of David Matthew observes the natural order descending from Fathers to the sons Luke ascends from the sons to the Fathers Matthew by Solomon and his posterity reckons the fore-fathers of Christ from David to Salathiel Luke by Nathan and his posterity for Solomons race being extinct Christ was born of the posterity of Nathan according to the flesh 530. Mat. 1. 12. Jeconias begat Salathiel Luk. 3. 27. Salathiel was the son of Neri Melchi Addi Jeconias died without children Salathiel was the natural son of Neri born from David by Nathan the legal son of Jeconias because he succeeded him by right in the Kingdome 531. Mat. 2. 1. Behold wise men came from the East to Jerusalem cap. 11. 25. I confesse to thee Lord because thou hast hid these things from the wise c. The Wise men were led to Christ not by humane but divine wisdome acknowledging Col. 2. 3. Rom. 1. 25. Mat. 23. 23. Luk. 11. 12. 1 Cor. 1. 26. that in Christ were hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge Christ rejects no such wise men but such as are not wise from Gods Spirit and yet think themselves wise following the wisdome of this world as the Heathen Philosophers and the Pharisees amongst the Jews and those that are wise now adayes with fleshly wisdome 532. Mat. 3. 1. John the Baptist preached in the wildernesse Luk. 3. 3. He came into all the Countrey about Jordan preaching by the Desert Matthew means not the inward remote parts separated from the company of men but the fore-parts a Mountainous Countrey lying about Jordan 533. Mat. 3. 14. John knew Christ before he baptized him Joh. 1. 33. I knew him not but he that sent me to baptize with water said unto me Vpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and resting upon him he it is that baptizeth with the holy Ghost John had a knowledge of Christ before his baptism by inchoation but that knowledge was confirmed and consummate when in baptism he saw the Heavens open and the Spirit of God descending upon him like a Dove and so by an outward revelation joyned with an inward illumination he pronounced that Jesus was the Messias and the Lamb of God that takes away the sinnes of the world 534. Mat. 3. 16. The Spirit of God descended and came upon Christ Luk. 1. 35. Christ had the holy Ghost before Gal. 4. 6. At the baptism of Christ the holy Ghost came upon him like a Dove to declare that Jesus Christ is the Mediator between God and man according to the prophesie The Spirit Isa 61. 1. of the Lord was upon me because he hath anoynted me to preach good tidings to the meek to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord who being to Psal 45. 8. take upon him the Office of Mediator is anoynted with spiritual oyl 535. Mat. 4. 2. And when Jesus had fasted forty dayes and forty nights he was afterward an hungred and the Tempter came and said unto him Luk. 4. 1. He was tempted forty days The internal temptation lasted forty dayes then came the Devil to Christ in an external and corporal shape and spake unto him 536. Mat. 4. 8. The Devil at the third temptation took him up to a Mountain Luk. 4. 5. The Devil at the second temptation took him into a high Mountain In the holy Scripture saith Augustine there is no contradiction where any thing is related by divers Authors and not observed the same way De Cons Ecclesiae Matthew placeth the temptations in order But Luke by Hysterosis puts the second temptation after the third 537. Mat. 4. 12. 17. Jesus began to preach from the imprisonment of John the Baptist Joh. 1. 2 3 4. chap. He preached before John was in prison Matthew passeth over that which John sets down in his 4 first chapters 538. Mat. 4. 18. Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brothers Simon and Andrew casting a Net into the Sea and he said Follow me Luk. 5. 1. He stood by the Lake of Gennesareth v. 3. Ascending into Simons ship he bade them put off a little from the land and he sat and taught the people out of the ship as he ended his speech he said to Simon Lanch into the deep v. 10. Fear not henceforth thou shalt catch men Here we have need of a threefold reconciliation Matthew saith that Christ walking toward Sea called Peter Luke in a little ship But Matthew speaks of his first call and Luke of his confirmation in it 2. Matthew makes no mention of the Miracle but what he let passe Luke describes 3. Matthew cals it the Sea of Galilee Luke the Lake of Genesareth because the Hebrews call all waters Seas Matthew respects the Province Luke the banks by the next City 539. Mat. 5. 1. Christ seeing the multitude went up into a Mountain and taught them Luk. 6. 