or by any mans perswasion The Monarch of Morocco told the English Ambassadour for King John that hee had lately read Saint Pauls Epistles which he liked so well Heyl. Geog. that were he now to chuse his Religion he would before any other embrace Christianity But every one ought saith he to dye in the religion received from his Ancestors and the leaving of the faith wherein he was born was the only thing that he disliked in that Apostle But the prudent are crowned with knowledge They know that dies diem docet and therefore are not so wedded to their old Principles Superstitions and Fopperies but that they can as right reason requires relinquish and abjure them glorifying the Word Acts 13.48 Acts 13. And receiving the truth in love 2 Thes 2.10 whereby it soon comes to passe that they get good repute and report of all men as Demetrius had yea and of the truth it self 3 Joh. 12. which is the Crown of all commendation Haud velim Erasmi gloria aut nomine vehi saith Luther I care not to be cried up as Erasmus is c. Vers 19. The evil bow before the good Here they do so many times as Josephs brethren before him in his greatnesse as Saul before Samuel Balshazzar before Daniel Euseb the persecuting tyrants before Constantine the great yea one of them viz. Maximinus Galerius being visited with grievous sicknesse not only proclaimed liberty to the poor persecuted Christians but also commanded their Churches to be re-edified Cresius and publick Prayers to be made for his recovery So Ezra 6.10 Pray for the Kings life and for his Sons some of which had dyed in their minority for the rest therefore Prayer must be made by the Church That place is wel known Isa 49.23 Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and their Queens thy nursing mothers they shall bow down to thee with their faces toward the earth and lick up the dust of thy feet c. The Prophet seems to allude to the manner of the Persians Pictorum solea basiare regum Martial who when they were to speak to their King did first kisse the pavement whereon he trod Howsoever natural consciences cannot but doe homage to the Image of God stamped upon the natures and practices of the righteous as is afore-noted and the worst cannot but think well of such and honour them in their hearts In the life to come these things shall have their full accomplishment and at the last day when the Saints shall judge the world and Christ shall have put all things under his feet so that they shall have power over the Nations Rev. 2.26 Vers 20. The poor is hated i. e. Lesse loved little respected as Gen. 29.31 Mal. 1.5 Luke 14.26 The Heathen could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adversity findes few friends Et cum fortuna statque caditque fides Few will appear for suffering Saints This Job and David much complain of but as when a Deer is shot the rest of the Herd push him out of their company so here Tempora si fueriut nubila solus eris The same Hebrew word that signifies Winter an Embleme of Poverty signifies reproach This thy son Luke 15.30 Not this my brother Joseph because in poverty The Samaritans would not once own the Jewes when they were at an under but disavow them as they did to Antiochus Epiphanes But when in prosperity then they would curry favour with them and call them their sweet Cousins When it was sometimes disputed among the Romans in the Council using to deifie great men whether Christ having done many wonderful works should bee received into the number of the gods it was resolved that he should not Propter hoc quod paupertatem praedicarit elogerit quam mundus contemnit because he preached poverty and chose poor men whom the world cares not for Purchas But the rich man hath many friends Such as they are ollares amici trencher-flies such as follow the scent and like Bohemian Curtes will fawn upon a good suit As for faithful friends divitibus ideo amicus deest quia nihil deest saith one few such to be found such as with Ittai the Gittite and Hushai the Archite will stick close to a David when stripped of all Josephus relates of the Jewes that they were very careful how they received Proselites in Salomons time because then the State of the Jews flourished Vers 21. Hee that despiseth his neighbour sinneth His poor neighbour Where the hedge is low the beast will easily break over None usually are so trampled on with the feet of pride and contempt by the great Bulls of Basan as the necessitous and afflicted Hence poor and afflicted are set together Zeph. 3.12 so are to want and to be abased Phil. 4.11 This is a great sin saith Salomon it is to commit sin and to bee convinced of the Law as transgressors saith Saint James chap. 3.9 But he that hath mercy on the poor happy is he His sins shall be remitted his necessities relieved and the blessings of God multiplied upon him even a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See my Common-place of Almes Vers 22. Doe they not erre that devise evil Heb. That plow it and plot it that dig it and delve it that whet their wits and beat their brains about it Toto errant calet doe not these erre are they not heavenly wide utterly out shall they not misse of their purpose and meet with disappointment