then others so should we vse the grace of God hys holy spirite to instruct others For it is not enough for a man hym selfe onely to absteine from euill vnles he helpe others and ioyne them also with hym into the societie of goodnes and true holynes The which example may teach vs our dueties now and at all tymes 8 But Daniel purposed in his hart not to be polluted with the portiō of the kynges meat and drinke and he desired of the master of the Eunuches that he might not be polluted Heare agayne Daniel declareth that he had alwayes his heart bent to auoyde all thyngs that might any way pollute him and make hym forget hym selfe and hys state But here some do doubt whether any such matter were in the meate and the drinke that Daniel ought to absteyne from them For this semeth some note of superstition And we know that all thynges are pure vnto the pure which rule is true in all worldes Agayne we do read no such thing of Ioseph And it is very lyke that Daniel afterward did vse such meates when hee was in hys great authoritie with the kyng Wherefore this was not alway obserued of Daniel and therefore it may seme now either an vnaduised zeale or to much singularitie To this may be aunswered that God allowed it in Daniel in hys felowes as it were by miracle preseruyng them fayre lykyng in theyr mournyng strayte dyet and therfore it is not to be doubted but by Gods spirit they were thus at the first moued to absteine for a tyme frō the kyngs delicates and so to recorde that they were exiles and captiues brought from the holy Citie and the holy kinred of Abraham into an Idolatrous countrey and people whose maners were abominable vnto them And so they counte theyr fine meates and dayntie fare pollution and abomination for the consequence that would haue ensued if they had gredyly geuen them selues vnto them For Daniel knew the daunger that they should haue bene corrupted with heathnish maners if they had thus at the first geuen them selues vp to haue bene abused with sumptuous fare and princely dishes Wherefore absteynyng from them he kepeth hys mynde in reuerence to God he reteyneth the remembrance of hys owne state and countrey hée disapoynteth the kyng of hys crafty purpose and groweth into more credite through Gods prouidence ¶ The Prayer GRaunt O most mercyfull God that so long as we wander in this wretched world we may so take our meate and drinke for the infirmitie of our flesh that we neuer be corrupted by fine fare wherin the flesh deliteth neither yet by any foolish superstition nor that we be drawne away at any time from temperance and sobrietie but let vs alwayes remēber so to vse our aboundaunce that when we abounde in all things most plentifully we may geue our selues to moderate abstinence continually as also that we may patiently beare all pouertie and hunger when it commeth and that we may so vse libertie in our meates and drinkes that alwayes the glory of thy name O Lord may be before our eyes and that such frugalitie may appeare in all our lyfe that we may continually seke that sacietie and fulnes wherby we shal be saciate for euer most aboundantly when the glory of thy countenance shall appeare vnto vs in the heauens through Iesus Christ our lord Amen 9 Now God had brought Daniel into fauour and tender loue with the chief of the Eunuches 10 And the chief of the Eunuches said vnto Daniel I feare my Lord the king who hath appointed your meate and your drinke therfore if he see your faces worse lykyng then the other children which are of your sort thē shall you make me lose myne head vnto the kyng 11 Then sayd Daniel to Melzar whom the chief of the Eunuches had set ouer Daniel Hananiah Mishael and Azariah 12 Proue thy seruaūts I besech thee ten dayes and let them geue vs pulse to eate and water to drinke 13 Then let our countenaunces be looked vpon before thee and the countenaunces of the childrē that eate of the portion of the kynges meate and as thou seest deale with thy seruauntes 14 So he consented to them 15 And at the end of ten dayes theyr countenaunces appeared fayrer and better lykyng then all the childrē which dyd eate of the kyngs meat ¶ The Meditation Where it is written that God gaue Daniel fauour with the chief Eunuch we must consider the goodnes of GOD toward hys seruauntes how he turneth the cruell hartes vnto mercy and pitie that we may be the more bold to go forward with Gods busines thorow all daungers For this may many tymes come to passe that we can not do the office wherunto God hath called vs without presēt daunger of lyfe as that he should accompt the kynges meat a pollution which was but a captiue and a prisoner could not be without great daūger as appeareth by the Eunuches aunswere and because we would flye such daūgers we waxe cowardes and sluggish many tymes Daniel therfore to encourage vs in Gods matters declareth that God gaue hym fauour with this Eunuch to teach vs to cast our care vppon God when any worldly terrour or manaces of men would terrifie vs from the folowyng of Gods spirite And here we perceyue that it is in Gods hand to turne theyr hearts which rage agaynst vs so that he cā deliuer vs from all perill when he pleaseth Thus God caused the kyng which might haue vsed hym as a slaue to commaunde hym to be vsed as a Princes child and hys gouernour also to be very fauorable vnto hym Wherby we gather this generall doctrine that mens hearts are gouerned by God so that hee can mollifie all fearcenes and cruelty and make wolues lyke lambes so oft as it lyketh hys good pleasure As for example when hys people came forth of Aegypt God gaue them such fauour that the Aegyptians deliuered vnto them all theyr chief iewels and ornamentes Now it is playne that the Aegyptians hated them neuertheles What causeth them then to bryng foorth to the Israelites all theyr pretious iewels Onely the Lord God of the Israelites who euen then put into theyr hartes new affections And so of the contrary must we knew that it is in Gods hand to make our dearest frendes our greatest enemies Wherfore we must seeke God in all thynges Truth it is that GOD frameth formeth some from their byrth to be either milde or cruell but he doth not this onely for once but dayly and continually when it so pleaseth hym Lyke as also he lighteneth the myndes or blyndeth them euery houre and momēt at his pleasure so that the most wise shall sometime sée nothyng where the most simple shall finde great comforte Wherfore we may learne that mens hartes and myndes are so gouerned by Gods secret inspiration that he chaungeth them at hys good pleasure and therfore that we nede not much to feare our enemyes who
and that thou art such a faythfull keeper thereof that thou wilt not suffer one heare to fall from our heads but that thou wilt so defend vs that the wicked also may know that we boast not in vayne of thy holy name neither that our prayers vnto thee are fruteles and when we haue felt thy fatherly goodnes and care all the course of our life in the ende receiue vs to that blessed immortalitie which thou hast promised vnto vs and layd vp for vs in the heauen through Iesus Christ our lord Amen 20 The name of God be praysed for euer and euer for wisdome and strength are his 21 And he changeth the times and seasons hee taketh away kynges and he setteth vp kynges he geueth wisedome vnto the wise and vnderstanding to those that vnderstand 22 He discouereth the deepe and secret thinges he knoweth what is in darkenes c. Now Daniel prayseth God as we ought dayly to wish hys name to be sanctified but especially as Daniell doth here when he worketh any strange worke and sheweth any token of his fauour amongst vs Wherupon sayth Dauid Thou hast put a new song into my mouth And Isay sayth that God hath geuen the matter of a new song because he hath dealt meruelously with his Church So doth Daniell here prayse God with most vehement affection geuing vnto him only the prayse of power and of wisedome and so separating him from all false Gods and all creatures in that as he knoweth all thinges by his wisedome so doth he rule and gouerne all thinges by his power so that nothing is done but by his appointment and also that he hath not only this fountaine of all wisedome and power in him selfe but that he spreadeth forth the same to be séene both in heauen and in earth So that what wisdome or power so euer appeareth in any creature in the world it is but a signe testimony and declaration of Gods wisedome and power that God may be magnified So that the change and alteration of times of states of kingdomes and of all artes and sciences are but as it were glasses to cause man to beholde Gods power and wisedome by the which all thinges are gouerned Wherfore Daniell teacheth vs that we neede not to clime vp to the heauens to search out this wisedome and power for it is dayly practised amongst vs vpon the earth whiles we sée kinges and kingdomes altered and changed so farre aboue all compasse of mans wit and our capacities that we may alway haue our recourse vnto God and reuerence his maiestie in all thinges If all the yeares and dayes should runne after one course we would attribute it vnto nature But now when we sée how farre sommer doth differ from the winter and that we haue not yet alwayes the like sommer and the like winter no sometimes the spring time is hoote as the sommer sometime it is as cold as stormy and snowye as the winter and the sommers are sometimes so straunge and the yeares so diuerse one from an other all these alterations and changes are wrought by the wisdome of God to waken vs and to stirre our dull hartes to looke vp to the maker of all and not to sticke to the fond imagination of nature as do the philosophers and so robbe God of his honor And if in all these small mutations the power of God be so manifest how much more should God be magnified in these great transformations of the whole world which are now in our dayes most euidēt so that we may boldly say to the proude contēners with the prophet Dauid Lift not vp your hornes so high nor speake with stiffe neckes for to come to preferment is neither from the east nor from the west nor from the sowth but God is the iudge he maketh low and he maketh high Thus resting vpō Gods we may deride all vayne discourses of mans brayne wherewith they folishly trouble their heades that God commeth seldome or neuer into their remembrance the which fault Daniell noteth in this 21. verse like as he goeth farther in the 22. verse Wherby we learne to geue God his due prayse in all thinges which the world with open sacrilege doth vse to robbe from him that if we haue any vnderstanding or iudgement at all we must knowledge it to be Gods gift If we haue but one drop of common sense or wit we must prayse God for it For without his secret inspiration geuing vs this vnderstanding we should haue bene like stones and stockes Now he that hath more knowledge is more bounden vnto God because he hath receiued more For who is it that maketh this diuersity but only God But aboue all the knowledge of spirituall thinges is the rare and singular gift of the holy ghost and therefore the manifest token of Gods power Let vs therfore beware of that deuelish pride wherewith the word is bewitched boasting in their giftes as though they came of them selues let vs prayse God for that he hath not only geuen vs the cōmune gift of wit and vnderstandyng to put a difference betwixt good and euill which séemeth only naturall but that he hath so lightned our mindes that we do perceiue those spirituall thinges which els should farre passe our capacities and let vs pray continually that he would vouchsafe more and more to open to vs that light wherein he dwelleth that so we may féele the power of his spirite working in our darkenes and strengthening vs in his seruice ¶ The Prayer GRaunt O Lord God that where so many testimonies of thy wisedome power and glory are dayly before our eyes and yet we can not see them but bury thys cleare light with our ingratitude graunt we beseech thee that at the length we may learne to opē our eyes or rather that thou wouldest open them by thy spirite that we regarding with how many how great and how excellent benefites thou presentest thy selfe vnto vs and geuest testimony of thy wisedome thy power and diuine maiesty we mey so profite in this thy schole of holines that we may attribute all prayse of all power wisedome and knowledge vnto thee that we chalenge nothing at all vnto our selues but only extoll and magnify thee and the more liberall that thou pleasest to shew thy selfe vnto vs the more earnestly we may labour to serue thee and to geue our selues wholy vnto thee taking no peece of prayse to our selues but caring only for this one thing that to thee alone may all glory remayne and shine throughout the world through Iesus Christ our lord Amen 27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king and sayd the secret which the king hath demaunded can neither the wise the astrologians the inchanters nor the southesayers declare vnto the king 28 But there is a God in heauen that reueileth secretes and sheweth the king Nebuchadnezer what shal be in the latter dayes Thy dreame and the thinges which thou hast sene in thine head
band of yron brasse bynde it among the grasse of the fielde and let it bee wet with the dew of heauen and let his portion be with the beastes of the field till seuen tymes passe ouer him 21 This is the interpretation O kyng and it is the decree of the most hye which is come vppon my Lord the kyng Daniel here prosecuteth the matter that hee began with great libertie and constancy saying that the kyng of Babylon this great trée must be cut down He calleth him Lord and that vnfainedly but because he was the Ambassadour of the high kyng he doubteth not to lift vp his wordes and to set out his message committed vnto him with a more hye stile For this is the common vse of all the Prophetes to rise vp stoutely agaynst the mountaines and the hilles as is sayd in Ieremy J haue set thee this day ouer kingdomes and ouer nations to plucke vp and to roote out and to destroy and to throw downe to build and to plante God therfore will chalēge so great reuerence to his word that nothyng shal be so hye or excellent in the world which shall not geue place vnto it Daniel therefore concernyng men and the politike order confesseth the kyng to be his Lord notwithstandyng hée goeth forward with his Ambassage as he was appoynted That the king sayth he dyd see a watchman come downe from the heauens which sayd cut downe the tree and scatter it vntill seuen tymes passe ouer He repeteth that he which he spake before that the tyme of the punishment should haue an ende For God might haue abolished the kyng of Babylon and his whole memory and posteritie but hee would mitigate the punishment Albeit he would not for a short time punish this kyng Nebuchadnezer lest it should be neglected as an vsuall thyng but because it was his will to set forth a notorious example for all ages therefore would he prolong his punishment for a long tyme To this end therfore perteineth the nomber of seuen yeares For we know in the Scriptures that a long tyme is signified by the nomber of seuen because that nomber signifieth perfection The Prayer GRaunt almighty God that so oft as thou settest our sinnes before vs and doest pronounce thy iudgementes agaynst vs we do not abuse thy long sufferance and so heape vppon vs the store and treasure of greater vengeaunce thorow our slothfulnes and dulnes but let vs feare betymes and tremble at thy iudgementes and so take carefull heede vnto our selues that we may tast the comfort of thy swetenes and thereby be allured to submit our selues willingly vnto thee that we may desire nothyng more then to geue our selues wholly vnto thy seruice that thy name may bee glorified by vs in Christ Iesus our lord Amen 22 They shall driue thee from men thy dwellyng place shal be with the beastes of the field They shall make thee to eate grasse as the oxen and they shall wet thee with the dew of heauē and seuen tymes shall passe ouer thee till thou know that the most hye beareth rule ouer the kyngdome of men The verse that went before did say that this dreame did belong to the kyng Nebuchadnezer And it was méete so to be expressed for this was a heauy and a sharpe message to the kyng And we know how hardely kynges can beare not onely to be brought into order but also to be sommoned before Gods iudgement seat there to be beatē downe with shame reproch For we know that prosperitie doth make euen common persons dronken What can come vnto kynges then but that they forgettyng them selues to be mē should exempt them selues from all incommodities and griefes because they do not thinke that they are of the common condition with men Wherfore because Nebuchadnezer could hardely beare this message therfore did the Prophet admonish him in few wordes that the cuttyng downe of the trée was but a figure of that ruine and fall which he shortly should haue This doth he prosecute with moe wordes and sayth They shall cast thee from among men and thy dwellyng shal be with the wilde beastes Whereas Daniel did treate before of the fower Monarchies there is no doubt but that the kinges minde was at the first time stirred and sore gréeued but this was much more sharpe and much more intolerable to the kinges minde that he is compared to the brute beastes that he is cut of from the company of men and sent into the fieldes and woodes to féede with the beastes If Daniel had sayd onely that he should haue bene spoyled of his prnicely dignitie he would haue bene greatly offended with that abasement but when he is cast downe into this so great ignominie shame there is no doubt but he was raging madde inwardly Notwithstanding God dyd bridle his fury that he dyd not couet to auenge hym selfe of thys which he thought to be an iniury done vnto him For we shall see by the text afterward that he did not rightly repēt amend his life Seing then that he fostered the same pride still in his hart there is no doubt also but he was cruell for these two vices do alway go together But God restrained his rage so that he spared this holy Prophet By the way we may note the constancie of the seruaunt of God in that he doth not insinuate vnto the king by subtle meanes what should come vpon him but openly declareth with many wordes how fowle and shamefull a condition was appoynted for hym They shall cast thee out saith he from among men If he had sayd thou shalt be as a common person among men and shalt nothing differ from the base people now that had bene very greuous vnto a king But when the king is cast out of all humane society that he may not haue one corner amongest them neither is it graunted that he may lead his life with the Neatherdes and Swinherdes how greauous and horrible this was euery man may coniecture by his owne minde Yet doth not Daniel here doubt to pronounce this sore iudgement And the wordes that folow are of the same importance Thou shalt feede of the grasse thou shalt be watred with the dew of heauen and thy dwelling shal be with the wilde beastes Where the prophet teacheth that this punishment is at hand vnto the king of Babylon that he shal be brought to extreame ignominy and shame that he shall differ nothing from brute beastes Thys liberty then as I haue sayd is worthy to be noted that we may know that the seruauntes of God which haue the charge to teach and to preach vnto others can not execute theyr offices faythfully vnlesse with close eyes they passe by and despise all the hautines of the world Agayne by the example of the king we may learne that it is in vayne for vs to be stubborne and froward when God by his messengers threatneth vs For although Nebuchadnezer dyd not rightly repent