17. He came down with them and stood in the plain Vers 20. Looking on his Disciples he said Blessed c. Here is also a threefold difference either Matthew saith that Christ preached in the Mountain Luke in the field Or Matthew saith he preached to the people Luke to his Disciples or Matthew saith before Luke after the healing of the leper Whence we conclude that Christ repeated that Sermon a second time 540. Mat. 5. 4. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Vers 14. Rejoyce and be glad Phil. 4. 4. Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes Christ speaks not of all that mourn but such as from the heart mourn for their sins Joh. 16. â—3 Luk. 16. 25. 2 Cor. 1. and believe in him whose condition in this life is sorrowful and they suffer pressures in the world their mourning brings joy in this world and the world to come and God comforts them in all afflictions Christ pronounceth such mourners happy 541. Mat. 5. 5. Blessed are the meek for they shall possesse the earth Heb. 1â— 13. And they all confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth Meek are gentle such as with a quiet mind induring injuries do not resist evill but overcome evil with goodnesse by the example of Christ to these is the possession of the earth Rom. 12. 21. Mat. 11. 28. 1 Cor. 3. 22. Psal 27. 13 14. 16. promised not simply but by right of inheritance for the godly though they possesse nothing are said to possesse the earth because they have Christ who possesseth all things and he is only rich who hath a quiet mind The earth here is principally taken not for the element of earth but the land of the living 542. Mat. 5. 10. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake Ver. 12. Because great is their reward in heaven 1 Pet. 2. 10. c. 4. 14. Rom. 8. 18. The afflictions of this world are not worthy of the glory hereafter which shall be revealed in us The reward here hath no relation to any merit of ours but to the free love of
Anthropopathy he remembers when he sends help and hears our prayers as Gen. 30. 22. 1 Sam. 15. 19. Psal 13. 2. 42. 10. Also he is said to forget when he defers to help and seems not to hear us 35. Gen. 8. 13. In the year 601 the first month the first day of the month the waters were dryed up Chap. 8. 14. And in the second month the 27 day of that month was the earth dryed The diminishing of the waters and the superficies of the earth yet soft and plashy is intimated vers 13. 14. The earth is dryed and perfectly solid 36. Gen. 8. 21. Nor will I any more smite Psal 103. 13. every living creature Chap. 6. 13. 7. 21. And all flesh dyed Chap. 19. 24. Sodom overthrowne Before the flood God judged the world and he judged Sodom also as a just judge and revenger after the flood he promised he would do so no more as a father who taketh pity of his children 37. Gen. 8. 21. I will not again curse the ground for mans sake Deut. 28. 16. Thou shalt be cursed in thy house and cursed shalt thou be in the field c. A generall malediction doth not take away a speciall malediction neither did God oblige himself that he would not send his speciall punishments and calamities on those who refuse to hear his voice 38. Gen. 8. 22. Seed time and harvest as long as the earth endureth 1 King 17. 1. Jam. 5. 17. And it reigned not for three yeares and six months Barrennesse and drynesse was sent from God on the earth in the dayes of Elias by reason of the Idolatry of the Israelites He took not away seed-time and harvest in other places The ordinance of God though it was not observed in one place for mans transgression yet it found place in an other 39. Gen. 9. 2. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth Job 39. 9. Will the Vnicorne be willing to serve thee In the former place the dominion over the creatures is partly restored to man after the fall and God hath cast a fear on them that they should not dare to hurt man but should be afraid of mans countenance But if the Unicorn or any beast do violence to man they do but put him in mind of his fall 40. Gen. 9. 13. I do set my bow in the clouds and it shall be for a token of a Covenant between me and the earth Revel 4. 3. And there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like to an emerald The first place is concerning the ordinary place of the rain-bow the second of the extraordinary rain-bow and the seat of God 41. Gen. 10. 8. Nimrod began to be mighty in the earth Vers 10. And the beginning of his Kingdome was Babel Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers The tyrannicall power of Nimrod was with violence and violation of government in families yet not without Gods ordination nor doth every unlawfull attaining take away the lawfull power from ill beginnings and manners good lawes and profitable thins proceed also The beginning of the Kingdome of Judah was the wantonnesse and wickednesse of the people The beginning of the Kingdome of Israel the sedition of Jeroboam yet they were afterwards lawfull Kingdomes 42. Gen. 10. 