Chron. 16.14 Of whom also it is further added as an honour that he was buried in his own Sepulchre which he had digged for himself among the Kings of Israel in the City of David and laid in the bed that was filled with sweet odours c. Of Joram Joas and Ahaz it is expresly noted in the Chronicles that they were buried in the City of David but not in the Sepulchres of the Kings of Judah A worse place was thought good enough for them unless they had been better As of Tiberius the Emperour it is storied that he was so hated for his tyranny Sâ—â—lae Gemonia Quidam etiam Terram matrem orarent c. Pareus Cornel Nepos in vita Dionis Dionys Lambin in Annot. ad locum that when he was dead some of the people would have had him thrown into the River Tiber some hang'd up at such another place as Tiburn Others also made prayer to mother Earth to grant him now dead no place but among the wicked Contrarily when Dio died the people of Syracuse would have gladly redeemed his life with their own blood which because they could not they buried him very honourably in an eminent place of their City Whereas anciently as Lambinus well noteth Kings and Princes in Homer and other Poets are not read to have been buried but without the gates somewhere in the fields and gardens as the Patriarchs also were looking for the return of that everlasting Spring CHAP. XXIV Vers 1. And Abraham was old NOn tam canis annis Beurer in vita Attici quà m virtutibus sapientiâ gravis as One saith of Atticus Abraham had a good gray head as it is elsewhere said of him Hence so honored not onely at home but of the Hittites Chap. 23. Cognata sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 old-age and honor are neer a kin in the Greek tongue And God bids honor the face of the old man Levit. 19.32 for the hoary-head is a crown Psal 111.9 Si prolixa facit sapientem barba quâ—d obstaâ— Barbatus posset quin caper esse Plato Baron Annal. so that it be found in the way of righteousness God is called the Ancient of dayes and because holy therefore reverend is his name as saith the Psalmist But it is a poor praise to Nectarius who succeeded Nazianzen in the Church of Antioch that he was venerandâ canitie vultu sacerdote digno a comely old man and of a Bishop-like visage and that was all that could be said for him Vers 2. Put I pray thee thy hand under my thigh Either as a token of subjection or for the honor of circumcision Quae erat in parte femoris q. d. I adjure thee by the Lord of the Covenant whereof Circumcision is a signe Or which is most likely in reference to Christ who was to come of Abraham according to that phrase Gea 46.26 The souls that came out of Jacobs thigh Vers 3. I will make thee swear by the Lord Who alone is the proper object of an oath Isaiah 65.16 Jere. 12.6 Howbeit in lawful contracts with an Infidel or Idolater we may admit of such oaths whereby they swear by false gods as those of old that swore by God and Malcom and the Turks great oath nowadayes is By the immortall God Turk Hist fol. 345. and by the four hundred Prophets by Mahomet by his Fathers soul by his own children and by the sword wherewith he is girt c. That thou shalt not take a wife unto my son c. Lest they should turn away his heart from following God Deut. 7.3 4. as those Outlandish wives did Solomon Neh. 13.26 whom therefore God Almighty punished both in himself and his successor Rehoboam his onely son that we read of by so many Wives and Concubines and he was none of the wisest nor happiest 2 Cor 6.14 tam auspicata sunt conjugia contra Dei legem contracta saith the Divine Chronologer Be not unequally yoked therefore with any untamed heifer that bears not Christs yoke If Religion be any other then a cipher how dare we not regard it in our most important choice D. Hall I wish Manoah could speak so loud saith a Reverend Divine that all our Israelites might hear him Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren or among all Gods people that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistimes What 's the reason the Pope will not dispense in Spain or Italy if a Papist marry a Protestant yet here they will but in hope to draw more to them For they well know what power wives many times get over their husbands as Jesabel did over Ahab the Hen was suffered to crow and all went as she would have it And therefore the Legats in the Councell of Trent Hist of Count. of Trent fol. 680. were blamed for suffering the Article of Priests-marriage to be disputed as dangerous because it is plaine that married Priests will turne their affections and love to wife and children and by consequence to their