〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hostibus hand tergo sed forti pectore notus Vers 15. By mee Kings reign How then can the School-men defend Thomas Aquinas in that Paradox Dominium praelatio introducta sunt ex jure humano Dominion and Government is of man This crosseth the Apostle Rom. 13.1 2. and the wisest of the Heathens Vers 16. And Nobles So called in the original from their liberality and bounty Hence Luke 22.25 This word is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bountiful or Benefactors such as are ingenuous free munificent indued with that free Princely spirit Psal 51.14 Even all the Judges of the earth Though haply they bee reckoned in the rank of bad men but good Princes such as was Galba and our Richard the third Plin Secund. Dion Cass and Trajan much magnified for a good Emperour and yet a Drunkard a Baggerer and a cruel Persecutor Vers 17. I love them that love mee The Philosopher could say that if moral vertue could bee seen with mortal eyes shee would stir up wonderful loves of her self in the hearts of the beholders How much more then would the Wisdome of God in a Mystery 1 Cor. 2.7 that essential wisdome of God especially the Lord Jesus who is totus desiderabilis altogether lovely Cant. 5.16 the desire of all Nations Hag. 2.7 whom whosoever loveth not deserves to bee double accursed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 15.22 My love was crucified said Ignatius who loved not his life unto the death Rev. 22.11 Neither was there any love lost or can be For I love them that love mee And if any man love mee my Father will love him and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him and wee will come unto him and make our abode with him Joh. 14.21 23. Men do not alwayes reciprocate nor return love for love For my love Psal 109.4 5. they are mine adversaries Yea they have rewarded mee hatred for my love David lost his love upon Absolom Paul upon the Corinthians Old Andronicus the Greek Emperor upon his graceless Nephew of the same name But here is no such danger it shall not bee easie for any man to out-love Wisdome For whereas some one might reply You are so taken up with States Ob. and have such great Suters Kings Princes Nobles Judges as vers 15 16. that it is not for mean men to look for any love from you Not so saith Wisdome for I love them that love mee Sol. bee they never so much below mee Grace bee with all them that love the Lord Jesus insincerity Tantum velis Deus tibi praeoccurret saith Nazianzen Ambulas si amas Eph. 6.23 Non enim passibus ad Deum sed affectibus curritur saith Augustin Thou walkest if thou lovest Thou actest if thou affectest They that seek mee early As Students sit close to it in the morning Aurora musis amica Vers 18. Riches and honour are with mee I come not unaccompanied but bring with mee that which is well worth having The Muses though Jupiters daughters and well deserving yet are said to have had no Suters because they had no portions Our Henry the eighth when hee dyed Engl. Elis gave his two daughters Mary and Elizabeth but ten thousand pounds apeece But this Lady is largely endowed and yet such is mens dulness shee is put to sollicit Suters by setting forth her great wealth See the Note on Matth. 6.33 Vers 19. My fruit is better than gold This Wisdome is as those two golden Pipes Zach. 4. through which the two Olive-branches do empty out of themselves the golden oyles of all precious graces into the Candlestick the Church Hence grace is here called fruits and Cant. 4.16 Pleasant fruits and fruits of the Spirit Gal. 6.22 Vers 20. I lead in the way of righteousness Which is to say I got not my wealth per fas atque nefas by right and wrong by wrench and wile My riches are not the riches of unrighteousness the Mammon of iniquity Luke 16.9 but are honestly come by and are therefore like to bee durable v. 18. or as others render it antient St. Hierom somewhere saith that most rich men are either themselves bad men or heirs of those that have been bad There is a prophane Proverb amongst us Happy is that childe whose Father goes to the Devil It is reported of Nevessan the Lawyer that hee should say Hee that will not venture his body shall never bee valiant hee that will not venture his soul never rich But Wisdomes walk lyes not any such way God forbid saith shee that I or any of mine should take of Satan Gen. 14.23 from a thread even to a shoo-latchet lest hee should say I have made you rich Vers 21. To inherit substance Heb. That that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that that hath some tack or substance in it some firmity or solid consistency Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Outward things are not but onely in opinion in imagination In semblance not in substance The pomp of this world is but a fancy Act. 25.33 the glory of it a conceit Matth. 4. the whole fashion of it a meer notion 1 Cor. 7.31 Riches get them great Eagles wings Prov. 23.5 they flye away without once taking leave of the owner leaving nothing but the print of their talons in his heart to torment him When wee grasp them most greedily wee imbrace nothing but smoke which wrings tears from our eyes and vanisheth into nothing Onely true grace is durable substance the things above out-last the dayes of heaven and run parallel with the life of God and line of eternity Vers 22. The Lord possessed mee Not created mee as the Arrians out of the Septuagint pressed it to prove Christ a creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Before his works of old Heb. Ante opera suo ante tunc id est priusquam quis dicere potest tunc before there was any either now or then before all time therefore from all eternity For whatsoever was before the world and time that was created with the world must needs bee eternal Vers 23. I was set up Coronata sum I was crowned so some render it Inuncta fuâ— I was anointed â—o others for King Priest and Prophet of my Church And to this high honour I grew not up by degrees but had it presently from before all beginnings Vers 24. When there were no depths In mentioning Gods works of Creation some observe here that wisdome proceeds from the lower elements to the superiour and heavenly bodies Shee begins with the earth vers 23. goes on here to the waters and so to the air called Streets rendred Fields vers 26. that is the vast element of the air which compared with the far less elements of earth and water must needs seem exceeding large spacious and open as streets or fields Lastly by the highest part of the dust
Soles ucidere redire possunt Nobis cum semeÌ„l occidit brevis lux Nox est perpetua una dâ—rmienda Catull. The Sunne doth set and rise But wee contrariwise Sleep after one short light An everlasting night Vers 6. The wind goeth toward the South c. It is a very small thing at first a little vapour rising out of the earth but by circuiting and whirling about it gathers strength now rushing toward the South and anon toward the North Virg. Aneid c. the Original is very lively in expressing the manner of it Vna Eurusque Notusque ruunt c. The restlesness of these insensible creatures and diligence in doing their duties as it taxeth our dulness and dis-affection so it re-minds us of the instability of our states and that we should seek and set up ouâ— rest in God alone All earthly things are to the soul but as the air to the stone can give it no stay till it come to God the center Vers 7. All the Rivers run into the Sea And the nearer they come to the Sea the sooner are they met by the tide sent out as it were to take their tribute due to the Sea that seat and source of waters Surely as the Rivers lead a man to the Sea so doe all these Creatures carry him to God by their circular motion A circle we say is the perfectest figure because it begins and ends the points doe meet together the last point meets in the first from whence it came so shall we never come to perfection or satisfaction till our souls come to God till he make the circle meet A wise Philosopher could say that man is the end of all things in a semicircle that is All things in the World are made for him and he is made for God to whom he must therefore hasten Unto the place from whence the Rivers come Sc. from the Sea through the pores and passages of the earth where they leave their saltness This is Solomons opinion as it was likewise the opinion of the ancient Philosophers which yet Aristotle findes fault with and assigns another cause of the perennity of rivers of their beginning and original Hinc Poetae flugunt Inachum fluvium ex Oceano genitum viz. that the air thickned in the earth by reason of cold doth resolve and turn into water c. This agrees not with that which Solomon here saith by the instinct of the Holy Ghost And therefore Averroes is by no means to be hearkned unto in that excessive commendation he gives Aristotle viz. That there was no errour in his writings Alsted Chronol p. 460. that his doctrin was the chiefest truthes and that his understanding was the utmost that was by any one attainable himself the rule and pattern that Nature invented to shew her most perfect skill c. Vers 8. All things are full of labour Labor est etiam ipsa voluptas Chiron cum ob justitiam Dii permitterent ut perpetuo viverâ—t maluis mori quod offenderetur taedio rerum semper eodem tenure recurrentium Molestation and misery meet us at every turn The whole world is a Sea of glasse for its vanity mingled with fire for its vexation Rev. 4.6 Vota etiam post usum fastidio sunt All things are sweeter in the ambition than in the fruition There is a singular vanity in this splendid misery One well compares it to a beautiful Picture drawn with white and red colours in sackcloth which afarre off is very lovely but near by it is like the filthy matter of a sore or wound purulent rottennesse or the back of a galled horse No man ever yet found any constant contentation in any state yet may his outward appearance deceive others and anothers him Man cannot utter it If Solomon cannot no man can for what can the man doe that cometh after the King chap. 2.12 The eye is not satisfied with seeing Though these be the two learned senses as Aristotle calls them whereby Learning is let into the soul yet no man knows so much but he would know more Herillius therefore and those other Philosophers that placed the happiness of a man in the knowledge of Natural causes and events were not in the right There is a curse of unsatisfiableness lies upon the creature The soul that acts in and by the outward senses flickers up and down as Noahs Dove did but finds no firm footing sharks and shifts from one thing to another for content as the Bee doth from flower to flower for hony and desires still more things in number and new things for manner Hence the particles in the Hebrew that signifie And and Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come of a word that signifieth to desire because the desires of Man would have this and that and that and another and doth also tire it self not knowing whether to have this or that or that or tother so restlesse it is after utmost endeavours of plenary satisfaction which this life affords not Vers 9. The thing that hath been it is that which shall be History therefore must needs be of noble and necessary use because by setting before us what hath been it premonisheth us of what will be again Plato in Cratylo Macrob. Joseph Plin. sith the self-same fable is acted over again in the world the persons only are altered that act it Plato will therefore have History to have its name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of stopping the flux of endless errours and restlesse uncertainties His conceit of a general revolution of all things after thirty thousand years expired is worthily exploded and learnedly confuted by St. Austin De Civ Dei lib. 12. cap. 13. but in no wise confirmed by this text as some would have it and Origen among the rest Plato might haply hint at the general Resurrection called the Regeneration by our Saviour Mat. 19.28 See the Note Vers 10. Is there any thing whereof it may be said See this is new Hoc ego primus vidi saith Zabarel But how could he tell that Many men have been so befooled Wee look upon Guns and Printing as new inventions the former found out by Birchtoldin the Monk Anno Dom. 1380. the other by Frier Faustus Anno 1446. But the Chineses are said to have had the use of both these long before Should we then so eagerly hunt after Novelties those meer New-nothings till we lose our selves in the chase Nil admirari prope res est una Numici Get spiritual eyes rather to behold the beauty of the New Creature all other things are but nine dayes wonderment the bravery of the new Jerusalem Yea get this natural itch after novelties kild by the practice of mortification and get into Christ that thou mayst be a new creature So shalt thou have a new name upon thee Isa 62.2 A new Spirit within thee Ezek. 36.27 New alliance