22. The children of Sem were Elam Assur and Arphaxad Chap. 11. 10. Sem begat Arphaxad two years after the flood In History the order of nature and time are not alwayes observed therefore though Elam and Assur are named Chap. 10. before Arphaxad yet it followes not that they were elder then he and Sem is said to have begotten sons and daughters after Arphaxad was born and not before 43. Gen. 11. 7. Let us goe down and there confound their language 1 King 8. 27. Jer. 23. 24. Do not I fill the earth God is not moved from place to place because he is all every where saith Augustine but L. 16. c. 5. De civ dei he is said to descend when he doth any thing for the ordinary and usuall course of nature and so he sheweth his presence in respect of us not that there is any thing that he doth not see and know or doth change his place but this is attributed to God after the manner of men and in respect of our sense as Gen. 18. 21. Psal 14. 2. 44. Gen. 11. 12. Arphaxad begat Salem Luk. 3. 36. Which was the son of Sala which was the son of Cainan c. The name and the generation of Cainan in Beda in Luk. 3. Genesis and the words of the days according to the truth of the Hebrews is not found but Arphaxad is said to have begotten Sala there being none betwixt him Luke took this Genealogie from the edition of the 70 Interpreters 45. Gen. 11. 26. Terah lived 70 years and begat Abram Nahor and Haran Chap. 12. 4. And Abram was 75 years old when he departed out of Haran Terah did not beget three sons in the same year but he began to generate at 70 years old and he lived in Haran to 205 years old it may be Abraham was the younger son but because he is so commended in the Scriptures he is set down first before his brethren as Jacob Mat. 1. 3. Judas 1 Pet. 4. 1. 46. Gen. 12. 5. Abraham took Sara his wife and Lot his brothers son Chap. 13. 8. 14. 14. Abraham said to Lot we are brethren c. Brothers are called by bloud Gen. 27. 13. of alliance Chap. 14. 4. of gentility Deut. 15. 3. of affection 2 Sam. 1. 26. of unity of confession of faith Jer. 31. 34. We are brethren saith Abraham to Lot perswading him not to contend with him but seeing that he is joyned with him in the band of religion and consanguinity he wisheth him to avoid occasion of quarrell and not to give scandall to the infidels 47. Gen. 12. 3. 18. 18. All the Nations of the earth shall be blessed in him Gal. 3. 14. The blessing of Abraham came on the Gentiles through Christ This promise was made to the seed and posterity but not to the person of Abraham so the promises made by God to the Fathers Gen. 22. 18. Heb. 11 8. are fulfilled in their children and in individuals 48. Gen. 12. 18. Abraham told a lie Psal 5. 7. Thou shalt destroy all those that speak leasing Seing that the Devill is the Father of lying Abraham denying his wife sinned against God by distrust against Sara and Pharaoh by injustice Mat. 26. Psal 32. for he sought to save his life by wrong means as Peter did by denying Christ God will destroy impenitent lyers but not whose lies and offences are pardoned in Christ and covered as Abrahams Isaacks and Peters were who repented 49. Gen. 12 7. 13. 15. 15. 38. This land which thou seest will I give to thee and thy seed c. Act. 7.
and dwels in 1 Tim. 6. 16. an unaccessible light that Moses in his mortality saw not perfectly yet we piously believe that the Son of God taking on him the shape of a man as he was afterwards to be incarnate did speak with Moses familiarly 131. Num. 14. 1. All the people with a loud voice murmured against Moses Vers 23. They shall not see the Land of promise except Caleb Josh 14. 1. The children of Israel possessed the land of Canaan which Eleazar the Priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the Fathers distributed to them Ch. 24. 7. Whose eyes saw what the Lord had done in Egypt Eleazar and Caleb and other faithfull people came into the Land of promise but those 1 Cor. 10. 5. that murmured were destroyed in the wildernesse for with many of them God was not well pleased 132. Num. 15. 38. Speak to the children of Israel that they make themselves fringes in the borders of their garments Mat. 23. 