must we know without all doubt that no kyngs come to authority vnles GOD lend them hys hand and styll stablishe them therein and when hee wyll take away their power they fall spedely not that there commeth anything by chaunce in these mutations and chaunges but because that God as is written in the booke of Iob doth loose their girdles whom he had before girded Then it followeth whom he would kill he killed whom he would he did smite Some thinke that the abuse of the kinges power is here noted But I had rather take it simply that Nebuchadnezer had authority to cast downe whom he would and to exalt whom he would that it was in hys power to geue lyfe and to take away lyfe I do not therefore referre these wordes to tyrannicall lust as though Nebuchadnezer had murthered many innocentes had shed mās bloud without reason or had spoyled many of their possessions and had made other rich or raysed them to honours I do not take it so but that it was in hys power either to kill or to geue life to set vp or to cast downe To be short me thinke that Daniel doth here describe what power kynges haue which may thus fréely deale wyth their subiectes not because it is lawfull but because none dare speake agaynst it For whatsoeuer pleaseth the king all mē are compelled to agrée thereunto or at the least no man dare stirre against it Seing that kynges then haue such liberty Daniel declareth that this kyng Nebuchadnezer was not raysed hereunto by hys owne industry wisdome or counsayle or by hys good fortune but he saith that he gate thys great Empire and that he was terrible vnto all because God had adorned hym wyth that glory In the meane tyme yet it behoueth all kynges to regard what is lawfull and what GOD permitteth them to do For as they are kynges so must they consider also that they must once geue accomptes to the most high kyng We can not gather hereby then that kinges are constitute of God to be lawles to liue without order and to do what they list But the Prophet as I haue sayd speaketh of the power that they haue And seing that kinges haue power of death and life ouer their subiectes he saith that the life of them al was in king Nebuchadnezers hand Then he sayth VVhen his heart was lifted vp then was he cast downe from the throne of his kingdome and they spoyled him of his dignitie He prosecuteth that which he began His purpose is to declare to kyng Beltsazar that GOD for a space doth suffer their pride which do forget hym when they haue gotten high authoritie Therfore sayth he kyng Nebuchadnezer thy grandfather was an hye Monarch this did hée not atteine of himselfe neither yet did hée reteine the Empire and cōtinue therein but as he was stayd vpholden by the hand of god Now the trāsformation of him into a boast was a notable document that their pryde can not alwayes bee suffered which are vnthankefull vnto God and do not acknowledge that they do reigne by hys benefite VVhen his hart therfore was lifted vp sayth he and his mynde was set vpon pride there came a sodaine chaunge Hereby shouldest thou haue learned O kyng and all his posteritie to deceiue your selues no longer with pride but rather the exāple of this thy forefather should strike thy hart Wherfore this writyng is set before thyne eyes whereby thou mayst vnderstand that both thy kyngdome and thy life are euen now at an end And this sentence is to be noted that Daniel sayth That his heart was hardned in pride For he geueth vs to vnderstād that he was not puffed vp sodainly with a light folie as vayne men many tymes vse to bee when there is no cause and no inward motion of the minde goeth before but hée would vtter vnto vs a greater matter that this pride had now bene nourished in his hart along tyme as though hée should say that he was not taken with a sodaine vayne motion but that hée had so long bent him selfe vpon pride that he was obstinate and hardened therin The Prayer GRaūt almighty God that seing euery one of vs haue our state limited we may be well contented with our place and condition and that when thou wilt humble vs we may willingly submit our selues vnto thee and suffer our selues to be gouerned by thee that we may neuer desire that height that should cast vs down headlong to destruction Agayne we besech thee to graunt that euery one of vs in our vocation may behaue our selues so modestly that thou mayst alwayes haue thyne high authoritie amongest vs Furthermore that we may seeke nothyng but to bestow our labour and trauayle to serue thee and our brethren to whom we are ioyned that thy name may thus be glorified in vs all through Iesus Christ our lord Amen 21 And he was driuen from the sonnes of men and his heart was made like the beastes and his dwelling was with the wilde Asses they fed him with grasse like Oxen his body was wet with the dew of heauen till he knew that the most hye God did rule ouer the kingdome of mē and that he appointeth ouer it whom so euer he pleaseth This verse nedeth no long exposition because Daniel doth repete onely that which hee had written before that hys grandfather Nebuchadnezer though hee were not chaunged into a beast yet at the least he was cast forth of mās company that hee was deformed throughout all his body that he him selfe abhorred mans cōpany would rather dwell with brute beastes This was a horrible exāple especially in such a great monarch and worthy to be left in memory to the posteritie frō hand to hād euen to a thousand generatiōs if that Monarch had endured so long But that his nephew had so soone forgotten this lesson hereby is hee worthely reproued of shamefull securitie and carelesnes This then is the cause why Daniel doth agayne rehearse the history He was cast forth from the sonnes of men sayth he and his hart was lyke the beastes that is to say he was destitute of reason and iudgement for a tyme And we know that this is the chief difference betwixt men and beastes that men do vnderstand and iudge but the brute beastes are onely caryed by their senses God therfore shewed a terrible example vpon this kyng when he thus spoyled him of reason and vnderstandyng He sayth That his habitation was with the wilde Asses which before had dwelt in that palace which was knowne to all the world from whence all the people of the East did at that tyme receiue their lawes Therefore seyng he was wont to be worshipped for a God this was a terrible iudgemēt that afterward he dwelt with the wilde beastes And whereas now they fed him with grasse like a bullocke which before had all maner of delicates at his pleasure and was wont to be fed
It was a thyng very daungerous so to cast down the Emperour of the whole world as Daniel did Thou sayth he wilt not be counted amongest men but art now worshipped as it were a God thou shalt hereafter be a beast There is no man at this day that dare thus speake to Emperours and Kynges either yet that dare admonish them gently whē they trespas Seyng then that Daniel did forwarne the kyng boldly what great shame he should come vnto doubtles herein he did declare a rare and notable example of his constancy And thus was his vocatiō sealed vp and more plainly confirmed for this boldnes came of the spirite of god But we must rather stand of the second parte where we see Gods care towardes his Church The prouidence of God vndoubtedly is spread throughout the world For if a sparow do not fall vpon the earth without his permission we may be sure that he prouideth for mankind Therfore nothyng commeth vnto vs by chaunce But God in this booke doth set vs vp a light to see that the Church is so gouerned of him that he hath a singular care ouer it If euer thinges were so troubled and out of order in the world that men might coniecture that God dyd slepe in the heauens and forgate mankind no doubt such was the rollyng whele of those tymes yea there were so manifold and straunge alterations that he which was of the most hye courage might well faint seing there was none end of warres and sometymes the Aegyptians gate the victorie and sometymes there were other styrres and warres in Syria Seyng then that all thynges were turned vpside downe what could be iudged but that God contemned the world and that the miserable Iewes were deceiued of their hope when they thought that GOD which was their deliuerer would likewyse be their keper and Sauiour at all tymes For although all nations generally were then subiect to many calamities if yet the Syrians ouercame the Aegyptians then dyd they abuse their power agaynst the Iewes and Ierusalem was sayd open to the spoyle as though it had bene the wages of the victory If other had ouercome in battaile they aduenged their iniuries vpon the poore Iewes and there they sought their recompense Thus were those miserable men spoyled that their conditiō was much worse after their captiuitie when they were returned into their countrey then if they had alway bene exiles and straungers in other countreys And when they were admonished of thinges to come this was their chief stay wherupon to rest But the vse of the same doctrine must be applied vnto vs at this day For we do see as it were in a glasse or lyuely image that God was carefull of his Church euen then when he semed to haue cast of all care therof Agayne that it was not without his diuine counsaile that the Iewes were thus exposed to the iniuries of their enemyes But of the other part we do acknowledge that they were meruailously perserued euen with a greater and more maruelous power of God then if they had liued quietly and none had molested them These things are to be learned from the vij Chapter to the ix Now when Daniel doth nomber the yeares vntill the commyng of Christ how cleare and euident a testimony is this which we may set agaynst Sathan and all the scoffes of the wicked seyng it is certaine that the booke of Daniel was in mens handes before this came to passe Where he thē reckeneth 70. Weekes and affirmeth that then Christ shall come let all prophane persones come now and prate and with open mouthes declare their obstinacy yet shall they be ouerthrowen in the end and be conuinced that Christ is that true redemer whom God had promised from the begynnyng of the world because he would haue him manifest with so sure a demonstration as no Astrologians haue the lyke This then is well worthy to be obserued and marked that after that Daniel hath treated of diuerse calamities of the Church he appointeth the tyme wherin God would reuele his Sonne vnto the world and that he treateth of the office of Christ This is one of the chief Articles of our fayth And he doth not onely speake of his commyng but Prophecieth that the shadowes of the law shall then be abolished because that Christ will bryng the accomplishment therof with him And where he speaketh of the death of Christ he also teacheth to what end he shall suffer death euen that he may abolishe sinne by his sacrifice and may geue eternall iustice To conclude this is to be noted that euen as he had instructed hys auncient people to patient sufferyng of afflictions so doth he also admonish that the state of the Church shall not be quyet when Christ shall be geuen vnto the world but that the children of God must haue a continuall battaile vnto the end and that the fruition of the victory is not to be hoped for whiles that the dead shall arise and Christ shall gather vs into his heauenly kyngdome Thus do we comprehend briefly or rather do tast how profitable and fruitfull this booke is Now come I to the wordes how that Nebuchadnezar either the father or the sonne for they both reigned together came in the thyrd yeare of Iehoiakim and tooke away Daniel and the first captiues of whom Ieremy speaketh afterward Iehoiakim rebelled in the fourth yeare and was worse handled ⧠Meditations vpon the booke of Daniel the Prophet with certaine Prayers collected forth of the Lessons of that diuine Caluine rather for the comfort of the conscience then orderly translated in the two first Chapters but afterward you haue the whole Commentary Chap. 1. The Texte IN the thyrd yeare of the reigne of Iehoiakim kyng of Iuda came Nebuchadnezer kyng of Babel vnto Ierusalē and besieged it 2 And the Lord gaue Iehoiakim the kyng into hys hand with part of the vessels of the house of GOD which he caried into the land of Shinar to the house of his God and brought thē into his Gods treasurie 3 And the kyng spake vnto Ashpenaz the master of his Eunuches that he should bryng certaine of the children of Israel of the kynges seede and of the Princes 4 Children in whom there was no blemish c. ¶ The Meditation GOds diuine prouidence and his profound iudgementes do maruelously appeare in the captiuitie of Daniel in the whole order of Gods workes in deliueryng that kyng of Iudah and his owne people into the handes of Nebuchadnezer the kyng of Babylon an heathen tyraunt Daniel as appeareth was one of the first captiues that were led from Iudah of whom Ieremy speaketh that they were very good figs pleasant to the Lords tast which were first caryed captiue For God promiseth to giue thē heartes to know hym and that they shall be hys people and that he will be theyr god Ier. 24. throughout the Chapter Agayn the kyng was ruled by the counsell of the
such a terror and trouble stricken into his hart that he was like a raging beast and that seyng these wicked men made themselues the interpreters of the Gods the king will herein try their great boastinges Wherefore this is a iust reward of their arrogancy that these vayne men puffed vp with a foolish pride of their wicked arte should thus come into daunger so that of their partes they had deserued death for the arte it selfe and the Lord also woulde haue them to be declared fooles to their perpetuall shame and confusion and so to suffer death for their wicked dealinges Though the kinges fact were outragious commaunding such a thyng vpon the payne of death as neuer was heard tell of and commaunding all to be killed without exception But here we do sée how farre the wicked do excéede in their kyndes that want the gouernement of Gods spirite and how the Lord doth punish one wicked by an other many tymes to both their confusions The Prayer GRaunt O Lord God seyng that we do so wander in this world that we alway stād in nede of knowledge and the gouernement of thy holy spirite that we may depend wholy of thy word and heauenly reuelation lest wee chalenge to much to our selues by any vayne knowledge but that we fully perceauing our owne blindnes and ignoraunce may alwayes flie vnto thee and not suffer our selues to be caried to and fro by the craft of Sathan and his wicked instrumentes but that we may remayne so firmely in thy truth that we neuer swarue therefrom whilest thou pleasest to direct vs in the whole course of our vocation and so we come into that heauenly glory of thy kingdome which is purchased vnto vs by the bloud of thine onely begotten sonne Iesus So be it 10 Then the Chaldeans aunswered before the kyng and sayd there is no man vpon earth that can declare the kinges matter yea there is neither Kyng nor Prince nor Lord that asked such thinges at an Inchaunter or Astrologian or Chaldean 11 For it is a rare thing that the king requireth and there is none other that can declare it before the kyng except the Gods whose dwelling is not with flesh They excuse themselues that this belongeth not to their arte neither that any king euer commaunded any such matter But the king receiueth none excuse for God had stirred hym to punish these Mages Chaldees and Coniurers as the most wicked deceauers of the people and by this meanes also he would haue the excellēt spirit that was in Daniel more known and regarded Where they say that it was a rare thing They do meane that this is straunge that the king should haue such a vision sent from heauen and that he should not remember it wherefore they thinke it some secret mistery and knowledge that passeth their capacitie onely perteining to the Angels which alway do sée Gods will and pleasure or to their Gods whom they did worship many in number For all the heathen Idolaters had alway this opiniō that there was one high God aboue all and that there was a number of lesser Gods which ruled vnder hym and so euery man after his owne fantasie fayned hym a God aboue in the ayer Wherefore they being men in the flesh can not enter into the heauens say they to sée all secretes This excuse will not serue for the king rageth more and more 12 Wherfore the king with great