world to his own glory For also there is that neither day nor night seeth c. i. e. Perdius pernox by day and by night I busied my self in this search so that a little sleep served my turn all the while Nullus mihi per otium exiit dies partem etiam noctium studiis vendico saith Seneca I studied day and night and followed it with all possible eagernesse Thuanus tells of a Country-man of his whom he called Franciscus Vieta Fontenejus a very learned man that hee was so set upon his study that for three daies together sometimes hee would sit close at it sine cibo somno nisi quem cubito innixus nec se loco movens capiebat without meat or sleep more than what for meer necessity of nature hee took leaning upon his Elbow Solomon seems by this text to have been as sharp set for the finding out the way of Divine Administration and the true reason of Divine dispensations But hee got little further than to see that it far exceeded all humane capacity and apprehension Majores majora noverunt Deus det vobis plus sapere quam dico saith a Father when hee said what hee could to some one of Gods works of wonder i. e. They who are more learned know and God grant you may understand more than I say Vers 17. That a man cannot finde out the work No not the wisest that is the very best Empirick in this kinde cannot Let him labour never so much to finde it hee shall but bee tossed in a Labyrinth or as a wayfaring man in a desert Granger If a man cannot define any thing because the forms of things are unknown if hee know not the creatures themselves ab imo ad summum from the lowest to the highest neither shall hee know the reasons and manner of them As a man may look on a Trade and never see the mystery of it hee may look on artificial things pictures watches c. and yet not see the Art whereby they are made As a man may look on the letter and never understand the sense So it is here and wee must content our selves with a learned ignorance Si nos non intelligimus quid quare fiat Aug. in Psal 148. debeamus hoc providentiae quod non fiat sine causa If wee understand not why any thing is done let us owe this duty to Providence to bee assured that it is not done without cause CHAP. IX Vers 1. For all this I considered in mine heart HEE that will rightly consider of any thing had need to consider of many things all that do concern it all that do give light unto it had need to bee looked into or else wee fall too short Sis ideo in partes circumspectissimus omnes Even to declare all this Or To clear up all this to my self Symmachus rendred it Ut ventilarem haec universa that I might sift and search out all these things by much tossing and turning of the thoughts Truth lies low and close and must with much industry bee drawn into the open light That the righteous and the wise These are terms convertible The worlds wisards shall one day cry out Nos insensati Wee fools counted their lives madness c. And their works Or Their services actions imployments all which together with themselves are in the hand of God who knows them by name and exerciseth a singular providence over them so that they are kept by the power of God through Faith unto salvation The enemy shall not exact upon him nor the son of wickedness afflict him Psal 89.22 What a sweet providence was it that when all the Males of Israel appeared thrice in the year before the Lord at Jerusalem none of their neighbour-Nations though professed enemies to Israel should so much as desire their Land Exod. 34.24 And again that after the slaughter of Gedaliah so pleasant a Country left utterly destitute of inhabitants and compassed about with such warlike Nations as the Ammonites Moabites Edomites Philistims c. was not invaded nor replanted by forreiners for seventy years space but the room kept empty till the return of the Naturals No man knows either love or hatred c. That is the thing hee either loves or hates say some Interpreters by reason of the fickleness of his easily alterable affections How soon was Amnons heart estranged from his Thamar and Ahashuerosh from his Minion Haman the Jews from John Baptist the Galatians from Paul c But I rather approve of those that refer this love and hatred unto God understanding them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a divine manner and make the meaning to bee that by the things of this life which come alike to all as the next verse hath it no man can make judgement of Gods love or hatred towards him The sun of prosperity shines as well upon brambles of the wilderness as fruit-trees of the Orchard the snow and hail of adversity lights upon the best gardens as well as upon the wilde waste Ahab's and Josia's ends concur in the very circumstances Saul and Jonathan though different in their deportments yet in their deaths they were not divided 2 Sam. 1.23 How far wide then is the Church of Rome that borrows her marks from the market plenty or cheapness c. And what an odde kinde of reasoning was that of her Champions with Marsh the Martyr whom they would have perswaded to leave his opinions Acts and Mon. fol. 1411. because all the bringers up and favourers of that Religion as the Dukes of Northumberland and Suffolk for instance had evil luck and were either put to death or in prison and in danger of life Again the favourers of the Religion then used had wondrous good luck and prosperity in all things c. Vers 2. All things come alike to all See the Note on vers 1. Health Wealth Honours c. are cast upon good men and bad men promiscuously God makes a scatter of them as it were good men gather them bad men scramble for them Nihil est nisi mica panis The whole Turkish Empire saith Luther is nothing else but a crust cast by Heavens great House-keeper to his Doggs And hee that sweareth as hee that feareth an oath No surer sign of a prophane person than common and customary swearing Neither any so good an evidence of a gracious heart as not onely to forbear it for so one may do by education and civil conversation but to fear an oath out of an awful regard to the divine Majesty Plato and other Heathens shall rise up and condemn our common swearers for they when they would swear said no more but Ex animi sententia Suidas or if they would swear by their Jupiter out of the meer dread and reverence of his name they forbare to mention him Clinias the Pythagorean out of this regard would rather undergo a mulct of three talents Acts and
Caveatur osculum Iscarioticum consign their treachery with so sweet a symbol of amity yet those that love out of a pure heart fervently do therefore kiss 1 Pet. 1.22 as desiring to transfuse if it might bee the souls of either into other and to become one with the party so beloved and in the best sense suaviated That therefore which the Church here desireth Heb. 1.1 is not so much Christs coming in the flesh that God who at sundry times and in divers manners had spoken in times past unto her by the Prophets would now speak unto her by his Son as some have sensed it as that shee may have utmost conjunction to him and nearest communion with him here as much as may bee and hereafter in all fulness of fruition Let him kiss mee and so seal up his hearty love unto mee even the sure mercies of David with the kisses of his mouth Not with one kiss onely with one pledge of his love but with many there is no satiety no measure no bounds or bottome of this holy love as there is in carnal desires ubi etiam vota post usum fastidio sunt Neither covers mee to kiss his hand as they deal by Kings or his feet as they do the Popes but his mouth shee would have true kisses the basia the busses of those lips whereinto grace is poured Psal 45.3 and where hence those words of grace are uttered Prov. 31.26 Mat. 5.2 3 c. Hee openeth his mouth with wisdome and in his lips is the Law of kindness Hence her affectionate desires her earnest pantings inquietations and unsatisfiablenesses Shee must have Christ or else shee dies shee must have the kisses of Christs mouth even those sweet pledges of love in his word or shee cannot bee contented but will complain in the confluence of all other comforts as Abraham did Gen. 15.2 Lord God what wilt thou give mee seeing I go childeless Or as Artabâ—zus in Xenophon did when Cyrus had given him a cup of gold and Chrysantas a kiss in token of his special favour saying that the cup that hee gave him was nothing so good gold as the kiss that hee gave Chrysantas The Poets fable that the Moon was wont to come down from her orb to kiss Endymion It is a certain truth that Christ came down from Heaven to reconcile us to his Father to unite us to himself and still to communicate unto our souls the sense of his love the feeling of his favour the sweet breath of his holy Spirit For thy Love is better than Wine Heb. Loves The Septuagint and Vulgar render it Ubera Thy breasts but that is not so proper sith it is the Church that here speaks to Christ and by the sudden change of person shews the strength and liveliness of her affection As by the Plural Loves shee means all fruits of his love righteousness peace joy in the Holy Ghost assurance of Heaven which Mr. Latimer calls the sweet-meats of the feast of a good conscience There are other dainty dishes at that feast but this is the banquet this is better than Wine which yet is a very comfortable creature Psal 104.15 and highly set by Psal 4.7 Plato calls wine a musick miseriarum humanarum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief allayments of mens miseries Vers 3. Because of the savour of thy good ointments Or To smell to thy ointments are best Odoratissimus es As the Panther casts abroad a fragrant savour as Alexander the Great is said to have had a natural sweetness with him by reason of the good temperament of his body So and much more than so the Lord Christ Euseb that sweetest of sweets Hee kisseth his poor persecuted people as Constantine once kissed Paphnutius his lost eye and departing for here hee comes but as a suter onely till the marriage bee made up in Heaven hee leaves such a sweet scent behinde him such a balmy verdure as attracts all good hearts unto him so that where this all-quickning carkass is there would the Eagles bee also Mat. 24. The Israelites removed their tents from Mithcah which signifies sweetness to Cashmonah which signifies swiftness Numb 33.29 To teach us saith one that the Saints have no sooner tasted Christs sweetness but they are carried after him presently with incredible swiftness Hence they are said to have a nose like the Tower of Lebanon Cant. 7. for their singular sagacity in smelling after Christ and to flee to the holy Assemblies where Christs odors are beaten out to the smell as the clouds Isa 60.8 or as the Doves to their windaws For why they have their senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil Heb. 5.14 and their love abounds yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement Phil. 1.9 Thy name is as ointment poured forth There is an elegant allusion in the Original betwixt Shem and Shemen that is Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Ointment And Christ hath his name both in Hebrew and Greek from ointment for these three words in signification are all one Messias Christ Anointed See the reason Isa 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord that oil of gladness Heb. 1.9 is upon mee because hee hath anointed and appointed mee to preach good tidings to the meek 2 Cor. 2.2 14 15 16 c. Now when this is done to the life when Christ crucified is preached when the Holy Ghost in the mouth and ministry of his faithful servants shall take of Christs excellencies as it is his office to do Joh. 16.14 and hold them out to the world when hee shall hold up the tapestry as it were 2 Tim. 2.5 and shew men the Lord Christ with an Ecce virum Behold the man that one Mediatour betwixt God and Man the Man Christ Jesus See him in his Natures in his Offices in his Works in the blessed Effects of all This cannot but stir up wonderful loves in all good souls with hearty wishes 1 Cor. 16.22 that If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ hee may bee Anathema Maranatha accurst upon accurst and put over to God to punish Therefore the Virgins love thee i. e. All that are adjoyned to mee in comely sort as chast Damosels to their Mother and Mistress The elect and faithful are called Virgins for their spiritual chastity They are Gods hidden ones as the word here used signifieth as they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paellae absconditae propter secretiorem educationem Riv. Speed 1236. Psal 83.3 they are not defiled with the corruptions that are in the world through lust for they are Virgins Rev. 14.4 Else the Bride would not suffer them about her Psal 45.14 Of Queen Elizabeth it is said that shee never suffered any Lady to approach her presence of whose stain shee had but the least suspition These follow the Lamb wheresoever hee goeth ib. as the other creatures follow the Panther for his sweet odors as birds
that notwithstanding wee shall soon fall to the ground if Christ put not to both his hands to keep us up Wee stand in need of whole Christ and having him to support us wee cannot fall finally because fall wee never so low wee shall arise for the Lord puts under his hand Psal 37.24 his goodness is lower than wee can fall hee circleth his Saints with amiable embracements and none can pull them out of his hands Jacob under-bare Rachel till shee died upon him died on his hand Gen. 48.7 The good Shunamite held her Son till hee died on her lap But the love-sick Church Rom. 14.8 whether shee lives or dies shee is the Lords and who so liveth and beleeveth on him cannot die eternally But as when Christ himself died though soul and body were sundred for a season yet neither of them were sundred from the Godhead whereunto they were personally united So is it here death may separate soul and body but cannot separate either of them from Christ And as Christ being raised from the dead dies no more Rom. 6.9 Col. 3.1 so neither doth any one that is risen with him Christ may as easily die at the right hand of his heavenly Father as in the heart of a true Beleever Vers 7. I charge you O yee daughters of Jerusalem A vehement obtestation or rather an adjuration I charge you and that by an Oath taken from the manner of Country-speech For in this whole Chapter the Allegory is so set as if the feast or meeting were made and represented in a Country-house or Village These Daughters of Jerusalem therefore the particular Congregations and all faithful men and women as Luk. 23.28 are straightly charged and as it were in conscience bound by the Church the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 not to disease or offend much or little her Well-beloved Spouse that resteth in her love Zeph. 3.17 and taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his Servants Psal 35.27 until hee please that is not at all for hee is not a God that taketh pleasure in wickedness Psal 5.4 his holy Spirit is grieved by it Ephes 4.30 Or until hee please that is till hee waken of his own accord bee not over-hasty with him for help but hold out faith and patience let him take his own time For hee is a God of Judgement Isa 30.18 and waiteth to bee gracious If through impatience and unbeleef you set him a day or send for him by a Post hee will first chide you before hee chide the waves that afflict you as hee dealt by his Disciples that wakened him ere hee was willing Mark 4.37.40 Those that are suddenly roused out of a deep and sweet sleep are apt to bee angry with those that have done it Great heed must bee taken by our selves and Gods charge laid upon others that nothing be spoken or done amiss against the God of Heaven Dan. 3.39 Their sorrows shall bee multiplied that hasten after another God Psal 16.4 The Lord shall trouble thee thou troubler of Israel 1 Cor. 10.22 Josh 7.25 Do yee provoke the Lord to wrath are yee stronger than hee will yee needs try a fall with him Psal 18.26 Hath ever any yet waxed fierce against God and prospered Job 9.4 Surely as Ulysses his companions told him when hee would needs provoke Polydamas so may wee say much more to those that incense the Lord to displeasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10. Had men the feet of Roes and Hindes of the field they could not out-run his wrath witness Jonah Or if they could yet the Roes and Hindes those loving creatures Prov. 5.19 would bee swift witnesses against them for their baseness and disloyalty sith they do such things as those poor creatures would not see Deut. 30.19 Isa 1.2 Bee thou instructed therefore Oh Jerusalem lest Christs soul bee dis-joynted from thee lest as well as hee loves thee now hee make thee desolate a land not inhabited Jer. 6.8 Let him bee that Love of thine as shee here emphatically calls him that taketh up thy whole heart soul and strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a love not onely of Desire but of Complacency with a God-like love True it is that wee cannot neither are wee bound to love God in quantum est diligibilis so much as hee is loveable for so God onely can love himself but wee must love nihil supra aeque or contra nothing more or so well or against God Other persons wee may love with his allowance but it must bee in him and for him as our friends in the Lord our foes for the Lord Other things wee may also love but no otherwise than as they convey love to us from Christ and may bee means of drawing up our affections unto Christ This true love will keep us from doing any thing wilfully that may disease or displease him it will also constrain the Daughters of Jerusalem to abide with the Roes and with the Hindes of the field so some read this Text as Rachel did by her Fathers Herds to glorifie Christ in some honest and lawful vocation and not to vex him by idleness and unprofitableness sith as punishment hath an impulsive so love hath a compulsive faculty 2 Cor. 5.14 Vers 8. The voice of my Beloved Behold An abrupt passage proceeding from a pang of love whereof shee was even sick and now lay languishing as it were at Hopes Hospital lingering and listening hankering and kearkening after her beloved Of the ear wee use to say that it is first awake in a morning Call one that is asleep by his name and hee will soon hear and start up Christ calls all his sheep by their name John 10.3 and they know his voice vers 4. so well are they versed in his Word and so habitually are their senses exercised Heb. 5.14 yea they know his pase for Behold hee cometh viz. to make his abode with mee according to his promise John 14.23 to fulfil with his hand what hee had spoken with his mouth as Solomon phraseth it in his prayer 1 King 8.15 Christ sends his voice as another John Baptist a forerunner and this no sooner sounds in the ear and sinks into the heart than himself is at hand to speak comfort to the conscience Psal 51.8 Hee thinks long of the time till it were done as the Mothers breast akes when it is time the childe had suck Hee comes leaping upon the Mountains skipping upon the Hills Look how the jealous Eagle when shee flieth highest of all from her nest and seems to seat her self among the clouds yet still she casts an eye to her nest where are her young ones and if shee see any come near to offend presently shee speeds to their help and rescue So doth the Lord Christ deal by his beloved Spouse Neither mountains nor hills shall hinder his coming neither the sins of his people