5. Christ condemns the Pharisees for enlarging their phylacteries and their borders The abuse of a thing doth not take away the use of it God commanded the Israelites that so often as they should look upon their garments they should remember the Commandements of God and do them But the Pharisees abused this commandement of God boasting hypocritically of their long garments and fringes as though there had been some holinesse in them therefore their hypocrisie is deservedly reprehended 133. Num. 16. 32. The earth opening her mouth devoured them all which belonged to Corah with their houses and substance Deut. 11. 6. Psal 106. 17. 26. 32. When Corah perished all his sons perished not The sons of Corah which escaped alive were in the Tabernacle of the Lord when the sedition began because they consented not to the Levites in the sedition of their Father 134. Num. 18. 16. The redemption of the first-born shall be from a moneth old for five shekels after the shekell of the Sanctuary Exod. 22. 30. Thou shalt give me thy first-born and with Sheep and Oxen thou shalt do the like seven dayes it shall be with the dam on the eight thou shalt give it me The first born of Man and of clean beasts were consecrated unto God the eighth day but the unclean beasts were redeemed after one month A woman after she brought sorch a male child must stay apart six weeks after a female twelve weeks in that time they were purged from their issue of bloud 135. Num. 18. 20. God said unto Aaron Thou shalt have no inheritance in the Land neither shalt thou have any part amongst the Israelites I am thy part Josh 21. 41. The 48. Cities of the Levites were within the possessions of the children of Israel The Levites had their habitation and food in those Cities with their families which Cities were as Schooles wherein they were instructed rightly in the Law and to performe their office in holy things as they should 136. Num. 20. 11. At the stroak of Moses on the rock of flint the waters came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their beasts also Psal 18. 1. 1 Cor. 10. 4. They all dranke the same spirituall drink for they dranke of that spirituall Rock which followed them and that rock was Christ Moses relates historically the water that came out of the flint for the use of the people and their Cattle The Apostle speaks after a spirituall manner and saith that Christs benefits to us were prefigured thereby 137. Num. 20. 18 21. Edom would not suffer the Israelites to passe through the Land Deut. 2. 29. Let me passe through thy Land as the children of Esau did unto me The children of Esau denied to let the children Jud. 11. 18 of Israel passe through the publick way through their Cities and Villages the King of Edom suffered them to passe about by his borders and through by-wayes 138. Num. 20. 28. Eleazar the high Priest was present at his fathers death Lev. 21. 11. The high Priest shall not go in to any dead body nor defile himselfe for his Father or his Mother Eleazar was not yet the high Priest actually and this was a singular example Augustine That time that the high Priest did his office of high Priest it was forbidden him that he should not come to his Parents being dead 139. Num. 21. 9. Moses made a Serpent of brasse and put it up for a signe and when they that were bitten beheld it they were healed Exod. 20. 4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likenesse of any thing in heaven or earth God gave an especiall command of setting up the brasen Serpent like to the fiery Serpents whose wounds and bites the Israelites could not endure that so looking on this they might be safe it was a figure of Christ crucified 140. Num. 22. 12. God said to Balaam Thou shalt not go with them Vers 20. Rise and go with them Vers 35. Go with the men God would not that Balaam should go to curse the Israelites at last he suffered him to go though he were displeased at it yet on this condition that he should speak nothing then what God commanded him 141. Num. 23. 10. Balaam prophesied to his owne disgrace 1 Cor. 12. 7. To every man the manifestation of the Spirit is given to profit withall The gift of Prophesie was not hurtfull to Balaam in respect of God that gave it him had he used it well but Baalam abused it False prophets also speak truth Joh. 11. 51. as Caiaphas did though it be against their will 142. Num. 25. 3. Israel joyned himself to Baal-poor and God was angry with Israel 1 Cor. 10. 8. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed Since Idolatry is spirituall fornication Lyra. Paul makes mention of it for the daughters of Moab would not admit the Israelites before they had eaten things offered to Idols 143. Num. 25. 9. There died of the plague 24000. 1 Cor. 10. 8. They fell in one day 23000. Moses collects the number of those which fell by sword and strangling but the Apostle counts onely those that fell by the sword 144. Num. 27. 