wrath and indignation commaunded that all the wise men of Babylon should be slayne We do not read of the like example in any history But the cause is to be noted that God had his secret iudgement against the Inchaunters and woulde set vp his seruaunt Daniel And it may be that the kyng did then first perceaue that which he neuer vnderstoode before that is to say that the boasting of their knowledge was nothing but lyes and that in all their foolish artes there was nothing but craft deceit We sée also them that are coūted deuoute in false religion when they perceaue that their fained holynes wyll not helpe them then they brast forth into madnes and rage against those Gods whom they haue worshipped And so may it be that Nebuchadnezer in this so earnest busines did espie the deceit of the Mages whom he neuer suspected before but now he séeth that he is deceaued and that he is destitute of their ayde and counsaile in this doubtfull matter of whom he thought that he should neuer haue bene forsaken and because he looked for all helpe at their hādes therefore doth he rage an hundreth folde more then if he had not put in them any confidence This is the maner of all the superstitious and idolatrous 13 And the decree was geuen and the wise men were slayne and they sought Daniel and his felowes to put hym to death ¶ The Meditation We sée here the singular prouidence of God for Daniel When the wyse Chaldees are killed God will not haue his sainctes mixed with them but so seperate from them that his glory may be the more set forth by them and they more gloriously preserued Yet sée we how the king despised Gods gift and would haue extinguished the light offered in that hee would haue Daniell killed in whom he had knowne such excellent wisedome as was before named But now through his rage all is forgotten and he will take no paynes in this doubtfull matter to consult with Daniell whom God had geuen him of great mercy if he would haue vsed him But thus many times they that be in authoritie runne to hastily after their owne lustes and will take no paynes to enquire for counsell neither at God nor at faythfull and godly men neither yet will they search for the innocent persons nor take leysure to try the iust causes Notwithstanding God doth meruelously deliuer his from death as we sée in Daniell And we sée the way that Daniel taketh after that he had opteyned a dayes respet of the king He and his fellowes fall to earnest prayer to finde mercy at Gods hand as we must do in all our necessities for it is only of Gods free mercy and fauour when he defendeth vs or geueth vs any thing that good is Forthermore we may learne how ready God is to graunt such prayers as are made of fayth and how neare GOD is vnto all them that call vppon him in truth And therefore because that Daniell brought fayth and a pure conscience he is heard streight wayes And this secret was opened vnto him in a vision by night and he prayseth God. The Prayer GRaunt almighty God that seing we are in daunger euery day and hower and we are not in ieopardy only by the rage of one cruell tyrant but the deuill stirreth all the world agaynst vs and armeth the princes of the world to destroy vs graunt wee beseech thee that we may feele in our hartes and that thou wilt declare in deede that our life is in thy hand
power or wisedome of this world do blinde our eyes at any tyme but that we may direct our sight eyes and senses alwayes to behold the kingdome of thy Sonne and that we may so be there fixed that nothing may hinder vs to hast forward in the course of our vocatiō whiles that at the length we may come to the marke which thou hast set before vs and vnto the which thou doost call vs at thys day by the trumpe and preachyng of thy Gospell and that at the length thou wilt gather vs into that blessed eternitie which is purchased for vs by the bloud of this thy Sonne and that we may neuer be broken by thys stone with the wicked world but that beyng strengthned with his power we may by him be raysed vp aboue all the heauens Amen 44 And in the dayes of these kinges shall the God of heauen set vp a kingdome which shall neuer be destroyed and this kingdome shall not be geuen to an other people but it shall breake and destroy all the other kingdomes and it shall stād for euer The God of heauen shal thē rayse vp a kingdome which shall neuer be destroyed neither shall this kingdome be geuen to an other people it shall destroy all and it selfe shall for euer The which comfortable promise of this eternall kingdome doth not onely pertaine to the person of Christ who is the onely king that liueth and raigneth for euer but also to hys Church which is the whole body of his kingdome to all his people and subiectes and to euery particular member and person of the same Thus doth this eternall king communicate his eternitie to all his because he will haue alwayes a kyngdome in this world though the world can not alwayes sée it and he doth regenerate al his true subiectes of thys kingdome with his eternall spirite into euerlastyng lyfe to raygne wyth hym in hys kingdome for euer Therfore the perpetuity of this kyngdome of Christ is true after two sortes besides the eternitie that is in the person of Christ first in the whole body which is the Church who though it be often tymes so scattered that it do not appeare in mans eyes yet doth it neuer vtterly perish but God doth preserue it by his secret and incomprehensible wisdome and power so that it shall remayne for euer Secondly in euery one of the faythfull there is an other perpetuity because they are borne agayne by the incorruptible séede and beyng borne by the spirit of God are not onely the mortall children of Adam but they cary the heauenly lyfe in themselues because the spirit which is in them is life as Paul sayth to the Romaynes And we sée how thys kingdome hath bene eternall euer since the doctrine of the Gospell hath bene preached For though the Church haue séemed sometymes as it had bene buried yet God gaue life in the very graue of Idolatry and ignoraunce vnto hys elect And now how is it come to passe that the children of the Church the souldiours of Christes kingdome are come forth as it were of the graue in such aboundaunce but that the Lord hath mercy vpon Zion because hys tyme appointed is come and therefore his seruauntes delite to builde vp Zion yea he himselfe wyll builde it and his glory shall appeare and the heathen shall feare and all the kinges of the earth at his glory and the people which shall be as it were new created shall prayse the Lord. Furthermore Daniel sayth that this kingdome can not be translated from one to an other as the first was from Baltazar to Darius the second from Darius to Alexander the thirde from that cursed kinred of Alexander and hys Princes to the Romaines The fourth of the Romaynes was turned not onely to straungers of forraine nations but to swineherds as Iustine writeth to beastes as was Heliogabalus to monsters in nature as was Nero and Caligula and such lyke like as also as the Gospell did grow it continually decayed because it was so manifest an enemy to Christes kingdome But as for Christes kingdome neither can Christ be spoiled of his power and dominion neither yet we his members can lose this kingdome whereof hee hath made vs pertakers Therefore Christ raigneth for euer as well in hym selfe as in hys members without any perill of alteration for we shall be preserued for euer by hys grace and hee hath receaued vs into hys protection that wee can not perish Iohn 10. We that are kept through his power by fayth as Peter sayth may be sure and quiet for what so euer the world and the deuill deuise against vs we shall for euer remayne safe and sure in Christ And thus would Daniel haue all men to sée that there is no stabilitie any where how great so euer the power or glory appeare but onely in Christ Where Daniel sayth that this stone was hewen forth of the mountaine without handes he declareth that nothing in Christes kingdome is wrought by mans power but all things in the saluation of man are wrought by God as Isa. 63 Because the Lord did sée no helper in the world he armed himselfe with hys owne strength Agayne herein we note his lowe and base beginning like vnto a stone that had no forme nor fashion Which both are comprehēded in Micha where he sayth Thou Bethleem Ephratha art the least amongest the thousandes of Iuda yet foorth of thee shall hee come vnto me that shall be the ruler in Israell whose goynges foorth haue bene from all eternitie Thus Daniel would aunswere mans grosse imaginatiōs which might thinke that because Christes glory did not appeare so great at the first as in the kingdomes of the worlde and because yet his kingdome is vnder the crosse that therefore it were not to be regarded and would haue vs to lift vp our eyes to the heauens and behold Gods power herein who worketh his glory contrary to mans iudgement 45 Where thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountayne without handes and that it brake in peeces the yron the brasse the clay the siluer and the golde so the great God hath shewed the king what shall come to passe hereafter and the dreame is true and the interpretation thereof is sure Thys must we alwayes consider that our Sauiour Christ sayd vnto Pilate that his kingdome is not of this world no man can sée how it springeth or spreadeth how soeuer the children of this kyngdome be dispersed or scattered and be neither named nor knowen in the world yet is it certayne that this kyngdome of God and hys Christ remayneth safe sound though neither Eliah nor any other man can sée it and that this kyngdome shall ouercome all powers that stand vp agaynst it ¶ The Prayer GRaunt almighty God seing thou hast made it open and knowne vnto vs by so many so cleare and most sure testimonies that we may looke for none other redemer then
clothed vpon this mortalitie Paul affirmeth that men naturally can not be brought willyngly to go out of the world except as is sayd before that fayth get the victory But whē we vnderstand that our inheritaunce is in the heauens that we are straungers in the earth thē do we put of the desire of this earthly lyfe whereunto we are to much addicted These two are the thynges then which do prepare the childrē of God vnto Martyrdome that they doubt nothyng to offer thē selues and theyr lyues into the handes of God for a sacrifice that is to say if they be persuaded that theyr lyfe is preserued of God and that he wil be an assured deliuerer if he sée it to be expedient Agayne when they clime vp aboue this world and aspire vnto the hope of that eternall and euerlastyng lyfe so be ready to forsake the world And in their wordes a great magnanimitie may bée noted when they say Be it knowen to thee O king that we worshyp not thy Gods neither the Image that thou hast erected for here they accuse the kyng after a sorte that he wil be so arrogant to appoint Religion at his pleasure Thou hast set vp an Image but thine authoritie is to vs of no valure for we know that it is a fayned God whom thou wilt haue to bée worshipped vnder this Image But the God whom we worshyp hath opened hym selfe vnto vs and declared that he will not be worshypped vnder any Image We know that he is the maker of heauen and earth and that he hath redemed our fathers forth of Aegypt that he would chasten vs whē he cast vs forth into this banishment Because therfore a sure stabilitie of our faith is manifest vnto vs we vtterly despise thy God thy commaundemēt in this point 19 Then was Nebuchadnezer full of rage and the forme of his visage was chaunged agaynst Sadrach Mesach and Abednego therfore hee charged and commaūded that they should heate the fornace at once seuen tymes more then it was wont to be heat 20 And hee charged the most valiant men of warre that were in his army to binde Sadrach Mesach and Abednego and to cast thē into the hote fiery fornace At the first sight God séemeth here to forsake hys seruantes because he doth not openly helpe them The kyng commaundeth them to be cast into a fiery fornace no helpe appeareth from the heauens Wherfore this was a full and perfect triall of their fayth They were now armed as we did sée before to suffer all things For they do not aunswere so constantly onely because they trusted in the present helpe of God but because they were determined to dye and a better life dyd so comfort their mindes that they were content to lose this present lyfe This was the cause that they were not afrayde for the terrible cōmaundement of the king but they followed theyr course euen to suffer death without all feare for the honor of god For there remayned no thyrd thing but eyther to chuse to dye or els to deny the worship of the true god By the which example we are taught to premeditate this immortall life in our quiet state that if it so please God we do not doubt to lay downe our liues for the testimony of the truth for this is one cause why we are so fearefull Agayne when we doo come into present daunger then doo we tremble and quake because whiles we are forth of danger we vaynely imagine to our selues a continuall securitiy So long therefore as God geueth vs quietnes we must apply our myndes to meditate the life to come that the worlde may waxe vile vnto vs and that we may be ready so oft as néede shal be to geue our bloude for the testimony of the truth For this history is not set forth vnto vs that we should onely commend and magnify the vertue and constancy of these thrée holy men but it is set forth for vs to imitate theyr constancy And concerning the king Nebuchadnezer here Daniel agayne as it were in a glasse doth shew vnto vs the pride and arrogancy of kinges when theyr commaundementes are not obeyed Surely a hart of yron should haue bene mollified with this answere that Shadrach Meshach and Abednego did commit theyr liues vnto God and therfore could not for feare of death be drawn from theyr fayth But he is filled with anger Cōcerning this rage we ought to consider what power Sathan hath ouer mē whē he hath them in his clawes They haue no moderation nor rule of themselues although at other times they make a fayre shew of vertue As this king had many tokens of vertue as we haue sene before but because the deuill doth now styr hym there appeareth nothing in hym but crueltie and rage Forthermore let vs remember that our constancy doth please God although it doo not shew forth the fruite therof before the world For many vnder this colour spare themselues to liue in their pleasures because they thinke it a rashnes to offer themselues to death when there appeareth no profit And many excuse themselues vnder this pretence that they striue no more for the glory of God because they should lose their labour and theyr death should be fruitles But we doo heare Christ pronoūce this to be a pleasant sacrifice vnto God when we offer our liues for the testimony of the heauenly doctrine although the generation before whom we testify the name of God be crooked adultrous yea though it waxe the more stubbern at our constācy And such an example is here set forth vnto vs in these thrée holy persons For how so euer Nebuchadnezer waxed more more outragious with their bolde confession yet did that playne confession please God and they did not repent it although they did sée no such fruit of theyr constancy as they desired And the prophet doth expresse the circumstance to declare the kinges rage that he commaundid the fornace to be made seuenfolde hoater then it was wont and chused of his strongest men to cast these into the fornace But as it appeareth by the successe all this was done by the secret prouidence of god For the deuill might els haue obscured the miracle if all doubtes had not bene remoued But when the king commaundeth the fornace to be made seuenfolde hoater and did chuse out his strongest men to doo the execution God by deliuering his seruauntes tooke away all doubtfulnes that the more light should shine forth of that darkenes which Sathan thought to haue blinded men withall the kinges policy and his power Thus God vseth to disapoynt the wicked and the more witty that they be to obscure Gods glory the more doth God cause both his glory and his doctrine to shyne forth Like as here as it were in an image Daniel doth paynt vnto vs that the king Nebuchadnezer left nothing vndone whiles that he would thus smite a terror vnto all the Iewes with this
