are called Sons of thunder Marke 3.17 It seemeth these men came to the King with a bustle Filii fremitus sive fragorâ—â— and a rattle to affright him into a consent to their motion King Darius live for ever This was to sprinkle him with Court-holy-water as they say Ver. 7. All the Presidents of the Kingdom Not all neither for Daniel would sooner have dyed a thousand deaths then have voted such a grosse impiety But he was one of the most that knew least of the Council and it was he against whom hac endebatur faba this plot was laid though it proved at last to be against themselves The Governours and the Princes the Counsellors and the Captains A rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven Non numeranda sunt suffragia sed expendenda To establish a royal statute But a very irreligious and injurious one the like whereunto was that prohibition in France of Henry the third Polan in