thus Mitte panem tuum super facies aquas sc emittentes cast thy bread upon faces watered with tears Or upon the waters upon the surface of the waters that it may be carried into the Ocean where the multitude of waters is gathered together so shall thine alms carried into Heaven bee found in the Ocean of Eternity where there is a confluence of all comforts and contentments Or lastly upon the waters i. e. in loca irrigua upon grounds well watered moist and fertile soil Blounts voy p. 37 Herod lib. 1. c. 193. Plin. lib. 6. c. 26. such as is that by the River Nilus where they do but throw in the seed and they have four rich Harvests in less than four months or as that in the Land of Shinar where Babel was founded Gen. 11. that returns if Herodotus and Pliny may bee beleeved the seed beyond credulity For thou shalt finde it after many daies Thou shalt reap in due time if thou faint not slack not withdraw not thy hand as vers 6. Mitte panem c. in verbo Domini promitto tibi c. saith one Cast thy bread confidently without fear and freely without compulsion cast it though thou seem to cast it away and I dare promise thee in the name and word of the Lord Greg. Thaum Nequaquam infrugifera apparebit beneficentia that thy bounty shall bee abundantly recompensed into thy bosome The liberal soul shall bee made fat and hee that watereth shall bee watered himself Prov. 11.25 See the Note there See also my Common-place of Alms. Non pereunt sed parturiunt pauperibus impensa That which is given to the poor is not lost but laid up Not getting but giving is the way to wealth Prov. 19.17 Abigail for a small present bestowed on David became a Queen whereas churlish Nabal was sent to his place Vers 2. Give a portion to seven and also to eight A portion i. e. a good deal a fair proportion to a good many as B. Hooper did to his board of beggers whom hee fed every day by course serving them by four at a mess Act. and Mon. f. 13 c 8. with whole and wholesome meats Or give a portion i. e. a part such as thou canst well part with not stretching beyond the staple lest yee mar all whiles others are eased and you burthened but by an equality c. 2 Cor. 8.13 14. Luk. 6 Give to him that asketh saith our Saviour scil according to his necessity and thine ability Give with discretion Psal 112. have a special respect to the family of faith Gal. 6. those excellent ones of the earth Psal 16.3 in whom was Davids delight The Jews from this Text grounded a custome of giving alms to seven poor people every day or to eight at utmost if they saw cause But here is a finite number put for an infinite as when Christ bade Peter forgive his brother seventy times seven times and as Micah 5.5 seven Shepheards and eight principal men signifie so many Shepheards both Teachers and Rulers as shall sufficiently feed the flock of Christ and defend it from enemies For thou knowest not what evil shall bee upon the earth Therefore lay in lustily or rather lay out liberally and so lay up for a rainy day thou mayest bee soon shred of thy goods and as much need other mens mercy as they now need thine Sow therefore whilst thou hast it that thou mayest reap again in due season Water that thou mayest bee watered again Prov. 11.25 lay up for thy self a good foundation against the time to come 1 Tim. 6.18 Lay out thy talent work whiles the tool is in thine hand Make friends with thy Mammon Say not as one rich churl did when requested to do somewhat toward his Ministers maintenance The more I give the less I have Another answered that hee knew how to bestow his mony better A third old man said I see the fore-end of my life but I see not my latter I may come to want that which I now give Thou mayest do so saith Solomon here and by thy tenacity thou art very likely to do so but wilt thou know O man how thou mayest prevent this misery and not feel what thou fearest Give a portion to seven c. part therefore freely with that which thou art not sure to keep that thou mayest gain that which thou art sure never to lose Hee that giveth to the poor shall not lack Prov. 28.27 Vers 3. If the clouds bee full of rain As the Sun draws up vapours into the air not to retain them there but to return them to the earth for its relief and the creatures comfort so those that have attracted to themselves much riches should plentifully pour them out for the benefit of their poorer brethren Clouds when full of great and strong Rain as the word here signifies pour down amain and the spouts run and the eves shed and the presses over-flow and the aromatical trees sweat out their precious oyls so should rich men bee ready to distribute willing to communicate But it falls out otherwise for commonly the richer the harder and those that should bee as clouds to water the earth as a common blessing are either waterlesse clouds as St. Jude hath it or at best they are but as water-pots that water a few spots of ground onely in a small garden Domini inarsupium The earth is Gods purse as one saith and rich mens houses are his store-houses This the righteous rich man knoweth and therefore hee disperseth as a steward for God hee giveth to the poor his righteousness and his riches too endureth for ever Psal 112.9 Whereas the wicked rich man retaineth his fulness to rot with him hee feedeth upon earth like a Serpent and striveth like a Toad to dye with much mould in his mouth and is therefore bidden by St. James to weep and howl for the miseries that are comming upon him for his cursed hoard of evil gotten and worse kept goods The rottenness of his riches the canker of his cash the moth of his garments shall bee a witness against him and eat up his flesh as fire James 5.1 2 3. Hee shall bee sure to bee arraigned as an arrant theef as a cursed cousener for that Mal. 1.14 having a better thing by him hee brings a worse and being a rich man hee makes himself poor lest hee should do good to the poor As Pope Alexander the fifth said of himself that when hee was a Bishop hee was rich when a Cardinal hee was poor and when hee was Pope hee was a begger I should sooner have beleeved him if hee had said as his successor Pius Quintus did Corn. a Lap. in Numb 11.11 Cum essem religiosus sperabam bene de salute animae meae Cardinalis factus extiâ—â—ui Pontifex creatus pene despero When I was first in Orders without any further Ecclesiastical dignity I had good hopes of my
and wretched Cardinal found by woful experience in the reign of Henry the sixth For perceiving death at hand hee asked Wherefore should I dye being so rich If the whole Realm would save my life I am able either by policy to get it or by riches to buy it Fox Martyrol vol. 1. p. 925. Fye quoth hee will not death bee hired will mony do nothing No mony in this case bears no mastery Death as the jealous man will not regard any ransome neither will hee rest content though thou offer many gifts Prov. 6.35 Aug. de civit Dei l. 5. c. 25. And in her left hand riches and honour Bonus Deus Constantinum Magnum tantis terrenis implevit muneribus quantâ— optare nullus auderet The good Lord heaped so much outward happiness upon his faithful Servant Constantine the Great as no man ever durst to have wished more saith Austin If God give his People a Crown hee will not deny them a crust If they have bona throni the good things of a Throne they shall bee sure of bona scabelli the good things of the footstool Vers 17. Her waies are waies of pleasantnesse Such as were those of Adam before his fall strawed with Roses paved with Peace Some degree of comfort follows every good action as heat accompanies fire as beams and influences issue from the Sun Which is so true that very Heathens upon the discharge of a good conscience have found comfort and peace answerable This saith One is praemium ante praemium a fore-reward of well-doing In doing thereof not onely for doing thereof there is great reward Psal 19.11 Vers 18. Shee is a tree of life A tree that giveth life and quickeneth or as one interprets it a moâ—â— assured sign of eternal life whatsoever it is hee alludeth no doubt to the tree mentioned Gen. 2.9 3.22 See the Notes there And happy is every one that retains her Though despised by the world as a poor Sneak a contemptible caytiff We usually call a poor man a poor soul a poor soul may be a rich Christian as Roger sirnamed Paupere censu was Son to Roger Bishop of Salisbury Goodwins Catal p. 338. who made him Chancellour of England Vers 19. The Lord by wisdome By his essential wisdome by his eternal word Prov. 8.30 the Lord Christ who is the beginning of the Creation of God Rev. 3.14 See the Note on John 1.3 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth Gen. 1.1 that is In his Son as some interpret it Heb. 1.2 Col. 1.16 This interpretation is grounded upon the Jerusalimy Targum who translates that Gen. 1.1 bechochmatha in sapientia So doth Augustine and others and for confirmation they bring Joh. 8.25 but that is a mistake as Beza shews in his Annotations there Hee established the Heaven Heb. Hee aptly and trimly framed and formed them in that comeliness that wee now see The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy-work Psal 19.1 Upon the third Heaven hee hath bestowed a great deal of curious skill and cunning workmanship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.10 But of that no natural knowledge can be had nor any help by humane arts Geometry Opticks c. For it neither is aspectable nor moveable The Visible Heavens are for the many varieties therein and the wonderful motion of the several sphears fitly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coelum maximè co nomine intelligunt Graci Mercer The Original word here used ratione conjugationis plus aliquid significat quam paravit vel stabilivit Conen Mirum in modum disposuit Hee hath cunningly contrived And hence haply our antient English word Koning and by contraction King comming of the Verb Con which signifies as Becanus noteth Possum Scio Andeo I can I wot I dare do it Vers 20. The depths are broken up viz. Those great chanels and hollow places made in the earth to hold the waters Gen. 1.9 that they may not overflow the earth and this the very Philosophers are forced to confess to bee a work of divine wisdome Others by depths here understand fountains and floods breaking out and as it were flowing from the nethermost parts of the earth even as though the earth did cleave it self in sunder to give them passage And the clouds drop down the dews Clouds the bottles of rain and dew are vessels as thin as the liquor that is contained in them there they hang move though weighty with their burden How they are upheld and why they fall here and now wee know not and wonder Vers 21. Let not them depart Ne effluant haec ab oculis tuis saith the Vulgar Ne haec à tuis oculis deflectant in obliquum huc illuc So Mercer Let thy eyes look right on Chap. 4.25 look wishly and intently on these great works of God and his wisdome therein set forth and conspicuous as on a theatre Eye these things as the Steersman doth the Load-star 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Archer doth the mark hee shoots at 2 Cor. 4.18 or as the Passenger doth his way which hee findes hard to hit and dangerous to miss Yea let them bee the delight of thine eyes with the sight whereof thou canst not bee sated or surfeited Vers 22. So shall they bee life unto thy soul For by these men live and this is the spirit of my life saith Hezekiah Isa 38.16 Even what God hath spoken and done vers 15. A godly man differs from a wicked as much as a living man from a dead carkass The wicked are stark dead and stone cold The Saints also want heat sometimes but they are soon made hot again because there is life of soul in them as Charcoal is quickly kindled because it hath been in the fire And grace unto thy neck Or to thy throat that is to thy words uttered through the throat See the Note on chap. 1.9 Vers 23. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely Fidneialiter saith the Vulgar confidently and securely Every Malvoy shall bee a Salvoy to thee thou shalt ever go under a double guard the Peace of God within thee Phil. 4.7 and the Power of God without thee 1 Pet. 1.5 Thou shalt bee in league also with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field shall bee at peace with thee Job 5.23 Vers 24. Thou shalt not bee afraid See this exemplified in David Psal 3.5 6. Peter Act. 12.6 and Mr. Rogers our late Protomartyr Act. Mon. fol. 1356. who when hee was warned suddenly to prepare for the fire hee then being sound asleep in the prison scarce with much shogging could bee awaked Thy sleep shall bee sweet As knowing that God thy Keeper Psal 121.4 5. doth wake and watch for thee Psal 120.1 Wicked mens sleep is often troublesome through the workings of their evil consciences Danielâ— Hist of Eng. as our Richard the third after the murther of his