a dead lift Yea bee thou like a Roe or a young Hart Come sweetly and seasonably to my relief and succour To set thee a time were to set the Sun by my Dial. But when thine own time is come 2 Sam. 2.29 their come Lord Jesus come quickly bee as nimble as a Roe or young Hart upon the Mountains of Bether called elsewhere Bithron beyond Jordan which mountains were much haunted by Hunters Mountains of division some render it and one descants thus The Spouse of Christ in that heavenly Marriage-Song calleth him a young Hart on the Mountains of Division D. Hall Epist 5. dec 3. Tell mee then whither will you go for truth if you will allow no truth but where there is no division CHAP. III. Vers 1. By night on my Bed I sought him whom my soul loveth SHee had not a name good enough for him shee therefore makes use of this powerful Periphrasis Before hee had been her Beloved but now the love of her soul because now hee had withdrawn himself It was night with her now shee walked in darkness and had no light as Isa 50.10 and as before day break the darkness is greatest so was it now with the woful Spouse Shee was indeed upon her bed of ease but to her in this case it was a little-ease a bed of unrest her soul was tossed and troubled with solitary seeking longing and looking after him whom her soul loved By night therefore or night after night sundry nights together as some read it Shee sought and sought being constant instant and indefaâ—igable in the scarch shee sought him early and earnestly with utmost attention and affection with her whole heart and soul Jer. 29.13 according to the measure of her love to him which was modus sine modo as Bernard hath it Now whatsoever a man loves that hee desires and what hee desires that hee seeks after especially if hee apprehend some singular worth in it In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge Col. 2.3 Hee is better than Rubias saith Solomon and all the things that may bee desired are not to bee compared unto him Prov. 8.11 Hence the good soul seeks him as eagerly as the Mammonist seeks silver the Ambitionist honour the affamished man bread the condemned prisoner a pardon or as one that seeks for a lost Jewel hee over-looks all till hee hath found it Christ I must have saith shee whatever it cost mee this gold cannot bee bought too dear Shee longeth sore as David did saying Oh that one would give mee of the water of the Well of Bethlehem 1 Chron. 11.17 Oh for a blessed arm-full of the Babe of Bethlehem such as Simeon once had Give mee Christ or else I die None but Christ none but Christ. All is but dung and dross to Christ Phil. 3. God offered Moses an Angel to go along with them in the wilderness Hee would have no Angel nor stir a step unless God himself would conduct them Barak would not march without Deborah c. I found him not i. e. I had not so full a presence nor so fast hold of him as I desired hee had got behinde the wall or the window as in the former chapter and Joseph-like concealed his love out of increasement of love as also that hee may stir up strong affections after him in the hearts of his people for hee well enough knows how to commend his mercies to us as Laban did his daughter Rachel to Jacob by holding us off by suspending us for a season Even barren Leah when unloved and unlookt on becomes fruitful and the drowsie Spouse when shee misseth her Beloved becomes restless till shee have recovered him In their affliction they will seek mee early Hos 5.15 Affliction excites devotion and makes the Saints seek again with a redoubled diligence as here See Psal 78.34 35. It fares with the best sometimes as it did with Saint Paul and his company in the shipwrack Act. 27.20 when they saw neither Sun nor Stars for divers daies and nights together In this dismal and disconsolate condition if they can but cast anchor and pray still for day Christ will appear as here verse 3. and all shall clear up the day will dawn and the day-star appear in their hearts Mourning lasteth but till morning Psal 30. and the vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lye it will surely come it will not tarry Hab. 2.3 But what shall wee do in the mean while may some say how shall wee sustain our spirits sith hope deferred makes the heart sick Though it tarry wait for it saith the Prophet Have patience and learn to live by Faith The just shall live by his Faith vers 4. Wee are usually too hasty and do antedate the promises neither will any reason satisfie us unless wee may have all Christs sweetness at once and at present Excellent is that discourse that Mr. Bradford the Martyr makes in a consolatory letter to a good woman that was troubled in conscience You are not content saith hee to kiss Christs feet Act. and Mon. 1490. with Magdalen but you would bee kissed even with the kisses of his mouth You would see his face with Moses forgetting how hee biddeth to seek his face Psal 27. yea and that for ever Psal 105. which signifieth no such sight as you desire to see in this present life which would see God now face to face whereas hee cannot bee seen but covered under something yea sometime in that which is clean contrary unto God as to see his mercy in his anger c. How did Job see God but as yee would say under Satans cloak c. You know that Moses when hee went to the Mount to talk with God hee entred into a dark cloud And Elias had his face covered when God passed by Both these dear friends of God heard God but saw him not But you would bee preferred before them See now my dear heart how covetous you are Ah bee thankful bee thankful But God bee thanked your covetousness is Moses covetousness Well with him you shall bee satisfied But when forsooth when hee shall appear c. God would have his people discontentedly contented with what measures of grace and feelings they have attained unto and to know that Tota vita boni Christiani sanctum desiderium est Bern. the whole life of a good Christian is an holy desire after more and that those very pantings inquietations and unsatisfiablenesses cannot but spring from truth of grace and some taste of Christ Vers 2. I will rise now and go about the City c. The holy City Jerusalem whither the Tribes went up the Tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel Psal 122.4 There was the likeliest place to finde Christ there his Parents found him once after three daies search Luk. 2.46 sitting in the Temple there hee dwelt amongst men there hee gave gifts
love toward his Sister as nearest unto him in consanguinity his Spouse is nearest also in affinity Sanctior est copula cordis quam corporis Christ is indeared to his people in all manner of nearest relations For whosoever shall do the will of his Father the same is his Brother and Sister and Mother Mat. 12.50 Act. 10.35 And in every Nation hee that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him With one of thine eyes With that single eye of thine Mat. 6.22 that looks on mee singly abstracted from all other things and affects thine heart with pure love to mee for my self more than for my love-tokens that eye of Faith that looks up to my Mercy-seat yea that peirceth Heaven as St. Stephens bodily eye did hee being full of the Holy Ghost looked up stedfastly into Heaven and saw Jesus standing on the right hand of Câ—â— Act. 7.55 Heaven is so high above the Earth that it is a just wonder that wee can look up to so admirable an height and that the very eye is not tired in the way But Faith hath a visive faculty peculiar to it self it is the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 whiles it looks not at the things which are seen scil with the eye of sense but at the things that are not seen viz. but by the eye of Faith 2 Cor. 4.18 whereby Moses saw him who is invisible Heb. 1â— 27 Let as many as would behold the King in his beauty study Moses his Opticks get a Patriarchs eye see Christs day afar off as Abraham did and set him at their right hand as David Psal 16. So shall the King greatly desire their beauty yea set them at his right hand with the Queen his Spouse in gold of Ophir Psal 45.9 11. But then Christ must see their chain of obedience as well as their eye of Faith even the whole chain of spiritual graces linked one to another These are the daughters of Faith and good works the products of them are the fruits of Faith As chains adorn the neck so do true virtues a true Christian these as chains are visible and honourable testimonies of a lively Faith which works by love These make the true Manlii Torquati See the Notes on chap. 1. vers 10. Vers 10. How fair is thy love Heb. Loves in the plural noting not onely their multitude but excellency also such as do far praeponderate all carnal affections These are said to bee inexpressibly fair and lovely noted by the exclamation and repetition here used as if words were too weak to utter it because it is undissembled A man may paint fire but hee cannot paint heat A man may dissemble actions in Religion but hee cannot dissemble affections 2. It is rare and in respect of common Christians it may bee said as Ephes 3.18 to pass knowledge sith most have little of the life of it in their breasts less of the light and lustre of it in their lives How much better is thy love than Wine This same shee had said of him chap. 1.2 Now hee returns it upon her as is usual among Lovers Hee had confessed himself ravished with her love vers 9. Now here hee shews why hee was so Hee found her not lovely onely but loving hee had made her so and now takes singular delight and complacency in his own work as once hee did in his work of Creation Hee well perceived that hee had not lost his love upon his Church as David did upon his Absalom as Paul did upon his Corinthians of whom hee complains that the more hee had loved the less hee was beloved as Job upon his miserable comforters whom hee compares to the Brooks of Tema Job 6. that in a moisture swell in a drought fail But Christ findes no such fickleness or false-heartedness in his Beloved hee had love for love and as hee had been a sweet friend to her so was shee to him Her love was better than the best Wine which yet is both costly and comfortable yea than all the delights that this life can afford so much is implied by Wine here and so hee is pleased to esteem it Unworthy shee of so kind acceptance of that little shee can do this way if shee do not her utmost if shee cry not out with her son David I will love thee dearly or entirely with mine utmost bowels with the same tenderness of affections as is in Mothers towards the fruit of their bodies so the Hebrew word signifies Psal 18.1 And again I love so hee abruptly expresseth himself by a passionate pang of love because the Lord hath heard the voice of my supplications c. Psal 116.1 Hee saw and wee may all see so much cause to love the Lord as that hee must needs bee a monster and not a man that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity It was a miracle that those Worthies in Daniel should bee in the midst of a fiery furnace and not burn It is no less that men should bee in the midst of mercies on all hands and not love Christ It would bee as great a wonder men should fail here as for a River to run backwards I have drawn them by the bands of love by the cords of a man Hos 11.4 that is with reasons and motives of love befitting the nature of a man of a rational creature Oculis in utram partem fluat judicari non potest Caesar de bello Gal. lib. 1. But most men alass and those that profess to bee the children of the Church too move like the River Araris backward or forward who can tell This is to give Christ Vinegar for Wine this is as lukewarm water to his nice and nauseating stomack Rev. 3.16 There is a Prophesie reported in Telesphorus that Antichrist shall never overcome Venice nor Paris nor London But wee have a more certain word and let us take heed lest for our lukewarmness Christ spues us out of his mouth What hath been the opinion and fear of some not inconsiderable Divines that Antichrist before his abolition shall once again overflow the whole face of the West and suppress the whole Protestant Churches for a punishment of their loss of their first love I pray Christ to avert And the smell of thine Oyntments than all spice That is of thy sweet graces actuated and exercised See Psal 89.20 John 2.20 27. It was an aggravation of the fall of Saul that hee fell as though hee had not been anointed 2 Sam. 1.21 So for the Saints to fall from their first love or from their own stedfastness Such a dead fly will cause their once-sweet Ointments to send forth a stinking savour Eccles 10.1 Corruptio optimâ— est pessima Vers 11. Thy lips Oh my Spouse drop as an Hony-comb Heb. drop the Hony-comb So Christ calls the doctrines and prayers of the Church her thanksgivings confessions conferences c. which are things most pleasing to Christ and do much comfort and