12. Go up into mount Abarim and see the land Deut. 34. 1. Moses went up to mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah c. Abarim was the mountain but Nebo and Pisgah were the tops of that mountain so they differ but as a part from the whole 145. Num. 27. 21. The Priest shall aske counsell for him after the judgement of Vrim 1 Sam. 30. 8. And Abiathar brought to David the Ephod and he enquired at the Lord. The Ephod was properly belonging to the high Priest common to all sacrificing Priests which David made use of extraordinarily and was inspired by God with a propheticall spirit 146. Num. 31. 18. But all maids that have not known a man keep alive for your selves 1 Sam. 15. 3. Slay both man woman and infant
inflicts it hath the nature of good 450. Lam. 5. 7. Our fathers have sinned and are not and we have born their iniquities Ezek. 18. 20. The sons shall not bear the Fathers iniquities The children succeeding the Parents in their sins succeed them also in their punishments Godly and penitent children shall not beare the iniquities of their parents for ever though they be afflicted with temporall punishments 451. Lamen 5. 21. Turn thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned Psal 119. ult Hosea 14. 2. Turn O Israel to the Lord thy God Conversion and Repentance is the worke Act. 11. 8. of God he gives it to the Gentiles and none but those that are enlightned in their hearts can truly turn unto God EZEKIELS Prophesie THe Priest the son of Buzi who was brought into Babylon under Jekonias and confirmed the Prophesie of Jeremiah and comforted the captives about the year 3350. by the river Chebar he had the visions from God He prophesied 20 years 452. Ezek. 8. 12. The Lord seeth us not Heb. 4. 13. All things are naked and open before the eyes of God The Prophet makes mention of what foolish men say who thought both by their words and deeds that God saw them not whose perverse judgement doth not hinder the truth which maintains that all things be they never so secret yea the thoughts of our hearts are open before God 453. Ezek. 18. 4. The soul that sins that shall die Rom. 5. 6. Christ died for us The first sentence is legall and teacheth what must be done by the law divine or humane legally The last is Evangelicall shewing that God for Christs sake freely gives us his grace and salvation 454. Ezek. 12. 13. I will bring Zedekiah into Babylon to the land of the Chaldees yet shall be not see it though he shall die there Jer. 34. 3. Thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the King of Babylon and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth Zedekias being taken saw the King of Babylon afterwards they put out his eyes that he could not see the Land of the Caldees nor Babylon in his captivity 455. Ezek. 18. 19. Walke in my precepts keep my judgements 1 Tim. 19 The law was not made for the righteous but for the wicked and disobedient The Prophet understands the law that teacheth and enlightens us The Apostle the law that condemns us For there is no condemnation Rom. 8. 33 to those that are justified in Christ Jesus 456. Ezek. 18. 21. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed he shall not die Heb. 6. 4. It is impossible for those that were once illuminated if they shall fall away to renew them again by repentance It is hard and impossible in respect of those who bar themselves out from Gods mercy and shut their hearts that they may not be enlightned by the Sun of righteousnesse but it is not so in respect of God who would have all men to repent and be saved yet he justly punisheth with finall impenitency all obstinate and malicious Apostates and such as sin against the holy Ghost 457. Ezek. 18. 23. 33. 11. God will not the death He hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked Rom. 9. 18. He hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth God will not the death of a sinner by his antecedent will but by his consequent will or his justice because he justly punisheth him who rejects the grace of God offered unto him He hardens therefore permissively not effectively 458. Ezek. 18. 23. I will not the death of him that dyeth Chap. 3. 18. Thou shalt die the death God as our Father will not by the Gospell but as he is our judge and revenger he will by the law that a sinner shall die 459. Ezek 18. 23. 32. I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth 1 Joh. 5. 16. A sin unto death God will not the death of him that repents for his mercy is over all his works A sin unto death is a sin against the holy Ghost and so it is called because it is iustly punished with finall impenitency 460. Ezek. 18. 