bee soon cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb Vers 29. Hee that troubleth his own house Either by prodigality or excessive parsimony Prodigi singulis auribus bina aut terna dependent patrimonia saith Seneca wee have known great Rents soon turned into great Ruffes and Lands into Laces For parsimony and cruelty see the Note on Chap. 15.27 Shall inherit the wind That is shall bring all to nothing as hee did that having wasted his estate vainly vaunted that hee had left himself nothing praeter coelum coenum Livius His substance shall flye up like smoak into the air and nothing bee left to maintain him on earth And when all his goods are gone his liberty must go after for this fool shall bee servant to the wise in heart if not his life as that notorious unthrift Apicius who having eaten up his estate and finding by his account that hee had no more than two hundred thousand Crowns remaining Dio. thought himself poor and took down a glass of poyson Vers 30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life i. e. The commodities and comforts that one may every way receive from a righteous person for est aliquid quod à viro bono etiam tacente discas Seneca saith Seneca somewhat a man may learn from a good man even when hee sayes nothing are more than can bee imagined Plutarch reporteth that the Babylonians make three hundred and threescore several commodities of the Palm-tree and do therefore greatly honour it Should not wee much more honour the multivarious gifts of God in his righteous ones for our good For whether it bee Paul or Apollo or Cephas All is ours 1 Cor. 3. And hee that winneth souls And useth singular art and industry therein as Fowlers do to take birds for so the Hebrew word imports or Fisher-men fishes Hee is wise and wiseth others as Daniel hath it Chap. 12.3 hee is just and justifieth others hee shall save a soul from death Jam. 5.20 Hee shall shine as a star in heaven And this is instanced as one special fruit of that tree of life mentioned in the former Hemistich This is a noble fruit indeed sith one soul is more worth than a world as hee hath told us who only went to the price of it Matth. 16.26 Vers 31. The righteous shall bee recompensed i. e. Chastened afflicted judged of the Lord that they may not bee condemned with the world for their sufferings are not penal but medicinal or probational and they have it here in the earth which is their house of Correction not in Hell Much more the wicked Nahum 1.9 Non surget hic afflictio these shall bee totally and finally consumed at once See the Note on 1 Pet. 4.17 18. See also my Love-tokens pag. 69. c. CHAP. XII Vers 1. Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge HEre is shewed that Adversity is the best University saith an Interpreter Schola crucis schola lucis Corrections of instruction are the way of life Vexatio dat intellectum Men commonly beat and bruise their links before they light them to make them burn the brighter God first humbles whom hee means to illuminate as Gideon took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them hee taught the men of Succoth Judg. 8.16 See my Treatise on Rev. 3.19 pag. 152. c. Mr. Ascham was a good school-master to Queen Elizabeth but affliction was a better as one well observeth That verse was much in her mouth Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco Virgil. But hee that hateth reproof Whether it bee by the rebukes of men or the Rod of God hee is brutish tardus est hee is fallen below the stirrop of reason hee is a beast in mans shape nothing is more irrational than irreligion That sapless fellow Nabal would hear nothing there was no talking to him no dealing with him but as Horse and Mule that have no understanding Psal 32.9 Basil complains of the Western Churches that they were grown so proud Epist ad Evagr ut quid verum sit neque sciant neque sustineant discere that they neither knew what was truth nor would bee taught better Such are near to ruine and that without remedy Prov. 29.1 See the Note there Vers 2. A good man obtaineth favour of the Lord Or Hath what hee will of God id quod vult a domino impetrat quia ejus voluntas est ipsissima Dei voluntas nec aliud vult Thus Mercer out of Rabbi Levi. Thus it is written of Luther that by his prayers hee could prevail with God at his pleasure When great gifts were offered him hee refused them with this brave speech Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic satiari à Deo I solemnly protested to God that I would not bee put off with these low things And on a time praying for the recovery of a godly useful man among other passages hee let fall this transcendent rapture of a daring Faith Fiat mea voluntas Let my will bee done and then falls off sweetly Mea voluntas Domine quia tua My will Lord because thy will Here was a good man here was a blessed man according to that Rule Beatus est qui habet quicquid vult nihil male vult Blessed is hee that hath what hee will and wills nothing but what hee should But a man of wicked devices Such as no good man is hee doth not plot or plow mischief hee doth not cater and make provision for the flesh Rom. 13. there is no way of wickedness found in him the peace is not broken betwixt God and him because his mind never yeelds to sin Rom. 7.25 Psal 139 hee walks not after the flesh but after the spirit therefore no condemnation Rom. 8.1 If an evil thought haunt his heart as eftsoons it befals it is the device of the man hee is not the man of such devices The wicked on the contrary is wholly made up of sinful thoughts and purposes and is in the midst of them therefore God will call him to an heavy reckoning Jer. 6.19 Rev. 2.23 Vers 3. A man shall not bee established by wickedness For hee laies his foundation upon fire-work and brimstone is scattered upon his house top if the fire of God from Heaven but flash upon it it will bee all on a light flame immediately Hee walks all day upon a mine of gun-powder and hath God with his armies ready to run upon the thickest bosses of his buckler and to hurle him to Hell How can this man bee sure of any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cain built Cities but could not rest in them Ahab begat seventy sons but not one successor in the Kingdome Phocas having built a mighty wall heard from Heaven Though thy walls were as high as Heaven sin is under it and will subvert it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin hath no settledness But the root of the righteous
49.5 Vers 13. The poor and the usurer meet together That is the poor and the rich as chap. 22.2 because commonly Usurers are rich men and many rich men usurers The Lord lighteneth both their eyes That is hee gives them the light of life Joh. 1.8 and the comforts of life Matth. 5.45 so that their eyes are lightned as Jonathans were after he had tasted of the wild hony 1 Sam. 14. Others read it thus The poor and the deceived or crushed by the usurer meet together that is condole or comfort one another because they are both in the dark as it were of poverty and misery they can do one another but little help more than by commending their cases to God who thereupon enlightneth them both that is either he supplies their wants and so their eyes are opened as Jonathans were or else gives them patience as he did those beleeving Hebrews chap. 10.32 But call to remembrance the former days in the which after yee were illuminated viz. to see the glory that shall be revealed whereof all the sufferings of this life are not worthy Rom. 8.18 Ye endured a great fight of affliction If we read it The poor and the usurer meet together the Lord enlightneth both their eyes understand it thus The poor man he enlightneth by patience the usurer by repentance and grace to break off his sinnes by righteousness and his iniquity by shewing mercy to the poor as Zacheus Matthew and those usurious Jews did Neh. 5. Vers 14. The King that faithfully judgeth the poor c. An office not unbeseeming the greatest King to sit in person to hear the poor mans cause James the fourth of Scotland was for this cause called the poor mans King I have seen saith a late Traveller the King of Persia many times to alight from his horse onely to do justice to a poor body Help O King said the poor woman to Jehoram And if thou wilt not hear and right me why dost thou take upon thee to be King said another woman to Philip King of Macedony Cic. pro Milone It is a mercy to have Judges modo audeant quae sentiunt as the Oratour hath it so that they have courage to do what they judge fit to be done Inferiour Judges may be weighed and swayed by gifts or greatness of an Adversary to pass an unrighteous sentence Not so a King he neither needs nor fears any man but is if he be right as one saith of a just Law an heart without affection an eye without lust a mind without passion a treasurer which keepeth for every man what he hath and distributeth to every man what hee ought to have Phocyl 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lo such a Prince shall sit firm upon his throne his Kingdome shall be bound to him with chains of Adamant as Dionysius dreampt that his was he shall have the hearts of his Subjects which is the best life-guard and God for his protection for he is professedly the poor mans Patron Psal 9. and makes heavy complaints of those that wrong them Isa 3. and 10. Amos 5. and 8. Zeph. 3. Vers 15. The rod and reproof give wisdome If reproof do the deed the rod may be spared and not else Chrysippus is by some cried out upon as the first that brought the use of a rod into the schools but there is no doing without it for children are foolish apt to imitate others in their vices before they know them to be vices and though better taught yet easily corrupted by evil company as young Lapwings are soon snatcht up by every Buzzard Now therefore as moths are beaten out of Garments with a rod so must vices out of childrens hearts Vexatio dat intellectum Smart makes wit it is put in with the rod of correction See chap. 22.15 But a childe left to himself bringeth his mother c. For her fondness in cockering of him and hiding his faults from his father lest he should correct or casheer him Mothers have a main hand in education of the children and usually Partus sequitur ventrem the birth follows the belly as we see in the Kings of Judah whose mothers are therefore frequently nominated No wonder therefore though the mother deeply share in the shame and grief of her darlings