well-beloved q. d. It is such excellent wine as I would wish it or send it even to the dearest and best friend I have Prov. 23.31 even to her that I love as my self if not before my self Or thus which springs and sparkles in the cup. 1 Cor. 1. Causing the lips of those that are a sleep to speak Utterance is called a gift and dumb Christians are blame-worthy as well as dumb Ministers Wee should all strive to an holy ability and dexterity of savoury discourse And for this end the Word of Christ should dwell richly in us in all wisdom our hearts should endite a good matter that our tongues might bee as the pen of a ready writer Let there bee a good treasure within in our hearts and the law of kindness will soon be in our lips for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Graceless men are gagd by the devill they cannot so much as lisp out one syllable of good language if they attempt it they shew themselves but bunglers and say Sibbolath for Shibboleth you may soon see they speak by rote and not by experience But those that have well drunk of this wine of the Word made effectual by the Spirit talk lustily Act. 2.4 11 14 yea their tongues never lin talking and preaching forth the praises of him who hath drawn them out of darkness into his marvelous light they speak as the Spirit gives them utterance Those that were in a dead sleep of sin are soon set a work to awake and sing Isa 26.19 This should stir us up to study the Word of God and there-hence to learn language The hundreth and nineteenth Psalm is by David set before it as a Poem of commendation mentioning it in every verse testimonies laws statutes c. Like as when a book is set forth verses of commendation are oft prefixed Such another but far shorter is that Psal 19. vers 7 8 9 10 11. The Holy Ghost doth so much the more highly there extoll it because men are wont to have it in very light account and to hold it a disparagement to be eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures Vers 10. I am my Beloveds I see I am so saith the Spouse by that ample commendation that hee hath now again given mee notwithstanding all my former failings in duty towards him There fall out some fallings out betwixt married couples sometimes but then they fall in again they cannot fadge together haply so well at first but being well pieced again they love better than before So is it here The sins wee commit make no change in Christ no substantial alteration For first upon the same grounds hee chose us hee loves us still hee chose us freely because hee would hee chose us for his love and loves us for his choice Secondly there is the same bent of minde and frame of heart towards him remains in us still And therefore as there is a transient act of sin passeth from us so a transient act of chastisement for sin may pass from him Christ looked upon Peter after his denial with the same familiarity as before Jehoshuah the High-Priest though hee were so ill cloathed and had Satan at his right hand to accuse him yet hee stood before the Angel Zech. 3.1 Christ did not abhor his presence nor reject his service Ephraim repenting after his revolt is re-entertained with all sweetness Jer. 31.20 See the Note on chap. 2.16 6.3 And his desire is towards mee His desirous affection hee loves mee as passionately as any woman doth her dearest husband Gen. 3.16 his love to mee is wonderful passing the love of women His desire is so toward mee that as Livia by obeying her husband Augustus commanded him and might have what she would of him so may I of Christ Compare Gen. 4.7 with Isa 45.11 The Church here well understood the latitude of that royal charter and makes it a prop to her Faith and a pledge for her perseverance Vers 11. Come my Beloved let us go forth into the field Being now fully assured of Christs love shee falls a praying shee makes five requests unto him in a breath as it were 1 That hee would come 2 Go forth with her into the field 3 Lodge with her in the villages 4 Get up early to the vineyards 5 See if the vine flourish pomegranates bud c. And further promiseth that there shee will give him her loves Assurance of Christs love is the sweet-meats of the feast of a good conscience said Father Latimer Now it were to bee wished that every good soul whiles it is banqueting with the Lord Christ by full assurance as once Esther did with Ahasuerus would seasonably bethink it self what special requests it hath to make unto him what Hamans to hang up what sturdy lusts to subdue what holy boons to beg c. How sure might they be to have what they would even to the whole of his Kingdome Suitours at Court observe their mollissima fandi Tempora their fittest opportunities of speaking and they speed accordingly A Courtier gets more many times by one suit than a trades-man can do with twenty years pains-taking So a faithful prayer made in a fit season in a time when God may bee found as David hath it is very successful Psal 32.6 Beggery here is the best trade as one said Common beggery is indeed the easiest and poorest trade but prayer is the hardest and richest The first thing that she here begs of him is that hee would come and that quickly and this wee all daily pray Thy Kingdome come both that of grace and the other of glory The Jews also in their expectation of a Messiah pray almost in every prayer they make Thy Kingdome come and that Bimherah Bejamenu quickly even in our days that wee may behold the King in his beauty Let our hearts desire and prayer to God be for those poor seduced souls that they may be saved And the rather because they have a zeal of God and his Kingdom but not according to knowledge Rom. 10.1 2. As also because their Progenitours prayed hard for us and so some take it to bee the sense of the Spouses second request here Let us go forth into the field that is into the world for the field in the parable is the world Mat. 13.38 let us propagate the Gospel all abroad and send forth such as may teach all nations Mat. 28.19 and reveal the mystery that hath been kept secret since the world began that obedience may bee every where yielded to the faith Rom. 16.25 26. Let us lodge in the villages That is in the particular Churches for Tom. 3. p. 81. vilissimus pagus est palatium eburneum in quo est Pastor credentes aliqui saith Luther the poorest village is to Christ and his Spouse an ivory palace if there bee but in it a godly Minister and some few beleevers Melanchthon going once upon some great service
for the Church of Christ and having many fears of the good success of his business was much cheared up and confirmed by a company of poor women and children Selneccer paedag Christ whom he found praying together for the labouring Church and casting it by faith into Christs everlasting arms Vers 12. Let us get up early to the Vineyards Heb. Let us morning it A. Gel. l. 3. c. 29 Manicemus that 's Gellius his word Let 's up betime and at it Here shee promiseth not to bee found henceforth unready drowsie sluggish but night and day to watch and attend that hour and to enquire and learn out all the signs and tokens when shee may come to bee perfectly knit to Christ But it is worthy our observation that shee would neither go any way or do any thing without Christs company for shee had lately felt the grief of being without him though but for a small moment as the Prophet hath it Shee had felt her self that while in the suburbs of hell as it were Shee therefore holds him as fast as the restored cripple did Peter and John Acts 3.11 shee cleaves as close to him as Ruth did to Naomi or Elisha did to his master Elijah when now hee knew hee should bee taken from his head 2 Kin. 2.2 Shee seems here to speak to Christ as once Barach did to Deborah If thou wilt go with mee Judg. 4.8 then I will go but if thou wilt not go with mee I will not go And whereas shee seemeth as the forwarder of the two to excite and exhort Christ to get up early to visit the Vines c. wee may not imagine any unwillingness in him to the performance of his Office as Shepheard and Bishop of our souls 1 Pet. 2.25 or any need on his part to bee quickned and counselled by her as Manoah was by his wife or Aquila by Priscilla whence shee is set before him Rom. 16.3 for who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord or being his counsellor hath taught him Isa 40.13 But the Church requesteth these things of Christ for her own incouragement and further benefit that having his continual presence and fellowship shee may the more chearfully and successefully go on with her duty So when wee press God with arguments in prayer it is not so much to perswade him to help us for the Father himself loveth you John 16.27 Homer saith Christ and needs no arguments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to incite or intice him to shew us mercy as to perswade our own hearts to more faith love humility c. that wee may be in a capacity to receive that mercy that of his own accord hee hath for us and even waits to confer upon us Isa 30.18 Look how a man that would make a bladder capacious to hold sweet spices hee blows it and rubs it and blows it and rubs it many times over to make it hold the more so it is here And as when a man that is in a ship plucks a rock it seems as if hee pluckt the rock nearer the ship when as in very deed the ship is plucked nearer the rock So when Gods people think they draw God to them with their arguments in truth they draw themselves nearer to God who sometimes ascribeth that to us which is his own work Aug. that we may abound more and more Certum est nos facere quod facimus sed ille facit ut faciamus True it is that wee do what wee do but it is hee that giveth us to do what wee do in his service The bowls of the Candle-stick had no oyl but that which dropped from the Olive-branches Whether the tender grape appear Heb. open and so prove it self to bee a grape which in the bud can hardly bee discerned True grace may bee doubted of so long as it is small and feeble Weak things are oft so obscured with their contraries that it remaineth uncertain whether they bee or no. Mark 9.24 Hee that cryed out and that with tears I beleeve Lord help mine unbeleef that is my weak faith could not well tell whether hee had any faith at all or not Adde growth to grace and it will be out of question Mean while that 's a sweet promise Isa 44.3 I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thy buds And again Isa 65.8 Thus saith the Lord As the new wine is found in the Cluster and one saith Destroy it not for a blessing is in it so will I do for my servants sake that I may not destroy them all And the Pomegranates bud forth See the note on chap. 4.13 There will I give thee my loves i. e. The fruition of my graces and fruits of thy faith thanks good works c. And this is that which Christ requireth of us all viz. that wee bestow all our loves upon him even the liveliest and warmest of our affections Love him wee must truly that there bee no halting and totally that there bee no halving Hold him wee must better dearer to us than ten sons c. and communicate all our loves to him as best worthy What hee gives us back again wee may bestow upon others wee may love other things but no otherwise than as they convey love to us from Christ and may bee means of drawing our affections unto Christ We must love all things else as they have a beam of Christ in them and may lead us to him accounting that wee rightly love our selves no further than wee love the Lord Jesus Christ with a love of complacency Vers 13. The Mandrakes give a smell Loves and Mandrakes grow both upon one Hebrew root and Tremellius renders it not Mandrakes out lovely flowers yeelding a savour pleasant to the eye and sweet to the smell The Chaldee Paraphrast calleth it Balsam Legesis August lib. 22. contra Faust Manichaeum cap. 56. Jun in Genes 30.14 Drus in fine comment in Ruth Aben-ezra saith that Mandrakes are fragrant and yield a pleasant favour that they have head and hands like unto a man But how they should be good to cause conception hee wondreth sith by nature they are cold Austin saith that hee made trial and could not finde any such operation to bee in them and that Rachel coveted them meerly for their rarity beauty and sweetness There is enough of these in the Church to draw all hearts unto her but that many men have brawny breasts and horny heart-strings And at our gates are all manner of pleasants Or delicacies precious and pleasant commodities whether fruits metals gems jewels quicquid in deliciis habetur whatsoever is excellent and exquisite in any kinde This is the import of the Hebrew word There is nothing of any worth but it is to bee found in the Church Her wise Merchants not content with the pearl of price seek out other goodly pearls common gifts which also have their use and excellency Mat. 13.45 46. they learn to
read of in holy-writ Ezechiels wife was the delight of his eyes hee took singular complacency in her company This conjugal joy is the fruit of love which therefore hee commendeth to all married men in the next words Vers 19. Let her bee as the loving Hind c. The Hind and the Roe are the females of the Hart and Roebuck of which creatures it is noted Inter utrumque ardor amoris summus ut Oppianus de cervis agens scribit that of all other beasts they are most inamoured as I may so speak with their mates and even mad again in their heat and desire after them This being taken in a good sense may set forth the ardent affection that husbands should bear to the wives of their bosomes so they are called too because they should be as dear to them as the hearts in their bosomes A wife is the most proper object of love Col. 3.18 above Parent Friend Childe or any other though never so dear to us And bee thou ravished alwaies Heb. Erre thou alwaies in her love Mercer velut extra te sis rerum aliarum obliviscare It implies saith one a lawful earnest affection so as first to oversee some blemishes and defects Love is blind In facie naevus causa decoris erit Secondly so highly to esteem her Ovid. and so lovingly to comport with her that others may think him even to dote on her Howbeit muliâ—rosity must bee carefully avoided as a harmful errour and that saying of Hierome duly pondered and beleeved Quisquis in uxorem ardentior est amator adulter est As a man may bee drunk with his own drink and a glutton by excessive devouring of his own meat so likewise one may bee unclean by the intemperate or intempestive abuse of the marriage-bed which ought by no means to bee stained or dishonoured with sensual excesses Vers 20. And why wilt thou my Son The premises considered there is no reason for it but all against it Nothing is more irrational than irreligion and yet nothing more usual with the Devil than to perswade his vassals that there is some sense in sinning and that they have reason to bee mad And truly though there were no Devil yet our corrupt nature would act Satans part against it self it would have a supply of wickedness as a Serpent hath of poison from it self it hath a spring within to feed it Nitimur in vetitum semper petimusque negata Nothing would serve the rich mans turn but the poor mans Lamb if Ahab may not have Naboths Vineyard hee hath nothing The more God forbids any sin the more wee bid for it Rom. 7.8 Nay but wee will have a King said they when they had nothing else to say why they would Vers 21. For the waies of man c. Turpe quid acturus te sine teste time Ausâ—â— A man that is about any evil should stand in awe of himself how much more of God sith hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All eye and beholdeth the secretest of thine actions The Proverb is Si non caste saltem caute carry the matter if not honestly yet so closely and cleanly that the world may bee never the wiser How cunningly did David art it to hide his sin but it would not bee there is nothing covered that shall not bee revealed Luk. 12.2 If I make my bed in Hell said hee Psal 139.8 as indeed the places where fornicatours use to lodge are little better Behold thou art there This God alledgeth as a forcible reason against this sin Jer. 13.27 I have seen the lewdness of thy whoredomes And Jer. 29.23 Even I know and am a witness saith the Lord. Vers 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked As so many Serjeants set on by God who will surely hamper these unruly beasts that think to shift and scape his fingers with the cords of their own sins binding them hand and foot and bringing them to condign punishment So that say the Adulterer bee not punished by the Magistrate or come off by commutation yet hee shall feel himself in the gall of bitterness and bond of perdition hee shall finde that hee hath made a halter to hang himself No body can be so torn with stripes as a mind is with the remembrance of wicked actions Tiberius felt the remorse of conscience so violent that hee protested to the Senate Taci that hee suffered death daily Vers 23. Hee shall dye without instruction To spend the span of this transitory life after the waies of ones own heart is to perish for ever But oh what mad men are they that bereave themselves of a room in that City of Pearl for a few dirty delights and carnal pleasures CHAP. VI. Vers 1. My Son if thou bee Surety THe wise-man having exhorted his Son to marry rather than burn and to nourish a family rather than to haunt Harlots houses to the end that hee may shew himself a good Oeconomick and provide for the comfortable subsistence of wife and children hee bids him here beware 1 Of unadvised suretiship 2 Of idleness two great enemies to thrift without which there can be no good house kept The royalty of Salomon could not have consisted for all his riches without forecast and frugality Vers 2. Thou art snared i. e. Endangered to slavery or poverty or both Hence the proverb Sponde noxa praesto est Give thy word and thou art not far from a mischief Shun therefore suretiship if fairly thou canst or if not propound the worst and undertake for no more than thou canst well perform without thy very great prejudice ne ut leo cassibus irretitus dixeris Si praescivissem lest thou being got into the hamble trambles come in too late with thy tools Had I wist Thou art taken For a bargain binds a man by the Law of Nature and of Nations Judah though in a shameful business would make good his engagement to the Harlot Gen. 38.23 Every godly man will do so though it bee to his own hinderance Psal 15.4 The Romans had a great care alwaies to perform their word insomuch that the first Temple built in Rome was dedicated to the goddesse Fidelity The Athenians were so careful this way that Atticus testis is used for one that keeps touch and Attica fides is sure hold as contrarily Punica fides there was no hold to bee taken of Carthaginian promises Of a certain Pope and his Nephew it is said that the one never spoke as hee thought the other never performed what hee spake Rom. 13. This was small to their commendation Debt is a burden to every well-minded man neither can hee bee at rest till hee come to Owe nothing to any man but this that yee love one another When Arch-bishop Cranmer discerned the storm which afterwards fell upon him in Queen Maries daies Act. Mon. vol. 2. p. 1541. hee took express order for the payment of all his debts and