house and Countrey So that the strict dependence that the Clergy hath upon the Apostolick See would cease And to grant Marriage to Priests would destroy the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy and make the Pope to be Bishop of Rome onely Vers 4. But thou shalt go unto my Countrey c. Nâ—hors stock were neither pure in Religion nor precise in life Josh 24.2 Gen. 31.30 yet far better in both then those cursed Canaanites Some knowledge they retained of the true God of whom they speak much in this Chapter and concerning whom they hear Eleazer here relating how he had answered his prayer and prospered his journey And for their manners we finde them hospitable and their daughter though fair yet a pure Virgin Now Lis est cum forma magna pâ—dicitiae Like unto these are the Greek Church at this day Breerewoods Enquiries p. 139. B. Vshers Serm. at Wansteed D. Field of the Church Jac Reviue de vit Pentif p. 320. which is far greater then the Roman And though in some points unsound and in other very superstitious yet holdeth sufficient for salvation Cyrill their good Patriarch of Constantinople set forth the Confession of the faith of those Eastern Churches Anno 1629. agreeable in all things for most part to the Reformed Protestant Religion but diametrally opposite to that they call the Roman Catholick He is also busie about a generall Reformation among them and hath done much good Vers 5. Peradventure the woman c. He swears cautelously he doth not rashly rush upon his oath he swears not in jest but in judgement so must we Jer. 4.2 duely considering the conditions and circumstances as the nature of an oath the matter whereabout the person by whom and before whom the time the place our calling and warrant thereunto Eccles 5.2 Be not rash the best that can come of
like a hell-hag as the Heathen could say Nemo crimen gerit in pectore qui non idem Nemesin in tergo Vers 8. And Cain talked with Abel What talk they had is not set down The Septuagint and vulgar Versions tell us Cain said Let us go out into the field The Chaldee addeth that he should say There was no judgment nor judg nor world to come nor reward for justice nor vengeance for wickedness c. Certain it is That those that are set to go on in sin do lay hold upon all the principles in their heads Rom. 1.18 and imprison them in unrighteousness that they may sin more freely they muzzle the mouths of their consciences that they may satisfie their lusts without controul But had Zimri peace that slew his master or Cain that slew his brother hath any ever waxed fierce against God and prospered Job 9.4 Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew So Cain was the devils Patriark and Abel the Churches Protomartyr Act. Mon. fol. 814. It is not long since Alphonsus Diazius a Spaniard an Advocate in the Court of Rome came from Rome to Neoberg in Germany to kill his own brother John Diazius a faithful Professor of the Reformed Religion and a familiar friend to Buâ—er who gives him an excellent commendation But it is worth the observing Bucbolc saith One That the first quarrel about Religion arose propemodùm inter media sacrificia in the midst of the sacrifices almost These Theological hatreds as I may call them are most bitter hatreds and are carried on for most part with Cain-like rage and bloody opposition No fire sooner breaks forth none goes out more slowly then that which is kindled about matters of Religion and the nearer any come to other the more deadly are their differences and the more desperate their designes one ' gainst another The Persians and Turks are both Mahometans and yet disagreeing about some small points in the Interpretation of their Alchoran Turk hist the Persians burn whatsoever Books they finde of the Turkish Sect. And the Turks hold it more meritorious to kill one Persian then seventy Christians The Jew can better brook a Heathen then a Christian they curse us in their daily devotions concluding them with a Maledic Domine Nazaraeis The Pope will dispense with Jews but not with Protestants See D. Day on 1 Cor. 16.9 Lutherans will sooner joyn hands with a Papist then a Calvinist And what a spirit had he that in a Sermon at Norwich not long since inveighing against Puritans said If a cup of cold water had a reward much more a cup of such mens blood Bucholcer Mortâ—â—â— est Cain sed utinam ille non viveret in suis filiis qui clavam ejus sanguine Abelis rubentâ—m ut rem sacram circumferunt adorant venerantur The place where Cain slew Abel is by some thought to be Damascus in Syria called therefore Damesec that is a bag of blood Vers 9. I know not Am I my