not know the onely begotten sonne of God which was blinded with so many wicked errors as we haue seene before Let this simplicity therfore suffice vs that king Nebuchadnezer doth speake after the common maner meaning that some one Angell was sent vnto these thrée men because it was vsuall as I haue sayd to call the Angels the sonnes of god The scripture speaketh so God would neuer leaue the world so brutish but that he would haue some séede of true doctrine to remayne for a testimony agaynst the wicked The Prayer GRaunt almighty God seyng our lyfe is but a minute yea it is nothing but vanitie and smoke that we may learne to cast all our cares vpon thee and so to depēd of of thee that we doubt nothyng but thou wilt deliuer vs from all perils that may come vnto vs when it shal be so profitable for vs Also graunt we beseech thee that we learne to despise and set nothyng by our lyfe for the testimony of thy glory that so we may be ready to depart forth of this lyfe when thou wilt call vs and that the hope of the heauēly life may be so fastened in our harts that we may willyngly leaue the world and that we may desire withall our hart that blessed eternitie which thou hast witnessed by thy Gospell to be layd vp for vs in the heauens which thine onely begottē sonne hath purchased for vs with his bloud Amen 26 Thē the kyng Nebuchadnezer came nere to the mouth of the hote fiery fornace spake and sayd Sadrach Mesach and Abednego the seruauntes of the hygh God go forth and come hether Sadrach Mesach Abednego came forth of the middes of the fire Here is described a sodeine chaūge in a kyng no lesse cruell thē proude We haue sene before how proudly he required that wicked worshyp of the seruauntes of God and when he did sée that they dyd not obey his commaundemēt how fierce he was agaynst thē And now Daniel declareth how soone hys pride was brought downe and his cruelty qualed But it is to be noted that the king was not so chaūged that hee did cast of wholly his old nature and maners For when he was touched with this present miracle hée did in déede geue glory vnto God but it was for a moment he did not earnestly repent And such examples are diligently to be noted for many men by one fact will iudge of euery man Howbeit the most wicked contemners of God may for a tyme submit them selues vnto hym and shall not dissemble it in the sight of men but shal do it earnestly because that GOD verely doth compell them thereunto with hys power yet in the meane season they kepe within their hartes both pride and cruelty Such was the turnyng of kyng Nebuchadnezer For he being amased with the miracle could resist God no longer yet he was not constant in his conuersion as we shall sée afterward Let vs know therfore that the wicked which are not regenerate with the spirite of God are driuen many times to worshyp God but this is onely a particulare motion in thē and the rest of their lyfe doth not aunswere vnto it But whē God reformeth his seruaunts he also taketh in hand to gouerne them vnto the end and doth encorage them to perseuerance and confirmeth them with his spirite Yet is it to be marked that the glory of God is set forth by this temporall and chaungeable conuersion of the wicked because will they nill they they are compelled to geue place vnto God for a tyme wherby the greatnes of his power is knowen God doth therfore cause that to serue to his glory which doth nothyng profite the reprobate but rather turneth vnto them to a greater iudgement For Nebuchadnezer was lesse to be excused after that he knowledged the God of Israel to be the most high and onely God and afterward straight wayes returned to his superstitions Daniel sayth that hee came neare to the mouth of the fornace and that he said Sadrach Mesach and Abednego the seruauntes of the hie God go forth and come hether A little before he would haue had his Image worshypped and that to be counted the onely God in heauen and in earth onely because it was his pleasure For we sée that he did chalenge so much to hym selfe that he would haue all Religion and worshyp of God subiect to his lust and pleasure but now as though he were a new man he calleth Sadrach Mesach and Abednego the seruaūtes of the high god What place then doth he put him selfe in and all the Chaldees Verely that they do worshyp fayned Gods and Idols which they haue forged for them selues But God dyd wryng out this word from the cruell and proud kyng like as wicked men are compelled by tormentes to speake that they would not Thus therfore doth Nebuchadnezer confesse the God of Israel to be the hye God as though he had bene vpō the racke but not willyngly neither of a well disposed minde He doth not dissemble this before men as I haue sayd but his minde was neither pure nor vpright but onely boyled out with a particular motiō so that we may say that this was rather a violent then a voluntary motion After Daniel sayth that his companions came forth of the middes of the fire By the which wordes he confirmeth agayne this miracle For God might haue quenched the fire of the fornace but he would haue it burne in the sight of all men that thereby the power of this deliueraunce might be more euident And by the way this is to be noted that these thrée men walked in the fornace whiles the kyng commaūded them to come forth because God had geuen them none other commaundement They dyd sée that they remayned safe and sound in the middes of the fornace They were cōtent with that present benefite of God and they thought not them selues at libertie whiles that by the kynges voyce they were called forth Like as when Noah was in the Arke he did sée his health and life to lye as it were in the graue therfore did he attempt nothyng whiles he was commaunded to go forth Euen so sayth Daniel that his companions went not forth of the fornace whiles the kyng commaunded it For then they vnderstode that they pleased God whē they had heard it at the kyngs mouth not that he was a Prophet or a preacher but because they were cast into the fornace by his commaundement and so now when he calleth them out they know that the end is appointed of theyr torment so they come forth as it were from death vnto life 27 Then the nobles Princes and Dukes and the Kyngs counsellers came together to see these men because the fire had no power ouer their bodyes for not an heare of their head was burnt neither were theyr coates chaunged nor any smell of fire came vpon them Daniel sayth that the nobles Princes and Dukes and the
reached vnto heauen and the sight thereof to the endes of all the earth 9 The boughes thereof were fayre and the fruit thereof much and it was meate for all it made a shadaw vnder it for the beastes of the fielde and the foules of the heauen dwelt in the boughes thereof and all flesh fed of it 10 I saw in the visions of my head vpon my bed and behold a watchman an holy one came downe from the heauens 11 And cryed aloud and sayd thus hew downe the tree and breake of hys braunches shake of hys leaues and scatter hys fruite that the beastes may flye from vnder it and the foules from hys braunches 12 Neuertheles leaue the stump of hys rootes in the earth and wyth a baud of yron and brasse bynde it among the grasse of the fielde and let it be wet with the dew and let hys portion be with the beastes among the the grasse of the field 13 Let hys hart be chaunged frō mans nature and let a beastes hart be geuen vnto hym and let seuen tymes be passed ouer hym Nebuchadnezer doth here tell hys dreame the interpretation whereof shall follow afterward Yet because the bare narration should be vnprofitable vnles we speake somthing of the matter it is necessary that we touch somewhat thereof and the rest shal be differred Now first of all vnder the figure of a tree was Nebuchadnezer described not that he did performe the full office of a kyng but because God hath appointed kyngdomes and dominions in the world to thys end that they should be like trées of whose fruite all mortall mē should tast and eate and vnder whose shadow they should also finde rest and comfort And this ordinance of God is of such force that the very tyrantes although they be very farre from right and true gouernment by moderation yet whether they wyll or no they are compelled to be trées for it is better to liue vnder a most cruell tyraunt thē to liue without any regiment Let vs imagine that all were of like authority what wyll such a disorder bring in the end No man will geue place to an other euery man will try what hee were able to do so shall there be all licencious liberty to rob and to steale to begile to kill one an other finally all mens lustes shall bee set at liberty Therefore haue I said that tyrāny may better be borne then a dissolute disorder where there is no gouernment at all where there is none that hath power ouer others to kéepe them in order Wherefore they dispute ouer subtilly which thinke that a king is here described which had great vertues for there was no such excellency of iustice and equity in king Nebuchadnezer But first of al God would declare vnder this figure how he would haue the world gouerned by a politike order and therefore appoynteth kynges and Monarches and other magistrates Secondly he would declare that although tyrantes and other Princes which forget their duties do not performe that which is appoynted vnto them by God yet the grace of God is alwayes euident in all empires and dominions The tyrantes go about to extinguish all comfort of iustice and equity and to confound all things together but God in the meane season doth restraine them by a secret and incomprehensible maner that they are compelled to be profitable to mankinde wyll they nyll they Thys then is to be learned by the figure or the Image of the trée And where it is added That the byrdes of heauen dwelt in the braunches and the beastes dyd feede of the fruite therof this must be referred vnto men For although the beastes of the fielde haue some commoditie by politicke gouernement yet we know that God did appoynt it for mans sake He sayth then that the beastes of the fielde were shadowed vnder it because we are defended vnder the shadow and defence of the Magistrates for els there is no such burning heate of the Sunne that can so broyle or scorch miserable men as if they were spoyled of thys shield and shadow vnder the which God would haue them to finde rest Also the foules of heauen make their nestes in the boughes Some do make a difference betwixt the birdes and the beastes ouer subtilly but I am cōtent to learne thus much by the Prophet that men of all states and condition do féele and perceaue no small vtility by the protection of Princes For if they were destitute of thys ayde and comfort it were better for thē to liue amonges wilde beastes then one to kil an other And this should be of necessity if we consider how great a pride is ingendred in vs all and how blinde loue euery one of vs haue towardes our selues and how raging our lustes are Seing it is so then God declareth by thys dreame that of what state so euer we are yet stād we in néede of the helpe of the Maiestrates And by meat féeding and by the shadow of the trée he doth signifie the manifolde cōmodities which come vnto vs by politicke order Some mā myght obiect that he néedeth not the Magistrate in this or in that poynt but if we try all the necessities of our lyfe we shall finde that thys benefite of God is very necessary Now it followeth That the height thereof was great and that it grew vp vnto the heauens and that the sight of it was extended to the endes of the earth This is restrayned to the Monarchie of Babylon For there were at that tyme other kingdomes in the world but theyr condition was but poore and slender and the Chaldees had such a dominion that none of those Princes came to such power and authoritie Seyng then there was such excellency in kyng Nebuchadnezer it is no meruell though he be described by the trée that reacheth to the heauen and spreadeth to the endes of the earth And where some of the Rabbines will haue Babylō to stād in the middest of the earth because it is vnder the same line wyth Ierusalem it is to foolish And they that say that Ierusalem is in the middest of the earth are in a childish error as Hierome and Origene and other of the auncient writers which holde thys principle But they are worthy to be mocked wyth that aunswere of Diogines who when he was required to poynt the middest of the earth he touched the earth that was vnder hys féete wyth hys staffe Then when an other obiected that it was not the midle of the earth he sayd measure thou the earth and thou shalt sée Where it is sayd That the boughes thereof were beautitifull and the fruite was plentyfull thys may bee referred to the commō opinion of the multitude for we know how their eyes are daseled wyth the glory of Princes For if any be farre more excellent then other by the greatnes of his power all do worship and reuerence hym and are rauished as it were into an admiration so that they
are able to iudge nothing Whē the imperiall Maiesty or the kinges highnes is shewed they are all amased and astonied For they thinke that it is not lawfull for them to beholde what is in those Princes Seyng then there was so great riches power in king Nebuchadnezer it is no meruaile though the Prophet do say that his boughes were beautifull and hys fruite plentifull But in the meane season we must remēber that which I haue lately spoken that is to say that the blessing of God doth shine in the Princes although they be farre from doyng theyr offices for God doth not suffer hys grace to be vtterly taken from them therefore they are compelled to bring forth some fruite It is much better therefore to sée some kynde of dominion then one equall condition where euery one woulde plucke forth hys neighboures eyes And thys is ment by the meate for euery one The second part of the dreame followeth Hetherto Nebuchadnezer hath described the beauty and excellency of his state by the figure of a high trée which shadowed the beastes and fed them wyth fruite and gaue quiet nestes to the foules of heauen in his braunches Now followeth the cutting downe of the trée I haue seene sayth he in the visions of my head vpon my bed and beholde a watch man and a holy one came downe from the heauens There is no doubt but by the watchman he meaneth an angell He is also called holy for a further declaration And the Angells are so called worthely because they watch continually to execute Gods cōmaundemēts For they are not subiect vnto sléepe because they are not nourished with meate nor drinke but liue a spirituall lyfe therfore also they haue no néede of sléepe for we fall into sléepe by meat and drinke Finally because the Angels haue no bodyes therefore they watch alwayes by their spirituall nature Howbeit not onely their nature but their office is also here expressed Therfore because God hath them alwayes ready at hys appoyntment and he doth send them to execute hys commaundementes therefore are they called watchmē It is read in the Psalme Ye Angeles which performe his wyll because they go to and fro by an incomparable swiftnes and flye straight wayes from the heauen vnto the earth and frō the vttermost part of the earth vnto the contrary from the east vnto the west Because therefore that the Angels are so ready to accomplish that which God commaundeth they may well be called watchmen They are also called Saintes or holy because they are not infected wyth mans filthynes For we are stuffed full of vices and sinnes not onely because we dwell vppon the earth but because we haue gathered corruption of our first parentes which haue poluted all the partes both of body and soule Wherefore Nebuchadnezer doth descerne the Angels from mortall men by thys title For though God doth here sanctifie his elect yet so long as they dwell in the prison of theyr flesh they neuer come to the perfection of Angels So is here noted the difference betwixt men and Angels Nebuchadnezer colde not perceaue this of hymselfe but that he was taught of God that he might vnderstand the cutting downe of this trée not to come by man but by Gods appointment Afterward he sayth that the Angell cryed wyth a loude voyce Cut downe the tree beat downe the leaues breake of the braunches scatter abroad the fruite and let the beasts flye frō the shadow thereof and let not the foules of the ayre breede in the braunches God would expresse by thys figure that the kyng Nebuchadnezer should for a tyme become lyke a beast Neyther may we thinke it any absurdity although it be somethyng straungely spoken that the trée is named to be spoyled of mans hart for Daniel doth now turne frō the alligory Yea Nebuchadnezer himselfe had the dreame so in an alligory that God yet mixed something whereby he might gather some other thing to be noted vnder the figure of the trée The Angell therefore commaundeth mans hart to be taken from the trée after it was cut downe and hys boughes and fruites spoyled Then doth he commaund the hart of a beast to be geuen vnto it that hys portion may be wyth the wylde beastes of the fielde But because this must be repeated agayne I passe it now the more lightly Thys is the summe that the king Nebuchadnezer should for a tyme not onely be spoyled of hys empire dominion but also of all humane vnderstanding that he should nothing differ from a beast because he was vnworthy to be in the lowest place of the common people though he séemed to hym selfe farre to excéede all mankinde in dignitie yet he should be cast downe and abased that he should not haue the lowest place amongst men Then followeth the order of this punishment when it is sayd Let seuen tymes passe ouer hym Agayne Cut not downe hys whole roote but let hym be watred with the rayne of heauen Agayne let hys portion be with the wilde beastes Although thys be a seuere and horrible chastisement when Nebuchadnezer is cast forth of mans company and made like the wylde beastes yet thys is somewhat that God doth not plucke him vp by the roots but wyll haue hys roote to remayne that it may grow and be a trée yea that it may be grafted in the owne place and gather new strength out of the roote Daniel hath respect vnto thys that God layd such a punishment vpon king Nebuchadnezer in the which yet he shewed some token of hys mercy because he spared hym and cut hym not of wholy but suffered some roote to remayne Where some do here dispute of the mitigation of the payne when God séeth men repent I know not whether thys be a place for it or no. For thys conuersion of the king was not perfect as we haue séene playnely before Therefore where God would presse hym no more this ought to be attributed to hys onely mercy because euen when he semeth to punish mans sinne most sore yet in all hys temporall punishmentes he leaueth some tast of hys mercy that the reprobate may remayne inexcusable For where they bring thys that the punishment is not mitigated vnles the fault be forgeuen it is false as we sée in the example of Achab For God did not forgeue the fault vnto that wicked kyng but because he did séeme to shew some tokens of repentance God did absteine from sharper punishment So also may we perceaue the same in king Nebuchadnezer God would not plucke hym vp by the rootes this is referred to the metaphore of the trée but would haue seuen times to passe Some do vnderstand seuen wéekes others seuen yeares but we shall treat thys at large afterward Now this is last of all to be noted that euen in the middest of the vengeaunce of God towardes this miserable king yet were Gods benefites mixed as appeareth in these wordes Let hys portion be wyth