miscarriages See chap. 15.20 Vers 16. When the wicked are multiplied transgression encreaseth As saith the Proverb of the Ancients wickedness proceedeth from the wicked Miserable man hath by his fall from God contracted a necessity of sinning against God And when a rabble of Rebels are gotten together are grown many and mighty they make account to carry all before them and not to suffer a godly man to live as in Spain and where the Inquisition is admitted But the righteous shall see their fall shall see it and rejoyce at it as the Hebrew Doctors expound this text by comparing it with Obad. 12.13 Thou shouldst not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day of his calamity neither shouldst thou have rejoyced over the children of Judah Alterius Perditio tua caâ—tio c. The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance being moved with a zeal of God hee shall rejoyce with trembling he shall wash his feet in the bloud of the wicked beholding their ruine he shall become more cautious so that a man shall say any man but of an ordinary capacity shall make this observation Verily there is a reward for the righteous verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth Psal 58.10 11. that will sink to the bottom the bottle of wickedness when once filled with those bitter waters Gen. 15.16 Vers 17. Correct thy Son and he shall give thee rest Hee will grow so towardly that thou shalt with lesse adoe rule him when grown up or at least thou shalt have peace within in that thou hast used Gods means to mend him Yea he shall give delight See chap. 10.1 The often urging this nurturing of Children shews that it is a most necessary but much neglected duty Vers 18. Where there is no vision the people perish Or are barred of all vertue laid naked and open to the dint of Divine displeasure scattered worsted and driven back Great is the misery of those Brasileans of whom it is said that they are sine fide sine rege sine lege without faith King or Law And no less unhappy those Israelites about Asa's time that for a long season had been without the true God and without a teaching Priest and without Law 2 Chron. 15.3 Then it was that Gods people were destroyed for lack of knowledge Hos 4.6 And not long after that they sorrowfully complained that there was no more any Prophet among them nor any that knew how long Psalm 74.9 no Minister ordinary or extraordinary How did it pitty our Saviour to see the people as sheep without a Shepherd This troubled him more than their bodily bondage to the Romans which yet was
best children as being the fruit of their faith and the product of their prayers The Vulgar renders it Os vulva and Mercer Orificium matricis referring it not to barren but to incontinent women such as was Messala and other insariate punks quarum libido non expletur virili semine vel coitu The earth that is not filled with water That can never have enough at one time to serve at all times That is a strange earth or country that Pliny speaks of ub siccit as dat lutum imbres pulverem where drought makes dirt and rain causeth dust And yet so it is with us saith a Divine The plentiful showers of Gods blessings rained down upon us are answered with the dusty barrenness of our lives The sweet dews of Hermon have made the hill of Sion more barren Oh I how inexcusable shall we be c. And the fire that saith not It is enough Fire is known to be a great devourer turning all combustibles into the same nature with it self How many stately Cities hath this untamable element turned into ashes It is an excellent observation of Herodotus that the sparks and cinders of Troy are purposely set before the eyes of all men that they might be an example of this Rule That great sinnes bring great punishments from God upon the sonnes of men Scipio having set Carthage on fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and beholding the burning foresaw and bewailed the destiny of Rome which as it hath been often burnt already so it shall be shortly to purpose the Kings mariners and merchants standing aloof and beholding the smoke of her burning Rev. 17.16 and 18.8 9. God will cast this rod of his wrath into the fire burn this old whore that hath so long burnt the Saints for Hereticks and refused to be purged by any other nitre or means whatsoever therefore all her dross and trash shall pass the fire This is so plain a truth that even the Papists themselves subscribe to it Hear what Ribera a learned Jesuite saith Riâ— in loc Romaâ— non solum oâ— pristinam impietatem c. That Rome as well for its ancient impiety as for its late iniquity shall be destroyed with an horrible fire it is so plain and evident that he must needs be a fool that doth but go about to deny it Vers 17. The eye that mocketh at his Father As Ham did at Noah And despiseth to obey his mother or despiseth the wrinkles of his mother as some read it that looks upon her with disdain as an old withered fool The Ravens of the valley shall pick it out God takes notice of the offending member and appoints punishments for it Horat. pascere in cruce corvoâ— pro suspendi possuit Ep 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the Law such a childe was to be put to death and here is set down what kind of death hanging upon a tree which the Greeks also call a being cast to the crows or ravens Thus the Scripture is both Text and gloss one place opens another the Prophets explain the Law they unfold and draw out that Arras that was folded together before The ravens of the valleys or brooks are said to be most ravenous Corvi fluviatiles and the young Eagles or Vultures smell out carcases and the first thing they do to them is to pick out their eyes Effossos oculos voret atro guiture corvus Willâ—t on Levis They are cursed with a witness whom the holy Ghost thus curseth in such emphatical manner in such exquisite terms Let wicked children look to it and know that Vultu saepe laeditur pietas as the very Heathens observed that a proud or paltry look cast upon a parent is a breach of piety punishable with death yea with a shameful and ignominious death Let them also think of those infernal ravens and vultures c. Vers 18. There be three things which are too wonderful The wisest man that is cannot give a reason of all things as of the ebbing and flowing of the sea of the colours in the rain-bow of the strength of the nether chappe and of the heat in the stomack which consumeth all other things and yet not the parts about it Agur here confesseth himself gravelled in four things at least and benighted Vers 19. And the way of a man with a maid That is either with a close and chast virgin that is kept close from the access of strangers and goes covered with a veyl or else with a maid that though defloured yet would pass for a pure virgin and is so taken to be till her lewdness is discovered It is expresly noted of Rebecca to her commendation that though fair to look upon yet shee was a virgin neither had any man known her Gen. 24.16 there are that pass for virgins and yet it cannot be said of them that man never knew them The saurum cum virgo tuum vas fictile servet Vt fugias quae sunt noxia tuta time Vers 20. So is the way of an adulterous woman The strumpet when she hath eaten stolen bread hath such dexterity in wiping her lips that not the least crumme shall stick to them for discovery So that Agur here shews it to be as hard to find it out as the way of an Eagle in the air the way of a serpent on a rock c. Unless taken in the manner she stoutly denyes the action And if so taken yet nihil est audacins illis Juvenal Satyâ— 6. Deprensis iram atque animos a crimine sumunt Vers 21. For three things the earth is disquieted Such trouble-towns are odious creatures the places where they live long for a vomit to spâ—e them out As they live wickedly so they dye wishedly there is a good worlds-riddance of them as there was of Nabai and of those in Job 27.23 with 15. who were buried before half-dead being hissed and kickt off the stage of the world as Phocas was by Heraclius And for four which it cannot bear The very axle-tree of the world is even ready to crack under them the earth to open and swallow them up Vers 22. For a servant when he reigneth As Jeroboam Saul Zimri Herod Heliogabalus Phocas See the Note on chap. 19.10 Vespasian only of all the Emperours is said to have been better for his advancement For a fool when he is filled with meat When his belly is filled with Gods hid treasure Psal 17.14 when he prospers and hath what he will Prosperity is hard meat to fools Luxuriant animi rebus plerunque secundis Ovid. they cannot digest it They grow giddy as weak heads doe after a cup of generous wine and lay about them like mad-men the folly of these rich fools is foolishnesse with a witnesse Prov. 14.24 See the Note there 1 Sam. 1.6 Vers 23. For an odious woman when she is married Such an one was Peninnah who vexed good Hannah to make her to thunder as the Original hath
years So that hee bee trisaeclisenex as Nestor was of old and Johannes de temporibus a French-man not many ages since to whom I may add that old Parre old very old man that died of late years having been born in Henry the sevenths daies or Edward the fourths And his soul bee not filled with good Though hee bee filled with years and filled with children that may survive and succeed him in his estate yet if hee bee a covetous caytiff a miserable muckworm that injoyes nothing as in the former verse is not Master of his wealth but is mastered by it lives beside what hee hath and dies to save charges * As hee in Camd. Remains And also that hee have no burial Hee leaves nothing to bring him honestly home as they say or if hee do yet his ungrateful greedy heirs deny him that last honour Jer. 22.19 so that hee is buried with the burial of an Ass as Coniah suffered to rot and stink above ground as that Assyrian Monarch Isa 14. 19 20. and after him Alexander the Great who lay unburied thirty daies together So Pompey the Great of whom Claudian the Poet sings thus Nudus pascit aves jacet en qui possidet orbem Exiguae telluris inops And the like is storied of our William the Conquerour and divers other greedy engrossers of the worlds good See here the poisonful and pernicious nature of niggardise and covetousness that turns long life and large issue those sweetest blessings of God into bitter curses And withall take notice of the just hand of God upon covetous old men that they should want comely burial which is usually one of their greatest cares as Plutarch observeth For giving the reason why old men that are going out of the world should bee so earnestly bent upon the world hee saith it is out of fear that they shall not have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 friends to keep them whiles alive and some to bury them when they are dead I say that an untimely birth I affirm it in the word of truth and upon mature deliberation That an untimely birth not onely a naked young childe as aforesaid that is carried ab utero ad urnam from the womb to the tomb from the birth to the burial but an abortive that coming too soon into the world comes not at all and by having no name findes it self a name as Pliny speaks of the herb Anonymus Vers 4. For hee cometh in with vanity c. As nothing being senseless of good or evil And departeth in darkness is buried in huggermugger And his Name shall bee covered c. that is there is no more talk of this abortive Vers 5. Moreover hee hath not seen the Sun A second priviledge and prerogative of the poor abortive None are so miserable wee see but they may bee comparatively happy It is ever best to look at those below us and then wee shall see cause to bee better contented This hath more rest than the other The Corn that is cropt as soon as it appeareth or is bruised in peeces when it lies in sprout is better than the old weed that is hated while it standeth and in the end is cut down for the fire Vers 6. Yea though hee live a thousand years Which yet never any man did Methusalah wanted thirty two of a thousand The reason thereof is given by Occolampadius