brothers keeper As if he had bid God go look Let not us think much to receive dogged answers and disdainful speeches from profane persons When they have learned to think better they will speak better As till then pity and pray for them These churlish dogs will be barking Vers 10. What hast thou done Here God appeals to the murderers conscience which is insteed of a thousand witnesses As oft as we feel the secret smitings of our own hearts for sin think we hear him that is greater then our hearts saying to us as here What hast thou done And that there is no good to be done by denying or dawbing for he knoweth all things 1 John 3.20 and requireth that we should see our sins to confession or we shall see them to our confusion The voyce of thy brothers bloods The blood of one Abel had so many tongues as drops and every drop a voyce to cry for vengeance Give them blood to drink Revel 16.6 for they are worthy Charls the ninth of France Author of that bloody massacre of Paris died of exceeding bleeding Mr. Camdens Elisab 165. Richard the third of this Kingdom and Q. Mary had the shortest raignes of any since the Conquest according to that Psal 55.23 Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Anno 1586. Walsh Bishop of Ossery in Ireland a man of honest life with his two servants were stabbed to death by one Dulland Ibidem 241. an Irish old Souldier whilest he gravely admonished him of his foul adulteries and the wicked murtherer escaped away who had now committed fourty five murthers with his own hand At length revenge pursuing him he was by another bloody fellow Donald Spaniah shortly after slain himself and his head presented to the Lord Deputy of Ireland Vers 11. And now thou art câ—rsed The Pope contrarily blesseth and sainteth Traytors to their Countrey and murtherers of their natural Soveraigns as Ravilliac and other his Assasines those sworn sword men of the Devil Bucer in Prasat ad Senarclaei hister de morte Diar Lonicer Alphonsus Diarius who killed his own brother for the cause of Religion as above said fled to Rome and was there highly commended for his zeal and largely rewarded as Bucer reporteth But driven thereto by the terrors of his own guilty conscience like another Judas he afterwards hanged himself upon the neck of his own Mule for want of a better Gallows Vers 12. A fugitive and a vagabond c. The Patriarks were Pilgrims and staid not long in a place The Apostles also were hurried about 2 Cor. 4.11 Rom. 15.19 and had no certain dwelling place But first God numbred their flittings Psal 56.8 He kept just reckoning of them in his Count-book Secondly Their hearts were fixed trusting in the Lord Psal 112.7 They could call their souls to rest when they had no rest in their bones And flie up to Heaven with the wings of a Dove when hunted on Earth as so many Patridges Facti sunâ— a corde suo fugitivi Tertul. So could not Cain the caytiff He was not more a fugitive in the Earth then in his own conscience Fain he would have fled from the terrors of it but could not he was langold to it and must abide by it Hence the Greek translates this Text Sighing and trembling shalt thou be on the earth and so the word here used is applyed elsewhere to the trembling of the heart Isa 7.2 to the walking of the lips 1 Sam. 1.13 to the shaking of the Forest by a violent wind Isa 7.2 to the leaping of the Lintel at the presence of the Lord Isai 6.4 c. And this in all probability was that mark that God set upon him v. 15. Not a horn in his forehead as the Jews fain but a hornet in his conscience such as God vexed the Hivites with Exod. 23.28 stinging them with unquestionable conviction and
have reason to be mad and that there is some sense in sinning whenas indeed our onely wisdom is to keep God's Laws Deut. 4.6 All which are founded upon so good reason that had God never made them yet it had been best for us to have practised them Vers 14. That Were a reproach unto us And yet the world reproached them with nothing more then with their Circumcision as it is to be seen in Horace Juvenal Tacitus Appion scoffs at it and is answered by Iosephus But as he were a fool that would be moâ—kt out of his inheritance so he much more that would be moâ—ked out of his Religion Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor saith David because the Lord is hâ—â—refuge because he runs to God by prayer But to shew how little he regarded their reproaches he falls presently a praying O that the salvation of Israel c. Psal 14.6 7. So Nazareth was a reproach cast upon Christ and he glories in it Acts 22.8 I am Jesus of Nazareth Whom thou persecutest He saith not