no man can extoll him selfe or remayne in the degrée of honour but that it is the peculiar benefit of God. Seing this can be so hardly perswaded vnto men Daniel doth here very well expresse that he is the hygh ruler in the kingdome of men that is he doth not onely exercise his power in heauē but doth gouerne also mankinde appoynteth euery one hys degrée or place wil geue it to whō he pleaseth He speaketh of diuerse empires in the singular nomber but it is as though he should say that some are extolled by Gods appointment and others cast downe and all is as it pleaseth god The summe is that euery mans state is geuen him of God so that they which couet to come to any hyghnes either by theyr ambition or science or wisedome or riches profite nothyng at all except God doth as it were stretch forth his hand to helpe them vp Paul doth also teach the same thing with other wordes that there is no power but of God and afterwarde Daniel doth often repeate the same sentence He addeth that he will lift vp the humble amongst men aboue it In thys so euident alteration the power of God doth better appeare whiles he lifteth frō the doung those which before were vnknowne and despised and doth also preferre them before kinges The prophane men whiles thys commeth to passe do say that God playeth and so men are tossed by hys hand like balles that sometyme they are extolled high and sometyme cast downe to the earth But they do not wey the cause that is because God would shew by open documentes that we are vnder his gouerment so that our state should hang therof because we do not apprehēd thys thyng willingly it is necessary that we haue examples set before vs in the which we may be compelled to sée thys which all men in a manner would gladly be ignoraunt of Now we sée the whole iudgement of the Prophet that is that the Angels do cōtinually aske of God that he would declare hys power to mortall men and therefore that he would throw downe the proude which do thinke that they excell by their owne vertue or power or fortune or helpe of men Therefore that God might shake of from them thys horrible pride that robbeth God of hys honor the Angels require that he would ouerthrow them and that he would so show that he is the king ruler not onely of heauen but also of the earth Now this did not only happē in one king but we know that the historyes are filled with documentes therof For whereof or of what state are kinges oftentimes created And seing there was no greater pryde in the Romaine Empire we sée what hath bene done For God hath brought forth certayne monsters that we might be astonished with such a sight and spectacle both greekes and of all partes of the East and Spaniardes and Italiās Frenchmen For nothing was more monstrous then certaine Emperours Furthermore theyr beginning is so filthye and shamefull that God could no more euidently shew that empieres are not transferred by mans will nor gotten by vertue counsaile and many armyes but that they are vnder-hys hand to make ruler whom he will. 15 Thys is the dreame that I king Nebuchadnezer haue seene therefore thou O Beltsazar declare the interpretatiō thereof for all the wise mē of my kingdome are not able to shew me the interpretation but thou art able for the spirit of the holy Gods is in thee Here doth Nebuchadnezer repeate that which he had spoken of before that is that he séeketh the interpretation of the dreame He knew what figure had bene shewed vnto hym but he could not vnderstand the counsayle of God neyther yet perswade wyth hymselfe whereto it belonged therefore hée trieth in thys part the fayth of Daniel He affirmeth that he saw a dreame that Daniel might be more ready to interprete it and he addeth this also to the same end that all the wyse men of hys kyngdome could not declare the dreame Where he confesseth after a sort all the Astrologians Southsayers and all other of that kynde which sayd they knew all thinges to be false and deceitfull For some were Augures some Southsayers some dreame readers others Astrologians which did not onely dispute of the order and course and distance of the starres and of the property of them but also which would foretell by the aspectes of the starres all that was to come Whereas thē they did boast so greatly of the knowledge of all things Nebuchadnezer doth confesse that they were deceauers For he ascribeth this to Daniel because he had a diuine spirit Wherefore he excludeth all the wyse men of Babylon frō so great a gift because he perceaueth by experience that they were destitute of the spirit of god He doth not speake playnely but thys is easely gathered of hys wordes that falshode was found in all the wise Chaldees Agayne in the second part he seperateth Daniel forth of their number also noteth the cause euen because he had a diuine spirit Wherefore Nebuchadnezer doth here geue vnto God that which is due vnto him and doth also acknowledge Daniel to be hys Prophet and minister In that he calleth the Angels holy Gods it is no meruaile as we haue sayd before seyng he was a prophane man and not exercised in the doctrine of true religion but onely had tasted certayne principles And we know that by common opiniō the Angels were mixed with god Therfore Nebuchadnezer speaketh after the common maner when he saith that the spirit of the holy Gods doth dwel in Daniel 16 Then Daniel whose name was Beltsazar held hys peace by the space of one houre and hys thoughtes troubled hym and the king spake and sayd Beltsazar let neyther the dreame nor the interpretation thereof trouble thee Beltsazar aunswered and sayd my Lord the dreame be to them that hate thee and the interpretation therof to thine enemyes Here Daniel doth recite that he was after a sorte astonished And I referre this vnto the sorow which the holy Prophet conceiued by the horrible punishment which God shewed vnder this figure Neither ought it to seme marueilous that Daniel was touched with sorow for the calamitie of the kyng of Babylon For although he was a cruell tyraunt and straitely handled the Church of God yea almost did destroy it yet because hée was vnder his dominiō it was mete that he should pray for him For God did expresly commaunde the Iewes so to do by the Prophet Ieremy Pray ye for the prosperous state of Babylon for in the peace therof shal be your peace And at the end of seuenty yeares it was lawfull for the true worshippers of God to pray vnto God to deliuer them but vntill that time was ended which was before limited by the mouth of the Prophet it was not lawfull for them either to hate the kyng or to aske any vengeance at Gods hand For
they did know that he was the executor of Gods iust iudgement and also that he was their gouernour and must be holden in the stead of their lawfull kyng Seyng then that Daniel was gently intreated of the king and was by the law of warre made an exile it was his part to kepe fidelitie vnto his kyng although he did exercise tyranny agaynst the people of god This was the cause why he conceiued such sorow by the grysely vision Some thinke that hee was rauished in spirite but me thinke that this doth better agrée For he doth not simply say that he was astonished but also that he was troubled afrayde in his owne cogitations Yet this is to be noted that the Prophetes were straungely moued when God did pronounce his iudgementes by them Therfore so oft as God ordeined his Prophetes to publish great calamities they were moued with diuerse affections For of the one part they pitied mans miseries whose destructions they did sée draw neare yet did they pronoūce boldly that which was commaunded them of God so that sorow did neuer let them but that they did their office boldely and constantly And we may sée both these thinges in Daniel Wherfore this was of good affection that he so sorowed for the kyng that he was speachles almost an houre And whereas the kyng biddeth him be of good courage and forbiddeth him to feare here do we sée painted the careles security of thē which haue not yet perceaued Gods iudgement and vengeance The Prophet is afraide and yet is he without all daunger For God doth not manace him in any pointe but contrary the punishment which hee séeth appointed for the kyng geueth him some hope of the deliueraunce to draw neare Why is he thē afrayde Forsoth the faithfull euen whē God spareth thē and sheweth him selfe mercyfull vnto thē yet can they not consider his iudgementes without feare because they do know that they are also gilty of the same and worthy of the same punishmentes but that God dealeth more mercyfully with them Agayny they neuer put of mās affections and so pitie compelleth them to lament whē they sée the wicked destroyed or their vengeance draw neare For these two causes are they in heauines and sorow But the wicked although God do openly sommon them and set his punishmentes before them are nothing moued but stand amased and either do deride his power openly or count his threatnynges fables whiles they be clapt in the neckes Such an example the Prophete setteth vs forth to be séene in the king of Babylon who saith Beltsazar be not afrayde Let neither the dreame nor the interpretation thereof feare thee Yet Daniel was afrayde for his sake But as I sayd before the faithfull although they perceiue God to be mercyfull yet do they feare the wicked so long as they rest in their securitie are not moued nor troubled with any threatnynges Daniel adioyneth the cause of his sorow My Lord sayth he let this dreame be to thyne enemyes and the interpretation therof to thyne aduersaries Here Daniel declareth why he was amased euen because he desired such a horrible punishment to be turned away from the kinges person For although he might worthyly haue abhorred him yet he did reuerence the power that was geuen him of god Let vs learne then by the example of this Prophet to pray for our enemies and chiefly to pray for kynges though they be tyrantes if God hath geuen vs into their handes For although they be vnworthy of any prayer or any office of humanitie yet because they are set ouer vs not without Gods expresse pleasure let vs beare their yoke patiently not onely for wrath as Paul admonisheth but euen for conscience sake Otherwyse we are not onely rebellious vnto them but vnto god Howbeit of the contrary part Daniel declareth that he is not so ouercome with any affectiō of pity but that he will go forward in his office and vocatiō and sayth 17 The tree that thou sawest which was great and mighty whose height reached vnto heauen and the sight therof through all the world 18 Whose leaues were fayre and the fruite therof much in it was meat for all vnder the which the beastes of the field dwelt and vppon whose braunches the foules of the heauen did sit 19 It is thou O kyng thou art great and mighty for thy greatnes is growen and reacheth vnto heauen and thy dominion to the endes of the earth Here we do sée as I haue touched that Daniel did sée his duety to the kyng that he dyd not forget his propheticall office but boldly executed Gods commaundement And this diuersitie is to be noted for there is nothyng more hard to the Ministers of Gods word thē to kepe this mediocritie For some vnder the pretense of zele do thunder and forget that they are men breathyng forth nothyng but onely bitternes shewyng no signe of beneuolēce So commeth it to passe that their wordes are of none authoritie their admonitions are abhorred So make they the word of God to be lothed and euill spoken of when they go about to terrifie men so rigorously without any signe of compassion or sorow for them Others which are cowardly or rather which are deceitfull flatterers and bury with silēce most great and greuous sinnes do alwayes pretend that neither the Prophetes nor the Apostles were so feruent that they cast of all humane affections Thus do they delite miserable men and destroy them with their flatteries But our Prophet as all the others do the like sheweth here a meane way which the seruaunts of God must hold and kepe So Ieremy conceiueth sorow and grief of hart by his heauy and greuous prophecies and yet doth he not turne frō bold rebuking and most greuous threatnynges for both were godly So do all the rest for this many tymes is séene in the Prophetes Daniel therfore of the one part pitieth the kyng of the other because he knoweth that he is the preacher of Gods vēgeance he is not afrayde for any daunger but setteth forth boldly vnto the kyng that punishment that he had despised Hereby also do we collect that he was astonished because hee feared the tyraunt as many dare not mute nor once opē their lippes when a message that may bréede hatred is committed vnto them or that may styrre the wicked to rage But Daniel was not stricken with any such feare but onely because he desired that God would deale mercyfully with hys Prince For he sayth here Thou art that king He speaketh not doubtfully neither by circumstances neither doth hée bring it in obscurely and darkely nor yet vse many excuses but with open mouth he doth pronounce kyng Nebuchadnezer to be signified by that trée that he had séene 20 Whereas the kyng saw a watchman and an holy one that came downe from heauē and sayd Hew downe the tree and destroy it yet leaue the stumpe of the rootes therof in the earth and with a
as hath bene sayd and it wil be more euident afterward yet do we sée how he suffered this horrible iudgement of God to be pronounced agaynst hym If then we which are but chaffe in comparison of hym and of no reputation can not abide the threatninges of God when so euer they shal be pronounced agaynst vs euen he shal be a witnes and iudge agaynst vs who though he were in so great power and dignity yet durst he do nothing agaynst the prophet Now in the end of the verse the sentence is repeated agayne which was expounded before vntill thou know that the most hye beareth rule in the kingdome of men and he geueth it to whom he will. Thys place doth teach how hard a thing it is for vs to geue all power vnto god We are in deede great speakers of the glory of God with our tounges howbeit there is no man but he restrayneth hys power whiles that he vsurpeth some what to hym selfe or turneth some what thereof to one or an other Especially when God doth rayse vs vp to any honor or dignity we forget that we are men and we robbe God of hys honor and thrust our selues into hys place Thys disease is hard to be cured and thys punishment which God hath layd vpon the king of Babylon is an example for vs For God would haue bene content with a smaller punishment but because thys madnes doth so sticke in the bowels and mary that men dare chalenge vnto them selues that which is peculiar vnto god Wherefore there must needes be some sharpe medecine to teach them modesty humility and méekenes Kinges and Monarches at thys day do alwayes pretēd in theyr titles that they are Kinges Dukes and Earles by the grace of God but how many do falsely pretend that name to this end and purpose that they may chalenge to them selues authority ouer all For what meaneth that title by the grace of God but that they should knowledge no superior And in the meane season they would treade vnder foote God him selfe vnder whose shielde they mayntayne and defend them selues so farre are they from earnest consideration that they do reigne by hys benefit and goodnes Wherefore this is but a mockery that they boast them selues to haue theyr authority by the grace of god Seing it is so we may easely iudge how proudly prophane kinges do despise God although they do not pretend the name of God deceaueably as these vayne tatlers do which mocke God openly and so prophane and pollute the name of grace 23 Where as they sayd that they should leaue the stumple of the tree rootes thy kingdome shall remayne vnto thee after that thou shalt know that the heauens haue the rule Here Daniel doth end the interpretation of the dreame and teacheth that God will not so seuerely deale wyth the king Nebuchadnezer but that he will leaue some place for hys mercy Therefore he doth mitigate the great rigor of the punishment that Nebuchadnezer hoping for pardon might call vpon God and repent as there shall folow afterward a more euident exhortation But now Daniel doth prepare hym to repentance when he sayth that the kingdome shall remayne vnto hym For God could haue cast hym out of mans company so that he might alway haue remayned with the wilde beastes He might also haue cast hym streight way out of the world but thys is a signe of clemency that he will restore hym not onely vnto some meane state but to hys owne dignitie as though hee had bene alway vpright Therfore we sée that this dreame had bene profitable to kyng Nebuchadnezer if he had not despised the admonition of the holy Propeht yea if he had not bene vnthākefull vnto god For Daniel did not onely forewarne him of the calamitie which hāged ouer his head but also he brought the message of reconciliation God therfore had taught him profitably had he not bene stubburne and despised to learne as the most part of men commonly do But hereof many we gather a generall doctrine that when God doth appointe an end for his punishmentes we are moued to repentaunce because God geueth some taste his mercy that we may hope to obteine pardon of at hys hand if we flye vnto him vnfeinedly and in sinceritie This also is to be noted that Daniel addeth in the second parte of the verse After that thou shalt know that the heauens haue the rule For vnder these wordes is the promise of the spirituall grace included that God would not onely punish the kyng of Babylon to humble him but also would inwardly worke and chaunge the hart like as at the length though long first it came to passe I haue sayd that the grace of Gods spirite is here promised for we do know how smally men do profite without it although God correct them an hundreth tymes For the stubburnes and rebellion of our hartes is so great that we are rather more and more hardened when God calleth vs to repentance And doubtles Nebuchadnezer had bene like vnto Pharao saue that God did not onely humble him with outward punishmentes but also did geue him the inward motion of his spirite that he suffered him selfe to be taught and did submit him selfe to the power and iudgement of god This meaneth Daniel when hee sayth After that thou shalt know For Nebuchadnezer would neuer of his owne minde haue come downe to such a knowledge vnles he had bene touched with some secrete motion of the spirite He addeth That it is the power of heauen that is to say that God gouerneth the world and hath the whole rule For here he setteth the heauens as it were contrary to the earth and to all mortall creatures Now the kynges when they sée all thinges quiet about them if no man feare them they thinke that they are safe enough and whiles they will make them selues sure they looke round about them hether thether but they neuer lift vp their eyes to the heauens as though this perteined nothyng vnto God to mainteine kyngdomes to raise vp whom he will and to cast downe all the proud As though then that this were not in Gods hand the Princes of this world do neuer consider that the heauens haue the authoritie and rule but as I haue sayd they looke this away and that way before and behind euen euery way saue onely to the heauēs This is the cause that Daniel affirmeth that the heauens beare the rule He setteth God as it were agaynst all mortall men as is before 24 Wherfore O king let my counsaile be acceptable vnto thee and breake of thy sinnes by rightuousnes and thine iniquities by mercy toward the poore Lo let there bee an healyng of thyne errour As though he should say take my counsaile breake of thy sinnes cease from thy wickednes enter into a new trade of life that is turne thy crueltie into humanitie and mercy and thy tyranny into pityfull compassion of the poore thus let the errour