quia numerus iste typum habeat perfectionis ut qui constet è centenario decies revoluto because the number of a thousand types out perâ—ection as consisting of an hundred ten times told But there is no perfection here saith hee Yet hath hee seen no good For All the daies of the afflicted are evil saith Solomon And mans daies are few and full of trouble Prov. 15.15 Job 14.1 Gen. 47.9 saith Job Few and evil are the daies of my pilgrimage saith Jacob and I have not attained to the daies of the years of the life of my Fathers c. For Abraham lived one hundred seventy five years and Isaac one hundred eighty near upon forty years longer than Jacob but to his small comfort for hee was blinde all that time yet nothing so blinde as the rich wretch in the Text qui privatus interno lumine tamen in hac vita din vult perpeti caecitatem suam as one speaketh who being blind as a Mole lies rooting and poring uncessantly in the bowels of the earth as if he would that way dig himself a new and a nearer way to Hell and with his own hands addeth to the load of this miserable life As hee hath done no good so hee hath seen or enjoyed none but goes to his place Do not all go to one place the place that Adam provided for all his posterity the house appointed for all living as Job calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.23 chap. 30.23 the Congregation-house as One renders it Heaven the Apostle calls the Congregation-house of the first-born whose names also are there said to bee written in Heaven But covetous persons as they are called the inhabitants of the earth Rev. 12. Jer. 17.13 in opposition to those Coelicola Citizens of Heaven the Saints so their names are written in the earth because they have forsaken the Lord Jer. 2.13 the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns that can hold no water What marvel then if they live long and yet see no good if they are driven to that doleful complaint that Saul made God hath forsaken mee 1 Sam. 28.15 and the Philistims are upon mee sickness death hell is upon mee I am even now about to make my bed in the dark and all the comfort I can have from God is that dismal sentence This shall yee have of mine hand yee shall lye down in sorrow Isa 50.11 Loe this is the cursed condition of the covetous carl as hee hath lived beside his goods having jaded his body broken his brains and burthened his conscience so hee dies hated of God and loathed of men the Earth groans under him Heaven is shut against him Hell gapes for him 1 Cor. 6.8 9. Phil. 3.18 Thus many a Miser spins a fair threed to strangle himself both temporally and eternally O that they would seriously think of this before the cold grave hold their bodies and hot hell torment their souls before death come with a writ of Habeas corpus and the Devil with a writ of Habeas animam as once to that rich fool Luk. 12. Vers 7. All the labour of man is for his mouth That is Dii boni quantum hominum unus exercet venter Seneca Deus homini augustum ventrem c. Sergius PP for food and rayment as 1 Tim. 6. a little whereof will content nature which hath therefore given us a little mouth and stomach to teach us moderation as Chrysostome well observeth to the shame of those beastly belly-gods that glut themselves and devour the creatures
a diaphanous body as the word there signifies before the judgement-seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.20 all shall bee laid naked and open the Books of Gods Omniscience and mans Conscience also shall bee then opened and secret sins shall bee as legible in thy fore-head as if written with the brightest Stars or the most glittering Sun-beams upon a wall of Crystal Mens actions are all in print in Heaven and God will at that day read them aloud in the ears of all the world Whether it bee good or evil Then it shall appear what it is which before was not so clear like as in April both wholesome roots and poisonable discover themselves which in winter were not seen Then men shall give an account 1 De bonis commissis of good things committed unto them 2. De bonis dimissis of good things neglected by them 3. De malis commissis of evils committed by them 4. Lastly De malis permissis of evils done by others suffered by them when they might have hindered it LAUS DEO A COMMENTARY OR EXPOSITION UPON THE CANTICLES OR Solomons Song of Songs CHAP. I. Vers 1. The Song of Songs NOt a light Love-song as some prophane persons have fancied and have therefore held it no part of the sacred Canon Theodoret. lib. 5. de Provid Sic coena a Dionysio caeremonia caeremoniarum ab alio Pascha celebritas celebritatum dicitur But a most excellent Epithalamium a very divine Ditty an heavenly Allegory a Mystical-marriage-song called here The Song of Songs as God is called the God of Gods Deut. 10.7 as Christ is called the King of Kings Rev. 19.16 as the Most Holy is called the Holy of Holies to the which the Jew-doctors liken this Canticle as they do Ecclesiastes to the Holy place and Proverbs to the Court to signifie that it is the treasury of the most sacred and highest mysteries of holy Scripture It streams out all along under the parable of a Marriage Hieron prooem in Ezech. that full torrent of spiritual love that is betwixt Christ and the Church This is a great mystery saith that great Apostle Ephes 5.32 It passeth the capacity of man to understand it in the perfection of it Hence the Jews permitted none to read this sacred Song before thirty years of age Let him that reads think hee sees written over this Solomons porch Holiness to the Lord T. W. on Canti◠Procul hinc procul este profani nihil hic nisi castum If any think this kind of dealing to bee over-light for so grave and weighty a matter let them take heed saith one that in the height of their own hearts they do not proudly censure God and his order who in many places useth the same similitude of marriage to express his love to his Church by and interchangeably her duty toward him as Hos 2.19 2 Cor. 11.2 Ephes 5.25 with vers 22 23 24. where the Apostle plainly alludeth and referreth to this Song of Songs in sundry passages borrowing both matter and frame of speech from hence Which is Solomons Hee was the Pen-man God the Author Of many other Songs hee was both Author and instrument 1 King 4.32 Not so of this which therefore the Chaldee Paraphrast here entituleth Songs and Hymns in the plural for the surpassing excellency of it which Solomon the Prophet the King of Israel uttered by the spirit of Prophecy before the Lord the Lord of all the Earth A Prophet hee was and is therefore now in the Kingdome of Heaven notwithstanding his foul fall whereof hee repented Luk. 11.28 For as it is not the falling into the water that drowns but lying in it So neither is it the falling into sin that damns but dying in it Solomon was also King of Israel and surpassed all the Kings of the Earth in wealth and wisdome 2 Chron. 9.22 yea hee was wiser than all men 1 King 4.31 And as himself was a King Psal 45.2 so hee made this singular Song as David did the 45 Psalm concerning the King Christ and his spiritual marriage to the Church who is also called Solomon Cant. 3.11 and greater than Solomon Matth. 12.42 If therefore either the worth of the writer or the weightiness of the matter may make to the commendation of any book this wants for neither That is a silly exception of some against this Song as if not Canonical because God is not once named in it for as oft as the Bridegroom is brought in speaking here Rom. 9. ◠so oft Christ himself speaketh who is God blessed for ever Besides whereas Solomon made a thousand Songs and five 1 King 4.32 this onely as being the chief of all and part of the holy Canon hath been hitherto kept safe when the rest are lost in the Cabinet of Gods special providence and in the chest of the Jews Gods faithful Library-keepers Rom. 3.2 Joh. 5.39 It being not the will of our heavenly Father that any one hair of that sacred head should fall to the ground Vers 2. Let him kiss mee with the kisses of his mouth It must bee premised and remembred that this Book is penitus allegoricus parabolicus as one saith allegorical throughout and aboundeth all along with types and figures with parables and similitudes Quot verba tot sacramenta So many words so many mysteries saith Hierome of the Revelation Apocalypsin fateor me nescire exponere c. exponat cui Deus concesserit Cajet Possev in Biblioth select which made Cajetan not dare to comment upon it The like may bee truly affirmed of the Canticles nay wee may say of it in a special manner as Possevinus doth of the whole Hebrew Bible tot esse sacramenta quot literae tot mysteria quot puncta tot arcana quot apices Hence Psellus in Theodoret asketh pardon for presuming to expound it But difficilium facilis est venia In magnis voluisse sat est In hard things the pardon is easie and in high things let a man shew his good will and it suffiseth The matter of this Book hath been pointed at already as for the form of it it is Dramatical and Dialogistical The chief speakers are not Solomon and the Shulamite as Castalio makes it but Christ and his Church John 3.29 Christ also hath his Associates those friends of the Bridegroom viz. the Prophets Apostles Pastors and Teachers who put in a word sometimes As likewise do the fellow-friends of the Bride viz. whole Churches or particular Christians The Bride begins here abruptly after the manner of a Tragedy through impatience of love and an holy impotency of desire after not an union onely but an unity also with him whom her soul loveth Let him kiss mee c. Kissing is a token of love 1 Pet. 5.14 Luk. 7.45 and of reconciliation 2 Sam. 14.33 And albeit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Philo observeth Love is not alwaies in a kiss Joab and Judas could kiss and kill
growth is not alwaies to be measured by joy and other accessory graces These sweet blooms may fall off when fruit comes on c. Verse 15. A fountain of gardens a well c Or Oh fountain of the Gardens c. For they do best in mine opinion that make this to be the Churches speech to Christ grounded upon his former commendation of her And it is as if she should say Callest thou me Lord a Garden enclosed a Spring shut up a Fountain scaled True it is I am the garden which thine own right hand hath planted walled watered c. but for all that I am or have the entire praise belongs to thee alone All my plenty of spiritual graces all my perennity of spiritual comforts all my pleasancy and sweetness is derived from thee no otherwise than the streams of Jordan are from mount Lebanon all my springs are in thee as in their Well-head Certum est nos facere quod facimus sed Ille facit ut faciamus saith Augustine True it is that wee do what wee do but it is as true that Christ maketh us to do what wee do For without him we can do nothing John 15.5 In him is our fruit found Hos 14.8 It is hee that works all our works in us Isa 26.12 Hence it is that the Church is no where in all this book described by the beauty of her hands or fingers because hee alone doth all for her The Church of Rome that will needs hammer out her own happiness like the Spider climbing up by a threed of her own weaving and boasting with her in the Emblem Mihi soli debeo shews thereby of what Spirit shee is That wretched Monk died blasphemously who said Redde mihi aeternam vitam quam debes Pay mee heaven which thou owest mee And what an arrogant speech was that of Vega Coelum gratis non accipiam I will not have heaven of free-cost Haec ego feci haec ego feci shews men to be no better than meer Feces said Luther wittily This I have done and that I have done speaks them dregs and dogges that shall stand without doors Rev. 22.15 Hear a childe of our Church speaking thus of himself Georg. Fab. Chemnicensis de scipso Fabricius studuit bene de pictate mereri Sed quicquid potuit gloria Christe tua est This was Matrissare to be like his mother whose Motto hath ever been Non nobis Domine Not unto us Lord not unto us but to thy name give the praise Psal 115.1 If I be thy garden Thou art my fountain from whence unless I be continually watered all will be soon withered and I shall bee as one that inhabiteth the parched places in the wilderness in a salt land and not inhabited Abbot his Georg. 