I am the Son of God heir of all things King of the Church c. but I am Jesus of Nazareth If this be to be vile said David I Will be yet more vile Vers 15. That every male of you be circumcised Lo herein was their deceit How often is Religion pretended made a stale and stalking-horse to worldly and wicked aims and respects A horrible profanation as when Naâ—oth was put to death at a fast Henry the seventh Emperour poisoned in the Sacramental bread by a Monk He pretends to worship Christ intends to worry him c. From such stand off saith S. Paul or 1 Tim. 6.5 Rom. 16 17 18 if ye come neer them set a mark upon them Foenum habet in cornu Vers 16. Then will we give our daughters Whether Jacob were present at this whole conference it is not certain It is probable that he was not For surely he would either have disswaded them from thus doing or if he had consented he would have said something more to the Shechemites for their better assurance It is a Maxime in Machiavel Fidem tamdiu servandam esse quamdiu expediat But Jacob had not known this depth of the devil his sons better could skill of it They seem to be somewhat akin to those Thracians of whom it was anciently said Eos foedera nescire that they knew no covenants or the Turks at this day whose Covenants grounded upon the Law of Nations be they with never so strong capitulations concluded Turk hist or solemnity of oath confirmed have with them no longer force then standeth with their own profit serving indeed but as snares to entangle other Princes in There is no faith say they to be kept with dogs that is Ibid. 755. with Christians And this perhaps they have learned of those pseudo Christians the Papists who dealt so perfidiously with them at the great Battel of Varna Where Amurath the Great Turk seeing the great slaughter of his men against the oath given him by King Ladislaus dispensed with by the Pope's Legat and beholding the picture of the Crucifix in the displayed Ensignes of the voluntary Christians he pluckt the Writing out of his bosom wherein the late League was comprised and holding it up in his hand with his eyes cast up to heaven said Behold thou crucified Christ this is the League thy Christians in thy Name made with me Ibid. 297. which they have without cause violated Now if thou be a God as they say thou art and as we dream revenge the wrong now done to thy Name and me and shew thy power upon thy perjurious people who in their deeds deny thee their God And it fell out accordingly For God hates foul and faithless dealing Zech. 5.4 Rom. 1.31 Heu miser etsi quis primò perjuriacelat Sera tamen tacitis paena venit pedibus Tibull Perjurii poena divina exitium humana dedecus This was one of the Laws of the twelve Tables in Rome Vers 17. But if ye will not hearken How often have men found treason in trust and murther under shew of marriage as 1 Sam. 18.17 25. Dan. 11.17 and in the Massacre of Paris Vers 18. And their words See the force of love and hope of profit Vers 19. And the young man deferred not c. Heb. Neque distulit puer The lad deferred not He is called a lad or a childe that is a fool because he was carried not by right reason but blinde affection walking in the ways of his heart and sight of his eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccles 11.9 And vers 10. the word used to signifie youth signifieth darkness to note that youth is the dark age hot and headlong indeliberate and slippery such as had need to cleanse their ways by cleaving to the Word saith David Psal 119.9 where the word for cleansing properly signifies the cleansing of glass which as it is slick and slippery so though it be very clean yet it will gather filth even in the sun beams and of it self which noteth the great corruption of this age Vers 20. And Hamor and Shechem c. These great men easily perswaded and prevailed with the people to have what they would Great need have we to pray for good Governours When Crispus believed who was the chief Ruler of the Synagogue many Corinthians believed also Acts 18.8 Paul was loath to lose the Deputy because his conversion would draw on many others As on the contrary Jeroboam caused Israel to sin and generally as the Kings were good or evil so were the people in which as in a beast the whole body follows the head Vers 21. These men are peaceable c. Nothing more ordinary with Polititians then to cover private ends and respects with pretence of publike good As Jeroboam told the people it was too much trouble for them to go up to Jerusalem to worship they should take a shorter cut to Dan and Bethel So Jehu in all his reformations had a hawks eye to a kingdom his main end was to settle the Crown upon his own head The Turkish Janizaries Parei Hist profan Medul 1176. desirous to be rid of their Sultan Osman pretended and perswaded the people that he was Jaour that is an Infidel and that he endeavoured to betray the Turkish Empire to Christian dogs May 18. 