Father who tells him there that which hee found true by experience Loe children are an heritage of the Lord c. for by all his Wives Salomon had none but one Son and him none of the wisest neither Vers 2. What my son and what the son of my wombe An abrupt speech importing abundance of affection even more than might be uttered There is an Ocean of love in a Parents heart a fathomless depth of desire after the Childes welfare in the mother especially Some of the Hebrew Doctors hold that this was Bathsheba's speech to her son after his fathers death when she partly perceived which way his Genius leaned and lead him that then shee schooled him in this sort q. d. Is it even so my son my most dear son c. O doe not give thy strength to women c. Vers 3. Give not thy strength to women Waste not unworthily the fat and marrow of thy dear and precious time the strength of thy body the vigor of thy spirits in sinful pleasures and sensual delights See chap. 5.9 Nor thy wayes to that which destroyeth Kings Venery is called by one Deaths best Harbinger It was the destruction of Alexander the great of Otho the Emperour called for his good parts otherwise Miraculum mundi of Pope Sextus the fourth qui decessit tabidus voluptate saith the Historian dyed of a wicked waste and of Pope Paul the fourth of whom it passed for a Proverb Eum per candem partem animam profudisse per quam acceperat The Lacedemonian Common-wealth was by the hand of Divine Justice utterly overturned at Leuctra for a rape committed by their Messengers on the two Daughters of Scedosus And what befell the Benjamites on a like occasion is well known out of Judg. 20. that I speak not of the slaughter of the Shechemites Gen. 34. c. Vers 4. It is not for Kings to drink wine i. e. To bee drunk with Wine wherein is excess Ephes 5.18 where the Apostle determines excessive drinking to bee down-right drunkenness viz. when as Swine do their bellies so men break their heads with filthy quaffing This as no man may lawfully doe so least of all Princes for in maxima libertate minima est licentia Men are therefore the worse because they are bound to be better Nor for Princes strong drink Or as some read it where is the strong drink It is not for Princes to ask such a question All heady and intoxicating drinks are by statute here forbidden them Of Bonosus the Emperour it was said that he was born non ut vivat sed ut bibat not to live but to drink and when being overcome by Probus he afterwards hanged himself it was commonly jested that a tankard hung there and not a man But what a Beast was Marcus Antonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strabo Camd. Elis that wrote or rather spued out a book concerning his own strength to bear strong drink And what another was Darius King of Persia who commanded this inscription to bee set upon his Sepulcher I was able to hunt lustily to drink wine soundly and to bear it bravely That Irish Rebel Tiroen Anno 1567. was such a Drunkard that to cool his body when hee was immoderately inflamed with Wine and Uskabagh hee would many times bee buried in the earth up to the chin These were unfit men to bear rule Vers 5 Lest they drink and forget the Law Drunkennesse causeth forgetfulness hence the Ancients feigned Bacchus to bee the sonne of forgetfulness and stands in full opposition to reason and religion when the Wine is in the Wit is out Plutarch in Sympos Seneca saith that for a man to think to be drunk and yet to retain his right reason is to think to drink rank poyson and yet not to dye by it And pervert the judgement c. Pronounce an unrighteous sentence which when Philip King of Macedony once did the poor woman whose cause it was presently appealed from Philip now drunk to Philp when hee should be sober again The Carthaginians made a Law that no Magistrate of theirs should drink wine The Persians permitted their Kings to be drunk one day in a year only Solon made a Law at Athens that drunkenness in a Prince should be punished with death See Eccles 10.16 17. Vers 6. Give strong drink to him c. To those that stand at the barre rather than to them that sit on the bench Wine maketh glad the heart of man Judg. 9.13 Psal 104.15 Plato calls Wine and Musick the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mitigaters of mens miseries Hence that laudable custome among the Jews at Funerals to invite the friends of the deceased to a feast and to give them the cup of consolation Jer. 16.7 And hence that not so laudable of giving Wine Bacchus afflictis requienâ— mortalibus affert Tibul. mingled with Myrrhe to crucified Malefactors to make them dye with lesssense Christ did not like the custom so well and therefore refused the potion People should be most serious and sober when they are to dye sith in Death as in Warre non licet bis errare if a man miss at all he misses for all and for ever Vitellius trepidus dâ—in temâ—lentus Vitellius therefore took a wrong course who looking for the messenger Death made himself drunk to drown the fear of it And Wine unto those that be of heavie hearts Heb. bitter of spirit as Naomi was when she would needs be called Marah Ruth 1.20 as Hannah was when she pleaded that she had neither drunk Wine nor strong drink though at that time she had need enough of it but was a Woman of a sorrowful spirit 1 Sam. 1.15 as David was when his heart was leavened and sowred with the greatness of his grief and he was pricked in his reins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 73.21 This grief was right because according to God 2 Cor. 7.11 so was that bitter mourning Zach. 10.12 and Peters weeping bitterly These waters of Marah that flow from the eyes of repentance are turned into wine they carry comfort in them there is a clear shining after this rain 2 Sam. 23.4 Such April-showers bring on May-flowers Dejicit ut revelet premit ut solatia praestet Enecat ut possit vivificare Deus Vers 7. Let him drink and forget his Poverty And yet let him drink moderately too lest he increase his sorrows as Lot did and not diminish them for drunkennesse leaves a sting behind it worse than that of a Serpent or of a Cockatrice Prov. 23.32 Wine is a prohibited ware among the Turks which makes some drink with scruple others with danger The baser sort when taken drunk are often bastinadoed upon the bare feet And I have seen some saith mine Author after a fit of drunkennesse lye a whole night crying and praying to Mahomet for intercession Bluâ—tâ— voyage p. 105. that I could not sleep neer them so strong is conscience even where
is holy both in body and spirit 1 Cor. 7.34 and this with delight out of fear of God and love of vertue God did much for that libidinous Gentleman who sporting with a Curtezan in a house of sin happened to ask her name which she said was Mary Mountaignes Essayes whereat he was stricken with such a remorse and reverence that he instantly not only cast off the Harlot but amended his future life But the Sinner shall be taken by her See the Note on Prov. 22.14 The Poets fable that when Prometheus had discovered Truth to men that had long lain hid from them Jupiter or the Devil to crosse that design sent Pandora that is Pleasure that should so besot them as that they should neither mind nor make out after Truth and Honesty Vers 27. Behold this I have found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have found it I have found it said the Philosopher Vicimus Vicimus we have prevailed we have prevailed said Luther when hee had been praying in his Closet for the good successe of the consultation about Religion in Germany So the Preacher here Aperit sibi diligentia januam veritatis Amb. having by diligence set open the door of truth cries Venite videte Come and see my discoveries in the making whereof I have been very exact counting one by one Ne mole obruerer lest I should bee oppressed with many things at once Vers 28. Which yet my soul seeketh but I finde not There is a place in Wiltshire called Stonage for divers great stones lying and standing there together of which stones it is said Camden that though a man number them one by one never so carefully yet that he cannot finde the true number of them but that every time he numbers them he findes a different number from that he found before This may well shew as one well applies it the erring of mans labour in seeking the account of wisdome and knowledge For though his diligence be never so great in making the reckoning he will alwayes be out and not able to find it out One man among a thousand Hand facile invenies multis è milibus unum There is a very great scarcity of good people These are as Gideons three hundred when the wicked as the Midianites lye like Grashoppers for multitude upon the earth Judg. 7. and as those Syrians 1 King 20.27 they fill the country they darken the air as the swarms did the Land of Aegypt and there is plenty of such dust-heaps in every corner But a Woman among all those have I not found i. e. Among all my Wives and Concubines which made him ready to sing Foemina nulla bona est But that there are and ever have been many gracious Women see besides the Scriptures the Writings of many Learned men De illustribus foeminis It is easie to observe saith one that the New-Testament affords more store of good Wives than the Old And I can say as Hierom does Novi ego multas ad omne opus bonum promptas I know many Tabithaes full of good works But in respect of the discoverie of hearts and natures whether in good or evil it is harder to find out throughly the perfect disposition of a Woman than of Men. And that I take to be the meaning of this text Vers 29. That God hath made man upright viz. In his own Image i. e. knowledge in his understanding part rightnesse in his will and holinesse in his affections his heart was a lump of love c. when he came first out of Gods Mint he shone most glorious clad with the royal robe of righteousnesse created with the imperial crown Psal 8.5 But the Devil soon stript him of it he cheated and cousened him of the Crown as we use to doe children with the apple or whatsoever fruit it was that he tendred to Eve Porrexit pomum surripuit paradisum Bernard Lib. 1. legis allegor Hee also set his limbs in the place of Gods Image so that now Is qui factus est homo differt ab eo quem Deus fecit as Philo saith Man is now of another make than God made him Totus homo est inversus decalogus whole evil is in man and whole man in evil Neither can hee cast the blame upon God but must fault himself and fly to the second Adam for repair But they have sought out many inventions New tricks and devises like those poetical fictions and fabulous relations whereof there is neither proof nor profit The Vulgar Latine hath it Et ipse se infinitis miscuit quaestionibus And hee hath intangled himself with numberless questions and fruitless speculations See 1 Tim. 1.4 and cap. 6.4 doting about questions or question-sick Bernard reads it thus Ipse autem se implicuit doloribus multis but hee hath involved himself in many troubles the fruit of his inventions shifts and sherking tricks See Jer. 6.19 CHAP. VIII Vers 1. Who is as the Wise man Velut inter stellas Luna minores QUa dic Hee is a matchless man a peerless Paragon out-shining others as much as the Moon doth the lesser Stars Plato could say that no Gold or Precious stone doth glister so gloriously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the prudent spirit of a good man Gen. 41.38 Thou art a Prince of God amongst us said the Hittites to Abraham Can wee finde such a man as this Joseph in whom the Spirit of God is said Pharaoh to his Counsellors Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him on the earth c Job 1.8 My servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all my house and shall bee of my Cabinet-Counsel Numb 12.7 To him God said Tu verò hic sta mecum But do thou stand here by mee Exod. 34.5 Sapiens Dei comes est saith Philo. Look how Kings have their Favourites whom they call Comites their Cousins and Companions so hath God Nay the righteous are Princes in all Lands Psal 45.16 Kings in righteousness compare Mat. 13.17 with Luk. 10.24 the excellent Ones of the Earth Psal 16.3 the Worthies of the world Hom. 55. in Matth. Heb. 11.5 fitter to bee set as Stars in Heaven and to bee continually before the Throne of God Chrysostome calls some holy men of his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Earthly Angels and speaking of Babylas the Martyr hee saith of him Magnus at que admirabilis vir hee was an excellent and an admirable man Orat. contra Gentiles c. And Tertullian writing to some of the Martyrs sayes Non tantus sum ut vos alloquar I am not good enough to speak unto you Oh that my life and a thousand such wretches more might go for yours Oh why doth God suffer mee and other such Caterpillars to live saith John Careless Martyr in a letter to that Angel of God Mr. Bradford as Dr. Taylor called him that can do nothing but consume the alms of the
Titus remembring one day that hee had done no good to any one cryed out Amici diem perdidi And again Hodie non regnavimus Wee have lost a day c. This was that Titus that never sent any suitor away with a sad heart and was therefore counted and called Humani generis deliciae the darling of mankind the peoples sweet-heart The Senate loaded him with more praises when hee was dead than ever they did living and present Vers 7. Truly the light is sweet The light of life of a lightsome life especially Any life is sweet which made the Gibeonites make such an hard shift to live though it were but to bee hewers of wood and drawers of water I pray thee let mee live live upon any terms said Benhadad in his submissive message to that merciful Non-such 1 King 20.32 If I have found favour in thy sight O King and if it please the King let my life bee given mee at my petition Sic de Aspasia Milesia Cyri concubina Aelian lib. 12. cap. 1. var. hist said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that paragon of her time Q. Esther cap. 7.3 Ebedmelech is promised his life for a prey Jer. 39.18 And so is Baruc as a sufficient reward of that good service hee had done in reading the Roll for the which hee expected some great preferment Jer. 45.5 compared with chap. 36.1 2. The Prophet chides him and tells him hee might bee glad of his life in those dear years of time when the arrows of death had so oft come whisking by him and hee had so oft stradled over the grave as it were and yet was not fallen into it To maintain our radical humour that feeds the lamp of life is as great a miracle saith One as the oyl in the widows cruise that failed her not To deliver us from so many deaths and dangers as wee are daily and hourly subject unto is a mercy that calls for continual praises to the Preserver of mankind But more when men do not onely live but live prosperously as Nabal did 1 Sam. 25.6 Thus said David to his messengers shall yee say to him that liveth viz. in prosperity Which such a man as Nabal reckons the onely life The Irish use to ask what such a man meant to dye And some good Interpreters are of opinion that the Preacher in this verse brings in the carnal carl objecting or replying for himself against the former perswasions to acts of charity Ah! saith hee but for all that to live at the full to have a goodly inheritance in a fertile soil in a wholesome air near to the River not far from the Town to bee free from all troubles and cares that poverty bringeth to live in a constant sun-shine of prosperity abundance honour and delight to have all that heart can wish or need require what an heavenly life is this what a lovely and desirable condition c. Psal 34.12 What man is hee that desireth life and loveth many daies that hee may see good saith David I do saith one and I saith another and I a third c. as St. Austin frames the answer It is that which all worldlings covet and hold it no policy to part with what they have to the poor for uncertainties in another world In answer to whom and for a cooler to their inordinate love of life the Preacher subjoyns Vers 8. But if a man live many years and rejoyce c. q.d. Say hee live pancratice basilice and sit many years in the worlds warm sun-shine yet he must not build upon a perpetuity as good Job did but was deceived when hee said