251. Jer. 17.6 In the Island of St. Thomas on the back-side of Africa in the midst of it is an hill and over that a continual cloud wherewith the whole Island is watered Such is the Lord Christ to his Church Hos 14.5 6 7. which therefore as Gideons Fleece must needs be wet and moist when all the Earth besides is dry and desolate as the mountains of Gilboah or as St. Davids in Wales which is said to be a place neither pleasant fertile nor safe A well of living Or A pit of living and life-giving waters Christus coelum non patiuntur hyperbolen 2 Sam. 1.20 Godw Catal. Giral Camb. Puteus effossus ubi est aqua viva scaturiens clara Merc. A man cannot say too much in commendation of Christ and his Kingdome Hence the Church here cannot satisfie her self A Fountain shee calls him a well a stream such as makes glad the City of God even that pure river of the water of life proceeding out of Gods Throne Rev. 22.1 with Ezek. 47.6 Gregory makes this Fountain to bee the Scriptures which bee saith are like both to a Fountain and to a pit Some things in them are plain and open and may be compared to a spring which runs in an open and eminent place Other things therein are dark and deep and like unto a pit that a man must dive into and draw out with hard labour And streams from Lebanon Watering the whole Church as Jordan did the holy Land and tasting no doubt of that sweetness mentioned before vers 11. Even as we see by experience saith one that the waters that come out of the hills of some of the Islands of Molucca taste of the Cinnamon cloves c. that grow there Verse 16. Awake O North winde come thou South c. These windes she supposeth to be asleep because they blow not Rupertus calls the windes Mundi scopas the worlds Beesomes because God makes use of them to sweep out his large house and to purge the air The Spirit of God first purgeth and then watereth the faithful whom the Church here calleth her garden though indeed it bee Christs by reason of the nigh conjunction that is between him and her Ephes 5.30 so that they both make but one mystical Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 Now wee all know that to a compleat Garden are necessary 1 that it be well enclosed 2 Well planted 3 Well watered 4 that it bee amaena coeli aspiratione perflabilis well situate for winde and air 5 that it bee fruitful and profitable The Churches Garden hath every of these good properties as appears here And for the fourth Christ is all the diverse windes both cold and hot moist and dry binding and opening North and South fit for every season What winde soever blows it blows good to the Church for Christ speaks to them as David did to his Captains Do this young man no hurt handle him gently for my sake The Sunne may not smite him by day Psal 121. nor the Moon by night The nipping North of adversity the cherishing South winde of prosperity must both make for him That the spices thereof may flow out That I may be some way serviceable to God and profitable to men Shee knew that in Gods account to be idle is all one as to bee evil Matth. 25.26 to bee unthankfull Horat. is to bee wicked Luke 6.35 Paulum sepulta distat inertia Celata virtus could one Poet say and another Vile latens virtus quid enim submersa tenebris Proderit obscuro veluti sub remige puppis Claudian de Consul Honor. Vel lyra quae reticet vel qui non tenditur arcus Christ had made his Church a garden of sweetest sweets Her desire is therefore that her fruits being rightly ripened her graces greatned and made mature by the benign breath of the Holy Ghost compared here as elsewhere to the several windes their sweetness may bee dispread and conveyed to the nostrils of such as have their senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil Heb. 5.14 As for others their heads are so stuffed with the stenches of the world that great muck-hill and themselves so choaked up
Ancient calleth them Temporaries and Hypocrites who do only the outward works of duty without the inward principle it may be said of them as the civil Law doth of those mixt beasts Elephants Camels c. operam praestant natura fera est they do the work of tame beasts yet have the nature of wild ones Their yong ones shall lie down together Heb. their children i e. say some children after Parents shall do thus and their children after them from age to age Arcularius not revolting any more to barbarism And the Lyon shall eat straw Not men and other sensitive creatures as now Câ—nversi non vivent ex rapto sed legitime partis reculis contenti erunt This say the Chiliasts after some Rabbins shall be literally fulfilled in that golden Age of Christs personal Reign upon earth A meer fancy first vented by Papias a man of some holiness but ingenii pertenuis of very little judgement saith Eusebius Ver. 8. And the sucking child shall play upon the hole of the asp c. There shall be no danger from calumniators and cruel-crafties Asps and Basiliskes quorum in labris venenum sessitat Psalm 140.4 These homines damnosissimi shall have a new nature transfused into them their malignâ—ties and mischievous qualities shall cease when once truly converted Ver. 9. None shall hurt Here the foregoing Allegory is fully explained In Gods Holy Mountain that is in the Church there shall be an holy harmlesness and a sweet Harmony of hearts The word amongst them shall be this Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another 1 John 4 11. Some differences and jarrs there may fall out among the best as did betwixt Paul and Barnabas Hierom and Austin Luther and Zuinglius but these last not long at utmost but till they come to Heaven and the ground of such a distemper is that we know but in part and therefore love but in part 1 Cor. 13. O pray for that blessed sight Eph. 1.17 18. and for a fuller comprehension of those several dimensions Eph. 3.18 that the earth may be full of the Knowledge of the Lord. As the waters cover the sea i e. The bosom and bottom of it that Gods Word may dwell richly in us in all wisdom and that the knowledge we have of it may be a transforming knowledge 2 Cor. 3.18 Two or three words of Gods mouth hid in the heart and there mingled with faith work such an evident and entire change in a man saith Lactantius that you can hardly know him to be the same Lactant. Instit lib. 3. cap. 86. Da mihi virum qui sit iracundus maledicus effraenatus paucissimis Dei verbis tam placidum quam ovem reddam Da cupidum avarum tenacem c. Give me a man that is angry ill-spoken unruly with a few words of Almighty God I le make him as meek as a Lamb. Give me one that is covetous an oppressive hold-fast a very Nabal I le make him a Nadib of a covetous carle a liberal person of a Viper a child of a leacher a chast man c. Lo this is the fruit of the sound and saving Knowledge of God and of his Word of our selves and of our duties Ver. 10. And in that day In the day of Christs power or Kingdom the people shall be willing Psalm 110.3 The Isles shall wait for Gods Law Isa 42.8 Multitudes of Nations shall come crowding in to his greatest glory Prov. 14.2 and for the fulfilling of old Jacobs Prophesie Gen. 49.10 There shall be a root of Jesse See on ver 1. Which shall stand for an Ensign or Standard whereto all the Elect must Assemble and hereby is meant the preaching of the Gospel Shall the Gentiles seek Ferventi studio magno desiderio non coacti they shall flye thereto as the Clouds and as Doves scour to their windows chap. 60.8 And his rest that is His Church with whom he resteth and resideth Psal 132.8 He resteth also in his Love to his people and rejoyceth over them with singing Zeph. 3.17 See the Notes there Shall be glorious Heb. glory sc per sanctitutem chap. 4.5 Ver. 11. The Lord shall set his hand again the second time Not to bring them back to the promised Land to Palestina as once he did out of Aegypt that 's but a Rabbinical dream not unlike that other viz. that all Jews in what Countrey soever they are buried do travel thorow certain under-ground-passages till they come to their own Countrey of Jury But with a stretcht-out hand he shall recover the remnant of his people that shall be left So the Poet relliquias Danaum atque immitis Achillei He shall recover Or get buy purchase that poor dissected Nation Elevatio signi est praedicatio Crucifix Oecolamp out of all places of their dispersion uniting their minds and subduing their enemies Ver. 12. And he shall set up an Ensign See on ver 10. Dispersas oves Judae Piscat The dispersed of Judah See John 7.35 Jam. 1.1 The word dispersed in the Hebrew is Feminine to shew that no sort or sex shall be excluded Col. 3.11 Discimus sub Christo finem sore simultatum odiorum Oecol Dan. hist 249. Ver. 13. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart The fierce wrath or deadly feud that was betwixt the ten revolted Tribes of Judah the like whereunto was between England and Scotland and in England between the Houses of York and Lancaster in which last-mentioned dissention were slain fourscore Princes of the blood Royal and twice as many Natives of England as were lost in the two Conquests of France This emulation and hatred of Ephraim against Judah was to be abolished by Christ Ezek. 37.17 The Disciples being of several Tribes were all of one heart and of one soul Peza ex Beda Act. 4.32 Neither was there any controversie at all amongst them as one ancient Greek Coppy addeth to that forecited Text. Ver. 14. But they shall flee upon the shoulders A Metaphor from Conquerers who pursue their enemies and fall upon the bones of them as we say The meaning is The Gentiles shall be converted to the Christian faith by the Jews See Gen. 49.8 viz. by the Apostles and other Preachers of the Gospel Thus Philip was found at Azotus or Ashdod Act. 8. Peter at Joppe Act. 10. At Gaza and Askelon were many flourishing Churches in the times of Athanasius and Chrysostom Tertul. saith Adrichomius Brittannorum inaccessa Romanis loca Christo patuerunt Ver. 15. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Aegyptian sea that is by drying up or driving away the waters He shall open a way through the red Sea which representeth the form and fashion of a Tongue He alludeth to Exod. 14. for Christ being our Conduct we do enter by Baptism as by the red Sea into the Church and after this life present into the Kingdom of Heaven He shall
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