witnesse those Babel-builders Gen. 11. those Kil-Christs Psal 2. those State Traytors Sheba Shebna c. divers English Traytors who drew their last thread in the Triangle of Tiburn Knute the first Danique King caused the false Edrics head to bee set on the highest part of the Tower of London Daniels Hist 19. therein performing his promise of advancing him above any Lord in the Land Traytors always become edious though the treason bee commodious Philip Duke of Austria Parei Hist prof madul 769. paid the Ambassadours of Charls the fourth who had betrayed their trust in counterfeit coyn whereof when they complained he answered that false coyn was good enough for false knaves James the first King of Scots was murdered in Perth by Walter Earl of Athol in hope to attain the Crown Hect. Boeth but his hopes failed him Crowned indeed he was but with a Crown of red hot Iron clapt upon his head being one of the tortures wherewith hee ended at once his wicked dayes and devises But mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good Mercy and truth were the best that David could wish to his fast friend Ittai 2 Sam. 15.20 These two Attributes of God shall cause that good devises shall not miscarry His mercy moves him to promise his truth binds him to perform 2 Sam. 7.18 21. For thy words sake and according to thine own heart hast thou done all these things According to thine own heart that is of meer
this is elegantly here set forth and in the two next verses but better times are at hand Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur Ver. 6. Ask ye now and see c. Was it ever heard of in this world that a male did bear The Poets indeed fable that Minerva was born of Jupiters brain Pictoribus atque poetis Quidlibet audendi fas est Wherefore do I see every man Heb. Every strong or mighty man With their hands on their loynes And not on their weapons And all faces turned into palenesse Through extream fear the blood running to the heart and the heart faln into the heeles The Septuagins for palenesse have the yellew jaundise the Vulgar gold-yellownesse Piscator Morbus regius the Hebrew properly implyeth the colour of blasted corn Deut. 28.22 It importeth that the most stout-hearted warriours should be enervati exangues more parturientium bloodlesse and spiritlesse as travelling women Ver. 7. Alasse for that day is great i. e. Troublesome and terrible somewhat like the last day the day of judgement which is therefore also called the Great day because therein the great God will do great things c. It is even the time of Jacobs trouble Such as never befell him before Those very dayes shall be Affliction so Mark expresseth the last desolation chap. 13.19 not Afflicted only but Affliction it self But though it be the time of Jacobs troubles let it be also the time of his trust for there will be shortly a day of his Triumph But he shall be saved out of it Not from it but yet out of it the Lord knoweth how to deliver his 2 Pet. 2.9 and though Sense say it will not be Reason it cannot be yet Faith gets above and sayes it shall be I descry land Ver. 8. I will break his yoak from off thy neck The forementioned misery did but make way for this mercy that it might be the more magnified Let the Saints but see from what to what and by what Jesus Christ hath delivered them and they cannot but be thankful Ver. 9. But they shall serve their Lord their God Without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of their lives Luk. 1.74 75. See Joh. 8. Rom. 8. And David their King i. e. Zorobabel of Davids line Hag. 2.23 but especially Christ the King of Saints as the Jew-Doctours also expound it Whom I will raise up to them To be Messiah the Prince Dan. 9.25 Christ the Lord Act. 5 31. Ver. 10. Therefore fear thou not O my servant Jacob This is Isay-like and indeed the Prophet here setteth himself verbis consolantissimis as one saith with most cordial comforts to chear the hearts of Gods poor afflicted Ver. 11. For I am with thee To preserve thee and to provide for thee to support thee and to supply thee Though I make a full end of all Nations See Isa 27.7 8. with the Notes See also on chap. 5.10 18. But I will correct thee in measure Heb. According to judgement not summo jure rigidâ justitiâ not as I might but in mercy and with moderation Aliqui reddunt Mundando non mundabo te id est non excoquam te exacte ad purum putum And will not leave thee altogether unpunished Heb. Et innocentando non innocentabo te in very faithfulnesse I will afflict thee that I may be true to thy soul and not cruel to thy body Ver. 12. Thy bruise is incurable i. e. Inevitable by Gods irrevocable decree Or it is incureable in it self but not to me who am an Almighty Physician or Chirurgion See Ezek. 37.11 they seemed free among the dead free of that company Ver. 13. There is none to plead thy cause Thou art friendlesse That thou mayst be bound up Thou art helplesse Ver. 14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee Thy sweet-hearts thine Idols thy carnal friends thy Priests Prophets riches pleasures all these have given thee the bag as we say they stand aloof from thy help They seek thee not Sink thou mayst or swim for them thou art