1622. Vers 23. Shall not their cattel c. Profit perswades mightily with the multitude They all look to their own way Isai 56.11 every one for his gain from his quarter Who Will shew us any good is Vox populi And who begs not attention or inoculates not his faithful endeavour into his friends Creed and Belief with a tale of utile Vers 24. And every male was circumcised Many have lost their blood and suffered so much trouble for their lusts as had it been for Religion they had been
cannot put words and how oft doth he chuse the weak to confound the wise _____ And she said unto Balaam The Angel some think did speak in the Asse as the Devil had done to Eve in the garden Vers 29. I would there were a sword Pity but a mad-man should have a sword how much fitter for him were that rod that Solomon speaks of Prov. 26.3 Vrs 32. Because thy way is perverse Thou art resolved to curse howsoever and not to lose so fair a preferment which he must needs buy at a dear rate that payes his honesty for it Better a great deal lye in the dust then rise by such ill principles I shall shut up with that excellent prayer of Zuinglius Deum Opt. Max. precor ut vias nostras dirigat ac sicubi simus Bileami in morem veritati pertinaciter oblucâ—atâ—ri aâ—gelum suum opponat Zuing. epist lib. tertio qui machae 〈◊〉 suoe minis 〈◊〉 asinum insciâ—amâ—t audaciam dico nostram sic ad maâ—criam assligat ut fraclum pedem hoc est impurum illicitumque carnis sensum auferamus ne ultra blasphememus nomen Domini Dei nostri CHAP. XXIII Vers 1. BVild me here seven altars Here in Baals high-places Chap. 22.41 A sinfull mixture such as was that of those Mongrels 2 King 17.28 29. and their naturall Nephews the Samaritans Ioh. 4. Ambodexters in their religion which being grosser at first was afterward refined by Manasseh a Iew-Priest such another as Balaam that in Alexanders time made a defection to them and brought many Iewes with him Of Constantinus Copronymus it is said how truly I know not that he was neither Iew Heathen nor Christian sed colluviem quandam impietatis but a hodg-podg of wickedness And of Redwald King of the East-Saxons the first that was baptized Camden reports that he had in the same Church one Altar for Christian Religion and another for sacrificing to devills And a loafe of the same leaven was that resolute Rufus that painted God on the one side of his shield and the devill on the other with this desperate inscription In â—trumque paratus Ready for either catch as catch may Vers 2. And Balak did Ready to conform to any religion so he might obtain his purposes So did Henry the fourth of France but it was his ruine whiles he sought the love of all parties aequè malo ac bono reconciliabilis as one saith of him he lost all Whiles he stood to the true religion he was Bonus Orbi as one wittily anagrammatized his name Borbonius but when he fell from it Orbus boni And surely he was not like to stand long to the truth who at his best had told Beza Pelagose non ita commissurus esset quin quando liberct pedem referre posset that he would launch no further into the sea then he might be sure to return safe to the haven some countenance he would shew to religion but yet so as he would be sure to save himself God abhors these luke-warme Neuter-passives that are inter coelum terramque penduli that halt between two that commit Idolatry between the porch and the altar with those five and twenty miscreants Ezek. 8.16 Vers 4. I have prepared seven Altars He boasts of his devotions and so thinks to demerit Gods favour So those hypocrites in Esay Chap. 58.3 Non sic deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret we have not so served the gods as that the enemy should have the better of us said the Emperour Antoninus the Philosopher Vers 5. And the Lord put a word in Balaams mouth The words thus put into his mouth do but pass from him they are not polluted by him because they are not his as the Trunk through which a man speaks is not more eloquent for the speech uttered through it Balaam did not eate Gods word as Ieremy did Chap. 15.16 nor believe what he had spoken as David and after him Saint Paul did Psal 116.10 2 Cor. 4.13 No more did Plato Seneca and other Heathens in their divine sentences Vers 7. And he took up his parable Or pithy and powerfull speech uttered in numerous