the seats they sit on the pillars they lean to the dead bodies they tread upon So shall ye serve strangers God loves to retaliate Ver. 20. Declare this in the house of Jacob c. Cease not to ring it in their ears whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for it is a rebellious people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of the number of those who wink willingly that they may not see when some unsavory potion is ministred to them as Justin Martyr expresseth it Ver. 21. Hear now this O foolish people They were strangely stupified and were therefore thus rippled up Those that are in a Lethargy must have a double quantity of Physick to what others have And without understanding Heb. Without an heart Cor sapit pulmo loquitur c. The heart is the symbol and seat of wisdom See Hos 7.11 with the Note Which have eyes and see not c. See Esay 6.9 and 42.20 which have not senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil Heb. 5. ult Ver. 22. Fear ye not me saith the Lord What not me whom the sea it self that tumultuous and unruly creature feareth and obeyeth See Psal 65.7 and 93.4 Who have placed the sand for a bound to the sea A weak bound for so furious an element Vis maris infirmissimo sabuli pulvere cohibetur But so I will have it and then who or what can gainstand it Now who can but be moved at such miracles Know you not that I can soon make your arable sailable and that I can shake the earth as oft as there is a tempest in the Ocean sith the earth is founded not upon solid rocks but fluid waters See 2. Pet. 3.5 By a perpetual decree Heb. by an ordinance of antiquity or of perpetuity clapping it up close prisoner Ver. 23. But this people have a revolting and rebellious heart Cor recedens amaricans gone they are and return they will not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Apostates are dangerous creatures and mischievous above others witnesse Julian once a forward professour Lucian once a Preacher at Antioch Staphylus and Latomus once great Lutherans afterwards eager Popelings Harding was the Target of Popery in England saith Peter Moulin against which he had once been a thundering Preacher in this land wishing he could cry out against it as loud as the bells of Oseney Act. Mon. fol. 1291. The Lady Jane Gray whose chaplain he had sometimes been gave him excellent counsel in a letter but he was revolted and gone past call Ver. 24. Neither say they in their hearts God understands heart language and expects a tribute there Let us now fear the Lord Fear him for his goodness as well as for his greatness ver 22. See Hos 3.5 and Notes That giveth rain Which God decreeth Job 28.26 prepareth Psal 147.8 withholdeth Am. 4.7 bestoweth Deut. 28.12 Mat. 5.41 for a witness Acts 17.14 of his general goodness Mat. 5.45 and special providence as a good housholder Act. 14.17 He reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of harvest Which if he should deny us but one year only how easily might he starve us all See his love and fear his Name Ver. 25. Your iniquities have turned See on Isa 59.1 2. Ver. 26. For among my people are found wicked men This was as bad as to find a nettle in a garden unchastity in a Virgin or the devil in Paradise All the Lords people are or ought to be holy They lye in wait Or watch or prey See on Mic. 7.2 They set a trap they catch men To spoil them or slay them Such a one was Otto the Popes Muscipulator as the story stileth him i. e. Mice-catcher sent hither by Gregory 9. to take and take away our money Tecelius sent by Leo 10. into Germany was another Ver. 27. As a cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceit i. e. Of ill-gotten goods which will prove no such catch in the close as they count upon Ver. 28. They are waxen fat they shine Pingues nitidi sunt cutem curant ut Epicuri de grege porci fat they are and fair liking slick and smooth Yea they overpasse the deeds of the wicked They out-sin others Or as some sense it they escape better then others Psal 73.5 Ver. 29. Shall I not visit See ver 9. Ver. 30. A wonderful and horrible thing Res stupenda horrenda an abhorred filth such as may well draw from us an hen hen Domine Deus Is committed in the Land Heb. in this land where men are therefore the worse because they should be better Ver. 31. The Prophets phophecy falsely and the Priests bear rule The chief Priests bearing rule in the causes and consciences of the people had suborned their abbettours ambitious Prophets who applauded their greatness for preferment teaching the people to dote on the titles of Moses chair High-Priests the Temple of the Lord Mat. 15. Aposiopesis de extremo tam deploratae policiae exterminio c. as if there were not many a goodly box in the Apothecaries shop without one dram of any drug therein Such false Prophets were those Pharisees factours for the Priests with their Corban and such also for the Pope are the Jesuites and Seculars which differ only as hot and cold poison both destructive to the State What will ye do Alass what will become of you at last CHAP. VI. Ver. 1. O Ye children of Benjamin These were the Prophets Country-men for Anathoth was in that tribe so was also part of Jerusalem it self He forewarneth them of the enemies approach and bids them be gone The Benjamites were noted for valiant but vitious Judg. 19. Hos 9.9 and 10 9. And blow the trumpet in Tekoah A place that had its name from trumpetting so there is an elegan◠in the Original See the like Mic. 1.10 14. It was twelve miles from Jerusalem and six from Beth-haccerem Here dwelt that wise woman suborned by Joah 2 Sam. 14.2 Life of Ed. 6. by S J. Heyw. Set up a sign of fire A Beacon or such as the fire-crosse is in Scotland where for a signal to the people when the enemy is at hand two fire-brands set across and pitched upon a spear are carried about the Countrey Ver. 2. I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman Certatim amatae Bucolicae puellae some fair Shepherdess to whom the Kings with their armies make love but for no love that they may destroy and spoil her Ver. 3. The Shepherds See on ver 2. Ver. 4. Prepare ye warre against her Say those Chaldean sweet-hearts this is their wooing language like that of the English at Muscleborough Let us go up at noon Let us lose no time why burn we day-light by needless delays Ver. 5. Let us destroy her Palaces Where we shall find all precious substance we shall fill our hands with spoile as Prov. 1.13 Ver. 6. For thus hath the
many mens bodies are in sacellis Haram domisticam arae Dominicae prafer their hearts are in sacculis as Austin complaineth as Serpents have their bodies in the water their heads out of the water so here As those Gergesites they more mind a swine-stye then a Sanctuary Ver. 32. As a very lovely song Or a love-song Canticum amatorium Vatab. The word leaves no more impression upon carnal mens consciences then a sweet lesson upon the Lute in the ear when it is ended for then both the vocal and instrumental sweetnesse dissolve into the air and vanish into nothing Happy was Austin who coming to Ambrose to have his eares tickled had his heart touched Ver. 33. That a Prophet See on chap. 2.5 CHAP. XXXIV Ver. 1. ANd the Word See chap. 18.1 Ver. 2. Prophecy against the Shepherds Good Shepherds they should have been but they were naught Jer. 23. and naught would come of them for their mal-administration Wo be to the Shepherds of Israel Both to Princes and Priests by whose evil governement the people were so bad as in the former Chapter is fully set forth Qualis rex talis grex the Sheep will follow the Shepherd the common people are like a flock of Cranes as the first flye all follow Should not the Shepherds feed the flocks Such flocks especially as have golden fleeces precious souls Oh feed feed feed saith our Saviour to Peter Joh. 21.15 feed them for my sake as the Syriack there hath it rule them well teach them well go before them in good example do all the offices of a faithful Shepherd to them and be instant or stand close to the work 2 Tim. 4.2 Dominus propè the Arch-shepherd is at hand Ver. 3. Ye eat the fat Ecce lac lanam recipitis this ye might do if in measure for the workman is worthy of his wages see 1 Cor. 9.7 but ye gorge your selves with the best of the best si ventri benè si lateri as Epicurus in Horace if the belly may be filled the back fitted that 's all you take care for In parabola ovis capras quaeritis vestrum maximè compendium spectatis ye are all for your own ends nourishing your hearts as in a day of slaughter or of good chear Jam. 5.5 Ye kill them that are fed Heb. ye sacrifice them so ye pretend but mind your own fat paunches See Prov. 7.14 But ye feed not the flock As being falsi sicti imò picti pastores mock-shepherds Ver. 4. The diseased have ye not strengthened Five sorts of sheep are here reckoned up that needed the shepherds best care and cure but nothing was done or if any thing it was overdone for with force and cruelty they ruled over them See 1 Pet. 5.3 Ver. 5. And they were scattered because there is no shepherd None but an idol-shepherd Zach. 11.17 a foolish shepherd ver 15. and the sheep being a foolish creature even to a proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and apt to wander into harmes way will never return to the fold if not fetcht back but stick in the thornes or dye in a ditch or run into the wolves mouth Ver. 6. My sheep wandered Through the shepherds supine negligence or bloody truculence Surely as the herd of Deer forsake and push away the wounded Deer from them so did these cruel shepherds being non pastores sed impostores non Episcopi sed Aposcopi non praelati sed Pilati as Bernard wittily sheep-biters rather then shepherds greedy dogs Esa 56.10 11. grievous wolves Act. 20.29 And none did search or seek after them Nec erat qui quaereret aut requireret Ver. 7. Therefore ye shepherds hear the Word of the Lord And oh that this Word might ever sound aloud in the eares of all shepherds as the voyce of heavens trumpet Hyperbaton aetiolog cum Ver. 8. As I live saith the Lord surely because God here seemeth to be in a great heat in a perturbation of spirit causing a kind of impediment in his speech so throughly was he moved against these leud shepherds whose faults he rippeth up again to make better way to their sentence Because my flock became a prey To the Chaldees but especially to that old manslayer Because there was no shepherd None but a company of Nominals or rather Nullities Ver. 9. Therefore O ye shepherds See ver 7 8. Ver. 10. Behold I am against the shepherds Heb. Lo I against by an angry Aposiopesis And cause them to cease from feeding the flock They shall be Officiperdae Quondams laid aside like broken vessels as have been some Kings of this land in their several generations one of recent remembrance Popish Bishops not a few Bonner and others outed and deprived .. Ego ego Nominatium absolute â—o tuâ— Oeconom lib. 1. Ver. 11. Behold I even I will both search Ego ego reposcam anquiram rather then the work shall be undone I le do all my self and then 't is sure to be well done Aristotle telleth of a certain Persian who being asked What did most of all feed the horse answered the Masters eye And of a certain African of whom when it was demanded What was the best manure or soil for a field answered the owners foot-steps that is his presence and perambulation Praesul ut praesit profit suis ab iis non absit Shepherds should reside with their flocks the Archshepherd will not fail to do so Ver. 12. Aâ— a shepherd He prosecuteth the Allegory drawn from shepherdy all along striking still upon the same string with much sweetness So will I seek out my sheep Mat. 15.24 Psal 119. ult Esa 40.11 In the cloudy and dark day i. e. In the time of their calamity and captivity When things are at worst God himself will set in he reserveth his holy hand for a dead lift Ver. 13. And I will bring them out from the people This they could very hardly beleeve therefore he assureth them of it again and again God will do the like for all his Elect seem it never so impossible And feed them upon the mountaines of Israel Which are very high mountaines but the Church Gods hill is higher Esay 2.2 See the Note there Ver. 14. I will feed them in a good pasture Dayly and daintily feed them among the Lillyes Cant. 2.16 Psal 23.1 2 3. feed them with the flesh and blood of my dear Son Joh. 6. There shall they lye in a good fold Having a blessed calm in their consciences full of spiritual security and freed from all annoyances Mic. 5.5 Ver. 15. I will feed my flock Doing all the offices of a good shepheard for them and charging mine undershepheards to do so too And I will cause them to lye dowâ— By giving rest to their souls Mat. 11. together with many happy Halcyons that they may serve me without fear Luk. 1.74 Ver. 16. I will seek that which was lost c. As he did Peter Paul the good thief