thys was repeted which he heard before in the dreame Afterward he declareth how he was cast forth from the company of men and remayned a long tyme wyth brute beastes so that he differed nothing from the beastes Some do thinke that Nebuchadnezer was strickē wyth repentance when he was admonished of the wrath of God and that for thys cause the tyme of hys punishment was deferred But I thinke not so I thinke rather that God stayed hys hand vnto the end of the yeare that the pride of the kyng myght be more inexcusable For he ought to haue bene afrayd by that voyce of the Prophet as though God hymself had thundred and lightned from the heauen Now it appeareth that he was alwayes one I do not deny in déede but that he myght be afrayd at the first message and I will not dispute of that matter Howsoeuer it is I do not thinke that God spared hym for a tyme because he did shew any token of repentaunce I graunt that God doth sometimes spare the reprobate if he sée thē humbled as we haue a most playne example in king Achab. For Achab dyd neuer repent hartely but God would shew how much repentance pleased hym whiles he pardoned the wicked and obstinate king in hys malice for some small signe of repētaunce The same might be spoken of kyng Nebuchadnezer if the Scripture did teach it But as may be gathered by the wordes of the Prophet Nebuchadnezer went forward in his pride vntill his careles negligence came to the highest For thys was intolerable that after God had threatned so sore the king remained yet in hys pride It is a monstrous dulnes that he could remaine careles although he had liued a hūdreth yeares after that threatning Finally I do thinke that although Nebuchadnezer dyd vnderstand that a sore and horrible punishment was prepared for hym yet though he were afrayd for a tyme he dyd not lay downe hys pride and hye mynde In the meane season that prophecy might séeme vayne it is probable that the thing which he had heard was now a long time gone out of hys mynde Like as the wicked are wont to abuse the long sufferaunce of God and so heape vnto themselues the treasure of greater vēgeaunce as Paule sayth Rom. 2. Wherefore it may be that he derided thys prophecy and so was more and more hardened Howsoeuer it is there can none other thing be gathered by the text of the Prophet then that the admonition of the Prophet was then in vayne yea that the oracle it selfe was of no force whereby he was called to repentaunce If there had bene any droppe of a Godly mynde in hym truely he should haue fled to the mercy of God he should haue weighed with hymselfe by how many wayes he had prouoked hys wrath he should haue geuen hymselfe wholy to the workes of charity as he had executed greuous tyranny agaynst all so should he haue geuen hymselfe to humanity and mercy as the Prophet had exhorted hym but he is so farre from doing thys that he doth vomit out vayne boastinges which do shew that hys mynde doth swell with disdainfulnes and also with the contempt of god Because therefore here is noted the space of the tyme hereby it appeareth that God will sometymes deferre hys iudgements if paraduenture they wyll repent euen which séeme altogether desperate But the reprobate do abuse that humanity and mercy of God because they do more hardē theyr harts by thys occasion whiles they suppose that God ceaseth frō doyng the office of a iudge when he suffereth for a season At the end then of twelue monthes the king walked in hys palace and spake and sayd Thys doubling of the word doth expresse that the kyng spake of a purposed pryde The Prophet myght haue sayd more simply the kyng spake but he sayth that he spake and sayd Wherby I suppose that the Prophet meaneth that the king did as it were vomite forth that which he had before conceaued and purposed in his heart Is not this that great Babylon which I haue builte for my kingly pallace by the might of my power and for the honor of my maiesty In these wordes we see no open blasphemye which should offend God so greatly but we must consider that the king did speake thus to challenge vnto him selfe all thinges as though he were in the place of god And thys may be gathered by the words Is not this Babylon the great He boasteth of the greatnes of hys citie as though he would set it against the heauens as the olde Gyants did Which saith he This Pronowne doth seme also to be put for vehemency Which I sayth he haue builte and that with the might of my power We see how he spoyleth God of hys honour challenging all thinges vnto him selfe Yet before I go any further wee must see wherefore he sayth that Babylon was builte of him For all the Historiographers do agrée in this that that citie was built of Semiramis Now a great whyle after Nebuchadnezer doth declare it for hys prayse and glory that he hath built that citie But the aunswere is easie For we know how earthly kynges do study by all meanes possible to throw downe the glory of others that onely they myght excell and get to them selues a perpetuall name especially where they chaunge some thyng in buildinges or in palacies or in Cityes they would séeme to be the first builders and so blot them out of memory of whom the foundations were layd So it may be that Babylon was beautified of the king Nebuchadnezer therefore doth he translate all the glory vnto himselfe whereas the greater part should haue bene ascribed to Semiramis and Ninus Wherefore it is a tyrannicall kynde of speach that is which the tyrauntes do often vsurpe and commōly whiles they draw to them selues other mens praises Therefore sayth he I haue built it wyth the strength of my power Now we may easely sée what did displease God in thys boasting of the king of Babylon euē his sacrilegious boldnes when he sayth that the Citie was built by hys owne myght or power But God sheweth that that prayse is due vnto hym and worthely For except God builde the City they watch in vayne c. Therefore how strongly soeuer men labour in building Cityes yet they profite nothing except God hymselfe rule the worke Where as then Nebuchadnezer doth magnify hymselfe and doth set forth the strēgth of hys power agaynst God and hys grace thys arrogant boasting was intolerable And thys was the cause that God was so angry wyth hym Therefore let vs learne that thys is tryed true by this example which the Scripture doth so oftentymes inculcate that is to say that God resisteth the proud that he plucketh downe their hauty lookes and countenaunces and that he can not abyde their arrogancy Where as God therefore in euery place doth pronounce that he is an enemy to the proud it is
confirmed by this example as if God did hereby set forth vnto vs the Image of his iudgement as in a glasse This is one lesson Also the cause is to be noted why God maketh opē warre agaynst all the proud because we can lift vp our heades neuer so little but we fight agaynst god For all rule and power is in hys hand yea our life is in hys hand Neyther are we any thing neyther can we do any thing but onely of hym and by hym Who soeuer chalengeth therefore thys or that be it neuer so little to hymselfe he withdraweth so much from god Wherefore it is no maruaile though God do testify that he can not abyde the hygh countenaunces of men for they do wilfully prouoke him to anger when they vsurpe the least thing that can be vnto themselues It is true that Cities are built by the industry and labour of men and that those kynges are worthy commendation that eyther built Cities or fortifie them so that due prayse remayne vnto God and nothing be taken therefrom But when men extoll and magnify themselues and wyll haue their power séene they bury the blessing of God as much as in them lyeth Then is it necessary as we haue sayd that their sacrilegious temerity robbing God of his honor be called to accompt Also the kyng sheweth hys vanity when he sayth I haue built it for my princely palace and for the excellency of my maiestie By these wordes he doth not dissemble but that he regarded hys owne glory in all hys buildinges to the entent that hys name myght be aduaunced amongest hys posterity To be short therefore would he both in his lyfe and after hys death be thus renowmed in the world that God should be nothing in respect of hym and so all the proud shoote at this marke that they may set themselues in Gods place It followeth The word was yet in the kinges mouth when a voyce was heard from heauen Here we sée how soone God can euen in a moment represse the madnes of them that do outragiously extoll thēselues And it is no maruaile though this voyce was heard sodainly seing there had bene a space for repentaunce geuen before vnto the kyng Nebuchadnezer Now in thys kynde of speach They say vnto thee we néede not to be curious to know who spake The name of the kyng is not geuen hym for honor but in derision as though he should say thou art dronken wyth thy present dignity for whyles all men do honor thée as a God thou doost forget thyne owne fraility howbeit this princely Maiestie and power can not let but that God can cast thée downe because thou wilt not humble thy self willingly thy kingdome is departed from thée Thys was incredible then for Nebuchadnezer was in a quiet possession of the kyngdome No man did shew hymselfe an enemy his Monarchy was terrible to all nations yet doth God pronounce at that present that the kyngdome was departed from hym And thys maketh for the certainty of the oracle that Nebuchadnezer may know that the tyme is now fulfilled and the punishment can no longer be deferred because he had so abused Gods mercy and mocked hys clemency It followeth And they shall driue thee from amongest mē and thy dwelling shal be wyth the beastes of the fielde and they shall make thee eate grasse like the oxen That some mē thinke that Nebuchadnezer was transformed into a beast it is to great an absurdity Therefore we néede not to imagine any such metamorphosis but that he was so cast forth of mans company that except onely mans shape he differed nothing from brute beastes Yea there came such a deformity vpon hym in that exile that he was horrible to looke vpon as we shall sée afterward that all the heares of hys body did grow as the fethers grow vpon the Egles and hys nayles did grow like birdes clawes Thys had he common wyth the beastes and birdes in the rest he was lyke a man For we know not whether God did strike this kyng with madnes so that he ranne away and hid hymselfe for a space or whether he were cast forth by tumult and the conspiracy of hys nobles or by the consent of the whole people Thys we do not know because the histories of those times are vnknowen vnto vs. Now whether he were enraged and so ranne forth of mans company or he were cast forth as tyrantes are many times or not this example is very notable that he remayned with beastes for a seasō Yet is it probable that he was so beside hymselfe that God yet left hym the forme of man and tooke away his reason as shall better appeare by the texte They shall cast thee forth of mans company and thy dwelling shall be wyth wilde beastes and they shall make thee eate grasse like the bullockes That is to say thou shalt be depriued of all thy princely delicates yea of all the commō diet of the vulgare people thou shalt haue none other meat then brute beastes haue And seuen tymes shall passe ouer thee Of thys we haue spoken before Some do restreine it to vij dayes which neither hath reasō nor colour Neither do I expound it of monethes for that had bene a short tyme Wherefore their sentence is more probable which do extend it to seuen yeares For if Nebuchadnezer were cast forth by any tumult he could not be so shortly called in agayne Furthermore because that God would shew in his person an example the remēbraunce whereof might continue many ages I doubt not but that he was seperated from the commō state of men for a long season If it had bene but for seuen dayes or monthes we sée how little Gods iudgementes vnles they be seuere are regarded in the world Wherefore that God myght print thys punishment in the hartes of all he continueth it for a long space I do not say vij yeares precisely for as I sayd the certaine number is put for the vncertayne but I do say that it was a long space Seuen yeares sayth he shall passe ouer thee whiles that thou know that the most high is the ruler in the kingdome of men This is the ende of the punishment Wherein we note that God doth mitigate the bitternes of the payne because he doth limite it vnto a certaine tyme and also had his ende determined that Nebuchadnezer should repent in the end because hee could none other wayes waxe wise but by punishment as the prouerbe is of the foolish So was it of necessitie that kyng Nebuchadnezer must bee compelled by scourges to submit him selfe vnto God because nothyng could be done with him by admonitions neither yet before by heauenly visions God dealeth not thus with all Wherfore we haue here a speciall example of hys clemency and mercy which caused that this punishment which was layd vpon Nebuchadnezer tooke place and was profitable The reprobate do more and more harden their hartes agaynst God yea
this peruerse affection and so to be subiect to thee that we may hange of thy mere grace and fauour that we may know that we stand and are susteine by thy onely power and so may learne to glorifie thy name that we do not onely obey thy word in true and pure humilitie but also may cōtinually desire and seeke for thy helpe and mistrustyng our selues may rest in that grace and fauour which is our onely stay vntill at the length thou gather vs into thy heauenly kyngdome where we may obteine that blessed eternitie which is gotten for vs by thy onely begotten sonne Amen For as much as Nebuchadnezer sayth that hée lift vp his eyes vnto heauen and his vnderstandyng was geuen him agayne hereby we gather that he was a space without his minde Neither yet was he so without his minde in my iudgement but he knew his miserie but in the meane season he dyd byte the bridle and was like a brayneséeke man Other say that he was altogether mad I will not contend of this matter but this is sufficient for me that he was without his minde so that he had some part of a beast But it is probable that he had some intelligence left that he perceiued some punishment by his miserie In the meane season he did not lift vp his eyes into heauen vntill God drew him to him For the rods of God do nothyng profite vs except he worke within vs by his spirite as we sayd before The speach is as much as if he should say he began to thinke that God was a iust iudge For although his shame did trouble him for a while yet he did not looke vnto the hand of the smiter euē as is sayd in an other place Therfore he begā to acknowledge that God is the reuenger of pride after that tyme which was appointed before was past of that which we haue spoken And they do lift their eyes into heauen which do also cast thē downe to the earth Because Nebuchadnezer should haue risen vp vnto God whom before he had forgotten as wakened from his déepe dreame hée should also haue throwen downe him selfe to the earth because now he had receiued the reward of his arrogācy For he durst lift vp his head aboue mans state when he tooke to him self those things which were due vnto god Therfore he dyd not now lift vp his eyes vnto heauē by a vayne confidence as before whē he was made drōken with the beautie of his Monarchie but he did so looke vpon God that he was cast down protestrate in his minde Afterwardes he addeth And J blessed the most highe and I praysed and glorified hym that liueth for euer This chaungyng doth shew that the punishment was layd vppon kyng Nebuchadnezer especially for this cause because he spoyled God of hys iust honour Here he doth describe the fruite of his repentaunce If this affection dyd spryng of repentaunce that Nebuchadnezer should blesse God it foloweth then that first hee was a sacrilegious person which tooke from God hys lawfull honour and would set hym selfe in hys place euen as hath bene sayd before And here also we may learne what it is to prayse God truly that is when we beyng brought to nothyng do acknowledge and determine with our selues that all thinges are vnder his gouernment and as we shall sée afterward that he is the gouernour of heauē earth that his will should stand both for law and reason and for the chief rule of iustice For otherwyse we may celebrate the prayses of God with open mouth but it shal be a mere dissimulation because