I shall dye in my nest Job 29.18 Psal 30 and holy David when hee concluded I shall never bee moved For as sure as the night follows the day a change will come a storm will rise and such a storm as to wicked worldlings will never be blown over Look for it therefore and bee wise in time Remember the daies of darkness that is of adversity but especially of death and the grave The hottest season hath lightning and thunder The Sea is never so smooth but it may bee troubled the Mountain not so firm but it may bee shaken with an earthquake Light will bee one day turned into darkness pleasure into pain delights into wearisomeness and the dark daies of old age and death far exceed in number the lightsome daies of life which are but a warm gleam a momentary glance Let this bee seriously pondred and it will much rebate the edge of our desires after earthly vanities Dearly beloved saith St. Peter I beseech you as Pilgrims and strangers abstain from fleshly lust c. q. d. 1 Pet. 2.12 The sad and sober apprehension of this that you are here but sojourners for a season and must away to your long home will lay your lusts a bleeding and a dying at your feet It is an observation of a Commentator upon this Text that when Samuel had anointed Saul to bee King to confirm unto him the truth of the joy and withall to teach him how to bee careful in governing his joy hee gave him this sign When thou art departed from mee to day 1 Sam. 10.2 thou shalt finde two men at Rachels sepulchre For hee that findeth in his mind a remembrance of his grave and sepulchre will not easily bee found exorbitant in his delights and joyes For this it was belike that Joseph of Arimathea had his sepulchre ready hewn out in his garden The Aegyptians carried about the Table a deaths-head at their feasts and the Emperours of Constantinople Isidor on their Coronation-day had a Mason appointed to present unto them certain Marble-stones using these ensuing words Elige ab his saxis ex quo Invictissime Caesar Ipse tibi â—umulum me fabricare velis Chuse Mighty Sir under which of these stones Your pleasure is ere long to lay your bones Vers 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth i. e. Do if thou darest like as God said to Balaam Rise up and go to Balak Numb 22.20 that is go if thou thinkest it good go sith thou wilt needsly go but thou goest upon thy death Let no man imagine that it ever came into the Preachers heart here oleum camino addere to add fuel to the fire of youthful lusts to excite young people unruly enough of themselves to take their full swinge in sinful pleasures Thus to do might better befit a Protagoras of whom Plato reports Plato in Menen that hee many times boasted that whereas hee had lived threescore years forty of those threescore hee had spent in corrupting those young men that had been his pupils or that old Dotrel in Terence that said Non est mihi crede flagitium adolescentem helluari potare scortari fores effringere I hold it no fault for young men to swagger drink drab revel c. Solomon in this Text either by a Mimesis brings in the wilde
placed among the Vines of Engedi that is a medicine for bridling lust over-soon stirred up by Wine which one well calls lac Veneris the milk of Venus Et Venus in vinis ignis ut igne furit Vers 15. Behold thou art fair my love Or My fellow-friend as vers 9. And as she is his Love so he is her Beloved vers 16. and as hee commends her so shee him no less This should bee all the strife betwixt married couples who should out-strip the other in mutual melting-heartedness and all loving respects either to other in all passages carriages and behaviours whatsoever betwixt them accustoming themselves as here to speak kindly and cheerfully one to the other This is that that will infinitely sweeten and beautifie the married Estate it will make marriage a merry-age which else will prove a marr-age And here let husbands learn to love their wives as Christ loved the Church Ephes 5.25 celebrating her beauty in a song repeating her just praises to shew his heartiness therein and inviting others with an Ecce to the due contemplation thereof Behold thou art all fair my Love behold thou art fair Non est ficta aut frigida haec laudatio this is no feigned or frigid commendation but such as proceeds from entire affection and breathes abundance of good will Full well might the Prophet tell the Church Surely as the Bridegroom rejoyceth over the Bride so shall thy God rejoyce over thee Isa 62.5 And again The Lord thy God will rejoyce over thee with joy hee will rest in his love and seek no further hee will joy over thee with singing Zeph. 3.17 The Church had acknowledged vers 5. that she was black or at least blackish and yet by way of Apology too shee had pleaded that shee was comely and so not to bee slighted But Christ affirms her fair yea twice fair yea the fairest among women sic suum cuique pulchrum so doth hee even erre in her love as the Wise-man phraseth it Prov. 5.19 as himself is said to bee the fairest amongst men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theog Psal 45.2 where the Hebrew word likewise is of double-form Thou art fair thou art fair above the Sons of Adam to note out double that is excellent beauty such as draweth love and liking Now it is a Maxim in the Civil Law Vxor fulget radiis mariti The wife shineth with her husbands beams so doth the Church with Christs graces wherewith shee is decked as Rebecca did with Isaac's Jewels Read Ezek. 16.2 3 4 5 c. and you will see that all the Churches beauty is borrowed The Maids that were brought to Ahashuerosh besides their own native beauty they were first purified and perfumed before hee chose one Esth 1. But here it is otherwise altogether For when the Church was in her blood in her blood in her blood three several times it is so said that wee might the better observe it and bee affected with it Christ sanctified and cleansed her with the washing of water by the word that hee might present her to himself a glorious Church holy and without blemish Ephes 5.26 27. But a bloody Spouse shee was to him Rev. 1.5 who loved her and washed her with his blood Thou hast Doves eyes Sweet amiable single and chaste In the eyes beauty sits and shines more than in any part of the body besides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. apud Homerum Blunts voyages The Turks tell their desperate Devotoes of beautiful women with full eyes in their fools paradise and thereby hearten them on to bold attempts The Hebrews say that in oculis loculis poculis the heart of a man shews it self The Church is here said not to have Eagles Vultures Foxes Apes eyes but Doves eyes Now Felle columba caret rostro non caedit ungues Possidet innocuos puraque grana legit The Dove hath her name in the Hebrew from a root that signifieth to oppress and make a prey of any as poor people strangers fatherless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Jer. 50.16 because belike this creature is subject to the prey and spoil of Hawks when pursued they save themselves by flight not fight The Prophet Jonah was so called as some think quod columbae instar aufugeret because hee fled as a Dove when God sent him to Nineveh but not with the wings of a Dove Sometimes sitting in their Dove-cotes they see their nests destroyed their young ones taken away and killed before their eyes never offering to rescue or revenge which all other fowls do seem in some sort to do This is very appliable to the persecuted Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as may bee seen in the Lamentations and Martyrologies In Greek the Dove hath her name from her exceeding love to her Mate and young ones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle they kiss one another the Church likewise kisseth Christ and is interchangeably kissed of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 traho Psal 2.12 Cant. 1.1 being drawn together by a mutual dear affection as the Apostles word imports Heb. 11.13 As if at any time the Dove and her Mate fall out and fight shortly after Quae modo pugnarunt jungunt sua rostra columbae Quarum blanditias verbaque murmur habet Differences may arise between Christ and his Spouse shee may thank her self for hee grieves her not willingly Lam. 3.35 Ille dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox and some houshold-words shee may have from him but soon after hee takes her into the wilderness and speaks to her heart Hos 2.14 yea hee takes her into his Wine-cellar Cant. 2.4 then when one would think hee should carry her into a dungeon rather Hee kisses her as Doves do one another with the kisses of his mouth then when one would think hee should upon such high provocations kick her nay kill her then hee shews her matchless mercy such as no man would shew his wife Jer. 3.1.22 For hee is God and not man yea such a sin-pardoning God as never was heard of Micah 7.18 If there bee but a Doves eye in the heads of any of his a columbine simplicity if simple to do evil bunglers at it and have nothing to say in defence of it when it is done Rom. 16.19 the amends is made and love with her long mantle covers a multitude of sins Prov. 10.12 Inter Romanos dicebatur Tu Caius ego Caia So here the Spouse I am Japha because thou art Japhe Joppa a fair haven Town had its name from this root like as the fair havens Act. 27.8 and the beautiful gate Act. 3.2 Vers 16. Behold thou art fair my Beloved yea pleasant Behold thou art fair my Love c. said hee to her It were fitter a fair deal for mee to say so to thee saith shee here to him sith all my beauty is but borrowed of thee
Epicureans that if any were good amongst them it was meerly from the goodness of their nature for they taught and thought otherwise And as Peter Moulin said of many of the Priests of France that they were for their loyalty not beholding to the Maxims of Italy and yet Bellarmine hath the face to say De notis Eccles l. 4. c. 13 Sunt quidem in Ecclesia Catholica plurimi mali sed ex haeriticis nullus est bonus Among Papists there are many bad men but among Protestants not one good man is to bee found Vers 10. Hee made the pillars thereof i. e. The faithful Ministers called Pillars Gal. 2.9 and that Atlas-like bear up the pillars of it Psalm 75.3 Those that offer violence to such Sampson-like they lay hands upon the pillars to pluck the house upon their own heads Yea they attempt to pull Stars out of Christs hand Revelations 1. which they will finde a work not feisable Of silver For the purity of matter and clearness of sound for their beauty stability and incorruption Let Ministers hereby learn how they ought to behave themselves in the house of God which is the Church of the living God the pillar and ground of truth 1 Tim. 3.15 The bottom thereof of gold Understand it either of Gods Word which is compared to the finest gold or of that precious grace of Faith the root of all the rest whence it is laid by St. Peter as the bottom and basis the foundation and fountain of all the following graces 2 Epist 1.5 Add to your Faith virtue and to virtue knowledge c. they are all in Faith radically every grace is but Faith exercised Hence wee read of the joy of Faith the obedience of Faith the righteousness of Faith c. Shee is the Mother-grace the womb wherein all the graces are conceived Hence the bottom of Christs fruitful bed the pavement of his glorious Bride-chamber the Church is here said to bee of gold that is of Faith which is called gold Rev. 3.17 compared with 1 Pet. 1.7 that the tryal of your Faith or your well-tryed Faith for it seems to bee an Hebraism being much more precious than that of gold c. And here Bern. Melius est pallens aurum quam fulgens aurichalcum gold though paler is better than glittering copper Splendida peccata The Faith of Gods Elect is far more precious than the shining sins of the beautiful abominations of meer Moralists Suppose a simple man should get a stone and strike fire with it and thence conclude it a precious stone Why every flint or ordinary stone will do that So to think one hath this golden grace of Faith because hee can bee sober just chast liberal c. Why ordinary Heathens can do this True gold will comfort the fainting heart which Alchymy gold will not Think the same of Faith The covering of it of Purple I am of their mind that expound it of Christs blood wherewith as with a Canopy or a kinde of Heaven over head the Church is covered and cured Rev. 5.16 7.14 Rom. 6.3 4. Purple was a rich and dear commodity amongst them see Prov. 31.22 7.5 Mark 15.17 Luk. 16.19 The precious blood of Christ is worthily preferred before gold and silver 1 Pet. 1.18 19. The midst thereof being paved with love For Christ loved us and washed us with his blood Rev. 1.5 Hee also fills his faithful people with the sense of his love who therefore cannot but finde a great deal of pleasure in the waies of God because therein they let out their souls into God and taste of his unspeakable sweetness they cannot also but reciprocate and love his love So the bottom the top and the middle of this reposing place are answerable to those three Cardinal graces faith hope and love 1 Cor. 13. For the daughters of Jerusalem This Charret or Bridal-bed hee made for himself hee made it also for the daughters of Jerusalem for all his is theirs Union being the ground of Communion As wee must do all for Christ according to that Quicquid agas propter Deum agas and again Propter te Domine propter te choice and excellent Spirits are more taken up with what they shall do for God than what they shall receive from God so Christ doth all for us and seeks how to seal up his dearest love to us in all his actions and atchievements Christs death and bloodshed saith Mr. Bradford is the great Seal of England yea of all the world for the confirmation of all Patents and Perpetuities of the everlasting life whereunto hee hath called us This death of Christ therefore look on as the very pledge of Gods love toward thee c. See Gods hands are nailed they cannot strike thee Serm. of Repent 63 his feet also hee cannot run from thee His arms are wide open to embrace thee his head hangs down to kiss thee his very heart is open so that therein look nay even spy and thou shalt see nothing therein but love love love to thee Hide thee therefore lay thine head there with the Beloved Disciple joyn thee to Christs Charret as Philip did to the noble Eunuchs This is the cleft of the Rock wherein Elias stood This is for all aking heads a pillow of Down c. Vers 11. Go forth O yee Daughters of Zion i.e. All yee faithful souls which follow the Lord Christ the Lamb that stands upon Mount Zion Rev. 14.1 4. Yee shall not need to go far and yet far yee would go I dare say to see such a gallant sight as King Solomon in his Royalty the Queen of Sheba did behold hee is at hand Tell yee the Daughters of Zion behold thy King cometh c. Mat. 21.5 Go forth therefore forth of your selves forth from your friends means all as Abraham did and the holy Apostles Confessours and Martyrs and as the Church is bid to do Psal 45.10 forget also thine own people and thy Fathers house Good Nazianzen was glad that hee had something of value to wit his Athenian learning to part with for Christ Horreo quicquid de meo est ut meus sim saith Bernard Hee that will come to mee must go utterly out of himself saith our Saviour All Saint Pauls care was that hee might bee sound in Christ but lost in himself Epist ad Gabr. Vydym Ambula in timore contemptu tui ora Christum ut ipse tua omnia faciat tu nihil facias sed sis sabbatum Christi saith Luther walk in the fear and contempt of thy self and rest thy spirit in Christ this is to go forth to see King Solomon crowned yea this is to set the Crown upon Christs head Camd. Elisab Anno 1585. When Queen Elizabeth undertook the protection of the Netherlands against the Spaniard all Princes admired her fortitude and the King of Sweden said that shee had now taken the Diadem from her own Head and set