26. When a righteous man turns away from his righteousnesse and doth iniquity he shall die in it Rom. 8. 30. Whom he justified them he glorified Righteous in the first place is not truly so but only in opinion so Christ came not to call the just but the Apostle speaks of Mat. 9. 13. those that are truly just who are justified in Christ and shall be surely glorified Or if the place of the Prophet be to be interpreted of him that is truly just it is conditionall and so proves nothing and the contradiction is reconciled 461. Ezek. 20. 25. I gave them also Statutes that were not good and judgments whereby they should not live Psal 19. 9. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether Precepts that are not good are either legall threatnings by which God menaces curses to the wicked or false doctrine when God by his just judgement suffers those that would not believe the truth but go forward in iniquity to believe lies 462. Ezek. 44. 9. No stranger uncircumcised in heart and flesh shall enter into my Sanctuary Gal. 5. 2. If you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing The Prophet means spirituall circumcision by faith in Christ but the Apostle means nothing but corporall and legall circumcision which was that the Jews strove to be justified by Col. 2. 15. DANIELS Prophesie DAniel was carried young with Joakim to Babylon there he lived 70 years to the time of Cyrus in the year 3370. He interprets Nebuchodonozors dream of the image and writeth what was done under Nebuchodonozors reign Balshazars and Darius And describes the four Monarchies and the eternall kingdome of Christ he numbred also the weeks of years of the coming of Christ 463. Dan. 1. 5. The King appointed for Daniel and his fellowes a dayly provision that at the end of three years they might stand before the King Chap. 2. 1. In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar the King dreamed a dream wherewith his spirit was troubled Vers 16. Daniel went in and desired of the King that he would give him time That was done in the second year after these things were ended which were appointed for the education of Daniel and his companions under the government of Nabuchodonozor 464. Dan. 1. 21. 6. 28. And Daniel continued unto the first year of King Cyrus Chap. 10. 1. In the third year of Cyrus King of Persia a thing was revealed to Daniel In the former place the two following years are not excluded but it is noted that God prolonged the life of Daniel untill the time of the return of the people of the Jews from Babylon Daniel was in his office at Court to the first year of Cyrus then being grown old he led a quiet private life 465. Dan. 2.
prophesied in the year 3110. 492. Jon. 1. 3. Jonas rose up to flee unto Tharsis from the presence of the Lord. Vers 9. I fear the Lord the God of heaven who hath made the sea and the dry land Jonas would not flee from God so much as to escape his office by flying Vers 9. In the midst of the tempest he gives the Mariners an account of his Religion and of his flight confessing that for his disobedience that great tempest was sent 493. Jon. 1. 10. Jonas fleeth to Tharsis from the presence of the Lord. Psal 139. 7. Whither shall I goe from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence Jonas was not ignorant that no man could so flee from the face of the Lord but he thought that if he forsook the holy land then all divine apparitions to him would cease and that God would then call some other man to the office he had laid upon him 494. Jon. 2. 6. The earth with her bars was about me for ever Vers 10. The fish cast Jonas on the dry land Jonas thought in the belly of the Whale that he should remain there but God brought him forth and shewed thereby that he had power over life and death 495. Jon. 3. 4. Yet 40. dayes and Nineveh shall be overthrown Vers 10. God spared them The divine commination was conditionall if they repented not but because they did embrace the word of God and detesting their wickednesse they did turn to the Lord with all their hearts God spared them Of such 〈◊〉 10. 7 〈◊〉 10. God means speaking thus If I speak against a Kingdom or a Nation that I will root it out and that Nation repents of their evill ways I will repent that I thought to doe so to them 496. Jon. 3. 4. Jonas foretold the overthrow of Nineveh and it was not performed Duet 28. 