no man can prayse him sincerely and purely but he which doth ascribe vnto hym all these thynges which we will speake after And first Nebuchadnezer sayth because his power is the euerlasting power and his kingdome from generation to generation In the first place here he confesseth that God is the eternall king which is a great thing For there is set agaynst thys perpetuitie the weakenes which is in men seing that all the chiefe Monarches which excell with greatest power haue nothing safe or certayne not onely because they are subiect to the chaunges of fortune as the prophane men doo commonly iudge or rather they hang on the gouernment of God but because they fade away for the most part by theyr owne vanitie We sée the whole world as it were tossed and to be like the troubled sea If there be any quietnes in one part or moe yet in euery moment there may some new and soddayne thing come to passe which was not looked for As in a quiet and bright heauen a tempest will soddaynely rise euen so we sée it come to passe in mens affayres Seing then it is so there is no firme nor stable state in the earth and especially Monarches doo shake them selues with theyr stormy stirres This is then the perpetuitie which is here declared of the king Nebuchadnezer that God is a Monarche which by hym selfe reteyneth and gouerneth hys empire and therefore he is without all daunger and perill of changing 32 And all the inhabitantes of the earth are reputed as nothing and according to his will he worketh in the army of heauen and in the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand nor say vnto hym what doest thou Now is added the contrary member that the Antithesis might bee full For although it followeth that among men there is nothyng sure or sound where that principle is of force that God is the euerlastyng kyng yet few do so reason because all men doo graunt vnto God with one worde a sure and perpetuall state but in the meane season they do not descēde into themselues that they might earnestly wey and consider theyr owne weakenes but being vnmindefull of theyr state they rage euen agaynst God himselfe Therfore thys explication was necessary which is set forth that is after that Nebuchadnezer praysed God because his power is euerlastyng he addeth of the contrary part that all the inhabitors of the earth are reputed as nothing Kela which some do thinke to be one word and take it for a thing that endeth For Kala signifieth to finish or to fulfill and some tymes it signifieth to consume wherof they thinke the name is deriued because that men are reputed in theyr owne measure but God is vnmeasurable But that is a hard interpretation and this opinion is more receaued that He should bee put for Aleph and so sayth Nebuchadnezer that men are reputed as nothing before God. Now therefore we sée how aptly these two members do agrée betwixt themselues that is that God is the euerlasting king and men are nothing For if any thing be geuen vnto mē so much is diminished from the power and high empire of god Therefore it followeth that Gods right can not stand whole vntill all mortall men are brought to nothing And although men do set much by them selues yet Nebuchadnezer doth pronounce by
the instinction of the spirite that they are nothyng that is before God because it commeth to passe none otherwyse that they should extoll them selues so much but that they are blinded in theyr owne darkenes But when they shal be drawne vnto the light they shall know that they are altogether nothing And what so euer we be it hangeth altogether of the grace of God which doth kéepe vs euery moment and doth ioyne vnto vs a new strength Therefore our part is nothing els but to rest and stand stedfast in God because as soone as he draweth backe his hād and the power of his spirite we fade away Therefore we are something that is in the Lord God but we are nothing in our selues Now it followeth that God worketh according to hys will in the army of heauen and in the dwellers vpon earth This might séeme absurde that God is sayd to do as he will as though he had neither moderation nor equity nor rule of iustice But we must marke that which we haue spoken in an other place that men are gouerned by lawes because their willes are peruerse and are caryed hither and thether after their owne lustes without measure but God is a law vnto him selfe because his wil is most perfect iustice Therfore as oft as the Scripture setteth forth vnto vs the power of God and doth commaunde vs to be content therewith it doth not attribute vnto God a tyrannicall Empire as the wicked do falsely imagine But because we do not leaue of to speake agaynst God and do set our reason agaynst his secrete counsailes and so striue with him as though he dyd not that iustly and wisely which is not allowed of vs therfore that the holy ghost might bridle this presūption he doth pronoūce that God doth all things after his owne will. Let vs then remember that when we heare mētion made of God there cā no peruerse nor vniust thyng be layd vnto him his will is not chaunged by any lust but is great iustice Seyng then it is so let vs also remember how great how stubburne and how proude our rashnes is which dare cast and obiect this or that agaynst god Whereof it foloweth that this doctrine is necessary to cast vpon vs a bridle of modestie that God doth all thynges after his owne will as it is sayd in the Psalme our God is in heauen he hath done what soeuer he would Now we do gather by this sentence that nothyng commeth by chaunce but what soeuer commeth to passe in the world commeth by the secrete prouidence of god Neither ought here to be admitted that vnsauery distinction betwixt the sufferaunce of God and his wil. For we sée that the holy ghost which is the best master to teach vs to speake doth here playnly expresse two thinges that is the God worketh he worketh after his owne will. And sufferance as also these curious searchers do say differeth frō wil as though God did graunt as it were agaynst his will that which yet he would not haue done There is nothing more worthy to be laughed at thē to imagine this weakenes to be in god Furthermore the very force of doing is added Therefore saith Nebuchadnezer God doth what he will. And he doth not speake accordyng to the sense of the flesh but by the instinction of the spirite as hath bene sayd He should therfore as well be heard as if a Prophet were sent from heauen Now then we sée that the world is so gouerned by the secrete prouidence of God that nothyng commeth to passe but that which he hath commaunded and decréed and furthermore that hee should also worthily be counted the author of all thynges Where some do obiect a kinde of absurditie that God is therfore the author of sinne if nothing be but by his will yea if he worke it this cauillation is easily put away because there is a diuersitie betwixt the doing of God and the workyng of men For when any man sinneth God after his maner doth worke there but in the meane season he farre differreth from man because he exerciseth his iudgement euen as he is sayd to blinde and to harden When then God doth commaunde the reprobate or the deuil those doth he geue vp to be cast into all kindes of lustes When God then doth so he doth exercise his iudgementes And he which sinneth is worthely giltie neither can he intāgle God in the societie of his wickednes Why For God hath nothyng common with him as concernyng the action of sinne Therefore we see that these thynges which many would haue to disagrée betwixt them selues do well agrée that is that God doth rule by his will what soeuer is done in the world and yet he is not the author of sinne Why For he so vseth the deuill and all the reprobate that he is alway a iust iudge The cause doth not alway appeare vnto vs but we must marke this principle because that with God is all power therfore it is not right to speake agaynst his iudgements what shew of absurditie soeuer they haue And therfore it foloweth in the text There is none that can stay his hand or can say vnto him why hast thou thus done When Nebuchadnezer sayth that the hand of God can not be stayed hereby he derideth the madnes of men which yet do not doubt to rise agaynst god Now let them lift vp their finger if they can to stay his hand and yet beyng ouercome of their infirmitie they go forward in that their rage Therfore Nebuchadnezer doth worthely shew their foolish madnes whiles they lift vp them selues so presumpteously that they would put God to silence or shut him vp in their cages or make some chaynes wherby they may binde hym Seyng then that men do burst forth into such outragious fury they are worthily laughed at And hereto belong the wordes which we read in Daniel Afterward he addeth that none sayth VVhy hast thou done so We know that mens tounges are losed to all wickednes of talke because scarce the hūdreth part of mē doth conteine them selues in this sobrietie to geue the glory vnto God and to confesse that he is iust in hys workes But here Nebuchadnezer did not looke what men were wont to do but what was lawfull Therfore he sayth that God can not be corrected that is by right seyng how soeuer the reprobate do talke yet their vayne talkyng doth fall by it selfe because it hath no ground neither yet any colour The summe is that the will of God should be a law vnto vs because we striue agaynst him in vayne and furthermore because if we permit vnto our selues so much lust if our madnes also do brust forth so farre that we will braul with God this shal be without successe For God hym selfe shal be iustified in his iudgements and so all mens mouthes shal be stopped This is the summe But we must marke that which is added That the will of God is done
as well in the army of heauen as in the dwellers of the earth By the army of heauē I do not vnderstand as in other places the Sunne the Moone the Starres but the Angels themselues and euen the very deuils which may well be called heauenly in respect of their begynning and furthermore we know that they be the Princes of the ayre Therfore signifieth Daniel as well the Angels as deuils and men to be gouerned by his will and although the wicked do rush out neuer so outragiously yet they are held in by a secrete bridle that they can not fulfill what soeuer they lust Therfore is God sayd to worke as well in the army of heauen as in men what soeuer he will because he hath the Angels obedient vnto him that is the elect but the deuils are compelled to obey his rule although they would do the contrary We know that the deuils are by all meanes agaynst God but yet at the length they are compelled to obey him not willyngly but by constraint And euen as he dealeth with the Angels and deuils so also he doth with the dwellers on earth For some doth he gouerne with his spirite that is the elect which after that they be regenerate by his spirite are so led of him that his righteousnes doth truly shyne forth in all their workes He worketh also in the reprobate but after an other sort for he draweth them headlong by the hand of the deuill he driueth them by his secret power he striketh them with the spirite of brayneséekenes he blyndeth them and casteth them into a reprobate sense he hardeneth also their hartes to stubbornes Behold how God doth worke all thinges by his will in men and Angels Now there is an other kinde of working for as much as belongeth to the outward state For God doth lift this man on high and casteth downe an other So we sée that rich mē often tymes become poore and some are lift vp from the donghill to clime to high degrées of honor The prophane men do call it the play of fortune but it is the incomprehensible and most iust moderation of the prouidence of god Thus God worketh then after his will in men and Angels But that inward action should be put in the first place as we haue sayd 33 At the same tyme was myne vnderstandyng restored vnto me and I returned to the honour of my kingdome my glory and my beauty was restored vnto me and my counsaillers and my Princes sought vnto me and I was established in my kingdome and my glory was augmented towardes me Here doth Nebuchadnezer declare more copiously that which he had touched briefly before that is to say that he had recouered his wit agayne and so doth he commend the mercy of God because he was contēt with a small temporall correction at the length gaue him hys mercifull hand to make hym a mā agayne of a brute beast Not that he was chaunged into a beast as is sayd already but because he was brought to that shamefull miserie that he was lyke the wilde beastes and fed also with them Wherfore that deformitie was so horrible that the restoryng might be called as it were a new creation and therfore Nebuchadnezer doth so much celebrate this grace of God not without cause Therfore in that tyme myne vnderstādyng was restored to me He had spokē this once but because vnderstādyng reason is an inestimable benefite of God Nebuchadnezer doth inculcate this sētēce doth cōfesse that he had tryed the singular grace of God because he was restored to his minde agayne And he doth also adde that he was restored to hys honor and to the excellencie of his kyngdome because hée was sought to of his counsellers and nobles It is not knowen how this was fulfilled because the memory of those tymes is buryed but that it is probable that at the length the Princes of the kyngdome were bowed to clemency that they coueted to receiue to them the kyng that was cast forth We will not say that thys was done of them of purpose for God so vsed them that yet they knew not that they did execute that which he determined They heard a voyce from heauen To thee be it spoken O king Nebuchadnezer beholde the kingdome is gone from thee c. This thyng ought to haue bene known amōgest all men to haue bene spread abroad amongest all but we know that men do very easely forget when God speaketh The Princes therfore though they did not know that they did God seruice therein yet required they their kyng By this meanes he returned to hys dignitie of the kingdome and hys honor was greater then it was before 34 Now therefore I Nebuchadnezer prayse and extoll and magnifie the king of heauē whose workes are all truth and hys wayes iudgement and those that walke in pride he is able to abase This is the end of the commaundement where Nebuchadnezer doth ioyne a notable confession of his fault with the prayses of god For that which he doth adde of the proud he doth vndoubtedly properly apply to hys own person as though he should say God would set me forth as a notable example whereby all might know that the proud are humbled by his hand For I was puffed vp wyth pride but God hath thus corrected me by an horrible punishmēt that now my example might profit all men Therefore haue I sayd that the king Nebuchadnezer did not thanke God here simply but did also confesse hys fault because he was worthely brought by such seuerity into subiection for hys arrogancy coulde by no lighter remedy be corrected But first he sayth I prayse extoll and glorifie the king of heauen There is no doubt but this heape of wordes came of a vehement affection And here also the antethesis must be vnderstād by that principle which we haue sene before that is that God is neuer rightly praysed vntill the shame of men be vncouered that God is neuer rightly extolled but when their highnes is throwne downe that God is neuer glorified but when men being as it were ouerwhelmed wyth shame fall downe vpon the earth Therefore also whyles Nebuchadnezer doth in thys place prayse extoll and glorifie God he doth also confesse as before that both he and all mortall men are nothing do deserue no prayse but are worthy of all shame Afterward he addeth because all hys workes are truth Here Kesot is taken for righteousnes and integrity For emez dine are called true iudgementes but it is here referred to equity therefore all the workes of God are verity that is they be vpright as though he should say that nothyng is worthy to be reprehended in the workes of god Therefore the explication foloweth that all hys wayes are iudgement We sée therefore that here is praysed in God perfect iustice This ought to be also referred vnto Nebuchadnezer as though he should say God did not handle me ouer roughly there is no