and sententious tearms and taken among the Heathen for prophecyes or oracles poëmata pro vaticiniis c. Poets were taken for Prophets Tit. 1.2 and Poems for prophecyes Hence their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein opening a book of Homer Hesiod c. they took upon them by the first verse they lighted upon to divine Tragedians also for their pâ—rables or Master-sentences were highly esteemed of old insomuch as after the discomfit of the Athenians in Sicily they were releeved who could repeat somewhat of Euripides Out of Aram Aram Naharim or Mesopotamia so called because it is scituate betwixt those two rivers of paradise Tigris and Euphrates This was Abrahams country where whiles he was it it he served strange gods Iosh 24.2 Vers 8. How shall I curse He had a good minde to it but did not because he durst not God stood over him with a whip as it were the Angell with a sword in his hand could not be forgotten by him Virtus nolentium nulla est Vers 9. From the top of the rocks I see him And have no power to hurt him She heard me without daunting I departed not without terrour Camb. Elis when I opened the conspiracy against her life howbeit cloathed with the best art I could said Parry the traytour concerning Queen Elizabeth Achilles was said to be Styge armatus but Israel was deo armatus and therefore extra jaâ—tum Lo the people shall dwell alone That they might have no medling with the heathen God would not have them lye neer the sea-coasts for the Philistims lay between them and the sea leâ—t they should by commerce wax prouder as Tyrus did Ezek 27.28 and learn forrein fashions See Esther 3.8 Hence Iudaeâ— though part of the continent is called an Island Isai 20.6 Vers 10. Let me dye the death But he was so far from living the life of the righteous that he gave pestilent counsell against the lives of Gods Israel and though here in a fit of companction Chap. 31.8 he seem a friend yet he was afterward slain by the sword of Israel whose happiness he admireth and desires to share in Bern. Carnales non curant quaerere quem tamen desiderant invenire cupieuses consequi sed non et sequi Carnall men care not to seek that which they would gladly finde c. some faint desires and short-winded wishes may be sometimes found in them but the mischief is they would break Gods chain sunder happiness from holiness salvation from sanctisication the end from the meanes they would dance with the devill all day and then sup with Christ at night live all their lives-long in Dalilah's lap and then go to Abrahams bosome when they dye The Papists have a saying that a man would desire to live in Italy a place of great pleasure but to
Lords portion Dear to God though despised of the world They are the Lords inheritance Isai 19.25 peculiar ones Exod. 19.5 the people of his purchase that comprehended all his gettings 1 Pet. 2.9 his glory Isai 46.13 his ornament Ezek. 7.20 his throne Ier. 4.21 his diadem Isai 62.3 heires of the kingdome saith Saint Iames heads destinated to the diadem Jam. 2.5 saith Tertullian Vers 10. And in the waste howling wilderness A figure of the cryes of a thirsty and troubled conscience and of infernall horrours See Ezek 16.4 c. He instructed him Both by his word and works both of mercy and justice for Gods rods also are vocall Mic. 6.9 his house of correction is his school of instruction He kept him as the apple of his eye The tenderest peece of the tenderest part The chrystall humour as the Philosophers call it Heb. Ishon of Ish as Pupilla of Pupa because therein appeares the likeness of a little man Or because a man is to be prized above all other creatures so God esteemeth his people above all the world Vers 11. As an eagle stirreth up her nest So doth God stirr up his people by his word of promise Fluttereth over them By the motions of his Spirit as Gen. 1.2 Spreadeth abroad her wings Hovereth and covereth them with his protection Mat. 23.37 Taketh them With much tenderness but nothing comparable to that of God Beareth them on her wings Aquilae pullos suos in alis portant alites reliqui inter pedes saith Munster here out of Rabbi Solomon See the Note on Exod. 19.4 Vers 12. And there was no strange god with him Why then should any share with him in his service Be the gods of the heathen good-fellows saith One the true God will endure no corrival Vers 13. To suck honey out of the rock Water as sweet as honey in that necessity So doth every worthy Receiver by faith at the Sacrament Whereas who so comes thereunto without faith is like a man saith Mr. Tindal that thinks to quench his thirst by sucking the Ale-powl Vers 14. With