22. If a Prophet speak in the name of the Lord and that thing cometh not to passe the Lord hath not spoken it but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously That Sermon of Jonas was not so much a prophesie as a commination Moses speaks not of comminations and Prophesies which have a condition included but of such Prophesies as are absolute as Samuel foresaid to Saul that two men should meet him 497. Jon. 3. 9. Who knows whether God will return and repent Mal. 3 6. I the Lord change not Num. 23. 19. Jon. 1. 7. Repentance and passions of men are attributed to God not properly but figuratively and by way of comparison and by Anthropopathy whilst God shews himself as a man repenting otherwise with God there Jam. 1. 17. is no change 498. Jon. 4. 11. In Nineveh were more then 120000 persons which partly by want of age and partly by simplicity did not know their right hand from their left Gen. 8. 21. The imagination of mans heart is prone to evill from his youth Between the right and the left hand they did not know the difference who were yet so young as to be free from actuall sinnes and others in years that were simple and sincere MICHAS Prophesie THe Morasihite against the Kings the Judges the Priests and false prophets in Judah and Israel He threatens perdition to impenitent sinners and promiseth salvation to the Saints which remained He prophesied in the year 3197. 499. Mich. 1. 2. And thou Bethlehem Ephrata though thou be little amongst the thousands of Judah out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel Mat. 2. 6. And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least amongst the Princes of Judah for out of thee shall come a Governour that shall rule my people Israel The Prophet cals it Bethlehem Ephrata and Matthew Bethlehem Judah for a difference from an other city so called in the Tribe of Zabulon It was indeed a little Towne before Christs coming before Christ was born but afterwards it became a most noble City because the Messias was born there Matthew cites the place of the Prophet faithfully which the Pharisees had corrupted and sets down the words which the Pharisees speak unto Herod 500. Mich. 5. 2. And thou Bethlehem Ephrata out of thee shall he come forth unto me that shall be Ruler in Israel Joh. 7. 27. Whence Christ is no man knows The Prophet expresly names the place of Christs nativity the Jewes not knowing Christ to be the true God did mingle his temporall generation with his eternall contending amongst themselves Doth not the Scripture say that being of the seed of David Christ should come from the City of David 501. Mich. 7. 5. Trust ye not in a friend 1 Cor. 13. 7. Charity believeth all things The first place is a rule of Prudence needfull for Charity The Prophet bids us not to suspect ill of all men but he complains of the corrupt manners of his times when men could believe no man therefore he saith we must deal circumspectly which is agreeing to Charity lest we be defrauded by craft or malice Christ himself did not trust himself with Joh. 2. 25 26. the Jews because he knew all men and knew what was in man 502. Mich. 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned Vers 9. He will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousnesse The people of Israel being miserably afflicted could not boast in the sight of God of their innocence therefore they ought patiently to endure Gods corrections but before their enemies being innocent they did rise up by divine help The Babylonians were formerly to the Israelites as the Turks and Tartars are now adayes to the Christians afflicting us without cause though in the sight of God we are not without fault NAHUMS Prophesie the Elkoshite HE Prophesieth against the Assyrians He denounceth destruction to the Ninivites 100 years after Jonas he comforts the Jews preaching unto them the message of peace 503. Nah. 1. 2. The Lord avengeth and is furious Psal 103. 8. The Lord is very pitifull long suffering and full of mercy God is jealous a severe Judge and revenger not pardoning the sins and wickednesse of impenitent sinners but he is most mercifull as a tender Father to the godly and such as be penitent 504 Nah. 1. 9. Affliction shall not rise up the second time Rom. 1. 28. The wicked shall be punished in this world when they are delivered up to a a reprobate sense to do those things which are not convenient and in the world to come with eternall destruction Justice doth not punish twice sufficiently for the same fault but it is not disagreeing to justice to inflict divers degrees of punishments for the same sault so temporall punishments to the wicked are but the beginning of eternall punishments But the Prophet teacheth here that God will so deal with the Assyrians in the Land of Judah that there shall be no need of a second judgement 505. Nah. 1. 15. For the wicked