read of faces eyes wings hands c. all to express the sufficiency of Gods providence for all means of help See Psal 33.18 19. 34.16 The Church is like the land of Canaan which is said to be a land which the Lord careth for the eyes of the Lord are alwaies upon it c. Deut. 11.11 Hee seeth that loveliness in her that hee overlooks all as it were to look upon her hee beholds that worth in her that the buzzards of the world cannot ken Therefore the world knows us not respects us not because it knew not him 1 John 3.1 saw no such beauty that they should desire him Isa 53.2 Nicostratus in Elian himself being a cunning Artisan finding a curious piece of work and being wondred at by one and asked by one what pleasure hee could take to stand gazing as hee did on the picture answered Hadst thou mine eyes thou wouldst not wonder but rather bee ravished as I am at the inimitable art of this piece Semblably had men those dove-like single eyes that Christ and his people have washed in milk that is in milk-white waters cleansed from the dust of sinful prejudice and fitly set as a precious stone in the foyl of a ring or as the precious filling-stones in the holy Ephod Exod. 25.7 they would kiss the Sonne and admire his Spouse Whereas for want of Spiritual eyes the Northern proverb is verified unkent unkist unknown unrespected Vers 13. His cheeks are as a bed of spices i. e. comely and pleasant to the sight sweet also to the smell areolis similes aromatum plenis flourishing with a goodly comely fresh and sweet beard so declaring his face not onely to be gracious and amiable but also full of gravity glory and majesty There are that would have all these things to bee taken literally of Christs natural body and that here is set down his Prosopography But this was written long before Christ was incarnate and therefore it must needs be meant in a metaphorical and allegorical sense hard to bee explained Ego quid de singulis statuam fateor me nescire saith a learned Interpreter Allegorically to handle all these is not in my purpose or power saith another sith the graces of Christ as they cannot well bee expressed so by reason of our weakness they cannot better bee declared The drift of the holy Ghost is to paint out unto us the spiritual and heavenly love of his Church to Christ who doth not nor cannot satisfie her self with any words or comparisons of this kind And secondly to stir up our heartiest and liveliest affections to him that hath such a world of worth and wealth in him As the worth and value of many peeces of silver is in one peece of gold so all the petty excellencies scattered abroad in the creatures are united in Christ yea all the whole volume of perfections which is spread thorow Heaven and Earth is epitomized in him why do wee not then make out to him and despise all for him with Paul Why do wee not with David chide our selves and others for loving vanity Psal 4.2 and seeking after leasing How long wilt thou go about O backsliding daughter Isa 7.14 and fetch a compass knowest thou not that the Lord hath created a new thing in the Earth a woman shall compass a man Jer. 31.22 that is a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son even the Man Christ Jesus in whom it pleased the Father that there should dwell all fulness Col. 1.19 Make wee therefore straight paths for our feet Heb. 12.13 Let us go speedily to Christ Zech. 8.21 as Bees do to a Meddow full of flowers as Merchants do to the Indies that are full of fruits and spices that wee may return from him full fraught with treasures of truth and grace His lips like Lillies dropping sweet-smelling myrrhe i. e. His word and doctrine is white sweet pleasant far-spreading as Lillies sweet to the smell and yet bitter to the taste as myrrhe no way pleasing to the flesh which it mortifieth calling upon men to repent reform walk by rule strive to enter in at the straight gate resist unto blood striving against sin These things are good and profitable to men as the Apostle speaks in another case Tit. 3.8 but they naturally care not to hear of them Drop not yee say they wee like not your Lillies dropping myrrhe and nitre Let those drop or prophesie Micah 2.6 that preach pleasing things Wee like your Lillies but care not for your Myrrhe or if wee smell it wee like not to taste of it because little toothsome however it may bee wholesome Vers 14. His hands are as gold Rings set with the Beril Or Chrysolite Heb. Tarshish whence our word Turkeis as it may seem a precious stone of colour blew like the Skie or as others say green like the Sea Asher was graven upon this stone who dwelt near the Sea Exod. 28.20 Some write that in former times this stone was most usually set in such Rings as Lovers did use to give one to another or in Marriage-Rings because of the power that was thought to bee in it to procure and continue love and liking one of them towards another Whatsoever stone it is whether a Beril Chrysolite Carbuncle Hyacinth Onyx for all these waies it is rendred the Churches meaning is that all the works of Christ whether in the state of Humiliation or of Exaltation for redemption wee have by his Abasement application of it by his Advancement are most rare dear precious and glorious as numbers of Rings filled with all manner of costly stones they are acceptable and honourable before God and man And like as great men are known by their Rings and rich Jewels so is Christ by his Saints the work of his hands Isa 64.8 His belly is as bright Ivory overlaid with Sapphires Heb. His bowels in the dual meaning his breast and belly and there the heart and lights those seats of the will and affections here the liver stomach entrails which serve for nutrition and generation By all this wee may well understand Christs inward affections outwardly manifested These are true and sincere as bright and white Ivory they are also hearty and heavenly as Sapphires various also and manifold sicut Sapphiri caeruleae sunt His bowels yearn toward his afflicted people his heart is turned within him his repentings are kindled together Hos 11.8 so the Poet Ingemuit miserans graviter dextramque tetendit Virg. Vers 15. His leggs are as pillars of marble A sign of Christs firmness in his Kingdome works word and government saith a learned Expositour and of his strength to trample upon his enemies as also of his united power to accomplish the course of his three-fold office Pillars both bear up the building and beautifie it neither can any thing be more sure and solid than these if set upon a firm foundation The Pillars here mentioned are said to bee set upon fine
argumentum aversi Dei quemadmodum diabolus interpretatuâ— Lavat in Prov. 3. sed potius paternae ipsius benevolentiae saith learned Lavater It is not an argument of Gods wrath and displeasure as the Devil would make it but rather of his fatherly love and affection hee hides his love as Joseph did out of increasement of love And yet how apt are wee to say in this case with those male-contents in Malachi In quo dilexisti nos Wherein hast thou loved us and with those Israelites in the Wilderness Is God amongst us as if that could not bee Exod 17.7 Judg. 6.12 and they athirst O my Lord said Gideon If the Lord bee with us why then is all this evil befallen us And Lord God said Abraham when hee had received many gracious promises What wilt thou give mee seeing I go childless Gen. 15.1 2. We see then how ready the best of us are to cast the helve after the hatchet as they say and like little children because wee may not have what wee would sullenly to say God loves us not and we will not have what hee thinks good to give unto us My soul refused comfort saith hee Psal 77.2 And I said my hope and my strength is perished from the Lord remembring mine afflictions and my misery the wormwood and the gall Lam. 3.18 19 This our folly and fault wee must confess to Christ as the Church here doth and beseech him by his Spirit to teach us better things that wee may not mistake the cause of our calamities and make them heavier than God meant them by our frowardness and impatience Pondus ipsa jactatione incommodius fit saith Seneca Vers 13. Return return O Shulamite The Church is so called of her peace and perfection with God in Christ Brightman gathers from this word that the Church of the Jews in special is meant the Church in general being usually before signified by the daughters of Jerusalem and applies it to the recalling of the Jews according to Rom. 11.25 c. which is yet to be fulfilled Solomons wife saith another was after his name called the Shulamite according to Isa 4.1 And as Christ in this Book is named Solomon so the Church is called Shulamite to shew the communion that shee hath with him and therefore also the forming of the Hebrew word is rather passive than active That which shee is again and again called upon to do is to return It seems shee had so posted apace after Christ as on swift chariots vers 12. that shee had gone quite beyond him Hee therefore as it were by houting and shouting to her calls her back How easily wee overshoot and run into extreams may bee seen in Peter John 13.9 and the Galatians chap. 4. It is best to hold the golden mean Howbeit as in falling forward is nothing so much danger as backward so hee that is earnest in good though hee may over do and carry some things indiscreetly yet is he far better than a lusk or Apostate especially if he afterwards return and discern and hearken to better counsell But some are so set upon it that like a man that is running a race though you give them never so good advice they will not stay to hear it Of these the Proverb is verified Prov. 19.2 Hee that hasteth with his feet sinneth Prov. 19.2 See the Note there That wee may look upon thee Or contemplate thee with complacency and delight This is the speech of the Bridegroom and his friends The Church though in her fright and grief for want of her Beloved though unveyled and evil-intreated by the Watch-men c. and so not so sightly as at some other times yet wanted not that beauty that made her desireable like as some faces appear most oriently beautiful when they are most instampt with sorrow and as the sky is most clear after a storm What will yee see in the Shulamite as it were the company of two Armies Ready to joyn battail or maintaining Civil War within her for in the Christian conflict the very same faculties are opposed because in every faculty the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other Gal. 5.17 These maintain civil broils within the Shulamite as the two Babes did in Rebecca's womb so that shee cannot do what shee would And this the Apostle spake by woful experience as appears Rom. 7.21 15. Something lay at the fountain head and stopt it There is a continual contest with spiritual wickednesses about heavenly priviledges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 6.12 Put fire and water together there is no quiet till one of them get the victory So in sicknesses Let a man have a strong disease and a strong body hee shall never have any rest as long as they both continue in their strength When Christ was born all Jerusalem was troubled When Paul came to Ephesus there arose no small stir about that way Acts 19.23 So when grace is wrought once there 's somewhat to do within though till then all was jolly quiet When cold Salt-Peter and hot Brimstone meet they make a great noise so do the flesh and spirit in their skirmishes and encounters Now these two duellars meet and fight in every faculty of the soul as hot and cold do in luke-warm water as light and darkness meet in the morning light or as wine and water in a cup mixt of both In the wicked one faculty may and sometimes doth oppose another as sensual appetite may resist natural reason c. But in such as are sanctified the understanding is against the understanding the will against the will c. as the sick patient both wills and nills those physical slibber-sauces But Satan is not so divided against himself Luke 11.18 No more is the flesh It is in the Shulamite onely and in every part of her that this conflict is found which maketh her cry out with Rebecca sometimes If it bee so Why am I thus and with Paul Wretched creature that I am c. CHAP. VII Vers 1. How beautiful are thy â—eet with shooes c. BEfore hee had described her from head to foot now back again from foot to head taking in ten parts of his Spouse concerning whom such was his love hee thought hee could never say sufficient Hee begins at the lowest and most abject part the feet not without admiration of them O quam pulchri sunt pedes tui O how beautiful are thy feet with shooes c A temporal calling honours our profession so some understand it Others make the meaning to bee the Churches being shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace ready prest to run with patience the race that is set before her To run is active to run with patience is passive Ephes 6.15 Heb. 12.1 This Princes daughter Atalanta-like can only skill of this running with patience as being shod with Tachash-skin Ezek. 16.10
surely that sweet singer never sang more melodiously than when his heart was broken most penitentially Psal 6. 51. Thus birds in the spring sing most sweetly when it rains most sadly and tears of true contrition are pillulae lucis pills made on purpose to clear the eye-sight When John wept the sealed book was set open to him Lilium lachryma sua seritur Light is sown for the righteous Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon c. Si verborum faciem consideremus quid poterit magis dici ridiculum saith Titleman upon the words If we look upon the out-side onely of this text what may seem to have been spoken more ridiculous Is it so great a commendation to have a nose like a tower That which wee must here-hence learn is that seeing Christ is now risen again and ascended up into heaven wee ought to bear our noses aloft as it were savouring things of the Spirit of Christ discerning things that are excellent and by a Spiritual sagacity aspiring to eternity That looketh toward Damascus The chief City of Syria having its name from the bloody excursions of theeves as Peter Martyr thinketh or else Pet. Mart. in 1 Reg. 16. as others from the blood of righteous Abel there spilled whence the place was called Damsech a bag of blood Vers 5. Thine head upon thee is like Carmel This head is Christ himself for hee is the sole head of his Church God hath put all things under his feet hence hee is here compared to Carmel because hee is high over all and given him to bee head over all things that is over all persons in the Church Ephes 1.18 22. Angels are under Christ as an head of government of influence of confirmation not of redemption as the Saints are The Angels are great friends to the Church but not members of it Heb. 2.16 The Church Christ sanctified and washed with his blood Ephes 5.26 Not so the Angels He was but a poor patron of the Popes Head-ship that said and as he thought very wisely too that hee had read in some Vocabulary that Cephas signified an head therefore Peter was head of the Church But if that should have been granted him yet it would not follow that the Pope is therefore so too For Belarmine a better scholar by far is forced to say Forte non est de jure divino Rom Pontificem Petro succedere Perhaps it is not by any divine right Lib. 2. de Rom. Pontif. c. 12. that the Pope succeedeth Peter And again Rom Pontificem Petro succedere non habetur expresse in Scripturis It is not expresly set down in the Scriptures that the Pope succeedeth Peter And the hairs of thine head like purple Which was the colour of Kings and Princes The Saints called here the hair of the Churches head for their number or multitude are Princes in all lands Psal 45.16 yea they are Kings in righteousness as Melchisedech was a King but somewhat obscure Compare Mat. 13.17 with Luke 10.24 Many righteous saith one Many Kings saith the other have desired to see those things that yee see c. The King is held in the galleries i. e. There is no King in the world so great and glorious but might finde in his heart to bee tied to these walks and to bee held prisoner in the sight of thee and thy bravery Like as King James comming first into the publique Library at Oxford and viewing the little chains wherewith each book there is tied to its place wished Rex Platon pag. 123. that if ever it were his destiny to bee a prisoner that Library might bee his prison those books his fellow-prisoners those chains his fetters Psal 138.4 5. 119. 72. The Psalmist shews by prophecying that even Kings comming to taste the excellency of the comforts of godliness and to feel the power of Gods Word should sing for joy of heart and greatly acknowledge the excelling glory of Christs Spouse the Church See Davids desire Psal 27.4 84. throughout Constantine and Valentinian two Emperours called themselves Vasallos Christi as Socrates reports the Vassals of Christ and Theodosius another Emperour professed that it was more honour and comfort to him to be membrum Ecclesiae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch quam caput Imperit a member of the Church than head of the Empire Nay Numa second King of Rome though but a Heathen held it an higher honour to serve God than to reign over men Some Interpreters by the King here understand Christ coveting the Churches beauty Psal 45.12 and held fast bound unto her in the bands of pure affection of spiritual wedlock Vers 6. How fair and how pleasant art thou O love for delight Emphatica haec admodum sunt cum toties exclamatio ponatur saith one This is a most Emphatical exclamation proceeding from admiration and importing that all that hee could say of her was too little Well might the Prophet say As the Bridegroom rejoyceth over his Bride so doth thy God over thee Isa 62.5 Hence hee can make no end here of commending her but having finished one praise hee presently begins another This yields infinite matter of comfort to the Saints that Christ loves them so dearly prizeth them so highly praiseth them so heartily Howbeit let not them hereupon turn again to folly Psal 85.8 or give way to carnal security Laetemur in domino sed caveamus à recidivo Argue not from mercy to liberty that 's the Devils Logick but from mercy to duty as those good souls do Ezra 9.13 14. Having received such and such both privative and positive favours should we again break thy commandments There is so much unthankfulness and dis-ingenuity in such an entertainment of mercy that holy Ezra thinks heaven and earth would bee ashamed of it Shall wee continue in sin that grace may abound saith the Apostle Rom. 6.1 And it is as if hee should say that were most unreasonable and to a good heart impossible A man may as well say the sea burns or fire cools as that assurance of Christs love breeds careless and loose living They that hold so know not the compulsive power of Christs love 2 Cor. 5.14 nor what belongs to the life of God Eph. 4.18 Vers 7. This thy feature is like to a palm-tree This thy whole stature and feature of body that hath been already pourtraied and described particularly and piece-meal is like to a palm-tree strong and straight fresh and flourishing so that thou maist say with the palm in the Emblem Nec premor nec perimor Pliny Aristotle Plutarch and Gellius have written of the palm-tree that it is alwaies green bearing pleasant fruit and that it will not bow downward or grow crooked though heavy weights bee hanged upon it The Church is all this and more ever green even in the winter of affliction when the oak loseth her leaves See the Note on chap. 1.16 full of the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus
Away then with all such mock-stays See the fruit of creature-confidence Job 6.17 8.15 and know that no man trusts Christ at all that trusts him not alone Hee that stands with one foot on a rock and another foot on a quick-sand will sink and perish as certainly as hee that standeth with both feet on a quick-sand See Psal 6.2.2.5 6. I raised thee up under the Apple-tree c. Here the Bride answereth to the Bridegrooms question Who is this or What woman is this that cometh up from the Wilderness c that goes in a right line to God leaning on her Beloved that will not break the hedge of any commandment to avoid any peece of foul way I am shee saith the Church even the very same that raised thee up under the apple-tree c. viz. by mine earnest prayers When thou wast asleep under the apple-tree and I had straightly charged the Damosels of Jerusalem not to disquiet thee by their sins yet I took the boldness to arouse thee and say as Psal 44.23 Awake why sleepest thou O Lord arise cast us not off for ever and with those drowning Disciples Master earest thou not that wee perish Sometimes saith one God seems to lose his mercy and then wee must finde it for him as Isa 63.10 sometimes to sleep and then wee must waken him quicken him Psal 40.17 Isa 62.7 God will come but he will have his peoples prayers lead him Dan. 10.12 I come for thy Word Christ himself is the apple-tree here mentioned as Cant. 2.3 Though there are that interpret it of the Cross that tree whereon hee bare our sins in his own body 1 Pet. 2.24 Others better of the tree of offence the forbidden fruit Gen. 2. And that when Eve tasted of that fruit which they here-hence conclude to have been an apple though the word bee more general Nux enim pomum dicitur then as Christs mother shee brought him forth by believing the promise there made unto her that Messiah of her seed should break the Serpents head Look how the Virgin Mary conceived Christ when shee yielded her assent When the Angel spake to her what said shee presently Be it as thou hast said Let it bee even so shee yielded her assent to the promise that shee should conceive a son and shee did conceive him So Eve believed the promise of pardon and salvation shee saw it afar off was perswaded of it and embraced it Heb. 11.13 and is therefore said here to bear and bring forth Christ yea to travell of him with sorrow as the word signifies for as there is no other birth without pain so neither is the new birth Those that have passed through the narrow womb of repentance and been born again will say as much See Isa 26.17 If God brake Davids bones and the Angels back saith one hee will break thy heart too if ever hee save thee No sound heart ever went to heaven as in another sense none but sound could ever come thither Cor integrum cor scissum Rent your hearts c. Vers 6. Set mee as a seal upon thine heart i. e. Bee thou as a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God Heb. 2.17 with Exod. 28.21 29. Remember mee for good and make mention of mee to thy Father Have mee also in pretious esteem as great men have the signets upon their right hands and as whatsoever is sealed with a seal that is excellent in its own kinde as Isa 28.25 hordeum signatum excellent barly Christ wears his people as a signet or as great men wear their jewels to make him glorious in the eyes of men neither will hee bee plundered of them by the Churches enemies to touch them Zech. 2.8 is to touch the apple of his eye that tenderest piece of the tenderest part The Proverb is Oculus fama non patiuntur jocos The eye and the good name can bear with no jests As the Saints are in Christs heart ad commoriendum convivendum so they are also upon his arm so that if they do but come and say in any danger or difficulty Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord awake as in the ancient days c. Isa 51.9 hee will redeem his people with his arm Psal 77.15 yea with his out-stretcht arm Exod. 6.6 that is with might and open manifestation of his love hee will awake as one out of sleep and like a man that shouteth by reason of wine Psal 78.65 For love is strong as death And yet death is so strong that it passeth over all men Rom. 5.12 and devoureth them as sheep Psal 49.14 as a rot it over-runneth the whole flock having for its Motto Nulli cedo I yield to none Onely love is strong as death nay stronger Jonathan would have died for the love of David David of Absolom Arsinoe interposed her self between the Murtherers weapons sent by Ptolomy her brother to kill her children Priscilla and Aquila for St. Pauls life laid down their own necks Rom. 16.4 Paul was in deaths often for Jesus sake Those primitive Martyrs loved not their lives unto the death Rev. 12.11 Certatim gloriosa in certamina ruebatur saith Sulpitius they were prodigal of their dearest lives and even ambitious of Martyrdome that thereby they might seal up their entire love to the Lord Jesus If every hair of mine head were a man Act. Mon. fol. 1438. I would suffer death in the opinion and faith that I am now in said John Ardley Martyr to Bishop Bonner Ignis crux bestiarum conflictationes ossium distractiones c. Let mee suffer fire cross breaking of my bones quartering of my members crushing of my body and all the torments that men or devils can devise so I may enjoy my Lord Jesus Christ said holy Ignatius whose Motto was Amor meus crucifixus my love was crucified Love is it self a passion and delights to shew it self in suffering for the party beloved yea though it were to pass through a thousand deaths for his sake And this is here yielded as a reason why the Spouse first awakened Christ and now desires to bee so nearly knit unto him to bee set as a seal upon his hand yea upon his heart the love of Christ constrained her and lay so hard upon her that she could do no less than beg such a boon of him than covet such a courtesie as a compensation of her dearest love to him And surely to account Christ precious as a tree of life although wee bee fastned to him as to a stake to bee burned this is love and this our labour of love cannot be in vain in the Lord. Jealousie is cruel as the grave Or zeal is hard as hell This follows well upon the former Contra Adamant c. 13. for Non amat qui non zelâ—t saith Augustine Zeal is the extream heat of love and other affections for and toward any whom wee esteem burning in our love to him desire
of him delight in him indignation against any that speak or do ought against him The object of zeal is either Man as 2 Cor. 7.7 Coloss 4.17 Basil venturing himself very far for his friend and by some blamed for it answered Ego aliter amare non didici I cannot love a man but I must do mine utmost for him Or Secondly God as John 3.17 2 Cor. 7.11 Rev. 3.19 And here out love will be and must appear to be fervent desire eager delights ravishing hopes longing hatred deadly anger fierce fear terrible grief deep deeper than those black deeps a place so called at the Thames-mouth whereinto Richard the third caused the dead bodies of his two smothered Nephews to be cast Speed 935. being first closed up in lead c. The coals thereof are coals of fire Or fiery darts that set the soul all on a light fire and turn it into a coal or lump of love to Christ The word here used is elsewhere taken for fiery thunderbolts Psal 78.48 and for brass-headed arrows that gather heat by motion Psal 76.4 also for a carbuncle or burning feaver Deut. 32.24 The Church had said before more than once that shee was sick of love here shee feels her self in a feaver as it were or as if her liver were struck through with a love-dart by that spirit of judgement and of burning Isa 4.4 kindling this flame of God as shee calls it here upon the haâ—h of her heart The word signifies the consuming flame of God and zeal may be very fitly so called For as it comes from above even from the father of lights as the fire of the Altar did so it tends to him and ends in him it carries a man up as it were in a fiery Chariot and conformes his corruptions by the way It quencheth also those fiery darts of the devill as the Sun-beams will put out the kitchin fire and sets the tongue a work as the Holy Ghost set on fire the Apostles tongues Act. 2. when as wicked mens tongues full of deadly poyson are yet further set on fire from hell Jam. 3.6 yea the whole man a work for God and his glory as Elias with his Zelando zelavi hee sucked in fire with his mothers breast as some have legended St. Paul is mad for God so some misjudged him 2 Cor. 5.13 as ever hee had once been against him Act. 26.11 Peter was a man made all of fire walking amongst stubble saith Chrysostome And of one that desired to know what manner of man Basil was it is said there was presented in a dream a pillar of fire with this Motto Talis est Basilius such an one is Basil Such also was Savanarola Farel Luther Latimer that bold Tell-troth who when hee was demanded the reason why there was so much preaching and so little practiced answered roundly deest ignis the flame of God is wanting in mens hearts Vers 7. Many waters cannot quench love Water was proved long since to be above fire in that ancient contest between those two Nations about the precedency and precellency of their Gods the one worshipping Fire and the other Water But though there be Gods many and Lords many yet to the Church there is but one Lord and to him shee will go thorow thick and thin thorow fire and water Her love to him is such as no good can match it no evill over-match it it cannot be quenched with any calamity nay it is much kindled by it as fire in the smiths-forge or as lime that is the hotter for the water that is cast upon it Elias would have water poured on the sacrifice covered therewith that the power of God might the more appear in the fire from heaven Semblably Christ suffers the ship of his Church to be covered sometimes with waves of persecutions and afflictions that the strength of their love to him may bee the more manifested and the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed Luk. 2.35 It is easie to swim in a warm bath and every bird can sing in a summers day but to swim to heaven as Queen Elizabeth did to her throne through a sea of sorrows to sing as some birds will do in the spring most sweetly then when it rains most sadly that 's a true trial indeed Many will imbark themselves in the Churches cause in a calm that with the Mariners in the Acts will flee out of the ship in a storm Many will own a prospering truth a blessing Ark but hee is an Obed-Edom indeed that will own a persecuted tossed banished Ark an Ark that brings the plague with it God sets an high price on their love that stick to him in affliction 2 Sam. 15.18 as David did on those men that were with him at Gath those Cherethites and Pelethites that stuck to him when Absalom was up And notwithstanding their late mutiny at Ziklag hee takes them to Hebron with him where hee was to bee crowned that as they had shared with him in his misery so they might partake of his prosperity Lo thus likewise deals our heavenly David with all his fellow-sufferers Hee removes them at length from the ashes of their forlorn Ziklog to the Hebron of heaven And at the general judgement in that great Amphitheater of Men and Angels Christ will stand forth and say Ye are they that continued with me in my temptations and I appoint unto you a Kingdome c. Luke 22.28 29. Neither can the floods drown it surgit hic afflictio Neh. 1.9 This is not a vain repetition but serves to shew that no persecution tribulation anguish though never so grievous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though the devil should cast out of his mouth water enough to carry us down the stream as Rev. 12.15 shall be able to separate the Saints from the love of Christ Rom. 8.35 If a man would give all the substance of his house c. i. e. To buy this love of me or to get it from me I should cry out with Peter Thy money perish with thee or with Luther Contemptus est à me Romanus favor furor I care neither for Romes favour nor fury When they offered to make him a Cardinal if he would be quiet hee replied No not if I might be Pope And when they consulted about stopping of his mouth with money one wiser than the rest cryed out Hem Germana illa bestia non curat aurum Alack that German beast cares not for money Galeacius Caracciolus His Life by Mr. Crashaw that noble Italian Convert left all for the love of Christ and went to live a poor obscure life at Geneva Where when hee was tempted to revolt for money hee cried out Let their mony perish with them who esteem all the gold in the world worth one daies society with Jesus Christ and his holy Spirit And cursed bee that religion for ever that by such baits of profit pleasure and preferment seeks to draw men aside from the