no part of their care For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy As if I cared not where I hit thee or how much I hurt thee Crudelem medicum intemperans aeger facit With the chastisement of a cruel one So it may seem and so Job thought chap. 30.21 but that was his errour See here what a passe a Saint may be at and how deeply he may suffer when his sins are increased God out of love displeased may lay upon him and not spare leave bloody wailes on his back c. For the multitude of thine iniquities Because thy sins are many and mighty or hony See Am. 5.12 with the Note Ver. 15. Why cryest thou for thine affliction And not rather for thy sins cry not perii but peccavi not I am undone but I have done very foolishly See Lam. 3.39 40. Ver. 16. Therefore all they that devoured thee shall be devoured Or neverthelesse or yet all they that devoured thee c. q. d. That thou mayst experience that in love I corrected thee and for thy good though to thy so great grief I will have my penny worths on thine enemyes measuring to them as they have done to thee Ver. 17. For I will restore health It goes best with the Church when worst with her enemies It shall do so much more when all Christs foes shall be made his footstool Because they called thee an outcast Concluding so from thine afflictions Quam chara dus esset docuit quod est victa quod elocata quod servata Cic. pâ—o Flacco The Jewish Nation saith Tully shew how well God regards them that have been so oft subdued by the Chaldees Greeks Romans c. This was but a slender argument only God is moved by the enemies insolencies and insultations to look in mercy the rather upon his poor despised and despited people Saying This is Zion whom no man seeketh after Illusio ex allusione this was a jear by playing upon her name as if Zion signified a dry or waste place Per ludibrium blasphemam contumeliam and therefore not much to be desired Strabo indeed saith as much of Judaea And Mount Zion at this day nihil habet eximium nihil expetendum hath no great desireablenesse in it But certainly Judea was once a land flowing with milk and honey and Mount Zion was in no small request Howsoever none ought by their bitter taunts to add affliction to the afflicted but rather to weep with those that weep be pittiful be courteous 1 Pet. 3.8 Ver. 18. The captivity of Jacobs tents i. e. The poor captives that now live at Babylon as strangers in tents or huts And the City shall be builded upon her own heap Or hill sc in Mount Moriah Jerusalem shall be inhabited in Jerusalem Zech. 12. All this was prolusio perfectae liberationis in Christo saith Junius a type and pledge
of perfect deliverance by Christ Ver. 19. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving Mox ubi fides inde prodit laâ— confessio Faith is a fruitful grace the very womb wherein all the rest are conceived Ver. 20. Their children also shall be as aforetime How easily can the Lord turn again the captivity of his people set them statu quo prius Zach. 10.6 They shall be as if I had not cast them off See the Note there Ver. 21. And their Nobles shall be of themselves Forreiners shall no more domineer over them but they shall have Governours of their own Nation who shall be more tender of them and careful of their good Some apply all this and well they may to Jesus Christ who is here called Magnificus Dominator Christus Fortis ille Gâ—gat est Oecol his Magnificent or honourable One and his Ruler who also is one of them and proceedeth from amongst them See Deut. 18.18 And I will cause him to draw near and he shall approach unto me Either as God coequal and coessential with me or as Mediatour and so he shall approach unto me by the hypostatical union in respect of which he came the nearest unto God of any that ever was or could and by the execution of his Priestly office wherein he intercedeth for my people and reconcileth them unto me For who is this that engaged his heart Who but my Son Christ durst do it or was fit to do it he is a super-excellent person as is imported by this Mi-hu-ze Who this he Ver. 22. And ye shall be my people and I will be your God sc Through Christ and by his mediation As for those that are not in Covenant with God by Christ as the devil will one day sweep them so mean while Ver. 23. Behold the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury Sensim sese conglomerans ac demittens in eorum capita the vengeance of God followeth them close at heeles till at length they be wherried away by that terrible tempest at death Job 27.20 Ver. 24. The fierce anger of the Lord See chap. 23.20 In the latter dayes ye shall consider it In the dayes of the Messias but especially at the end of the world when all these things shall have their full accomplishment CHAP. XXXI Ver. 1. AT the same time i. e. In the beginning of Zedekiah's raign as before was this word uttered Or rather in those latter times forementioned chap. 30.24 after the return from Babylon but especially in the dayes of the Messiah The modern Jews vainly apply it to the coming of their Messiah quem tantis etiamnum ululatibus exposcunt whom they yet expect but to no purpose Ver. 2. The people that were left of the sword Of Pharaoh's sword who pursued them Fieri dicitur quod tentatur aut intenditur and though he smote them not because the Lord kept him off yet he is said to have done it like as Balac afterwards arose and fought against Israel Josh 24.9 he had a mind so to have done but that he was over-awed he did not indeed because he durst not When I went to bring him to rest i. e. To the land of Canaan after so long trouble and travel I effected that then though it were held improbable or impossible so I will do this promised reduction of my people from Babylon Indaeorum quiritantium verba Zeg Ver. 3. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me This seemeth to be the peoples objection You tell us what was done of old but these are ancient things and little pertaining to us who are now under a heavy captivity jam refrixit obsoleta videtur Dei beneficentia Hereunto is answered Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love I am one and the same I am Jehovah that change not whatever thou mayst think of me because I seem angry at thy misdoings Therefore with loving kindnesse have I drawn thee Or Therefore will I draw out loving kindnesse toward thee as Psal 36.10 See the Note there Ver. 4. Again I will build thee See chap. 34.18 Thou shalt he adorned with thy tabrets All shall be haile and merry with thee as heretofore yea thou shalt have spiritual joy which is res severa severe and solid such as doth not only smooth the brow but fill the breast Ver. 5. Thou shalt yet plant vines Profunda pax erit nemo te perterre faciat Thou shalt have plenty peace and security The planters shall plant them and shall eat them as common things i. e. Shall have Gods good leave and liking so to do Heb. Shall profane them i. e. not abuse them but use them freely even to an honest affluence See Levit. 19.23 with the Note Ver. 6. The watchmen upon the mount Ephraim Such as are set to keep those vineyards ver 5. Shall cry Arise ye and let us go up to Zion As the ten tribes first made defection so shall they be forwardest in the Reformation England was the like alate Ver. 7. Shout among the chief of the Nations Heb. neigh unto the heads of the Nations ut illa vobis adhinniant pariter in Christi fide jubilent that they may joyn joyes with you and help to make up the quire Publish ye and praise ye and say O Lord save The Saints have never so much matter of praise but that they may at the same time find cause enough to pray for more mercy Psal 18.3 Ver. 8. Behold I will bring them Here 's a present answer to such a Prayer and this promise hath its performance chiefly in the Kingdom of Christ who will not suffer the least or the weakest of his to miscarry See Esa 35.5 6. Ver. 9. They shall come with weeping Prae gandio inquit flebunt they shall weep for joy having first soaked themselves in godly sorrow by the spirit of grace and of supplications or deprecations poured upon them Zach. 12.10 being sollicitous about their salvation And I will make them to walk by the rivers of waters Heb. To the brooks of waters i. e. to the holy ordinances as Psal 23.3 For I am a Father to Israel I do all of free-grace Ephraim is my first-born And therefore higher then the Kings of the earth Psal 89.27 Ver. 10. Hear the Word of the Lord O ye Nations Hear and bear witnesse of the gracious promises that I make to my people for I would have them noted and noticed Ver. 11. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob Redemption is a voluminous mercy an accumulative blessing From the hand of him that was stronger then he sc The Chaldean but especially from Satan Matth. 12.29 Joh. 12.31 Ver. 12. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion i. e. In the Temple shall they celebrate that singular mercy in the Congregation of the faithful And shall flow together i. e. Flock together by troops and caravans flock thither by sholes To the goodnesse of the Lord Or
to support her that her sighes for her sins were many and that her heart was faint or heavy through fear of wrath yet not without hope of mercy which made her thus to repaire unto him by Prayer Qui nihil sperat nihil orat CHAP. II. Ver. 1. HOw hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud Heb. with a thick cloud nothing like that bright cloud wherein he appeared to his people as a token of his grace at the dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 8.10 How comes it about and what may be the reason of it Oh in what a wonderful manner and by what strange means hath the Lord now clouded and covered his people whom he had established as Mount Zion with blackest calamities and confusionâ—s taking all the lustre of happinesse and of hope from her and that in his anger and again in the day of his anger tantaene animis coelestibus irae And cast down from heaven to the earth i. e. From the highest pitch of felicity to the lowest plight of misery This was afterwards indeed Capernaums case but when Micah the Morashite prophecied Mic. 3.12 Jer. 26.18 that Zion should be plowed as a field and Jerusalem laid on heaps it seemed a Paradox and very few believed him Christ's disciples also had a conceit that the Temple and the world must needs have one and the same period which