the fat of kidneys of wheat With the very Best of the Best figuring heavenly dainties that full feast Isai 25. Judaea for its admirable fertilty is called Sumen totius orbis how basely soever Strabo speaks of it as of a dry barren Country wherein he shews less ingenuity then railing Rabshakeh did Vers 15. But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked Jeshurun hâ—â— est Integellus saith One as Shimshon or Sampson Solilus a little Sun but a type of the Sun of righteousness that hath health in his wings that is in his beams Israel should have been Jeshurun that is Righteous or upright before the Lord Israelites indeed but were nothing less If ever they had been better in the time of their espousals when they went after God in the Wilderness in a land that was not sowen Jer. 2.2 yet now that they were full fed they kicked as young mulets when they have sucked matrem calcibus petunt kick the dammes dugs Fulnesse breeds forgetfulness and the best are but too prone to surfet of the things of this life which by our corruption oft-times prove a snare to our souls I will lay a stumbling block Ezek. 3.20 Vatablus his note there is Faciam ut omnia habeant prospera calamitatibus us eum a peccato non revocabo I will prosper him in all things and not by affliction restrain him from sin The most poisonous flics are bred in the sweetest fruit trees how apt are the holiest to be proud and secure even as worms and waspes eat the sweetest apples and fruits Salvian lib. 1. ad Eccles Catholic In Benedict 4. Repugnante contra temet ipsam tua foelicitate saith Salvian to the Church in his time thy prosperity is thy bane And cum ipsis opibus lascivâ—re coepit Ecclesia saith Platina The Church began to be rich and wanton at once Religio peperit divitias silia devoravit matrem Religion brought forth riches and the daughter soon devoured the mother saith Augustiâ—e The much wool on the sheeps back is oft-times his ruine he is caught in the thorns and famished The fatter the ox the sooner to the slaughter When the Protestants of France began to grow wanton of their prosperity and to affect a vain frothy way of preaching then came the cruel massacre upon them The good Lord keep this Church of England from the like mischief much threatned by the Malignant party who even wish with big-swoln Balaam I would there were a sword in mine hand for now would I kill thee Num. 22.29 A sword they have lately gotten again into their hand in Wales but with evil success Blessed be the Lord our strength which teacheth our hands to war and our fingers to fight Psal 144.1 Surely he that in so ill a cause killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword Rev. 13.10 Those sworn swordmen of Satan shall fall by the sword they shall be a portion for foxes Psal 63.10 They shall be so no doubt if we hinder not our own happiness by an unworthy kicking against the tenderest bowels of Gods Fatherly compassions ever earning toward us Should we with the fed hawk forget our master Or being full with Gods benefits like the full-Moon then get furthest off from the Sun and by an interposition of earthly desires become dark The cords of love are called the cords of a man Hos 11.4 To sin against mercy is to sin against humanity it is bestial nay it is worse To render good for evil is Divine to render good for good is humane to render evil for evil is bruitish but to render evil for good is devillish as a Reverend man hath well observed Then he forsook God Here Moses weary of speaking any longer to a gain-saying and disobedient people turneth his speech to the heaven and earth whom he had called in to bear witness vers 1. So when a certain people of Italy had commanded the Romane Embassadour ad quercum dicâ—râ— se interim alia acturos to deliver his Ambassage to the great oak for they had somewhat else to do Liv. then to give him audience he at swered Et haec sacrata quercus audiat foedus esse a vobâ— violatum I will indeed direct my speech to the Oke and tell it in your hearing that you have basely broken covenant and shall dearly answer it Vers 16. They provoked him to jealousie See the Note on Chap. 31.29 Vers 17. They sacrificed unto Devils See the Note on Levit 17.7 To new gods that came newly up Such as are all Popish He-Saints and She-Saints concerning whom Bellarmine himself cannâ—t but yeeld that Bell. de cultu sanct cap. 9. Cumscriberentur Scripturae nondum coeperat usus vovendi Sanctis There was no vowing or bowing either to Saints departed when the Scriptures were written And a loaf of the like leaven are those New-lights and all subtleties whereby our Sectaries