way of truth and holiness The Papists propose rewards to such as shall relinquish the Protestant religion and turn to theirs as in Ausborough where they say there is a known price for it of ten Florens a year In France Spec. Europ where the Clergy have made contributions for the maintenance of runagate Ministers Stratagema nunc est Pontificum ditare multos ut pii esse desinant saith one that was no stranger to them Joh. Bapt. Gell. dial 5. It is a cunning trick that the Popes have taken up to enrich men that they may rob them of their religion And though Luther would not swallow that hook yet there are those that will not a few Tell men a tale of Utile promise them preferment and you may perswade them to any thing Fac me Pontificem ero Christianus said one Pammachius an Heathen once to the Pope Make mee a Bishop and I 'le turn Christian But as one said of Papists that they must have two conversions ere they come to heaven one from Popery and another from prophaneness like as corn must be first threshed and then winnowed so this money-merchant this preferment-proselyte might have been a Christian at large had hee had his desired Bishoprick but Christ never favoured any such self-seeking followers See Mat. 8.20 John 6.26 their love hee knows to be no better than meretricious and mercenary It is a sad thing that any Augustine should have cause to complain Vix diligitur Jesus propter Jesum that scarce any man loves Christ but for his rewards like the mixt multitude that came up with Israel out of Egypt for a better fortune Or those Persians that in Mordecai's daies for self-respects became Jews All Gods people should bee like those Medes in Isaiah that regarded not silver and as for gold they delighted not in it chap. 13.17 Christs love should bee better to them than wine Cant. 1.2 and when in exchange for it the devill doth offer them this worlds good they should answer him as the witch of Endor did Saul 1 Sam. 28.9 Judg. 9.11 Wherefore laiest thou a snare for my soul to cause mee to dye or as the vine and fig-tree in Jonathans Parable answered the rest of the trees Should I leave my fatness and sweetness derived unto mee from Christ and so go out of Gods blessing into the worlds warm Sunne God forbid that I should part with my patrimony as Naboth said take an apple for paradise as Adam did lose the love of Christ for the worlds blandishments c. Vers 8. Wee have a little sister Thou Lord and I have such a sister sc the Church of the Gentiles known to thee and fore-appointed to conversion as James speaketh in that first Christian counsell Act. 15.18 from the beginning of the world unknown to mee more than by hear-say from the holy Prophets 1 Pet. 1.10 who prophecied of the grace that should come unto her but not unloved or undesired Now therefore as a fruit of my true love unto thee such as no floods of troubles can quench or drench no earthly commodity can compass or buy off I desire not onely to deliberate with thee about the enlargement of thy Kingdome by the accession of the elect Gentiles thereunto but also by making as I may say large and liberal offers set forth my care and study for their eternal salvation See the like affection in St. Paul toward his country-men the Jews proceeding from that full assurance that hee found in himself Rom. 8.38 39. with chap. 9.1 And learn wee to pray as earnestly for their conversion as they have done for ours longing after them from the very heart-root in Jesus Christ as Philipp 1.8 and turning to the Lord that they may the sooner finde compassion It is Hezekiah's reason and a very remarkable one 2 Chron. 30.9 And shee hath no breasts i. e. Shee is not yet Nubilis apta viro marriageable and fit for Christ to bee presented as a chaste Virgin unto him shee wanted such paranymphs as Paul was to do it for her 2 Cor. 11.2 Shee had not a stablished Ministry to nurse up her children withall And at this same pass was the old Church at first not onely small but unshapen Ezek. 16.7 8. A society of men without the preaching of the Word is like a mother of children without breasts All the Churches children must suck and bee satisfied Isa 66.11 they must desire the sincere milk of the Word and grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 not like the changeling Luther speaks of ever sucking never batling Such shall be made to know that their mother hath verbera as well as ubera rods as well as dugges Their father will also repent him as once David did of his kindness to Nabal and take up his old complaint Isai 1.2 I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me The ox knoweth his owner c. the most salvage creatures will bee at the beck and check of those that feed them disobedience therefore under means of grace especially is against the principles of nature It is to bee like the horse and mule yea like the young mulet which hath no sooner done sucking her dammes teats but shee turns up her heels and kicks her What shall wee do for our sister Love is not more cogitative than operative and delights to bee doing for the beloved I love the Lord c. What shall I render unto him I will pay my vows c. Psal 116. Jonathan will disrobe and strip himself even to his sword and girdle for David because hee loved him as his own soul 1 Sam. 18.3 4. Shechem will do all that can be done for his beloved Dinah The Macedonians will over-do for their poor brethren Pauls love to the Jews was like the Ivy which if it cleave to a stone or an old wall will rather die than forsake it Rom. 9.3 He tells his Hebrews of their labour of love Heb. 6. all love is laborious In the day when shee shall bee spoken for Or wherein speech shall he had concerning her viz. for an husband for her how wee may best prefer her in marriage The care of disposing young people to fit yoke-fellows lay upon their parents and other kindred The Church as an elder-sister shews her self solicitous and propounds the matter to Christ as the onely best husband for her the partition-wall being broken down Vers 9. If shee be a wall wee will build upon her c. Christ answers If she be as she ought to be strong and well-grounded in the faith able to bear a good weight laid upon her as a wall pillar and ground of truth not sinking or fainting under the heaviest burden of these light afflictions which are but for a moment but patient and perseverant in the faith unto the death then will I do all for her that may bee done to make her happy This speech is somewhat like that of Solomon concerning Adonijah
7.16 Neither shall the heat nor Sun smite them As Psal 121.6 See the Note there For he that hath mercy on them He saith not Pastor but Miserator a sweeter title Even by the springs See Psal 23.3 with the Note Ver. 11. And I will make all my mountaines I will remove all rubs and lay all level pacifica erunt omnin foecunda suavia who would not then take up Christs so easie a yoke c Ver. 12. Behold these shall come from far The Jews from all parts whither they have been dispersed the Elect from all quarters of the earth Mat. 8.11 with the Notes And these from the land of Sini Or of the Sinites that is of the Chinois saith Junius and others whom the Greek Geographers call Sinois Arias Mont. Osorim A Lapide Mr. Cotton a very populous Nation Botterus saith that there are reckoned seventy millions of men which are more than are to be found in all Europe and who knows but many of those of the ten tribes of Israel are there Enthusiastico jubilo c. Oecolamp Ver. 13. Sing O heaven The Prophet having thus foretold the Saints happiness in and by Christ cannot hold but breaketh forth into Gods praises calling into consort all creatures which since the Fall have lain bed-ridden as it were looking with stretcht-out neck for their full deliverance Rom. 8.23 For the Lord hath comforted his people This is just matter of general joy Ver. 14. But Zion said The Church hath her vicissitudes of joy and sorrow mercies and crosses are interwoven God checkereth his Providences white and black he speckleth his work as Zach. 1.8 The Lord hath forsaken me No never Non deserit Deus etiamsi deserere videatur Aug. non deserit etiamsi deserat God may withdraw but not utterly desert his he may change his dispensation not his disposition toward them My Lord hath forgotten me My Lord still though little enjoyed at present So Psal 22.1 Plato could say that a man might beleeve and yet not beleeve I beleeve saith he in the Gospel help mine unbelief that is my weak and wavering faith Ver 15. Can a woman forget her sucking child T were a wonder she should grow out of kind as to be so unkind The mother fasteth that her childe may eat waketh that he may sleep is poor to make him rich slighted to make him glorious Occidar modo imperet said she in story Gods love to his is more than maternal All the mercies of all the mothers in the world being put together would not make the tythe of his mercy David saith much Psal 103.13 As a Father pittieth his children c. great was Jacobs love to Benjamin Davids to Absolom so that Job upbraideth him with it 2 Sam. 19 6. But God here saith more Can a woman forget c. The harlot could not yield to have her child divided Arsinoe interposed her own body betwixt the sword of the murtherer and her dear children Chronic. l. 5. Melancthon telleth of a Countesse of Thuringia who being compelled by her husbands cruelty to go into banishment from her children when she took leave of her eldest son she bit a piece of his cheek out amoris notam cruento morsu imprimens and so marked him for her own This is somewhat but what 's all this to the infinite Was there ever love like Gods love in sending his son to dye for sinners Christ himself wondreth at it Joh. 3.16 this was a sic without a sicut there being nothing in nature wherewith to parallel it See Rom. 8.32 Yea they may forget They may put off natural affection as some did in times of Popish persecution Julius Palmers mother for instance King Edward the Martyr was basely murthered by his own Mother Egelred succeeded him and much mourned for his brother being but ten years old which so enraged his mother that taking wax-candles which were readiest at hand she therewith scourged him so sore that he could never after endure wax candles to be burnt before him Ver. 16. Behold I have graven thee So that as oft as I look upon mine own hands I cannot but think on thee Non descripsit sed sculpsit quidem in manibus utraque scilicet Sculter We read of one who had written the whole history of Christs passion upon the nailes of his hands in small letters The signet on his finger a man cannot lightly look beside See Cant. 8.6 Jer. 22.24 Some think here is alluded to that precept given by God of binding the Commandements to their right hand Deut. 6. Thy walls are continually before me The Lord doth so delight in his servants that their walls are ever in his sight and he loveth to look upon the houses where they dwell See on Psal 87.6 Ver. 17. Thy children shall make haste People shall come in a main to the Church Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus sancti gratia God can make a Nation to conceive and bring forth in a day chap. 66.8 How quickly was the Gospel divulged and darted all the world over as the beams of the Sun so in the late blessed Reformation begun by Luther And they that made thee waste Tyrants and hereticks shall be cashiered as Zach. 13.2 Fiat Fiat Ver. 18. Lift up thine eyes round about and behold As those use to do which look upon ought with wonder and delight Thou shalt surely cloath thee with them as with an ornament The good sons of Zion are a great honour to their mother as the two Scipio's were to Cornelia and as that Elect Ladies children were to her Joh. 2. A godly man is a gallant man but the wicked are botches and blots to a Church Ver. 19. For thy waste and thy desolate places Heb. thy wastnesses and thy desolations The true Church then may lye waste and desolate and not be so gloriously visible as the Papists falsely say it alwaies is Shall even now be too narrow A Metaphor from Cities that being over-full send out colonies into other Countries And they that swallowed thee up See ver 17. Ver. 20. The children Heb. the children of thine orbity such as are not yet received into the Church Give place to me that I may People shall offer violence to heaven and the violent stall take it by force valde avide quasi ambitiose accessuri sunt Ezekiel describeth the Church of the New Testament to be very large and spacious and yet she shall be so crouded as is a bee-hive out of the mouth whereof the bees oft hang on heaps for want of room within Ver. 21. Then shalt thou say in thine heart Est artificiosa fictio color rhetoricus A Captive and removing too and fro The condition of Gods Church on earth to be afflicted and tossed from post to pillar having no settled aboad as neither had the Ark but was transportative till settled at length in Solomons Temple Ver. 22. Behold I will lift up my hand c. i.
the burnt-offering prefigured Baptism saith Polanus as did the tables ver 39. the Lords Supper wherein Christ the Lamb of God is slain in out sight Ver. 39. Two tables See on ver 38. Ver. 40. As one goeth up to the entry of the North Hereby was signified say some that our corrupt affections must be mortified and our lives laid down if need be for the truths sake seem it never so hard to be done sicut à Septentrione venti flant aspexi as North-winds are cold and comfortlesse Ver. 41. Four tables Not Altars nor yet Oyster-boards as the Papists scornfully call our Communion-tables Ver. 42. Wherewith they slew the burnt-offering The faithful Ministers of the Gospel do daily execute their Priestly offices and have their instruments according See Acts 10.13 Rom. 15.15 16. Philip. 2.17 The Saints also as spiritual Priests c. Rom. 12.1 1 Pet. 2.9 Ver. 43. And within were hooks Where hung the beasts when they were slayed and afterwards the Priests and offerers portions till after the sacrifice they were shared out Ver. 44. Were the chambers of the singers These were to set forth that Pastours should have all necessary help in their places by the other Church-officers The Levites were singers and porters 1 Chron. 23. 26. Ver. 45. For the Priests Let none else intrude into them See 2 Chron. 26.16 Ver. 46. Which come near Exod. 19.22 Levit. 10.3 21.17 18 21 23. Ver. 47. So he measured Christ doth all things in his Church in number weight and measure by his Spirit he ordereth the length bredth and depth of his spiritual house and bestoweth his gifts by measure to each member Rom. 12. 2 Cor. 10. Eph. 3. 4. Ver. 48. The porch of the house Which was covered over head to keep them dry in foul weather What Christ doth for all his See Isa 4.5 6. Isa 25.4 with the Notes Ver. 49. The length of the porch was twenty cubits After the cubit of the Sanctuary the weights and measures whereof were twice as large as those of the Commonwealth to shew that God expects much more of those that serve him there then he doth of others CHAP. XLI Ver. 1. AFterward This Chapter is no lesse dark and difficult then was the former which made Hierom ready to desist and give over commenting but that he thought it better to say something then nothing and was brought to know and say that the greatest part of those things he knew were but the least part of that he knew not What I do understand is good so I think is that I understand not said Socrates once of a certain dark Author We may be sure it is so here and must mirari potius quà m rimari waiting for more light and praying to that purpose as Ephes 1.17 18. He brought me to the Temple Who had hitherto been held in the Porch There was a new Church to be now erected by the preaching of the Gospel and this the measuring of the house chap. 40. of the Temple 41. of the courts 42. and of all the parts noteth And measured the posts Or Fronts or Frontispiece as the Vulgar hath it Which was the bredth of the Tabernacle Made of old by Moses Ver. 2. And he measured the length there of i. e. Not of the door as Hierom would have it but of the Temple the body and Basilike thereof called the first Sanctuary Heb. 9.2 Fourty cubits This noteth say some the long-suffering and patience of the Saints like as the bredth twenty cubits doth their charity Ver. 3. Then went he inward Toward the Holy of Holyes And the door Which in the second Temple was but a veil and rent at Christs Passion Ver. 4. And the breadth thereof twenty cubits So it was a just square intimating the stability of the Kingdom of Heaven a Kingdom that cannot be shaken Heb. 12.28 This is the most holy place The Holy of Holyes the Oracle the house of the soul wherein the only firm hope of Israel resteth so the Jews called it the Adytum or inaccessible place whither none might come but the High Priest only and that but once a year Pompy and Heliodorus for presuming to presse into it were heavily plagued Ver. 5. He measured the wall With the counter-forts added to it for strength and ornament these are commonly called Pilasters Six cubits sc In bredth Ver. 6. And the side-chambers were three one over another Substructiones Polan Costae Vatab. and thirty in order i. e. Three stories and thirty in each story Semblably there is a threefold rank or order of the members of the Church there are lowermost midlemost and uppermost these as they have their several offices and gifts accordingly so they must keep to their own stations do their own businesse live in love and wait till called unto an higher room Ver. 7. And there was an enlarging and a winding about still upward This might inmind Gods people of heavenly-mindednesse whereby their hearts will be enlarged when got once above the world as birds sing sweetly when got aloft into the aire Went still upward Let there be continual ascensions in our hearts Sursum corda Ver. 8. The foundations Plus rei quam ostentationis habebant Oecol The good soul rather seeks to be good then seems to be so Ver. 9. And that which was left Area pura the void place Piscat Ver. 10. And between the chambers Vulg. the treasuries In the Church much more rome is taken up by such as are void of the treasure of Gods grace then by better men rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom of Christ Ver. 11. Toward the place that was leâ—t Which served the faithful saith Hierom for an Oratory whither they went to pray Ver. 12. The separate place The Temple or at least some part of it Ver. 13. An hundred cubits The Temple of Ephesus was 245 foot long and 220 foot broad Howbeit for spiritual employment mystical signification none ever came near this edifice Ver. 14. Also the bredth an hundred cubits Whereas Solomon's Temple was but twenty cubits broad Ver. 15. An hundred cubits See on ver 13. With the inner temple and the porches thereof Summa infima juxtà curat Oecol nihil aspernatur Ver. 16. And the narrow windows and the windows were covered Here Hierom cryes out O the depth of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! Here be windows but narrow and covered which shews that we see not yet nor can see into heavenly things but obscurely and obliquely How little a thing doth man understand of God The holy Place was without windows Job 26.14 only there burned lights perpetually but in the most holy Place there was no light at all Ver. 17. By measure Heb. measure See on chap. 40.47 Pressa sub ingenti ceu pondere palma virescit Sub crucefic florent dedita corda Deo Plin. l. 13. c. 4. Ver. 18. And it was made with Cherubims