occasioned that mixt discourse made by our Saviour Mat. 24. But Gods gracious presence is not tyed to a place The Ark Gods foot-stool as here it is called was transportative till setled in Sion so is the Church militant in continual motion till it come to triumph in heaven and those that with Capernaum are lifted up to heaven in the abundance of means may be brought down to hell for an instance of divine vengeance And remembred not his foot-stool The Temple and therein the Ark to teach them that he was not wholly there included nieither ought now to be sought and worshipped anywhere but above Sursum corda Sept. Ver. 2. The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Judah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the sea swalloweth up a ship as an earthquake swalloweth up whole town-ships as fire swalloweth up fuel or as Moses his serpent swallowed up the Sorcerers serpents And hath not pitied This was worse then all the rest Isa 47.6 He hath thrown down Not shaken them only and so left them standing but utterly subverted them and that in great displeasure Deo irritato irato God set on the Chaldees and was the Author not of their evil will but of their work He hath brought them down to the ground Though for their height they seemed to threaten heaven He hath polluted the Kingdom and the Priests Which were held holy and inviolable Profanavit regnum coeli say some Rabbines here He hath profaned the Kingdom of heaven for so they accounted the Commonwealth of Israel which Josephus calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God-government But now God had dispriviledged them and cast them off as a thing of naught Ver. 3. He hath cut off in his anger all the horn of Israel i. e. All the strength and beauty the royal majesty especially Psal 89.24 132.17 He hath drawn back his right-hand Wherewith he was wont to shelter them and to fight for them Or Israels right-hand sc by disabling them for it is God that strengtheneth and weakeneth the arm of either party Ezek. 30.24 And he burned against Jacob Or in Jacob i. e. He declareth his displeasure among his people as clearly as a flame of fire that is easily discernd Ver. 4. He hath bent his bow like an enemy He doth not only help the enemies but himself fighteth against us with his own bare hand He hath bent his bow id est vim suam ultricem saith Origen that is his avenging force So the Poet faineth that Apollo shot his deadly shafts into the camp of the Grecians He stood with his right-hand Heb. He was set Vulg. Firmavit dextram suam he held his right hand steddily that he might hit what he shot at In the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion In Jerusalem that was sweetly situated as a tabernacle pitcht in a pleasant plain but now a field of blood He hath poured out his wrath like fire i. e. Abundantly and most vehemently perinde ac Aetna Hecla c. Ver. 5. The Lord was an enemy This the secure and foolish people would not be drawn to beleeve till now they felt it therefore it is so reiterated He hath swallowed up Israel he hath destroyed c. This he had said before Redundanti copia exponit quae autea dixcrat ver 2. but in cases of this kind people love to say the same things over and over And hath increased mourning and lamentation Heb. lamentation and lamentation q. d. this is all he hath left us And this she speaketh mourning but not murmuring non litem intendit Deo sed confessionem edit Ver. 6. And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle Redit ad deplorandam religionem nothing grieves a good soul so much as the losse of religious opportunities Old Eli's heart was broke before his neck at the news of the Ark taken As if it were of a garden As if it were some cottage or hovel set up for a short time in a garden for the repose of the gardiner Es 1.8 He hath destroyed his places of the assembly Whence we were wont to hope for help in answer to our prayers There it was that he formerly brake the arrows of the bow the sheild and the sword and the battle Psal 76.3 See the Note there Hence 2 Chron. 4.9 the great Court of the Temple where the people used to pray is called Gnazarah that is help and defence The King and the Priest Zedekiah and Serajah and with them the Kingdom and the Priesthood Haec jam pro vili sub pedibusque jacent Ver. 7. The Lord hath cast off his Altar She goeth over it again as the main matter of her grief that she was bereft of the outward exercises of religion Longe fecit procul removit à se quasi remed osam sibi ingratam molestam His altar God had cast into a corner as that which was an eye-sore to him his Sanctuary he abhorred or dissolved c. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord Where God was wont to be praised with heart and voyce now the enemies reboate and roar out Jo triumphe Jo Paean Victoria all 's our own Ver. 8. The Lord hath purposed to destroy Non casu non subito non temere sed maturo destinato decreto Gods Providence which is nothing else but the carrying on of his decree extendeth to smallest matters much more to the subversion of States and Cities He that stretcht out a line sc Of destruction or a levelling line See 2 King 21.13 Esa 34.11 Jerusalem was