as I haue sayd he should haue depriued him selfe of the gift of prophecy For we must sée what is lawful for vs to do We know that we are prone to nothyng more then to be drawē away with the entisementes of the world especially with ambition which blindeth vs and troubleth all our senses and there is no greater pestilence For when any man séeth that he can either get some honour or some gayne he doth not consider what is lawfull or what God permitteth but is caryed away as it were with a blynd madnes The same thyng might haue come vnto Daniel if hee had not bene holden backe through a hartie zele of true pietie But he refused that honour offered vnto hym of kyng Nebuchadnezer Therfore would he neuer be counted amōg the Sooth-sayes Astrologians and such lyke deceauers which did delude that nation with their enchauntmentes Hereof commeth it that now the Quéene sayth that there is a certaine man named Daniel But the kyng was not blameles by this pretence because as we haue sayd Daniel had gotten him a famous name for many yeares and God would note him forth with a sure note that mēs mindes should be bent vpon hym as vpon an heauenly Angell For as much then as kyng Beltsazar knew not that there was such a Prophet in his kyngdome it is the signe of a shamefull beastly carelesnes Therfore God would cast this in the téeth of kyng Beltsazar by a womā when she sayth Let not thy thoughtes trouble thee She calleth vpon him gently because she saw hym to be afrayd But in the meane season she sheweth that he erreth ouer grossely because he wandereth about the bush and yet might soone come to hys purpose for as much as God had geuen to his Prophet a light in his hand to lighten hym except hee desired willyngly to wander in darkenes as all the reprobate do Furthermore we may sée in this kyng the common vice of all mankind that is that none doth runne out of the way but he which either flattereth him selfe in ignoraūce or els that would haue all light extinguished Now whereas the Quéene sayth That the spirite of the holy Gods is in Daniell we haue declared in an other place what is men therby For it is no marueile though prophane mē do speake so because they are not able to discerne betwixt the onely God the Angels Wherfore they called Gods indifferētly what so euer came from God or from the heauens Hereby it commeth then that the Quéene calleth the Angels holy Gods in the meane season she setteth God but amongest the commō sort Howbeit it is our part so to knowledge the onely God that hée alone should haue the préeminence and that the very Angels be brought vnder him and that there is no excellency neither in heauen nor in earth which can obscure hys glory For the Scripture laboureth to this end to set God in most high degrée and also that nothyng should be of such excellency which should not geue place to his Maiesty But here we sée how necessary it is that we be taught of the one onely essence of God because from the begynnyng of the world men were alwayes persuaded of this that there was some one most hye power but afterward they all vanished away in their owne cogitations so that they dyd forget God moreouer did ioyne him with the Angels so that all thynges were confounded Seyng then we sée this let vs know that we haue néede that the Scripture should be our guide and teacher to shine before vs to geue vs light that we imagine nothyng of God but so farre as he calleth vs vnto him by his word doth willingly opē him selfe vnto vs. ¶ The Prayer GRaunt almighty God seyng thou doest continually call vpon vs by thy Prophetes and doest not suffer vs to wander in the darkenes of errours graunt we besech thee that we may diligently hearken to thy voyce and that we may shew our selues willyng to learne and to be obedient especially seyng thou doest set forth vnto vs such a master and teacher in whom all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge are enclosed Graunt O Lord that we may so submit our selues to thyne onely begotten sonnne that we may continue in the right course of our holy vocation and that wee may alway bend our selues to that marke vnto the which thou doest call vs whiles that we hauyng ouercome all the battailes of this life may in the end attaine to that blessed rest which is purchased for vs with the bloud of the same thy sonne So be it We haue sayd before that the kyng was admonished by the Quéene and that he was conuinced of ingratitude so playnly as might be in that hee had suffered that excellent Prophet of God to be despised whereas that worthy prophecy wherof we haue treated ought to haue bene renowmed and published amongest all mē to mainteine a perpetuall authoritie to this holy man Now that Daniel sayth that the Quéene entred into the house of the banket hereby we may take a probable coniecture that she was not the kynges wife but rather his grandmother I sayd that I wil not contend about that matter because in doubtfull thyngs euery man may fréely vse his owne iudgement But these thinges séeme not to agrée betwixt thē selues that the king did banket with his wife and concubines and also that the Quéene entred into the banket house Therefore here we gather that she was called Quéene for honour sake who though she had no power yet was she in authoritie and fauour And the testimonie of Herodotus doth also confirme this which prayseth the wife of kyng Nebuchadnezer whom he calleth Labynetus He prayseth her for her singular prudence and he calleth her Nitocris Therfore these thynges will agrée well enough that this matrone was absent from the feast because it was not mete for her age and grauitie to feast with others which did delight in riotousnes She then entred into the banket house and admonished the kyng of Daniel now she addeth the cause wherfore Daniel was ruler ouer the Mages Soothsayers Diuiners and all the Chaldees 12 Because a more excellent spirite and knowledge and vnderstandyng for hee did expounde dreames and declare hard sentences and dissolued doubtes were found in him euen in Daniel whom the kyng named Beltsazar now let Daniel be called he will declare the interpretation The Quéene doth here shew the cause wherfore Daniel gotte that dignitie that he might be counted the prince and master of all the wise men Because sayth she the excellency of the spirite was founde in him so that he did interpret dreames and declare secretes and open doubtfull matters Here she reckeneth thrée giftes wherin Daniel was excellent and so she proueth that he passed all the Mages and that none was able to bee compared vnto him The Mages in déede did boast that they were interpreters of dreames that they could
so dayntely as the aboundance of hys kyngdome would beare especially seyng the East partes are more delicate then all other and that Babylon was also the mother of all riotousnes seyng the condition of the kyng was so chaunged all men might know that this was not done by fortune but by the rare and the singular iudgement of god Afterward he addeth that which he spake before That his body was watered with the rayne of heauen vntill he knew that the hygh God dyd rule in the kingdome of men Here is agayne expressed the end of his punishment that Nebuchadnezer should know that he was made kyng by Gods appointment that no earthly kings cāst and but as God stayeth them by his hand power But they do thinke them selues to be set safe and sure from all chaunges and misfortunes And though they set forth for a shew in theyr titles these wordes that they do reigne by the grace of God yet do they despise all that is of God and God him selfe for they take vnto them selues the glory of god This is the madnes of all kynges as may be gathered of these wordes For if kyng Nebuchadnezer had bene persuaded of this that kinges are set in place by God and that they do depend onely of hys good pleasure and that they stand or faull as he decréeth there had bene no nede of this punishment as is plainely expressed in these wordes Therfore he shut forth God from the gouernement of the world And this is the commune maner of all earthly kynges as I haue sayd before They will all I graūt professe otherwise but the holy ghost doth not regard such feyned protestations as they tearme them Wherfore in the person of kyng Nebuchadnezer the dronken presumption of all kynges is set forth vnto vs as in a glasse that they thinke in dede that they stand by theyr own power and they exempt them selues from the gouernment of God as though he did not sit as iudge in the heauens It was necessary therefore that Nebuchadnezer should be humbled vntill that he did know that God reigneth vpon the earth because that by commune opinion they do shut him vp in the heauen as though he were contented with his rest and had no care for mankynd In the end is added and whom he pleaseth he setteth ouer it Which expresseth more playnely that which he had spoken darkly how that Nebuchadnezer beyng daunted tamed and brought down by seuere punishment did know that God raigneth in the earth For when earthly Princes behold them selues so defended with their Gardes so to abound with riches that they can with a word gather great armies when they sée also that all men are afrayde of them they thinke that God hath no more authoritie ouer them and they can not perceiue how any chaunge can come vnto thē as it is spoken of all the proude persons in the Psalme as Isaiah sayth to the same purpose Though the scourge passeouer or the floude ouerflow the whole earth yet shall none euill touch vs As though they should say all though God should thunder and lighten from the heauen yet shall we be safe and sure from all discommoditie daunger Thus do kyngs persuade them selues Wherefore then do they begyn to know God to be the kyng of the earth when they do perceiue that it standeth in his hand and pleasure to cast down whom he hath before raised and agayne to exalte the humble and the abiect so that this is the explication of the former sentence 22 And thou his sonne Beltsazar hast not humbled thy hart though thou haue knowne all this Here Daniel declareth to what end he hath rehearsed that which we haue heard hitherto of the punishment of king Nebuchadnezer Beltsazar ought to haue bene so moued with that example in his owne familie that he should haue submitted him selfe vnto god Now it is credible that his father Euilmerodah had also forgotten that punishment yet because hee did not deale so dissolutly agaynst God neither did he reproch the true and sincere Religion God dyd spare the miserable tyraunt which did reteyne hym selfe in some mediocritie But as concernyng his nephew Beltsazar he was altogether intolerable therefore God striketh kim This is it that the Prophet now teacheth Thou art his sonne sayth he He vrgeth him with this circumstance because he neded not to fetch an example farre from straunge nations when he might know at home that thyng which was mete and necessary to bee knowen And he doth also amplifie the crime after an other sort when he sayth Thou diddest know all this For men vse to pretend ignoraunce for a shielde whē they extenuate their faultes and excuse their crimes but they which wittingly and willingly do offende want all excuse The Prophet therfore cōuinceth this kyng of manifest contumacy as though he should say that he had prouoked Gods wroth of set purpose because he was not ignoraunt how great and how horrible a iudgement doth belong to all proude persons in that he hath such a wonder full notable example in his grandfather which should alwayes haue bene in his remembraunce 23 But hast lift thy selfe vp agaynst the Lord of heauen and they haue brought the vessels of his house before thee and thou and thy princes thy wiues and thy concubines haue dronke wine in them and thou hast praysed the Gods of siluer and gold of brasse yron wood and stone which neither see neither heare neither vnderstand and the God in whose hand thy breath is and all thy wayes him hast thou not glorified The Prophet doth prosecute his purpose and confirmeth that which I haue spoken that kyng Betsazar would receiue no doctrine but was willyngly blynded at Gods iudgement Thou hast lifted thy selfe vp sayth he agaynst the Lord of heauen If he had proudly raised him selfe vp against men that had bene a fault worthy of punishment but whē he prouoketh God of set purpose this arrogancy could in no wise be suffered And he expresseth the maner of his pride when he sayth that he commaunded the vessels of the tēple to be brought forth and that he did drinke in them Now the pollution was a wicked sacrilege But Beltsazar was not content with that wickednes that hee had abused the holy vessels to his rioteousnes and filthy dronkenes and that he had set them before his concubines and harlots but hee addeth a more horrible reproch and despite agaynst God for he praysed his Gods of siluer of gold and of brasse of yron of wood and of stone which haue no sense at all This was not spoken of before but because Daniel doth here beare the person of a teacher he doth not speake it so shortly as he did before For when he sayd in the begynnyng of this chapter that Beltsazar celebrated this filthy feast hee was an historiographer but now is hee a doctour and a teacher Thou sayth he hast praysed the Gods made of corruptible
God differre from all creatures that he suffreth no chaunge but is alway in one state He addeth That his kingdome is not corrupted and that hys domination is for euer Here doth hee more clearely expresse that which he spake before of the constant stabilitie of God that he doth not onely remaine in his owne essence but that he exerciseth his power throughout the world and that hee gouerneth the world by his power and susteineth all things For if hee had sayd no more but the God remaineth for euer as we are wicked and also weake of vnderstanding we should onely conceaue this opinion of God that in his owne essence he is subiect to no chaunge but his power which is spread in euery place we should not vnderstand This explication then is worthy to be noted when Darius doth plainely expresse that the kingdome of God is not corrupted but his dominion is for euer Agayne he calleth GOD the deliuerer They that take hold of this word as an excellent testimony of godlynes say that Darius spake like an Euangelist and that hee was a preacher of Gods mercy but as I haue sayd Darius neuer receaued generally that which the Scripture teacheth that is to say that God doth mercyfully cherish all his and helpeth them because he is mercyfull and because he bestoweth vpon them his fatherly fauour Kyng Darius vnderstode not this cause The deliueraunce of Daniel was knowne which was a particular document of Gods grace Thus did Darius onely perceaue in particular that God was mercifull to his seruauntes ready to saue to deliuer thē But this were but a slender matter vnlesse the cause were also adioyned that God is therefore a deliuerer because he hath vouchedsafe to chuse his seruauntes and because he hath testified that he wyll be a father vnto thē because he is fauourable and mercifull and pardoneth them when they haue sinned Vnlesse therefore that the hope of the deliueraunce be grounded in the frée adoption of God and in hys mercy it will be but a particular knowledge without force Darius then doth not here speake as one truely and purely instructed of the mercy of God but he onely sayth that he is the deliuerer of thē that be his In déede he rightly concludeth this generall sentence that God is a deliuerer because he hath deliuered Daniel from the power and rage of the Lyons For of one example he deriueth a more large doctrine that it is in Gods power to saue and to deliuer his as oft as he pleaseth and in the meane tyme he knowledgeth the visible power of God in one act and miracle but he knoweth not the principall cause nor the fountaine which was that God embraced Daniel like as the other children of Abraham and of his fatherly fauour preserued hym Wherefore that this doctrine may be profitable vnto vs and may moue our myndes effectually that God is the deliuerer first let vs firmely trust that we are receaued into hys fauour of this condition that he wyll pardon vs our faultes and not treat vs as we deserue but for his infinite mercy will fauour vs as children This thē must be remembred Last of all he saith that God doth worke miracles wonders in heauen and in earth This must be referred to the Empire and dominion whereof he spake a litle before But Darius alway doth remayne in the present miracle before hys eyes He had séene that Daniel remayned safe amongest the Lyōs he had séene al the other torne in péeces These were manifest tokens of Gods power He saith therfore not without cause that he wrought miracles wonders And there is no doubt but that Darius was admonished also of other signes and wonders which were done before that he obtayned that Monarchy For he had heard doubtles all that was done to the king Nebuchadnezer and to king Beltsazar whom Darius himself slue to haue his kingdome Wherefore he collecteth moe testimonies of Gods power by this occasion that he had set forth his glory in that worke when he deliuered Daniel To conclude if Darius had renounced his superstitions this had bene a pure true and also a full confession of true religion but because he ceased not to worship false Gods and did still sticke to his accustomed filthynes therefore can not his godlines be commended neither can a true and earnest conuersion be collected by this decrée This is the matter to be conshdered 28 But Daniel prospered in the kingdome of Darius and in the kingdome of Cyrus the Persian Here is an antithesis secretly touched betwixt the state of Daniel vnder the two Monarchies the Persians and the Chaldees For Daniel did sometymes rise vp vnder Nebuchadnezer and in the end when this Monarchy was at the point of destruction he began to be knowne agayne but all that tyme that the Chaldees raigned he was vnknowne and despised All men had heard that he was an excellent Prophet but he was cast forth of the Court and though he sometyme had sitten at the kynges gate and was in great dignity yet was he now and then sent away Wherefore so long as the Monarchy of the Chaldees endured Daniel was in no hie honour that lasted any space but vnder the Monarchy of the Persians and Medes he prospered was in continuall honor For Cyrus and Darius were not so negligent to forget how meruailously God had wrought by hym So was he in honour not onely wyth Darius but also wyth Cyrus And it is euident that he left Babylon went to some other place Although it is not like that he was long amongest the Medes for Darius or Cyaxeres died shortly after and because he wanted an heyre male all his authority came to Cyrus alone who was his nephew the sonne of his sister and also his sonne in law by the mariage of hys daughter There is no doubt but that Daniel here commendeth the grace of God and his fauour towardes him For thys was no small comfort in his banishment that he found such fauour amongest straunge and barbarous nations and that he was in such hie honour that all men did reuerence hym God did mitigate the sorow of his banishment and captiuity wyth thys comfort Agayne Daniel doth not here regard hymselfe onely as a priuate person but the end of his honor For God would haue his name to be renowned and praysed throughout all those countreyes where Daniel was wel knowne For no man could cast his eyes vpon Daniel but the glory and power of the God of Israel did appeare Thys would Daniel note In the meane tyme there is no doubt of the other side but that the want of his countrey was bitter and greuous vnto hym not as it is wont to be to others but because the land of Canaan was the peculiar heritage of the people of God. When Daniel therefore was caried away from thence and afterward was caried farther euen vnto the Medes and in the end to the