his dominion without dimension Ver. 3. A portion for Naphthali There are many portions of inheritance in Christs Kingdom there are also in heaven many mansions Joh. 14.2 all which shall be divided among the Elect. Ver. 4. A portion for Manasseh Which they do not of their own accord and as they see good seize upon but take their share set them out of the divine sentence Ver. 5. A portion for Ephraim An equal portion with his elder brother Manasseh In Christs Kingdom all is of grace nothing of merit Ver. 6. And by the border of Ephraim There is a continuity and conjunction of all the portions to set forth the communion that is betwixt the Saints a sweet mercy a heaven aforehand Ver. 7. A portion for Judah Who is set next to the sanctified oblation of the Lord wherein were the portions of the Priests Levites City and Prince He must be a Jew inwardly a confessour and witness of the truth who shall have part and portion in the priviledges of Gods people Ver. 8. Shall be the offering Whereof see chap. 45.1 2 3 c. Of 25000. reeds Which being exactly cast up saith one come to 45. miles and therefore cannot be meant of any City to be built by the Jews again after their return from Babylon but must be understood of the Church under the Gospel Ver. 9. Vnto the Lord As distinguishing it from other oblations here stood the Sanctuary Ver. 10. And for them even for the Priests No mention is here made of Cities of refuge as of old for they shall not hurt nor destroy in all Gods holy mountain but the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Esa 11.9 Ver. 11. Of the sons of Zadok See chap. 44.15 16 c. Which went not astray To be faithful with God in a common defection is a singular praise See my Righteous mans Recompense pag. 695. Ver. 12. And this oblation of the land Ministers of Gods Word may lawfully take maintenance of the Church 1 Cor. 9. Ver. 13. The Levites shall have But after the Priests There are degrees of officers in the Church and good order must be well observed there Five and twenty thousand in length These several portions set together make up a perfect square which serveth well to set forth the beauty and firmity of the Church of Christ Ver. 14. And they shall not sell of it This law is here occasionally and by the way inserted It seemeth to hold forth that lands given to the Ministers of Christ under the New Testament may never be again taken away or put to any other use but to their maintenance for ever See Mr. Clarks Mirrour chap. of Sacriledge The first-fruits of the land i. e. This part thus consecrated to God as the first-fruits of the earth were Ver. 15. Shall be a profane place i. e. A common place and so all Israel were profane in a sense sc as compared to the Priests and Levites those consecrated persons Symmachus and Theodotion reader it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Deut. 20.6 And the City shall be in the midst thereof Ten miles at least distant from the Temple some say many more to shew say they what a long way he must go that would attain to eternal life he must get above the world howsoever who would serve God acceptably Ver. 16. And these shall be measures thereof This representation is meerly figurative and mystical shewing us how specious and spacious the Church of Christ is Ver. 17. And the suburbs of the City These were much larger then the suburbs of the Temple as may be observed by comparing chap. 40. See chap. 45.2 Ver. 18. For food to them that serve the City To all the Citizens who all are to turn servitours to their fellow-brethren that come to the publike meetings to serve one another in love which they that do shall not lose their reward but verily they shall be fed Ver. 19. Shall serve it out of all the tribes i. e. At the common charge and by a general contribution Ver. 20. Ye shall offer the holy oblation foure square See on ver 13. All our dealings must be square or else we are not of the holy portion Epilogus est of the new Jerusalem Rev. 21.16 Ver. 21. And the residue shall be for the Prince His occasions are many and therefore his proportion is very large yet must he not be Regni dilapidator the Waster of the Kingdom by his profuseness as our Henry the third was called whereby he became ill beloved of his people Ver. 22. Being in the midst of that which is the Princes The Prince was taught by this position of his portion to have an equal care of Church and State Ver. 23. Benjamin shall have a portion The division of the land as it ended with Judahs portion in speaking of the seven former tribes ver 8. so here it beginneth with Benjamins in speaking of the five following Ver. 24 25 26 27. See the Notes on ver 2 3 4 5 6 7. Ver. 28. Even from Tamar Not Jericho but Palmira called afterwards Adrianople of the Emperour Adrian who rebuilt and beautified it And to the river The river of Egypt called Sihor Josh 13.3 Ver. 29. This is the land This is the Epilogue of the whole chapter as to the greatness of the holy City It remaineth only to touch at the situation and measures thereof the gates also and the Ministers together with their use and maintenance the elegancy lastly and perpetuity of the City For inheritance Not from the brook as Tremellius mis-translateth it Ver. 30. And these are the goings out of the City That is the utmost bounds as Rabbi Solomon glosseth Ver. 31. And the gates of the City Through which all the Israel of God both Jews and Gentiles from all parts Qua data porta ruunt do enter into the Church of Christ flowing and flocking thereto as waters do to the sea and as the doves to their windows Three gates Northward Twelve in all the reason whereof see in the Note on Rev. 21.13 One gate of Levi Who though he had no lot in the land yet he had a gate into the City as Vatablus here noteth Ver. 32. Four thousand and five hundred And the like on each side of all which are made up fifty and four miles at the least so large is the City of God Niniveh was nothing to it no more is Alcair Scandereon or Cambalu the Metropolis of Tartary which yet is said to be twenty eight miles about Ver. 33. One gate of Simeon Here all along the tribes are reckoned not as they were before in this Chapter but as they are set down in Numbers at the marching of the Tabernacle in the midst of them saving that whole Joseph hath here but one gate and Levi is taken into the number of the twelve tribes And forasmuch as it entreth not into the heart of man what God hath
the Lords great goodnesse who being so shamefully slâ—ghted by the sinful sons of men doth yet swear his readinesse to receive them graciously who have revolted grievously Well might Nazianzen say that God delighteth in nothing so much as in mans conversion and salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil i. e. he would we should fear him Suffâ—ndere mavult sanguinem quam effundere Tertul. not fall by his hand redire nos sibi non perire desiderat as Chrysologus phraseth it return unto him not perish from the way Psal 2.12 For why will ye dye Turn ye must or burn See chap 18.31 32. Ver. 12. Say unto the children The same as before only with a Proviso of Perseverance in well-doing for else all 's lost Non enim quaeruntur in Christianis initia sed finis saith Hierom The end is better then the beginning Ver. 13. When I shall say to the righteous See on chap. 18.24 If he trust to his own righteousnesse As thinking that he hath thereby purchased a license to commit iniquity Ver. 14. Thou shalt surely dye Viz. Except thou repent for that altereth the case Poenitency is almost as good as innocency If he turn from his sin and do These two parts make up true Repentance Ver. 15. Give again that he had robbed Quod rapuit reddideret The law for restitution see Num. 5.6 7. Ver. 16. None of his sins This is point-blank against the doctrine of Purgatory Ver. 17. Yet the children of the people say This was a second cavil of theirs See ver 10. and chap. 18.25 Archesilas was surnamed Cavillator so might these well have been Their way is not equal There is no equity at all in this causelesse quarrel of theirs Ver. 18. When the righteous turneth To set them down if right reason would do it and man should be mancipium rationis a slave to reason he repeateth what he hath said before Ver. 19. He shall live thereby Provided that he rest not in his righteousnesse but learn to live by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. Ver. 20. Yet ye say But therein ye lye which is not the guise of Gods children Isa 63.8 I will judge you every one after his wayes And so wring a testimony if not from your mouthes yet from your consciences of mine impartial Justice such as is that Deut. 32.4 A God of truth and without iniquity just and right is He. Ver. 21. In the twelfth year Some read the eleventh year and indeed it was wonder that such ill news came no sooner for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Sophocles Superstes stragis That one that had escaped This God had promised chap. 24.26 The City is smitten i. e. Sacked and burnt This man spoke much in few Ver. 22. The hand of the Lord i. e. The Spirit of the Lord which acted me and caried me out 2 Pet. 1.21 See 1 Cor. 12.3 And my mouth was opened As God had promised chap. 24.27 And this fell out before the messengers narration This was much for the prophets honour Ver. 23. Then the Word of the Lord See chap. 18.1 Ver. 24. They that inhabit those wasts of the land of Israel Those poor few now left in the land 2 King 25.12 22. Jer. 40.5 c. Surely they are poor they are foolish they have lost the fruit of their affliction miserrimi facti sunt pessimi permanent as Austin saith of some in his time they are never the lesse wicked for being wretched Verba facis populi recitat Abrahae se conferre imò praeferre audebant Speak Bubbles of words Antiquum obtinent They are no changelings not at all crest-faln Abraham was one And no such one but that we may match him Thus these proud hypocrites set up their counter for a thousand pound and stand upon their comparisons without all shame or sense The land is given to us And here we will hold our own for we are well worthy Ver. 25. Ye eat with the blood Which wicked Saul would not do 1 Sam. 14. much lesse would righteous Abraham have done it sith it was against the light and letter of the Law Gen. 9.4 Levit. 7.26 Deut. 12.16 Nay ye do worse things and are you Abraham's children and heirs of the promised land together with that faithful Patriarch I trow not See a like manner of reasoning Mic. 2.7 Joh. 8.39 So the learned Linaker having read our Saviours Sermon in the mount and considering how little it is lived amongst us brake out into these words Certainly either this is not Gospel or we are not right Gospellers Ver. 26. Ye stand upon your sword Vivitur ex rapto He that hath the longest sword carrieth it amongst you ye are also very revengeful ready to say with him in the Poet Caparene ap Statum Theb. 2. Mezent ap Virg. Aeneid 10. Martin VI. vald in candelab virtus mihi numen ensis Quem teneo Dextra mihi deus telum quod missile libro Ye work abomination This R. Solomon understandeth de Venere obscaeniore It is in the original ye women work abomination as prostituting your selves to an unnatural filthinesse as the Casuists complain still of some Spanish Curtezans And shall ye possesse the land q. d. Ye shall be set up what should you expect better then exilium excitium banishment and destruction Ver. 27. They that are in the wastes Ver. 24. Shall dye of the pestilence Or else of the famine which is worse When where and how this was fulfilled upon them we read not In Egypt likely whither they went after Gedaliah's death if not sooner at home as Jeremy also had fore-prophecyed chap. 42 43 44. Ver. 28. For I will lay the land most desolate Heb. desolation desolation God made clean work there there was not a Jew left in the Country See Zach. 7.14 Ver. 29. Then shall they know By woful experience Ver. 30. The children of thy people These Captives in Babylon no whit better then those in Jury Still are talking Detracting from thee and deriding thee By the walls Susurros miscentes clancularios Vti otiosi sanniones in foro facere solent fearing left any one behind them should hear them they get the walls at their backs Come I pray you and hear Thus they jear and there are too many such scoffers at this day Ver. 31. And they come unto thee Very goodly And they sit before thee Very demurely and to see to devoutly taking up all the seats They hear thy Words But they were as heartlesse in hearing as they were listlesse in praying ver 10. They will not do them Of the Athenians also it was said of old that they knew well what was good and right but would do neither Their heart goeth after their covetousnesse Their heart is on their half-penny as we say neither can the Load-stone of Gods Word hale them one jot from the earth It should be Sursumcorda but when